I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: photography

  • Celebrating LGBTQ+ Advocacy: A Legacy Gala Reflection

    Celebrating LGBTQ+ Advocacy: A Legacy Gala Reflection


    Being celebrated for our work in the LGBTQ+ community in the midlands of South Carolina was a remarkable experience last week for Pretty and me. We wanted to share a few highlights with our friends in cyberspace, too.

    Are you a friend of Dorothy?

    a code phrase back in the day which was translated to mean

    “are you gay?”

    Teresa (a/k/a Pretty) and me outside the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina

    the First Lady of the event and a dear friend of ours for three decades

    Harriet Hancock, for whom our community center was named

    Pretty and another warrior friend, Nekki Shutt

    daughter-in-law Caroline with Dick Hubbard looking dapper

    Dick is an institution himself – has been in the trenches with us

    from the beginning 35 years ago

    The Legacy Award

    Pretty and I accepting award presented by last year’s winners

    Bert Easter and Ed Madden – and Emcee Patti O’Furniture

    (their words were awesome, moving, inspiring)

    Drew and Caroline made us proud for their love and support

    a bit of foolishness after the ceremony – I look like James Cagney

    A perfect evening of celebration for Pretty and me as we learned about the current projects spearheaded by the Harriet Hancock Center and met young leaders with their own moving stories like Elliot Naddell who was named the Youth Advocate of the Year, PJ Whitehurst, the Community Advocate of the Year, and Senator Tameika Isaac Devine, the Political Advocate of the Year whose support as an ally of the LGBTQ+ community is historic.

    Organizations like Can Community Health recognized as the Health & Wellness Organization of the Year, the Nickelodeon named the Arts & Culture Organization of the Year, and the Rainy Day Fund which was selected as the Community Partner of the Year.

    Teresa and I were honored to be included with these current champions of causes so dear to us. You all share our legacy of “speaking the truth boldly, loving fiercely, and ensuring that future generations inherit a state where equality is not questioned but celebrated.”

    Thank you, thank you, thank you to those who nominated us, to Harriet Hancock and the Center for selecting us, and to all our friends and family who showed up to celebrate on a magical night that stirred memories, inspired hope, and cast out fear.

    No longer a secret, never again silent. These words by the Hancock Center Executive Director Cristina Picozzi and Board President Matt Butler must be etched in our collective consciousness from this day forward. They are not just a theme for a gala but a mantra for everyday living. The struggle is real.

    Onward.

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

    Guess what? We discovered over the weekend that we have lost our actual Award! There was a misunderstanding about who took the blue box containing the award home post Gala. Turns out none of us picked it up because we thought someone else had it. We have contacted the Columbia Museum of Art and the Harriet Hancock Center but, alas, no luck. If anyone has any information concerning its whereabouts, PLEASE contact us. We would love to solve the mystery!

    P.S. I would also love to credit all photos but I lifted the images from multiple places. Thank you to all who took pictures including Erin, who gets extra credit because she drove from Charleston to celebrate with us.

  • The Joy of Jungle Croquet: A Day in the Blue Ridge

    The Joy of Jungle Croquet: A Day in the Blue Ridge


    Spoiler alert: the person sitting down was the winner.

    I am surrounded by the players:

    Pretty, Darlene, Dawne, Patti and Dan

    (Dan was the person who invented Jungle Croquet

    and designed the course)

    Pretty felt confident during our soothing pre-match meditation

    I wasn’t happy with my orange ball,

    but everyone else picked theirs first

    I started out “hot” and never looked back at my competition

    Pretty and sis Darlene couldn’t believe their eyes

    (these Williams sisters have the confidence of winning like two other Williams sisters who are household names in another sport now being played in New York)

    getting down to the wire – Patti, Dan, and Pretty try to catch me

    in the end, it was all about second place!

    the medal winners: Dan with silver, Patti with bronze, and well,

    the gold went to me for some reason

    known only to the gods of pure chance

    Jungle Croquet was a throwback to my childhood croquet games in Texas where we always played at family reunions. I’m saying regular croquet – not anything resembling the course in the High Country of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina where Pretty and I visited last week and were fortunate to meet Dan and Patti who graciously invited us for a game on Dan’s awesome course.

    I finally figured out the “Jungle” name started with a Tarzan movie that had nothing to do with croquet at all.

    If only I had had the good common sense to stay in the car at one of the breathtaking walkabouts on the way back to our lodging afterwards, I could write the day was perfect. Alas, I tripped on a large tree root when we were walking to look at a river, fell onto a large brier bush, and was lucky to have three women with me who managed to lift me to a standing position. Also lucky no one captured that on a video.

    shoulda had that stick before the tree tackled me

    thanks to our hosts Dawne and Birthday Girl Darlene (and Gabe)

    For the laughs, amazing scenery, Jungle Croquet, and the wonderful experience of family in their beloved Blue Ridge Mountains. I do love the mountains, I love the rolling hills…I love the flowers, I love the daffodils…I love the fireside when all the lights are low…

    thanks to Dawne and Darlene for sharing these photos

  • summertime, and the living is, well, moving on at warp speed

    summertime, and the living is, well, moving on at warp speed


    meet our new kitten named Benny (for Benadryl)

    a/k/a Elsa by our three-year-old Molly

    Pretty rescued three kittens in June –

    two were adopted – poor Benny stayed on

    Molly has joined Big Sis Ella for tennis lessons from Miss Sherry

    Molly, Nana, Ella, and Nana’s sister Aunt Darlene

    (Aunt Darlene and Dawne came from Upstate, Dawne took pics)

    Ella will be six years old in October –

    graduated to deep end this summer

    Molly has fun with Naynay and her Unicorn floaties

    Aunt Darlene and Dawne brought their dog Gabriel

    swimming makes us so tired

    Can somebody keep these little girls from growing up so fast?

    I recently ran into Dot Ryall, a dear friend of many lifetimes, who told me she followed the adventures Pretty and I have with our granddaughters on Facebook. She asked me if I had known how much love I had to give at this point in my life to these two precious little girls? I told her both Pretty and I had been overjoyed to discover the love we shared for Ella and Molly. Dot nodded and reminded me of our conversations years ago when her grandchildren were their ages. At that time I never envisioned having grandchildren of our own, but in the blistering heat of the summer of 2025, our lives move on with them, our families and friends, and you, our cyberspace followers who share this journey we’re making at warp speed.

    Stay cool, and stay tuned.

  • In beauty I walk – Navajo Blessingway

    In beauty I walk – Navajo Blessingway


    In beauty I walk

    [. . .]

    I walk with beauty before me

    I walk with beauty behind me

    I walk with beauty below me

    I walk with beauty above me

    I walk with beauty around me

    My words will be beautiful

          – From the Navajo Blessingway

    Parts of the general Blessingway, especially the songs, are included in most Navajo ceremonies. Unlike the other healing ceremonies, the Blessingways are not intended to cure illness but are used to invoke positive blessings and to avert misfortune. The Blessingway is comparatively short, lasting only two nights, and is often part of longer rites…As a part of Navajo religious practices, the Blessingway is considered to be a highly spiritual, sacred, and private event. (Britannica)

    The Navajo Blessingway was included this week in the obituary of a fifty-nine-year-old man I met briefly when Pretty worked in residential real estate many years ago. Erik and his wife, Sara, were Pretty’s clients when they came to Columbia to look for a home. Erik’s obituary was a powerful message that introduced me to the Blessingway.

    This particular Navajo Blessingway spoke to me because I feel its truth in the summertime every day that I walk in our neighborhood. Summertime in the South should be called Crape Myrtle Season because the gorgeous blossoms of all colors are at their peak in the heat and humidity that define July with spillovers into August. I have always loved the crape myrtles since I grew up with them in my childhood – the Texas heat was perfect for the hot pink crape myrtles that grew along the small sidewalk at my grandmother’s home in Grimes County.

    the lavender blossoms I saw this morning on my walk

    In beauty I am privileged to walk, thankful for each day filled with a Blessingway. I walk with beauty before me, and I walk with beauty behind me. I walk with beauty below me, and I walk with beauty above me. I walk with beauty around me in the people who are my family, friends, cyberspace followers, all those who inspire values I cherish. I hope my words will be beautiful to everyone who reads them.

    When my words fail, I encourage you to look around…in beauty you walk, too.

  • Tennis, Anyone? Major Fun + Kitten Update

    Tennis, Anyone? Major Fun + Kitten Update


    Time ticking away in 2025 with three out of four Grand Slam events completed for the Women’s WTA and Men’s ATP tennis tournaments this year. From the hard courts of the Australian Open in Melbourne to the red clay at Roland Garros in Paris to the finals of The Championships at Wimbledon played today on the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in London following two weeks of fierce competition, the one remaining Major is the US Open in New York which begins on August 24th.

    Individuals and their families measure the passage of time through different customs, I’ve observed, but I have two constant measurements every year: (1)the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and (2) the women’s college basketball season. For me, the year is 3/4 gone in July.

    The Ladies Singles Champion in 2025 was Iga Swiatek

    Swiatek routed my personal favorite Amanda Anisimova

    Jannik Sinner 1st Italian man ever to win

    Singles Championships at Wimbledon

    Sinner defeated my personal favorite Carlos Alcaraz who was trying for a three-peat in the championship this year

    Surprisingly, Sinner broke the jinx of the Pretty Preference by getting the best of Alcaraz in four sets to send Pretty to the winner’s circle.

    Meanwhile, in our backyard this morning while I was glued to the television set, Pretty practiced tennis with our five-year-old granddaughter Ella who has recently started lessons. One of the new baby kittens had fun trying to help Ella with her forehand.

    Ella wore one of Pretty’s dresses this morning after an impromptu sleepover last night following a pool party with her family and friends yesterday that was so much fun she decided to spend the night. Alas, Pretty’s dress didn’t help Ella’s tennis focus, but necessity is the mother of invention, right?

    There really is no smooth transition from tennis to kittens, so pardon the abrupt break from Wimbledon to two cats that still need forever homes.

    Having a snooze on Pretty’s lap this afternoon

    loving the open air on the screen porch

    The kittens will go for their first vet visit this week but no longer need to be bottle fed. Great progress, but my allergies persist.

    Congratulations again to Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek for Wimbledon championships – they provided Major fun for our family in the past two weeks!