Long Hollow

Where seeds of thought have room to grow

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Realtor, writer, blogger in Austin, TX

Category: Me and Him

  • Birthdays, Austin Adventures, and other Sweet!s

    Once you reach a certain age, numbers become surreal. They change (faster and faster and faster) but you feel the same. Wasn't it only yesterday I was cage dancing in honor of my 50th birthday?  Way back in my thirties and forties, I set some goals for myself. By my 50th birthday, I planned to…

  • Instructions on Finding a Keeper

    I'm combining both of today's Scintilla prompts into one: "What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told? Why? Would you tell the truth now, if you could?"  "Tell the story about something interesting (anything!) that happened to you, but tell it in the form of an instruction manual (Step 1, Step 2, Step 3….)"   1.…

  • 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…

  • Monday, Wind-day

          The wind is howling outside my window right now. No snow. No rain. Just wind, gusting up to 59 mph, the weatherman said. In some areas of Austin power lines are down and whole trees are blocking roads.  We're lucky. Nothing but the exhilarating wind here blowing through the Hollow, like a…

  • Signs of Spring, and other Sweet!s

    Like the Munchkins when Dorothy first arrives in the (movie) land of Oz, yellow flowers are popping up and peeking out at the world, one by one, to see if the coast is clear and the rumor is true..that the wicked old winter is gone. (Not that our winters here around Austin, Texas are actually…

  • What is (Real) Love?

    Love talked about can be easily turned aside, but love demonstrated is irresistible.~ W. Stanley MooneyhamAmerican minister and speaker, 20th century   I was bemoaning the fact that, despite hundreds of miles run, lunges lunged and squats thrusted, and losing enough weight that I could buy my bras in "training" sizes, I still have my grandmother's saddle-bag thighs.…

  • Another Random Analogy, Kids!

    Do you iron? I don't. I mean, I can, but I haven't in a long, long time.  My husband will vouch for that. He stopped buying shirts with wrinkle-inclined collars and button panels when it became clear he'd have to iron them himself. "I buried a lot of my ironing in the back yard." ~…

  • It Started with Peter…

        It was Peter Noone's voice I first fell in love with. My six-year-old heart broke for him when he sang to Mrs. Brown about her lovely daughter.  "Wait for me, Peter," I told the radio, "I'll never break your heart like that." I still can't resist a British accent. Imagine my excitement the…

  • 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…

  • Love and Marriage, and everything in between

    Love is patient, love is kind… When I heard those words from First Corinthians at Mass Sunday, my mind drifted back to my wedding. Like so many other couples, we chose this as one of the readings in our ceremony, believing we would always be patient and kind with each other.  Well, we haven't. Not…