Long Hollow

Where seeds of thought have room to grow

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Realtor, writer, blogger in Austin, TX

Category: Inspiration and Heroes

  • Five Things on (Good) Friday

    1. Today is Good Friday, the day Christians around the world stop and consider the fact that an innocent person deliberately gave their life for them, out of love, even though they didn't ask him to and they did nothing to deserve it. Very sobering.  But leave it to my friend Jim "Suldog" Sullivan to…

  • Labor(er)s of Love

    I had fifteen minutes before my meeting started. A guest was going to be telling us about a project he had initiated. I wanted to get a look at it beforehand, so I arrived early – for once – and headed to the woods behind the church with my camera. …At least, there used to…

  • Five Things on a Friday Night (when I should have been dancing)

        1. My crape myrtles are budding! I'm really surprised because we haven't had much rain and the poor things haven't bloomed in two or three years now. I wasn't even sure they were still alive. I've got my fingers crossed they've somehow established themselves enough to give me some summer color later on. 2. I…

  • Make Good Art (Life)

    Last night I stepped away from my computer before midnight for a change, set my alarm for 4:30 am, and before drifting off to sleep, asked God to remind me when it went off that I was excited about getting up so early because I would have time to write. He did. And so, for…

  • Five – ish Things on Friday

      1. Today is my friend Debbie's birthday. I couldn't find the photo I wanted to post, the one of us dressed up like beauty queens, acting silly in her bedroom back in 1973. I've turned my house upside down and still can't find that photo anywhere! I used to be so organized… That summer…

  • A Little Sister, a Shower, and a Salt Lick

    I taught her how to drive a stick-shift – she caught on fast, much faster than my kids years later – and when her brother broke up with me, she wrote me poems to soothe my broken heart. She was barely a teenager back then, two years younger than me, and so in our split-high-school…

  • My Pencils are Sharp Enough

      I slept a full eight hours last night. And I cleaned my bathroom this afternoon. Two things I haven't done in a long, long time. That's about all I've accomplished today, but I'm okay with it. It's my day off and I've relished it. Middle son, Daniel, is home for the weekend, mostly because…

  • The Artist

      I stand mesmerized, watching him consider the next space before choosing a rock from a collection he's gathered over, not just months, but years. That's how long the vision has been in his mind. To me, the rock he chooses looks like a perfect fit, but his eyes see more than mine can. He…

  • Surprise! and other sweet!s

      I can't believe it. I surprised my friend Darla with a Diva gathering in her honor at my house this past weekend. Ten women who graduated from high school with us piled into my house for a slumber party, one even driving from Louisiana to be here. Many more who couldn't attend still donated…

  • 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…