My Father's House...

I promised I'd share some pictures from Texas...

These are photos of my Dad and step-Mom's place.
It will be going on the market soon and while we were there for what was probably the last time, I wanted to take some pictures so my kids could remember Granny Karen and Grandpa's place....
I won't share the boring living room shots, but I did wander the property, reminiscing and taking some macro shots (my go-to setting) of my favorite things about the place...


The magnolia tree above was just a seedling when my Dad moved out here. My kids climbed this tree throughout their younger years- it seemed to grow at the same rate they did, making it the perfect climbing tree every time we visited...


Dad made this picket fence. It protected his large garden, full of tomatoes and squash and (when we moved within driving distance for a few years) watermelon for the kids. It's showing the wear of a few year's worth of neglect. After my Father passed, the acreage was almost too much to handle for Karen, even before she got sick. Once showing off a crisp coat of whitewash every spring, it has now weathered to a more natural state.
I think I prefer it this way, to be honest....

I cannot, for the life of me, think of the name of this flowering bush. It's a Texas native plant and it's very popular. Can any of my Texas peeps help me out with this?


Literally 10 feet high and almost as wide, you can go out at almost any time of the day and find at least one beautiful butterfly having a meal. I could only find one on this particular day but there have been times that I have seen a dozen or more buzzing around it.

Did I mention that I got my love for junk from my Dad?

And like my Father, I love rusty things.
Just something about how the orange-y brown patina creeps across the metal...yes, I know it's destructive, but it's also fascinating to me...


South Texas is going through a serious drought, so where at one point the grass would have been green, it's now showing the stress...
Again, at the height of Dad's gardening heydays, there were vines climbing this old iron fence. It was beautiful in a much different way than it is now....


I just cannot resist that super-macro button. I "heart" my Canon camera....


More super macro shots...this is a...well, I don't know what this is.
Some sort of antique farming machine. I love the peeling red paint exposing the rusting metal...

A side view of the mystery machine...Gears and wheels intrigue me also...I tend to take many shots of them...even when I don't have a clue what they actually do...

Another mysterious machine.
I liked all of the different textures here: more rust and weathered wood, cracking and peeling paint in faded blues and reds...

Nothing mysterious here...
Morning Glories, my second favorite flowers, behind red geraniums...
If you look very closely (click the pic to enlarge), you can see a bug, not sure what kind of bug because I didn't even notice him when I took the picture. But he's down in there- you can just make out his wings...

So there you have it- a mini tour of a place that holds many great memories for the "Sunshine" family. We will miss everything about it...particularly the people who made it such a special place to be...

Until next Time,