Long Hollow

Where seeds of thought have room to grow

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Realtor, writer, blogger in Austin, TX

Category: Texas

  • Rejection (and other sweet!s)

      "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow." ~ James 1:2-3  I received another "sorry, you're not the right person for this job" email earlier this week. It was for…

  • A Sweet Saturday Morning

      My kids will be here today.  That was the first thought that crossed my mind when I woke up this morning. And I awoke without the usual pre-waking symphony of dueling alarm clocks.  The sun had already made itself at home in the Hollow. Belle sat patiently outside the door, staring, waiting for a sign…

  • Muddling along on a Monday…

    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…

  • Till We Meet Again, Port A!

    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…

  • Rainy Days, for a change

    Gray clouds arrived in our area Thursday, causing flash floods just down the road, washing away boat docks that had been sitting on dry ground for two years… long enough for grass to grow underneath. Drought to flood – that's how it goes around here lately. I took this on Thursday morning. I stood on…

  • Porcupines and other miracles on a morning walk

    So here I am, walking through the woods in the gray light of morning, ducking under barbed wire, dodging scraggly cedar branches, stepping over fallen logs. My puppies are a dozen feet away, noses to the ground, investigating rocks and brush and just oozing with the joy of life, as usual. I come to the…

  • Lessons

    Lord, take me where you want me to go;Let me meet who you want me to meet;Tell me what you want me to say; andKeep me out of your way. – Fr. Mychal Judge, FDNY (died 9/11/01)     Every year in late September, early October, I head to the coast with a group of…

  • Perspective

    I stepped out for my walk before the sun stretched into the Hollow this morning and right away considered running back in for a sweater…or at least a shirt with sleeves. A 'cold' front blew through our part of Texas yesterday, knocking the high temperatures down from the triple digits all the way to the…

  • Forty-Three Years Later…

      There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.  ~Winston Churchill   Forty-three years ago I said goodbye to Clyde, our beautiful Welsh pony. Well, technically Clyde was my brother's horse, but I loved him, and spent hours (it seemed) loping through the horse pasture…

  • Rhythm and Routines, Detours and Diversions

      I had finally found a daily rhythm of morning pages, photography, writing, and blogging, all balanced between dog care and house care and working out and sleeping and Breaking Bad and pastoral council duties and trying to spread the news about our upcoming high school reunion and hanging out with my hubby and helping…