[Above: “My Pandemic Quilt” by Laurie Ceesay Landree in Pandemic: Life in Lockdown, a special exhibition at the Houston International Quilt Festival, 2020] The Houston International Quilt Festival just closed at the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown. Since Tokyo permanently suspended its… Read More
I am in possession of a 1938 Modern Library edition of The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (Random House, Inc.). It belonged to my Mother. Along with Charles Dickens, Poe was one of her most favorite authors — 19th century… Read More
It’s that time of year again, even here in South Texas, when the sounds, if not the sights, of fall are all around us. The crisp, clear air amplifies the cheering crowds and marching bands of nearby football games, transports the wailing whistles and rushing… Read More
Fall begins today and not a moment too soon. I am soooo ready for this long, hot, awful summer to be over, with all its natural disasters, pandemic plagues, and combustible rhetoric fanning the flames of fires everywhere, both real and imagined. If… Read More
Dripping Springs, Texas, is a small, rural town of roughly 6,000 residents located about 25 miles west of Austin. It bills itself as the “Gateway to the Texas Hill Country,” and in truth, it is known for its rolling hills and country character. Long ago,… Read More
Let’s face it: these have been some long, difficult, somewhat depressing 18 months. Even those of us who were managing fairly well all through last year, buoyed as we were by the hope of Covid vaccines, have now become a little frayed around… Read More
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a fan of the Olympics, especially the summer Olympics. Oh sure, I love the ice skating in the winter games (doesn’t everybody?). To this day, the single most significant, moving, memorable Olympic moment for me is… Read More
When I was a kid, summer seemed to go on forever. In South Texas, we got out of school in mid-May and didn’t return in the fall until right around Labor Day, so we had a full, three-month vacation. (Of course, we didn’t have all… Read More
The fawns were late this year. This little guy appeared in our front yard only last week. Because he was not yet scampering about, but still being safely deposited while his mother foraged for food, we figured he was only a couple weeks old.… Read More
So, here we are: summer has come, the restaurants are serving, the cruise ships are sailing, and people are gathering in large numbers indoors and out. It seems Americans have decided that they’ve had enough and that the Covid pandemic is over — at… Read More
the narrative thread 