Today was Trudy’s birthday. A big one, you might say (although I won’t). And so although we started our celebrations a couple days ago at The Long Center,
today we continued the celebration in earnest by stealing away from work with food and drink and folding chairs in the back of the car. We headed west to Pedernales Falls State Park, where the blue sky reaches down to the limestone hills carved into smooth channels by the cool water of the Pedernales River.
We had the place virtually to ourselves, so our misbehavior celebration went unnoticed.
We kissed under a clump of mistletoe in the branches of a Cedar Elm. We waded into the river in water shoes, taking tiny steps to avoid slipping on the slimy rocks. We left our water shoes barely hidden on the other side and changed into (dry) socks and hiking shoes and hiked up the hill to the summit where we sat and ate a snack and gazed out on the view to the west.
Later, we spread out a picnic lunch in the shade of Junipers and Live Oaks with the warmth of the sun mixed with a cool breeze that rolled across the field and under the trees.
We ate fried chicken and drank cold drinks and read our books and tried to sleep in our folding chairs. But there was no sleeping to be had for the music of the branches of the Junipers swaying and clinking against each other in the wind and for the the chattering of Titmice overhead.
Blue sky. Warm sun. Cool breeze. Swift flowing water. A stunning view. Fluttering birds. Mistletoe.
A good celebration was had by all.
