Tag: houston

I would totally invite her for Survivor night

I went on another outing to Murder By the Book, which as you know is among my favorite places in Houston because it’s not only full of books but good people. In fact, thanks to two of its good people, I’m making progress on a New Novel. Send lots of good energy my way, please.

Enough about me. Today a writer I’ve featured on here before, Leann Sweeney, had a signing at Murder By the Book. Leann is the author of the Yellow Rose mystery series featuring Houston P.I. Abby Rose. I love a good mystery set in Houston, and I’ve been looking forward to Leann’s next book. So I was a little surprised when advance buzz informed me that this was a NEW series: A Cat’s In Trouble Mystery. Was I READY for this? After all, I like Abby Rose. And I’m a dog person. Not that there’s anything wrong with cat.

Today, I got my questions answered. Abby Rose will probably return one day. (Yay!) For now, I get to enjoy new character Jillian Hart, quilter and cat companion who must investigate when one of her three cats–Chablis, Syrah, Merlot–falls victim to a possible catnapper in Jillian’s small South Carolina town. Just as an eager reader would hope, Jillian’s sleuthing uncovers more missing felines and a murder in Mercy.

One of the things I’ve learned about Leann Sweeney is that she enjoys reality television. She likes to watch the dramas unfold and imagine what motives and schemes are going on behind reality TV’s very human faces. I totally get it. I minored in sociology because I’m fascinated by human social behavior. A show like Survivor provides plenty of examples of how our best and worst traits manifest when we try to coexist with others. And after all, a writer’s family can’t provide ALL the material for her books–at least if she wants to keep being invited back for holidays.

I’m really looking forward to reading The Cat, the Quilt, and the Corpse and glad to hear that Leann is already working on its follow-up. I hope Jillian–like Abby Rose before her–manages to outwit, outlast, and outplay the bad guys.

Houston Friends

This is among my favorite days in Houston, one of the biggest “eating out” cities I’ve ever been in, because it’s Dining Out for Life. Participating restaurants give 33 OR MORE percent of the day’s proceeds to AIDS Foundation Houston. Having seen firsthand the way AFH helped my friends, I’m always happy to donate to their organization. Tom donates his time to them every Saturday.

Today, for us, it’ll have to be Taking Out For Life. I have one of my hellish headaches and can’t imagine sitting in a restaurant. I don’t have much of an appetite at the moment, but I think food from Barnaby’s will hit the spot later tonight. Here’s a link for the names of other local restaurants who are part of this effort. Please support them today and all year!

Last year, Houston raised more than $80,000 on this day, and more than $4 million is raised throughout North America yearly. This link will give you the list of the 3500-plus restaurants participating in Dining Out For Life internationally.

Of sneakers and birthdays

Every human at The Compound has been in need of new sneakers (which is what I call tennis shoes and some of you call trainers) for a while. As longtime readers know, Timothy and I don’t like to leave The Compound, much less go OUTSIDE THE LOOP. On Saturday, Tom bravely did reconnaissance for us at one of the outlet malls, where The Brides and Lynne had told us we could find an amazing NIKE store and a CONVERSE store, among other retailers.

Tom’s mission was a success (he’s actually a New Balance guy, but whatever), so on Monday, Timothy and I ventured not only outside the Loop, but beyond the Beltway, and met with equal success. Here’s what I got, among other things:

I never don’t get all-leather tennis shoes, but these are comfortable, so I was willing to give them a chance.

By the time we left, Tim also had several shopping bags. I feel we did our part for April’s retail economy. Because no good deed goes unpunished, we were later pummeled by rain walking between the gym and the car. Cold rain blowing sideways. I thought we were finished with rain by late Monday night, but apparently I was wrong, as a few blocks away from The Compound, sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, an ENORMOUS tree came down and blocked one of the ‘hood’s busiest streets. Flashback to Hurricane Ike. EEK.

Tuesday was the birthday of my late friend Steve R. As I do every year, I made a chocolate cake decorated with Pooh characters. Lindsey and Rhonda came over to help us eat it, while Sugar and The Compound hounds guarded us from leaves on the front porch (a dog has to watch those things; they’re cunning).

It makes me happy each year to celebrate Steve’s life with friends. Even if they never met him, his zest for living and his love of chocolate are great parts of April 28. Also, where else can you hear Rhonda say, “I’m licking Pooh butt?”

Tax day and other things

I’m thinking I might live. I was able to eat two things Friday, plus I went to the gym. Tons of thunderstorms rolled through from the afternoon until nearly midnight. Rex and Margot: not happy. Guinness: thinks eating could be a great cure for foul-weather fears.

Another tax day has come and gone, and even though I didn’t feel so great, I couldn’t resist going to the downtown post office to see the last-minute filers on Wednesday night. However, for the first time ever, I couldn’t get NEAR the post office, even though I left the house well before eleven.

click for photos behind the cut

Today’s theme is: Blue

Bluesday is brought to you by:


My First Ken® from 1991 and Barbie circa 1997.


When I went walking the other day, I shot photos of some of my favorite buildings in the ‘hood. It’s disheartening to realize how many interesting buildings have been torn down to make room for the monolithic eyesores that brought in more traffic, more people who don’t appreciate the quirky, offbeat character of this little pocket of Midtown Houston, and more strain on our infrastructure. (I’m always marveling that a lot that once had to support one basic bathroom, one basic kitchen, and maybe a washing machine, now may serve nine-plus toilets and sinks, three or more dishwashers, three or more washing machines, an outdoor sprinkler system–need I continue?)


When Tom and I were traveling at Christmas, we found this book in the bargain section of a Barnes and Noble in Dayton. I LOVE THIS BOOK. A longtime admirer of Blue Dog, I couldn’t be more delighted with the hundreds of Blue Dog paintings it contains, more than 160 of which have never been previously published in book form. If you (or someone you know) like(s) George Rodrigue’s work in general, or his Blue Dog series specifically, find and buy this funny, haunting little book.


Finally thanks to several really generous and kind friends and family, I got my birthday present. And guess what? It’s NOT like riding a bicycle. Apparently, if you’ve ridden a bicycle for decades, you develop an instinctive sense of balance and movement when you’re turning or climbing or stopping. And that doesn’t translate to a trike. Who knew? So I’m learning again how to ride.

I love the trike; it’s very light and easy to propel. Going forward on a straight road is no big deal. But turns are dicey, and I’ve nearly tipped over a couple of times. I’m sure it’ll happen sooner or later, but I’d rather it be later if it can’t be never. Of course, all of this is complicated by the aforementioned increase in traffic in the ‘hood since I first began riding my bike here back in, I don’t know, ’96?

I promise to wear my helmet and watch for idiots on cell phones who run stop signs, speed through school zones, pull into crosswalks, and whip in and out of parking lots without paying attention to anything smaller than their bigass vehicles. It’ll be an adventure!

This nearly was mine

While mulling over ideas and possibilities and even some outlines of what I want to write next, I feel increased pressure to do something creative for my own well-being. I mentioned a project I’m working on, but I’m not ready to post photos of it yet (though I’m closer after getting some advice from Lindsey and Lynne last night).

I took my camera with me on a walk on Tuesday just in case I saw anything worth shooting. I took a lot of photos, finally realizing that I seemed more interested in textures than anything else. It’s been almost two years since I did any of my small paintings that I sell to give the proceeds to AIDS assistance organizations, and I’m hoping Tuesday’s photos will inspire more paintings.

I threw the photos into a Flickr set and kept it public, though I imagine the photos won’t be of much interest to anyone unless you, too, can be inspired by photos of not much more than texture or color.

The photo on the left is of part of a two-story duplex in the neighborhood. It was one of two places that Tom suggested I see after he did initial legwork when we were in the market for a house fourteen years ago. I never went inside it, because The Compound bungalow was my one-and-only. As soon as I stepped inside the front door, I knew it was meant to be mine. Still, even though I never looked at the duplex, my feelings for it remind me of certain flirtations from my long-ago past: enduring affection for what might have been mine.