Things I didn't take pictures of

First of all I want to thank you.  For reading my blog even when there are not a lot of pictures.  For bearing with me while I submerge myself in beautiful scenery and gorgeous experiences and have the selfishness to not even take out my camera although I know many of you are dying to see the world in which I travel.  For allowing me to be in my life without having to take pictures of it.

And so, as part of my thank you present, I want to still find a way to share my emotions and my mental memories with you, my friends.  And so these are some of the things which never made their way into photos.

• The dried out carcass of a dead deer at the side of a desert highway.  In a flash I imagined the vultures and other scavengers picking out the insides and not even bothering to eat the skin.
• The Texas wildflowers.  More and more and more of them, all colors, all shapes, all sizes until I reached the mountains that would bring me to Marathon and they only occasionally showed their solitary heads to at least give us a little tease.
• The river walk in San Antonio.  The shade of the many many large trees lining the paved riverside pathways and growing very very strong and tall into the sky despite the hundreds of chattering tourists.
• The completely still black and red snake in the marshes of central Texas.
• The mulberries on the big mulberry tree and swashed underfoot which we all kept eating, and eating, and eating till our mouths were stained with juice.
• The indescribable feeling of expansion as I crested a hill and saw the expansive plateau ahead of the high Texas desert.  

These moments are not retrievable.  They are here for a flash and then gone forever.  Thank you so much for sharing in my journey - even when I don't take out my camera.

Your friend,
Gillian