Apparently, they do need defending. A couple of weeks ago, on the radio from Austin, a Texas tree specialist used that expression dismissively, as in cut ‘em down, get rid of them. They are eye sores, good for nothing, so do just that. That attitude was out of character for a preservationist. Just because they don’t all come from the
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Toads Whew! Thankfully – as it turns out – they may have never left. Last night at our brief nine o’clock walk Ernie just off the carport slab bumped his nose into something. I flicked on my flashlight and there it was: a new small toad. He is different because his color and pattern on the back are a tad
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Having moved from Houston I’ve been in my Texas country homestead for two and one-half years. Respecting the environment I’ve tried very hard never to intentionally kill any animal, bug or insect. Even when inside I trap navigationally-challenged flies, bees and spiders into an empty veggie can. Using a thin piece of cardboard as a cover I then give them
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In the classic 1939 movie Hunchback of Notre Dame hump-backed bell-ringer Quasimodo [played by Charles Laughton] from a deaf judge receives a sentence of fifty lashes.[*] From the pillory after the last one he begs for a drink of “ Water. Water.” The masses guffaw derisively. Only the beautiful gypsy girl Esmeralda dares to walk through the hushed throng and
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I had pressing business in Houston this week. That gave me an opportunity to relive, for a day at least, what used to be called generically the rat race. No offense to Houston, of course. It was a good place to call home for sixteen years. Driving past former residences, restaurants, places of employment and event venues was like saying
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I look at all the ivory colored flowers in my berry patch and smell a home-made dewberry pie. An offer to make it comes from one of the best pie persons in Fayetteville. All she needs is enough of this blackberry-like fruit: a quart will do. Of course I can’t divulge who it is. I don’t want to show favoritism within
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The question above was overheard in casual conversation during the First Friday event in Bastrop last evening. “The First Friday Art Walk is a monthly event held in downtown Bastrop on the first Friday of every month to celebrate Bastrop’s thriving art scene.” [*] The original paintings, photographs, sculptures and furnishings offered for sale match just about any potential buyer’s
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As the year ends and 2015 is about to begin another animal has taken up residence at my Shack. It’s Ernie the pooch. He arrived with an orphans background. About six months ago my daughter Hannah was driving south of Miami through the Homestead area. She noticed three stray dogs wandering the street. Always concerned with dog welfare she stopped and called
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[This article first appeared in 2004, and yearly thereafter, when my daughter and I had a writer’s e-zine. But it is just as fresh and valid today as it was then. And I don’t think that the location – New York – makes any difference to people who grew up in Texas or anywhere else. Once you start to read you
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Thanks to all those in the great state of Texas who registered and voted in yesterday’s election.
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