{Nature} :: A Stroll in the Park

Even for Texas, our winter seems to be unseasonably warm.
We have been enjoying lots of wonderfully spring-like temperatures and beautiful days...
which lends itself to some nice nature walks!

One we went on not long ago was at a local park along the river's edge.

Here we enjoyed seeing a variety of trees ... and even a blue heron rather close. It flew away before I could get my camera out, but it was impressive to see how large these birds really are!

Anyway, back to the trees.

One we have been noticing more this time of year is the China Berry.

So Royal wanted to enter this one into his Nature Notebook:

As you may notice in his book, the China Berry (or Melia Azedarach) is a native of the Himalayas.
How cool to think that Marco Polo might have noticed these trees those oh-so-many years ago along his route to Cathay!








































Another day while having a picnic in our front yard, we saw these tiny little pearl-like berries that had dropped onto our blanket. A little while later, Royal noticed they were from the mistletoe, which enjoys residence in our cedar elm trees.

Alice decided she wanted to sketch the American mistletoe (or Phoradendron flovescens):

And we continue to add our collected specimens to a centerpiece vase to enjoy throughout this year...