Dear Me, Santa

Mrs. Claus: Are you feeling better, Dear? How about a nice, hot cup of coffee? Santa (throwing back the quilts and rolling out of bed): Just what I need. The trip was hard this year. Mrs. Claus: Did the reindeer behave? Was the sleigh over-loaded? Did you face a head-wind? Santa: Yes, no, and no. […]

Little Cedar and the Big Storm

Fierce winds tugged at Little Cedar. His scrawny boughs bent and swayed but he dug his roots deeper and hung onto the rock buried beneath the mountain soil. “The wind is so cold,” said Little Cedar. He shivered from his topmost limb to the bottom of his twisted trunk. “It must be nearly Christmas again.” […]

The Christmas Barn–Conclusion

The cold wind blew their leaves away. The three friends shivered and wished for day. “We can’t just do nothing,” the raccoon said. “Come on, squirrel and chipmunk. Let’s go  a bit farther. Maybe we’ll find food.”      Sighing, the squirrel straightened up and took Chipmunk’s hand. On they went, through the cold night. They […]

The Christmas Barn

The Christmas Barn The 200-year old barn sat empty and lonely. No longer did horses stamp their feet inside his walls; cows didn’t warm the stalls with their breath; no sheep snuggled against each other to sleep the night away.      The barn missed these animal friends. He missed the  chickens who used to gossip […]

What’s In the Canebreak?

Canebreak ABC’s Red ants, black ants marching all together, through a canebreak by the river in the lovely summer weather. Many-colored butterflies drift or dream or flit among tall stalks for the very fun of it. A caterpillar wriggles and a cricket creaks a song, surrounded by the river cane, thick and green and long. Dragonflies a-dazzle with […]

Dancing Saved Their Lives

This story/poem sold to Turtle magazine in 1990. Melody Mouse Melody, a small, gray mouse, lived inside a people house along with many mousey others: mother, cousins, sisters, brothers. “To be alert, you must be able. The cat may lurk by chair or table,” her mother told small Melody. “So, exercise; eat carefully.” Now, exercise, […]