Mari Christmas and Happy New Year

You may have noticed that I took the liberty of slightly altering the spelling of “Merry”.

Of course, I adopted the change in honor of one of the co-stars in our new series of children's books entitled “Gee! A Story From A Forest”.  

Her name is Mari Pine Tree.   If you haven't already checked into the adventures of Mari and her two friends, Lari and Cari, as they are ushered through the secrets and mysteries of our forests and woodlands by the Big Black Oak Tree in the Forest, I suggest you visit our new website and introduce yourself. You may access our website on    

www.geeastory.com or www.grandpahill.com

I also must take full responsibility for the gross tardiness of this notice. I plead total and complete ineptness in the IT field (that spells computers and/or websites), so therein lies the rub.

Hopefully, you will also understand why we felt it necessary to try to convey many of these wonders of nature to our youngsters, before other instruments of evil consume their time and interest. Please don't read anything into this, but you are probably right.

Response to Recent Beanie Babies Inquiries

In response to the recent comment on the "Beanie Babies Septette" entry, I would like to advise all that all participants in the program were male. Also, the score on the piano was open to "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear". Obviously, lacking in certain jurisdictional or jurisprudential appreciation, the decision to open with "Down By The Old Mill Stream" prevailed, with hardly a whimper. The folly of this had become obvious when we found that the culprit leading the program was none other than the anonymous fiction author of the infamous slanderous creation of June, 2013, which was reproduced in this Blog.

It would appear that the entire group had imbibed in the same poisonous potion as had impregnated the sensibility powers of the author, purportedly recanting the marvelous historical archived essay of the November, 1963 Deer Hunt Weekend.

Efforts of members of our traditionally austere family failed, in allowing a certain portion of extremely fine 15 year old Irish Whiskey to fall into hands of one who was unable to handle the reins of a team so voluble; thus resulting in an impressive issue of fiction, rather than fact, as is to be expected when in the hands of an inexperience teamster. You see, genetic traits do not necessarily track, do they?

 Septette

For Beanie Babies

First three are published

 Excerpt from page 21, Gee! A Story From A Forest Continues:  "I think something is tickling my toes at night and I don't know what it could be."  "Well, I am surprised you hadn't asked me that question before Mari.  There are many things going on above and below our forest floor, and I think my next story will give you your answer," said the Big Black Oak Tree in the Forest!!!

I Promised To Keep You Informed

I PROMISED TO KEEP YOU INFORMED

Some time ago I mentioned that I was going to try to “evolve” some of my BLOG into a series of children's books. At the time, I had no idea what a time consuming project it would be. It was not the conceptual or narrative part that was a problem, but the processes of so called “publication” that proved difficult. Converting a concept and a story into an effective child's learning tool requires a bit of manipulation and a great deal of frustration. Having managed through both so far, we have succeeded in completing the process for release of the first two stories.

They are entitled: Gee!! A Story From A Forest and Gee! Another Story From A Forest. They are directed toward children in the 6 to 9 year old age group, and I promise that the stories exhibit far more imagination than do the titles. The stories run sequentially and there are three more now in process of completion.

Always having appreciated constructive criticism, (do you see the lump in my cheek?) I look forward to your critique and hope that the stories fulfill a need for our kids. The first two books are available at Xlibris.com. The first is available at other outlets, including Amazon, Alibris Books and Barnes and Noble.

Be Careful What You Wish For

 It may reach ninety degrees fahrenheit today, but-on the other hand-should you ask for cooler weather, it could eliminate mowing the lawn.

If only the choice was ours......

WHY DOES ONE WRITE A BLOG???

Why does one start a BLOG? Have you ever been urged to “write it down” before you forget everything and memories of the past are lost forever? Some people are motivated to write simply to share their innermost feelings with everyone. That would only apply to the people with enough nerve to share those things.

I guess my motivation evolved from the desire to share, or rather expose, people to the pleasure I have absorbed from my frequent wanderings to and fro through mother natures pathways. I recently started such a wandering, but I do use the word recently with trepidation, since it may reflect months or years rather than hours or days.

Just think about it. Whenever you start to reminisce on the past, your thoughts evolve into memories only of nature, beauty and serenity. That is exactly what my blog stimulating strolls through the Forest do for me. It is surprising what a stroll through a mere thirty acres of serenity can do for the soul. Here we go again. Parenthetically, we don't replace our everyday life with illusions, but we can create positive thoughts during our stroll. And we can do it every time we read a chapter or take an actual walk through the woods. Whichever path we choose, we can find serenity. And with every venture we find some new wonder of nature, be it from the changing seasons or the change in environment. There is always something new to find.

I have recently decided to “evolve” a portion of my BLOG into a child's book. Only because I believe that children need some additional prompting into science, nature and language, and their curiosity is the key to their success. With nominal help from teachers, mentors and especially parents, curiosity may have killed the cat, but it will build the child. I felt that these discovered wonders should be shared with both my friends and “the children” before they pass them by.

I can share them with my friends in a BLOG, but with kids, I thought it best to go with simple but challenging reading. The challenging part may require some mentor or parental assistance to start, but that is exactly what I meant to create.

I'll keep you informed.

ps. “Parenthetically” A six syllable word that I use too often, but whenever I strain myself into thinking, my mind wanders into other similar but parenthetical subjects; you know-like butterflies/airplanes, noise/mausers, logs/chainsaws, and on and on.....