"Pardon me, this way is a very nice way. It's pleasant down that way, too. Of course, some people do go both ways." --The Scarecrow (The Wizard of Oz)

If a man's from Texas, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him by asking?
John Gunther

The poetry of the earth is never dead. ~John Keats

Climb up on some hill at sunrise. Everybody needs perspective once in a while, and you'll find it there. ~Robb Sagendorph

"I am loving the plains more than ever it seems—and the SKY—Anita you have never seen SKY—it is wonderful."--Wyman Meinzer

The beginning of wisdom is silence.
The second step is listening.
-- Unknown

Nothing that is can pause or stay;
The moon will wax, the moon will wane,
The mist and cloud will turn to rain,
The rain to mist and cloud again,
Tomorrow be today.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

At Lubbock, Texas

In honor of all those who served and all those who died for their country.
Amarillo Texas War Memorial

Enjoy some cowboy poetry: http://www.cowboypoetry.com/yours.htm#honored

As far as the eye can see.

American avocet in foreground.

Found at an abandon farm east of Amarillo.

Yellow bladderpod flowers splash a green meadow.

"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May."
--William Shakespeare

And old road filled in by yellow bladderpod wildflowers.

Unfortunately the water is extremely polluted because of feedlot runoff.

Two bison graze near Buffalo Lake Wildlife Preserve near Umbarger, Texas.

Abundant moisture has created such green pastures in Texas
this spring.

A shaft of sunshine light up a field, just as I was driving by. The colors were remarkable.

The Prairie-Grass Dividing

THE prairie-grass dividing--its special odor breathing,
I demand of it the spiritual corresponding,
Demand the most copious and close companionship of men,
Demand the blades to rise of words, acts, beings,
Those of the open atmosphere, coarse, sunlit, fresh, nutritious,
Those that go their own gait, erect, stepping with freedom and
command--leading, not following,
Those with a never-quell'd audacity--those with sweet and lusty
flesh, clear of taint,
Those that look carelessly in the faces of Presidents and Governors,
as to say, Who are you?
Those of earth-born passion, simple, never-constrain'd, never
obedient,
Those of inland America.

--Walt Whitman

Palo Duro Canyon on US HWY 207 at Claude, Texas.

Daybreak

Behold this January morn,
Is something to behold.
A crisp bright snap is in the air
It’s nippy and quiet cold

A Maxfield Parrish sky today--
A palate of gold and teal
My silent prayer of gratitude
Will tell You how I feel

To wake up and appreciate
The beauty of the dawn
Because this January day
Will much too soon be gone

A gaze into the sky, once more
Brings gladness to my face
As a glittery gift of white drifts down
Of purest, crystal lace.

(Daybreak by Shelley D. Sparks)