Nathan's 14th

Nathan will be 14 on March 9th.  Since he'll be in Colorado for Spring Break, we celebrated his birthday early today and I made him his favorite cake, Texas Sheet Cake.  Bonnie was practicing for next week's rodeo in Bandera and Will made us a yummy salmon dinner.

Nathan and Elena had to do a little minor surgery to remove a string wrapped around one of the chickens' feet. 

It's a mile from their house down a bumpy driveway to Scenic Loop.

Nathan drove me to the bottom of the driveway--a very good driver indeed! 

Thursday's Travels With Luci

    I’ve taken several trips today.  Here are three postcards from my travels: 

    1. Home Depot to get shop towels and AC filters. I get way more attention and better customer service now that a dog is attached to a red leash.  A handsome white-haired man  said, “That’s the cutest dog I’ve ever seen.  Is she a certain breed?” A heavy-set man beside me in line almost stepped on her and apologized profusely. “I love dogs,” he said.  “I always cry for my dogs.”  The check-out woman said, “Where do you get her?  I want one just like that.”  

    2.  Jo Ann’s—also pet-friendly.  I bought squeezy balls for Carma and Luci and three women gathered around to pet her.  Each one told me stories about her dog(s). One lives on a ranch and has lots of dogs, sheep, goats, horses.  Another has a Golden Retriever named Bella.  

    3. Dollar Tree.  A very large woman, checker in Aisle 2,  was talking about Jesus to the checker in Aisle 1.  I didn’t get the whole story but it ended like this: “I was so damned mad I had to go home and pray to Jesus.  Jesus know I always do the right thing, but this one was hard!”  

She then bent down to pet Luci, her hands still wet in hand sanitizer that made Luci sneeze. She  told me she has a new dog that poops everywhere.  "Even if I spank him and leave him outside for five days with just food and water, he just comes in and poops again on the floor. I named him after my grand baby that died last year.  I wonder if that means my grand baby was going to be hard headed?” 

 “I had me a dog once just like this one, exactly like this one, a mix of chihuahua and cocker spaniel,  and I’m so damned mad cause my daughter give him away.  He was smart like a human, I mean smart!  He did bite the kids, but other than that, he was perfect.”

2/23/21

Today is going to be a Tuesday, I think.  

Yes, the 23rd of February, Charlotte's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Charlotte!  

I pulled a muscle and got up couple of hours ago to take an Advil.  Luci thought it was morning.  She came and jumped on me, doggie language for need-to-go. So I opened the door, and out she went, sniffing the ground for news of possums, skunks, and kitty-cats.   When she came back in, she mistakenly assumed it was playtime.  It was not. 

I curled up in bed and closed my eyes.  She walked around the bed to pick her spot.  She chose--uncannily!--the exact spot on my back where I needed a little bundle of heat and curled up her little deer-looking self against my pulled muscle.  Best physical therapy ever!

She runs like the wind and could, I believe, run nonstop for an hour--which is why I had a fence built.  If a runner passes, she's keen to join in on the fun. This little doxie-shelty-corgi is a speed machine.

If I outlive this amazing little dog, I'll never get another. Without hyperbole, I can say she is the best doggie ever!  If I close my eyes, she goes right to sleep.  Her favorite spot for people and animal gazing is on top of the dining table--a cuteness I don't discourage.  But she never gets on the table if I'm eating.  

Actually, I don't eat at the table very often--usually I have my meals on the sofa.  She curls up beside me and makes intense eye contact ("I'd love to have what you're having instead of that dry stuff in my bowl if you don't mind.") But she doesn't beg or touch my food, not ever.  If I do decide to give her a dime-size bite of bread, she takes it very gently in her tiny little mouth and eats it. 

When I get her leash and tell her I'm going to go get a coke, she runs to my bed and thinks she's hiding.  Unless I force the issue, she prefers never to go to McDonalds, though if it's night or later in the day, she'll happily go with me in the car.  When I come back from my coke run, she greets me with far more joy than the occasion deserves.  She's been waiting and looking out the window for me the whole time!

Even Elena, who loves all dogs and cats and horses and chickens, said, "Don't tell anybody but Luci is my favorite dog ever." 

This little dog is uniquely wonderful.  I wouldn't change a thing about her--except maybe her penchant for chewing shoes and socks.  Day sent me Cesar's book on puppy training and we'll get to that chapter at some point. 

I turned on Morning Joe just long enough to hear Joe's plug for "Call My Agent" so we're back in bed now and I'm hooked watching episode 1.  Unless you speak French, you'll have to read subtitles, but it's totally worth it and after a few minutes, you don't even notice that you're reading. 

Compassion and Empathy

Watching President Biden's address to the nation as we have almost reached 501,000 deaths from COVID 19, I feel that he's so right for the White House. 

After four years of lies and accusations of "hoaxes" and other conspiracy theories and a clear goading of his people to invade the capitol on January 6th, we now have a President with empathy and compassion, finally a man who is addressing the  thousands who have lost mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters,  friends and children.  

Peggy, my neighbor, texted me a link and made it possible for me to get on the list for vaccines at the beginning of January.  Many of my friends have had to try for hours to get on the list.  Now Peggy's young friend Lesha is helping people she doesn't know get on the list--including friends of mine and friends of my friends.  With so much self-interest in the world, it's wonderful to see a woman make it easier for people to get vaccinated! 

Jan has shared with me many slices of homemade bread and cornbread, bowls of soup, birthday cake.  Neighbors across the street brought in my pots of succulents.  Neighbors one street over turned off my water when a pipe burst.  Tony, my plumber, booked for a week, made time to help Kate and me when we had plumbing issues.  

Compassion and empathy have always been here in families and neighborhoods, but it seems we're all making a more conscious effort to reach out to help each other as we pull out of the muck of the last four years.  As I watched the memorial today, I felt that we're breathing deeply again and getting a chance to remember who we are and want to be, people who care about each other. 

2/21/21

I just got back from Helotes after a happy Saturday and Sunday with Elena and the dogs.

When the lockdown started, I was afraid.  What if the lockdown lasted a month or two?  What if the distance changed the way it had always been? 

I'm sort of prepared for the inevitable changes of teenaged years, but I wasn't prepared to lose our weekly get togethers in her 9th year and to miss Thanksgiving, birthday parties and overnight visits.

As it happened, this was exactly like times together before COVID.  "Let's have popcorn while we watch a movie," she said, "Like we always do"--as if nothing had happened in the intervening year.

She bathed Charley in the bathtub and prepared to bathe Luci, but Luci was having none of it. We took the dogs to play at the school playground and laughed when Luci ran at lightning speed all over the playground.  We met Bonnie at El Chapparal for dinner, my first sit down meal in a restaurant in months--just as delicious as it always is there, still my favorite Mexican food in the county.

On the way to Helotes she said, "I'm trying not to be sad.  I don't want to say goodbye to you and Luci."

I borrowed a line from NomadLand:  "We don't have to say good-bye; let's just say we'll see each other down the road."  She liked that. 

"I'm very interested in my ancestry," she said.  So we decided to make a book in which she can interview relatives and record family stories.  "I'm very proud to be Mexican," she said, "But I've never been to Mexico." 

At dinner tonight, she told her mom, "Yenna told me the coolest stories about my ancestors on her side."  

I'm trying not to be sad because this weekend is over.  I'm actually over the moon happy to have had it! 

 I'm in heaven--first sleepover in over a year, and the first mask-less visit, thanks to vaccines!

Elena and Charley and Luci and I are all in one bed together watching Queer Eye and eating popcorn after bringing California pizza and corn home for dinner.  

Nomad Land--on Hulu

Tonight was the night I'd planned to have a real face to face meal and visit with Will's family, two weeks past my second vaccine.  I'm disappointed, but in the context of all the tragedies and disasters in Texas this week, all the deaths and dislocations and fires and power outages, a delayed celebration is small potatoes.

It's been a stressful week for Will and all the firefighters and first responders, and that's uppermost in mind today. 

The beauty of yesterday's second snow this week is melting into slush and power is coming back for some people.  It's going to reach high 30s today, but freezes again tonight. I'm watching Nomadland and handing Luci popcorn piece by piece, as that's how she likes to be served.  My bed is covered with leftover kernels and that's just fine.  I'm one of the lucky ones with heat and water, even hot water, thanks to my excellent plumber, Tony.  

Luci just took my gloves out of my pocket book!  She's about to start chewing on them, so here I go to get them back.  

Nomadland is extraordinary--starring Frances McDormand.  It's remarkable that this movie was made by the actual  people who live as nomads traveling across the country in their vans. Except for Fern (played by McDormand) and Dave, all the characters in this movie are exactly who they are.  I'll watch this one again. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOW5cmmPn6U

Demon Dog

If Luci had her say--or maybe a way younger human than me--she'd play in the snow for hours.  But, alas, she has tons of pent up energy and is acting out. 

While I was talking to Linda Kot on the phone (for way too long, according to Luci), she turned into a demon dog.   She chewed the handles off my favorite paper scissors and a felt tip marker, all this while I was saying good things about her to Linda!  She chewed up two empty boxes while she was at it, and strewed the cardboard all over the floor I had just vacuumed.  

The girl just wants a party and a playmate.  Like all of us humans.  

Snows Past and Present

My first memory of snow in Texas, 1972.  The house you see on the left is the stone cabin we rented for 11 years, the only house on "our" 65 acres of Hill Country.  Those white lines in the background were my motorcycle riding trails.  The bent tree to the right was--counter to everything I've read about dogs not having retractable claws--Tony's climbing tree.  Imagine a hundred pound German Shepherd climbing to the crook in the tree and then jumping down into powdery snow!

The tiny girl in a red hat is Daisy, of course, and the girl holding her is a former version of me, 23.  

In 1985, we had the historic 13 inches of San Antonio snow.  We improvised sleds with cardboard and sheets of plastic--wearing our regular Texas jeans and canvas shoes.  After it passed, I bought my kids what passes for snow boots in Texas--never to be worn.

Thirteen years ago, I'm playing in the snow in Virginia with Day and Tom, Jackson and Marcus,  falling down, getting back up, laughing hysterically when my grandsons threw snowballs. 

Nineteen winters ago,  Carlene and I drove to Cape Cod in February to visit our dear friends, Linda and Steve.  Linda taught me how to lie in the snow and move my arms in a circular motion to create the impression of a "snow angel."  

For five years I had a Minnesota man-friend named Bob, and we flew back and forth, San Antonio to Minneapolis, once a month. It was then that I learned that you can do quite well in sub-zero weather if you have the right clothes for it.

Bob bought me snow gear and I spent the days, while he was working, driving around the snowy city and into St. Paul.  Stores didn't close for snow, and I walked with ease through the slushy wet streets and had lunches with writer friends I made there. 

My favorite snow memory with Bob was driving to International Falls and visiting his sister who lived on a lake at the Canadian border.  I dressed up in my snow suit and walked with them to the dock to watch them ride their snowmobile.

After watching a few rounds, I said to Bob, "Let me give it a go."  He gave me all the cautions and instructions for handling the snow machine, and at first, I followed them.  Then I started whizzing around the frozen lake, around the ice fishing huts and back, over and over. 

Bob's sister and husband were impressed. "I thought you'd never even been on a frozen lake before," they said. 

"Muscle memory," I said.  "Same as a motorcycle, just on ice." 

The snow of 2021 has been less exciting.  Due to power failures and pipes bursting, this week has been unnerving.  We don't have the wherewithal or clothes to sail smoothly through a six inch snow and day after day of freezing temperatures. 

Snow in San Antonio

We woke up to six inches of snow--deeper than Luci's legs are long!  The actual temperature 9, the wind chill minus 6.  

At noon, two adorable little boys from next door delivered us three homemade English muffins and shredded rotisserie chicken!  And--because I had made brownies last night--I had a bit of dessert to send home with them. 

The snow is melting with no more expected, but we're heading back down to 10 degrees again tonight.   

Happy Valentine's Day!

Luci was a shy little dog when we first met, most likely traumatized by numerous moves from one strange place to another. After being mysteriously parted from her first family, she'd wound up in a "kill shelter" from which the excellent SNIPSA rescued her for adoption. Then she had shots and surgery.  Janet took one look at her online and said she knew she was the dog I was looking for. She said it with the certainty Elena later proclaimed that her name was Luci, and both Janet and Elena were right. 

When she walked, she walked slowly.  She didn't run at all.  She didn't chew on shoes. Even with a painful tummy, she jumped up on my bed that first night (and every night since) and slept all night   Like any other orphaned puppy, she just wanted lots of love and affection. She was--dare I say--perfect. 

Now that she knows this is  home, she's shown me more every day about who she is: she walks confidently on a leash.  She'll get in the car, albeit reluctantly.  If I give her a taste of something she doesn't like, or maybe likes enough to save, she'll bury it in the ground and cover it up.  Inside, her burying spot is under the bed.  But she will never, ever, reject it outright--as if she doesn't want to hurt my feelings.  

She runs like the wind, laps and laps, round and round.  She fetches the ball and then plays Keep Away.  

She is no longer a normal shy little dog.  She has a big and lively personality.  The first few times I got up in the middle of the night and stayed up for a bit, she would wake up just long enough to cock her head in a gesture that I took to mean, "Are you crazy?  It's sleeping time!"

So for the first time ever, on Valentine's Day morning at 1:00, it was she who woke me up.  I figured she had to go pee, so I put on my glasses and started looking for my bedroom shoes.  One was right where it was supposed to be.  The other was MIA.

"Where's my shoe?" I asked her.

Next thing I knew, crazy puppy that she now is, she brought it to me--but refused to hand it over.  She had Keep Away in mind, not bringing me what I'd asked for.  She ducked her head and did her haul-ass run around the circle of my house, up on a bed, through the living room, through the kitchen, up on another bed, and to the back door.

I'm laughing--so naturally she thinks she's cute and entertaining and she has more where that came from.  So she does it again, hauling a gray bedroom shoe that is almost as big as she is.  Finally I retrieve my shoe and we go outside, but not for long--it's freezing!

Have I turned this girl into a crazy lady, like me?

Or was she always Crazy Lady and just biding her time to show me?

This weather makes me introspective.  Some weathers make me chatty, but not cold weather.  On days like today, I'm drawn to the casita to putter and paint.  Luci has a lot of pent up energy because her human isn't inclined to go outside and shiver while she runs at lightning speed around the yard.  I suggested she just go run by herself, but she's not that kind of girl.  She did a few laps for my amusement, but when her audience wandered back into the casita she wanted to come back in.  

In the background of today, the sound track was the impeachment trial and the result we knew we'd see but had to see to believe it.

Tomorrow I'm going to give my heart what it desires and spend the entire day playing, listening to music and podcasts.  Tomorrow I'm not listening to news all day.  I would like to go an entire day without hearing the name of the Mar-a-lago Man. Or Mitch.  Or Republican. 

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

     My first text of the morning was from Jan--who watches weather forecasts. She kindly warned me that we're expecting a big winter freeze and have been advised to find alternate sources of heat in case of a power outage. 

    My second text and call of the morning was from Kate who said I could come spend the night in front of her fireplace and "even bring what's her name if she'll be good and stay off my sofa.

    So I spent the morning at Lowe's and the hardware store and every place I could think of to find fake or real logs, all of which had sold out.  

    When I got home, another friend, Jennie, had delivered Valentine treats for Luci and a gift certificate for Mike's Dog Store in Sunset Ridge.  Luci and I went straight to Mike's Dog Store and found some kibble she really likes and discovered that a ten-pounder only needs  half cup a day of dog food.

    Curran and Harvey across the street brought in my heavy pots of succulents and offered us fire wood if moving to the casita is necessary.   

     So all in all, with the prospect of dipping to an almost imaginable 9 degrees by Monday, everything is sort of okay. 

February 11

I love this rainy cold day, playing with watercolor, a gift class from Laura Horn in Australia.  

After making hundreds of circles (which I'll continue doing because I love doing them), I'm finally trying what some of the teachers advise--to use my journal of watercolor paper to make big messy shapes and drips.  I wanted to avoid this part, as I do not like messy.  Once I've "messed up" a page, I feel like I've ruined my journal.  AS IF it's for a big art show or something! 

And so today, I made pages and pages of messy, some of which are--while not art--vivid and alive and promising.  Tomorrow, she'll teach us the next step--adding marks without using brushes.  

I also love the work of Jane Davies; it intrigues me.  She sometimes lets her chickens walk across the page to make marks and often plays the ukulele as background music.  I love watching her paint. She often has what looks to me like a completed piece and she puts a big swath of black over the top, me thinking ,"Ugh Oh, you're messing it up. Stop."  But then it gets--surprisingly--even better.

Luci is down for the night and I'm going to watch an episode of All Creatures Great and Small and call it a day.  A day is a very good thing.  I'll take all I can get! 

Toes, a hug, a flag, and a vlog

I met a man once who said, "I'm not marrying or dating again--unless I find someone who's as happy to see me as my dog is."  

I get it--even though  I've actually had no recent offers for dating or marriage. 

This morning, I returned from my first pedicure in months.  Even though I have a fenced yard now, I can't bear to drive away with Luci all alone behind the gate, looking longingly in my direction, probably hoping I'll let her out so she can have a little romp next door with Carma.  (The truth is I'm afraid someone will take her.) So I left her in the house for two long hours.

I probably could have taken her to the nail salon and shoe shop. I'm learning that many places welcome dogs. I was the only customer in both shops, as it turned out, and the clerk at the Birkenstock Store said yes, sure, bring your dog any time; we love dogs.  

When I returned, Luci got up on the dining table the better to welcome me home eye to eye.  She stood on her hind legs and trustingly threw her two front legs around my neck, wagging her tail and whole self in an ecstatic puppy hug, her first table top hug--and definitely mine!

Then I got package from the Senate.  A note of explanation, but no name of the sender.  The minute I opened it, I knew it had to be from Tom--as anyone who knows Tom would know!  It was a United States flag, flown over the capitol on the day after Biden's inauguration.  

That gift and my happiness to receive it said so much about Tom's love of America and our shared excitement over this election.  I love it! 

My energy is still low; all I could manage today were the pedicure and getting new walking shoes. So tonight, I got in bed and bounced around from one art video to another. ending with a vlog by a British woman who calls herself The Unexpected Gypsy.

Usually I watch videos because I'm attracted to the art, but in this case, it's the artist herself I enjoy. She's refreshingly who she is--no make up, messy hair, moody.  

The Unexpected Gyspy

I stumbled across one last week in which she was talking about her depression during lockdown, watched a couple of minutes and moved on.  Tonight's episode was about moving from her former studio space, which she loved, to a new space, which she loved even more. 

"Sometimes you have to let go of what doesn't belong to you any more," she said.   

I love that line! 

If I made vlogs, I'd have to at least comb my hair, put on a dab of lipstick, and clean up the room where I was filming--but Gypsy here just turns on the camera and goes about her day and talks to her viewers as if we're her best friends who just popped in.  

Her closing line's good, too: 

"Keep your vibes up and your lights bright"

Sunday in the Neighborhood

I woke up feeling sluggish and sleepy this morning,  with the energy of a flea.  I suppose that could be an after-effect of the vaccine, but who knows?  I watched some random movie that was pretty terrible, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, then decided I felt sorry for my peppy little pal with no one to play with, so I dragged myself out of bed and tossed her new ball back and forth giving her half an hour of running.  

"You're not playing like you usually do," she said--with her eyes.  So then she started throwing an old sock all by herself, chasing it, and shaking it with all her might.  (I don't believe the sock survived the encounter.) 

"I know," I saId.  "I'm tired today."  

"Well, let's go for a walk," she suggested.

"I don't want to, I don't want to," I protested, hoping at least for a little sympathy for my malaise.

"Come on," she insisted.  "It will make. you feel better."

So we did.  And I did.  

Then Jan and Carma came over for a porch visit and the two furry girls greeted with each other with joy and tumbled into various configurations of puppy happy on the rug.

After that, we drove out to Luby's drive-through for some chicken fried steak.  It wasn't very good, but I managed to eat half of it and gave Luci some, then we went outside for one more run.

"Why don't we have chicken fried steak every day?" Luci said--with her big brown grateful eyes.  

"No way, "I said.  

Friday--and Flickr Commons

I'm one of the  lucky ones who's now gotten both vaccines. I'm having a tiny bit more pain and reaction to the second one than the first one, so Luci and I are curling up in bed for the night, me reading about image transfers, Luci curled up like a sweet little fawn beside me.  Hopefully, everyone will be vaccinated soon and we can begin to return to some of the things we've been waiting all year to do. Dr. Fauci said that when 80% of us are vaccinated, we could have herd immunity.  

For those of you who draw, paint or collage, or who are interested in exploring images and stories, Flickr Commons is an excellent source for copyright-free photographs from around the world.

Lyn Belisle's class, Natural Expressions, includes a tutorial on finding and using these free photographs in your art work.  Check it out--for photos of people, vintage cars and houses, street scenes, animals, trees, and flowers.  

Copyright free photos 

Thursday

A shelter dog's past is a mystery.  I wonder where she came from and who loved her first.  I wonder how she got separated from her first human(s).  Nobody would willingly give up such a sweet girl, so I'm wondering if maybe her first owner got COVID. While some orphaned animals show signs of having been abused, my guess is that whoever trained her to walk on a leash loved her a lot.  She loves attention and affection so much.

Since she didn't get a runner in her human, she can rip up the back yard running all by herself, but she wants me to watch and laugh.  The more I laugh, the faster she runs. 

She has learned to communicate clearly--mostly with her eyes.  Two or three times she's barked, but mostly she's very quiet.  If Jan or I say "no" to either dog, Luci immediately jumps up on each of us as if to say, "Please keep liking me! I didn't mean to do a bad thing."

Luci has often been spotted sitting below the open window looking for her best friend, and Carma often whines at the window when she hears Luci outside.

Our adventure this morning was spending an hour in the Volkswagen dealership checking out my brakes.  Every serviceman came over to meet her and she got lots of pats.

When we got home Janet stopped by--her first puppy-mama--and Luci was wild with happiness to see her!

Now she's chewing on a pork chop bone she buried for safe keeping during the night, and I'm about to disturb her chomping and take her for a walk.

The Mixed Media Photography Book

In Tuscany, I loved watching Nellie drawing in her journal.  In addition to taking photographs, she also captured street scenes and sculptures in sketches.  One day she showed me how to tape over a picture with wide packing tape, soak it in water, rub the picture off the back, then glue it into a journal or use it in a collage.  

I still remember that vividly--just as I remember visiting her in in her home in Florida and making artist trading cards  by tearing bits of pictures and words from magazines and gluing them onto regular playing cards.  For someone who has no talent at drawing,  the concept of collage was, and still is, intriguing.

I've been watching videos by Nitsa Malik.  She takes her own photographs and other high-contrast images and transfers them to paper, wood, glass, and canvas.  She makes it look so easy.  I spent yesterday transferring pictures from glossy magazines to paper.  Three of them were successful, most were not.  But I had a fun day trying and will continue doing it today.

Her book, The Mixed Media Photography Book, arrived last week and I'm studying it the way I studied The McCalls Make It Book my daddy brought back from a trip when I was about 12 years old.  I absolutely love learning how to do manipulate images and this book has introduced me to so many techniques I intend to master.