Happy Thoughts and Laughs

1. Mallory will be LIVING in Austin within the next month or so. Loose time frame. She'll
be here. HERE.
2. I woke up on the right side of the grass this morning.
3. I have an excellent lawyer.
4. What I thought was just a Pirate is that and so much more.
5. Less than 100 days til the first Longhorn football game.
6. 99 degrees and sunny in Austin,,on my day off.
7. A Witness that sings to me.
8. 14 legged stair trips.
9. Chocolate amber or Coconut bubble baths.
10. The snowcone stand is OPEN.
11. So You Think You Can Dance
12. The patio at Mesa Rosa. With Sarah.
13. Are you a Lebanon? Is she?
14. Spider issues and Maggie going airborne.
15. Coffee on the deck.
16. Lisa at the GoodWill Outlet.
17. Sunday morning gospel.
18. Celtic Woman.
19. Christopher House
20. It's High Noon in Austin, Texas. Hook 'em Horns !!

Ponytails I have loved

I think I started my love affair with ponytails watching my older sister Mary. When we were little she had this perfect ,,I mean PERFECT,,angel white blonde board straight thick as a horses tail ponytail that swayed when she walked. It was truly perfection. Never a hair out of place. No stragglers. No little bumps. It was smooth and not frizzy and the most gorgeous shade of blonde and,,I loved it. I coveted it. My own hair could never ever be coaxed into anything resembling a ponytail. I had a shrub,,still have a shrub. Rena would try, Mother would try, Aunt Frances and Momma would try, I would try,,,it went every where and did every thing except go up into a cute little ponytail. I remember during my Junior League mandatory ponytail days suffering every morning trying to smooth it back into the required low smooth do,,and failing miserably. These days the ponytail is a tangle of curls or a pitiful little gathering of straightened hair usually held in place by a nonlatex glove if I'm working ,,sometimes a pencil secures it,,off duty a tiny rubber band. I gave up on the sleek thing. My daughter Mallory had an even more perfect ponytail. Thicker than Marys,,rich brown,,long long long. When she was little she always had a bow in it to match whatever she had on. Mandatory bow. As she got older she gave up the bow and went for a scrunchie of some sort. Then she grew into the messy ponytail,,and then the saddest day,,she cut the ponytail off. Sigh. Younger daughter Maggie tried to sort of have a ponytail but she moved too fast to ever really get it into an official ponytail. It was sort of thrown up there and sometimes stayed. Sometimes didn't. Not much has changed. It's a wild mass of brown curls and she contains it at times in a rubber band and it looks spectacular as only things on Maggie can look spectacular. There was a bartender at Cool River that had an amazing ponytail. Coal black board straight silk to his waist,,secured with a leather tie. I wanted to ask him to take it down but never did. The movie Interview With a Vampire,,,exquisite ponytails. I think the girls and I watched Tom, Brad and Antonio until their images were worn off the film. A gorgeous collection of hair wasn't it? Eddie,,he has an amazing ponytail. Glorious actually. Thick and dark and wavy. I got to wash it once when he was in the hospital,,combed a car full of glass out of it in fact. A beautiful beautiful specimen. Now,,there is another ponytail to admire, covet and lust after. Long ,,very long,,usually four but sometimes five rubber bands to keep it in place. When unleashed it is a thing of beauty. Gorgeous. Very touchable. Bounces and flips in the wind on the motorcycle. Floats in the hot tub. Spreads out like a fan on the pillow. A Pirates ponytail. He hasn't a clue how spectacular it is,,he is.

Prince Joey

He snarls and snuffles no more. No more getting lost on his pillow. No more barking at the air. No more lizard alerts. No more I need a girlfriend wails or Cow in the Backyard episodes. Tuesday night I carried Joey up the stairs at bedtime and put him on his pillow in my room. He would have made his way there when he realized I had gone to bed but I saved him the trouble of having to wake up from his nap downstairs and discover that I had gone to bed and then snarl and snuffle and howl about it and waddle his arthritic waddle up the stairs and fuss at me about leaving him on his pillow alone. When I woke up Wednesday morning at 430am he was still on his pillow. I could hear him snoring when I turned the stereo on. He didn't follow me downstairs for coffee,,he rarely did anymore. He preferred to sleep in. When I turned the stereo off as I was leaving for work he wasn't on his pillow. I stuck my head in to check on Maggie,,make sure she was alive and breathing and in one piece before I headed to work,,she was. Went downstairs and checked his pillow,,he wasn't there,,I assumed he was with Maggie. Made sure the water and food bowls were full,,turned off the coffee pot and went to work. Maggie called about 1030. Joey was on the pillows,,not breathing,,,not moving. Not an unexpected event,,he was ancient. So very sad though. He was the first puppy we ever had. So very small at first. He would hide behind the couch pillow. No bigger than a pair of socks with legs. We had been through so much. The hermaphrodite surgery. Nursing school,,he would stand guard over me while I napped for 45 minutes. His girlfriend seeking escapes. The multiple moves and his initial inspection of the new quarters. Him learning to skateboard. The reindeer ears. The bows and tiaras he wore because he loved His Mallory. He protected us from invading possums and lizards. He brought me presents ,,live snakes,,partial squirrels. His last Big Adventure and subsequent trip to Doggie Jail. He loved my Daddy,,would run to be held in those big hands. He lived for days in the sun and was happiest when I grilled sausage or chicken for him while he napped on his big giant pillow. I would move it around the deck with him on it so he was always in the sun. He was truly Prince Joey. A royal in every way possible. Very regal. Very loved. I buried him in the sun. Wrapped in his pillow. Forever warm.