Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Happiness Project :: Texas Wildflowers

Lady Bird Johnson :: photo by Frank Wolfe

Look at that face!  Don't you just love that little smirk of disgust?  One look at her and you know she's suffering fools as kindly as she can.  This is the look I get on my face when people ask me why on earth I moved back to Texas.  My friends & family don't understand the soft spot in my heart for Texas.  Probably because they've spent their lives in areas considered beautiful.  The lush rolling hills of the Mid-Atlantic.  The rugged outdoors and amazing weather of Northern California.  The Eastern Shore.  The West Coast.  It's easy to call those places beautiful.  What my peeps don't understand is that to really see beauty, you have to first experience extreme ugliness.  The monotonous concrete blond winters of the levelands.  The searing pain of black leather seats on the back of your bare thighs in August.  This is the stuff that really helps you appreciate the simplist of beauties - like wildflowers...and air conditioning.

We just got back from a Texas road trip.  We drove from Dallas to Galveston to spend a long weekend at perhaps the most unappealing beach I've ever seen.  The water's brown and muddy, the sand's sticky like clay, and the wind never stops blowing.  But the drive was incredible - thanks to Lady Bird Johnson and her wildflower efforts.  Ten total hours on roads as flat as a table top...with nothing to look at but this as far as the eye can see. 

Thank you, Lady Bird - and to all the people who continue to keep her dream alive. Your wildflowers make me incredibly happy.  What makes you happy?  Join the party.

Photobucket

13 comments:

Jocelyn Christensen said...

I love wildflowers!

Alyssa S. said...

See, wildflower season is the only time of the year I feel that living in Texas is worth it. Here in Houston, the bluebonnets have passed and the rest of the wildflowers will be gone soon, the summer heat will kick in and I'll remember what I detest most about living here :) Until then, though, I agree, the wildflowers make me happy. Thanks Ms Ladybird. I too appreciate the fruits of your efforts!

monica said...

i love ladybird. what a woman!

texas road trips, my oh my. after moving from d/fw to colorado springs we made the drive 3 times a year. and getting across texas was always a chore!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Texas. My fiance is from the Bryan/College Station area and Austin is just a dream come true. I welcome the hot, sticky weather as Maine weather (outside of the two months of summer that we get) is cold, raw, and definitely unappealing. Someday, I will live in Texas!!!

Secret Mom Thoughts said...

Beautiful flowers.

My Mercurial Nature said...

What an amazing woman she was, and the flowers...exqusite!

Sara said...

Awww... now I want to move to Texas!! Listen I'm from Upstate NY, and trhere's nothing pretty about that. It's why we have to take everyone who visits there to Canada to the "The Falls".

Also, it's why I moved South.

Mom24 said...

That's very cool! A few years ago someone did that along a big stretch of our highway with sunflowers. It always made me smile.

Vanessa said...

I love my state, but I do hope to visit Texas again soon -- like when The Husband goes there on business this summer. Maybe I'll see some wildflowers!

Actuary Mom said...

The wildflowers are beautiful!

leigh hewett said...

I'm a Texas girl. Born and raised 18 years in good ol' San Antonio. I know the wild flowers well. Beautiful photo!

T@PoppyPlacePdx said...

Are you sure the sand was sticky and it wasn't the oil slick :(

Yep, never been to Texas, it is kinda scary for this Brit. Maybe one day.

Love the flowers :) and oh to be as stoic as Lady B.

Debbie said...

Love those wildflowers!