Extremes in Texas

 Many of you have expressed concern over our weather here in Texas.  I live in the far eastern part of the state, only a few miles from the Louisiana border, and we have fared much better than some areas, but in the past two days I have had some amazing weather encounters.

Friday morning about 7:30 I headed north for the third try to photograph one of the historic courthouses (I'll give you more on that in a few days).  The local weatherman had predicted we would probably have some sun in the morning hours and possibly more rain in the afternoon.  I checked the weather forecast for where I was traveling and got the same information.  Finally a day with just cloudy skies - sounded good to me!

The trip is about 150 miles one way (just a short trip in Texas), and four miles from my destination I drove into the scene above.  Two miles further I hit rains so blinding that if there been a shoulder on the road I might have pulled over, but with all this rain there is no way I'm going to get off pavement for fear of not being to get back on.  The warnings about driving into water are very similar about driving into tall grass when you have no idea how deep it is or how soggy it is under the grass.  I did get my photo (I think!) after a bit of waiting for the rain to clear.  On the way home I encountered a much larger rainstorm to the point that I could barely see anything around me.  It was one of those teeth-grinding, steering-wheel-gripping experiences.

I arrived and, anxious to see my photos after a 300-mile trip, sat down at the computer.  Five minutes later the power went off.  No warning, no rain, no winds, no nothing.  Just the switch got flipped!  Three hours later I'm sitting outside drenched in Off swatting mosquitos.  I finally gave up and went to my aunt and uncle's house about 25 miles away.  Of course I learned in due time that the power came back on about an hour after my arrival but I had had a long day and I was pooped.

I woke up early, had a cup of coffee with my aunt, stopped by the grocery and picked up a couple of items, by the library and renewed an audio book and checked out a couple more and headed home.  Then the rain began.  Again.  But my place was dry when I got home and after a short while the sun came out and it looked to be a beautiful day.  The lawn was finally mowed after a month and some grasses that were about knee high were finally whacked and life was good. Then the iPhone alarm went off.  I jolted out of my chair, thinking it was the smoke alarm and then realized it was my phone. Tornado warning - this area - take cover - now!  Then TV switched to real time coverage and they say it will reach our little town in 24 minutes and then right about where I live in 32 minutes.

I was worried about a neighbor and couldn't' reach her or her son, who had just been here in the last hour mowing.  I finally went down to their place and couldn't find them.  I came home and she called saying they were up on the hill behind her house watching the storm.  I decided I'd rather be with them rather than alone if we got blown away so I went back.

And this is what I saw!  She is a police dispatcher and has take courses in weather pattern recognition and she was convinced she saw rotation in that white area in the middle of the photo.  I wasn't so sure but I wasn't arguing.  The storm pattern was originally said to be traveling to the northeast but magically it suddenly started moving to the southwest away from us.  So, again, we're safe and sound here on Pine Hill, although it's raining again.

I heard on the news/weather last night (and I verified the story on the Internet today) that if there was a swimming pool the size of Texas there would be eight inches of water in it just from the rains this month!  That's amazing.  I don't remember the number of trillions of gallons they reported, but Texas has right at 267,000 squares within its boundaries, almost a thousand miles from northwest to southeast and another thousand miles from El Paso to the Louisiana border.

We are expected to start drying out after tomorrow and hopefully you won't be seeing all these terrible reports of people and homes being washed away by flood waters.  Texas needs a break!  We're ready for one.  The same is true for Oklahoma, Arkansas, and many other places.  I sign off as I hear torrential rains coming down outside!  I'm ready to return to Arizona.  A few dust storms and 110 degrees sounds pretty good right now!

Lindheimer Mural

A 28-foot tall mural that stretches to a total of 125 feet in length is painted on the side of a building and along a fence in New Braunfels pays tribute to Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer (1801-1879).  Lindheimer was a German citizen who came to Texas as a political refugee in 1834 and eventually settled in New Braunfels, a predominantly German community just north of San Antonio.   He is shown above on the right side of the mural holding the yellow Texas star (lindheimera texana).  He is  credited with the discovery of several hundred plant species, among them a milkweed (the only plant that hosts the Monarch butterfly), a loco weed, a mimosa, a prickly pear, and a rock daisy.  His name is used to designate 48 species and subspecies of plants.  No wonder he is known as the "Father of Texas Botany."

The mural also shows Lindheimer as a newspaperman, having been first an editor and then later the publisher of a German-language newspaper, and his modest home, which today, along with its small garden consisting of many of the plants he discovered and categorized, are open to the public.

Fence at Goliad and Setting the Record Straight

The fence that keeps no one in

and lets everyone out

I spotted this so-called fence during my recent trip through Goliad just a block from the courthouse downtown.  Of course, I immediately thought of our friend TexWis and her Good Fences meme.  I suppose it's purely decorative because, as indicated above, this fence keeps no one in and lets everyone out.  It actually marks the entrance to a small park.

Visit other fence enthusiasts at Good Fences HERE.

Now let's get a few things straight.  Do you see green in this photo?  Of course you do.  Do you see trees in this photo?  Of course you do.  Do you see any canyons or mountains or desert or dust in this photo?  Of course you don't.

If you've been watching the miniseries Texas Rising on the History Channel, the last episode was primarily about Goliad and it is portrayed as being in a canyonland.  I think you call tell by this photo that there is likely is no canyons anywhere near Goliad, nor any majestic mountains, not any dust in a desertlike setting.  Instead it is surrounded by beautiful rolling countryside in what is known as the Hill Country (not canyon or mountain country) of Central Texas.  If you go back just a few posts in this blog to May 14 there is a photo of an old red barn in a field of greenery taken just a few hundred feet from this wacky fence.  Go back just a few days further to May 9 and see the beautiful old live oak trees that stand guard in the square of the historic courthouse.  

And the truth of the matter be known, not only is the setting totally false, the facts in this so-called historical drama are so flawed that it's hard for me to watch.  Wrong facts, people who never existed walking alongside icons of Texas history, twisted chronology may be good TV, but if you want a really good story it's right at your fingertips.  Just Google James Fannin and Emily West and read their true stories.  Look for a person named Lorca who survived the Alamo.  No adult male sympathetic to the Texas cause survived the Alamo.  

So if you want to watch this series, go ahead, but remember:  You can't believe everything you see on TV and ...

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS

The Architecture of Cuero

After meeting up with the lady in the green shirt at the DeWitt County Couthouse who had suggested we return in about 20 minutes during afternoon business hours so she could arrange for our personal tour of the bell tour, we drove through the small town of Cuero and found lots of wonderful Victorian architecture.  The building in the photo above  is the J. Stratton Building, constructed in 1894 by John Stratton, a local entrepreneur.  The turret features three windows with curved glass.    Over the years since 1894 the building has been the home of a saddlery operated by Stratton, a hotel, known at various times as the Navidad, the Florence and the Texas Hotel.  It has also housed a butane gas company, the Cuero Chamber of Commerce, an insurance agency, a shoe repair shop, a pool hall, and even a bowling alley at one time in the basement.  Today it seems to be vacant and waiting for a tenant.  Wouldn't it be grand to have an apartment on the upper floor with perhaps a lovely Queen Anne sitting room underneath that turret and watch the traffic go by on the main drag of town?

On the opposite corner sits this fabulous building which at least appears to be somewhat occupied.

St. Michael's Catholic Church, another outstanding example
of church architecture in Texas

Parish established in 1875

Current building erected in 1931

Sorry for my unplanned and unannounced absence from blogging.  I've been inundated with work and we've been inundated with storms, tornados and devastating rains.  It's literally been raining here since December 26.  I'm not exaggering when I say there's probably been less than 15 days since that time that we've been dry for a complete 24-hour period.  I live in an area that has managed to dodge the bullet several times (last night a damaging tornado just 18 miles from here) but it's getting a little distressing to have your life and your land constantly uprooted by these devastating floods.  The next 10 days are forecast for eight days of rain, one day of sun, and one day of some sun and some rain.  I'll try to get back on track and visit you all in the next few days. 

DeWitt County Courthouse (Texas No. 50) Part 3 - The Bell Tower

The bell tower of the DeWitt County Courthouse is the top three floors of the courthouse.  The district courtroom occupies the second floor with the balcony seating extending to the third floor.  This is all based on my memory of several weeks ago so if I'm off on my facts just a hair, please forgive me.  We may have actually ridden the elevator to the small room above the third floor or, in the alternative, we took a staircase.  Sounds logical, right?  At my age, the first thing to go is the short-term memory and our trip was filled with tons of facts from four courthouses, three painted churches, and of course all those wildflowers!  I do remember from the fourth floor, or what I'm calling the fourth floor, we took a tiny spiral staircase up to the level which houses the clock.

My cousin checks out some of the intricacies of the massive clockworks which keep the four clocks in the tower in sync.  A small brass plate (not the one visible in the photograph) reads:  The E. Howard Tower Clock, No. 1869, was removed, completely restored, and reinstalled in April 2007 by Vernon Wier of Wier Mfg. Co., San Antonio, Texas.

E. Howard & Co. was a clock and watch company whose predecessor, E. Howard Clock Co., was formed in 1842 in Boston and was a preeminent clockmaker in the country.  In addition to this courthouse clock, they manufactured the clocks in the Maverick and Red River county courthouses in Texas, the Boston Fire Alarm Office at 59 Fenway, Boston, MA, the Wrigley Building in Chicago, the Ferry Building in San Francisco, the New York Life Insurance Company Building in New York City, and numerous other well-known buildings and churches throughout the United States.

On this level I was surprised to find a hole in the floor exposing rocks and dirt.  My thought was how in the world do you dig a hole on the fifth floor of a building and find dirt and rocks?  You can see the pile of rocks toward the back of the clock in the above photo on that beautiful Italian tile floor.

We once again had to go up the spiral staircase, barely big enough to be able to negotiate the tight curves, to reach the bell tower.  Going back down the staircase on the return trip was even more harrowing!

We reach the sixth floor of the building which houses the giant bell.   The winds were amazing.  Of course it's open on all four sides through the arched windows and the wind was blowing so hard I couldn't keep the hair out of my eyes so I'm lucky I got any pictures at all!  The engraving on this side of the bell reads:  E. Howard W. and C. Co.,/Boston ... New York ... Chicago/1896.  So it's obvious the clock and the bell came as a set.

But adjacent to that engraving it reads:  Stadtler and Lucas/contractors and - and the next word(s) are illegible.  The third line is illegible and the fourth line says 1896.  Checking on the Internet I find that Stadtler and Lucas were indeed contractors who had one of the contracts to complete the construction of the courthouse after the original architect went bankrupt and abandoned the job.  They evidently also had a contract for construction of the Lavaca County Courthouse which is nearby and several other governmental buildings during that era.  So it appears that Stadtler and Lucas added their own engraving to the bell manufactured and delivered by E. Howard.

The clock, of course, is responsible for the operation of the bell, and the bell rings on the hour.  I failed to get a picture of the hammer that strikes the bell and I am extremely grateful that our visit to this tiny room did not coincide with the ringing of the bell for I fear I may have jumped out of one of those arched windows!

The arches are covered with a netting I'm sure to keep birds out of the tower.  That fact, in addition to it being a rather gloomy, misty day did not lend itself to any meaningful photos from six stories up, but it was still an extraordinary experience.

And thanks to Rene, the gentleman who took time out of his busy schedule to take a couple of ditzy old ladies on a trip that I dare say too many people get the opportunity to take.  And an extra thanks to Kathy, that lady in the green shirt, who so gracefully offered this wonderful experience to us.

DeWitt County Courthouse (Texas No. 50) Part 2 - The Interior

I always feel pressured while taking photos when I have others with me.  As a result my photos generally are not noteworthy because I don't take the time to think about composition, lighting or any of the other details that make for good photography and I usually come home disappointed when I see the results.  Later I kicked myself for only having photographed some of the finer details at Cuero and neglecting the big picture, for instance, the enormity of the two-story district courtroom.  So for now, this is about all I have of the interior.

The photo above shows the beautiful woodworking details of the inlaid wood in the wainscoting and the matching doors.  Even the brass doorknobs were replicated to reproduce the originals from 1897.  When the flooring was taken up, the original tile floors were discovered underneath.  They were badly damaged but someone discovered that the same tile pattern and color is still manufactured at the same plant where the original tiles were purchased in Italy 118 years ago.  Then several months later as the pallet of tile was being offloaded from the ship it was dropped and many, if not all, the tiles were broken.  Another long delay waiting for another shipment but finally the floors are back to the original beauty.

The balcony in the district courtroom was re-created along with the pressed-tin ceiling and lighting fixtures.

The crown molding and the tray ceiling are beautiful enhancements.

A recurring theme in the details are these rosettes which are on the iron staircase.   You can see the same rosette pattern in the decorative border of the ceiling above and the inlaid wood.

Tomorrow:  The bell tower.

DeWitt County Courthouse (Texas No. 50)

The DeWitt County Courthouse in Cuero is one of Texas' beautifully restored courthouses.  It was built in 1897 in the Romanesque Revival architectural style popular of that era in brown sandstone and pink granite.  It was rededicated during its restoration in 2007 and is the jewel of this quaint little town 100 miles south of Austin.  You may notice the woman ascending the stairs near the front entry in the green shirt.  Her name is also Kathy (maybe with a C; I don't really know) and I will tell you more about her in a few moments.

Cuero was established in 1846 and today is a community of just under 7,000 folks.  In 2010 it was named as one of the coolest small towns in America by Budget Travel Magazine.    It is unofficially known as the turkey capitol of the world and annually hosts a Turkey Fest in which one of the most popular activities is a turkey trot where the participants are actually turkeys rather than people.  These festivities have been ongoing since the early 1900s.

And now back to the lady in the green shirt.  My cousin and I saw Kathy in a parking lot across the street from the courthouse as I was walking away from the building to get a photograph.  She struck up a conversation with us and invited us to come inside the courthouse after lunch and she would arrange for us to go up into the clock tower!  Over the next few days I'll show you some photos that were taken inside the courthouse and inside the clock tower, a first for me.  Now I want to go up in all of them!

This is the 50th photograph of Texas' courthouses.  For those of you who are interested, if you click on the label "Courthouses" in the upper far right column, all 50 courthouses are segregated into one list.

What is it?

While I was in Goliad I came across this little structure and I was never able to determine exactly what it is.  Do you have any thoughts?  It appears to be constructed of large stone blocks but it was much smaller than I originally thought and it's hard to make much of a decision because of the vine that is now covering most of it.  At first I believed it to be a jail because of the little window with iron bars running through it.  But then I saw it was only a couple of feet wide so it didn't seem likely that it was a one-room jail.  But due to its close proximity to the courthouse, only one block away right across the street from the two abandoned buildings that were shown in last Monday's post, my latest guess is that it may indeed be the ruins of one wall of what was once the old Goliad jail.  If you have any other suggestions I'd like to hear them.  Have a great weekend!

Open Your Eyes and Look Up

On my wildflower trip in April to South Central Texas I was pretty much focused on what I was seeing on the roadsides.    The first heavy concentration of wildflowers was spotted between Golidad and Cuero.  Bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, prickly poppies, scarlet gaura and many other varieties were dotting the landscape.  As I drove by this area all I saw were these paintbrush and clumps of prickly poppies, but when I looked up I discovered this wonderful mural painted on the side of a very long building which I surmised must be a horsebarn.

The sweetest scene is of this little girl hugging a beautiful collie.  How many of you remember the Lassie programs of the 1950s?

Then there was the cowboy cinching the saddle on a beautiful horse.  It obviously is or was a ranch for horses and collie dogs called Storybook Collies.

Remember when Timmy and Lassie had a new adventure every week?

I searched on line for Storybook Collies but the only reference I could find was to a breeder in New Hampshire, and Texas is a long way from New Hampshire so I didn't believe there could be a connection.  The building looks to be in good repair but the paintings are fading.  Perhaps they're as old as those 1950s TV shows that I loved as a child.  But I'm so happy that I looked up and saw them and I'm reminded that we need to see more than what sometimes meets the eye. Look up and around wherever you go and the world will be a constant adventure for you.

Red Barn and Fence, Goliad, TX

Good Fences

Nostalgia

When my daughter and I were in San Antonio over Christmas we traveled up to New Braunfels, Texas.  While there we went through the historic area of Gruene (pronounced Green), a small town which is now part of New Braunfels and was settled by German immigrants in the mid 1800s.  One of the establishments we visited was the Gruen Haus.

It had tons of nostalgic items.  This particular room was filled with old gas station and diner signs, license plates, auto steering wheels, and in the middle of the whole thing was this hood and grille of an old Dodge sedan, someone's perfect decor item!

Post Office Murals - 7 (Jasper, Texas)

A few years ago the Jasper Post Office got a new facility and they were actually allowed to keep their mural.  Many post office murals are retired when a new facility is built and are put in storage.  Instead of being in the lobby as is the case with the older buildings, this one is behind the clerical station so photographing it was a little difficult and the brass plaque which has been added where the postmaster's office door once fit into the bottom of the painting had such a glare from the plate glass window that I couldn't even read what was inscribed on it when I was there.  The title of the mural is "Industries of Jasper."

In the summer of 1938 artist Alexander Levin traveled from his home in Los Angeles to the town of Jasper to view the area and choose the subject for the mural which he had been commissioned to create.  With the help of the postmistress and the citizens of the community he selected the lumber industry and portrayed the era before mechanization of the industry developed which was still being used in that period of time.  There are at least two other post office murals in East Texas which feature logging and/or the lumber industry.

Jasper is located in the midst of the area called the Big Thicket, the most densely forested area in this part of the country.  It has been described as one of the most ecologically biodiverse  areas on the planet outside of the tropics.  The Big Thicket National Preserve and the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida were the first national preserves set aside by the National Park system.

Scenes From Goliad

There are many historic buildings in the picturesque town of Goliad in addition to the beautiful courthouse featured in yesterday's post.  The red building above is the former Market House where sellers of meat and produce could sell their goods to the public as early as 1871.  In 1866 the building became a firehouse with a meeting hall and a room for hook and ladder equipment.  In 1890 the town purchased a bell for $45 which pealed in the nighttime hours and was used to sound alarms.  Home to the Goliad Volunteer Fire Company until 1964, it was restored in 1967 and has since been known as the Market House Museum. It is a half block from the courthouse.

One block from the square stands these two old building.  The one on the right appears to have been updated while the one on the left seems to be original. Today they are both vacant.  I wonder if at one time there were additional buildings attached to either side because they look a bit strange in the middle of the block all by themselves.

Several buildings on the courthouse square have obviously been renovated and have a fresh new appearance.

Giant old live oak trees are predominant in this area and this was one of several trees which were in the middle of streets.  Trees have the right of way in Goliad and the town is a member of the Tree in the Street Sorority, a loose society of cities whose citizens acknowledge that the trees were there before the settlers.  Some live oaks are believed to be older than 400 years.

Goliad County Courthouse (Texas No. 49)

One of Texas' most beautiful historic courthouses can be found in Goliad. Constructed in 1894 in the Second Empire style, the clock tower and turrets were destroyed in a 1942 hurricane.

After 61 years the clock tower and cupolas were replaced.

The courthouse in the early 1900s was used as a hospital and morgue after a deadly tornado hit the area.

The above photo shows the stone and brickwork used in the construction.

Most of the historic courthouses have beautiful brass hardware, but this front door looks like it's been chewed on around the lock area.  Perhaps somewhere along the way someone locked themselves out and the door was damaged when it was attempted to be opened.

Goliad has a long history dating back to the 1700s when a Spanish mission was established in the area.  On March 26, 1836, Colonel James Fannin and his men were bivouacked at Goliad and during an attempted retreat from the area were surrounded and captured by Mexican forces.  Fannin had negotiated a clemency for himself and his troops and they believed they were to be prisoners of war. However, the next day at sunrise, Palm Sunday, Fannin's men were marched out of their quarters and summarily executed in front of him.  He was the last to be killed.  Over 340 men lost their lives that day in what has become known as the Massacre at Goliad.  When Sam Houston's troops went into battle with Santa Anna on April 21, 1836, less than a month later, Houston's men went into the fight with the battle cry of "Remember the Alamo, remember Goliad!" After 20 minutes the Texans were deemed to have won their independence from the Mexican dictatorship.

Today Goliad is a small, quiet, charming town of 1,900 people.  It is located 160 miles southwest of Houston, 320 miles south of Dallas, and 200 miles from the Mexican border.

Tomorrow I'll have a post of some photos taken at Goliad.

50/100 Dogs - Emma - Black Mouth Cur Pup

Blue curls

Photographed in Goliad, Texas

Tyler County Courthouse (Texas No. 48)

Yesterday's post garnered several comments about a clock/bell tower being removed from a courthouse.  The Tyler County Courthouse in Texas in Woodville was built in 1891, one of the older of the still-standing courthouses.  It underwent a drastic (to say the least) remodel in the 1930s as part of the WPA after the Great Depression.  The red brick was covered with stucco and the bell tower of the original Italianate architectural style was removed to "modernize" the building.  Below is a photograph of a painting from texasescapes.com taken by Terry Jeanson, a Texas courthouse enthusiast, which presently hangs in the office of the county judge.  The painting is by a local artist, Doretta Gilchrist.

Yes, we all gasp, for now we realize and recognize the beauty of the historic buildings.

Some of you commented in the previous post about the "people who restored the courthouse," and most all historic courthouse restorations in the state are undertaken by the Texas State Historical Association.  To date, the state has invested $227 million with an additional contribution from the individual counties of  $150 million for courthouse restoration.  As of this time 63 courthouses have been fully restored to their original conditions as much as possible.  The Commission is very strict about keeping restoration details authentic but yet incorporating current building codes for proper heating and cooling, plumbing, and structural and safety elements.  Terri commented about the cost of heating and cooling these old buildings but the restored ones all have modern day heating and cooling systems.

The Tyler County courthouse (located here in East Texas about 90 miles from where I live) is on the endangered courthouse list.  Water infiltration, failing masonry and structural issues, outdated mechanical and plumbing systems, mold and poor air quality, deteriorating doors and windows, fire hazards, and vacancies are the urgent problems faced by many of Texas' unrestored courthouses.  Tyler County received an emergency grant of over $147,000 after a 1999 fire to upgrade the wiring.  It is currently eligible for further restoration and it is estimated another four plus million dollars will be necessary.  The population of the entire county is only about 21,000.  Counties must participate in the projects and are asked to contribute 15 to 20 percent of the costs.

I read somewhere while doing this research that restoration of the Tyler County Courthouse will definitely include the replacement of the bell tower.  You will notice in the top photograph the red diamond shape appearing under the words
"Tyler County Courthouse."  A closeup of that area would reveal the red brick under the stucco.  Thank goodness they didn't remove that beautiful brick!

County seat:  Woodville; population 2,500
Location:  100 miles north of Houston, 230 miles southeast of Dallas, 630 miles east of Wink.

Wharton County Courthouse (Texas No. 47)

The Wharton County Courthouse in Wharton, Texas, has been around since 1889 and it is a definite keeper.  Over the years the courthouse was restored and modified to the point that it was no longer recognizable as the architect originally designed.  At one point the remodeling effort even removed the bell tower and left a big square box of a building.  But in 2006 the courthouse was restored to its original condition, the bell was found and today it looks just as it did, or perhaps even better than, in 1889.  The courthouse was constructed of bricks fired from clay taken from the Colorado River which borders the townsite on the south.

The county seat, Wharton, is a city of 9,000 citizens which was originally settled in 1846.  It started as a plantation community due to rich agricultural land because of its proximity to the Gulf Coast, and its original settlers who built the original courthouse in 1851 were from Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, and Mississippi.  Within time other settlers from Germany, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, and Mexico arrived, along with the descendants of plantation slaves who had lived in the area for to make up a diverse cultural and ethnic community.

Wharton is 60 miles southwest of Houston, 300 miles south of Dallas, and 616 miles southeast of White Deer in the Texas Panhandle.  Its most famous native son is Dan Rather, the former CBS news anchor.

Thistle

Our heavy rains these past few months caused our pastures and roadsides to become laden with these thorny pink beauties,  Although beautiful they can choke pastures of forage plants.

Poppies

On my recent trip to Ennis, Texas, my friend and I encountered this small field of red poppies on one of the country roadsides.  There were some grazing cattle nearby although an electric fence surrounded the poppy plat because I'm sure cows would just love to munch on those pretty red blossoms.  These poppies were tall enough that you could barely see the cows' heads above them.  We came back later hoping for a better photo but the cows had moved on.  I've mentioned before that animals tend to turn their backs to me when I'm photographing them and it seems like there are some flowers that do the same.  I was held back by a barbed wire fence so this was the only angle available.  It probably had more to do with the sun in the eastern sky.  Had I been able to come back in the afternoon those poppies would surely have been looking at me in the face.  I'm not sure I'd call these wildflowers, especially since they seem to be of the "double" rather than "single" variety.  And I would have loved to have had an opportunity a couple weeks later to return and see all those buds replaced by full-bloomed flowers.

Oxalis

Every spring mounds of these sweet little flowers pop up all over our yard.  I love them!  They're soft and delicate and the leaves almost look like four-leaf clover.