Category: Animals

How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

We Shall Overcome: A Novel

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

The Alligator #Poetry

The following was published in the summer 2019 issue of The Avocet. It was inspired by an incident that happened several years ago while I was visiting my brother and his family in Florida. My sister-in-law took the photo of the alligator. You can click on the poem’s title to hear me read it.

The Alligator

A warm afternoon under a cloudless Florida sky,
we float down the Loxahatchee River.
I sit on the canoe bottom,
cramped, while brother and sister-in-law paddle.
It suddenly appears.
Not a snake, but just as deadly,
it stands on the bank,
gazes at its reflection in the gleaming water.
I don’t see it—my family does.
After snapping a picture,
we sail far, far away
while icy fingers of fear massage my spine.

My Books

Coming Soon: The Red Dress: A Novel

Click to purchase My Ideal Partner from Smashwords absolutely free!

How to Build a better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

My Other Links

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered #Thursday Book Feature

Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered

by Gary Paulsen

In the 1950’s, a boy, living in the city, is sent by his alcoholic parents to spend a summer with his uncle, aunt, and cousins on their farm. While there, he survives many misadventures such as being kicked by a cow and attacked by a rooster. He also learns about milking cows, feeding chickens, and other tasks associated with farming. He feels at home for the first time in who knows how long.

This book is written for grades 6-9, but it can be enjoyed by older readers. I wouldn’t have read it, though, except that it was selected by my regional talking book library’s book discussion group.

I’m glad I picked it up. In a way, it’s a modernized version of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series. I enjoyed escaping to the farm and laughing at all the humorous situations into which the young characters got themselves.

Coming Soon: The Red Dress, a Novel

Synopsis of The Red Dress

A novel by Abbie Johnson Taylor

My Other Books

Click to purchase My Ideal Partner from Smashwords absolutely free!

How to Build a better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

My Other Links

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

A Walk in the Woods #Poetry

A couple of years ago, I wrote the following poem for a contest sponsored by National Braille Press, but it didn’t win. So, I submitted it to The Avocet, and to my surprise, it appeared in this week’s online issue. You can click on the title to hear me read it.

A Walk in the Woods

Bird songs fill the air.
I smell pine, flowers,
feel the whispering breeze,
as I pause to drink cool water.
I don’t see much,
but my other senses
help me appreciate nature.

My Books

How to Build a better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

My Other Links

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

The Ice Cream Stand

Thanks to blogger Mary Hiland for inspiring this. In her post, she shares memories of buying sweet treats from an ice cream truck as a kid.

When I was a kid, I wasn’t a fan of cones, Eskimo pies, or any other treats you could eat with your fingers. Instead, I preferred malts, sundaes, and other treats that could be eaten with a straw or spoon. The stand at Kendrick Park here in Sheridan, Wyoming, had plenty of those. When I was in high school and college, our house was only a block away from the park. My younger brother and I often walked over and swam in the pool, then bought ice cream. Behind the stand was a playground, and when I was younger, I often enjoyed myself there, even after Mother accidentally caused me to fall off a swing.

On Tuesday nights when there were concerts in the park, Dad and I often took our Irish setter, Clancy, over. After the concert, we made our way to the ice cream stand. While I had my usual chocolate malt, Dad got a vanilla cone and a spoon. He told Clancy to sit, and he fed him some of the ice cream from the cone. When the cone was empty, he gave that to the dog as well.

One summer, my ten-year-old cousin Shelley and her family were visiting us from Iowa. Dad, Shelley, Clancy and I walked to the park as usual on a Tuesday evening. We brought lawn chairs, and after the concert, Dad decided to stow them behind a tree while we made the quarter-mile trip to the ice cream stand. When we returned to that tree after enjoying our treats as usual, the chairs were gone.

Dad told Shelley and me to start walking home while he looked around to see if the chairs had been dumped somewhere else. They were old and not of much value. While we waited to cross a busy street, to our surprise, Shelley spotted the chairs in the back of a green pick-up truck that was driving by us.

So, when we got home, Dad called the police. When the detective arrived, Shelley gave him a description of the truck. The next day, the chairs were found. Unfortunately, the police needed to keep them for evidence, and we didn’t get them back until October. By that time, I was away at college, and attending band concerts and eating ice cream were far from my mind.

What about you? Do you have any specific memories of buying and eating ice cream from a stand or truck? What was your favorite kind of ice cream? Did you prefer it in a cone, dish, or malt? Any way you like your ice cream, I hope you enjoy plenty of it this summer.

My Books

How to Build a better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

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