It was not an unusual morning. I was up early, drinking tea, browsing the Facebook feed, while Pepper kept an eye on things in the yard from her spot in the sunroom. Then – an explosion of barking! (From Pep.)…
Pepper
Parting was such sweet sorrow the afternoon my friend Ann and I picked up Pepper and Coco from puppy daycare at the same time. It’s hard to say who caused more trouble (well, honestly, it’s not that hard. You can…
“What do you do when one version of the future just stands up and walks away?” I asked Pepper as we checked on the baby oak and maple trees I planted late last fall. The maples have been showing the…
“Spring is a straggly season,” I observed, as Pep and I poked around the yard. She was the one doing the actual poking – under every bush – looking for rabbit nests (while I kept a watchful eye). “The grass is patchy….
We’d finished supper and Pepper was at my heels “helping” with cleanup. She licked the mostly empty bowls that I put on the kitchen floor and also enthusiastically disposed of the remaining shredded cheese and fritos. When I turned my…
It was a dark and stormy night. Pepper pawed at the back door, jumping up on her hind legs to scratch at the panes of glass she could reach – anxious to get out. “Come!” She called to me. “Come!”…
Nashville’s robins – thousands of them, locals and visitors – made quite a racket over the last few weeks. They spattered my car every day. They seemed agitated, dawn to dusk – or at least they made me feel agitated. I…
You’ll find Kevin Crumbo and Captain Jack Sparrow out at the park before daybreak, sometimes as early as 4 a.m. Conversations take place in the deep, dark quiet of the woods. Today, Kevin is kind enough to share a recent…
There’s a place just beyond where the Grickle-grass grows, in a far back corner of the yard: the Bamboo Forest. Many long years ago, when people long since dead were alive, grandmother planted bamboo because she thought it was pretty. It grew,…