The Littlest Angel Angela Adams refuses to have anything to do with her unborn baby’s reluctant father—much less marry him! True, her pregnancy was unexpected, but Clint Brady didn’t have to act so dazed when she announced her impending motherhood. And while Clint admits his reaction could have been more enthusiastic, the thought of baby bottles and diaper pins was enough to rattle even a rugged rancher like himself. But now that the shock has passed, nothing is going to come between Clint and fatherhood—not even stubborn Angela! Natural Born Trouble Texan Dani Adams was through with single dads. Never again would she brush away their children’s tears or bandage scraped knees. Instead, she’d care for the sick animals brought to her veterinary practice. She’d find fulfillment—without the heartache. Then sexy single dad Duke Jenkins and his adorable twins moved to town, and he was determined to make Dani his kids’ mother! His soul-searing kisses, warm embraces and his children’s antics are quickly melting her resolve. But is Dani heading for another disappointment…or down the aisle to meet her groom?

This controversial, eye-opening book by Elizabeth McGreevy suggests a different perception of Mountain Cedars (also called Ashe Junipers). It digs into the politics, history, economics, culture, and ecology surrounding these trees in the Hill Country of Texas from the 1700s to the present. Since the 1920s, reporters, writers, scientists, landowners, politicians, and cedar fever victims have characterized the trees as a non-native, water-hogging, grass-killing, toxic, useless species to justify its removal. The result has been a glut of Mountain Cedar tall tales. Yet before the 1890s, people highly respected Mountain Cedars. The Mountain Cedars they reported were large timber trees with strong, decay-resistant heartwood. Most were cut down and sold to boost the young Hill Country economy. The clearcutting of old-growth forests and dense woodlands and the continuous overgrazing of prairies that followed led to mass soil degradation and erosion. Acting as nature's bandage, Mountain Cedars morphed into pioneering bushes and spread across degraded soils. This book tracks down the origins of the tall tales to determine what is true, what is false, and what is somewhere in between. Through a series of revelations, the author replaces anti-cedar sentiments with a more constructive, less emotional approach to Hill Country land management.

A guide to scenic drives through Texas.

Like many Texans, Michael H. Marvins has been making regular pilgrimages to the Hill Country for much of his life. Traveling the back roads of the Texas Hill Country, cameras always poised for action, Marvins has captured the excitement of small-town rodeos, savored the mesquite-smoked atmosphere of local eateries, observed the daily lives of people on the land, and admired the scenic beauty of the landscape and its natural denizens. Most important, he has captured his impressions with the skilled eye of a master photographer. Popular Houston Chronicle columnist Joe Holley opens The Texas Hill Country by highlighting the many qualities that draw Marvins—and so many of the rest of us—to the Hill Country. Next, Roy Flukinger, senior curator of photography at the University of Texas’ Harry Ransom Center, discusses Marvins’s unique photographic vision and the fresh ways in which he helps us see this popular region. But the principal focus in The Texas Hill Country: A Photographic Adventure centers on Marvins’s artful images, inviting readers to share his unique perspectives on this enchanting and popular region. He takes us with him on leisurely backcountry drives and into the laughter and swirl of dance halls. His lens embraces the people, the land, and the culture that keep so many Texans—and would-be Texans—coming back to the Hill Country again and again. The author's proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.

The changing seasons make grandly visible not only nature's recurring miracle of life, death, and rebirth which enfolds and nurtures us all but also the special character of a particular region observed over time, its secret beauties and sudden terrors, the coursing life of the place itself. Jim Bones' magnificent photographic record of a year in the Texas Hill Country chronicles that sequence of natural details which mark the year's passing in a part of Texas many Texans have come to revere as a kind of heartland. Complementing the photographs, John Graves's essay on the region tells the history of the land and those who have lived on it, evoking both the special qualities of the Hill Country and the nature of man's kinship with his soil. Stretching to the north within the curve of the Balcones Escarpment, the Hill Country lies close to the center of the state, but something other than geography engenders the heartland aura. Its carved limestone cliffs, its scrubby eroded hills, its gushing springs and clear-flowing streams and its abundant wildlife hold strong appeal for Texans from more fertile but flatter land east and more spectacular but barren land west. Man's hand upon this earth has not always been gentle, but change has come slowly to the Hill Country. It is rough terrain, not rich enough in soil or minerals to have tempted much exploitation, and this, together with its remarkable varied natural beauty, explains its special power over the heart and mind. Finding unique patterns of the place in the seasonal changes of weather, water, and light, of the land, its plants and its animals, Bones' photographs capture those fleeting phenomena which define the permanent meaning and value of the natural world and reveal the singular charm of this small and relatively undisturbed part of it. His work eloquently affirms a truth too often forgotten in an increasingly mechanized and urban world--that in making peace with nature we make peace with ourselves. Most of the photographs were taken while Bones was resident fellow at Paisano, a 254-acre ranch along Barton Creek that belonged to J. Frank Dobie and now serves as a place where Southwestern artists and writers can live and work. The Dobie-Paisano Fellowship is offered annually by the Texas Institute of Letters and the University of Texas at Austin. A refugee from technical fields more concerned with exploiting than preserving nature.

Texan Dani Adams was through with single dads. Never again would she brush away their children's tears or bandage scraped knees. Instead, she'd care for the sick animals brought to her veterinary practice. She'd find fulfillment—without the heartache. So, darn Duke Jenkins and his adorable twins. The sexy single dad had just moved to town ...and he was determined to make Dani his kids' mother! His soul-searing kisses, warm embrace and his children's antics were quickly melting her resolve. But was Dani heading for another disappointment ...or down the aisle to meet her groom?

Experience the grandeur of the Texas Hill Country through stunning photography and narrative highlighting the natural beauty, scenic wonders, charming historic towns, and cultural heritage of Texas's most celebrated region. Cradled by Austin to the east and San Antonio to the south, the Texas Hill Country is famous for its undulating landscape, where spring-fed streams carve wooded canyons, rugged limestone peaks rise to more than 2,500 feet, and country roads wind through rolling grasslands and wildflower meadows. Captured beautifully in 153 color photos, view this beautiful region through the eyes of Texas-native photographer and author Eric W. Pohl. Join him on an intimate visual journey, leaving behind the freeways and big cities to reveal out-of-the-way places and explore the true heart of Texas.