Category: Every Picture Tells a Story

  •   I'm adding these leaves to a bouquet Nancy at A Rural Journal is gathering for fellow blogger Leontien at Four Leaf Clover Dairy , to show her she's in the hearts and minds of many. Leontien is battling melanoma for the second time. The leaves are budding from a tree near the creek we thought we'd lost…

  • Images of my oldest brother Buster have hovered in my mind today. Today is his birthday. He would have been 65.  I wonder what he would have been like at 65? Would he have mellowed any at all? Probably not. He was too passionate, too creative, too energetic.  I try to imagine his curly black…

  • I woke in darkness yesterday morning. A thunderstorm paid us a surprise visit in the middle of the night, giving us the whole shebang… lightning, wind, huge thunder booms and buckets of rain. Great snuggling weather.  But a power outage, when you need to get ready for church and work, makes you realize how much…

  • …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…

  • Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers, why not gather your own bouquet? ~ unknown     For the first time in almost a week, I went for a walk with my puppies this morning. I had a chance to work at the elementary school, but I turned it down, and I've only…

  • 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,…

  • Quite by accident, I met artist Marilyn Lindholm in Port Aransas last year while on my annual retreat with girlfriends. She spotted me taking photos of something down on the beach – I can't remember what it was – and said something about my camera and mentioned wanting a photo of a colorful beach umbrella…

  •   As she has for more than ten years, my sister joined me and my girlfriends at the beach this past weekend. From my earliest memory, Brenda has been my closest friend, and, along with my mother, my role model and inspiration.  Despite the eight years between us and my bratty personality, when I was…

  • I just returned from my annual retreat with girlfriends to the coast – our 13th or 14th now, I can't remember which – where the sight and sound of the ocean renews my soul and invigorates my spirit. The bonding of girlfriends… the food… the kiss of the sun on my skin… the birds and…

  •   "Are you someone's grandmother?" he asked as soon as I walked into the classroom. I had to have him repeat it before I understood. My hearing isn't so great anymore plus he was missing his two front teeth! "No, I'm your substitute teacher." I could feel the air fizzling out of my bubble…the 1977…