Tag: houston

Photo Friday, No. 342

Current Photo Friday theme: Temperature


I shot this just after midnight; it’s a little off. We had a cold front come through Houston today. Right now, the Weather Channel says it’s 52 (degrees Fahrenheit) with an expected low of 45F. Historically, the low for this night of the year is 66F. Weather is acting crazy!

(Click here to view larger version on black background.)

April Photo A Day: My Sunday

My Sunday has definitely not been a day of rest.


Pier is wagging his tail!

First up, Pier the Miracle Dog. Some of you may have followed Pier’s story on his Facebook page. (Warning if you go to his FB page: Some of the early photos of his injuries are graphic and will break your heart.)

Pier is a black lab who was picked up by BARC in Houston after being badly–and deliberately–burned by person(s) unknown. Scout’s Honor Rescue put him in their program, and thanks to the great Scout’s Honor board members, volunteers, and the medical staffs at VERGI and Texas A&M Small Animal Hospital, Pier is healing and thriving. Pier has thousands of people all over the world who have sent love, prayers, good wishes, toys, treats, and monetary donations to help him. Sunday he was taken to a local restaurant where his Houston-area fans were invited to come and meet him.


A very good boy.

Pier is nothing but joy. No shyness, no fear, he’s happy, obedient, eager to please, friendly, and he loves his tennis balls. I cried for this dog so many days after his rescue, and getting to see him today, I cried again, but they were tears of joy. His strength and resiliency are an inspiration to me.


A new friend with Pier.

Saturday night Tim and I were up into the wee hours of the morning inputting his edits and mine into the manuscript that’s due in a few days. Today we finally compiled the twelve stories we’re submitting into one document and printed it out. We’ll each do one more read-through, add our parts (Tim in the introduction, me in the afterword), and then send it on its way. I’ve said it before: I love being able to help writers find a home for their fiction.

Finally, today is the birthday of our late friend Steve R. As we do every year, we celebrated with chocolate–this year, a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Lindsey and Rhonda joined us for dinner and cake.

That’s a lot of celebrating for one day, but note the picture of a baby in a silver frame behind the cake. That’s our godson Matthew when he was an infant. He’s eight now, and today was a special day for him, too. Matthew, Tom and I love you and we’re very proud of you!

And for those of you who follow Runway Monday, I won’t be getting my final collection up because sewing has had to take a back seat to editing. But if it’s not finished this week, it definitely will be by next Monday. Thanks for hanging in here with my Model Muses and their fashions.

Prompt from FMS Photo A Day.

April Photo A Day: Life Is…

Life is beautiful. And fragile. And so fleeting.

On this date last year, a beautiful spring day like this one, my nephew Aaron’s struggle with depression–a struggle his family wasn’t aware of–led him to end his life. He was eighteen.

I’m sure everyone in his family and many of his friends could write entire books about how their last year has been shaped by the loss of Aaron. Daily struggles. Tears we felt would never end. Laughter brought by funny Aaron stories. Fragments of information that showed his compassion and sensitivity–acts he never shared because humility was part of his nature. The people who became for us, as Mr. Rogers would say, “the helpers,” and sustained us as we grieved. The people who drifted from our lives, perhaps because suicide is too raw, too real, too close. The unexpected gifts of dreams and signs and moments that make us feel Aaron’s still with us even if we can’t see him or hug him.

In other towns and cities, family members and friends who knew Aaron celebrated his life in their own ways. Some attached letters to balloons and released them. We didn’t write letters here, but Tim helped me pick out balloons.

We released seven of them from the rose garden at Hermann Park: from Tom and me, from Tim, from Aaron’s father David and Geri, from his Aunt Debby, from his brother Daniel and nephews Dave and Steven, from his Cochrane and Johnson cousins, and from other friends and family members–including the dogs–who met and cared for Aaron.

He is so deeply loved and will always be missed.

Two projects today

April 18 is the anniversary of my father’s death. It was timely that Timmy reminded me that it was also the day of readergirlz’s Operation Teen Book Drop. I participated in this last year, and I believe that promoting reading is a good way to honor my father’s lifelong role as an educator and mentor to young people. Plus he loved reading and writing.

This year, I dropped two books:


The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is appropriate for ages twelve and up, so I left it tucked into a tree near a local middle school. (The books are in bags because it was either drizzling or raining much of today.) I was a little leery of leaving anything anywhere, but my motives were pure.

The second book, The Object of My Affection is best-suited for a post-high school teen, so I left it on a bench near a college library.

I hope both books find new homes with readers who enjoy them as I have.

Timmy also made me aware that today was Poem In Your Pocket Day. I did indeed put a poem on my phone, in my pocket, as I dropped books and ran other errands. Here’s a screen cap of the William Carlos Williams poem I chose both because he’s an award-winning American poet and because it’s April.

I’m grateful for a life that has been filled with good poets, novelists, teachers, and a great father.

April Photo A Day: Alone

Remember how I used to always go to the downtown post office on Tax Night and watch all the people scurrying? I haven’t done it for a couple of years. However, my neighborhood post office was hopping in the middle of the day today, so I got my people watching fix there.

Thoughts of the events in Boston have weighed on me as they have many people today. I only watched a little of the news. It’s too much. Each year I seem to quote T.S. Eliot’s first line of The Wasteland, “April is the cruellest month.” And each year April seems to provide another reason to feel that way.

Maybe today’s theme was the right one. I took my camera out and was drawn to a place I used to know well–from a distance. I spent many hours sitting on the window-seat in a hospital room staring down at the rose gardens of the Houston Garden Center in Hermann Park. I’d never actually visited it until today. I went there alone, to sit and reflect and draw strength from nature. I know that it will become a place I’ll go to often now that I’ve experienced its beauty and serenity.

I found a reminder of an old teacher there.


“I have nothing new to teach the world.
Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills.”
Mahatma Gandhi

Namaste.

Prompt from FMS Photo A Day.

April Photo A Day: A Place

Houston is known for its diversity, so it’s a great city for the installation of artist Jaume Plensa’s seven sculptures, “Tolerance,” on Harmony Walk just off of Allen Parkway near downtown. My photo shows five (or four and a half) of the seven. You can read more about the art here, if you’re interested.

You can also click here to see a larger version of this photo.

I love driving by these sculptures, especially at night when they’re lit from within. And I appreciate having found my own place in this city with its fascinating people, art, architecture, and energy.


Prompt from FMS Photo A Day.