🍁October 18, 2026, One of Those Open Threads🍁

 

We come in peace!

Believe us, truly!

Ask anyone. Ask the crows, as if!

However, we wonder if you have about you

Something worthy! 

A bit, a bite, of this or that?

Oh, anything, surely!

Please be assured of our gratitude!

Gulls are the most honorable of birds!

💙

💚Take A Few Nuts, & A Few Berries, etc.! 💚

 T

            It all started, like these things so often do, when Ralph emerged from behind the station dumpster, which rather strategically obscures his private trailhead. He made sure he wasn’t going to change anyone’s life by meeting them suddenly in the parking lot. Crunching through some thawed and refrozen grubby snow, he slipped on over to the office door. He didn’t hear anyone he didn’t know already in there, so he opened the door, ducked and stepped in.
            “You rang!” he called out. No one was visible at the desk.
            “You smell my coffee, Ralph? Howzit going?” said Ranger Rick, emerging from the kitchen nook with two mugs of the hot brown stuff.
            “Nah, but now that you mention it, I’ll gladly drink a cup with you!”
            “Good, then I don’t have to drink both of these,” said Rick, kicking his chair out a little with a foot and settling down.
            Ralph’s especially broad chair was over in the corner. He fetched it and sat down opposite Rick. “No special occasion. I just felt like stretching the legs and looking around, and I thought we hadn’t had a sit-down in a while.”
            “Things are pretty quiet. Not many come when the snow starts. I’m going to close the campground for the winter one of these days,” said Rick.
            “Are Dexter and Hannah going to stay in the mobile all winter?” said Ralph.
            “Probably not, they’d be up to their buns in snow!”
            And just as if the mention summoned him, Dexter came through the door, steadied himself, and went to hang up his coat and earflap hat. On his way by the desk he lay down a foil wrapped platter.
            The other element that comes into this story is the fact that Hannah possessed a nice Cuisinart food processor. You will remember that she maintains a blog dedicated to the development of recipes.
            Sometimes she tries recipes she has seen elsewhere, just to see if they are for real.
            “Whatcha got there?” said Rick.
            “I can’t tell you what the recipe is called. They’re kind of nut balls, with dates or something. Hi, Ralph. Keeping warm?” said Dexter.
            “Howdy, Dexter. Those sound interesting,” said Ralph.
            Dexter peeled off the foil to reveal the nut balls. There they sat, about the size of golf balls, and quite dark in color. There were 14 of them. They looked sort of like chocolate, but lighter in color.
            “Check ‘em out. I haven’t even had one yet,” Dexter said as he vanished into the coffee pot area and came back with a mug.
            Conversation ceased for a while, being replaced by quiet munching. Each man ate three before speaking again.
            “They looked a little ominous, but are very good. She used walnuts, didn’t she?” said Rick.               Dexter agreed. He looked proud.
            “The recipe called for dates, but she had a bag of figs, so she used those, and the walnuts, some coconut oil, some other stuff, and cacao powder. That’s why they look almost like chocolate. They’re not cooked, she just made everything into a paste with her processor.”
            Ralph finished off his coffee, and said, “These taste like something Ramona would be interested in. I could eat them every day.”
            “Why don’t you take the rest home to her?” Dexter wrapped the 5 remaining in the foil and gave the packet to Ralph. “Hannah will be happy you guys liked them!”
            “Tell her thanks from me!” said Ralph. Then he said goodbye and he’d be back before spring, and laughed because it would likely be several times before spring.
            Outside, he glanced up toward the campground, didn’t see anybody, then he slipped back behind the big green dumpster, and hit the trail back to Ramona carrying the foil packet carefully in one big hand.         
            He carried it right down to Ramona, who was toasting her toes by her fire, and playing with Cherry’s hair. She was making little short braids in the blond curls just for fun. Cherry was beginning to present a rather branchy effect.
            “Wow, Cherry, you look great like that!” said Ralph when he saw what the girls were doing. “Hey, Mona! Hannah made these nut things and I thought you might want to taste them. Maybe you could do something like this!”
            “Interesting! Let me try one,” said Ramona, receiving the foil package from Ralph, who was grinning hopefully.
            So, Ramona tasted and approved the nut things. Cherry did too. Then Ramona got to thinking of how to make something like that without a food processor. It could be done, though it would take a deal of work.
            She had seen her mother pound nuts to a pulpy mass with a moderately long piece of wood in a wooden bowl. Ramona though her big pot would work for the bowl. She had a store of wild hazelnuts left over from fall, and dried blackberries.  She also had a little butter. But she didn’t have the chocolate-colored powder. Maybe she could get some from Thaga.
            While she was cracking a couple of pounds of hazelnuts, she whistled for Maeve and asked her to please go see if Thaga had some powder like that. Ramona wasn’t sure what to call it.
            “Be right back,” said Maeve when she had the situation explained to her.
            Ramona dumped the shelled nuts into her big pot, pounded them to bits with a longish piece of a dry branch, then added a good number of dried blackberries, a pinch of salt, and a lump of butter the size of an egg. Then she pounded the whole collection into a mass.
            When Maeve returned, she had a small paper bag in her beat. She gave it to Ramona and said, “Thaga called it cocoa powder. She said it’s quite bitter without something sweet to flavor it.”
            Ramona tasted the cocoa and agreed. So she put maybe about a cupful in her pot with everything else, but added some of her stash of honey to it so, then pounded some more.
            She tasted it, with Maeve and Cherry watching, and decided it was good.
            So, Ramona, assisted by Cherry rolled the pasty mixture up into balls. Ramona’s were round, and Cherry’s were kind of like eggs.
            They filled three of the wooden bowls with them. They looked a lot like the balls that Hannah had made and Dexter had sent with Ralph.
            “Hey, Baby!” said Ramona, after she was all done. “Would you like to taste these nut balls?”
            “Of course, Mona!” said he. So, Ralph sampled one of Ramona’s nut balls. Then he went back to one of Hannah’s and tasted it. They were both very good. He smiled at her, and said, “I like yours better, sweet Mona! They are wilder. The taste like the whole Great Forest, all wrapped up in a little ball, with some cocoa added to make them exotic!”
            Maeve tasted both, and agreed that Ramona’s tasted much more like the Forest.
            They all ate so many nut balls that they were quite full, and didn’t think about dinner until later. But Ramona went ahead and made some potato and onion soup anyhow, just to finish up the day nicely.

🌲🍁🌲

You Gotta Give It To The Cats

 

Sweetie, engaged.

For they live in the moment.
For their needs are few.
For they are not technologically inclined.
           
            I know that heretofore I have not discussed things with the Scouts much. Perhaps it’s time for a few questions. We shall see.
            “Booker?” I said one day, “What is best in life, so far anyhow?”
            “Exploration, naturally,” said he. “We’ve done the easel. Easy, peasy.”
            “What’s next?” I inquired.
            “Brother is interested in light fixtures with fan blades. He believes that they have potential,” he announced.
            “True,” said Sweetie, who had just entered the interview area near my desk. “However, for a few days I have been working on climbing straight up walls. It’s harder than it looks. There is some mysterious force that grabs me and pulls me back down!”
            “That force is our opponent,” said Booker, very seriously.
            “Well, kids, I have to tell you, we all deal with that force in one way or another. Usually, you end up just facing facts. It’s there,” I said.
            “Hey,” said Sweetie, “What’s outside of those doors? There are several rooms here. Is outside made of more rooms, or is it something different?”
            “Do you remember coming here when you were tiny?” I said. “Do you remember the car ride and how far we traveled to bring you here.”
            “I remember that cage mostly,” he said. “Where we outside then?”
            “Outside, but in a little travel cage, inside of a car,” I said. “Outside is very big. It is made of mostly open space, but with many rooms inside that open space.”
            “When I look out of windows I have many questions,” said Sweetie. “I see things that move through the air and make odd sounds, and my soul desires to catch them. Why is that, Mama?”
            “Those creatures are birds. It is your nature calling you. Nature calls all of us, for better or worse, dear love.” He looked at me then with the face of an angel.
            “You are beautiful, both of you,” I said.
            “What is beautiful?” said Booker, for he is the philosopher of the pair.
            “Ah, now there is a question. Both weighty and light. We know it when we see it, but have a very hard time describing it. Perhaps, it’s enough to say that beauty is pleasing to the eyes of the beholder.”
            “I like everything!” said Sweetie. “All of it. I really like the fridge!"
            “We don’t like the squirt bottle!” said Booker.
            “That’s just a little reminder to leave Suzy alone. Maybe if you stop sticking your noses down there and looking at her so much, she’ll come out more and not be such a baby,” I said. “I’ve never actually hit you with the water!” I laughed. “You guys sure jump!”
            “We can’t figure out what she’s doing down there,” said Sweetie.
            “Hiding from you, obviously,” said I.
            “So, what do you think about your toys?”
            “We like the wheel best. Then the long tube, next, that’s fun. The thing where you used to hide treats, is silly. Not very mysterious,” said Sweetie.
            “Really, the whole house is yours to play in,” I said. “Enjoy!”
            “Those little things that spin around under a cloth were pretty good for a while,” said Booker.

            "I noticed that their charm wore off. We'll have to see what else is available.
            “Well, I really appreciate what nice guys you two are, thank you!” I told them. “Just remember not to bug Suzy. OK?”
            “OK!” both said, just as seriously as you would expect. I know they mean well. They went off to climb the cat tree and stare out the back window.
            “Are they gone yet?”
            It was Suzy. She peeked out, looking both directions.
            “Nope, old girl. They’re still here. You’ll just have to deal with it!”
            And so, it goes.

Meow!

😻💙😺💙😸

Purrsday Greetings for October 15, 2026

             The photo is from a file called Leaving Tulalip. We were loading up for maybe the last time. This leaf fell on the old Honda we had at the time. It's a scan of an old print. Before that year, I had never touched a computer. There was no cell phone. Life was so very analog.
            It was the year 2000. We were moving to town, to have more room for daughter and grandchildren to live with us. It was leaving one world for another.

            Sometime around 2001, my son gave me an old Win 98 box and my husband hooked me up to the internet. My eldest daughter thought that was cute, and that I might write some emails.

            Thereafter was the same course so many people have taken, leaving the old way.  But, I'm still me and I know what I know. I had never written a story, just some bits of free verse.

            I hope that your day is everything you could hope for!

🍁💚🍁

A Most Welcome Surprise From Out of The Blue

 

            Just like the last time, this time, late fall, Ooog thought he had better check the mailbox. He hadn’t done it for a few days. They got almost no mail, but once in a while something would be in the box. This was one of those times.
            Ooog is pretty short, so working his way through two feet of snow was a chore.
            When he opened the mailbox and peered in, he found one envelope. But this time it was directed to Uncle Bob, care of Ooog and Thaga, not Ralph. It proved to be from Maurice.
            This did present a bit of a problem. How to get it out to Bob and read it to him. He was thinking on it, when Thaga said, “Why don’t we get Maeve to invite Bob and Suzy over here? Maybe Ralph and the crew too?”
            Ooog thought that sounded doable. So, the next thing to do was wait until Maeve checked in, which she usually did most days, same as she did with Millicent Price.
            And just like she knew somehow that they wanted to see her, Maeve appeared at their window a couple hours later. She tapped on the window with her beak until Thaga noticed her and opened the door.
            “Just the lady we wanted to see,” said Thaga.
            Arrangements were made for Maeve to invite Uncle Bob and Suzy and also Ralph, Ramona and Cherry to the house the next day for a soup lunch and letter reading.
            The next day was clear and bright. A chilly wind blew through the Great Forest, as if something was afoot, and actually, it was.
            Bob and Suzy tromped down through the frozen snow to the Home Clearing and then all of them together, came traveling single file out of the woods toward the stone cottage. They presented quite a sight. Ralph broke the path, followed by Bob. Then Ramona and Suzy followed with Cherry drifting by her mother’s elbow. Blue and the pumas brought up the rear. Some might have considered it a fearsome sight, but not so. There was much laughter, and curiosity about Maurice’s letter.
            When everyone had stomped the snow off of their feet and had been invited inside, Ooog said, “I’ll read the letter first. Then we can sit around and eat soup. Please sit!”
            So, everybody took a seat around Thaga’s big table, the animals sat as animals do, on the floor.
            The letter:
 
Hi Bob, and everyone. I bet Thaga is reading this to you, but maybe Ooog is.
 
            I know I left kind of suddenly. I didn’t take time to explain. But everything came together so tight and neat that I didn’t even think of saying anything to you! I’m still interested in playing music with you. Don’t worry.
            Mable is kind of magic. I met her in her Buick when I was leaving MO. She picked me up when I was hitching. I just thought she was a nice old lady. Then I met another nice old lady when I was busking in a park. Then, she appeared on Smith Island, and brought me to the Forest. I still thought she was a very nice, magic, old lady. She’s funny that way.
            Then after that thing with the witch and Ralph rescuing me, I was afraid to be alone in the old farmhouse. But walking home one night I heard a voice singing to me. And I didn’t feel so alone anymore. That was her too. But I didn’t know it yet.
            Later, I followed her home in the snow and found out that she was Mable in the form of a white Howler. Maybe she is an angel. She doesn’t say.
            I can’t stand the snow. It’s too cold for me. We didn’t have that where I was born. Howlers don’t handle cold very well. So, we left.
            The Buick is magic too. I bet it could look like anything she wanted it to.
            We went back to see Sneaky and Joseph at their house. They are very well, BTW, and the Howler Frozen Custard shop is doing very well. Folkie Joe is richer than ever. He drove over to see us when we were there. He married his housekeeper, just like I said he should.
            We went to Arizona. Joe gave us some money for a B&B, and we pretend to be Armenian together. I think that was the funniest thing I ever said, BTW, telling that old lady I was Armenian. We are waiting for spring.
            I am working on new tunes! Mable is a pretty good singer. Maybe we could all work together! How about that?
            I love all of you, I miss you, but I am not alone, and I am happy!
            Maurice, A True Howler who will see you in spring!
 
            The letter was an absolute hit. Bob shed a couple of tears because he was so touched and he had never gotten a letter before. He took it with trembling fingers when Ooog handed it to him. Suzy was very proud too.
            The soup was bean with bacon and lots of garlic and onions, and some tomato sauce made of Ooog’s own tomatoes. Thaga also made cornbread. There were loads of butter and berry jam. After that no one thought of dessert, not even a little.
            The pumas were not great fans of bean soup, but they ate some to be polite. Blue was a fan though.
            Bob gave his letter to Suzy for safekeeping.
            Cherry helped Thaga by gathering up the dishes and putting them into Thaga’s sink, then she wiped the table off.
            Everyone hugged everyone else.
            Outside the weather had changed during lunch. The sky was white and perfect feathery snowflakes were falling, and spring seemed quite a while away, as they walked home through that peculiar silence that happens when snow is falling.
            But spring always comes, doesn’t it?

❄️💙❄️

From The Annals of The Great Forest

 


            She couldn’t believe was she was seeing. She dropped down out of the sky to get a better look.
            What Maeve saw was Uncle Bob and Jim the bison in close conversation with an enormous person, not right by Bob’s Stump House, but out in the snow-filled meadow. Maeve shivered. She had an ominous feeling, but she wasn’t sure why.
            She needed to talk to Ralph.
            Off she went, low and fast, tree top level, over the frozen field until she entered the Forest, heading for the Home Clearing.  
            First, she smelled Ramona’s fire, then coming down out of the canopy of firs, she could see that the family were gathered around the fire. The snow never gets very deep in the Home Clearing, but there was enough to look and feel like winter. The Great Forest is very much a four seasons kind of place.
            Once landed, she said, “Good morning, Boss. Oh my! There is something funny going on up in Bob’s meadow.”
            “I bet you don’t mean funny haha, do you?” said Ralph.
            “I’m worried about Bob and Jim, Boss,” she continued. “There is something out there with them! It’s bigger than you! I got a kind of sick feeling when I saw them with this creature!”
            “What kind of creature, Birdie?”
            “Looked mostly human, but too big! Too big! Fully fee fi fo fum big! I can think of no reasonable reason for it to be there,” she said. “It’s going to get hungry, then what!”
            “Eww!” said Ralph. “That’s right. More to the point, how did it get in here? I believe this bears looking into. Hm.”
            “You gotta be careful this time, Boss,” said Maeve.
            Ramona sat looking from Ralph to bird and back again. At last, she said, “This is something new. Size isn’t everything, but it is a thing. You must go very aware, Baby.” Her hands were folded in her lap. Her expression was serious.
            “We shall see, Mona. I won’t let the creature eat me. I need to find out what sort of creature it is, how it got here, and why it’s here.”
            “Do you want to come along, Birdie?” he said.
            “Yes, do,” said Ramona. “Cherry and I, and the wolf and the cats will be fine.”
            So, Ralph headed for the small meadow, with Maeve flying overhead. Once outside the clearing the snow was deep. Up to Ralph’s knees. He plunged through it effortlessly.
            Only Suzy was present at the Stump House. She sat beside her fire on a smooth big rock, looking anxious.
            “Greetings, Firekeeper,” Ralph said formally. “Where are they?”
            “Further along, Forest Lord. Just keep going as you are,” said Suzy. “You can’t mistake them. The giant is all too visible, Sir.”
            “I thank you,” he said and kept walking. Maeve was above, always faithful.
            As he walked, he sang a song, deep and far-reaching, called Let Truth Be Revealed.
            Presently, he saw a great grizzled head with dirty red hair above the vegetation and saplings of the meadow. He sighed. He continued on until he met Uncle Bob, and Jim, in conversation with a tremendously large person, working away on a huge instrument like a banjo.
            “Greetings, Bob, good morning, Jim,” said Ralph. “Who’s your friend?”
            The giant stopped playing and regarded Ralph with speculative light blue eyes, set deep in a grubby face, with a lot of shaggy red whiskers and flabby cheeks.
            “Oh, hi, Ralphie! Look, we found a musician, or he found us,” said Bob. “His name is Myron. Well, Jim found him sitting on a log. Then we got to talking about making a band.”
            “We do need a musician,” said Jim. But he looked a little worried.
            “I am Myron, who are you?” said Myron from way up in the air.
            “I am Ralph. I’m kind of in charge around here, you might say,” said Ralph, saying it. “I have a couple of questions. That good with you?”
            Maeve circled overhead, sharp ears listening to every word.
            “Fine with me, Ralph,” and he laughed a big echoing laugh.

            "How did you come to be among us?" said Ralph.
            “I walked. Oh, I noticed your keep out rule, but I stepped over it” Myron chortled. “Betcha that’s a first, your majesty.”
            “You speak rightly, Ralph is King here,” said Bob, looking a bit wary.
            “It is so,” said Ralph. “Now, Myron, where are you from?”
            “No one place. I come from roaming to and fro. I was born in a cave in the hills above Darrington, as they call the sad little town,” said Myron.
            “I see. Now, why did you come here to our gentle kingdom? What drew you here?”
            Visibly reluctant, Myron said, “I was hungry. I came to charm creatures worthy of my appetite, with my music. The female creature gave me food, but it was so little. I am famished, still,” Myron sort of gurgled, drooling a bit into his beard. A sort of foul stench rose up around them all. “You look meaty, majesty!” he said, giggling.
            “Hold!” said Ralph. The meadow went silent, waiting. “Let the Maker of All reveal truth,” said Ralph, in a terrifyingly deep voice, so low it was just about subliminal.
            “I know no Maker,” said Myron, gurgling and yukking it up. But then something changed. His over-sized instrument fell onto the log he had been found sitting on and it broke in half.
            “ARGH!” yelled Myron.
            Jim moved behind Ralph. Uncle Bob watched with his mouth hanging open, speechless.
            Then Myron stood before them, revealed, about the size of a large rabbit. His plaid coat had shrunk down to a size to fit a large rabbit too. His red hair bristled. He screamed, in a rage.
            “Much as I suspected,” said Ralph. “Your kind are not allowed here. Go back to your hole in Darrington, Plaidie, no matter what your name is.” In a trice, he stood before them no more.
            “Sorry about your musician, guys. He would have eaten you both. Giants, even fake ones, are greedy above all things,” said Ralph. “Lucky for you, you have no gold to steal! I sure wish Maurice would come back.”
            “Thanks, Ralphie,” said Bob with tears in his eyes. “I wish Maurice would come back too. I miss him so much, and Jim has never even met him!”
            “Your head really does work good,” said Jim, coming out of hiding behind Ralph. “How did you know?”
            “I didn’t really know, until I looked at him. What a fake. I wonder how he got that way?” Ralph laughed. “Maybe we’ll never know!”
            “You better fix your law up a little, Boss,” said Maeve, who had come in for a landing.
            “I can see that. The next scoff-law could be an elephant! Who knows,” said Ralph.
            Then, Ralph and Maeve, Bob and Jim all went back to tell Suzy all about it. She was very relieved to see that each of them was living and well. She was pleased to hear of the vanquishing of Myron the fake giant.
            “Keep working on the songs, Bob and Jim. I would bet that Maurice will be back when spring comes. He doesn’t do well in snow, like we do,” said Ralph.
            “Thanks for not letting him eat me,” said Jim.
            “Any time,” said Ralph.
            Maeve rose back up into the air, and Ralph walked back to the Home Clearing with a story to tell Ramona and Cherry, not to mention Blue, Bob and Berry.

💚👑💚

A Lot of Mileage & Open Thread

 

            The spots are large on his side, so that's Sweetie, the pounciest member of the troop.

            They have this tube toy thing. A big deal for them is to drag their noisy, wiggly toys inside the tube and then, then, deal with them in the enclosed space. I tried to get more and better shots, but they move pretty fast, and you get pics of a tail disappearing down the tube. Maybe I should post that too.

            Suzy is doing better now that she has her own private accommodations. Ahem. She is eating well, and rounding out!

            I know everyday around here is a mewing day, hope it's a  happy one for youall!

💙😻😺😸💙