Deep In the Heart of Texas

Song - My Hero's Have Always Been Cowboys by Willie Nelson

Last week Mr. B and I were in Texas and Oklahoma to meet his new first cousins.

Thanks to DNA we were able to find cousins from both of his biological parents.

This trip was to meet his dad's side of the family and they generously shared

 stories, photos and laughter with us! Some of his cousins flew in or drove to Forth Worth to spend the day with us and it was very much appreciated!

Last Tuesday after a full day of visiting, we stepped outside of our hotel to see the

"The Herd" - these are Texas Longhorns herded by authentically dressed cowboys called Drovers.

These guys take their job calmly and seriously as just the day before they had trouble with one of the cattle when it wouldn't cross over a metal plate covering a hole in the street.

 The cowboys worked with him over and over again and eventually moved the crowd back
as he was getting feisty.

Tuesday they tried him again and he hesitated for a moment before moving forward.

"If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, 

take a look back every now and then to make
sure it's still there."

--Will Rogers 

You Know You’re In Texas....

You know you’re in Texas when.....

We are working on Mr. B’s family tree.....in Texas !

And I can’t wait to see the cowboys driving the Longhorns through the middle of town tomorrow!

The Good Life

Song - Serenading the Cattle with Royals

On Sunday Mr. B and I took a drive to an iris farm up north.  On the way I spotted a herd of Texas Longhorns and boy were their horns long.  This guy in the photo above must of had horns about 6 feet across from tip to tip.

When he walked, he seemed to have trouble lifting his head up and balancing them.  So, with head down, he wobbled those mighty horns to a different side of the pasture.

Arriving at the Iris Farm, we were met with fields of beautiful color.

It turned out to be a beautiful day at the iris farm.

So many to choose from.  Mr. B teased me that we should open our gardens for visitors who are looking to buy iris plants.

I mean, can you ever have too many iris?  Really???

As I was checking off my list of which plants to purchase, I noticed several families of Hmong people enjoying the beauty of these gardens.  They kept taking photos of each other in front of the flowers.  One elderly couple were having their photo taken but the man kept tickling the woman's cheek with his tongue and she would erupt in a fit of giggles.  She was missing several teeth but had a grin from ear to ear and boy did her eyes sparkle!

The women's outfits had silver coins all over them and when they walked, they jingled.

The above photo reminds me of Vincent van Gogh's painting "Irises"1889, with the one white one in the bunch.

Hmong Proverb -

Hlais nqaij ntshaw zoo riam,

Ua neej nyob ntshaw zoo pojniam.

To slice meat, you need a good knife;

To have a good life, you need a good wife.