Shabbat Shalom, Open Thread! Have Some Challah!

 Tis a fine thing to cruise the ocean beaches.

There are no lanes out there.

Just firm sand, or loose sand. Go, or no go.

Not my car. BW's Kia.

Of course, I've been out there in the old Element too.

Have a wonderful and happy Catfurday.

I'm always thinking of you guys!

p

🌸🤍🌸

A Midsummer's Night's Foolishness

 

            OK, this is the setup: Uncle Bob wanted to talk to Ralph in the worst way. It was urgent. He stumped down out of the meadow and into the Home Clearing. There was Ramona! Ah!
            “Mona! I mean, Firekeeper Ramona, I need to talk to Ralph. Is he around here somewhere?” said Uncle Bob, who was a little embarrassed, and short sighted too.
            “Oh, hi, Bob. You can call me Mona if you want,” said Ramona, amused. “I’m not sure where Ralph has gotten to. Not for sure, you know how it is. Last I heard he was going to go see Ranger Rick.”
            “I don’t really know Ranger Rick, Ramona. I need to tell Ralph that there are some elk up in the far side of the meadow nearest the town and we should go hunting right away before they leave!” said Uncle Bob. “Do you think it would be OK to go look for him there. I guess if Rick knows Ralph and Twigg he wont faint if I show up, right?”
            “No, Bob, I think Rick can handle another guy from the woods. Why don’t you just go on over there and maybe you can catch Ralph before the elk take off,” urged Ramona. She was already thinking about how many days an elk would feed them, and maybe passing some along to Thaga.
            So, Uncle Bob set off to the ranger station and campground area on a mission to find Ralph and get up a hunting expedition while the hunting was good. It was getting towards evening, and the last light of day was fading, not that dark nights bother the Forest People.
            As he was approaching the campground, but it was really still out in the forest, he came upon an odd sight. It was odd to Bob anyhow. He stopped and stared, forgetting for the moment what he was doing there.
            It was a structure made of some kind of human cloth. It was yellow and orange. It wasn’t really big enough for Bob to get inside of, but he thought it might be something that humans use, like a little house or something. It was lit up from the inside, so that the whole thing glowed in the dark shadows of the trees like some strangely shaped lantern sitting on the ground. It smelled interesting to Uncle Bob, who like all Forest People had a sense of smell even better than a bloodhound’s.
            Uncle Bob approached as silently as he could manage. Well, not that silently. He walked around the strange structure a couple of times. It smelled of food, not honest meat, but cookies and all sorts of decadent stuff. He sniffed loudly in appreciation. He wondered if the thing was warm to the touch, so he placed one of his big hands on it and pressed. Yes! It was warm. Uncle Bob could hear someone moving around in there too. He heard a sharp intake of breath and then silence. Interesting. Indeed, there must be a person in there.
            There was a small metal tab at the top of a sort of seam. This interested him, so he touched it. Then he pulled on it, and the seam began to open. Just a few inches of the interior began to show.
            A terrified young man’s face stared back at Uncle Bob. Bob jumped back a few feet!
            This guy jerked the zipper pull all the way to the ground and opened a flap. He stared out into the darkness searching for any sign of Uncle Bob who was pretty far back. Then all of sudden, fast as a jack rabbit, he popped out of the tent in just his tropical print boxers and a jacket, wearing his unlaced boots too, and ran off into the direction of the ranger station as fast as he could run, boot laces whipping around his feet as he ran. Bob watched him go with his mouth hanging open.
            “Chill, man,” said Uncle Bob, to himself apparently because this bird had flown.
            Bob left the abandoned tent hanging open and headed on down to the ranger station.
            Meanwhile, the guy in boxers made it down to the station, but Rick wasn’t there because he goes home at night. The poor freaked guy just ran up to the campground parking lot, got into his Kia, and drove home convinced that he had barely escaped a gruesome death.
            When Bob got to the ranger station, still searching for Ralph, he found Ralph just about to vanish behind the dumpster.
            “Ralphie!” Bob called.
            “Oh, hi, Bob. What are you doing here?” asked Ralph.
            “Looking for you!” said Bob, huffing and puffing a bit.
            “You found me! Cool! What’s up, man?” Ralph asked his boyhood friend.
            “I was just coming down to find you and the weirdest thing happened on the way! There was this yellow thing all lit up on the inside with a guy inside of it. This guy was really sketchy, Ralphie!
            “He totally freaked at me! He took off running down here to the station, but I don’t see him anywhere!” said Bob in wonder.
            “Oh, I bet he wanted to see Rick! But Rick had just left before you got here. Some guy went running up to the parking lot and blasted out of here like Maurice was after him!” giggled Ralph.
            “Maurice wouldn’t hurt him would he?” said Uncle Bob.
            “No, but I bet he would think so! Well, you’ve scared the guy. He’ll probably come back tomorrow and file a report and try to work up the nerve to go get his stuff and Rick will have to play dumb. He’ll have to blame it on a bear,” said Ralph.
            “Wait a minute, you came down here to tell me something, not to go scaring campers. What’s the dealio Bobbo?” said Ralph.
            “Oh! Oh! I saw a herd of elk up in the meadow and I thought we should go hunting before they disappear, Ralphie!” said Uncle Bob.
            “Well, goodness, man, why didn’t you say so? Let’s do it!” said Ralph.
            And so Ralph and Uncle Bob did go hunting up in the meadow nearest to the town, and didn’t miss the elk! In fact, they caught quite a large one and had to carry it all the way back down to Ramona. There was plenty for all, including Twigg and Leely, with a nice roast for Thaga too.

😹🤍😻

You'd Swear It Was Summer

 

            Going outside yesterday, I felt as if the last time I had looked it  had been spring, still chill and damp and gray.
            The sunlight was that blinding light we get in the northwest. I think it has something to do with humidity. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just in comparison to the former gray days. The sky was that profound arc of heavenly blue.
            So, April is just about over.
            This is the beginning of the summer of 2026. Everything was fully leafed out. The blossoms have fallen from my pear tree. I was looking to see if there was some Lamb’s Quarter growing out there along the driveway, but only found clover and dandelions and some other things that I don’t recognize by name.
            And it was warm! Warm enough to use a little AC in the car!
            I got caught in the Boeing traffic going home. But, it kept moving, so that’s the main thing. Most drivers were behaving themselves pretty well. I think people up here feel celebratory when the weather gets like it was today.
            I bet things are looking summery up in the Great Forest too. I wonder if Ramona does anything with dandelion flowers? I shall have to check in with them today!
            I know that the river is very full with spring runoff and that Maeve is above it all keeping a sharp lookout.

Good Morning! Don't Forget! Butter Your Cat Day is Here!

 Aw, they've grown so much since then.

They, and I, wish you the very best April 29th ever.

They have a rather diffident interest in butter, but will lap some.

Suzy abstains.

Mr. Baby has not indulged.

I know Toots doesn't approve, but Sammie digs it!

Meow!

🤍

Some Family Business

 

            It was the third full day after homecoming. Life was normalizing. Leely was figuring out how to keep house in the Alder Tree House, with a wood burning stove, and using river water in a bucket just like Ramona did. She didn’t miss the servants in Mak’s palace. The privacy and agency here were precious to her.
            She thought she was going to need a few more things, like a broom, and a second bucket for more water.
            Koba was a happy baby. He didn’t cry. Well, hardly at all. He was starting to hold his head up and look around himself, seeming to take joy in all he saw.
            Twigg and Ralph had gone out early to hunt. If they didn’t have any luck, they would go fishing. As usual, they would need to pick up firewood too. Ralph wore his big leather backpack for the wood.
            As they walked out into the morning, Ralph said, “Well, how did the visit with Enid and Arthur go?”
            “It was good, but confusing too,” said Twigg. A few B’s had found him and were tagging along before their day’s work began.
            “They didn’t know when we were coming, but they were very happy to see us. Enid handled it better than Arthur did. I’d never met him before, you see?” said Twigg. “He pretty much just stared and didn’t say much. He wasn’t there when we got married, remember?”
            “Nope, Arthur was asleep I think,” said Ralph. “Were they surprised at Koba?”
            “No… That was very strange. They weren’t shocked at all. It seemed to me that they weren’t seeing the same thing I see when I look at my son. To me, he is all Forest child. He’s hairy, like normal.
            “But Enid kept saying how beautiful he was, how he had such nice smooth skin. To her, he looked like a human child I guess, which he is, but she didn’t see that he was like me. She said Koba favored Leely, who favored her dad.  That’s interesting because Leely’s father is rumored to be a half breed. Enid just never would admit it, Leely said.
            “Arthur just sat there, looking from me to Koba and back. Maybe he saw the truth better than Leely’s mom did. He didn’t argue with her. When Enid brought Koba to Arthur to hold, he warmed up. He seemed to get it through his head that a grandson is a grandson. So be it!”
            “Good. Sensible man,” said Ralph. He was scanning the area, as hunters do, but he knew that if they kept up the chat they were going to end up fishing.
            “We had lunch with them. It was a cheesy sticky thing. Macaroni and cheese, it was good. Never had that before. And salad. It was very good and plain after all the stuff Mak’s cooks made up there. You can’t even imagine, Dad!
            “Koba started to get a little tired, so I said we better take him home and put him to bed in his basket. Enid gathered up a couple of bags of kitchen supplies. Canned stuff, butter, cheese, salt and pepper, and on and on.  She said to please come back if we need anything because her grandson will have everything he needs, if she can help it! She held him for a little while and kissed him, kissed Leely and then she hugged me! Arthur shook my hand; the first time I ever did that! Then we took the bags and the boy and walked home and put him to bed. Leely stashed all the things her mother gave her in that cupboard Ooog made.
            “So, it was a good visit, but a mystery too,” said Twigg.
            “Yes. I think Koba may be a mystery in himself,” said Ralph. They walked on silently for a bit.
            The B’s left them, now that the dew was off of everything and they could work the flowers. As the B’s buzzed off to go to work, Maeve found Ralph and Twigg and made herself at home on Ralph’s shoulder.
            “Guess what I saw from up in the sky, Boss?” said she.
            “I can’t guess, Birdy! You see much too far from up there,” laughed Ralph.
            “I saw a tender young buck deer just up the way ahead of you,” Maeve announced. “By the way, it’s good to see you again Twigg! I’m glad you’re home with Leely and Koba. This is a good thing!” And she made a few raven chuckles of approval.
            Twigg grinned at her and Ralph said, “We had best go meet this tender fellow, hadn’t we? Lead the way, Birdy.”
            Maeve flew off to the point the way, and Ralph and Twigg followed. Father and son wouldn’t need to go fishing after all, in spite of the conversation.

🍃🦌🌿

Writing About Writing

 

           

            That sounds pretty boring. Ew!
            But, a funny thing happened on the way to April of 2026. Somehow, I started acting as if I felt something that might described as feeling like I might be some kind of a writer.
            This was a gradual process, and I never set out to make this happen. Maybe my childish approach to story writing allowed it to progress without too much observation from me. IOW, being a centipede, I wasn’t watching all my feet, I was just stumping along unaware.
            What I have been doing these last few months is picking a type of story, say, a folktale, like the one yesterday. I tried to bring in several cultural known characters, such as the trickster and set him in opposition to a virtuous innocent. Just for fun, I made this trickster character our old friend Jumpstart. Spring Peeper is every little girl who triumphs because of her inherent nature in every story of the type. Doesn’t have to be a little girl, of course. Could be a boy or a talking cat or whatever.
            With the story about the guy camping on Hat Island I was trying to write a ripping yarn of the pot boiler type, like we had been listening to at night, but make it more believable.
            I don’t know what to say about Ralph and the Great Forest. That just kind of happened, and now it’s as real to me as some place I have actually been. Ralph is a love story, not in the usual sense, though he and Ramona certainly portray love. It must be about a great number of things I find lovely.
            I still want to visit Luminous, Texas, darnit! I want to sit in that café and interview the customers!
            What is important to me:

•   Word choice is like what color to use, which unconscious connections I wish to hint at.
•   Turn of phrase. Something fresh, but not too far of a stretch for the reader to endure.
•   Portrayal of the characters, without just blurting out how they are. Show, not tell.
•   A storyline which is psychologically feasible and satisfying.

            That’s probably about enough of that. I just felt like explaining myself a little bit.
            Your commentary and kind words have been my light along the way. Please, always say more, not less. Since this is a process of communication, I greatly wish to know how it’s going.
            Thank you, from my heart.

🌸🤍🌸

Dear Old One and Coyote

 

 
            Dear Old One was always talking. Sometimes she told the old stories everyone knew, but sometimes, she muttered things no one had ever heard before.
            To the children, she seemed as old as the world itself. She was short and bent. Her clothes were so old that she had shortened them to match her stature, dresses almost as old as she. Her hair was white, worn up in a twist, so that it looked like a shiny candy. Her eyes were sharp, blue, always looking. Her tongue was sharp too.
            If a village child didn’t know her they may have thought she looked frightening.  So old, bent, and slow, with a stick to help her walk.
            But Spring Peeper did know Dear Old One. She knew that the old lady was kind, harsh, but protective like a good medicine. Spring Peeper trusted her absolutely.
            Of course Spring Peeper was not her real name. Her true name was a secret kept from the Little People. Naturally, no one wanted them knowing their true name.
            One day Spring Peeper was following Dear Old One around her house and outside in the garden, making a pest of herself and getting underfoot of the old lady. So, the old lady sat on the bench outside, under the locust tree and the small girl sat beside her, swinging her feet and humming a tuneless little girl tune. Dear Old One turned her head and looked down on the child with her sharp blue eyes, and she began to speak.
            “You may be assured that Coyote, who is neither good nor evil in himself, comes to every man and asks him a question. The answer to the question will determine whether he is to be tied to the returning wheel, or shall be free,” she said. Then she closed her eyes and rested her hands on the head of her walking stick propped between her knees.
            This didn’t mean a lot to Spring Peeper, but she listened anyhow and tried to puzzle it out. She also thought that since she was not a man, and would never be a man, that the question really had nothing to do with herself. She figured that it was one of those rhetorical pronouncements her great grandmother was given to speaking from time to time.
            She did not expect to be put to the test by Coyote.
            Of course, no one ever does, do they?
            Another day, Spring Peeper was at home with She Is There and the other children. There were three of them, all younger, with one still at the breast. She Is There had been baking bread all morning. Her traditional breads were flat like pitas, and extremely good.
            Like in all such tales, the mother, She Is There, thought to send Spring Peeper with a basket of these good breads to her own grandmother, Dear Old One, at her small old house further down the river road by something like half a mile. Spring Peeper knew the way for she had walked that way many times on the same sort of errand.
            She Is There wrapped a good  half dozen flat breads in a nice clean cotton towel and put them in the usual withy basket, which moved between their houses on various missions. She told Spring Peeper to go straight to Dear Old One’s cottage and come right back home immediately.
            Spring Peeper agreed and set out in a businesslike manner down the path beside the river in the shade of the trees that always seem to grow beside rivers.
            As she walked along in the pleasant shade, looking at this and that, flowers and bees, and birds, and all, she thought she heard a voice coming up behind her on the path. She listened and was surprised to hear what the voice was saying: “Not a fox, not a wolf. Not a fox, not a wolf!” It was repeated over and over again as if this were a very fine thing.
            Spring Peeper forgot her mother’s directions. She turned in the path to see who was following her. To her surprise she saw a beautiful doglike creature who was not a dog, nevertheless. He shone yellowish where the dappled sunlight spotted his fur. He smiled a friendly smile, and said, “Not a fox, not a wolf!
            “Hello, Child! Fancy meeting you here today!” said the shining creature. “What, may I ask, is your name?”
            Completely blindsided and charmed, Spring Peeper said, “Rosina!”
            “Ah, Rosina! Tell me which is best, will you?” said Coyote, for such he was, as you know well.
            “I can’t tell you which is best until you put the question to me,” said poor little Rosina.
            “Very well,” said Coyote, sitting on his haunches there in the path and wrapping his tail around his feet.
            “Which do you desire? Shall you be the most beautiful girl in the village, and the country, and have great fame for your beautiful face?
            “Or will you serve long years, baking bread, and tending babies, and all of that?” said Coyote, with shining yellow eyes, and with his tongue lolling from his open jaws. He waited there to see what the child would tell him.
            “When I am old, I shall be wise, like my Dear Old One! And if I am to be beautiful, I shall be beautiful in the village, like She Is There!” said Spring Peeper.
            “And so you shall be both wise and beautiful!” said Coyote, secretly quite pleased with her answer.
            “Farewell, Rosina, wise child. I won’t tell your name to the Little People, no fear,”  and he passed her up on the path and walked out into the field until she saw him no more.
            She carried the withy basket of still quite fresh bread to Dear Old One. She kissed the old lady, then went right back home, as she had promised to do.

🐺💛🦊