When I was a kid, we had plastic items called Decoreggers that held an Easter egg securely while you painted or drew on it. Last year, my family went on a major hunt for Decoreggers and couldn't find any in local stores. This year, I got out my saw and improvised. With a saw, a... Continue Reading →
If I ever get to design a house for myself, or just remodel a hallway, I'm totally doing this: Brilliant use of space in this very wide hall gave the owners their own mini-library. It even has a sliding-ladder contraption, a thing I have coveted for years, as I am teensy. Big bookcases can really... Continue Reading →
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower, Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, And maidens call it Love-in-idleness. -- A Midsummer Night's Dream This is the lovely Viola cornuta, a modern cousin of the deep purple violet Shakespeare knew and used in his play --... Continue Reading →
I've been a copy editor for more than 15 years, and in all that time, none of my coworkers nor anybody I've asked has been able to say where we get the dorky abbreviation CQ, which we use every day. These are copy editors, mind you. People who will cheerfully spend half an hour tracking down... Continue Reading →
At about 1:20 a.m., if you're up late writing, you're not alone. Google's Teahouse Fox is doing brushwork by candlelight. She has apparently been outside, as there is a taper still lit in the garden. And fireflies hover over her birdbath. These images I've been discovering recently are at the bottom of the Gmail Inbox... Continue Reading →
Having been a fan of the James Herriot books since I was a little girl, I recently did myself a huge favor: I ordered the biography of him that his son wrote, "The Real James Herriot," as well as the photo book with his essays on "James Herriot's Yorkshire." (Herriot was the pen name adopted by... Continue Reading →
Description and history of the De Zavala flag of the Republic of Texas, including facts about the design of my De Zavala t-shirt and a link to purchase the shirt.
I was puzzled as a youngster (and indeed, up until last week) by the title of "Norwegian Wood." The song is moody, and I always pictured a dark forest of young skinny trees, probably related to the photomural in my dentist's office. But no, I read now that it was a dig at the girl's... Continue Reading →
A great tool for cutting through plastic packaging and also for cutting up credit cards: ordinary tin snips.
(Part of a series explaining the history behind my Texian Tees. Other entries: the De Zavala Flag; the Burnet Flag; the Gonzales Flag (Old Come and Take It); and the New Orleans Greys Flag. Click here to see and buy the shirts!) A young woman in Georgia made this flag bearing a blue star for a... Continue Reading →
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