Liberty Hill frees up fall flowers

 

I’m nowhere near the end of pictures from our October trip to New Mexico and west Texas, but to keep from falling too far behind in what’s going on in central Texas, I’m occasionally interspersing a post about what’s been happening locally.

Late in the afternoon on October 21st, as we concluded our 12-day, 2700-mile trip by driving back into the Austin area from the northwest, I couldn’t help noticing a lot going on in a lot on the north side of TX 29 in the fast-growing town of Liberty Hill (whose population from 2014 to 2021 jumped from 1,015 to 6,801.) The next morning I went back there so I could play (photographically) among some of our native plants that predominate in the fall. In the top picture, the small and more-numerous yellow flowers are broomweed, Amphiachyris dracunculoides, and the larger yellow ones are Maximilian sunflowers, Helianthus maximiliani. Below, the Maximilian sunflowers brightened up a stand of little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium, that had advanced to its warm-toned seed-head stage. Notice the tip of an aging flower spike of Liatris punctata var. mucronata inserting itself at the bottom.

  

That was 13 days ago, and I’m still seeing some Maximilian sunflowers as I drive around the Austin area.

 

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Etymologists—people who study word origins—have figured out where most English words came from.
That means the origins of some English words remain a mystery. Here are a few of the unknowns:

 

pod

fuss

snazzy

tiff

Yankee

flag

nerd

grungy

quiz

taunt

quandary

shark

guzzle

turmoil

squander

clobber

pang

quirk

skit

culvert

gazebo

jig

punk

guzzle

sleazy

scad(s)

pixie

slum

snide

jamboree

rumpus

squirm

cub

stash

jiffy

zit

shrivel

askance

flimsy

slouch

trounce

(the) willies

pooch

flub

flabbergast

trudge

hazy

jeer

pizazz

pun

snitch

jalopy

wangle

shenanigan

tizzy

transmogrify

gavel

skit

mope

humbug

jumble

gimmick

blight

nifty

pimp

spurt

garish

hobo

wonk

kilter

bamboozle

mosey

oodles

 

© 2022 Steven Schwartzman