El Paso Get-away

WC and I are great believers in getting away from our regular routine in order to capture a renewed vision of our lives.  So, this past weekend we took off for El Paso, and that part of West Texas where WC was raised.  Day one found us driving eight hours and passing the time by silently enjoying the shifting landscape (from hill country to desert) and cha(..)

First Frost

It happens every year, yet when the night finally comes when the temperature dips down to thirty-two or below the occasion feels unexpected, even unwelcome. The weather report in the newspaper may have mentioned the possibility and the five o'clock newscast may have predicted the change, but still the shift feels abrupt, like a surprise or a shock. Something on the win(..)

 A Sweep of Starlings

Perhaps they were not starlings, but I imagined them to be since my eyes are untrained for Texas birds and I needed to think of them as something more than a generic flock sweeping across the sky in undulating waves.  We stood transfixed in the evening's cooling autumn air watching thousands of dark shapes fly in unison above the elegant old homes nea(..)

Hearing the Leaves Fall


I arrived at an appointment today a little bit early so I parked my bike, checked my cell phone for messages, then stood outside on the street to eat an apple for lunch.  The day held quiet.  No breeze stirred the trees.  No traffic hummed on adjacent streets.  No dogs barked.  The near silence loomed so intense that I could h(..)

Songwriters in Concert at the LanTex

After months of planning, the big night finally arrived in Llano on Thursday, November 5th.  Numerous volunteers and sponsors welcomed a dozen songwriters from the hill country to the stage at the historic LanTex Theater, which had recently undergone a major facelift.  The occasion:  the first annual Songwriters in Concert benefit (..)

Mastering the Web

My recent trip to Florida was not all about having fun with family. I also built in a couple of days to spend with my web master, Deborah Kunzie, and another one of her clients, Missy Kizer. We had a list of goals to accomplish in a very short period of time, but somehow we managed to blend work with pleasure. We interspersed blogging lessons with nature walks, p(..)

Last week I flew down to Florida to be with my mother, Joan, my older sister, Karen, and my younger sister, Eileen and her husband, Chuck, and their daughter, Ashley. The reason for our long overdue get together was to celebrate mom’s 80th birthday on Halloween. That’s right: my mother is a witch and she knows how to work magic. After all she spent half her life as the wife of a mi(..)