Who goes there? Please leave comments so (An Aries Knows)!
I’m not sure these have been out since sometime before 2017. Thank you to everyone who’s colored angels with or for me over the last thirty years.
They’re all still around even when we don’t see them.
My thoughts are with those killed and injured, and their families and friends, in yet another episode of gun violence, this time in Colorado, late Saturday night.
I did wake up today at 6 AM but stayed in bed until 7 AM because I was COLD (temp was in the 40s). Once I forced myself to get up, I showered and dressed warmly, ate a good breakfast, and started working on the manuscript. Oddly, there was a lone morning glory flower blooming in the backyard this morning; no idea where that came from, and it made me think of The Compound, where they were so beautiful on the fence.
Today is also the birthday of this most fabulous human. I figured I’d use his uniform photo since yesterday was Veterans Day. A lot of years have passed since I shot this photo, but he’ll always be the first kid who made me Aunt Becky. I love you, Daniel, and happy birthday!
I’d mentioned I would have more photos to share from Thursday. Lynne had to be in Houston for a meeting. Though she’s staying with another friend, she wanted to visit Thursday night. I spent the afternoon writing outside because–except for mosquitos–it was a gorgeous day. My laptop isn’t open in this photo, but it’s on the table. You might notice the different kinds of anti-mosquito skin spray in front of it. And Anime on the bottom left. =)
We had a fan hooked up to provide a gentle breeze, and in the late afternoon, we set up a table to get queso started in the crock pot. Later, there was another crock pot with chili, because Tom grilled burgers and hotdogs, in case anyone wanted chili on their hot dogs.
Lynne arrived and set up her laptop to talk and work next to me while I wrote. Then the sun set, and the grill was put into use.
Lynne’s birthday is in late November, always near Thanksgiving, and since who knows what everyone’s schedules will be, Tom, Debby, and I decided to surprise her with an early birthday celebration, including cake and presents. (Tim is away taking care of a client’s critters and couldn’t make it, though he wanted to.)
It was so great to see her! Though I hadn’t put in all the outside work because she was in town, it was nice that Houndstooth Hall was looking good for her visit.
Cleaned up this side patio yesterday. When our neighbor died, her family put several items on the curb, including these red chairs. I don’t know how things are where you live, but in Houston, when you put things on the curb, you know they will likely be taken long before garbage or heavy trash days. It’s one of the things I like best. Through our decades here, we’ve put all kinds of things on the curb outside the various houses where we’ve lived, and those things are almost always gone by morning. Anyway, she and her daughter used to sit out on these red chairs while we hollered conversations across the street to each other. I miss them both very much; sometimes I like to sit out here and watch my dogs play and roll in the grass, or I catch up on social media on my phone. This is where the Hall dogs’ water buckets stay, because it’s shady there. I pulled out a tree that was so damaged in our winter storm last year that it couldn’t recover. Because of the patio’s location on the property, Lynne advised me that it would be a good place to put the pop-up greenhouse we’re planning to buy to save the plants we potted this year when cold weather comes.
Like our Kalanchoe plants, which have done very well and bloomed more than I expected them to.
And the row of potted knockout roses, lemongrass and other grasses, bougainvillea, and lantana. I swept leaves from the patio and this walkway to the Fox Den for Tom to bag last night.
This is one of Tim’s herb gardens that he can water through his kitchen window without having to deal with his nemesis, Jack. This is part of the patio that was full of leaves. They’re about to start falling again, so I thought it was time to get rid of the remainder of last year’s. Tom doesn’t clear our beds of leaves because they provide a healthy, safe environment for bugs, bees, butterflies, etc.
I missed some leaves on Tim’s other area of potted herbs and plants. Can you see Jack looking through the gate on the left? Always hoping Tim will come out so they can express their feelings about each other.
This is across from those plants (I think Tim washed this inside door mat, and it’s drying on the bench). The area was inches deep in leaves yesterday, and it was very gratifying to clean it up.
This wood has been bagged or piled up in a couple of places for a long time. The crate was another “curb gift.” My neighbor’s dog Zeus died within a few days of her. I took his crate specifically to gather and hold the wood on the carport for our chiminea. Not a conventional way to stack wood, but it adds a little of Zeus to Houndstooth Hall.
I also cleaned up Aaron’s Garden yesterday and added some new plants. Here are some shots of that.
Part of my clean-up effort was because our weather is nice and I want to sit outside and enjoy it while I can. Also, we expected a visitor this week. More on that later.
I do feel like this has been most of my pandemic life since 2020. Even writing the Neverending Saga has been a means of making something more orderly and working toward a goal.
Last week, I had to buy new clothes (it was a necessity, because trust me, I don’t like shopping enough to do it if I don’t have to). Three new clothing items came in; four went out. Along with trying to purge things inside the house, we’re also working on purging things in storage. I have to be mentally ready for some of that, because it means sending things that are part of decades of family memories to consignment shops.
Today, everything was aimed toward the exterior of our home. I did manual labor trying to clean up and clear away outside. I’m exhausted and didn’t take photos. I may come back and add some to this post when it’s light outside again.
Taking a page from this book.
Bubbles and the chiminea.
Bubbles and the birdbath.
Happy Election Day in the U.S. today. As of posting, still time to vote in many places.
The Astros are the World Series champions. I did watch the game, but I also took a page from Lynne’s book (literally, as she gave me the journal I was coloring in, and by example, as she’s been coloring while she watched the World Series) and worked on the coloring page I started yesterday. I finished it this morning with the hour the time change returned to us. Writing, coloring, cooking, and cleaning will be my go-to things over the next few days because elections are hard on my nervous system.
(covered up what I wrote in my journal, because it’s a journal 😄 )
Let’s see. This week I’ve managed to vote (oh, the things I could say, and may say, but not today–except to note that the people who work our polls are helpful, upbeat, friendly, and I appreciate them so much) with Tom, Tim, and Debby. Tim was kind enough to take a selfie with my phone.
I’ve composed a two-page letter with 11 attachments to try to resolve a situation that has caused me abundant stress for the last seventeen months. You don’t want to see any photos of that–including how I look when I wake up at 5:00 AM and decide there are a few more things I need to do before that packet can be faxed.
Every day, I take on a small household task in addition to the routine bedmaking, straightening up, meal planning and cooking, and cleaning up after four dogs (who yesterday were stuck inside because it drizzled all day and it takes a village to get them outside in the rain, and I am but one person). Also, my Instagram posts take a little time to set up, shoot, and then put everything away.
Yesterday’s small task was giving the inside of the refrigerator a good cleaning and organizing it better. I’m not sure what today’s task will be–after I have breakfast and then take a nap since I woke up way too early.
I spotted this photo of actor Viola Davis this morning in my Instagram feed of accounts I don’t follow but show up because of other accounts I do follow. I think she’s pretty fabulous.
But what made me pause and screencap was that her fashion reminded me of an outfit I made for my first Runway Monday final collection in October 2008 based on characters in my novel A Coventry Christmas. Here’s Keelie in the same color palette.
Enjoy the middle of the week! Gonna leave you with this old Crowded House song I love.
Sweet tiny lantana flowers.
Every day, I seem to feel a little and do a little better. If I could tame the dragon formed from my anxious thoughts, maybe it would go easier. But I mostly live in the real world; the unreal world is for managing characters’ anxieties, not mine.
For a long time after last year’s freeze, I thought our ruellia was gone, but it did come back. We had some cool trellises out there, but they were so tall that other vines and weeds took them over and were smothering our beautiful purple flowers. Tom cut all that out and put up some lighter, shorter fencing to give support to the plants we want.
It has a bit of a wild look, but we think that’s what makes it attractive to the butterflies and hummingbirds that visit in season.
I’ve mentioned before that in October, I do a daily Instagram post with my skeleton, Lord Cuttlebone, who I’ve shown on here a couple of times in previous years. This year, he was wearing an Astros tiara from Lindsey and Rhonda’s stash of costumes and goodies when the Astros won their first playoff game. At that point, I was told by Lindsey that he had to wear the tiara every night the Astros played. He did–and it seemed to work because they swept the playoffs, beating the Yankees four games in a row. Which meant, I was told, that he must continue to wear it every day there’s a World Series game against the Phillies.
I photographed him with it yesterday for that first game–and the Astros lost! I asked if that meant he should stop wearing it, but Rhonda said NO! Since there’s another game tonight, I shot a selfie with him today for my Instagram, and I’m putting it here to explain my mask.
Actor/entertainer/comedian/singer Leslie Jordan, who unexpectedly died this week, was a HUGE part of keeping my spirits up in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. I followed him, and kept following him, on Instagram for his “pillow talk” videos, which often began, “Well, shit… How y’all doin’?” When he started selling merchandise, I ordered that mask. As I said on Instagram, each time I wore it on my rare outings, I felt like a little of Leslie went with me, because it always made people laugh.
Like millions, I’m going to miss all the laughter and kindness he brought to each day. He’s one of the rare testaments that social media can be used for good.
Once again having computer/Internet issues here at Houndstooth Hall. Hopefully this will get resolved sooner rather than later. It’s getting tiresome.
Hope you’re all doing well. Here’s a photo of petals on one of our ruellia (“Mexican petunia”) plants.
