Hm. I wouldn’t tell Carl that he wasn’t the Top Dog…
…or Spike, either…after all, Spike had been around the longest
and had to guard the house from those pesky cats
Sometimes, though, it IS about the last Dog Standing. If I had a medal, I would give you one, Charly. Would you settle for a major treat? How about a good memory?
Love you,
Your best friend
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One thing I’ve learned from the 22 dogs I’ve had in the past 80 years: I was capable of both good and bad in those years, but my dogs forgave the bad and adored the good. I have been a lucky person.
Thanks to our gay boys basketball buddies for taking care of me this past weekend in Greenville, South Carolina, during the 2026 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament while Nana had her hands full helping to take care of …
our six-year-old granddaughter Ella and four-year-old Molly
Ella took a movie break while daddy Drew drove us to the motel. Molly wondered why Nana was sleeping with a smile on her face? Everyone wearing appropriate Gamecock apparel!
We lost the Tournament Final to Texas (of all the luck) but won the regular season – still all smiles for another fun time to kick off March Madness in the SEC!
Storytelling takes many forms, and no one told a story of biblical proportions better than quilt makers. Of quilt makers, Harriet Powers was recognized as a pioneer in the art. Born in Clarke County, Georgia, as a slave in 1937, emancipated after the Civil War, Powers married and was the mother of at least nine children. She died on January 01, 2010, in Clarke County, Georgia.
Josie Holford’s blog, Rattlebag and Rhubarb, another of my favorites, introduced me six months ago to the work of Joan Eardley, a lesbian artist who died at the age of 42 from cancer that began as breast cancer but spread to her brain. (josieholford.com/joan-eardley/) I encourage you to visit her blog for additional insights.
Joan Eardley
Joan was born in 1921 on a dairy farm in Sussex, England, to Anglo-Scottish parents. Her father committed suicide in 1929, but Joan and a younger sister, Pat, weren’t told about the cause of his death until they were grown women. The two young sisters and their mother lived in London with their grandmother and great-aunt who took care of them. When the bombings began in England in WWII, the women returned to their roots in Scotland to live in Glasgow.
National Galleries of Scotland (www.nationalgalleries.org)
early works of Eardley followed the Samson family, a family of twelve children growing up on the back streets of Glasgow
“In January, 1940, Eardley enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art as a day student where she studied under Hugh Adam Crawford and was influenced by the Scottish Colourists…[9] She met the painter Margot Sandeman, who became a close and lifelong friend.[9][14] Sandeman and Eardley would often paint together and also shared family holidays and camping trips.[15] In 1941, they acquired a horse and caravan and travelled around Loch Lomond to paint and sketch. For many years, they also visited Corrie on the Isle of Arran, using an outhouse, the Tabernacle, as a studio.” (Wikipedia)
In 1957 Eardley was recovering from the mumps, and a friend took her to Catterline, a tiny village located on the North Sea in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In an audio recording Eardley spoke of Catterline: “When I’m painting in the North East, I hardly ever move out of the village (Catterline), I hardly ever move from one spot. I do feel the more you know something, the more you can get out of it. That is the North East. It’s just vast (indistinct word possibly “waves”), vast seas, vast areas of cliff. Well you’ve just got to paint it.”[36][37] (Wikipedia)
Joan Eardley – Catterline Seascape
As for her personal life, Eardley’s name was associated with other women artists at various times during her life – women she met while studying art at the Glasgow School of Art. Margot Sandeman (1922 – 2009). Lilian (Lil) Neilson (1938-1998). Dorothy Steel (1927-2002).
But the love of Eardley’s life was the violinist/photographer Audrey Walker who was ten years older than Joan, married, living in Glasgow but was with Eardley in the Catterline years from 1952 until her death in 1963.
In 2013, fifty years after the artist’s death, love letters she wrote to Walker in Glasgow from Catterline were published. Walker died in 1996.
Source: Love Letters from Catterline – Joan and Audrey
The Scottish Gallery
Passages from letters from Joan Eardley to Audrey Walker:
I just feel I love you so much – and there just ain’t words – to say it – not words that mean what I feel inside of me – and there’s nothing else that I really want to say – nothing at all…
Joan Eardley
Passages from Audrey Walker’s tribute to Joan Eardley:
To me she was quite simply the winter sea to which and for which I would give my life.
Audrey Walker
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Special thanks to Josie Holford for leading me down the rabbit hole of Joan Eardley’s life and especially her art. I’ve been saving this journey for a special time. Women’s History Month is that moment.
On my 66th. birthday I sat in a pew behind the family at a celebration of life in the Jerusalem Starlight Encampment Building in Simonton, Texas. It was my only visit to the church, and I was there to say goodbye to a Black woman who had been my best friend, like a second mother to me, for the previous forty-five years.
“Her legacy will be cherished by her five daughters, two sons, twenty-one grandchildren, twenty-four great-grandchildren, three nieces and a host of great-nieces, nephews, relatives and friends,” was part of the commentary on the life of a Black woman whose celebration of life took place on April 21, 2012, in the city of Simonton, Texas, which was located within the Houston metropolitan area.
Willie Meta “Ninnie” Robbins Flora wasn’t a famous public figure like Maya Angelou, not a political icon of the Civil Rights movement like Rosa Parks, not a household name like Shirley Chisholm – and yet her influence has been felt in the lives of ordinary people who were touched by her generosity of spirit, her keen sense of humor, and her loving care for those who needed help in any form. She has earned her place in Black History Month to me and others. Her niece Verna wrote a moving tribute to her Aunt Ninnie for the Celebration Program in 2012.
Aunt Ninnie was called many names, Skin, Cat Momma, Girlie, Aunt, Cousin, Sister, Road dog, Mother, but most of all she was called Mom. She was the type of person that, whatever you needed, no matter what it was, you had it. Now I guess you are wondering, “Why Road dog?” You see, my Auntie was my best friend. I remember when I was staying in Houston, I would call my Auntie every day and ask her what she was doing, and she would say,”Sitting on the side of the bed waiting on the next thing smoking.” We didn’t talk very much; we just enjoyed each other’s company. Man! We all loved her cooking! We couldn’t wait til Sunday, because that’s when we all met after church, and what a time we had! Auntie had something that everyone liked, because she wanted to make everyone happy. That’s the kind of person she was. Our loved one was no stranger to anyone. She was always there with a helping hand. I could go on and on about Mrs. Willie Flora. So Auntie, I’m waiting on the next thing smoking. See you on the other side. Rest in Peace, Love, Verna
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Willie was in my life from the summer I graduated college in 1967 until her passing in 2012. As Verna said in her tribute above, she was always there with a helping hand to everyone – including me and my entire family.
I loved Willie Flora. She was wise with wisdom born of pain, but she turned her pain into a quick wit that laughed at herself and everyone she knew. She had spunk, and I admired her for standing tall – refusing to be defined by a world that often saw only the color of her skin.
I miss her to this day. I am waiting with her and Verna for the next thing smoking on the other side.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
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