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| Azaleas |
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Native Azaleas
These are growing wild in the woods around here
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East Texas is awash in blooms. Azaleas, dogwoods, red buds, fringe trees and
then all the amazing wildflowers! Being
a West Texas girl, I can never get over the green of the east. So much of it, an ocean of foliage in every
imaginable shade of green. This year, it
is especially poignant as we are leaving East Texas. Almost three years in Nacogdoches have flown
by. We made it our home and loved our
time here. We will miss these Pineywoods!
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Tessa Cross
Making photos in front of azaleas is a very popular
activity this time of year in Nacogdoches.
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| We will miss these Pineywoods! |
Moving is not something we enjoy at all, but I need to be
closer to my parents now. My mom has
been diagnosed with vascular dementia and the little strokes are slowly
changing her and making her life very challenging. My dad is struggling with his health too and seeing
my mom decline is taking its toll.
Nacogdoches is a 10-hour drive from Odessa. Our fall and winter were
consumed with many long trips back and forth.
It is time to be closer to home.
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Our new little house.
Come and sit with us on the front porch soon!
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| And we will feed you at one of the many food trucks around town. |
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| Pulled pork with fries - hope you aren't on a diet! |
So, from East Texas back to West Texas, we are moving to
Alpine. After a lot of searching, we
finally found a small house to rent in Alpine.
Who knew it would be so hard to find something for rent (and so
expensive) in Alpine? Between all the
oil booms in the area, college students and border patrol officers, housing is
at a premium. But it is just about a
two-hour drive from Alpine to Odessa and that will make spending time with my
parents so much easier. With any luck,
we should be moved and settled in by the end of April. But in the meantime –PACKING—Aaargh!
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| The Red River at Shreveport |
Between the trips to Odessa, house hunting in Alpine and
the packing, we have been trying to get out as much as possible to visit our
favorite places around Nacogdoches. We even made a quick trip to Shreveport,
Louisiana. Easter Sunday was spent in the nearby Angelina National Forest hiking
with friends visiting from San Antonio.
There is much to do here and so much early Texas history. No matter how long you live somewhere it
seems like you never do everything you meant to. And that will be true this time too.
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| What I love about the forest -- there is something to see everywhere you look. |
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| My good friend Sasha and her daughter, Tessa |
Well, we are looking forward to new adventures soon. With
the move and my parents’ health issues, we may be staying mostly in West Texas
this summer exploring the Big Bend area. But we will see, hopefully a trip or two to
the mountains of Northern New Mexico will be in order. Gotta have some relief from the West Texas
summer! In the meantime, I’m soaking up
the green. The desert will soon be our
new reality.
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David with the Cross Family
Kellen, Sasha, K.C. and Tessa
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| Posing with the settlers in downtown Nacogdoches |
