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| Pink magnolia tree, Midtown Atlanta |
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| Breathtaking flowers in Atlanta tree |
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| Butterfly on flower in Austin |
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| TX wildflower |
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| My baby Dorothy in a field of TX bluebonnets |
Seasons in general need a shout out. If you look over my past blog posts - you'll see fairly quickly that the seasons are a reoccurring theme. That's because I come from a part of Australia where the only thing that changed from season to season was the temperature. The scenery was basically the same all year round so I delight in the changing seasons and I'm so grateful every time I get to visit somewhere new within America where I can take pleasure in seeing how different the flora and fauna really are from State to State.
Song birds: don't want to make this a spring-theme, just want to draw your attention to this for a second, as many people don't automatically assume spring = song birds. I've only recently made this connection myself (in Aus our parrots squawk all year long, especially by the beach (lorikeets/ black cockatoos/ majors)). I am loving the song birds around our place at the moment. Mainly they consist of cardinals and mockingbirds but I feel like a Disney princess every time I step into my living room which has big windows on either side, through which I can see and hear birds happily chirping in the trees right outside. Another recent discovery about song birds: mockingbirds sing well into the night, long after the sun has gone and attack squirrels when they come too close to their nests! (PS: I love squirrels too, but they will get mentioned in my W for wildlife post).
Summer: most people already know, but it's worth mentioning that kids get the entire summer off from school. I would have loved to get the entire summer off school! In summertime everyone here is very active and there are so many activities the vacationing-kids can participate in. Cities with rivers have river sports or river tours, places that serve food stay open late and the sun doesn't go down until
9.30pm some nights!! (the average 9 pm). This part can be quite disorienting and I never get enough sleep but who needs it when there's so much to do!
Sports: Americans are o.b.s.e.s.s.e.d (like every game is the Melbourne Cup obsessed) with two sports - football and baseball. Football in winter and baseball in summer. Basketball is popular also, but not to the same extent. While I haven't really gotten into any one particular sport, I really like going to live games in a stadium, regardless of what sport is playing because the atmosphere is incredible and the excitement is contagious! One of my favourite things about the South is that people dress up to go to games. It's not uncommon to see girls in dresses and heels alongside boys that wear team jerseys with khaki pants. Such pride! I love looking all around once I'm seated at all the colours, smiles and comradery or gentle rivalry that circles the stadium nonstop. I think even the most cynical people-haters would find hope for humanity at a sporting event.
Shoe shops: there's a store all over America called DSW, which stands for Designer Shoe Warehouse. This store sells top designer labelled shoes at a huge discount and the first time I walked into one, my jaw dropped. These stores are incredible! Every one I've ever seen to is ginormous - roughly the size of an oval - with 1/2 belongs to the women, 1/2 to the men and sports. There are rows and rows of shoes so you're practically guaranteed to find the shoe you're after! Between this DSW, the other discount stores like Marshalls & TJ Maxx and department stores like Macy's & Dillards; I haven't paid full price for a pair of shoes the whole time I've lived here!
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