Wednesday’s tree was full of woe


I took this photo in July of 2022 to show the state of our grass after a summer drought. I’ve put a dotted line around the large tree that was about mid-point against the back fence so you can see how green and leafy it was last summer.


A second winter freeze and a second summer of drought left it looking like this.

And this, with a palm, also dead, in front of it.

Then the tree guys came, and the photos tell the story.

It always hurts to lose a tree (the dead palm is gone, too, but I’m not a big fan of palm trees as part of the Hall’s landscaping. We’ve actually had four removed, and another one died after one of our big freezes over the past few years). Several years ago, we let our next-door neighbor take down one of our trees because its roots were invading her water/sewage system. I remember that we did a major pruning of a tree at The Compound, and lost a tree there during a hurricane. But this Hall tree had been so healthy and weathered many storms, until two winter freezes and two summer droughts were more than it could take.

Losing it was sad. And it took so many tree guys and chain saws to cut it all up so it could be moved to the street and hauled away.

I’ll miss having it as part of the view. The birds will miss it, including the crows who I regularly try to engage in conversation. The dogs will miss the camouflage it provided when they explored the back fence area on the hunt for possums, squirrels, maybe a raccoon, and even the occasional cat.

More to come on the state of Houndstooth Hall’s grounds.

Tiny Tuesday!

Today’s post is about a different kind of button from Sunday’s posts. Here to demonstrate is one of my character dolls. Hi, Elle!

This is how the average human-sized shirt button fits in Elle’s palm.


This is how the average craft button I can buy locally fits in Elle’s palm. I’ve used these buttons for doll clothes, and they work great as coat buttons or buttons on purses and other accessories, but the scale is a bit large for shirts and dresses.


Last week, I found a US Etsy account (important because of how I pay and how they ship) that sells 4mm buttons in large quantities at a great price. While this isn’t exactly 1/6 scale (i.e., human to doll size), it’s much closer. I fear actual doll size is best left to the manufacturers of dolls and doll clothes and those companies’ machinery. I have old eyes and arthritic hands, therefore need larger needles to be able to do the job.

But all the colors!

I tried to find poems or songs that somehow use “button(s)” in titles or text, but I wasn’t impressed with my search results. I decided to go with common phrases using the word “button.”

  • Button up! (It’s cold out there.)
  • As easy as the push of a button! (Very easy.)
  • Bright as a button! (Either smart/clever or cheerful/happy.)
  • That’s a hot-button topic. (Don’t talk about religion, politics, money, or within family, anything that will ruin holidays, including flaws related to parenting, marrying/divorcing, keeping and feeding pets, cooking, or drinking.)
  • Button it! (Keep your mouth shut/opinions to yourself.)
  • You’re pushing all my buttons. (By doing or saying all the things I like or dislike. Tone matters.)
  • Cute as a button! (Very cute.)
  • On the button. (That statement or action is accurate.)
  • Press the panic button! (It’s time to take drastic action in response to a situation.)
  • S/he’s got a button nose. (An adorable little nose–like Elle’s!)
  • My boss is very buttoned down. (Stiff, serious, all business.)
  • My company’s culture is very buttoned down. (Conservative, no risks taken.)
  • Hit the button. (Send or start something; end or stop something.)

Can you think of others?

Trees at the Hall

I was worried about a tree at the Hall because it looked like this post-drought.

We constantly get business cards and flyers stuck through our front security fence. I save them for “in case of” times, and this seemed like one of those times. We picked the business that seemed to offer most of what we wanted now or might want in the future for the trees on our property.

Now I have dozens of pictures to show some of what was done, but I’m too tired to compare all the photos I’ve uploaded from my phone and camera. Maybe sometime next week, I can do a few posts that show why several men (and one woman) were here on Thursday and Friday to help us with our trees.

The dogs were not amused by any of these shenanigans.

More to come, but in the meantime, today I did some front porch cleaning that includes Aaron’s Garden. We lost only two small succulents that need to be replaced. In this case, at least, we triumphed over the drought.

something new


Picked up this coloring book the other day because who wouldn’t want to color more kindness into the world? The first page I removed to color also led me to explore something new.

Below is the page, completed with gel pens and colored pencils.

And here’s the information it led me to (as shown left to right, top to bottom of the coloring page), because I wanted to know where all those different words for “peace” originated. You can teach an old dog new things!

“Peace” in languages not English:

שלום – Israel and liturgical, and Yiddish in Israel, USA, Russia, etc.
शान्तिः – India, Nepal
평화 – Korea
Sìth – Scotland
Pace – Corsica, Moldava, Romania, Italy, Switzerland, Scotland, Europe, North Africa, Middle East (extinct)
Frieden – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, Belgium
Heddwch – Wales
Paz – Spain, North and South America, Portugal, Asturias, Caribbean, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau
Paix – France, Belgium, Canada, Caribbean, West Africa, Polynesia
Fred is a word for peace in many countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Greenland) and Frede (Germany, Netherlands), and Fréda (France, Switzerland) but I’m not sure about the font as it’s shown on this page
Síocháin – Ireland
Maluhia – Hawaii
Vrede – South Africa, Netherlands, Belgium
Pokój – Poland, Germany
سلام – North Africa, Mideast, Central Asia, liturgical, and possibly Algeria
和平 – China, Viet Nam, Japan