Long Hollow

Where seeds of thought have room to grow

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Realtor, writer, blogger in Austin, TX

Category: Every Picture Tells a Story

  • A Sweet Saturday Morning

      My kids will be here today.  That was the first thought that crossed my mind when I woke up this morning. And I awoke without the usual pre-waking symphony of dueling alarm clocks.  The sun had already made itself at home in the Hollow. Belle sat patiently outside the door, staring, waiting for a sign…

  • Why I Love “The Hobbit”

        He was five, snuggled up close beside me on the loveseat for our ritual bedtime story, sucking his thumb. "Are you sure?" I asked him. "There aren't any pictures in this book. Just a lot of words." He nodded, so I opened the worn paperback and began reading… "In a hole in the…

  • Blurry Days and Short Lists

    Confession time: My tree is still bare. Also, and much worse, I'm guilty of only haphazardly noting my sweet!s this week. The days just melted into each other. I jotted a few on random pieces of paper around the house, but most never got past the good intentions stage and the memory is gone. Why…

  • 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…

  • Who can resist purr-ty faces like these?

      A blogger friend of mine named Joan can't, and when she offered these cards for sale to support the work she does with strays in Greece, I couldn't resist them, either. The purr-ty faces you see are just a few of the cats whose lives she has made better in some way. Read about…

  • Mastering the Fine Art of Procrastination

    If we are ever in doubt about what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done. ~ John Lubbock It's all John Lubbock's fault that my Christmas decorations still languish in boxes piled in the middle of the living room. Instead of…

  • 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…

  • Sweet Relief

    I almost didn't publish this post. Late this afternoon my sister called me at work to let me know Daddy was heading to the hospital via ambulance again. Another suspected stroke. Even if I had the time to post my collected sweet!s of the week, it just didn't seem right when I had such a heavy…

  • You’ll Find Me Out on the Limb

    I spent too many years day-dreaming near the tree's trunk, playing it safe, following guidelines I formed for myself (from who knows where) on how I should act, what I should do, who I should be. Then Fifty drew near, in all her daring glory, taunting me, teasing me, luring me out onto the limb because,…

  • Good Intentions

    I dusted and vacuumed yesterday. I'm not sure how long it had been since it was last done, but let me put it this way: I keep photos of the kids on a table near the front door and change them out for each season or holiday (sometimes the extent of my decorating) – and…