Where seeds of thought have room to grow
Category: My Country Life
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The summer heat and drought took its toll on my purple flowers…but I'm happy to report they are hanging in there; I discovered two blossoms taking shelter amid the weeds at the bend in the road, stretching high enough to catch some sun, but staying low enough not to get scorched. I'm sure there's a lesson…
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Tom and I stood on the doorstep watching Tommy's little red Neon pull away from the house, headed back to Dallas. A montage of images flashed through my head, visions of my parents and Tom's parents standing on porches, waving goodbye to us as we pulled away after a visit. It hit me that Tommy…
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Dropped Kendall off at school this morning…headed back home, driving almost due east…came to the top of a hill and caught my breath. A white mist rose above the hills, looking like a snow-capped mountain. Just above it, the bottom half of the rising sun hung under a line of gray clouds; it was thinly veiled so that…
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The clock seems to be spinning like it jumped out of Alice's Wonderland – where did my day go? I still have the screenplay for "Dances With Wolves" to read, an article to write for the local paper, phone calls to make for the youth retreat, and two pages of the opening scene of my…
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I hate getting up before dawn, but…I love getting up before dawn. Frankie roosted on the woodpile last night, perched on a piece that stuck up a few inches, like a mini-branch. I remembered it this morning just as the treetops became visible, so I went to the window to check on him. There…
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I haven''t spent Labor Day resting, but I have at least been laboring in a different way – cleaning house! The dust bunnies had become the size of tumbleweeds. Something had to be done. Tom snuck this picture of me talking to the dogs and Frankie this morning – their breakfast, my coffee time.…
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Well, it's not exactly a lion and a lamb, but pretty close…and what you can't see is there's also a ballsy adolescent squirrel sitting on the window sill eating the seed I put out for Frankie (Frankie's a chicken-guinea. No guts. Afraid of confrontation or too nice, I can't decide which.) (Keep in mind when viewing…
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I found the fossil of a seashell, a type of angelwing, on my walk this morning - a whole two-inch angelwing nestled in the caliche in the middle of the road, just waiting for me, reminding me that I'm at an (extinct) seashore. Back home, I placed it into the wire basket holding other fossils we've found over the years…other angelwings and coquinas, spiraled naticas and moon…
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I could barely hear myself talking to the dogs last night when I was feeding them – the frogs were croaking fools, celebrating the two inches of rain that fell yesterday. Insects buzzing like soprano chainsaws joined in every once in a while. Who ever said the countryside was quiet never experienced pond-life at night after…
Long Hollow 