Tag: dogs

Sunday Sundries

For whatever reason, I’m dragging today. Maybe I do know the reason. I couldn’t fall asleep last night for anything. I tossed and turned for a couple of hours, repositioned a couple of dogs several times, and finally gave up and changed rooms so I wouldn’t disturb everyone else. I wasn’t even thinking of anything to keep me awake or make me afraid to fall asleep. It just wasn’t happening.

But I promised unicorns, and unicorns it shall be. I’ll begin with this little dish that rests on my dresser. No memory of where it came from, but the only thing I’ve ever dropped in it is that magic token. If that’s not an apt description for a unicorn, what is?

The Unicorn Wishes set came with a unicorn, a mat to stand on, four scenic backdrops, and a book.

The unicorn is petite, but surely full of good vibrations. I’ll call her Wishes. And promptly forget her name. (One of many reasons this site exists: to be the Info Repository for my brain.)


I imagine I picked up this beauty at a craft or art supply store when I needed a unicorn for a photo shoot. Maybe during the Katnip series. Too lazy to search! I’ll call her Flower. Today, I used her to text birthday wishes to my friend Kathy: Making Me Laugh Since 1977 ™, including over the last few days.

Does this boy have a name? I don’t remember, but as of this writing, he’ll be named Secret. He has one. It’s harmless.


Now back to this, the OFFICIAL coloring book of The Magical Unicorn Society. Not to be confused with those fake coloring books, societies, and whatnots. This book gives an account of the different types of unicorns: the Gold Unicorn and the Silver Unicorn; the Mountain Jewels; the Water Moons; the Woodland Flowers; the Desert Flames; the Ice Wanderers; the Storm Chasers; and the Shadow Nights.

I colored a Shadow Night in July of 2020, and a scene with two Woodland Flowers in Sept/Oct 2020. As I mentioned yeseterday, I’ve kept the pages in the book, because of how it’s arranged by different unicorn groups and provides history. Which you know is all accurate because it’s from The Magical Unicorn Society. No naysayers need pop off like this is some silly made-up thing. This comes right from Unicorn canon.


Since I’d already colored the first two pages of the first section in the book, the Gold and the Silver Unicorns, back in April of 2022, I decided over the past couple of days to continue through the book in order. According to the history, these were the very first unicorns, born thousands of years ago, thanks to the misbehavior of another of Earth’s inhabitants, a Winter Dragon.

Maybe this fellow who’s been living in the toy chest since he was captured to put on a birthday cake is a Winter Dragon.

This malcontent attacked a pair of horses and chased them through a magical waterfall.

The waterfall transformed the horses into the Gold Unicorn and the Silver Unicorn. The two of them appear on the Magical Unicorn’s Society’s official crest. They represent power and prestige and are matched with the symbols of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.

The Magical Unicorn Society Official Coloring Book is for sale from multiple sources. If you or someone you know loves unicorns and coloring, I highly recommend it.

Another place, another time


Below is a page I colored last Friday and Saturday. It’s from the Sweden section in The Look coloring book. Two friends are walking the dog in Stockholm. This one’s in honor of a dear friend who lives in Sweden and of whom I was thinking while I colored.

I’ve named this dog Sabi (she’ll know why). Sabi’s a social media influencer who loves being the center of attention. He’s very big in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In fact, he paid for everything they’re wearing and their cell phones. Good dog! (Note: He would be a good dog even without his earning power. All dogs are good dogs, including complicated Jack.)

(And look, Mark–another zebra crossing!)

Sunday Sundries


Taffy, who appears to be a golden retriever, tries to look innocent about where that hole came from, but the dirt on her nose and the fact that at least one of her pals seems to be pointing at her, gave her away. (All of these are Mattel dogs.) (ETA: I changed out this photo because I realized in this one, in the upper left, there’s a sliver of Delta watching from a distance. Who can’t have any cake because of the chocolate. Oh, the bitterness.)

That’s a cake I made to celebrate the 1.5-year May birthdays of Timothy and Rhonda. It was in May that our crazy weather and power outages began. Since then, several of us have dealt with sickness, some have traveled, and Lindsey and Timothy have had crazy busy work schedules. Today became the day we could finally all gather: Rhonda, Lindsey, (their dog Pepper), Timothy, Debby, Tom, and me for much needed friend time. Among us, we contributed “finger foods”: queso and chips, puff pastries with fig preserves and brie, chicken wings with three dipping sauces, tuna salad for petite sandwiches, fresh raw vegetables and fruits, turkey sausages, artichoke and jalapeño dip with crackers, guacamole, and hummus and pita chips. I didn’t take any photos except of the cake, though I did catch the two (May) birthday celebrants as we sang “Happy Birthday” to them.


It was lovely to be with friends again and to talk honestly and openly about how we’re all feeling and reacting right now. Our connections are important and to be cherished.


This is the book I colored from back in October of 2022. I think I posted it on Instagram but never on here. If you squint at the page I colored, you may be able to see how, for the framed pieces on the mantel, I chose to copy Rothko postcards that I own.


I thought Mr. Reynolds might be lonely, so I chose a different coloring book I found last year at, I think, Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts, to color a page to go opposite Ryan’s in my sketchbook. Is Mr. Reeves one of the best souls on the planet? Sometimes it seems that way. I found photos online of him in one of his kitchens at some time or another, and used a few of the details for my choices as I colored.

A cozy day reading with Ryan next to a fire in the library, or watching Keanu prepare a meal, sounds like a good time–though I’m content with how I spent my Sunday: good friends, family, dogs, and food.

words for today

I will now get to learn how to manage depression and anxiety. I’ll be seriously curtailing my online time. This morning, I read the social media post of a personal friend. He’s a really good human. A gay man. Gifted. Smart. Compassionate. He was being encouraging to people who feel wounded by the election results. Reminding his readers to take the long view, knowing there are still ways we can make our world a better place for ourselves and the marginalized. There was nothing hateful in his words. Nothing objectionable. But his comments began filling up with people mocking him, verbally attacking him. Gloating. Even low-key threatening him.

I’m sure he’s not surprised. I’m not surprised.

I’ve never tolerated hatefulness on this blog since I began it in 2004. I will ask you do not comment here or speak to me elsewhere and tell me ALL [fill in the blank with whatever descriptor you identify as] are not like that. I know. I’ve been around a while. I’m not the one making hateful generalizations. In so many places in my life, I have to choose my words and remain kind with people I know, people who are friends and family members, who vote in ways that literally threaten the health, peaceful and full life, and happiness of people I love. Their choice.

But never try to justify to me that chaos, division, demonizing, mendacity, and mental, emotional, and physical cruelty are okay. Hide yourself in a cloak of something abhorrent to me, and know that even then, I will listen, for a while, anyway, to all the things you say and all the things you don’t even realize you say, and the only, ONLY, point when we are done is if you begin to insult and demean me or the ones I love. If you don’t like me, respect me, or love me, for who I am, step off. Find a better way to fill your time than wasting it on me. (I have people in my life who build me up. Who comfort me. Who started bright and early this morning sending messages of love and commiseration, and the reminder that I can breathe with them. We can speak frankly whether we’ve been friends since we were eighteen, or since 1989, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’97, 2005, 2007, 2011, or 2015, I’m there for them. They’re there for me. We connect in so many ways.) To them (or you if you need to hear it) I say:


And to the others of you…
If your candidate won, celebrate. Sit at home with a big smile on your face; have some champagne. Crack a beer. Grill your favorite meat. Call or gather with your likeminded friends and repeat all the things you’ve been saying out loud since 2016. Actually, since 2008. You’ve gotten what you wanted. You’ve taken the White House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, (as of this writing, the jury’s still out on the House), and you’re already anticipating how all your “enemies” will be punished, controlled, vanquished. Do that instead of traveling social media and finding the accounts of strangers (and celebrities, because they are your very favorite targets) to pester them. Go and live the idyllic life you’ve been promised.

Today, I’ve spent lovely hours with my dogs. (Starting at about 4:30 am, when they began nudging Tom and me to GET UP. He took them out but then made them come back to bed and wait for breakfast.) They’re all a little crazy in all their different ways, but they have so much love to give. I don’t mean to aspire to craziness when I try to be more like them. It’s just a bonus, I guess. I showered, dressed, left the house to wash my car (the weather is lovely), make a bank deposit, and grab Starbucks.

My heart hurts. I want to be nice to myself. I’m not sure if I have the focus to write. There’s so much I’m unsure about. But I sure am grateful for the love in my life. I’m grateful for the values and strength I was given by my family, and the family I’ve made since. I feel far away from and lonely for many of them, but I also feel the love. Thank you.

Tiny Tuesday!

I’m keeping a running account of moments in this day. Will I post it? If you’re reading it, I guess I did. I think I got maybe six hours of sleep last night? I always look at the time stamps of the last things I did on my computer or phone to recall my “lights out” moment, though that doesn’t really indicate when I fell asleep.

Up well before six, dogs not having heeded the time change memo, I quietly doom-scrolled on my phone for a bit. The last things I saw last night were some of the thousands of messages from women all over the world expressing their love and solidarity for the women in the U.S. on this election day. Their words were profoundly moving. In my morning news feed, I read that all U.S states except Alaska and Kentucky are in drought–just as I heard the sound of thunder, promising more of the much-needed rain we’ve been getting over the past few days.

Among my early morning activities are the online games I play for later comparison to Tim and Jim’s game results. One that only I play (though sometimes Tom does) is Spelling Bee, and I got what I thought were two difficult-level pangrams. I told Tom maybe I should stop after my success and play no more games today. =) He was busy trying to put an “I Voted” sticker on the top of Jack’s head. I suspected that would prove less successful than my Spelling Bee results.

I was wrong. Tom posted this on his Instagram account.

I showered and washed my hair; have had the dogs outside a few times. For Tiny Tuesday, I’m wearing a few of my favorite necklaces: one with heart-shaped, good-energy stones; one with brass musical charms; one with amethyst and quartz crystal pendants; and a wave-and-whale-tail ceramic pendant.

I’ve eaten fairly nutritiously today and taken my meds on time. Blood pressure and blood glucose all good. Tom picked up protein-packed takeout on his way home from work. (I’ve read protein can help regulate stress responses.)

And I have written. And written. The imaginary world is stressful, too, with characters in conflict and many unknowns ahead, but I’m sure it’ll all turn out okay. I’d like to take that attitude into real life.

And now I wait, with everyone else. Hours? Days? Unless something extraordinary happens, and then I may add to this post.

Sunday Sundries

Friday, I purged our living room bookcases. I set aside around 120 books to rehome.


A few are paperback cozies that I took to various Little Free Libraries in or near our neighborhood on Saturday. Do you spy Jack on the right in the above photo?

The rest, Tom will box and take to a reseller. I doubt I’ll get any money for them, but they need to move on to new readers. I listed the titles so that if Jim and Tim want me to hold any of them back for them, I will.


A lot of those books are nonfiction, particularly related to the early years of HIV/AIDS. Maybe if people had read some of them, they’d have a better understanding of so much that happened with COVID. It’s called “woke” to think we should learn what science, medicine, sociology, and human experience can teach us from our history. I think it’s funny that “woke” is used as a pejorative.

Mostly, there’s a lot of great fiction in those stacks. The ones I love most I’ve read more than once; they’re only collecting dust here. They deserve to find new readers.

I also needed the shelf space–too many books were crammed in. They’re better arranged now (still divided by genre, and the two bookcases on the right changed very little). Tom adjusted a couple of shelves to make them look more uniform. Here’s how they are now.

I know I need to do this for the library shelves, too, but those contain literature, classics, and books I know I won’t get rid of for the foreseeable future. There’s really not a lot to rehome.

Little Free Library visits on Saturday:

Easiest for me to get to, but it’s often full, so I mostly use it when I have a single book to drop.
This one isn’t in great shape, but those LFLs may need books even more.
A return visit from when I spotted it a few days ago, only this time, I left books.
I love “The Giving Tree” theme.
This is probably the LFL drop I use the most because I know the person who installed it.
Couldn’t resist leaving some good books at this Astros-themed LFL.

“Sharing”

When I was a young child, and someone would visit our family with their children, I never wanted those children to go to my room. I didn’t want them to touch my toys. When I got a lecture from my mother about sharing, I wailed back at her, “But they always break something!” I didn’t have that many toys to start with. Also, it’s to be remembered that a girl down the street from one of our houses (Army; we moved a lot) stole both my teddy bear and one of my baby dolls. I got the teddy bear back, but never recovered the doll.

Anyway, I hope you can see this reel from Instagram that showed up in my feed this morning. I completely understand this dog.

Sunday Sundries


If I read anything over the next week, I plan for it to be a reread of Mary O’Hara’s wonderful series. I first read a condensed version of My Friend Flicka as a kid, and my mother owned a copy of the third in the series, Green Grass of Wyoming. I think I was able to check out and read Thunderhead from the University of Alabama library when I was a student. I treasure this collection of library bound hard copies. If my memory is right, I had help getting them from my friend Steve V, who worked at a Houston independent bookstore (Detering Book Gallery) that helped customers find and acquire rare or long out-of-print books.

I’m putting the most recent musical homage photos from my Instagram feed behind the cut. There are some fun recollections, or if nothing else, the photos offer an interesting look at some of the T-shirts at Houndstooth Hall belonging to Tom, Timothy, and me. =)

Continue reading “Sunday Sundries”

Early* Saturday post

*early as in 12:30 AM

I haven’t gotten done some of the things I wanted to this week. When I was taking care of at least a few of those things during Thursday errands, I spotted these on my way home.


A Little Free Library. Even skeletons like to read.


And they’ll also invite you over to shoot the breeze.


I’ve had my eye on this Jolly Grinning Giant for a while. If I ever saw his people, I’d have asked if I could bring my skeletons over for a photoshoot with him. But his people are never outside.

Friday had some sadness. The first time I let the dogs out, they spotted a young squirrel. He barely got away from them, just a few feet up a tree, where he rested in the V where the tree splits. It was obvious he was either injured in some way, or maybe dehydrated, or just terrified. With help from Debby, I was able to get my frantic dogs inside, while the neighbor’s dogs were very vocal on the other side of the fence. We coaxed the squirrel out of the tree so Debby could carry him in a cloth pillowcase outside the fence to the side of the house. Then Tim got him into a box, tucked inside a towel, to take him to the SPCA’s Wildlife Rehab unit. Unfortunately, the young squirrel died en route. At least he didn’t die from either my dogs or the large neighbor dogs attacking him, but in an air-conditioned truck with a kindhearted, calm driver taking him for help.


Also on Friday, I was able to finish this book. Another political thriller that I couldn’t put down. Now it’s time to take a break from reading and work on my own novel.

Saturday fun

Last night as I was falling asleep, forcing myself not to think about the chapter in the Neverending Saga that has given me so much trouble, my brain suggested, “Fix the chapter BEFORE the one you’re working on.”

So I went back and eviscerated that chapter. Time will tell if it was the right choice, but I pondered my next move, next chapter while I played this game.

I finished in record time because author names will always jump out at me. If they’re there to find, that is. I worked longest looking for “Bronte,” until I finally glanced at the word list and realized Bronte wasn’t on it.

Something is wonky with our cable today. Since Tim isn’t home tonight, Tom and Eva went to his place to watch the Alabama-Georgia football game with Pollock. Meanwhile, Debby’s watching it at her place. I was in the mood for a little baking, so I took them both a sampling of my results.


Sausage and cheese balls are an ideal snack for football viewing. I have a big salad to eat, but I’ll definitely eat some of these, too.

Time for me to get back to see if changes in Chapter 14 will help my progress on Chapter 15.