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

  • Empty Nest. Again. Sigh.

    It was while standing at the kitchen counter first thing this morning, pouring water into the coffee pot and still mostly asleep, that I glanced up and spotted the open door. And I remembered: She's gone again. After weeks of being mostly here, of holidays and work days and carpools and visits to the library…

  • Happy First Birthday, Belle! (my Friday, um…Saturday favorite photos)

    Dear Miss Belle, It's hard for me to imagine now, watching you run down the road in front of me in that funny way you have, where your rear-end flies up higher than your head, that I ever debated the puppy question at all.  When I see Max's face light up at the sight of…

  • A Nose Update, No Sleep, and other Thursday Tidbits

    The Nose I can't imagine – don't want to imagine – how it feels to have big chunks of plastic shoved up your nose filling up the entire space so that you need to breathe through your mouth but your throat is in red, raw agony from the trach tube shoved down it a week…

  • Learning to Soar

    On a recent walk through the Hollow, Tom spotted four ducks paddling around on our neighbor's pond in the distance, just minding their own business. I wondered if it was the Mallard couple who used to visit every year, stopping by with their all-grown-up babies. Probably not. Maybe. It didn't matter – I just knew…

  • How to Greet a New Year – A Pictorial Lesson (my Friday Favorite Photos)

    First, gather together friends you never get to see anymore, despite the fact that your kids are now mostly grown, if not out of the nest altogether, and we should have tons more time on our hands. Go figure.     Add enough food for ten times the number of people in your house, as…

  • Pink Skies, Random Thoughts

    Pink clouds, pink skies have greeted my ascension to the dirt road the past two mornings … a nice change from the woolen grays and mist that have been waiting up there for me lately. I've noticed that a pink sky or one filled with clouds that look dipped in pink-orange paint lighten my heart…

  • Balance

    Silly me. I'm longing for balance in my life, between work and play, book and blog, drums and laundry, sleep and wakefulness … but I envisioned this balance as a stagnant thing, like evenly weighed scales. Boring. Life is about moving, and now I realize balance is a verb, a see-saw in constant motion, each…

  • The Piano

    I sit in a corner of Mam-ma's bedroom in front of the piano, fingers splayed in position, tapping out the notes I'm reading from my Lesson Book. Or my sister's – I liked her music more than mine. The piano is an upright, with old family photos displayed on top that distract me.  There's one…

  • Still Celebrating

    I've been unplugged for a couple of days now, soaking in the presence of my family and friends, trying to live in the moment, stashing each away to pull out later in emergencies, like when the kids aren't able to be here for Christmas. I know that day will come, because it came to my…

  • “What do you want for Christmas?”

    To Barbara From Santa Ummm … What are these? "You told me all you wanted for Christmas was to go dancing. Well, those are my dancing shoes. Now I'll be able to dance." Sigh. He does listen sometimes. Hope you got everything you wanted for Christmas, too!