Shasta visits Nana Gladia

Here is an excerpt from the story I'm writing. Shasta visits her Nana Gladia

Shasta knows that she should go straight home but can’t help herself from stopping in to see her Nana Gladia. Gladia’s home is hardly visible from the air since it is nestled cozily among the low branches of the ground spruce. The pathway to Nana’s door is paved with a mixture of green and white sea glass, and along each side grows a profusion of purple and white violets.
Before Shasta even gets to the door she hears her Nana’s voice, “Come in my darling! I had the feeling that you would drop by.”
Shasta enters the compact home, and gives her nana a huge hug. Hugging Nana Gladia is like burying your face in a bouquet of wild flowers.
“Oh Nana, I’ve missed you!” Shasta says.
“And I’ve missed you my darling, so that’s why I concentrated on your sweet face until you walked in my door,” Gladia says and giggles. “Say hello to my little friend.”
“Oh hello, Sunflower,” Shasta says as she pats the baby chipmunk that is curled up in a chair by the fire. Sunflower looks up at her lazily and turns over on her back to have her tummy scratched.
Shasta notices two tiny brown bunnies under the stairs, who twitch their noses as they dream of a meadow of pink clover.
Nana Gladia’s house is never without the presence of one or more small creatures of the woods. She takes in young motherless animals and sometimes tiny birds that have fallen out of their nests, and cares for them until they are able to manage on their own. They treat her place as sort of a drop-in center, and Shasta loves to hear all their stories about life in the West Woods. Gladia even sets out small containers filled with honey to feed the bees and insects that happen to be in the area.
Shasta is amazed once again by the brightness and beauty of her very favorite place. Her Nana has decorated every surface with small pieces of wonderful sea glass. On the walls are patterns and swirls that look like waves of water, dancing in the sunlight and on the floor are amber pathways resembling the red earth. Of course her Papa made all the furniture, but Nana added sea glass before the clay dried, creating a unique mosaic on each table, chair and shelf. The rare blue pieces have been reserved for the fireplace. Even the staircase is adorned with brilliant color.
Shasta always marvels at how her nana is the only one of her family who uses her wings indoors. She watches with glee as Gladia flits around, making tea and bringing out the cakes, then suddenly zips off to polish the glass on the table in the center of the room. She’s never seen any other Minwing do so many things at once! Sometimes Gladia flies so fast, her wings are invisible!
“Where have you been these last days, my darling?” Shasta’s Nana asks as she brings the tea and cakes to the table, “I thought you had forgotten me.”
The sunlight shines through the door and glints off Gladia’s beautiful silver hair.
“I could never forget you, Nana Gladia,” Shasta replies, laughing, “I’ve just been so busy lately, and I really shouldn’t be here today, but I just had to talk to you.”
They sit down together and Gladia pours the steaming tea into shells and offers Shasta a tiny cake from a green glass plate. Shasta can never turn down a cake that Nana has made. They are lighter than air and have a fruity taste that no other Minwing cook in the West Woods has managed to imitate. Shasta carefully adds a drop of honey to the tea and sips it gratefully.
She gets a bit of a start when Nana Gladia leaves her chair and flies off again to the eating area and returns carrying a small shell filled with purple and white violets.
“There, that sets everything off doesn’t it?” she says, as she places them in the middle of the table.

Winter, soon a memory.

I had forgotten what warm air felt like
Until today.
Snow, melting into streams
along the side of the road,
Inviting memories of playing as a child.
When I imagined small pieces of wood
to be boats, floating to the ocean.
I feel the squish of red mud under my boots
And catch the smell of a distant Spring.
My canine companion happy
to be away from the confinements of home.
Upon returning from my walk
I cut the sagging branches
off the Linden's in my yard.
I put them all together
into a pile, to await the sad separation
from the stately trees.
Mother Nature was overzealous
in her stormy pruning.
Then I find a deck chair,
faded with too many summers
and wobbly with it's cheapness.
I sit and turn my pale face
to the sun
And dream of summer.

Tangled Tess

This is my first illustration. It's plasticine! (Feb.26,2010)
This is a poem I wrote last week, inspired by a certain long haired customer. I think that I will try to do illustrations and make it into a children's book.

Tangled Tess

Tess's hair was much too curly,
Full of tangles, so unruly.
Tess's Mom said, "Comb your hair now,
I can hardly see your eyes!"

Tess complained to her Aunt Susie
That her hair was too darned curly.
"I wish I had hair like you do,
Straight and shiny,
Sleek and perfect.
Why is my hair so unruly?"

Her Aunt Susie said, "Don't worry,
I will brush it. It will surely
Calm down and you'll
Look quite pretty."

So Aunt Susie brushed it thoroughly
But it still was too unruly.
Suddenly the brush just vanished
Into Tess's hair!

Tess's Aunt searched quite completely
Through her hair
Then she said bleakly,
"I'm afraid my brush is history,
Never to be found.

After that, nobody dared
To put a brush near Tess's hair.
She let it go and didn't brush it,
It just grew completely wild.

When Mom suggested she have a shower
Tess refused and she did glower,
"It hurts too much
To get the knots out.
It's fine the way it is!

Toast and jam she had for breakfast.
She ate one piece,
One piece vanished.
With a facecloth washed her face
It was gone without a trace.

Tess was finished breakfast early,
Tried to brush her teeth so pearly.
Lost the toothbrush,
Couldn't find it.
It had vanished too!

When she went to catch her school bus,
The driver mistook her for a big bush,
Drove right by and left her standing,
Sadly in her yard.

Poor Tess!

Her mom dropped her off at school then.
When in class she searched for her pen.
Couldn't find it,
Had to borrow
One from her friend Joe.

When it vanished too, she panicked,
Told the teacher that she felt sick,
Headed home and threw a tantrum,
Jumping up and down.

"I hate my hair, it's too unruly!
Why is it so gosh-darned curly?
All I want in this whole world is
To have normal hair.

Her hamster Bud ran round his cage,
He was frightened by her rage.
She took him out,
And in five minutes he had vanished too!

Poor Bud!

"That is it!
I'm going to shave off
All my hair and wear a ball cap,
I can't stand it anymore," she said
While kicking on the floor.

Her mother said , "Now calm down Tess,
I realize your hair's a mess.
I'll buy a straightener for your birthday.
I'm sure that it will work!"

On her birthday Tess awoke,
She'd dreamed it all had been a joke.
She put her hand up to her hair,
And almost lost it too!

Tess agreed to have a bath.
You're so smart, you do the math!
What from her hair did appear?
Aunt Susie's brush,
Some toast and jam,
A toothbrush and
Joe's favorite pen.
Even some of last night's stew,
A pencil sharpener,
A bottle of glue.


And there, swimming on his back
Was Bud,
And he looked quite relaxed.
Tess picked him up
and dried him off.
And put him on the floor.

"Now Tess," her mom said,

"Some new conditioner I'll apply."
'For curly hair' it did imply.
Her hair felt smooth,
More in control,
Which soothed poor Tess's frazzled soul.

Her mom was the one who saved the day.
She straightened Tess's frizz away
And soon her curls , that were unruly,
Turned into hair that hung so smoothly.

Tess's hair was sleek and shiny . . .
For at least a day!

Close Call!

I awoke yesterday morning at 6 o'clock to the howling of the wind of our first major snow storm of the season. I rolled over and tried to get back to sleep but couldn't because of strange scratching noises coming from outside. Thinking it was just ice falling off the roof , I wasn't too worried but decided to go downstairs to investigate.
Looking out the front windows into the dark, nothing seemed unusual, but when I went to the dining room I discovered that the large tree between our place and the Jenkin's was lying across our driveway and the top branches were squished against the house! This was a disappointing sight, not only for the inconvenience but also the fact that we would be without one of the lovely trees surrounding our property.
When daylight arrived, Chris went out to survey the damage and found that part of the eaves trough on the porch had been bent and there was a hole in the screen of our dining room window. We felt very lucky that our windows were still intact. Imagine how much of a pain that would have been in the middle of a storm.
Around 9 am we lost our electricity so figured it would be a long day, without all the conveniences of TV, computer, and appliances. To make matters worst, our propane stove in the family room hasn't been working for a couple of weeks and our repairman is scheduled to come this Friday.
Luckily the temperature was around the O degree mark so we dressed warmly, ( I had three pairs of socks on) and we snuggled up with our blankets and books. When lunch time came Chris had planned to go out to the garage and barbecue but decided instead to use our little camp stove. So we had a lovely lunch of canned beans, boiled eggs, toast fried in a pan, and of course tea. It was quite lovely and tasted extra special since we felt that we had fared very
well, under the circumstances.
I took the opportunity in the afternoon to put up my little Christmas houses on the mantle and wrote some Christmas cards to send to our British relatives. The power came back on around 5:30, just when we were almost finished making omelettes for our supper. It was lovely to have all our modern conveniences returned to us and we swear that we will never take them for granted again!

It's a Dog's Life!

So, here I am outside in the snow!

The cat is inside, all "warm and snuggly"while I'm out here freezing my ass off!
As you'll probably notice I'm not exactly thrilled about this white stuff.
My walks up the hill are getting scarcer, since my family gets a little lazy when the cold weather sets in.
Things are pretty quiet in Middle Margate. I've got the puppy next door toeing the line, I forget his name... He knows who's boss now. I think he's terrified of me. Well he should be!

Notes from Frisco

If I stare at her hand hard enough, she will write what I'm thinking...just like if I need to go outside I just stare at the door and sooner or later it will open.
I'm a magical kind of cat! Grandma Jean said that I would soon be tall enough to open the door by myself. Why should I want to do that when I can get someone else to do it for me?
They still keep me shut in the family room at night...me and that stupid dog.
The other morning he woke me up at 6:30, barking at the new puppy next door. Yeah right, all we needed was another dog in the neighborhood! My arch enemy, Lightening, doesn't live there anymore, so now I'm "top cat."
I've been busy this summer keeping the mouse population down and think that I'll soon be ready for retirement. Either I'm getting slower or those darned mice are getting faster!
We had a big storm yesterday. I needed to go out in the morning and decided that I might blow away so I went to the other door and it was just as windy there. I sort of got "kicked" out so was perturbed when I got wet. Mom (actually your mom) thought she'd be smart and run some water in the bathtub in case the power ran out. Well, she didn't tell me and I did my usual nosing around upstairs, jumped into the tub to lick the water under the faucet and guess what? I got wet again! I hate getting wet and twice in one day was too much.
Anyway, can't wait for you to come home. I miss you because you're the only one who will let me sleep in your bed. Your cat , Frisco

THE LITTLE WHITE SHOOLHOUSE...a poem

This is a poem I wrote for a school reunion
about 15 years ago.

The Little White Schoolhouse

The little white schoolhouse
On the side of the hill,
Though years have passed
I remember it still.

There was only one room,
Grades ten down to one
But we learned the three Rs
And we had lots of fun.

There was no running water
In the school on the hill,
But we'd fetch it with the kettle
And drink to our fill.

I remember the blackboards
With the maps rolled up tight.
The library books,
And the globe on the right.

We had Red Cross once a month
Where each child got a pin.
The spelling bees were lots of fun
And we tried our best to win.

Anti-over and red light
And Red Rover too,
Were the games that we played
To name but a few.

So much fun we'd be having
I remember it well,
When lunch time was over
Teacher rang that old bell!

In winter we'd skate
On the pond with great glee.
I remember the year
Through the ice you could see!


Slikding down the big hill
Kept us amused.
If you didn't own a sled
Then, oil cloth you used.

I remember the rides
On the horse and sleigh
With the buffalo skin 'round us
We'd sit on some hay.

And the concert at Christmas
When all would take part,
In skits and in singing
And reciting by heart.

We used sheets for the curtains
And sold fudge by the door,
The room was kept cozy
By the stove on the floor.

We had no fancy sneakers
Or brand-name clothes
We wore overshoes with buckles
And were thankful for those.

There were days we'd walk home
With mud to our knees,
And sometimes in winter
We thought we would freeze.

No, I don't forget it,
And I never will,
The little white schoolhouse
On the side of the hill.