Bluebonnet Bust

Since living in Texas, I have been terrible about fulfilling my "picture in the bluebonnets" responsibilities. I took some of Isaac when he was about a year and a half, but that's it.

For those who may not be familiar with Texas history, Lady Bird Johnson started a campaign to beautify Texas highways (my facts may not be exact, but you'll get the idea) and one of the things that she did was sprinkle bluebonnet seeds all along the roadsides of Central Texas. There are also fields full of them. The bluebonnet is the state flower and much loved by Texans. I got the following from a website where I was trying to find the history of the bluebonnet.

"As historian Jack Maguire so aptly wrote, "It's not only the state flower but also a kind of floral trademark almost as well known to outsiders as cowboy boots and the Stetson hat." He goes on to affirm that "The bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to France, the rose to England and the tulip to Holland." The ballad of our singing governor, the late W. Lee O'Daniel, goes, "you may be on the plains or the mountains or down where the sea breezes blow, but bluebonnets are one of the prime factors that make the state the most beautiful land that we know."

It seems to be a pretty solid tradition for many people to take pictures in the bluebonnets every year. One of my favorite places to see them is around Brenham. When Eric and I drove through there on our way to Galveston, the roadsides were lined with pulled over cars and smiling faces.

While we were at the park the other day there was a rather sad little patch of bluebonnets, but bluebonnets nonetheless. Not quite the beautiful fields in Brenham, but I had my camera and I knew I wouldn't be here next Spring, so I decided to give it a shot and see if I could get an acceptable picture. Ashlyn wasn't really feeling it. This was the result of my efforts.