I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: photography

  • the legacy of Carport Kitty grows

    the legacy of Carport Kitty grows


    October 22nd. was the one-year anniversary of our final tearful goodbye to the calico cat Pretty and I called Carport Kitty, the urban neighborhood legend whose physical heart could no longer support her brave spiritual one. We were desolate with grief for months whenever we drove up our driveway toward the carport that seemed bare without her.

    Carport Kitty dined with dignity

    in January, 2023 this Dynamic Duo dropped by occasionally

    I recognized the pair as Carport Kitty’s friends but told Pretty we couldn’t encourage them.

    that ship had sailed

    Sigh. So to honor the memory of Carport Kitty we fed her two friends.

    then along came a mysterious stranger in the spring of 2023

    Sigh. Sigh again. So to honor the memory of Carport Kitty we fed a young neutered male who had never laid eyes on her. In order to avoid becoming attached to this young whippersnapper, Pretty and I decided to call him Cat.

    our friend Nekki fussed at us about a cat named Cat

    and suggested we name him Moses

    Moses is my new assistant in the laundry room adjacent to the carport.

    winter carport cat cribs

    Lest anyone forgets Carport Kitty’s “Frenemy” the OG Bully Cat, I can report he also returns regularly to patrol her former kingdom and snack on leftovers.

    OG Bully Cat in his collar looking fat and sassy on carport patrol earlier today

    (Bully Cat’s home is in a garage one block down the street – his peeps call him Romeo)

    Bully Cat never met a meal he didn’t like

    This evening when Pretty gets home from her antique empire duties she will see not one, but three cats who reside in our carport in one fashion or another – all sharing the legacy of the little calico cat who chose to call us her family for a time we will never forget.

  • Great Pumpkin Search and Seizure

    Great Pumpkin Search and Seizure


    Nana, Pumpkin Patch, and 21-month-old granddaughter Molly

    (clutching security cup)

    Sister, do you see all these pumpkins??!!

    yes, and they make great places to sit

    replies 4 year old Ella

    let me go, Nana – I have to hold my cup

    Yikes Nana, make Molly leave me alone!

    oh, please, Sister – sit back down

    Molly, this is how you pose for Naynay

    sometimes we need props for posing

    Naynay, Molly needs to put her cup down when we’re posing

    my cup is my business

    why can’t I ride, too?

    we found the Great Pumpkin, and Molly still has that cup

    Ella watched Molly’s security cup while she also guarded the Great Pumpkin

    Molly hitched a ride with Nana as everyone waited for Naynay to catch up

    **********************

    Happy Halloween from Nana, Naynay, Ella and Molly! May the Great Pumpkin bring you great fun!

  • little miss, big sis

    little miss, big sis


    come on, Molly – let’s have some fun!

    Nana, I’m not so sure about this idea

    Molly, you can always trust a Mermaid

    oh, so THIS is how it’s done!

    Sadie says, why don’t you take a break, Molly?

    but the Mermaid says we can’t stop when we’re having so much fun!

    Molly, Molly – come away with me to my Kingdom in the Sea

    is she serious?

    who knew being a Princess could be so tiring?

    honestly, Nana – I think I’d be happier in a swing

    ***************

    Yesterday afternoon Nana and Naynay had the great pleasure/treasure of watching 21-month-old Little Sis Molly playing with her four year old Big Sis Ella. The imagination of Ella the Mermaid combined with Molly’s adoration of her big sister bring great joy to their Nanas. In these perilous times at home and abroad, I hope they give you a tiny break with a smile on your face.

    ****************

    For all the children everywhere.

  • Meet Me at the Rocket!

    Meet Me at the Rocket!


    The South Carolina State Fair is in town thru October 22nd. and Friday night at the Fair with three granddaughters was a memory maker. Our core group pictured above: four year old Ella, six year old Collins, Kitty before face paint, and Kaka who has a long tradition of State Fair attendance. Ella adores Collins who is the granddaughter of our best friends Kitty and Kaka. Our group also included Nana Pretty, Pretty Too Caroline the mother of Ella and Molly who spent much of the evening being whirled around in a stroller on loan from Grant who works with Kaka. The stroller was a lifesaver!

    Molly and me at the Fair

    before getting in better mood with bucket of Fiske Fries and corn dog

    yeah, it’s a corn dog on a stick

    and this is how it all went wrong

    face painting not for the faint of heart – who is this Joker?

    Collins wisely wore hoodie which came in handy as soft rain drizzled on us –

    raspberry/blueberry snow cones not disturbed by rain

    as girls take break from slides, monster rides, bumper cars and Big Ferris Wheel

    pony rides always popular during rain

    it’s okay for me to pet Lucy

    ducks anyone?

    Hey, I had a GREAT time, too, once they let me loose

    Caroline texted us after getting Ella and Molly to bed much later than usual following our big evening at the Fair: “Ella told me on the way home she wanted the Fair to be her home and wanted Collins to live there, too. She said she’d sleep on the rides, and they’d pee in the grass. Lol. I was like there are bathrooms, Ella, and she said fine we will use the bathrooms.”

    When can we go to the Fair again, Nana?

    **************************

    For all the children everywhere. Please stay tuned.

    P.S. Thanks to Caroline who is responsible for most of these photos. Thanks to all our followers in cyberspace for going to the Fair with us!

  • a saga of one family’s achieving the American dream in Rosenberg, Texas

    a saga of one family’s achieving the American dream in Rosenberg, Texas


    Mom, me, and Dad in front of our home

    at 1021 Timber Lane in Rosenberg, Texas circa 1968

    Rosenberg is now a city of 39,468 (2021 census) inhabitants and a part of the Houston – The Woodlands – Sugar Land metropolitan area. When my parents moved forty miles north from our home in Brazoria to Rosenberg in June of 1964, I was a new summer school student at the University of Texas at Austin. How new, you ask? Well, when I wrote my folks to tell them I had found a ride home for a weekend visit in July, my dad wrote back something to the effect that I needed to come to Rosenberg because he and Mom lived there – not in Brazoria where we had lived for the past five years. New jobs for both Dad and Mom, new rental house, new church, everything new. I was horrified – I had hoped to see my friends from high school who stayed at home for the summer instead of going off to college. Why move to Rosenberg, I wondered. Mostly I felt hurt that they hadn’t prepared me with the truth.

    The Rosenberg years in the 1960s and early 70s for my parents were good years for them. They were finally able to purchase their own home (1021 Timber Lane pictured above) in 1965 after nearly twenty years of marriage. My mother taught second grade in a much larger school district where my father was assistant superintendent for the Lamar Consolidated schools that continued to grow as Houston expanded south and west. Mom played piano for a Southern Baptist Church as she had done her entire life wherever we were, and Daddy sang in the choir.

    Daddy and Mama with their three bird dogs Rex, Dab and Seth

    those old dogs couldn’t hunt,

    but they did love the sofa in our den on Timber Lane

    Daddy with his small grill where he loved to cook steaks

    in the driveway of Timber Lane – his one attempt to cook

    When I graduated from UT in the summer of 1967, I moved to Houston to take a job with Arthur Andersen, one of the top eight CPA firms in the nation at that time. Sundays often meant driving the half hour from my apartment to see my folks in Rosenberg, making sure I was there in time for church.

    This picture is such a favorite of mine because Mom and I are laughing together – I remember she was trying to help me learn how to place my feet at an angle when I stood in high heels. That advice never resonated with me…

    …but I did have fun trying to make her happy

    I never felt that Rosenberg was my home, but my parents loved their jobs, church, frequently seeing relatives and friends who lived in the Houston area, finally able to purchase their own home on Timber Lane that allowed them to experience the American dream their immigrant ancestors crossed oceans to find. I loved my parents dearly, but I was off to new adventures in the Pacific Northwest three thousand miles from the house on Timber Lane in Rosenberg.

    Clouds loomed on all of our horizons as a new decade brought unimaginable losses.

    *************

    Please stay tuned.