White prickly poppies aplenty

 

On March 25th white prickly poppies (Argemone albiflora)
filled a field along US 87 near China Grove, east of San Antonio.
The clouds conveniently mimicked the white flowers.
Below is a closer look at the prickly poppies in another field.

 

 

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The deleterious effects of Critical Social Justice ideology in schools show up in more than just curricula. Real student achievement in the United States has been in decline for years, and many experts believe that a major part of what is required to get us back on track is a greater adherence to proven and measurable educational standards. Critical Social Justice, however, strips away these standards wherever it encounters them. From the elimination of advanced classes and standardized tests, to the lowering of admissions requirements for magnet schools and higher education institutions, all are justified by the goal of achieving “equity”—defined not as promoting a fair process for everyone, but as insisting on equal outcomes between racial groups of students without regard to individual performance.  

 

That’s a paragraph from Grayson Slover’s March 20th article “Is ‘toxic wokeness’ a greater threat than the Chinese Communist Party?” You can read the full article on the website of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR).

 

 

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman

 

 

 

German tombstones

Because many of the early colonists in central Texas were Germans, it’s not unusual to find old cemeteries here with tombstone inscriptions in German. So it is for the cemetery at the Christ Lutheran Church of Elm Creek southeast of New Berlin—look at that name—which we visited (for I think at least the third time in the past decade) on March 25th, as you saw last time. Here are four of those German-language tombstones, along with translations. (If any of you German speakers catch mistakes in the translations, please let me know.) While the wildflowers surrounding the graves need no translation, I’ll add that the reddish-orange ones are Indian paintbrushes (Castilleja indivisa) and the yellow are Nueces coreopsis (Coreopsis nuecensis).

 

Here rests in God
Emilie Lippke
Née Koehler
Born 27 September 1853
In Falkenburg, Pomerania
Died 18 January 1889
In Wilson
Softly rests her [soul]
[The ending is effaced.]

 

 

 

Here rests in peace
Edward Lenz
Born
Aug. 5, 1839
Died
Dec. 17, 1929

People’s death is only a sleep.
He gives rest to the weary,
Relieves the burden of those who suffer,
Brings them to eternal peace.
Weep not that this is a farewell:
The dead will arise.

 

 

Here rests in peace
The son of H.W.M.
Rosebrock
Born and died
The 27th of October 1900.

  

 

Here rests in peace
Mother
Anna Bargfrede
Née Holtermann
Born 26 October 1861
Died 14 June 1932

Farewell, sweet Mother
Farewell for all time
When we find each other again
It will be for eternity.
Psalms 4.9.

 

 

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman

 

 

 

Christ Lutheran Church of Elm Creek

 

On March 25th we made our first visit in several years to the Christ Lutheran Church of Elm Creek southeast of New Berlin, whose grounds, including the cemetery, are reliably alive at this time of year with the myriad native wildflowers that the owners graciously allow to do their thing. The orange flowers are Indian paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa) and the yellow ones are Nueces coreopsis (Coreopsis nuecensis). On the opposite side of the church from the cemetery, Lindheimer’s gaura (Oenothera lindheimeri), though smaller than a paintbrush or coreopsis flower, outnumbered them both by far.

 

  

  

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman

 

 

 

It’s hard to understand some people

 

So there we were on March 25th heading south from Christ Lutheran Church on the appropriately named Church Rd. in Guadalupe County south of New Berlin. When I saw a colorful stand of mixed wildflowers in a fenced front yard I parked, walked over to the fence, and prepared to take pictures. No sooner had I raised my camera when a guy in a tractor started spiraling in around the edges of the yard to mow down all the pretty wildflowers. I yelled out to ask him why he was doing that; he said his wife insisted, and he had to do what she wanted. How anyone could prefer a bare yard to this wildflower delight is beyond me, but I recognize the reality that people’s values vary immensely. The cut-down wildflowers included Indian paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa), sandyland bluebonnet (Lupinus subcarnosus), phlox (Phlox drummondii), and Texas groundsel (Senecio ampullaceus).

 

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When my phone rings, I don’t pick up for people/numbers I don’t recognize on the caller ID. Instead I let the call go through to my answering machine to see if someone leaves a legitimate message. Yesterday I got an unrecognized call, and here’s the message a robotic voice left (often bunching phrases unnaturally):

“Hi, my name is Deborah Holland from the PCH Sweepstakes calling to notify you that you are a lucky winner of $12.5 million, $7000 weekly for life and a beautiful 2023 C-Class Mercedes Benz in our monthly grand prize drawing. We want to say congratulations. Your claim ID number is 5974PCH. You are the newest winner. Our agents are on hand to greet you with flowers and balloons. To claim your prize, please call the company at 315-804-8952… We’d like to take time out to congratulate you once more. Have yourself a blessed day.”

Well, needless to say, I didn’t call back to be greeted with flowers and balloons. I’ve been greeted with more than enough flowers lately, as you’ve been seeing here, and I don’t need any balloons. I am sorry to lose the millions and the Mercedes, though.

You have to wonder how anybody could ever take a robotic message like that seriously. At the same time, scammers wouldn’t be doing what they do if there weren’t at least some gullible people out there. It’s an unfortunate truth of human nature that no matter how implausible a claim is, there’s always somebody who’ll believe it.

 

 

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman

 

 

 

Cloud like a ring

 

Back on March 12th I was driving north along Mopac when I noticed a cloud in the shape of a mostly closed ring. Exiting the expressway, I hurriedly hunted for and after several minutes found a place where I could park and get a shot of the cloud free from poles, wires, buildings, etc. I took a bunch of pictures showing the ring-shaped cloud by itself but I’ve chosen to show a more-expansive view that includes other clouds as well.

 

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 Riddle

 

What can you say about an agriculturalist and a structure for climbing?

To see the answer, follow the arrows.

 

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 What can you say about an agriculturalist and a structure for climbing? 

The former is a farmer and the latter is a ladder.

  

If you’re curious about what inspired this riddle, it was a sentence I read a couple of hours ago in Marian L. Tupy and Gale L. Pooley’s book Superabundance: “And so, over the millennia, farming gradually displaced hunting and gathering, leaving the former as the dominant human lifestyle in many parts of the world.”

To my taste, writers should avoid “the former, the latter” because readers have to scamper back in the text to figure out what each thing is. It’s better to say straight-out what you mean, even if you have to repeat recently used words.

 

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman

 

 

 

Pink evening primrose bud in a colony of phlox

 

Oenothera speciosa and Phlox drummondii along FM 812 in western Bastrop County on March 19th.

 

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman

 

 

 

Sunflowers in mid-March

 

Most of the plants we call sunflowers inhabit the genus Helianthus (which is Greek for ‘sunflower’). I say most, but not all. Here you’re looking at Simsia calva, known as the bush sunflower, a few clumps of which I found already flowering in Burnet County on March 17th. The second picture came from aiming somewhat downward to include several bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) near the ground.

 

 

Because bush sunflower stalks tend to grow tall, I could get on the ground beneath one and take a lofty look.

 

 

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman

 

 

 

Texas dandelions and Indian paintbrushes

 

Pyrrhopappus pauciflorus and Castilleja indivisa along FM 812 in western Bastrop County on March 19th.

 

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman

 

 

Look at the clouds. Look at the cliff.

 

Look at the clouds. Look at the cliff. Look at the bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis). You might hardly notice those flowers. They’re there at the bottom, making up a tiny element of the picture. They don’t always get to be the stars in their pictures. Sometimes humility’s the watchword.

I photographed this cliffscape in Burnet County on March 17th.

 

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman

 

 

 

Texas groundsel seed head

 

In the last post you saw a group of Texas groundsel, Senecio ampullaceus, with bright yellow flowers. Also from March 19th in western Bastrop County comes this much closer view of a Texas groundsel seed head.

 

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“Bills like this make schools more hostile, and make no mistake, it results in hate, bigotry, and yes, sometimes even death of our students in schools.”

“When we talk about progressive values, I can say what my progressive value is, and that’s freedom over fascism.”

So what hateful, fascistic, and sometimes even deadly thing were those two members of the House of Representatives referring to this week? It was a bill that passed the House by a narrow margin, known as the Parents Bill of Rights. And what were some of the bill’s hateful, fascistic, and occasionally even deadly provisions? Oh, you know, detestable things like:

the right of parents to know what’s in a school’s curriculum;

the right to meet at least twice a year with a child’s teacher;

the right to review a school’s budget to find out what taxpayers’ money is being spent on;

the right to find out what books are in a school’s library and to inspect those books if desired;

the right to find out about all the schools in which parents can enroll their child;

the right to address the school board;

the right to information about violent activity in their child’s school;

the right to information about any plans to eliminate gifted and talented programs in the child’s school;

the right to review any professional development materials used to train teachers;

the right to know if their child is not grade-level proficient in reading or language arts at the end of the third grade;

the right to know if a school employee or contractor acts to change a minor child’s gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name, or to allow a child to change the child’s sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms;

the right to know if a school employee or contractor acts to treat, advise, or address the cyberbullying of a student; treat, advise, or address the bullying or hazing of a student; treat, advise, or address a student’s mental health, suicidal ideation, or instances of self-harm; treat, advise, or address a specific threat to the safety of a student; treat, advise, or address the possession or use of drugs and other controlled substances; or treat, advise, or address an eating disorder; or if a child brings a weapon to school.

 

In short, parents have the right to know what’s going on with their kids at school. Hardly sounds like fascism to me.

 

One member of the House said “Extreme MAGA Republicans don’t want the children of America to learn about the Holocaust.” You have to assume that House member never even bothered to read the bill he voted against. If he had read it, he would have seen the following in Title VI: “It is the sense of Congress that all public elementary school and secondary school students should have opportunities to learn the history of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism.” The representative had lied and claimed the opposite.

As I recently pointed out, politicians lie, often blatantly, as here. Some things never change.

  

© 2023 Steven Schwartzman