A special Mother’s Day gift

Family, Memories

Every year, teachers work hard figuring out little inexpensive gifts their students can make for their mothers on Mother’s Day. One particular gift I got many years ago is still etched in my memory.

snapshot of little Robby

Our first born, Robby, was going to a pre-school out in the country. This was a couple of hours, a few times a week.

The Friday before Mother’s Day, I parked in the driveway waiting for my little boy. Other children came out of the house. Each held a colorful handmade tissue paper flower–the flower was about the size of the child’s head.

Eventually, Robby came out, but he wasn’t holding a flower. To keep his gift a surprise he hid his flower under his jacket–not one of his better plans.

“I have something for you, Mommy, but you can’t have it until Mother’s Day.”

“Is it a ball?” I asked. “Or a horse? Or a flying carpet?”

He giggled. “No. And I can’t tell you.”

When we got home, Robby ran upstairs to his bedroom. From the living room, I heard him cry.

“Do you need help?” I asked.

“NO! Not you.”

“I’ll send Daddy up when he gets home from work. Okay?”

“Okay,” Robby sniffled.

Later that day, Daddy went upstairs and saved the day.

When Mother’s Day arrived, I was very surprised when Robby handed me my unsmashed tissue paper flower. It’s a memory I’ll cherish forever.

A helpful cat

pets

I was working my way through a few youtube videos about a particular art technique when our cat, Othello came for a look see.

This cat has been with us for fifteen years and this is the first time he was drawn to my computer screen.

As the teacher’s brush moved across the screen Othello tried to catch it with his paw. I should have chased him away but he was being so cute.

Othello even looked behind my laptop to see if the hand was back there, too.

The cat shouldn’t have been on the table and I thought to shoo him away, but changed my mind. Othello was just as entertaining as the video.

Soon the cat lost interest and I went back to studying the painting technique on the screen. I don’t know if I learned anything, but Othello did teach me something. Even an old cat can be playful…if he wants to.

A special nature walk

nature, writing

Today’s weather started with a chilly rain. When it stopped after lunch I decided it was a good time to take our dog Sunny for a walk.

Sunny loves our walks. He would love to run free, but I keep him close to me on his leash.

Our walk this Thursday went a little slow. The pace wasn’t because of Sunny wanting to sniff every blade of grass. This time it was my fault.

Every few feet I stopped to rescue a worm.

Worm heading into the barren wasteland of a country road.

When I was a kid, Dad would take us outside after a rain to gather worms for fishing. Since I wasn’t going fishing, I became a worm rescuer.

As we walked, I stopped, picked up a worm that was heading across the road. Some had already perished as the blacktop dried, but the ones who were still wriggling on the gravel shoulder could be saved.

A handful of worms

I saved about 30, sending them on to higher ground, away from the road.

My good deed for the day.

A couple of years ago, when I was also rescuing worms, I had the idea for my picture book, Up and Down Twins. One of the twins always looked down like I do when searching for worms. The other twin always looked up. Isn’t it odd where stories have their origins?

Trying to be creative

Family, photography

A long time ago, I was a member of a photography club. Each month we had an assignment. We were to bring a photo to the meeting that fit.

Back then I had a 35 mm camera which meant I had to take my rolls of film in to be developed. Sometimes the cost didn’t fit in my budget and I passed on the assignment.

I tried finding ways to include our children in my photos. We had young ones, so I often dragged them along with me on my adventures.

One day I took Russell and Rachel to the deserted Black Creek Depot. I wanted to get photos of the building before it was torn down.

The first photo here today was an unplanned action shot. Look to the left where little Rachel almost took a tumble as she tried to catch up with her brother.

Fall 1984 – I think

The next photo turned out pretty well. I asked Russ to look in the window. He went up on his tip-toes. Don’t you wonder what he saw?

Russell peeking in the Black Creek Depot

These days I have a digital camera. I use these photos to add life to my columns and to document life on Sunnybook Farm. Being digital means I don’t have the cost of film and developing, so I take a lot of photos which I will continue to share here and in my column.

Finally TULIPS!

nature

I’ve been waiting for color in my garden, but this year it seems to have taken forever.

Plants are slow to bloom in the country. Many of my city friends have had tulips and other blooms for weeks–this is usual. Things are warmer when houses are closer together. But it seems that even their flowers were slower to appear this year. Our winter was just wicked and hung on too long.

Two little maids

These early beauties are on the south side of our house. They are kissed by the sun first. In other parts of the yard, it will take a little longer to show their colors.

I’m happy with these first blooms. Yellow is my favorite color, well, it is until more flowers show off their blooms. Everyone is special as it decorates the land and brightens our days.