Casa de Canterbury: A Retrospective, Part III, Winter

Posted bySheila Morris 7 Comments on Casa de Canterbury: A Retrospective, Part III, Winter

“Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer” 

Nope. Don’t think so,Will. At least not at Casa de Canterbury on this Sunday morning which is one of the last Sundays we’ll be in our casa before moving across the three rivers. Snow was noiselessly falling when I woke up today, and I thought that was a particularly appropriate Mother Nature trick in March after the azaleas, dogwood trees, red bud trees and all the other glorious colors had already popped out for us to enjoy too early. Now I am afraid the colors have an unpredictable future which is something we have in common with them.

But this is a winter retrospective for Casa de Canterbury…brr…baby, it’s cold outside

Canterbury Road, January, 2014

Casa de Canterbury shivering

The Red Man never liked snow – 

hated to get his paws wet

Slow never liked to get her feet wet, either

The Red Man ruled Casa de Canterbury…

…whenever it suited Paw Licker Annie –

she was the Queen

Chelsea just tried to find a place close to Red

And speaking of finding a place –

never good to be late to bed with Pretty

and four dogs ahead of you

Christmas at Casa de Canterbury, 2012

All is bright

Smokey Lonesome Ollie a bit disinterested in

Number One Son’s Christmas gifts

Paw Licker Annie found Christmas tiring

Pretty Too loved Christmas

But Pretty loved Christmas most of all

Stay tuned – one more – spring. Summer, autumn, winter, spring.

(Somebody should be packing instead of “retrospectiving.” Seriously.  Who can spell Packing P-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-o-r…)

Published by Sheila Morris

Sheila Morris is a personal historian, essayist with humorist tendencies, lesbian activist, truth seeker and speaker in the tradition of other female Texas storytellers including her paternal grandmother. In December, 2017, the University of South Carolina Press published her collection of first-person accounts of a few of the people primarily responsible for the development of LGBTQ+ organizations in South Carolina. Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home will resonate with everyone interested in LGBTQ+ history in the South during the tumultuous times from the AIDS pandemic to marriage equality. She has published five nonfiction books including two memoirs, an essay compilation and two collections of her favorite blogs from I'll Call It Like I See It. Her first book, Deep in the Heart: A Memoir of Love and Longing received a Golden Crown Literary Society Award. Her writings have been included in various anthologies including Out Loud: the best of Rainbow Radio, Saints and Sinners New Fiction from the 2017 Festival, Mothers and Other Creatures; Cowboys, Cops, Killers, and Ghosts (Texas Folklore Society LXIX). She is a displaced Texan living in South Carolina with her wife Teresa Williams and their dogs Spike, Charly and Carl. She is also Naynay to her two granddaughters Ella and Molly James who light up her life for real. Born in rural Grimes County, Texas in 1946 her Texas roots still run wide and deep.

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