Last weekend we went on a wildflower quest and drove the country roads east of San Antonio Texas. I believe we may have been just past peak for that area but we did find some nice spots. My favorite was this field with various rusty farm implements surrounded by fields of bluebonnets.
You can see more of my wildflower photos here.

I really should spend more time driving the back roads of America. I am very fortunate to have been able to travel all over the world. Still, some of my best memories and favorite photos come not from some romantic foreign city, but from the small places much closer to home. The Owl Drug Store, Soda Fountain and Grill is a recent addition to that list of fond moments. In the photo below, Sarah and her mother from a nearby Christian Agrarian community enjoy a milk shake at the soda fountain in Coleman Texas.
This place is wonderful. Sitting at a booth eating a burger brought back memories of many years ago. As a child growing up in Austin I would ride my bike to the nearby Rexall drug and drink a cherry coke in the back of the store at a soda fountain much like this. The walls of the Owl Drug store are filled with memorabilia. Many pieces have been donated by families and individuals that have moved away from Coleman but wanted to leave a little bit of history they could return to and visit. On the right side of the photo you can see signed photos left by every ‘Miss Texas’ for the past 10 years or so during their traditional visit. Like the neighbors from Coleman that donated a bit of their history to the store, the store allows each of it’s visitors to re-live a bit of their own history through a memory. It makes me want to return. Next time we will have to try out one of those milkshakes.

This was going to be a wildflower shot. I was driving home to Austin from Ft. Worth & thought I’d take the opportunity to photograph some of the amazing wildflower displays that this very wet spring has created. While driving down Interstate 35 I saw the exit for Maypearl Texas. (Maypearl is a little town about half way between Grandview on Interstate 35W and Waxahachie on Interstate 35E.) The town holds a special meaning for me because it’s the home of my maternal ancestral roots. As a child I would spend time every summer with my grandmother in the home my grandfather built. It’s a beautiful drive between Grandview & Maypearl & I felt hopeful i would see some great Bluebonnet displays. No such luck. The drive was beautiful (it’s always great to get off the main roads) but no super floral displays. I decided to shift gears & photograph some of the old buildings. Some were boarded up and quite sad, but the old Maypearl Garage has been reborn as a feed & pretty much anything else you might ever need store. I’m glad they did not cover up the old ‘ghost sign’. If you look closely, you can see where a previous owner covered up the old Maypearl Garage sign with a banner. Tacky. Now all it needs is a hound dog & a couple of old guys playing checkers on the porch.

Ok, I really have no idea what this is. A Google search found another image where the photographer thought perhaps it was a WayStation. In any case I like the feel of the structure. It looks old. It looks like it’s older than me, & I like things older than me because in perspective, they make me look young. Although you would not know it because of the blurred traffic blocking the other side of the street, it’s actually across the street from the Jersey Lilly that I photographed that same evening. You can see that image here.