Long Hollow

Where seeds of thought have room to grow

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Realtor, writer, blogger in Austin, TX

Category: Call me mom

  • A Feliz Navidad to Remember

    When my kids were young, I liked spending Christmas at home. I liked Santa coming down my chimney and leaving gifts under my tree. I liked my children having memories of waking up surrounded by Christmas magic in their own beds. But one year we made an exception. My husband's youngest brother (he has eight) was getting…

  • When You Know They’re All Grown Up

      You are the bows from which your childrenas living arrows are sent forth.The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. ~Kahlil Gibran   Several weeks ago I was nearing the end of my rope…more frustrated, worried, hurt, and…

  • Taking a quick break to share this with you…

    I'm writing. For the second day in a row! Actually making a little progress, too, once I managed to ignore the voices inside my head who kept telling me to give it up, just quit, that it wasn't any good. After staring at the screen and out the window and at the screen again, I…

  • Small Things

    I made it to my writing group tonight for the first time in weeks. At least, I think it's been weeks since I've attended. Time has been playing tricks on me lately. At any rate, I made it there tonight. My compadres critiqued the handful of pages I submitted and I critiqued theirs and we…

  • Transitions

    My Uncle Bobby passed away this week. Daddy's younger brother. Like Daddy and the other men in his family, Uncle Bobby had suffered from heart and vascular problems for years, but it was a slow battle with cancer that took him away. He was a sweet man. In my heart I will always see him…

  • Good (Halloween) Morning

    I might see some trick-or-treaters this evening. I'm excited about that. When you live a mile down a dirt road in a Hollow of few houses and no small children, Halloween is like any other night. Quiet. No one ever comes to your door. Even when my kids were actively hustling for candy, I had…

  • A Week of Blessings

    This is the way I remember it: Tom and I were driving down the highway, headed to Houston's Methodist Hospital for the first time, because Daddy was about to have surgery for an abdominal aneurism. I was pregnant with my first baby and worried about Daddy.  I was praying, praying, praying… …and then I was…

  • A Ping-Pong, Mums, and Fossils Week

        Ping-pong season has arrived! Afternoon temperatures are still flirting with the 90's, but cool fronts have pushed the mosquitos and most of the humidity off of the front porch, so Tom set up the table Saturday afternoon and we played for the first time in months, listening to music and talking about random…

  • Twenty-four years ago today…

    …I met my son Daniel for the first time. Of course, it was love at first sight. With each passing year, I fell deeper and deeper in love with that creative, funny, compassionate, wise old soul. How could I resist? Look at that smile! And that hair!     But, dang it (and thank God!) kids…

  • A Blessed Birthday

    For two mornings in a row, sunlight has found me snuggled under the covers in my grandmother's room, waking in the warm embrace of so many memories. But for the first time that I can remember, Daddy hasn't been already up and sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee, newspaper spread before him.  This morning,…