I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

For any who want more, complete list of all posts by month since 2011
  • You Can’t Paint a Sunset (from The Short Side of Time)

    You Can’t Paint a Sunset (from The Short Side of Time)


    I took a late evening walk down Old Plantersville Road tonight just as the sun was setting. I rounded the curve by the trailer park and walked past the wide open pastures on both sides of the road where the view of a Texas sunset was spectacular. Tonight’s colors of pinks, blues and reds were particularly beautiful; I picked a good spot about halfway to the railroad track to behold the sight.

    As I watched the light colors quickly deepen into darker hues, I was reminded of my mom’s favorite saying about sunsets: “Well, you can’t paint a sunset.  It changes too fast.”  I couldn’t count the times I heard her repeat the sunset quote – and this was before her memory care days. I can only imagine a teacher must have made that remark in the one art class my mother took in her entire life. I wonder if her teacher would be stunned to know what an indelible impression she made on one of her students. If Mom found a phrase she liked, she clung to it.

    The next thought that came to me was we couldn’t walk off into sunsets either, and you can quote me.

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

    When I lived in Texas on Worsham Street from 2010 – 2014, I loved late afternoons as the sun began to signal day’s end while it slowly sank toward the western horizon. I often took a walk on a road one street behind our home called Old Plantersville Road because the best views of sunset were from the wide open spaces of the pastures along the road. This particular walk was in July, 2013 – I can still smile at my mother’s phrase, and I can still see those sunsets that took my breath away.

  • passing the torch at the beach

    passing the torch at the beach


    Let the word go forth from this time
    and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed
    to a new generation of Americans.”
    — John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961, Inauguration Day

    (l. to r.) 3 year old Ella and her Nana, 5 year old Collins and her Kitty

    friends in the water

    friends on dry land

    Let’s blow this popsicle stand

    Grandma Camp at Folly Beach, South Carolina

    all photos courtesy of our designated photographer Nekki

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

    Slava Ukraini. For the children.

  • Good Stuff or Babbling? (from The Short Side of Time)

    Good Stuff or Babbling? (from The Short Side of Time)


    originally posted here on May 10, 2013

    “Yeah, I read your blog every time,” the younger woman sitting next to me said.  “Sometimes it’s good stuff and I print a copy of it and save it.  Other times, it’s just babbling.”

    I burst into laughter when she said that, but she wasn’t finished.  “What’s with all this country music?  Don’t you ever listen to anything other than country?  You need to branch out.”

    At this I protested, but she had another comment.  “I can tell with the first sentence if it’s a good day or if you’re out there rambling around in outer space.”

    Carmen is a beta follower for this blog, but of course I have no way of tracking whether she reads the entries or doesn’t so I was really pleased to hear that she does.  Carmen is the granddaughter of one of the four most important women in my life, Willie Flora, and I’ve known her since she was a little girl in elementary school.  I had her email address and invited her to follow along with me when I sent the original invitations.  She accepted and now here we were almost two years later chatting and eating brisket in a booth at Dozier’s Barbecue in Fulshear, Texas in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.

    She is a Reader.  A Follower.  And she had no reluctance to call it like she sees it.  I’d love to take credit for some of that bravado but I’m afraid she learned at the tables of two masters, her mother Leora and her grandmother Willie.  I’ve had a few lessons at those tables myself.

    Good stuff or babbling?   A new bar is raised.  To publish or not to publish?  That’s the question. I’ll let my readers, my followers decide whether I’ve made the right call.

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

    The Short Side of Time, a collection of my favorite blogs, was published in 2015. The above piece on good stuff or babbling continues to be a question looming over every post ten years after I first shared.

  • age is just a number, and Ella says hers is unlisted

    age is just a number, and Ella says hers is unlisted


    How old are you, Ella? my friend asked our granddaughter Ella. Ella looked at me. I looked at her. Tell her how old you are, Sweet, I said. Ella appeared disinterested in the question, almost as if she were thinking why are the elderly so concerned with my age – can’t they show more curiosity? No one ever asks me what I’m thinking about, for example.

    I’m 4 October, Ella finally replied.

    (which was her interpretation of what we typically say her age is:

    she’s 3 but will be 4 on October 1st)

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

    Overheard at bedtime last weekend:

    Nana, why can’t you come live with me and Molly and Daddy and Mama? Ella asked.

    Oh, darling, Nana has her own house and has to take care of three dogs and Naynay, too, Nana replied.

    Naynay can take care of the dogs, Ella said.

    Problem solved.

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

    Molly and me watching Wimbledon – I miss them both

    Pretty and I acknowledge and embrace our adoration of our two granddaughters Ella and Molly. We realized when Ella was born we would become the typical grandmothers who think their little girl might be the cutest, smartest and funniest child ever. When Molly was born, we were sure they both were.

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

    Following a week of Vacation Bible School at Lolly and Pop’s church, I asked Ella if she knew who Jesus was. She said she did. I said well, good, tell me and Nana about him. Nana was in the front seat driving the car. Ok, Ella said and then came the slightest pause. She tilted her head slightly in Nana’s direction and said hmmm…Jesus was somebody that…hmmmm…(long pause)…he had…hmmm…he was really…hmmm… Naynay, I don’t know anything about Jesus.

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

    Slava Ukraini. For the children.

  • and the winner was the new kid on the court

    and the winner was the new kid on the court


    overheard at the Wimbledon net from Carlos to Novak:

    hey, wait for the picture!

    thank you, thank you very much

    move over, guys – there’s a new sheriff at the All England Lawn Tennis Club

    USA Today – Sports

    and his name is Carlos Alcaraz

    Carlos has younger brother playing tennis – 11-year-old Jaime Alcaraz

    uh, oh. Two Alcaraz brothers from Spain? watch out, tennis world.

    P.S. Thanks to Pretty for keeping up with social media for this Jaime Alcaraz bulletin.

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

    Please keep cool and stay tuned.