Life in the A-Frame

Life in the A-Frame

Thursday, June 30, 2011

South of Broad

Front Cover

This is the Pat Conroy book that I am reading and it is getting good!



Excerpt from Chapter One:
On June 16, 1969, a series of unrelated events occurred: I discovered that my mother once had been a Roman Catholic nun in the Sacred Heart order; an Atlas moving van backed into the driveway of a nineteenth- century Charleston single house across the street from ours; two orphans arrived at the gates of St. Jude’s Orphanage behind the cathedral on Broad Street; and the News and Courier recorded that a drug bust had taken place on East Bay Street at the Rutledge- Bennet house. I was eighteen, with a reputation as a slow starter, so I could not feel the tectonic shift in my fate as my history began to launch of its own volition. It would be many years before I learned that your fate could scuttle up behind you, touch you with its bloody claws, and when you turn to face the worst, you find it disguised in all innocence and camouflaged as a moving van, an orphanage, and a drug bust south of Broad. If I knew then what I have come to learn, I would never have made a batch of cookies for the new family across the street, never uttered a single word to the orphans, and never introduced myself to the two students who were kicked out of Porter- Gaud School and quickly enrolled at my own Peninsula High for their senior year.
But fate comes at you cat-footed, unavoidable, and bloodthirsty. The moment you are born your death is foretold by your newly minted cells as your mother holds you up, then hands you to your father, who gently tickles the stomach where......





I have to get back to the novel...the main character has been confronted by a psychotic stranger in an alley, who is apparently the father of the new girl next door. And...he has a knife.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Contemplating the full moon

June 13,  2011      Cooks Point Texas




“The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to.
Carl Sandburg



“There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.”

George Carlin


“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Mother Teresa


“The moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.”

William Shakespeare


“Don't tell me the sky is the limit, there are footprints on the moon!”

Dorothy Parker


“Yeah we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.”

John Lennon

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Wild, Native Sunflowers


These native sunflowers voluntarily came up in our Church garden. They are easily 6-7 feet tall. I'm glad we left them where they were. They are providing shade to some of the cucumbers and squash and we've tied some of the tomatoes to them for support. Now they have all bloomed and the seeds are ripening and will soon draw lots of birds to this area.


Monday, June 13, 2011

The Albino Zucchini

One of our zucchini plants in the church garden yields albino zucchini. According to the internet, they are not all that rare but they are to us. They are really pretty, a creamy light green-another "wonder" to observe.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

The listening vessels

These amazing concrete structures are called listening vessels. They are made in such a way that Mike and I sat 100 feet apart and could converse quietly with each other. We also sat quietly and listened to the sounds of the park, magnified by these vessels. It is an amazing addition to this beautiful park located in the busy downtown area of Houston.



Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Memorial Day, Discovery Green, Houston

I thought I would show you a very thought provoking display in the park during the Annual Conference-in reference to Memorial Day I'm sure.





Sunday, June 5, 2011

Hello Houston!


Mike and I spent a good part of last week at the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. This year, it was held in downtown Houston. I am a country girl and enjoy living in my tiny community, 30 miles from any large city. At home, I'm so isolated that I can shower outside! I have a serene "bubble" of woods and pasture land to live in.

There are just a few more people here:

 Was it silly for us to pull our chairs up to the large window in our hotel room and just sit there, looking at the bustling city?


 Or,  were we obvious "country bumpkins" when we had our morning coffee at the same window. I'm serious, we did not watch TV until the last night-when the basketball playoffs were on (go Dallas!).


The hotel was beautiful and the park was a welcome green area in the middle of all the tall buildings. The conference was awesome and it was a good experience for us. But, I'm very happy to be back in the quiet, calm of my country home.