Since all the students that I tutor are on spring break, it was also time off for me. So we took the RV and headed to Lake Conroe and some time in the boat. 

There has been precious little boating this winter with the weather we've had. I know. I know. Your weather has been much worse, and you feel no pain for us. I understand. But we expect to be able to go out on the boat over the Christmas holidays, so, for us, it has been a bad winter.


Of course when we got to Conroe, the forecasted good weather didn't show up (pretty much like the rest of winter), but we still managed to get in some good boat time. It was overcast and rainy most of the week, and Friday it was so foggy I actually turned on the running lights when we put out.

But the final two days gave us beautiful skies and reasonable temperatures. And we did see some pretty neat birds. So, all-in-all, we had a great time on our Spring Break at the Lake. 

We've been going to Lake Conroe for 8 years now. There are always cormorants around. But Sunday we saw more cormorants than I think we have seen total up until now. They flew by in huge waves. First they flew up the lake and spent some time doing whatever cormorants do wherever cormorants do it. Then suddenly they were flying back down the lake. 

Away from the water there were also some nice bird sitings, including a red-belled woodpecker, and a yellow-bellied sapsucker just outside our RV.

Below is a small gallery of selected photos. Click on any one to enlarge them and see them as slides.

These are the best bird photos I have ever taken. Sharp with great detail - even in-flight shots. The phoebe was somewhat far away so that photo is a bit iffy, and with the woodpecker it seems I focused more on the tree bark than bird. But they are neat birds, so I included them anyway.

Enjoy the photos, and thanks for visiting. As always, we enjoy your comments and emails.

That's all. I've got nothing else. 

Of course, with this picture I have no need to make further comment.

When it's a cold, wet, windy day, it is colder, wetter, and windier on the water. So all concern for fashion goes out the window. You just want to stay warm. I sure hope she's warm, because she surely isn't fashionable.

What on earth do these three things have in common? It's simple. They were all part of our trip to Galveston this past weekend. We went to see some shows at the city's lovely Grand 1894 Opera House - the great Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain and the 50th anniversary of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant. Add to that three days of fog and you have the headline for this post.

Mark Twain
Hal Holbrook has been doing his Mark Twain one-man show for over 60 years! That's longer than Samuel Clements was Mark Twain. 

The show has won him both a Tony and an Emmy. Linda and I both remember seeing the show a long time ago - she thinks it was on television and I seem to remember the Walnut Theater in Philadelphia. No matter. The performance we saw this past weekend was great, and I am so happy we got to see it.

Alice's Restaurant
Over time certain songs seem to just become part of a generation's DNA. Alice's Restaurant is one of those songs. American Pie is another for me. 

Arlo Guthrie, son of the great folk singer Woody Guthrie (This Land is Your Land and many others), first wrote and performed the iconic Alice's Restaurant in 1965. Now he is on a 50th Anniversary tour. While Linda and I were really just a little bit before this time - we are pre-Woodstock and Flower Power - we both well remember this incredible song. Over the years it has become a Thanksgiving tradition for many and is played nationwide on public radio every year. If you want to give it a listen, just click here.

Fog, Fog, Fog
This was our annual winter RV trip to the Galveston State Park and the Gulf Coast. It was also the foggiest trip we have experienced, with fog that never burned off.

While we were camped right behind the dunes and could hear the roar of the surf, we could not see the water. That required walking on the beach at the water's edge.

Even though everything was shrouded in mist, we managed to get in a couple of nice walks - one along the beach and one back in the wetlands on the bay side of the island.

Of course I had my new camera with me, and things seem to be improving. I actually know what I am doing wrong, so there is hope that things can be corrected and some awesome results will eventually come about. I hope so. Linda just got the bill for everything, and I have a strong feeling she is expecting museum quality work, and soon!

Here are a few birds that I managed to capture, even with the overcast skies and continual fog and mist. Just click on any of the photos in the gallery below to see large size photos. 

Thanks for dropping by. As always, we enjoy reading comments.