Long Hollow

Where seeds of thought have room to grow

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Realtor, writer, blogger in Austin, TX

Category: Back to School

  • An Anniversary of Sorts

        For the past few weeks, my mind has skipped back and forth from the present to the late 1800s…I've been separating my great-great-grandfather's memoir into fluorescent colors – green is his life from his first step across the Red River into Texas, through the Indian Wars and his cowboy days; orange takes over during the Civil…

  • Waves, Lariats, and Other Metaphors for Texas Winters

         I had to grab my gloves and insulated jacket for my walk with the dogs this morning. Another wave of winter rolled in from the north last night. This one was serious – it dropped into the forties! (That's winter in Texas, y'all…) Of course, with the help of the sun, it was back up…

  • Confidante in the Crowd

         We huddled on the metal steps near the top of the stands, tucked between the marching band on our left and whooping spectators on our right. There were no seats left in our small stadium – it was Homecoming in a winning season of high school football in Texas.           But we were oblivious…

  • I Should Know Better

         I feel like I'm drowning, suffocated by my own good intentions, ambition, dreams, and false-sense of time, specifically the number of hours in a day. I'm trying to do everything I want to do and think I need to do, and I can feel myself fading away, diluted by duty.       I should know better - I'm…

  • sleeping in class

         Last week I fell asleep watching "To Kill a Mockingbird."  This week our assignment was "Rear Window"  and "The Graduate." I had "Rear Window" on VHS – Wednesday night I finished up my chores and settled down to watch it at 9pm. At 10pm, Tom was shaking me awake.     I ordered "The Graduate" from Amazon, but…

  • …and back again.

         Back to the real world this evening at 7:30 pm…lugging my suitcases and new ice chest filled with all the food we bought and didn't eat down to the house…unpacking…laundry…feeding dogs…homework that was technically due Friday night but isn't finished yet. I tried to work on it this weekend (really I did!) and got…

  • Movie made of gold?

         I fell asleep last night doing my homework – I was watching "To Kill a Mockingbird."  I love that movie – it's one of my top three favorites (along with Monty Python's "Search for the Holy Grail" and "Mary Poppins" – what a combo, right?) I only fell asleep because I'm exhausted from trying to…

  • Keeping them spinning…

    Some people talk about multi-tasking as "juggling," and that's a good metaphor, I guess, but I prefer "plate-spinning." Don't ask me why. (What we should be wondering is why we describe our lives and responsibilities in terms of circus acts…)     Maybe it's the way I handle my tasks - give one a spin then ignore it while I…