In the deep, dark woods lived the mighty creatures, reclusive and hidden from human sight.  

Ancient they were and filled with memories of distant years, back before roads and cars had ever appeared in the forests ... so finally, when the people noise was just too annoying, they decided. "Today we begin, we will capture these humans and make them sit in these puddles. They will be horrified and run far away from us."

Unfortunately, humans had been taught from their earliest years to cope with the horror of puddles and of mud, and the plan of the mighty creatures failed.

"We are left with no choice," they agreed and decided they must make peace with the humans and live graciously alongside each other. "They can have the puddles, those mud-loving monsters, and we will live in the woods with the bees and the birds."

So it was thereafter, that the mighty creatures remained in the forests of earth, and the humans lived alongside the rivers and lakes and oceans.

They met politely from time to time, those mighty creatures and those 'humans', but the mighty creatures declined to sit in puddles despite the appeal it seemed to have for their neighbors.

Cheeky Chucky Chickadee on a Visit

Our granddaughter's friends stop by regularly.

Cheeky Chucky Chickadee stopped by the house today, just for a little seed or two, and then he was on his way.

He knows we watch for him and his friends, and we leave seeds lying around. He sometimes pecks on the window at us; I think he likes the sound.

He doesn't seem to mind the snow despite not having shoes, not that there were options there like that for him to choose.

Come visit any time, little friend; so long, we'll see you around.
You're always welcome here, you know, even with snow on the ground.

Cheeky Chucky Chickadee

Cheeky Chucky Chickadee
   stopped by the house today.
He’s been here before,
   but came for some more
   of the seeds we put in the tray.
Chucky and his friends seem to like our trees 

   and the feeder we put out back.

They come to play
   all through the day,
   and whenever they need a snack.

We sneak up to the window
   and hope they don’t see us …

We don’t want to scare them away.
We just want to capture

   little Chucky in a picture,
   so that we might send it your way.  

He said, “Say hi to Ruby!”
And then he flew away.  😊

 

Cheeky Chucky's friend Charlene
  flew by and waved hello.
She had seeds in her mouth
  as she headed off south,
  mumbled, “See ya in a week or so.”
 
She does that a lot.
She stops by, or not.
She's always on the go.
There's places to be, and things to see.
Youngsters are like that, you know.
 ________________________________________________

For Ruby, from Chucky. 👴

Ring Out, Wild Bells!

Alfred Lord Tennyson gave us this more than a century ago ...

    Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
        Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
            Ring out the thousand wars of old,
                Ring in the thousand years of peace.

     Ring in the valiant man and free,
          The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
                    Ring out the darkness of the land, 

                         Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

   Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
     The faithless coldness of the times;
       Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
         But ring the fuller minstrel in.
     Ring out false pride in place and blood,
        The civic slander and the spite;
           Ring in the love of truth and right,
              Ring in the common love of good.

________________________
For Ruby for when the right day comes.
Grampa loves you dearly.

Gifts and Giving

Chapter I

It was Christmas time in a little gingerbread village, and on Christmas morning, gingerbread families gathered together for presents and laughter and love.

Little Ginger Breadcrumbs was excited about presents, so she bounced on the couch and laughed a lot.  Her mommy finally picked a little present from under the tree and gave it to Ginger with a smile.  Ginger opened the tiny box and inside ... inside ... was this tiny snow-globe that was bright and cheerful and just snowy globie perfect!  Ginger loves it so much, and she did a big smile.  Her mommy smiled back, and her eyes sparkled.  They sparkled!

"Mommy, mommy, why do your eyes sparkle like that?"

"Well," Gloria said with a wink, "Rather than tell you, I'll show you how it works.  It's time for you to understand a bit more about such beautiful things, now that your getting old enough, and five is definitely old enough."

"So," Gloria said as she sat down next to the tree, "I see there's a present under the tree for me ... from you!"

"Yes, yes, yes, here it is, here it is! Open it, open it!"  And Ginger handed the box to her mommy.

Inside the box, Gloria found a picture Ginger had drawn.  It was of the family in front of their gingerbread house, and all of them were smiling.  Mommy Gloria Breadcrumbs, daddy Whole Wheat Breadcrumbs, little Ginger Breadcrumbs, and baby sister Rainbow Breadcrumbs.  It was a delightful drawing, and mommy just loved it, and she smiled.  And Ginger's eyes sparkled!  They SPARKLED!

And suddenly, Ginger understood.  She'd given her mommy a gift because she loved her mommy so much, and she just sparkled when her mommy liked it.

Giving and gifts, loving and sharing, all are deep and meaningful, but it's not about gifts.  A gift can be big or small, fancy or simple, and it doesn't matter.  It's not about the gift, it's about love in the giving.

So then, what's the lesson in the story?  It's that the best choice is always to love each other, because love is huge, and it makes a huge difference in a sometimes fussy world.

_____________________________________________
For Ruby Marie, learning and growing so wonderfully well all the way up to five.  
I love you dearly,
Grampa

Ninjasaurus Rex

It was a dark and stormy night, and the monstrous wind rumbled to itself, high in the clouds, crabby about the cold, and wondering what mischief it could do ...

Down below, way down there, it saw a house among the trees and thought to itself, I can go roar around that house and scare people.  

Hahaaaaaa and away it blew, down, down to where people lived and trees grew.  It swayed the trees crazily this way and that, and leaves swirled wildly, and in the house ... mom and dad and Ruby (like the precious gem) huddled at the front window, staring outside.  The noise from the wind was huge, and the house creaked, and it was sort of scary for them, until suddenly ...

Suddenly, out of it's deep, dark cave sprang their defender, the ferocious Ninjasaurus Rex!  It's eyes were sharply focused on the front window and on the wind that blew.  "Woof," it declared mightily to the surging wind, which is a lot like, "Hey!" in ninjasaurus language.  "Woof, woof!"  

Outside the house, the furious wind heard the terrifying sound, and fear filled up its very insides.  Suddenly, the wind's strength was gone, and it squiggled back up to the clouds where it hid and whimpered.  Never had it been so scared ever, ever before.  

The family and their ninjasaurus snuggle together and watch as the calm settles wonderfully all around them, and then they go to bed, except Ninja stayed up to keep watch for awhile.

Later, Ruby told Grampa about the cool things that Ninja, their little dog, did. 

_____________

And because every story has a lesson, what's Ninja's lesson for us?  It's that we're a family, and we watch out for each other and help when it's needed.  😄 And friends, too.  Family and friends do that for each other.  And for others who need help, too; good people and good dogs do that.  

She was supposed to be sleeping ...

She was supposed to be sleeping ... but there was this nice elephant with a balloon ... maybe she was dreaming.  It's hard to tell, sometimes.

So she asked herself, "Should I not be riding an elephant?" ... and herself didn't seem to be worried about it, so away they went.

Pfrump ...   ...   ...  pfurump ...   ...  the slow, rolly foot sounds of the big elephant were pretty much the only noises.  The soft breeze blew silently, and the moon just floated along, and off in the distance she could see the hills and trees and maybe some snow on the mountaintops.  She quietly asked him his name, and he said it was Elijah, Elijah Elephant, and they decided right away they'd be friends.  They talked as they went along about things they liked like flowers and trees and swimming and dancing.  She hadn't known about elephants dancing before.

So, slowly they went along the trail, and the huge valley was so quiet and almost magical.  Oh, and every now and then, a star would twinkle and it sounded like a little jingle bell when it did it.  After many pfrumpy steps, she put her head down on top of the gentle elephant's head and closed her eyes.  His head was warm and comfy, and he was humming a quiet song for her.

She slept, perhaps, and dreamed she was back home with mom and dad and they were asleep, so in her dream, she ran into their room and jumped on their bed and told them about her elephant friend, and they all went outside to see if he was still there.

And he was.  He was there playing with a lot of his friends, and all the neighbors were out with them doing morning elephant bath stuff and laughing a lot.  So she took her mom and dad and joined in.  She scrubbed Elijah's feet and great big toes and scratched his back and tickled his nose and thanked him for the ride.  

Mom and Dad chatted with Elijah about happiness and about going slow, and they made plans to meet again soon.  Then she took her mom and dad and went back home and back to bed because it wasn't time to get up yet.

And because there's always a hidden lesson in such stories ... 

"I think I like elephants a lot," she thought as she drifted off to sleep.  And trees, and being outside, and in quiet places, and twinkley stars.  It's funny how being out with a friend and enjoying things slowly lets you relax and see good things.  Like peace and gentleness and friendship and love.  She liked all of that, and slept happily until time for school.
______________________________________________________
For Ruby, because she understands all that stuff. 💚
Love,
Grandpa