Although I have lived long enough to see the beauty of all four seasons, I prefer spring in Texas best.  I began teaching in Abilene, Texas, and I had to travel home along I-20.  The median of the highway had thoughtfully been seeded with lupines of varying colors—pinks, purples, and blues.  I love seeing bluebonnets (lupines or wolf flowers) in bloom during the spring and even bought seed several years back and scattered it into my lawn.  The first two years saw me have a lovely bouquet of the state flower.  Now the blooms are sporaidic but no less beautiful.  I need to take the time to drive to a field of them and snap pictures.  I have never picked them but enjoy their delicate fragrance and blue color as they bless us with their beauty for a few days.  I also have irises in great profusion in my back yard and enjoy seeing them as they bloom in April and early May.  The tall stately yellows are so cheerful as they open, and I find myself outside just soaking up their beauty.  I discovered that my middle school librarian, who works at one of the Plano Public libraries now, is also an avid iris fan.  She and I have exchanged a few rhizomes, and I look forward to seeing our irises bloom.  Now that I think about it, the woman who first introduced me to irises nearly fourteen years ago was a library aide at one of my former campuses.  I would love to find her and show her how they have turned out over the years.  I adore spring!