We're back!

Sorry we vanished. Chris, Gabe, and I were down on the Gulf Coast of Texas at a family reunion. I had some vague thoughts about photographing gardens or wild spaces down there for the blog, but a tummy virus put a crimp in that plan. Bleah.

Otherwise, though, it was a wonderful trip. I have never seen so many pelicans. Neither had any of the other family members. We wonder if perhaps their numbers have been on the rise over the recent decades.

A floating mat of something out in the water initially struck terror into various family members, who mistook it for oil. I think we were all appreciating Galveston's wild spaces more with the threat of its destruction looming. But in this case, what we saw floating by was seaweed, teeming with shrimp and crabs. A construction machine drove along the beach early each morning, scooping up the seaweed and a little sand to build new dunes and clean the sand for tourists. I found that to be a nice compromise between environmental and human-use issues.

Since I have no photo to post, here, instead, is a link to an article about a woman who was arrested for clearing brush on the side of a highway. She meant well, but she was messing with property that wasn't her own, and was repeatedly told by a park maintenance supervisor to cease her unsanctioned volunteer work. Being a lawyer, she should be aware that you don't have to know the laws in order to violate them.

It's just another example of people failing to recognize the value or beauty of wild spaces and wanting to impose their own aesthetics as an "improvement", and a sad case of a misdirected desire to volunteer.