• Thoughts

    The Place In Between

    There’s this space between deep napping (and this feeling only happens to me during naps) and the moments before being completely awake where little snippets of the past come to me. These moments hit me like rock and are usually filled with emotion, sad mostly because I know those moments are gone. I came home this evening after work fully intending to hit the ground running with a rollerblade around the neighborhood and chores but really I knew I needed a quick snooze. In a semi-deep 15 minute snooze I suddenly awoke thinking about poor Momma, the tortoiseshell cat that was part of the cat colony when we moved in.…

  • Florida

    Muir

    “It was while feeling sad to think that I was only walking on the edge of the vast wood, that I caught sight of the first palmetto in a grassy place, standing almost alone. A few magnolias were near it, and bald cypresses, but it was not shaded by them. They tell us that plants are perishable, soulless creatures, that only man is immortal, etc.; but this, I think, is something that we know very nearly nothing about. Anyhow, this palm was indescribably impressive and told me grander things than I ever got from human priest. This vegetable has a plain gray shaft, round as a broom-handle, and a crown…

  • Family

    Grandad

    This is the last photo I took of my grandfather, William Ralph Whitlock, on June 9, 2012. I didn’t know it then. I’d come up to Fort Worth with the main reason to see my grandparents (my mom’s mom and my dad’s dad) and of course to see the rest of the family too. I hadn’t seen been up there since the first of April and knew it was time for a visit. I only wish I’d made more time that weekend, spent more time sitting with Grandad. Instead I made it a rushed visit, squeezing in after getting a pedicure with my mom, sister in law and niece. Zoe…

  • Gardening

    So. Over. Summer.

    Summer. I’m done with you. You are hot, sticky and well, frankly I wasn’t really able to enjoy you much. I didn’t dip my toes in the water. I didn’t hike. Beach? What beach? I saw a post on a blog the other day that turned the whole “Aww, only one month of summer left” into “YEAH! One more month of summer!” While I do like their optimism, I am wishing it was 20* cooler. As you can see above the garden is in a state of crispness. When I’m averaging once a week or less to the garden of course it turns crispy. I’m always afraid of what I…

  • Thoughts

    My First Experience with TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return)

    When we first looked at our house, Mother’s Day of this year, we saw a couple of cats running around. Two or three, no big deal. Maybe it would be fun to have a yard cat or two. Then once the ball got rolling with the process of purchasing the house I came for the inspection and sat outside on the porch because the owners had decided not to leave while the inspection was going on, choosing to move some things out at the time. While on the porch I noticed a kitten and thought, well, ok, I get a kitten too. I saw a few of the adult cats…

  • Thoughts

    A Few Bits of June

    June came and went and now July is nearly gone. I have not stayed on top of my daily photos but here are some of the ones leftover from June. I’ve seen a handful of these old street posts around our area. And handful meaning two. This one was literally around the block from my last house. Cleetus the donkey—will miss seeing him. Maybe August will be better with the photo documentation.

  • Thoughts

    These Days | July

    I’m sure one day things will calm down and life will be semi-normal, instead of days filled with unpacking, cleaning and getting my head on straight. If I said I didn’t feel overwhelmed in this month I’d be lying. It’s been one big overwhelming thing after another. And while most of it might seem rather innocuous, things begin to wear on you. To the point that watching episode after episode of season 1 of Alias makes things all better. Well. Mostly. Because you know that season 3 will come eventually and that was the crap season. We’ve had two weekends of visitors, the first bringing Chris’ brother Neil and his…

  • Thoughts

    A Whole Lot Of Stuff

    I heard the truck before I saw it, a deep rumbling behind my neighbor’s forested lot. Chris was attempting to organize our storage shed and I’d gone inside to find a towel to wipe off spare flooring pieces that were covered in dirt and various insect bits. I saw the red of the delivery truck first, then the white of the POD storage unit. Immediately a deep sense of wariness came forth and then tears. I would have sobbed if I’d been able to. Our ‘stuff’ was returning to us. On Feburary 13, 2010 we haphazardly threw in the last remaining bits of stuff we wanted to keep, rolled the…

  • Outdoors

    Red On Yellow

    Yes. Yes, this is what you think it is. You can finish the rhyme if you like…kill a fellow. Red on Black, friend of Jack. I was unpacking book boxes with my brother in law’s girlfriend, Jessica, when Chris beckons from downstairs to come outside, quick! I’m expecting an animal but of the cute and furry type. Was a fawn in the yard? Did the kittens do something sweet? So, we barrel down the stairs and around the corner outside to where Chris is standing, pointing to the back side of our storage shed/carport/my art studio building. It was slithering up against the wall. My initial reaction was that of…