Who goes there? Please leave comments so (An Aries Knows)!
Today’s challenge is “a song you like that’s a cover by another artist.” This just serves as a reminder to myself that I haven’t replaced one of my favorite drowned albums, as pictured here after the Harvey flood of 2017.
The song is “Blue Bayou,” written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson and covered by Linda Ronstadt. Here’s a live version.
Current Photo Friday theme: Ground Level
Timothy has been planting flowers at Houndstooth Hall. These are lobelia techno upright blue.
Found in my backyard sometime last week.
A chunk of quartz and somebody’s last marble. Maybe mine.
Debby’s birthday is tomorrow, and that’s the photo of past birthday celebrations at Houndstooth Hall I’ll post on Instagram tomorrow morning. Getting this in because tomorrow’s post will be the Photo Friday theme.
We’ll be celebrating on Sunday Monday night with dinner and cake, because that’s when everyone’s more available. Right now, pollen allergies are kicking my butt. Hopefully, Sunday Monday will be a low pollen day!
Current Photo Friday theme: Pandemic
On the Photo Friday site, when they gave the theme, they asked these questions: What subjects captivated your attention? Did the pandemic influence your photography?
Below is why I chose a current “selfie” as my photo.
The pandemic made my world smaller. Prior to the shutdown, I had a career that kept me busy 10 to 14 hours a day. Part of my volunteer work for that organization involved shooting photos of rescued dogs, cats, the occasional pig, and a few other surprising creatures, three times a week. I had plans to transition out of my volunteer photography for them so I could travel more in 2020. But early in the year, the organization laid off a majority of the staff, including me, because of the pandemic. Like many others, I quarantined. I didn’t travel. I adjusted to life without the income from the paying part of my job and without the coworkers who inspired me. My world became what was around me, so that’s what I photographed: my home, family who lives on the same property, and our dogs. I found ways to photograph my hobbies (collecting dolls, listening to music, reading, journaling, painting, homemaking, blogging), and my passion: writing fiction.
When the pandemic shifted in 2021 and the world began opening up, other than seeing more friends, not a lot changed because I decided to retire. I still don’t travel. I haven’t been bothered by the slow march of lines up and down and across my face. I didn’t care when my hair, that for twenty years had its roots colored brunette, and later to strands of brunette and blonde, became gray and white during the pandemic. I’m grateful to be here and for all that I have. I try to adapt to and deal with the challenges. I still mostly photograph what’s around me.
Delta, side-eyeing me and speaking for the pack: “We will not be moving from the heater or taking questions at this time.” I think Delta has recently been reading over my shoulder while I was writing.
Below is my writing playlist for the day, and Steely Dan had me so mellow that I might as well have been stoned. Gwen Stefani got me back to the manuscript! The Steely Dan shown here is a collection, but I’m very sure that a million years later, if someone brought in the albums Can’t Buy A Thrill or Aja, I’d be able to sing along, every word to every song. Music memory’s a funny thing.
Smashing Pumpkins, 2-CD set, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness; Steely Dan, The Definitive Collection; Gwen Stefani, Love, Angel, Music, Baby.
So much good music, but school loyalty mandates that I link to the tune I’ve chosen. Roll Tide, and we’ll miss you, Coach Saban. I was there for some of the Bear Bryant years, and you, too, became a coaching legend. Tip of the houndstooth hat to you.
Nothing clever to say, no anecdotes, no reminiscences. Very little writing done, but I tried. Replaced a couple of small broken kitchen appliances. Was VERY happy our frozen hot water line thawed with no damages that Tom can find. The cold has abated somewhat.
Dogs just wanna get warm.
Or watch TV with Tom.
Happy birthday to somebody I still like to think about and remember. Something you once said to me is engraved on my heart in a way that will always delight me. Also, you had a nickname for me, and I may let one of my characters use it for another character.
I don’t have cats, but in solidarity with those who do, I thought I’d dedicate part of today’s post to cats. Mainly because Debby gave me this cool Haunted Cat Tarot deck for Christmas. Any particular card you’d like to see?
When I took her to an appointment earlier in the week, I took this coloring book with me.
I’d already torn a page out of it at some point, and I decided to color that one. But I wasn’t sure how to color it, so I looked up various wild cats and found this one to inspire me.
Here’s how it turned out.
What I do have is dogs. The other day, after a frantic round of digging, which she isn’t supposed to do, Delta apparently found somebody’s last marble.
It’s all cleaned up and put with the other marbles now.
Meanwhile, Anime had dental surgery yesterday morning, and she’s had a miserable two days. She started drinking water again sometime around noon today, and this evening, she took some meatballs (canned dog food rolled around her regular meds and her pain med). She’s finally stopped dripping blood from her mouth and is overall a lot more comfortable tonight. Through it all, she’s been very sweet and stoic, so clearly it wasn’t her last marble Delta found.
The tree has been stripped and all the ornaments and decorations have been put away.
Except we have to find the bin that has the box that my vintage Holt Howard angel goes in. Meanwhile, I posed her with an appropriate old Southern novel that I haven’t read in decades and probably should read again.
Sometimes when I get really busy, I forget to eat. When tonight’s light meal of a BLT, half an apple, and some potato chips seemed ridiculously good, it occurred to me that I’d only eaten yogurt with the water and coffee I drank today. It was a good sandwich, though.
Had another bout of insomnia last night but still woke up early. I took a nap later, and this always interferes with any plans I might have made for the day that require focus. Did a little more toward Christmas un-decorating, spent time outside with the dogs and cleaning their “gifts” out of the backyard (tomorrow being trash day), and then I decided to try to identify the other three new-to-me dolls that came via Lynne.
Don’t know if it’s my tired brain, but I can’t say I’m confident about who the dolls are. I have some queries out to other doll collectors on Flickr, but in the meantime, here’s a fun photo I shot of them.
Ken has what’s often called the “Alan face mold,” it having been used first for friend doll Alan, maybe in 1990, and later used for around twenty-six Ken dolls (several of which I own). Then a modified version was used for another nineteen dolls (and yep, I own some of them, too).
The doll’s head doesn’t fit comfortably on the articulated body, and if this hadn’t come from a child’s collection, I’d think it was a collector-modified doll. However, there was in fact a doll that both had this head mold and posable arms and legs, and that’s the 1994 Hot Skatin’ Ken. The year fits, so I’ll accept Hot Skatin’ Ken for him. I kind of wish I had his original outfit. I’ve dressed him in some nice jeans, a pair of white sneakers, and a shirt I made. Looks like he and his friends are going to a block party where he’ll be forced to play guitar. I wonder if he plays as well as he skates.
Right now, my best guesses on these two are (white earrings) 1996 Valentine Fun Barbie or 1997 Shopping Time Walmart Special Barbie, and (red earrings) 1996 Valentine Romance Barbie. I cleaned up their hair disasters with a shampoo and conditioner, took the hair shears to some of the frizz and messy ends, and, as shown in the top photo, found clothes for them from the Doll Closet. Those are Mattel 1962 Fashion Pak gathered skirts. I guess the Barbies wanted to go a little retro. Then they sassed up their looks with a couple of midriff-baring tops and cute heels. They’re taking little dog Chicago with them so he can sing along with Skatin’ Ken.
What a party!
Post-holiday, as things around Houndstooth Hall begin to get back to normal, it’s time to put away all the Christmas decorations. I’ll start today, but I have no deadline, no pressure.
Usually, at the beginning of the holiday season, one of the first photos I blog is my annual Wallace silver (plated) sleigh bell purchase.
I did get one this year, but I ordered it later than usual, which meant Tom hung the garland later than usual, and I forgot to photograph it before it went up.
It’s always a happy part of our decorations.
This collection began when I received my first sleigh bell from an employer in 1992. The tradition continued through 1995, but I was laid off in ’96. Amy still worked there, and she gave me her sleigh bell that Christmas. Beginning in 1997, I purchased each year’s sleigh bell myself. One year, I decided to find and purchase a previously-owned sleigh bell for 1988, the year Tom and I married.
This year, I found an online seller who had other years’ sleigh bells at a reasonable price. So I treated myself.
Those are the sleigh bells from 1989, 1990, and 1991. This means I now have a sleigh bell from every year we’ve been married, plus one duplicate year from Laura and Jess.
I don’t have any desire to collect back to 1971, the year this series began. Much as I love them, the collection isn’t about the sleigh bells as much as about our years together, our friends and family through the years, and the changes that have shaped our lives. I’ll continue the tradition to celebrate all those things, people, and dogs in future years.
ETA: Just got them off the garland and shot all 36 that were up. This year, some of them are definitely going to need polishing before being returned to storage.
Final ETA: Post-cleaning and polishing all 37. They are so shiny!
