So many Pisces in Asheville!

Photographer Mya (age 10) caught Mama, Daddy, and Mimi celebrating on February 21, 2019, Mimi's actual birthday.  I must have been the photographer who caught Mya catching everyone else???

Happy birthday, Brandy! (since February 24, 1977)

Happy birthday to the amazing Brandy who does so much to make the world a better place for all of us. We love you, girl!
 

Happy 43, Ryder! (since February 19, 1979)

Ryder's analytical look started in babyhood.  What isn't in the photo is the empty oatmeal box he was dropping the ball into over and over again. What was he figuring out? Gravity? How things disappear from sight yet are still present?  He never missed.  The ball always dropped into the box.

Ryder had a goofy side too as a kid!  He was 5 years old here.

 

Catching up with niece Mandy (February 18, 2022)

 Mandy was in town from a Florida visit with her parents for a late celebration of her 45th birthday (January 9, 1977) with some girl friends flying in from Minnesota, Colorado, Chicago.  They found a great Air B&B on Walnut Street in East Austin.  Fresh eggs from the front yard chicken coop were on the kitchen counter. We picked Mandy up from the airport and had lunch at Kerbey Lane before the friends arrived. Mandy's booted up for line dancing at the Broken Spoke. I'm wearing boots because it was too chilly for flip flops.

Happy Valentine's Day! (February 13-14, 2022)

Sunday afternoon Valentine's celebration with the Exploding Kittens card game and a candy dispenser almost full of Valentine M&Ms.  No actual kittens were harmed in the playing of the card game.

Happy Valentine's Day, dear Papa Tom!  Have a shot glass or two of M&Ms!
 

Austin's obligatory February snowfall (February 3-4, 2022) followed by boil water notice (February 5-8)

Nothing like 2021's winter storm Uri, thank goodness.  Just sleet, snow, and graupel after a previous day in the 70s.

Five-month-old TC tried snow for the first time and immediately decided indoors was better.

Or maybe outdoors was better? Five-month-old sister Collette stayed inside.

For sure the heated crate was best of all!

Zephyr relied on solar heating.

 

Visit with the Horns (January 29, 2022)

On our way back from Shreveport, we visited with the Horns. We had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse then met at Danny's new apartment for yummy cupcakes and cookies.  The mysterious hands on the plate belong to P. Tom.

Danny, Al, and P. Tom.  Danny, thanks for having us over!

Joyce and Danny in Danny's living room.  If you look closely, you can see Patches peeking out of Danny's closet.
 

Until next time (January 29, 2022)

Martha, Donna, and I hadn't been together since Sunday, March 1, 2020, when we finished cleaning out Dad's home and I headed back to Austin with a cargo van full of things we didn't have time to sort through. Looking forward to a Nashville weekend with Donna in May and all of us being together again in September for Destry and Caroline's wedding.

The Sistas!

Almost on the road again, returning with a lighter load. Leaving keepsakes, but not memories, behind.

Thank you, Craig and Martha, for taking such good care of all of us, as always.  Love you!

 

In the beginning, before "us" (1940-41 school year)

 I came across Mom and Dad's school photos from 1940-41 and placed them side-by-side.  She was a 6-year-old first grader.  He was a 12-year-old seventh grader. My Mom told me her first-grade school "bus" was an open horse-drawn wagon pulled over rutted red dirt roads. These photos were taken in the depths of the Great Depression, more than a year before the US entered WWII following the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. My Dad joined the Navy in 1945 at age 17, serving mostly in Japan and China post-war into 1949. 

Time to remember, two years later (January 28, 2022)

The time has come to divide my parents' things among the siblings, almost two years to the day since my father's passing on January 31, 2020.  By March 1, 2020, we'd cleaned out the house and put it on the market and I took a cargo van full of items home with me for an initial sorting through.  We had no idea that a week later, SXSW would be canceled due to COVID-19 and the the world would shut down for nearly two years--so far. Sigh. 

The March 2020 cargo van was packed floor to ceiling.  Returning to Shreveport with much less. There are still many things to go through, but much has been given to family members and charitable organizations or sold in the meantime. Please let me know if you'd like something to remember Mom and Dad or Charles by. I still have a lot of their keepsakes from Peru, Norway, and England. 
 

Google Fiber coming to Alguno Road (January 27, 2022)

Austin was chosen as one of the Google Fiber cities in 2013. GF is gradually being installed in different parts of town.  Cables were laid across our sidewalk and down our street at the end of January. GF is advertised as free 1 and 2 Gig internet. I vaguely remember something about anyone walking down the street being able to connect. Fast enough for our needs? Not sure. We'll probably stick with AT&T.

Laying Google Fiber cable past our house.  How soon will laying cables be obsolete?  For example, are telephone wires still used for anything except grackle roosts? I actually don't know. I don't see utility poles being dismantled; probably because they support power lines and fiber optic cable as well as telephone wires???
 

This guy is using cement to fill in the cable cut.  How much does this infrastructure cost? How many of us need to sign up for Google Fiber to break even?

A trunk full of healing voodoo for Piper (January 26, 2022)

Upon learning of Piper's positive COVID test on January 26, I had to open the trunk full of NOLA healing voodoo to send her way. By then, the rest of the family was well, I believe, as was Otis who'd tested positive around January 12.  COVID needed to leave 1101 Chicory Lane once and for all!

Little Jester was able to harmlessly absorb the virus, just as forests absorb carbon dioxide. Will Little Jester store the virus for millennia like permafrost has stored carbon? Will he be around that long?  But I digress.

Just as trees absorb carbon dioxide and emit beneficial oxygen, Little Jester absorbed the virus and transformed it into a beautiful Muses doll! The Krewe of Muses is the first all-female Mardi Gras krewe to parade at night in uptown New Orleans. In Greek mythology, the Muses are the nine daughters of Zeus. No festivity in Olympus was considered complete without their joy-inspiring presence, and on Earth no fine art, scientific, or intellectual endeavor was undertaken without humbly seeking their inspiration. May we all enjoy good health and inspiration!

Girl Scout cookies time through the end of February! (January 24, 2022)

Fox has gone professional with business cards to share with family, friends, classmates.  Maybe all Girl Scouts have? She also sells cookies at booths in front of stores on Sunday afternoons. As of February 5, she was just a few boxes away from her 300-box goal. Several of you have donated to her troop's effort to send cookies to our military troops. Many thanks to everyone for your support! 

 

In the "is nothing sacred?" category (January 12 and 16, 2022)

The Presbyterian Church in our neighborhood was sold with the idea that the buildings would be used by artists, for dance and yoga studios, etc.  Imagine my heart-sinking surprise to find the buildings being demolished for yet another apartment or condo complex. 

The gutted steeple photographed on January 16 was completely gone a few days later. As the Buddha observed: "The only constant is change." Different religion but relevant thought.

 

Thank you, Jan and Jim! (January 3, 2022)

My brother Charles's 65-year-old toy truck from Talara, Peru was dented and falling apart.  I couldn't bear to part with it.  When Jim and Jan offered to restore it, I was thrilled.  They not only restored the truck but added a dog to keep the driver company and a chicken and hay bales in the back.  Trucks and dogs were at the top of what Charles loved in life.  Jim and Jan, thanks so much for the loving restoration!

They even added a license plate memorializing where and when.  Thanks again!  
 

TC and Collette (January 2 4, and 17, 2022)

 

After we adopted Collette, ringworm exams under a black light at Austin Pets Alive ended. We'd been fostering the kittens through APA since September 5.  The last exam on January 19 showed Collette still had spores on her tail and TC pretty much all over.  Sigh.  APA sent me home with lime sulfur dip to kill the spores.  The kittens jumped up on the bookcase to grab my lime dip glove and poke holes in it.  They might not be able to talk, but they sure let me know what they think of the treatment!

January 4, 2022:  TC and Collette are almost like twins.  They play together, sleep together, and at least for now, fit in their kitten house together. They turned 4 months old on January 1.  They won't suffer from single kitten syndrome because we're keeping both of them.  Single kittens adopted before the age of 6 months can develop a syndrome leading to scratching and biting their human caregivers.

Collette and TC are ready for 2022.  After about 30 adoption inquiries for Sunkist evaporated as soon as ringworm was mentioned, we decided she was meant to be our kitty girl.  Because Fox named TC for the tiny chef in Ratatouille, we named Sunkist "Collette" for the only female chef in the film.  We officially adopted her on January 17.