{"id":5483,"date":"2013-11-06T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2013-11-06T06:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.walkingwithcake.com\/?p=5483"},"modified":"2013-11-05T22:15:32","modified_gmt":"2013-11-06T04:15:32","slug":"getting-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.walkingwithcake.com\/?p=5483","title":{"rendered":"A Good Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fall is here and it’s lovely, but the time change always throws me for a loop.\u00a0 We planned to take it easy last weekend after the whirlwind of the past few weeks, and Sunday, we took a little drive to Rockdale, a small town I’d heard of but never visited.<\/p>\n

Truth be told, it wasn’t our first choice, but all of our favorite day trip locales are reeling from the recent floods.\u00a0 Smithville, Wimberley, and Kyle got hit really hard and are in a period of mourning and recovery.\u00a0 It’s not the time to explore downtown areas in search of hidden treasures.\u00a0 There’s a feeling of sadness hanging over Austin and the entire Central Texas region these days, as our neighbors begin to dig themselves out from the damage of a storm that came quietly in the night, the water rising higher and higher while we slept.<\/p>\n

\"Walking<\/a>

(Pretty fall colors.)<\/p><\/div>\n

These things seem to strike hardest where people don’t have much, and residents were stuck on rooftops for hours, waiting for help.\u00a0 A few people lost their lives as their cars were swept away in the dark, the drivers unable to see the rising creeks and rivers as they headed to work in the early morning rain.\u00a0 A mother, her baby, a pastor, a teacher, all taken by the water.\u00a0 It is so heartbreaking and unimaginable, especially in the middle of such a long, hot drought.<\/p>\n

\"Walking<\/a>

(Butterfly-friendly plants.)<\/p><\/div>\n

My boys don’t know about these things yet; they are still too young.\u00a0 And it’s my job to protect them and to keep them young for as long as I can.\u00a0 So we drove out to Rockdale, past the soaked fields and the puddles reflecting in the sun, and ate lunch at our normal spot, the local Dairy Queen.\u00a0 It wasn’t the easiest lunch, and things seemed pretty stressful for some reason.\u00a0 We couldn’t wait to get out of there and on with our day.<\/p>\n

\"Walking<\/a>

(Visitors in the butterfly garden.)<\/p><\/div>\n

But then we found a lovely park, shaded with lots of pretty trees, three playscapes, and a butterfly garden.\u00a0 The boys ran happily and found four older girls to play with.\u00a0 One girl, watching over her younger sister, was friendly and talked to me.\u00a0 She said the boys both look like me, and she was patient with them when they bossed her around.\u00a0 Most of the children were there by themselves, but it felt safe, in the park nestled in the middle of a neighborhood in that tiny Texas town.<\/p>\n

\"Walking<\/a>

(The boys thoroughly enjoying themselves.)<\/p><\/div>\n

We stayed a while and enjoyed the cooler weather, the acorns, and the bright sun shining after we moved the clocks back that morning.\u00a0 Ryan walked around the park taking pictures, and when we got home, I found these.<\/p>\n

Our trip wasn’t the best we’ve taken, and our thoughts were elsewhere that day, but these pictures are lovely and capture a beauty that we didn’t see then.\u00a0 We came home to our warm house by the creek that didn’t fill, where our boys sleep safe at night.\u00a0 It was a good day, and I want to save these memories of it.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to help the residents of Central Texas as they recover from the recent floods, you can find more information here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>