Where seeds of thought have room to grow
Category: Texas
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I was typing away at my keyboard yesterday, staring glaze-eyed at the monitor, when there came this loud ruckus outside my window. Jumping up, I spotted a roadrunner peering at me through the window. I'm still not sure what made all the noise… it was just sitting there looking all innocent on my deck railing.…
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Cypress trees towering overhead. Harsh summer sunlight softened, transformed into a magical golden glow that bounces off the glassy surface of a creek and dances on the surrounding tree trunks. Hours to float in cold, clear water under that lofty green bower, to talk and talk and talk with friends in a busy outdoor…
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I was busy with to-do's when Tom said the magic words Wednesday evening: Painted Bunting. That's all it took to get me to trade the vacuum cleaner for my camera and join him on the front porch. We sat in rocking chairs angled toward the bird feeder. For more than an hour we sat and…
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I was born and grew up in a town nicknamed Stink-a-dena on the Houston Ship Channel. In December, the blue northers pushed the scent of the paper mill onto our street. I still connect that smell with Christmas. The plants lining the ship channel paid tons of property taxes, so we had great schools. That's…
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One morning a few weeks ago, eyelids drawn against the assault of bright light, I felt my way into the bathroom and turned on the water to wake up my face. Up popped something from the drain which made my eyes fly open without the water: a scorpion, moving fast. I guess cold water wakes…
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Gray sky, false promises. The world barely breathes. I see colors fading, petals drying, feel my spirit sagging. And then there's a flash of blue. A Mystery Bird, bringing excitement, color… and therefore, hope. I know. A little melodramatic. But that morning I really did feel very blah. The air was still and…
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One September about twelve years ago I made a phone call to a previously unknown-to-me condominium complex in Port Aransas, Texas, and reserved a three bedroom condo on the 5th floor. I needed to escape. Not a permanent escape, of course. Just a few days all to myself, where I didn't have to cook anything,…
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Has anyone even missed me? For the past few days, I've been holed up in my office, focused in a way that's unusual for me, fueled with determination to finish editing photos from a shoot last month. (I know! Shame on me for taking so long! I do have the relatively good excuse of getting…
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It might seem unusual to wander through a cemetery on your birthday, but that's what I did yesterday. There's a small one dating from the 1850's down the highway toward Marble Falls. When I heard it was blanketed with bluebonnets, I couldn't wait to visit it. There's just something about wildflowers growing beside a headstone that…
Long Hollow 