Tag: friends

Like Bonnie and Clyde, but without Clyde…or guns

Walked to the post office to mail some bills. No bug incidents. However, there were three more jaywalking episodes. Clearly, being without a car has catapulted me into a crime spree. What’s next? Seventeen items in the 15-item line at Kroger’s? Stay tuned.

FARB, I got the samplers. (Very cool.) I hope only the samplers were supposed to be in the envelope, which was totally ripped open. If it included any salacious notes to Timothy or pictures of a three-way with you, the boyfriend, and a certain New Orleans author at the Lammys, postal employees everywhere are having more fun than I am.

the lessons of dogs


Spotts and Leroy

A friend of mine in Indiana rescued a puppy from the 1997 Ohio River flood. Leroy had a lot of health problems over the years, some of them related to his flood adventure, but he was a dog of great spirit. One of his joys was getting big plastic detergent jugs when they were emptied. Leroy thought an empty detergent jug was the greatest toy imaginable.

Spotts was Leroy’s friend. When Leroy had heartworms and had to be confined, the two dogs would lie back to back at night, with only a fence separating them. Spotts also used to doctor Leroy’s eyes when he had problems with them.

After Spotts died, Leroy still found much to celebrate. This is one of the truths dogs teach us. To mourn what we lose is normal and necessary, but it is also good and right to relish every moment of life, even in grief. To keep enjoying whatever is our “greatest toy imaginable.” To continue to love and be loved.

Leroy died this year just before his ninth birthday. Like many people who have rescued and shared the love of good dogs, my friend and her family opened their home to two more rescues in April.

Here are Donkey Murphy (male) and Shrekie Fiona (female). I know they’re going to love their new home. Leroy would approve. He might even think these two furbabies are almost as good as empty detergent jugs.


Donkey and Shrekie

Of course, June 8 was a very special day around The Compound last year. It was on this night that Tim and I took a walk and “the big goofy yellow lab” walked up to us and decided that Tim was “the greatest toy imaginable.” River, who like Leroy had many health problems, gave us seven months of pure joy.


Tim and River

Although that magical, wonderful River is gone now, Guinness, Margot, and Rex are happy to nudge their way into Tim’s space and remind us that love and friendship are the greatest renewable resources of all.

On the other hand…

After you stay up all night driving yourself crazy trying to get information, it’s really cool to wake up to an abundance of new posts from dogrl, samdewinter, seahorsemystic (friends only, sorry), and davidpnyc. And some with photos!

Now that’s a good Sunday afternoon.

P.S. Oh! And now one from scottynola, too! Now if only that FARB would make an appearance…

Ah, that chicory…

What the hell is chicory, anyway? This link tells you, if you’re interested.

Anyway, as Tim explained in his LJ, today we got a gift from seahorsemystic. OH MY. To treat Tim, AND Tom, AND me, to cover all our birthdays for the year, to just be the giver she is, we have chicory coffee (regular and decaf) from New Orleans’s Cafe’ Du Monde, along with a coffee mug, a coffee cup, a souvenir coffee cup that’s so cute it immediately went into my “special” curio cabinet, and an apron with an illustration of the famous coffee stand.

Now why would one need an apron? Because when one makes beignets from the mix that also came in the gift basket, one will need to fend off all that powdered sugar.

Lindsey, it’s on! Beignet fry-fest when everyone’s done with their traveling. Shannon, we will lift a coffee cup to you. You’re so kind. Thank you.


The beauty of trees

In spring of 2004, when James found out that Tim and I were making a research trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for THREE FORTUNES, among the things he told us to do was visit the Friendship Oak on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast in Long Beach. Legend has it that friends who stand together under the oak will remain friends for life.

The live oaks of the coast, including Friendship, became part of the story in our novel, and after Katrina, I knew some of them must have sustained terrible damage and others would be gone. In attempting to get photographic details of the coastal towns, I found Shawn Lea’s blog, Everything and Nothing. (Shawn’s family’s homes in Gulfport and Waveland were among those destroyed.)

This “bliendship,” as bloggers call the friends they make through their blogs, has progressed beyond just getting my Mississippi updates. I enjoy Shawn’s selections of poetry, photos, cultural events, T-shirts, family news, travel accounts, recipes, and oh, the many cool gadgets and products she finds.

Yesterday, she linked to a Sun Herald article on “Before and After,” which includes the paper’s photos of specific sites, buildings, and homes before and after Katrina. The paper has compiled them into a book that can be purchased, but they are also available to see individually online.

Of course, the photos are heartbreaking, but many of the articles that accompany them present the stoic attitude of coastal residents and their determination to rebuild what has been lost.

But you can’t rebuild a tree, and when I saw an “after” photo of Counselor, a famous Biloxi oak, my heart sank. I had very little hope for Friendship, because I knew the college campus was badly damaged.

Then, down the list of photos, I saw Friendship Oak in Long Beach. According to the article, calls asking about Friendship are the first they get after any hurricane.

Here are photos from the trip I took with Tim. I read that although the tree has been damaged, it still stands. I dream of the day when Friendship’s limbs will once again be hidden by a rich profusion of leaves; its acorns sent into the world to replenish the tree population; and beneath its branches, friends will whisper secrets and vow their lifelong loyalty.
see photos