Texas Trip - Part 1: capitol building

Earlier this month, John and I traveled to Texas for 10 days.  We visited several cities {note: blog entries about the trip are not in chronological order}.  While staying in San Antonio, we did a day trip to Austin to see the state capitol building.  There is also a visitor's center for the capitol with lots of interesting information about the history of the capitol and of Texas (the building is designed by a man from Iowa and search the 'net for XIT Ranch for the story about how some Chicago guys helped "settle" Texas with the world's largest ranch).

Inside the dome

 

Info about the rotunda floor representing the flags flown over Texas.  We had learned at the Alamo in San Antonio how Texas has been a part of six different countries.

Walking around the building, I noticed the ornate, protruding door hinges.

The ornate door knobs and hardware also caught my attention.

  Look at the open hinges of the door (you can click on the photo for a larger image) and you can see the inside says "Texas Capitol".

After our visit, we found our personalized Texas Rangers badges (no, we didn't buy them).

Spring (or Summer??) has arrived

We returned to Ohio from our trip to Texas this past weekend to bare trees.  Then a couple days ago, all the trees in the neighborhood were showing their buds.  It seemed to have happened overnight.  Although spring officially began on Tuesday, central Ohio has had 5 days this month that tied or broke record high temperatures ...and today could be the 6th.  I think the average temperature for this time of year is around 53 degrees but it has been in the mid-80's the last couple of days.  Luckily a cold front is coming through tomorrow evening to cool things off.  I hope they aren't severe storms as the ones last weekend created a tornado warning and some hailstorms in the area.  Not quite the welcome home I wanted. 

Spring Equinox!

I have been on an unintentional hiatus from blogging.  I have ideas and subjects for posts...but haven't been writing them.  It is spring and I am taking on the challenge of blogging again.  Blogger has changed format so it may take me a bit to adjust and figure it out.  I prefer to post with photos instead of just text to make the entry more interesting and visually appealing.

This blog has been a combination of arts/crafts, travel, and whatever else comes up.  It started as "hey, I can write a blog" for an entry.  Then months later I used it to share my experiences with my family while traveling in China.  When I returned, I posted about house-hunting, doing improv comedy, some art I created, and other miscellaneous things.  

I had considered doing different blogs by subject...but that would be more for me to keep track and post on.  Simplicity is what I need.  Depending on what draws you here (I don't have very many readers anyway at this point), you may find new topics or ones that don't interest you scattered among all the entries.  Think of the variety as a way to learn new things and expand your horizons.  

Expect to see entries about arts/crafts (creations, inspirations, swaps, challenges, experimenting), creativity, travel, dealing with a wheat-free diet in Western culture, progress on my projects, exploring my/the world, being a homeowner, learning new things, trying new things, and anything else that pops up and I deem blog-entry worthy.


Thanks for reading and I welcome comments!