Hope Springs Eternal

See that plant there?  That plant in the middle of the picture..the one with 5 leaflets.  That my dear friends is the Texas Bluebonnet "Lupins Texensis".  Doesn't look like much now, but come spring it will be beautiful with blue and white flowers.  It is also for those that do not know...the state flower of Texas.

But what I wanted to point out in these next pictures is for you to look closely at the ground from which it springs.  Notice anything???  Maybe a lack of soil for one.  This wonderful little flower springs from some really rough terraine and the worse looking the better for this beauty.  It also takes water, but not just water any time...no, water in the fall and winter around here will make for a beautiful show of flowers in the spring. 

So after a spring and summer last year literally from hell with 90+ days of 100+ temps and no rain to speak of...we've had some rain, not a lot mind you, but enough to make the bluebonnets appear.  So it gives me hope that we will have a wonderful spring with lots of wildflowers.

This is one hardy wildflower.  It doesn't transplant well, many have tired and few have succeeded.  It has a really tough seed coat that needs to scarafied with heat or water in order to make it germinate. 

This small hill on our property doesn't look like much, but come spring it will be covered with Bluebonnets.  You can't see them now but if you walked this hill you'd see that it was covered with Bluebonnet plants.

So with that in mind, I think about my mom.  She takes a licken but keeps on ticken.  She got some good news from her Dr. this past week.  The new meds that she is taking are working.  We know that we will lose her at some point but for right now...with the right meds, at the right time, she will continue to bloom. And that's enough for me to hope for.