The Old Oak

A large oak stands in front of the house. It is so tall and its limbs spread so wide that anyone standing under it during a rain is sheltered, as if by a giant umbrella. The tree is old and has seen many changes. A busy street a few feet away was once a dirt […]

When Courage is a Must

This is another rainy morning and earlier, it was a rainy, stormy morning with thunder booming around the clouds. My pal Nemo the Furry One is not a fan of storms. Since his hearing is almost non-existent, he isn’t afraid of those loud sounds any more, but I’m convinced that he feels atmospheric change or […]

The Best of Friends

Myrtle, Minerva, and Maude were three good friends. Each week, they met at one of their houses to share tea, a bite of something sweet, and the latest news. Myrtle was a beautiful hen with red feathers; Minerva was equally lovely in feathers of brown and Maude’s feathers were a gorgeous, snowy white. To be […]

The A, B, Cs of Wild Critters

As I wrote this, I drew a few pictures to illustrate, but what I really had was a vision of a large, published picture book for little ones who might enjoy it. If you’ve never seen river cane, let me tell you that it resembles bamboo, is tall and straight and very tough. It makes […]

The Bear Hunt

The Bear Hunt

Elizabeth pulled an apple cake from the oven and set it on the table. It was beautiful and it made the whole house smell good. She glanced out her kitchen window at the cloudy spring day and did a double take.  A bear! A bear was waddling quickly into the woods with two small cubs […]

The World Around Us

I opened my old, tattered three-ring notebook where I’ve stuffed a lot of past writing sales and found these two poems. Both were written a long time ago to two different Christian children’s magazines of widely differing beliefs. But, you know what? Both magazines’ editors liked poems. Poetry and stories sort of bring us all […]