Why I Love Europe

Why do I love northern Europe? Because I’m from Texas, the land of barbed wire, mesquite trees, and prickly pear cactus. The beauty of Texas is severe. And some years, there’s no beauty at all.

Photo taken in July, 2011

This year is a dry year. I live in San Antonio, in central Texas, and this year we’ve been getting the kind of rainfall that the desert states get: six and a half inches so far, or 167 mm, and it’s almost September. But that could change overnight. Four years ago, my city received almost fifty inches of rainfall (1200 mm). And I’ve seen it rain over eleven inches (285 mm) in one day.

Thunderstorms, flash floods, tornados, hurricanes, and brush-fires started by lightning strikes: there’s nothing gentle about Texas weather. But drought is the worst of all. I grew up listening to adults worry about their lawns and pets during hot, dry spells. News reports regularly chronicled crop failures and the plight of hungry cattle as the grass shriveled up and the dusty earth baked. I remember as a child watching miserable birds pant in the heat.

Photo taken in July, 2011

This year has been so dry that this doe and her unborn fawn had no chance. Most people love the sunshine, but to this girl from north Texas, too many sunny days in a row means death.

But now my husband has been assigned temporarily to a job near Kaiserslautern, Germany. We get to escape the heat for a while. Kaiserslautern has had more rain in the last six weeks than San Antonio has had in six months. Everywhere I look, I see green.

I intend to make the most of my short time in Germany, and I’ll tell you about some of the interesting things I find here. Welcome to my blog.

Photographs taken July, 2011, in the Texas Hill country. Text copyright 2011 Clare B. Dunkle. Photos copyright 2011 Joseph R. Dunkle.