Tag: compound

Some celebrating on September 10


September 10 is the birthday of my friend Denece. My father taught me the value of having a Virgo in my life, and Denece and Jim have upheld that tradition. Every year when I think of Denece on her birthday (and send a card that will always get there late, because I have a bad habit of doing that), there are a ton of special things to connect to her. One of the biggest is that she brought yet another Virgo into my life: our dog Margot. Denece is the one who saw Margot’s photo on Twyla’s Friends and told us about her. Since Margot was about a year old when we adopted her in September of 2000, we gave her my father’s birthday (September 16). But I figure she’s special enough to celebrate on Denece’s birthday, too.


In this photo, Denece is squatting between Timmy and me at a signing for I’m Your Man. The photo, taken by my mother’s good friend (and professional photographer) Amber Ratisseau in 2005, is one of a group of photos that are some of my all-time favorites. That was a great signing at Borders with all the TJB writing partners, my mother, and some of our closest friends there.

Happy birthday, Denece, and thanks for all the terrific things you’ve brought to my life.

As y’all know, Friday night is usually Craft Night at The Compound, when sewing, painting, knitting, sketching, and who knows what else may happen. This week, our Friday was even better because a couple of real babes dropped by.


Lila and Hanley. They colored…


…watched a little TV…


and tried to decide who had the better toys.

I had a blast watching them and hanging out with Lynne, Lindsey, Rhonda, Tim, Tom, and the usual dog suspects. Thanks, all, for a great night.

Canine Labor Day Weekend

The dogs told me I’m past due for an update on them. They’re having a good long weekend. Tim isn’t here, so Rex and Pixie have been staying with us. They want everyone to know they’ve been perfect angels.


Pixie and Rex in the Land of Conquered Rope Toys.

The Brides are off doing whatever Ninja Brides do on Labor Day. Something about keeping the beaches safe from oil spills. While they’re away, Sugar is staying with us. At home, Sugar is forced to do hard labor, including keeping her blanket securely attached to the sofa, patrolling the garage for palmetto bugs, and letting her moms know when it’s four a.m. So while she’s here, we allow her to watch countless hours of television.


Rex and Sugar watching Rex-TV.

Because there can never be enough canine happiness at The Compound, I got to have a slumber party in Tim’s apartment with his first foster dog, EZ, whose forever dad was away for a night. I offered to paint her nails, but she said she’d rather watch a movie. So we watched The Birdcage, and EZ laughed in all the right places. When it was over, I picked up my Nook to read, but she seemed to be trying to tell me something. So I took her outside, where I could sense she was just humoring me. Once we went back inside, she did this:


EZ settling inside Pixie’s crate to let me know it’s time for bed.

I gave in and went to bed. We both slept soundly until this morning, when Tom came over to let her out and feed her. Then she took up her perch on the window seat in the bedroom so she could watch the world. In the year she lived with Tim, one of my favorite things was glancing up at that window whenever I was outside to see EZ’s happy face looking back at me. After she was adopted, other foster dogs would visit her perch, but no one ever took up residence there until Pixie came. Pixie is so curious that she has to know everything that’s going on outside, especially the bad behavior of squirrels and Guinness’s hunt and murder of cicadas.

As for Guinness and Margot, here they are displaying their perfect hostess skills:

Happy Labor Day from The Compound!

Some of my Thursday

Seriously, you can’t take me anywhere. Tonight, I was THAT person. I got to Murder By the Book for Dean James’s signing of his new cozy mystery Murder Past Due, written as Miranda James, in time to enjoy some conversation with him and get a hug from Johnnie beforehand. Then I turned the sound off on my phone. Only I DIDN’T! I must have forgotten that vital last step, “Set,” because in the middle of Dean’s story to a VERY good crowd, my dumb cell began to ring. Which meant I had to scramble in my purse and find the thing and turn it off–it took an eternity. Sorry Dean and readers. I’m a moron.

Still, it was a wonderful night, because that’s the only way Murder By the Book knows how to do an event.


David introducing Dean with accolades from other mystery writers.


Kinley and John, two members of the best staff you’ll find at any bookseller anywhere.


Dean had a gratifyingly large audience and a long line to get books signed. In addition to Murder Past Due, he signed his Trailer Park Mystery series (written as Jimmie Ruth Evans), and his short story in the Delta Blues collection. Delta Blues includes well-loved writers (James Lee Burke, John Grisham, Ace Atkins, Charlaine Harris, Suzanne Hudson, Bill Fitzhugh, Suzann Ellingsworth, Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly, Mary Saums, Lynne Barrett, Dean James, Les Standiford, Toni L.P. Kelner, and Carolyn Haines), plus new authors (Alice Jackson, David Sheffield, Nathan Singer, Michael Lister, and Daniel Martine), and contains an introduction by Morgan Freeman. A portion of every book sold will go to Freeman’s Rock River Foundation, an organization that promotes literacy and provides grants to assist schools.

One thing I’ve found concerning recent changes to my health is that I MUST EAT when it’s time to eat or I get…cranky. Very cranky. So I was not amused to get home to find someone’s car blocking the drive into The Compound. A simple phone call and my problem would have vanished courtesy of the HPD’s choice of a tow truck. Instead, through some eel-like maneuvering, I was able to get my car inside the gate. Then I left this poster on the offending vehicle’s windshield:

Something from the garden

This is one of the plants that appears every year on The Compound without any assistance from us. There used to be a bunch of them in the bed where the herbs are now. This past winter wiped them out. So I was happily surprised to see this one come up in a different flower bed. When you rub the leaves, they have a pungent odor, but the flowers have a sweeter scent.

Clerodendrum bungei, or Cashmere Bouquet.
They get much fatter and fuller. Hopefully by next summer we’ll again have a larger population of them.

ETA: Until Mark G. Harris pointed it out, I never noticed the lizard in the flower. When I shot it and even uploaded and cropped it, I was completely focused on the flower. Now I can’t STOP seeing him. The lizard is a photo bomber!