365 Photos in 2009

The end of this is the beginning of the next....

2010-01-01T09:48:00.003-06:00

Thanks to everyone who followed my blog in 2009.

My 2010 effort is now online at 365 Photos in 2010

December 31

2009-12-31T14:54:00.005-06:00

Sometime in the early morning hours of the day that would be New Year's Eve 2005, I woke up from a dream that had already vanished, leaving behind only two words: CRASH CART.

I went back to sleep.

***

Hours later, the day started like any other Saturday. The normal part lasted only until 8:37. Then my dad called, frantic: my mom had fallen, hitting her head, and he needed me right away. I arrived at his house just as the ambulance took her to the emergency room. My dad and I followed in the car; as we turned the first corner he said: I thought she was dead.

She was dead before lunch.

When we caught up with her at the hospital, she was still slightly aware of what was going on. I found a cloth and washed dried blood from her hands and her right elbow. I told her that I'd bought a green silk jacket with my Christmas gift card. She said the backboard hurt her neck.

By the time I had almost started to resign myself to the idea that this might be more than just a few hours at the ER, the doctor had moved her into the trauma room, and the nurses were working swiftly, grimly, not making eye contact with us.

I slipped her wedding rings from her finger.

When the doctors started saying things like "no significant hope for recovery," I'd started making calls, to my husband, my sister, the pastor: the plates of the earth were shifting, ever so slightly, causing great earthquakes as I became the adult in charge.

Before anyone else could arrive, my dad was saying "great fear of nursing homes" and, finally, "we have to let her go." Family arrived, nurses withdrew, the chaplain appeared. As she slipped away from us, as softly as a whisper, we stood around her bed, holding her and each other. My father's tears dropped to her dying face, the last rites of his love for her.

And it was over. I scanned the room, and my eyes fell on a red cabinet on the other side. The sign over it said: CRASH CART.

***

Those first ragged months of grieving were harder than I could have believed. Almost anything would trigger a flood of grief, but the hardest of these were the ones that sneaked in and kicked me before I knew what was about to happen.

A Bruce Cockburn song with the line "if I fall down and die without saying goodbye" reduced me to tears for the rest of the day.

A passing thought about appropriate mother's day gifts stabbed me in the gut.

Thinking about my dad going shopping, alone, to buy my birthday present was so sad that I barely made it through dinner.

For so long, everything held the hidden dangers of learning how to be motherless. But one day, that song didn't make me cry.

December 30

2009-12-30T18:05:00.003-06:00

I was looking at the clouds while I was driving home tonight, thinking that these are winter clouds - they never look like this in the summer.

Alcove Avenue
Lubbock, Texas

December 29

2009-12-29T22:01:00.003-06:00

Look! I am learning how to use PhotoShop!! Don't you think it is about time?

Lubbock, Texas

December 28

2009-12-28T21:25:00.003-06:00

Seriously - this snow has completely overstayed its welcome.

US 82 and Milwaukee Avenue
Lubbock, Texas

December 27

2009-12-27T13:20:00.004-06:00

Someone built a snowman* on the lawn at Christ Lutheran Church, and crowned him with a chunk of an icicle and a couple of sticks from a nearby live oak tree.

Indiana Avenue
Lubbock, Texas

* If you believe it was a snow-woman, please change "him" to "her." Likewise, if you believe it to be a gender neutral snow-person, please change "him" to "it." If you think the entire snow-man-woman-person situation tends to anthropomorphize what is actually just a pile of snow, then delete all references to people and pronouns. Thank you.

December 26

2009-12-26T20:51:00.002-06:00

Three trivets.

Lubbock, Texas

December 25

2009-12-25T18:38:00.004-06:00

Giant (for Texas) icicles on the eaves of the house. I really like how the long one on the right has that wavy pattern frozen right into it.

Lubbock, Texas

December 24

2009-12-24T14:20:00.004-06:00

Snow caught in the chain-link fence at the City of Lubbock cemetery.

Lubbock, Texas

December 23

2009-12-23T14:12:00.003-06:00

A line of hay bales along US 385, just south of Levelland.

Hockley County, Texas

December 22

2009-12-22T21:43:00.002-06:00

A big ol' hunk of wood that has been turned (in the wood-working sense) into a bowl.

Lubbock, Texas

(Sorry for using such a technical term - I am referring to "big ol' hunk of wood" - but I would hate to dumb down today's comments.)

December 21

2009-12-21T20:25:00.005-06:00

In a twist on the popular game, these animals gathered at the park to play Goose-Goose-Duck.

Levelland, Texas

December 20

2009-12-20T20:09:00.003-06:00

The dryer at the drive-through car wash. And water spots on the window.

Lubbock, Texas

December 19

2009-12-19T21:58:00.002-06:00

Table decorations at a wedding reception.

Hobbs, New Mexico

December 18

2009-12-18T20:01:00.003-06:00

About a million lights on a liveoak tree. (Or, is it "live oak"? Or, "live-oak"?)

Lubbock, Texas

December 17

2009-12-17T20:47:00.003-06:00

A store window display that reminds me of what we used to do for entertainment when I was a kid - we'd go to the shopping centers, either Caprock or Monterey, and look at what was in the windows. At Christmas, we'd drive all the way downtown to look at the Christmas display at Dunlap's. (The two-story window on the northeast side where they put the Christmas tree is now the main entrance to the Chamber of Commerce and the space is full of maps and so forth. It's not even CLOSE to warranting a trip downtown.)

Also - this makes me sound really, really old! It's not as bad as you think - we didn't hitch up a team of mules to Pa's wagon to make the trip downtown. Nope. We just took the Studebaker.

Lubbock, Texas

December 16

2009-12-16T17:22:00.002-06:00

I guess if you are going to hang a tire on the buried utilities sign, the classy thing to do is to use a white sidewall. Right?

FM 2378 and FM 1585
Hockley County, Texas

December 15

2009-12-15T20:45:00.003-06:00

A Nambe platter on my hearth.

http://www.nambe.com/

Lubbock, Texas

December 14

2009-12-14T19:55:00.003-06:00

Do you think I am REALLY that good with a camera that I can make it look as though this were taken from the middle of a highway?

Surely I wouldn't have taken a picture while I was driving?

FM 1585
Hockley County, Texas

December 13

2009-12-13T16:18:00.002-06:00

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

December 12

2009-12-12T21:46:00.002-06:00

Lubbock, Texas

December 11

2009-12-11T21:22:00.003-06:00

The light on the deck outside the sun room.

Lubbock, Texas

December 10

2009-12-10T21:18:00.003-06:00

Detail of a wall on an architectural model.

Texas Tech University College of Architecture
Lubbock, Texas

December 9

2009-12-09T20:11:00.001-06:00

This old farmhouse is marks the half-way point on my drive to work.

It's abandonded. The windows are broken out, and on the east side, a hunk of a sun-whitened flaps through the hole that used to have glass.

Hockley County, Texas

December 8

2009-12-08T21:24:00.003-06:00

A vase, and some books.

But you probably figured that out on your own.

Lubbock, Texas

December 7

2009-12-07T21:11:00.002-06:00

Look! My computer came back - and it works!

Lubbock, Texas

December 6

2009-12-07T21:07:00.003-06:00

The felt-and-sequin Christmas tree on my girlhood Christmas stocking. My mom made it for me, and it even has my name spelled out in silver sequins. All of the sequins are held on with tiny beads.

Guess that stocking's pushing 50 years old now - not that I am revealing my age or anything!

Lubbock, Texas

Lubbock, Texas

December 5

2009-12-07T21:04:00.004-06:00

Three ceramic mixing bowls that live next to the clock and lamp that were featured on November 27.

Lubbock, Texas

December 4

2009-12-07T21:02:00.003-06:00

I just don't think I can add anything to this....

Littlefield, Texas

December 3

2009-12-07T20:56:00.003-06:00

This was the first time I put up a Christmas tree since 2005. My mom died that year, quite suddenly, on New Year's Eve and I just hadn't felt like decorating.

It was harder than I thought it would be. When I opened the boxes of ornaments, I kept thinking that the last time I'd opened them, my mom had been alive. But that was the easy part: when I unpacked the Christmas stockings, I cried to think how much my mom would have loved to make a stocking for Hannah, my granddaughter who was born in 2007.

Lubbock, Texas

December 2

2009-12-07T20:54:00.003-06:00

A little group of farm buildings on the outskirts of Wolfforth.

Wolfforth, Texas

December 1

2009-12-07T20:52:00.003-06:00

A door and its reflection on a cold, wet day.

Southland, Texas

November 30

2009-12-07T20:45:00.004-06:00

A nice little scene on the outskirts of Plains, Texas.

(When we were little, my mom, sister, and I drove to Plains to meet up with my dad, who was doing some sort of an engineering project over there. My sister was three or four and was very upset when she didn't see PLANES there. And that's how she learned to not always trust what you think you hear.)

Highway 214
Yoakum County, Texas

November 29

2009-12-07T20:40:00.004-06:00

I am SUCH A DORK.

I have specific pens assigned to specific journals. And not just pens - fountain pens.

And if that isn't bad enough, the pen for the journal on the right always (always!) has purple ink in in.

Obsessive? Not me.

Lubbock, Texas

November 28

2009-12-07T20:34:00.007-06:00

An anchor bolt at the gazebo at Yellowhouse Canyon. The deck under the gazebo is finished, the Adirondack chairs are assembled - and for the first time, I wrote a journal entry from the canyon.

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

November 27

2009-12-07T20:31:00.002-06:00

A new sofa, a new-ish lamp, and old-ish table, and an old clock.

Lubbock, Texas

November 26

2009-12-07T20:28:00.003-06:00

The crystals on a candle holder that I found on my way home from South Dakota - we stopped for lunch in Chadron, Nebraska, and I found this treasure.

I like Chadron.

Lubbock, Texas

November 25

2009-12-07T20:26:00.003-06:00

A bowl of apples on their way to becoming a Thanksgiving pie.

Lubbock, Texas

November 24

2009-12-07T20:23:00.002-06:00

This is the very lonely vent on my laptop mat - the computer is taking a little bit of a vacation to get repaired....

Lubbock, Texas

November 23

2009-12-07T20:19:00.002-06:00

If you like the letter L, this is a great town. Nearly as good as going to Wales, to visit Llangollen.

This is the Lobo Lanes, in Levelland.

Levelland, Texas

Where have I been, part 3

2009-11-29T18:58:00.002-06:00

Computer: Still sick.

Solution: Ship to Apple for repairs

Me: Still taking photos, but without computer (and PhotoShop) that's as far as it goes.

Blog: Will get caught up as soon as the computer returns.

Where have I been part 2

2009-11-24T20:35:00.002-06:00

It doesn't make any sense, but it looks as though the logic board (what ever that means) has gone out on my laptop. And my local Mac guy can't fix it, but he is nice enough to take it to Dallas to the Apple store. And we hope the geniuses there can get it working again.

My Mac guy says logic boards "hardly ever" go bad, so I am one lucky girl, aren't I?

At any rate - don't worry: I am still taking photos every day and as I can find computers with PhotoShop that I can use (and hopefully not ruin MORE logic boards) I will be posting.

Thanks for your patience, and maybe it won't be too long before I get a computer back.

Lubbock, Texas

November 22

2009-11-22T21:08:00.003-06:00

A building at the mostly abandoned White River Retreat.

White River Lake, Texas

November 21

2009-11-22T21:06:00.002-06:00

A couple of nice rocking chairs on the porch of the lake house where I spent the weekend.

White River Lake, Texas

November 20

2009-11-22T21:04:00.002-06:00

Poor games - they just have to sit in this tall stack in the closet. No one plays anymore.

Lubbock, Texas

Where have I been???

2009-11-22T14:11:00.001-06:00

Bad news on the computer front: perhaps it is H1N1, or something else like a crashed hard drive. But my computer is down.

The computer guy just came and took it away to run diagnostics, asking me as he left, "Is it still under warranty?"

Oh no.

But I have been taking photos, so as soon as I have a computer again, I will post them all.

Maybe that will be later this afternoon.....

November 19

2009-11-19T19:39:00.002-06:00

A silver building along the highway out of town.

US 385,
near Levelland, Texas

November 18

2009-11-18T19:06:00.004-06:00

Sometimes I just can't understand the way my mind works.

Tonight is a good example. I stopped at the shoe store and looked around for a while And, then, really from just out of nowhere, I started thinking about a Steve Martin book from the late 1970s.

The book: Cruel Shoes.

Weird, huh?

Lubbock, Texas

November 17

2009-11-17T17:23:00.003-06:00

Henderson Street, between 5th and 6th.

Austin, Texas

November 16

2009-11-16T19:27:00.004-06:00

This kind of makes me feel sad for the people in these photographs. The photos are piled in a bowl at an antique store, and for sale for a buck each.

How would it make you feel if you saw a member of your family in one of these pictures?

Uncommon Objects, South Congress
Austin, Texas

November 15

2009-11-15T20:45:00.004-06:00

Take that, New England: we have leaves that change color, too.

Lubbock, Texas

November 14

2009-11-14T18:14:00.004-06:00

Here's what I need to write a novel this month:

notecards (not that they really help, it just seems like a good idea)
a list of chapters that I have already written (again, not that it really helps)
a Sharpie (because you can't do anything without a Sharpie)
coffee
daily word count (3,154 for today)

I am 53% complete today, which leaves me only 23,516 words to go before midnight on November 30...

nearly halfway through National Novel Writing Month
Lubbock, Texas

November 13

2009-11-13T23:13:00.002-06:00

Yum...tapas! And wine.

La Diosa Cellars
Lubbock, Texas

November 12

2009-11-12T22:12:00.003-06:00

Here's an inexpensive little decorating tip you won't see on HGTV: cardboard coffee sleeves.

(It is only inexpensive if you don't count the cost of getting to Cowboy Joe in Elko, Nevada.)

(And, is it just me, or does that coffee cup graphic over the word "Melvyns" look like a dead, feet-up bug?)

My office
Levelland, Texas

November 11

2009-11-11T20:06:00.002-06:00

Magnet art installation provided by guest artist Hannah, age 2.

Lubbock, Texas

November 10

2009-11-10T21:50:00.002-06:00

My drive to work includes ten miles on a farm-to-market road, so I get twice daily updates on the cotton harvest.

On Monday morning, I saw that my favorite cotton field had been picked (stripped, we say out here) over the weekend. Is it odd to have a "favorite" cotton field? Go back and look at the photo from October 14 - there, behind the sign that says "wells" - is my favorite field. The cotton wasn't open yet in October, but when it did open, the fields were fluffy with it. This particular field had plants that were taller than most, so it was actually pretty spectacular. And it reminded me of an old picture I have of my grandpa, standing in cotton that was up to his waist. He wasn't a tall man, but that was nevertheless some tall cotton.

But that doesn't have anything to do with this picture, which was taken about seven miles from town, just after the turn from US 385 to FM 1485 - you know the place, right?

Hockley County, Texas

November 9

2009-11-09T20:05:00.002-06:00

(This is not downtown Lubbock)

Hockley County, Texas

November 8

2009-11-08T16:35:00.004-06:00

It's a the third day in a row I have a photo from downtown Lubbock.

This one, as you can see, is from what we shall call the "less urbanized" side - 9th Street nex to the railroad.

Lubbock, Texas

November 7

2009-11-07T22:49:00.004-06:00

Downtown Lubbock two nights in a row - that is sort of unprecedented. Tonight was a concert by The Flatlanders.

(See June 2 photo for daytime shot of this same building, backed by an approaching storm.)

Lubbock, Texas

November 6

2009-11-06T20:42:00.003-06:00

I found this interesting entry way of a building downtown tonight.

Lubbock, Texas

November 5

2009-11-05T19:58:00.003-06:00

I like words that start with Z. I find them to be somewhat zesty!

zax
zaffer
zinhanthropus
zill
zwieback
zydeco
zyzzyva
zygoma
Zouave
zooid
zither
zloty
zig
zag
zig-zag
zinnia
zabaglione

(with the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition, on my desk)
Lubbock, Texas

November 4

2009-11-04T19:33:00.003-06:00

With the time change, it is starting to get light when I leave for work. That's a nice change: ever since I started my new job at the end of September, the drive to work has been in the dark.

But now, I get rewarded with scenes like this smooth lake at the end of my street.

Chas. A. Guy Park
Lubbock, Texas

November 3

2009-11-03T20:24:00.003-06:00

Just a random clay pot on the back porch.

I really MUST start taking some pictures somewhere besides my house...

Lubbock, Texas

November 2

2009-11-02T20:40:00.001-06:00

Hint: my side of the closet isn't NEARLY this organized....

Lubbock, Texas

November 1

2009-11-01T19:16:00.004-06:00

I have been working on this little roadside cross project for something like twelve years. It is a combination of digitally-manipulated images and poetry, and it was completely stalled out. It was so stalled out, in fact, that I was very close to abandoning the written parts, and turning it into a photography project.

Until the week before last, when I spent a week-long writing retreat working on it. During the retreat, I deconstructed the project, then rebuilt it. It's got a different focus now, and I think a stronger one.

I have divided the images into sections, and that is what is in the photograph: long taped-together photographs, by section. They are hanging on the closet door in my office, rustling in the breeze from the ceiling fan.

I am ready to work on it now: that writing retreat could not have come at a better time.

Lubbock, Texas

October 31

2009-10-31T17:07:00.001-05:00

Lacy seedheads in the backyard.

Lubbock, Texas

October 30

2009-10-30T20:22:00.001-05:00

Maybe this is in keeping with Halloween a little bit: a little metal figurine of a cat, standing on its hind legs, holding a dish.

It's at my dad's house.

Lubbock, Texas

October 29

2009-10-29T21:15:00.004-05:00

In honor of the upcoming Halloween celebrations, I present this - the most macabre salt and pepper shakers I have ever seen. The little skulls rock back and forth in the holder, which is a quaint little detail...

Lubbock, Texas

October 28

2009-10-28T20:34:00.003-05:00

I always, always thought the metal box on the left had belonged to my grandmother. I even remembered a little piece of adhesive tape on the bottom with her name written on it. So it came as a bit of a surprise when I did some fact-checking a minute or two ago. There is a piece of adhesive tape on the bottom of the box. It's got a name, and a date, written on it. The interesting thing is that the name is Wanda Mackey and my grandmother's name was Ruth Martin.

So, if you are a descendant of Mrs. Mackey, let me know. And as soon as I find something else to use as a button box, I will let you have your metal box back.

This is what I remember about the other metal box: when I was in grade school, our neighbors across the street gave it to my sister and me at Christmas, with fudge inside. Later, after the candy was gone, we stored the Chinese checkers marbles in it. Given how far off I was on the other box, though, I have to wonder about the provenance of this box, too.

in a state of confusion...

October 27

2009-10-27T20:29:00.004-05:00

In 1967, my family took a vacation to Mexico. Among the items my parents saved as mementos of the trip was my International Certificate of Vaccination.

But what is most interesting is that my dad's printings (he's an engineer, as you can probably tell) looks the very same now as it did then. My own handwriting style wanders all over the place, so his never-changing printing is kind of amazing.

Lubbock, Texas

October 26

2009-10-26T20:19:00.002-05:00

So, I get laser eye surgery, knowing that I will still need reading glasses at some point. My eye doctor tells me that failing close vision is a product of age and "lasers can't fix that."

And, she's right: I DO need reading glasses. I have a set of them, all outdated, in my office. It looks as though I am trying to compete with the Lion's Club eyeglasses recycling program...

Maybe my friend with the blog about cleaning house could pay me a visit when she's done over at her place, since I obviously need some help!

Lubbock, Texas

See what she's up to: http://cleaninghouseamemoir.blogspot.com/

October 25

2009-10-25T20:04:00.004-05:00

This shot is taken on the west side of the hut, looking through it and through the door, to the eastern side of Yellowhouse Canyon.

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

October 24

2009-10-25T11:46:00.003-05:00

My sharp-eyed traveling companion spotted this lovely detail on a building on the square in Boise City, Oklahoma.

Boise City, Oklahoma

October 23

2009-10-23T19:52:00.003-05:00

The east door to the old barn has a lovely amethyst-colored doorknob.

http://www.windbreakhouse.com/

Hermosa, South Dakota

(posted in Sidney, Nebraska)

October 22

2009-10-23T19:31:00.003-05:00

Late afternoon sun lights up a stand of dead cottonwood trees.

http://www.windbreakhouse.com/

Hermosa, South Dakota

October 21

2009-10-23T19:24:00.002-05:00

The grasshoppers - or some other bug - thought these elm leaves were mighty tasty.

http://www.windbreakhouse.com/

Hermosa, South Dakota

October 20

2009-10-23T19:18:00.004-05:00

This was the view out the south window of my room at Windbreak House.

http://www.windbreakhouse.com/

Hermosa, South Dakota

October 19

2009-10-23T19:13:00.002-05:00

Late-afternoon sun on the cellar stairs, Windbreak House writing retreat.

http://www.windbreakhouse.com/

Hermosa, South Dakota

October 18

2009-10-18T21:28:00.003-05:00

This is the best part of the exhibits at the Crazy Horse Memorial - the exhibit of Italian glass beads (used in Native American beadwork). It looks like jars of jewels.

Rapid City, South Dakota

More information: http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/

October 17

2009-10-17T20:34:00.004-05:00

Would you REALLY want to consume a food product with the word "spitz" in the title?

But, if you are OK with it, I located the Big Bag Spitz in Stratford, Texas.

posted in Sidney, Nebraska

October 16

2009-10-16T18:06:00.003-05:00

A big box o' stuff, packed and ready to put in the car - tomorrow we are on our way to Windbreak House, near Hermosa, South Dakota, for a 5-day writing retreat.

(I won't be posting regularly while I am on the retreat, but will get caught up after I get back - look for new posts on October 25.)

Lubbock, Texas

October 15

2009-10-15T19:51:00.003-05:00

A charming fall vignette.

Lubbock, Texas

October 14

2009-10-14T20:32:00.002-05:00

Well, it's the wells.

I guess.

Levelland, Texas

October 13

2009-10-13T18:06:00.005-05:00

It's (sometimes) the little things that make me happy. Like being able to see all the way through the windows at the corners of the second floor of this building in Levelland.

Levelland, Texas

October 12

2009-10-12T19:06:00.002-05:00

Big stones in a bowl made of little stones.

Lubbock, Texas

October 11

2009-10-11T21:14:00.003-05:00

I like how the light on the glass of this old door looks exactly like the patterns sunlight makes on the bottom of a swimming pool.

But mostly I like the way thousands of hands pushing the door open have partly missed the brass plate, discoloring the wood above it.

Lubbock, Texas

October 10

2009-10-10T16:09:00.003-05:00

I don't know this started, this strict adherence to the Soup Rules. My friend Carlos and I came up with the Rules a long time ago, and we do not break them. We don't even BEND them.

Today, it was officially a Soup Day: cool weather, foggy, Canada geese at the park.

So, I made my corn-chowder-with-sausage-and-even-a-little-bit-of-chicken.

Lubbock, Texas

PS - Soup is the only thing about winter that Carlos and I approve of.

PPS - That spoon in the photograph is the subject of a poem written by my friend Laurie Wagner Buyer.

October 9

2009-10-09T21:27:00.003-05:00

The edge detail of a very old green and white platter that is hanging on the wall in the dining room. Sometimes, I take it down and use it (after I wash off the dust first.)

Lubbock, Texas

October 8

2009-10-08T21:15:00.005-05:00

If, by chance, you DON'T know how ignorant you are, but are interested in finding out, you may want to glance through this little volume.

Sample sentence:

I have sought repeatedly to examine the common assumptions that I make, and that I hear made by other people (except those of women which are, of course, immune to factual evidence, in so far as they are typically feminine) in the light of what has been extablished, or is uncertain, scientifically.

Yep - 32 pages of that.

Lubbock, Texas

PS - You may wonder how I came to possess such an enlightened book. I have no idea.

October 7

2009-10-07T19:41:00.003-05:00

...and yet I still buy new books....

Lubbock, Texas

October 6

2009-10-06T19:37:00.003-05:00

The tower at Christ the King Cathedral.

Lubbock, Texas

October 5

2009-10-05T19:10:00.003-05:00

You know how it is - you are driving across the country and see a town called Lakeview, only there's no lake anywhere. Or, you notice the turn to take you to Humble and you doubt that it is. And don't expect to see blocks and blocks of gingerbread-trimmed houses in Victoria.

So, doesn't it make you wonder why the closest town to this photo is called: Levelland?

Levelland, Texas

October 4

2009-10-04T20:50:00.004-05:00

I have heard of people who do all their ironing at one time. (In fact, I may be married to someone like that.) On the other hand, I much prefer to iron my clothes right before I put them on.

But now that my work commute has expanded from 8 minutes to 45 minutes, I have decided to make a Big Change. No, not do all my ironing at one time; I still think that's ridiculous. What I am doing is ironing tomorrow's outfits tonight. I really, really appreciate the extra few minutes of sleep that permits me to have!

Lubbock, Texas

October 3

2009-10-03T21:52:00.002-05:00

I promise that the ONLY reason I had a funnel cake at the fair was to help out Meals on Wheels. Really.

Lubbock, Texas

October 2

2009-10-02T16:59:00.004-05:00

Detail from "Town on the Plains" by Lindsey Leavell.

I bought the print last week in Creede, Colorado: it was hanging on the back wall of the gallery, and that little white church in the foreground caught - and held - my attention.

Lubbock, Texas

October 1

2009-10-01T17:48:00.005-05:00

I went away on vacation, and returned to Bizarro World. See that beer? That nice vanilla Porter? I bought it at the GROCERY STORE. At the grocery store in LUBBOCK.

Yep, while we were away, the long-anticipated within-city-limits alcohol sales became effective.

(On a slightly less happy note, the sign at the cash register said that if you looked like you were "under 40" you could expect to be carded. I am close to 40 (53, if you must know), so I was almost positive that I would be carded. But I wasn't. But you've gotta take the bad with the good.)

Lubbock, Texas

September 30

2009-09-30T18:45:00.003-05:00

A new, fresh subdivision sprouts on the edge of a field.

Lubbock, Texas

September 29

2009-09-29T20:14:00.003-05:00

I really like these fan-shaped windows in the double doors in my new office building!

Levelland, Texas

September 28

2009-09-28T21:12:00.002-05:00

New job, in a new town. But look! An old building across the street from my parking spot.

This is going to work out fine!

Levelland, Texas

September 27

2009-09-27T16:41:00.004-05:00

Wine bottles that have been cut down to be used as glasses... I got a kit to do it, and it is a LOT harder than the directions indicate; my success rate is about 10%. (Or to say it another way, I am about 90% successful at creating glass that is ready for the recycling bin.)

Lubbock, Texas