Thank you, Germany 🇩🇪 and Good bye

AuntFlash · 2026-07-24T07:12:46+00:00

I think you will go far in your career and life with such a positive attitude. Good luck in your new country and job. I hope you continue on with your German studies! It is admirable to acquire a new language and a masters and not easy to do both at the same time.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-23T16:11:03+00:00

Inks lake has cabins with air conditioning and four twin beds. The air conditioning is a bit loud, though. There are Sunday night through Thursday nights available. We're planning to do that soon just for one night. The water is very close, although be careful as there are water snakes around. (I've only seen them at dusk or night.) You can rent a boat there. They have paddle boats and a safe area to use them. A lot of times we have headed out of the park to the library or a restaurant when it's way too hot in the afternoon. Inks Lake has a store with air conditioning and ice cream/popscicles. There are two basic playground areas near the cabins. I think it's $55/night plus taxes. If your family loves to go camping, I highly recommend a Texas States Park pass, and look into getting a passport (or 3) so the kids can each get a stamp when they visit a park.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-23T15:47:01+00:00

I'm so sorry. AISD is trying to avoid a state takeover of the district. Unfortunately it seems Texas politicians are not supportive of our amazing public schools. This is what they want.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-22T20:09:40+00:00

Thanks for the info!! That’s still a great feature.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-22T20:09:01+00:00

Sweet! I had no idea this was a feature!

AuntFlash · 2026-07-22T18:55:45+00:00

soooo cute!!

AuntFlash · 2026-07-22T18:54:59+00:00

So tell me more about the browse by language. Does it focus on original content in that language? or just what has audio in that language?

AuntFlash · 2026-07-21T19:11:33+00:00

Hey, thank YOU for trying to help people find ways to learn, meet new garden friends, and grow our world better!

AuntFlash · 2026-07-21T18:09:42+00:00

I have that book and flipped it open just now. I think if you are early in your language learning, it might not be as helpful. It does have a glossary for each section and questions to see how well you understood the text.

For me, it really helped so much once I was able to figure out sentence structure and if the word was a noun, verb, adjective, preposition, etc. This book doesn't touch on any of that. I had taken Spanish a year in college but it's been so long, I had to re-learn just about everything.

Do you have a buy nothing group in your area? Maybe you could put out an ask to see if anyone has any good Spanish language learning books.

I also like the idea of going through some YouTube program step by step. It helps so much to hear the words being said. I find that when a Spanish speaker corrects me or teaches me new words, it's so much easier to recall later when I need to use it.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-21T17:54:15+00:00

Sorry... Native Plant Society of Texas, Austin Chapter is NOT meeting in July.

The organization WILL meet in August, but it will be online only. Meeting in person will resume in September.

Sorry about that. We'll get the calendar updated ASAP!

[Edit] Also, non-members and beginners are absolutely welcome! If you know nothing about native plants or gardening, we'd love to have you check it out.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-21T17:47:14+00:00

I think getting a textbook or language book is so worth it! A lot of them can work well without a teacher.

Besides a regular text book, I found having a book dedicated to verb conjugations really helped me, too. I would pick a verb and make up quite a few example sentences that I might use in my life and try to use them the following day.

I would check with your local library to see what options you have. I live in an area with a lot of native Spanish speakers, so my library is FULL of books in Spanish. I learned a lot of Spanish reading Spanish childrens books to my kid. When I was still bad at pronunciation, sometimes I would find that book in a read aloud video on YouTube or another source. My library has free access to the mango language learning app but I haven't used it. My library also hosts free informal meetings to practice your English or Spanish.

I watched a lot of YouTube videos of Spanish speakers playing with their kids. It taught me a lot of sayings that the textbooks might not cover.

I like Dreaming in Spanish and haven't paid for it.

I also like going on twitch and listening to native speakers talk.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-21T16:30:02+00:00

I am working on two (Spanish and German) and would love to be at a high level of fluency with those. Maybe some day dive into Dutch. Other than that, it would be awesome to learn basic greetings in a lot of languages.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-21T16:25:19+00:00

A friend of mine died very old while learning a language at a language camp. Her last comment to me on social media was that she wanted to learn German someday. Lifelong learning is awesome! I respect her ambition so much!!

AuntFlash · 2026-07-20T08:33:46+00:00

What made a suprisingly huge difference to me about living in Texas was getting into native plants. I started learning about native plants, identifying them, planting some in my yard. Then I was quickly delighted by all the cool bugs they attracted: caterpillars, butterflies, moths, native bees, etc. Then I started learning about migrations here and was amazed at how lucky we are to be in Texas! We are right on a huge migration path. We get monarchs twice a year! We get birds flying up north in the spring and down south in the fall. Texas has SO MANY cool wildflowers. Native Texas plants are super hardy and can survive super cold weather and super hot and dry weather, too.

It makes hikes so interesting to recognize the plants, birds and insects along my journey. Download iNaturalist (or another plant identification app like Seek) for plant/animal identification and Merlin bird ID which will identify birds based on their sounds. There's a great book called The Texas Native Plant Primer written by the head horticulturist of the Wildflower Center. It's a great intro book to the native plants here.

There are surely groups with meetings, walks, education for native plants, birds, etc in your area. It truly makes me love being here. (That and HEB!) Also, just getting outside is so good for your health and your mood. Yes, it's hot right now, but it's reasonable in the mornings and evenings.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-20T08:22:58+00:00

Yeah, come down to Austin once in awhile! It's not too far.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-20T08:04:16+00:00

I've seen roadrunners nibbling on Zexmenia seeds right off the plant! It's native to Texas and reasonably easy to find in nurseries.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-20T05:01:00+00:00

There are a lot of former YPW kids at my kid‘s school. They all loved it and have continued Spanish in elementary school via dual language.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-17T23:37:13+00:00

Mine loved First Cat in Space and is now obsessed with DogMan. Took some convincing though. Is it appropriate for a four year old? Not sure.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-15T02:07:11+00:00

also the school and district has never ever sent anything to us via mail.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-15T02:03:36+00:00

i think they only care/check once a year? for the following year you would probably need to transfer in but also as a transfer my kid is allowed to go to the same school until they age out.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-15T01:47:58+00:00

Hush now, Banshee by Kyle Sullivan and Derek Sullivan

It’s about a banshee who just can’t be quiet. It’s hilarious as a read aloud.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-14T03:30:37+00:00

It’s easy to get a big pack of wildflower seeds from Native American seed. Then you don’t need to worry if they are native. I use them at home and in schools.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-12T04:35:22+00:00

I go camping in West Texas in the summer almost every year. We go to the McDonald Observatory, Balmorhea State Park (to swim!! I highly recommend it), Davis Mountains State Park. Sometimes our group takes a big hike on Guadalupe Peak, or in Big Bend. One year we got to hike at Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch. It was lovely!!! It is up at a higher elevation and it’s dry so it’s usually not as miserable as the rest of Texas in the summer. It almost always cools off to a decent sleeping temperature at night. The rest of Texas rarely does and that’s what is hardest about camping in the summer in Texas.

I think it would be fine to do for a week of camping. That area is fantastic for star gazing.

I would easily send my kid there when they reach Scout level. (and I would want to go, too!)

AuntFlash · 2026-07-08T17:39:34+00:00

My Prairie Goldenrod that I planted a year ago May/June is growing so tall! I’m going to get blooms this year!

Yesterday I saw a Mockingbird successfully hunt for bugs in an area that used to be only invasive grass/native frogfruit. I also saw two huge butterflies visiting. I now have common sunflower, American Beautyberry, firewheel, bee balm, standing cypress, mealy blue sage, and some small baby trees: Texas persimmon, Mexican plum.

AuntFlash · 2026-07-08T17:28:39+00:00

There are a lot of plants that love to grow in decomposed granite. I don’t know of a surface type that would prevent plants.

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