Tag: Houndstooth

Photo Friday, No. 896

Current Photo Friday theme: Pandemic

On the Photo Friday site, when they gave the theme, they asked these questions: What subjects captivated your attention? Did the pandemic influence your photography?

Below is why I chose a current “selfie” as my photo.

The pandemic made my world smaller. Prior to the shutdown, I had a career that kept me busy 10 to 14 hours a day. Part of my volunteer work for that organization involved shooting photos of rescued dogs, cats, the occasional pig, and a few other surprising creatures, three times a week. I had plans to transition out of my volunteer photography for them so I could travel more in 2020. But early in the year, the organization laid off a majority of the staff, including me, because of the pandemic. Like many others, I quarantined. I didn’t travel. I adjusted to life without the income from the paying part of my job and without the coworkers who inspired me. My world became what was around me, so that’s what I photographed: my home, family who lives on the same property, and our dogs. I found ways to photograph my hobbies (collecting dolls, listening to music, reading, journaling, painting, homemaking, blogging), and my passion: writing fiction.

When the pandemic shifted in 2021 and the world began opening up, other than seeing more friends, not a lot changed because I decided to retire. I still don’t travel. I haven’t been bothered by the slow march of lines up and down and across my face. I didn’t care when my hair, that for twenty years had its roots colored brunette, and later to strands of brunette and blonde, became gray and white during the pandemic. I’m grateful to be here and for all that I have. I try to adapt to and deal with the challenges. I still mostly photograph what’s around me.

They got a name for the winners in the world


Delta, side-eyeing me and speaking for the pack: “We will not be moving from the heater or taking questions at this time.” I think Delta has recently been reading over my shoulder while I was writing.

Below is my writing playlist for the day, and Steely Dan had me so mellow that I might as well have been stoned. Gwen Stefani got me back to the manuscript! The Steely Dan shown here is a collection, but I’m very sure that a million years later, if someone brought in the albums Can’t Buy A Thrill or Aja, I’d be able to sing along, every word to every song. Music memory’s a funny thing.


Smashing Pumpkins, 2-CD set, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness; Steely Dan, The Definitive Collection; Gwen Stefani, Love, Angel, Music, Baby.

So much good music, but school loyalty mandates that I link to the tune I’ve chosen. Roll Tide, and we’ll miss you, Coach Saban. I was there for some of the Bear Bryant years, and you, too, became a coaching legend. Tip of the houndstooth hat to you.

Midweek

Nothing clever to say, no anecdotes, no reminiscences. Very little writing done, but I tried. Replaced a couple of small broken kitchen appliances. Was VERY happy our frozen hot water line thawed with no damages that Tom can find. The cold has abated somewhat.

Dogs just wanna get warm.

Or watch TV with Tom.

Happy birthday to somebody I still like to think about and remember. Something you once said to me is engraved on my heart in a way that will always delight me. Also, you had a nickname for me, and I may let one of my characters use it for another character.

Happy Caturday!


I don’t have cats, but in solidarity with those who do, I thought I’d dedicate part of today’s post to cats. Mainly because Debby gave me this cool Haunted Cat Tarot deck for Christmas. Any particular card you’d like to see?

When I took her to an appointment earlier in the week, I took this coloring book with me.

I’d already torn a page out of it at some point, and I decided to color that one. But I wasn’t sure how to color it, so I looked up various wild cats and found this one to inspire me.

Here’s how it turned out.

What I do have is dogs. The other day, after a frantic round of digging, which she isn’t supposed to do, Delta apparently found somebody’s last marble.

It’s all cleaned up and put with the other marbles now.


Meanwhile, Anime had dental surgery yesterday morning, and she’s had a miserable two days. She started drinking water again sometime around noon today, and this evening, she took some meatballs (canned dog food rolled around her regular meds and her pain med). She’s finally stopped dripping blood from her mouth and is overall a lot more comfortable tonight. Through it all, she’s been very sweet and stoic, so clearly it wasn’t her last marble Delta found.


The tree has been stripped and all the ornaments and decorations have been put away.

Except we have to find the bin that has the box that my vintage Holt Howard angel goes in. Meanwhile, I posed her with an appropriate old Southern novel that I haven’t read in decades and probably should read again.

Sometimes when I get really busy, I forget to eat. When tonight’s light meal of a BLT, half an apple, and some potato chips seemed ridiculously good, it occurred to me that I’d only eaten yogurt with the water and coffee I drank today. It was a good sandwich, though.

A chilled out hump day

Had another bout of insomnia last night but still woke up early. I took a nap later, and this always interferes with any plans I might have made for the day that require focus. Did a little more toward Christmas un-decorating, spent time outside with the dogs and cleaning their “gifts” out of the backyard (tomorrow being trash day), and then I decided to try to identify the other three new-to-me dolls that came via Lynne.

Don’t know if it’s my tired brain, but I can’t say I’m confident about who the dolls are. I have some queries out to other doll collectors on Flickr, but in the meantime, here’s a fun photo I shot of them.


Ken has what’s often called the “Alan face mold,” it having been used first for friend doll Alan, maybe in 1990, and later used for around twenty-six Ken dolls (several of which I own). Then a modified version was used for another nineteen dolls (and yep, I own some of them, too).

The doll’s head doesn’t fit comfortably on the articulated body, and if this hadn’t come from a child’s collection, I’d think it was a collector-modified doll. However, there was in fact a doll that both had this head mold and posable arms and legs, and that’s the 1994 Hot Skatin’ Ken. The year fits, so I’ll accept Hot Skatin’ Ken for him. I kind of wish I had his original outfit. I’ve dressed him in some nice jeans, a pair of white sneakers, and a shirt I made. Looks like he and his friends are going to a block party where he’ll be forced to play guitar. I wonder if he plays as well as he skates.


Right now, my best guesses on these two are (white earrings) 1996 Valentine Fun Barbie or 1997 Shopping Time Walmart Special Barbie, and (red earrings) 1996 Valentine Romance Barbie. I cleaned up their hair disasters with a shampoo and conditioner, took the hair shears to some of the frizz and messy ends, and, as shown in the top photo, found clothes for them from the Doll Closet. Those are Mattel 1962 Fashion Pak gathered skirts. I guess the Barbies wanted to go a little retro. Then they sassed up their looks with a couple of midriff-baring tops and cute heels. They’re taking little dog Chicago with them so he can sing along with Skatin’ Ken.

What a party!

Tiny Tuesday!

Post-holiday, as things around Houndstooth Hall begin to get back to normal, it’s time to put away all the Christmas decorations. I’ll start today, but I have no deadline, no pressure.

Usually, at the beginning of the holiday season, one of the first photos I blog is my annual Wallace silver (plated) sleigh bell purchase.


I did get one this year, but I ordered it later than usual, which meant Tom hung the garland later than usual, and I forgot to photograph it before it went up.


It’s always a happy part of our decorations.

This collection began when I received my first sleigh bell from an employer in 1992. The tradition continued through 1995, but I was laid off in ’96. Amy still worked there, and she gave me her sleigh bell that Christmas. Beginning in 1997, I purchased each year’s sleigh bell myself. One year, I decided to find and purchase a previously-owned sleigh bell for 1988, the year Tom and I married.

This year, I found an online seller who had other years’ sleigh bells at a reasonable price. So I treated myself.


Those are the sleigh bells from 1989, 1990, and 1991. This means I now have a sleigh bell from every year we’ve been married, plus one duplicate year from Laura and Jess.

I don’t have any desire to collect back to 1971, the year this series began. Much as I love them, the collection isn’t about the sleigh bells as much as about our years together, our friends and family through the years, and the changes that have shaped our lives. I’ll continue the tradition to celebrate all those things, people, and dogs in future years.

ETA: Just got them off the garland and shot all 36 that were up. This year, some of them are definitely going to need polishing before being returned to storage.

Final ETA: Post-cleaning and polishing all 37. They are so shiny!

Just Jack, being himself


Christmas Eve, while Tom and I were busy in different parts of the house, this little miscreant realized a dining room chair pulled out from the table was a perfect opportunity, and he always has motive. A few minutes later, Tom spotted him on the couch in the office with foil near his mouth. The kind of foil that would be on Hershey’s Chocolate Bells if the chocolate bells weren’t in Jack’s stomach (along with the rest of the foil). First Tom induced regurgitation of chocolate, then he called the emergency vet (because it’s always at night and most certainly a weekend, and BONUS points if it’s Christmas Eve).

But they were helpful and advised us to first call the ASPCA Poison Control Hotline and get a case number started and after the hotline had all the details, they’d advise on whether Jack needed to go to the ER.

Tom gave all the info to a really great staffer; we were told what to do over the next few hours and what to watch for; and the end of the story is that Jack was fine, and we just lost sleep and peace of mind for about twelve hours. Foolish dog.


Today, I spent a lot of time updating my doll inventory in this Moleskine. It can be a laborious process, because though I do try to photograph any dolls as they come in, I don’t always get all their details down (the model of doll, the year released, the source of the doll, etc.). Since more dolls came to me at Christmas, I knew I should put aside some time and get things up to date. I photographed new dolls since my last inventory push (I think in July?), then I printed black-and-white photos of everything new and added their details to the inventory.

During that process, my laptop and printer stopped communicating, and at one point, Tom and I were both in the office trying to figure it out. When I returned to the sanctuary to get back on my laptop, Jack had maneuvered his way through the gate, where he was next to a doll. A new doll. A cute little teenage doll with flat feet who was wearing a cute pair of pink sandals. Was wearing, because one of the sandals is missing. Again, Jack is back to going outside on a leash with a flashlight on him tonight and into tomorrow, until we see that mangled pink sandal and know he’s okay.

I finally finished updating the doll inventory, despite leaving one out and having to print it and the printer being difficult again. Then I was putting everything away and promising I would not publish the total number of dolls I have (and a certain family member who lives far away and I talked for over an hour today on the phone, and she said IT’S FINE, I’M FINE) when I noticed a shallow container about twice the width of a shoebox and wondered, What the heck is in that?

Well, here is what was in that: uncounted, unphotographed, unresearched.

Lynne rescued these from her friend Margret, whose children had outgrown them, and brought them to me a few weeks back (along with another red Barbie car like the one Nurse Lisa gave me years ago, and maybe something else, I can’t remember, I’m tired). The dolls are a mess because they’ve been loved, and all dolls are welcome here. They’ll get cleaned up and their hair groomed. Their faces are all familiar to me, and despite not knowing their original fashions while in the box, I’ll have a relatively easy time connecting them to their decade and possibly exact year. That middle doll is almost certainly Barbie’s friend Teresa, and she’s missing half an arm, bless her heart, and the Ken head I’ll have no trouble identifying, but it’s very unlikely that’s his original body.

This is actually a fun part of dolls, figuring out who they are. They’ll continue to be loved here. And kept away from Jack.

Tiny Tuesday!

After hearing some other people’s nightmarish travel stories, I’m very glad we were all safe and sound at Houndstooth Hall yesterday. We had a quiet dinner, a frenzy of gift opening, and some fun surprises all around.

Here are a couple of small things that will make for good times and convenience.

Tom got me a Barbie coloring book. This will be a lot of fun.

I have a portable pencil carrier given to me by Lindsey and Rhonda a few years back. It has often been a lifesaver when I have long wait times for appointments–my own and those of other people I’ve driven places.

Debby found me an additional pencil case, this one with a capacity for more pencils.

I was able to empty several unopened boxes of pencils that have been waiting in the wings for empty slots to come open. You’ll also see a lot of very used pencils here that I replaced in the other portable case.

Lots of room for more!

In the last section, I’ve put some neons, some flesh colors, some white/gray/black, and a set of glowy pencils. Those white sticks are extra erasers that can be used in the red eraser holder pictured.

Great creativity comes in small packages. =)

Mood: Monday

The End of Dinner
oil on canvas, 1913
Jules Alexandre Grün, France

This painting appealed to me, because I never went to the beginning of a party that looked this alluring, and this is the end of one. We can all magically imagine ourselves into better places, better times, better company. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, whether this is one of the good years or one of the hard ones, I hope you know you’re an essential and loved part of someone’s world, even when it doesn’t seem that way. Be gentle to yourself.

Our Christmas dinner and opening of gifts happens tonight. It’s also Tom’s birthday. Here are a couple of shots of the tables, ready for the festivities.

Button Sunday

If you have any or even all of the following traits, the BatPack wishes you the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of your dreams!

  • A love of naps
  • Big ears
  • Sweet eyes
  • Eagerness for a meal or a snack
  • A tendency to worry out loud at the sound of a doorbell, a delivery, or a car’s beep
  • A love/hate relationship with a crate
  • Toes that smell like Fritos
  • A committed relationship with a tennis ball
  • A talent for burrowing under blankets, sheets, and pillows
  • A wagging tail
  • An aversion to the sound of a smoke detector
  • The ability to stretch to cover an entire chair, couch, or bed many times your size
  • The keen sense to hear any food container (dish, bag, wrapper, lid) opening several rooms away while simultaneously not hearing “no,” “this isn’t for you,” “drop it,” and “shutupshutupshutupshutup”
  • A belief that next time, you’ll get that squirrel
  • Certainty that an ear rub is a peak experience
  • Equal certainty that a bath is not a peak experience

Any of these makes them feel they are one with you.