The Beauty of Rain

We have had lots of rain in the past month and after the drought of last summer I won't be complaining at all about rain.  So far this summer our temperatures have not been too bad and with all the rain most of the East Texas lakes have come back to normal levels.  At the end of last summer everyone was predicting more dry years to come and that it would be 10 years before our lakes were back to normal. Just goes to prove that the predictions of doom and gloom don't always play out! 

Now I just hope and pray that the rest of the country can have some relief from the heat and drought soon!!

Last year Lake Sam Rayburn was 12 feet below normal as seen in the 3 following pictures.

This was taken in June of this year with water back to normal levels.   No more sandy beaches - the water comes all the way up into the grass. 

It is beautiful when it rains far away in the distance, the bright sun shining on the mound on which you stand, and only a few guerilla drops heralding the approach of the shower towards you. ~John Richard Vernon, "

The Beauty of Rain," 1863

Our June Camping Trip

We just returned from a week of camping at one of our favorite parks - San Augustine Park on Lake Sam Rayburn. 

 

We had a beautiful water front campsite with lots of space.

 One day we visited my brother and his family at a nearby park.  My little niece kept us busy with lots of bouncing and playing games.

  In this game we were having to balance pine cones on sticks - I think I won since Johnny was cheating!!

 This is Sassy and Peanut - trying to stay cool!  They are so cute sharing their bed. 

 Every time we camp at San Augustine, this little critter always comes to our campsite begging for treats.  He actually comes to our trailer door and sits on the top step waiting for us to feed him.

We had a good view of the sunset from our site and each evening we had to stop what we were doing and run for our cameras.  On this day a thunderstorm was off in the distance and we were treated to a beautiful lightening show.  We couldn't hear thunder so it was pretty far away.

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars. ~Author unknown, commonly attributed to Martin Luther

Springtime Trip to the Fishing Camp

Last week Mom, Judy, and I had a girl's night away at the camp on Lake Sam Rayburn. 

On Thursday, Buddy came up and took us fishing and also took us across the lake to look for the eagles he had seen week before last.  We didn't see them but we enjoyed our boat ride anyway. 

We had great weather and just really enjoyed taking  in
the beauty of the spring-time happenings.

    Buddy - our guide.

Great Blue Heron - This is near the swimming area where he had just
caught a fish and was working on getting it down.

Bluebird

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher