"Once Upon A Dark Nightmare"

This is a story written by Grant as an end of the year writing project. He really enjoyed this and didn't want to stop! He did a great job- said his FLC teacher and his proud momma.

"Once Upon A Dark Nightmare"
It was a dark cloudy day, no birds chirping, no green things living, horns honking, people screaming, and the ground was not visible for all the trash. Joe, unfortunately, lived in this wretched town in New York. Joe was very intelligent but still had no sense of humor and had a permanent frown and a hate for the town he lived in. The only friends he had were his neighbors and his very best school friend. He would have been the happiest person if not for his town, his attitude, and his whole life. Sometimes Joe would wake up and pretend he had billions of friends, a nice green sunny pasture, and a big house with a barn full of horses and cows. Then he would look around the room and begin to realize that he was never going to get out of this tiny apartment in the city.

Joe's parents always tried to make him happy but he always seemed to not accept the opportunity to be happy. He would simple say, "Thanks." in a bored kind of tone and then get on with his life. His parents almost gave up on trying to make him happy when they found he loved to read fantasy books. He would even crack a tiny smile when he got a new book. He would read them by the dozen and one time he even laughed a squeak of a laugh. Joe would go to school with his library card and as soon as the bell rang for the end of school he would be running to the library. The only reason he loved the books was he could imagine the fun it would be to ride the white horses and slay the dragon, or solve the mystery, or fly in the skies. When he wasn't reading books he was moping about with dark eyes and wearing his frown.

Things went on like this for years that seemed so slow that you could still see yesterday through the fog. Joe was 19 now, he still had a permanent frown, and still read fairy tales, but something was different; he had a driver's license! His parents always said that fairy tales and driving don't mix. As time went on things got worse, the economy was bad, gas prices were up, and his money was down. He thought he had only one choice: to leave home. He talked to his parents for hours late one night and finally convinced them that he was responsible and could find a job somewhere. The boy he had once been was all grown up and gone. Once upon a dark nightmare, there was a young man on a mission to find true happiness.

The journey he took was not alone, his neighbors and friends came along too. His friend Dan was 20, selfish, and kind of dull. Sean was 18 with the presentiment that everything would go wrong. Seth was 19 and he was just plain mean. The journey started the next week in a minivan loaded with suit cases. They had two tents, two air mattresses, and lots of lanterns, batteries, and flashlights. The plan was to go find a remote location to live with a big back yard and a spacious neighborhood. The place they were looking for was in the mountains. The Appalachian Mountains were the best place for people that wanted to leave the crowded city filled with noise and pollution.

One day they were searching for a tent site near what looked like a rain forest that hadn't been touched for years, when a scream came out from behind them and Dan was gone! The next thing they heard was the splatter of mud. He had fallen into a deep hole of quicksand. Dan fell painfully slow, running out of oxygen, when he felt something. It was a doorknob. Out of instinct he pulled the door slowly to find a spider inhabited, sideways palace, that was actually filled with fresh air. He was astonished to find many more doors leading to more rooms, and stairs, rugs, sofas, and other plentiful and luxurious furnishings. Above the underground palace, there was crying and mourning. When the mourners heard a voice that said, "Wow, sweet!" it made them all stop crying. Then Joe spied it; a corner of a roof and a vent. The sudden feeling of happiness was so surprising for Joe. They climbed through the vent to see Dan and his palace.

This is the hard part, saying that the story is done, but the lives of "Jolly Joe and his Friends" went on for a long time after the ending of this story. Joe was able to stop reading his fairy tales because now he was living one.

The End.

Campfire Tortillas

I had Victoria manning the "Victoria"....the tortilla press has her name right on it and as she said, "Mom, this is really fun!" I feel hopeful that she will do it again! And it really is fun! I did the flipping job, and that is fun too.

Almost looks like a black and white picture except for the little glimpses of fire. OK, Nanny and Pops, looks like we can do this at camp or at home, whichever works out the best when you come visit! This last trip I forgot to take the press, and so just smooshed the tortillas with the skillet. It left the "Lodge Logic" imprint on all of the tortillas, but it did work. How very logical.

Too-much-to-do-forgetfulness-wacky-syndrome

I think the diagnosis is too much to do that it is making me not stop and get the facts, causing me to do dumb things like planning on taking V. out of school a couple days early to go to Cody convention. Come to find out it is a week later than I was thinking. Why I didn't write it on my calendar instead of trying to use my unreliable memory I do not know. Memory is recognizing when you have made the same mistake before. Smile.

Now I have a disappointed, unmotivated kid, and I have to rethink and replan the whole rest of the month. Couldn't sleep because of the mental work this required and now I am tired as well. Brother!

On the bright side, it is a lovely cooler day here today and I got a whole pie plate of strawberries from my strawberry patch, last year I only got a handfull! Yeah!

Picnic Pie

Oops, I forgot to take along a rolling pin. I used a window cleaner bottle (it should be clean right?). I also did not have any thing wonderful to roll it out on so I got it part way on a piece of foil (worked better than I feared), then had to hand form it. Lumpy pie crust, but I got it to fit.

Strawberry Rhubarb pie ready for the oven. Improvised on the "daisy" and used the lid to one of the spice jars to cut out the circle and the petals.

And my hard working husband finally got to see pie cooling on the pie shelf he built with great hopes a long time ago.

Pie connoisseurs can tell me if this is good or not: the pie crust turned out to be crunchy, crisp. Is that a bad thing or a good thing? It was not the classic "flaky". What did I do wrong? It did taste pretty nice all the same!

Your Beautiful Goat Eyes.

Grant was busy breaking rocks to "see" what was inside, and found this lovely set of goat eyes. He had a "hard" time seeing anything through them though.

Friends and Fellowship

Some beautiful ladies.Sunday we had 5th Sunday potluck, we kept if very simple this time and barbecued hot dogs, hamburger and chicken. I was thankful to have extra time to visit since I did so little to contribute. Thanks to all who were here and did so much! Jerry brought Boccie ball to play. The comment from the ladies on the deck was something about the old goats......grin!

Assessments being made...

Steve making a practice throw? Steve, Lori and Karissa were our special guests, we sure miss having them here every week!

Then after the goat comment which we all enjoyed very much,was something to the effect of cackling hens! Our place always brings out some sort of barnyard humor. Tee Hee.

The girls and Lambert got a ride in Jerry and Linda's classic car, and got to go into downtown Kirkland, what fun! My girl really enjoyed the attention.

Rhodies

This rhodie out front was huge this year and loaded with blooms. May/June are such a pretty months for our yard.

Summer work!

It is hard to believe that my young man is old enough to have a summer job. But here he is mowing the neighbors lawn. He is also responsible for mowing the side yard which goes way back down one side, and he weed wacks the entire thing. It took 4.5 hours last time. He also has another job down the street at a vacant house. Things are looking better in the neighborhood already!

I just had to take pictures of Grants first real job. Sigh.....were did my babies go?