Texas's state flower

This is the only place on earth bluebonnets grow... once a year they come and go. (Nanci Griffith)

I've always loved the bluebonnets. No, I'm not a native Texan, but I've got Texan blood. :) As a child, I spent many spring breaks visiting relatives in Texas, and I always loved seeing the fields of blue, and I loved taking the typical pictures in them.

Me, ten years ago, at age 11, among the bluebonnets and indian paintbrush

Once I moved to Texas for college, I loved walking through the bluebonnets, and I was also getting very into photography and took a lot of photos.

Spring 2008

Last year we took pictures in the bluebonnets again.

My beautiful baby sister, St. Ed's, 2010

I also grew up in love with "The Legend of the Bluebonnet" by Tomie dePaola. The legend is of a Comanche girl, She-Who-Is-Alone, because all of her family had died. The tribe was suffering greatly from a drought. She-Who-Is-Alone had one dear possession, a doll that her grandmother had made her, all she had left of her family. In the night, she realized she had to make the sacrifice so the rains would come, and she burned her doll and offered the ashes to the four winds and the Great Spirits. The next morning, blue flowers covered the land, the same color blue as the feathers her doll had worn. She became known as She-Who-Dearly-Loves-Her-People.

I even had my own She-Who-Is-Alone doll, complete with her doll :) I loved that story. And I love the bluebonnets. One of my favorite times of year.

The spring is a chance for renewal and new beginnings. Bluebonnets always remind me.