Maya In The Morning*

On weekends, Mama and Dado and Maya spend the day together, but the rest of the week Mama goes to work and Dado works on his dissertation and Maya goes to Montessori. Dado and Mama both want to spend time with Maya every single day, and the way they have arranged it is this: Mama goes to work very early, while Maya and Dado are still sleeping, so Dado gets to spend mornings with Maya. Dado takes Maya to Montessori when he goes to work on his dissertation. Because Mama goes to work so early, she comes home earlier than Dado, and so Mama picks Maya up at Montessori, and she spends her afternoons with Maya. Then, when Dado finishes his work for the day, he joins Maya and Mama, and they spend the evening together.

So, one morning in January, Mama got up early and took her shower and did her hair and got dressed in her going-to-work clothes. And Maya woke up and went to the bathroom, and then she crawled into bed with Dado. Oh, how nice it was to cuddle in with her Dado. It was so nice, in fact, that Maya, who is very much like her Mama was as a girl and so not a snugglorum most of the time, decided she really liked it and said to Mama, "There's room for you." Oh, how Mama wanted to crawl right into that bed with her sleep smuggered girl! Mama has hardly ever wanted anything as much as she wanted to crawl right in and cuddle right up! But, she already had her going-to-work clothes on, she already was all ready to go. So, she girded her loins and kept a stiff upper lip and behaved in a responsible manner and off she went to work. But she surely didn't want to. All day Mama thought about how nice it would have been to snuggle right in with Dado and Maya. All day she wished she could have just done it. Indeed, she thought about it so much she had to send an e-mail to Granny, who understood very well indeed.

* A story I wrote for Maya and about Maya when she was much younger.

Out My Window

*When I write my blog or read your blogs or e-mail or do anything else on my computer, I sit in a window alcove with a bookcase and a computer table. And the Hooligans take up positions to watch me: Pippin close to my left foot, Merry at the head of the stairs. They are friendly company, and the view out my window is often spectacular. In 2000, when Maya was three and a half and the cat watching me was Missy from her station on the foot of my bed, I wrote about my window for Maya.

Sometimes Granny looks out her window and she sees people coming up the hill with their dogs to go for a walk in Last Chance Basin (which is where Granny takes walks almost every day, and it starts only three minutes from her front door). Sometimes she sees barges in the channel.

In the summer, the hills on Douglas Island are all green, and the trees on Basin Road are all green. Then, Granny may see tour buses taking tourists out Basin Road so that they can walk in Last Chance Basin or go gold panning or visit the mining museum or climb Perseverance Trail to Ebner Falls. She can see cruise ships at the dock from her window. At night, the ships are all lighted up and she can see them leave town, going down the channel towards Admiralty Island, and the lights are so festive and beautiful it makes her feel very good. On sunny days in the summer, sometimes she can see sail boats sailing in the channel and hang gliders gliding about the channel. Sometimes she sees float planes and helicopters in the sky. One day, when they were building the Mt. Roberts Tram, she watched several helicopters carry loads of steel girders up to the top of Mt. Roberts.

In the spring, Granny watches crows building their nests in nearby trees. One day in June, she watched a dozen crows mob an eagle. "Oh, my," said Granny, "that eagle must have thought baby crow would be a good dinner for her baby eagle. The crows don't agree. How wise of the crows to get together in a mob and chase the eagle away. Good for the crows." And then she thought about how the eagle needs to feed her babies, just like the crows need to protect their babies, and she thought, "That eagle needs to go fishing. Salmon never mob eagles. They don't have the good sense."

For many months, Granny looked out of her window and she saw snorts on her hill. Sometimes they were working on the road, but often in the evening, which is when Granny is usually working on her computer writing stories for Maya or reading e-mail from Maya's Mama or her Ma, they would just be parked on the top of the hill. There was a backhoe, and a dump truck, and a grader, and a pay loader. Once, after Typhoon Tom had visited Juneau, and the heavy rains had washed out the trails along Last Chance Basin, Granny watched a goose-neck trailer haul a bulldozer up the hill. The bulldozer was used to put dirt back on the roads and big sections of trail so the part of Basin Road beyond the houses and in the basin could be used again.

For two weeks, Granny could look out her window and see her neighbor painting his house. She can often see him and his wife working in their garden (and in the summer, when her window is open, Granny can hear the wind chimes that hang in his yard).

In the winter, Douglas Island and Admiralty Island are covered in snow and so are white instead of green. The leaves have fallen off the trees, and so Granny's hill isn't green either. Sometimes in winter there is snow in Juneau, and then her hill is white. Sometimes there is rain, and then it is brown. There are no tour buses. Things are very quiet on her hill in the winter. People come up with their dogs to walk in Last Chance Basin. An eagle or a raven fly by. Crows fly by. The barges are the only boats Granny sees in the channel. All of the excitement in the winter comes from the rain or snow and the wind. In the winter, the Taku winds blow. Sometimes they blow very, very, very hard. Sometimes they blow garbage cans down the hill. Once they blew the neighbors picket fence away. When the Takus blow, Granny doesn't open her alcove window, but she can still hear the wind howl as she writes stories for Maya. Granny loves the sound of the wind.

* This picture was taken in the early 90s -- since then, I've upgraded to a flat screen, a new computer and printer and speakers. And I've had to close off all of those wires so the Hooligans can't chew them. The alcove, the computer desk, and the window seat are the same, however.

Mighty Squirrel

Here is a true story that I wrote for Maya when she was about four. Linda and I have been friends since we lived almost next door to each other in El Paso when we were 12. Bobby is a retired fire fighter.

Now, in Linda and Bobby and Alex's yard, outside of Fairbanks, there are many squirrels. One year, way over ten years ago, before Alex was born and while Linda and Bobby still had a wonderful St. Bernard named King, there was a squirrel they called Mighty Squirrel, who really earned his name.

Like all squirrels in the very far north, Mighty Squirrel was reddish brown and had a long tail (although it was not as long and as bushy as the tails of the squirrels in the parks in California) that he liked to arch over his back while he sat and looked at the world and hold out straight for balance when he ran along the fence. All summer long, he labored to fill his food cache for winter. Since summer in Fairbanks is short, and winter is amazingly long, he worked from morning till night, as hard as he could. He gathered mostly spruce cones, carrying them to his cache and hiding them. As he sat and considered which tree to harvest next, he chattered and chattered. As he ran from tree to tree, he chattered and chattered. But he was silent while he gathered the cones, because his cheeks were stuffed and he couldn't chatter. From early in the morning, till late at night, Mighty Squirrel chattered and chattered, sat and considered, ran from tree to tree, and gathered spruce cones. Linda and Bobby and King heard him when they got up in the morning, and during the day as they went about their chores, and at night when they were ready to go to bed.

Now, Mighty Squirrel loved strawberries, and so he used to pick them out of Linda and Bobby's berry patch. It wasn't enough that he would eat the berries, Linda and Bobby were not so selfish as to deny the occasional berry to a squirrel. No, that wasn't enough, what Mighty Squirrel had to do was pick lots of berries and leave them on the stairs to dry. When they had dried, then he would carry them to his winter cache, and save them for the cold days. He also liked to save mushrooms that he found in the woods this way, for he was a good forager. Linda and Bobby tried everything they could think of to stop Mighty Squirrel from taking so many berries, since they had planted them for their own use. Finally they got a plastic owl and set it in the center of the berry patch, and that stopped that. Mighty Squirrel thought the plastic owl was real, and since he didn't want to end up being fed to baby owls, he stayed out of the berry patch.

However, that wasn't the end of the troubles caused by Mighty Squirrel, oh no it wasn't. You see, Mighty Squirrel wanted to get into the house in the worst way. No one knows why he wanted to get in, and no one knows what he thought happened in there. Whatever it was that he thought they were doing, he wanted to be part of it. Bobby knows that he wanted in because he began biting holes in the screens. Mighty Squirrel would chew a hole in a screen, and Linda and Bobby would fix the hole, and Mighty Squirrel would chew another. Finally Bobby talked to the screen man about it, and they decided to replace the nylon screens with wire, so that Mighty Squirrel couldn't chew through them. So, Bobby took all the screens off the windows and took them to town and paid a lot of money to have them made squirrel-proof. Then he took them back out to the house and put them back on the windows. Finally, he could relax.

The very next morning after Bobby had put the squirrel-proof screens on the windows, when he got up to go to work, he went down to the kitchen and there was Mighty Squirrel, sitting on the kitchen table. He had chewed a wonderful hole in the middle of one of those wire screens! When Mighty Squirrel saw Bobby, he ran for cover.

Bobby got a broom and chased him, going as quietly as he could so King wouldn't hear and wake up. Bobby knew that if King knew there was a squirrel in the house he would chase it, and Mighty Squirrel would run under the furniture, and that great big dog would follow him, and the house would be a shambles! So, there went Bobby with his broom, swish, swish, swish, just as quietly as he could. And there went Mighty Squirrel, running for all he was worth, run, run, run, as fast as he could. Well, luckily Bobby was able to chase Mighty Squirrel out the front door without waking King, and after work he fixed the screen. And the interesting thing is that Mighty Squirrel never came back in. So, whatever it was that he thought was going to happen when he got into the house, being chased by a big man with a broom was not what he had in mind at all.

Julie Does It Her Way*

Years and years and years ago, long before Maya was born, Granny was a young mother called Mom and Uncle Richard was a little boy called Richard and Maya's Mama was a very little girl called Julie. And they all lived together in Berkeley while Mom went to the university.

Now, Maya knows that every person starts out as a brand new baby, and brand new babies can't talk and they can't walk. Maya has seen, on Maya TV, herself when she was just a little baby and couldn't walk or talk. And every day Maya learns new words and learns to say old words better. Why, Maya used to say Mike Mugalin, and now she says Mike Mulligan. And she used to say valina, and now she says vanilla. So, she knows that learning to talk takes some time and you get better at it as you get older. Most babies start with a single word, and then they learn to say two at a time. It is the same with walking — babies start by standing up and holding on to something and then standing and not holding. Then they walk and hold on and then they walk without holding. That is the way it is usually done.

Indeed, that is the way Richard learned to talk and walk. When he was nine months old, he pointed to the light and said "light!" and that was his very first word. The next day he could say another word and then another. And then he learned to say "What's that?", a very useful phrase indeed, because then Mom would tell him what it was and he would say that word. When Richard was eleven months old, he went to see the doctor. The doctor asked Mom, "Is he trying to talk yet?" and Mom said, "He knows 25 words." Then the doctor, who was very young and hadn't met any children as clever as the children in our family, said, "Well, no. He's saying mamammama and you are thinking he is saying Mama. He's too young to be saying real words." And Mom said, "Richard, say hello to the doctor." And Richard said, "Hello, doctor." And then the doctor said, "Next time I will listen to the mother. Then I won't sound like such an idiot."

Richard started standing up against things when he was about eight and one half months old, and soon wherever Mom went in the house, there he would follow. He might have to lurch from wall to wall and go the long way around, but he could follow her from room to room and by the time he was nine months old and saying "light" he could walk without holding on to something.

When Richard was two years old, Julie was born. Mom and Richard were both as excited as excited about that, and she was a delightful baby and they loved her very much and she loved them very much and life was just wonderful with the three of them to love each other. And every day, Richard learned new things and Julie learned new things and even Mom, who was going to the university like Maya's Dado is now, learned new things. And one of the new things that Mom was learning was child development. She was learning all about how children grow and learn. Her professor said, "Girls learn to talk and walk at a younger age than boys. Second children learn to talk and walk at a younger age than first children. It isn't that the second child is smarter, it is just that the second child wants to keep up with the first child."

"Well," thought Mom, "Richard was a boy and a first child and he learned to walk and talk at nine months. Julie is a girl and a second child — my professor says she will learn earlier than Richard did! She will really be young!"

Well, Julie got to be nine months old, and she hadn't taken a step and she hadn't said a word! "Good heavens," thought Mom, "my professor was wrong. I wonder when she will talk and walk?" Well, the days went by and the weeks went by and the months went by. Not a step. Not a word. Mom was tempted to be concerned, and indeed if she were the worrying kind she might have been. However, since she is not the worrying kind (unlike her own Little Mama and indeed Julie herself) she noticed it but didn't worry. Mom could see that wherever Julie wanted to get she crawled to quite nicely. And really, she didn't have to talk — she had Richard. If Julie wanted something, she would make a motion and Richard would say, "Julie is hungry" or "Julie wants you to play Revolver (an album by the Beatles)" or "Julie wants to play outside." And Richard would always be right. And Julie would always get what she wanted. Besides, Mom remembered how the doctor had been wrong about Richard and she decided that sometimes experts made mistakes and she wasn't going to worry about it.

Well, one day when Julie was 15 months old, and Mom was beginning to wonder if she was going to ever walk, up she stood in the middle of the room. Off she walked. And she walked and she walked and she walked. All day long, all she did was walk. She walked until she was tired, and then she laid down wherever she happened to be and fell asleep. And she did that and she did that and she did that. Once she even fell asleep under the kitchen table. The next day, she did the same thing. After that, she walked wherever she wanted to go. "Well," thought Mom, "not only didn't she do it at the same age that Richard did, she didn't do it in the same way that Richard did. Julie certainly does it her way."

Now, when Julie had been walking for about a week, Mom and Richard and Julie went to Stockton to spend the weekend with Mom's Little Mama and Daddy and her sister Colleen. They arrived Friday afternoon, and that night everyone went to bed and to sleep. The next morning, Julie woke up early. Mom and Richard and even her Aunt Colleen were still asleep. But her Grandma and Grandpa (Mom's Little Mama and Daddy) were up sitting at the table drinking coffee. Julie got up, and walked out to the kitchen. She looked around and then she said, "Where's the little dog?" And that was the very first thing she ever said! After that, she talked all the time. She said things Mom had no idea she could say. And to this day, Granny is a little puzzled why she kept it a secret that she could talk. It was partly that she didn't need to say anything as long as Richard was there to talk for her. And partly, she wasn't going to do it until she could do it perfectly. Or it just may be that that is the way a Wait-A-Bit does it. Or it may be that this second child didn't want to keep up with the older child, she wanted to do it better than him. However it was, Julie did it her way. And to this day, she still does.

* A story I wrote for Maya when she was about three years old.

Granny Has a Grumpy Day*

One winter day Granny got up in the dark. The first thing she did, because it is the first thing she always does, was think about Maya. Then she brushed her teeth and got dressed. Then Granny looked out the window. Granny was not pleased with what she saw. It was still dark out, the days were still getting shorter. And the sky was full of clouds and the rain was coming down. Rain, rain, rain. For once, Granny was good and sick of rain. "Haven't you heard," Granny said to the sky, "that there can be too much of a good thing?" Granny was disgusted. "The days are getting shorter," she said, "and the rain is still falling in torrents and I am feeling very grumpy about it. Something," said Granny, "had better change, because I am getting sick of it. Too much is too much. Even for me, and I love rainy winter days."

So Granny and Missy went down stairs to the kitchen and had breakfast. And after breakfast, Granny said good-bye to Missy, and got out her pretty turquoise umbrella and walked to work. She didn't wear her buttercup yellow rain hat and her turquoise slicker, because she wasn't taking a walk, she was just walking three blocks to the office. She grumped all the way, very discontent with the grey, cold, wet day. "I could use some blue sky," she said to the world, "I could use some sunshine. I could even use some snow or hail or a thunder storm. Dark days. Perpetual rain. Grumpy me. Something had better change," said Granny, "‘cause I'm getting tired of this."

All morning while Granny was at work, the sun stayed behind the clouds and low on the horizon, and the rain fell, and Granny felt grumpy about it. When it was time for Granny to take her walk, she felt grumpier than ever. She even thought about skipping it. Then she decided that no stupid rain was going to trap her indoors, and she put on her bright turquoise slicker, and her happy buttercup yellow rain hat, and out she went. But even though she had dressed in happy colors, she still felt grumpy. "I'm sick of the rain," she said, "and I'm tired of the days being short, and I don't like being grumpy! Something had better change. Do you hear me?" Granny said to the sky and the clouds and the hidden sun and the falling rain, "something had better change".

And Granny climbed her grumpy way up the hill, and she began to feel a little less grumpy. And she got out on Basin Road, and she was walking a little faster and lighter. And she passed a man walking his dog and she managed to say "Hi" to him and not growl, although she also did not say "beautiful day" which she always does. As Granny walked along, she saw that all of the waterfalls were flowing, and very full too. "See," said Granny in discontent, "how much rain we've had? Goodness gracious, it's been raining forever." And Granny crossed the bridge by the spillway, and the spillway was flooded with water, and Granny said "we've had enough. The days are too short and the rain won't ever stop and I am feeling grumpy. Something had better change," said Granny. "It's time for a change," she said. "I'm losing my patience." And Granny walked down the flume walk and she was mighty grumpy.

After a while Granny came to a place where the waterfall came right to the trail, and usually went under the trail. Yesterday when Granny had gone on her walk the waterfall had been a little on the trail, and Granny had splashed through it. Today, the waterfall was flowing over the trail so deeply that if Granny wanted to get to the other side she would have to get her feet wet right over the tops of her shoes. "Don't get your feet wet," said Granny to herself in a grumpy old lady voice. "I will if I want to," she answered back in a happy, delighted, little girl voice, and she splashed into the waterfall and she laughed and she splashed and her feet and socks and shoes got wet and cold and she could feel the cold, cold water rush between her toes. And she stomped around in the water, and she said "I will if I want to!" And when she came out on the other side, she was striding along like her usual self, happy and delighted with the rain and the day. "Look at the waterfalls," Granny said, "how full and beautiful they are. Listen to the thunder sound as they rush down the mountain! What a lot of rain we needed so they could be so lovely."

And the day was still dark and short, and the rain still fell in torrents, but Granny wasn't grumpy anymore. Something had changed. And Granny realized that what had needed to change all along was Granny. And when she met a lady out walking her dog, she said "Beautiful day."

* Here is a story I wrote for Maya one winter day in 1999. I remember the day perfectly -- particularly, how wonderful the cold, cold water felt on my toes and how great it felt to do what I wanted to do instead of what I should have done.

Missy Changes Her Ways

Here is a story that I wrote for Maya in 1999, about Missy.


Now for years and years Missy had a routine for the morning. The first thing that would happen, Granny would wake up from dreaming about Maya, and while she was thinking about Maya, she would get dressed and go downstairs and fix breakfast. Missy would follow along, talking to Granny and being with her wherever she went. After breakfast, Granny would leave for work, and Missy would go out (unless it was raining very hard, and sometimes even then) and check out her territory. She would climb up the mountain and check on all the trees and squirrels and flowers and birds on the mountainside. She would go down the mountain and check on all the cats and dogs who were out that early in the morning. She would clamber over the rooftop and look at the sky. When she was finished, she would go back inside the bedroom window and hang out for the rest of the day, until Granny came home from work.

But, one year something happened way out in the South Pacific Ocean that affected how Missy lived way up in Alaska. There was a weather pattern called El Niño. El Niño made lots of wind (which Maya liked a lot, and thought her Mama had caused) and lots of rain and floods some places and droughts other places. What El Niño did in Juneau was make the winter of 1997/98 very warm. It was so warm that the insects, the mosquitos and no-see-ums, didn't die that winter like they usually do. No, they laid low and waited for summer. And come summer, the new crop of insects were hatched, and last year's crop was coming out of hibernation, and there were twice as many little biters flying around as usual. With twice as many little biters flying around, they flew in Granny's bedroom window during the night and bit her arms and hands and neck. Itchy little bites. Granny would scratch, and then she would bleed. Ugh. Granny's arms were beginning to look just awful, covered with scabs and scratches and bug bites. So, Granny got a screen for her bedroom window, to keep the no-see-ums out. It worked wonderfully. Granny's arms began to look much better.

But, what do you know, a screen that can keep a no-see-um out, can really keep a cat out. Now, Missy couldn't come back in the bedroom window. Granny tried to tell her that, the first day after she put the screen in. "I wouldn't go out just now, if I were you," Granny said to Missy when she went to work, "you can't get back in the window." But, Missy doesn't speak as much English as that, so she didn't understand. She went out and up the mountain anyway. Luckily it was a bright and sunny day, and there was shade on the mountainside to stay cool in, because when she went to the bedroom window to go back inside, she couldn't do it. Oh, poor Missy. She had to wait on the mountainside until Granny got home from work. When Granny climbed the outside stairs, there was Missy waiting for her and talking all about her day and her wait. "Meow, meow, meow," Missy said. "I know," said Granny, "that's what I was trying to tell you this morning."

So, now Missy has had to change her ways. Now, she can't go out when Granny leaves for work if she wants to come in before Granny comes home from work. So now, if it isn't raining when Granny and Missy get up in the morning, Missy immediately goes to the upstairs door so that Granny can let her out onto the roof of the living room. While Granny is brushing her teeth and getting dressed and making her bed, Missy is climbing the mountain and greeting the birds and squirrels, making sure the trees and flowers are still where they belong. When Granny goes downstairs and fixes and eats her breakfast, Missy has gone down the mountain and is saying hello to all of the dogs and cats who are out. And when Granny goes out the front door, Missy comes running and goes in the door. Of course, if it is raining when Missy and Granny get up, Missy hears the rain on the roof and doesn't go to the upstairs door. But, as soon as Granny goes downstairs to make her breakfast, Missy goes to the front door and meows. Then Granny comes to the door and opens it for her. Missy sticks her little nose out the door, sees that it is raining downstairs as well, sniffs in disgust, and goes back to the living room. But, every little once in a while, when it has rained for days and days, Granny opens the door on the rain and Missy shakes her head, sighs, and thinks "Cabin fever. I have cabin fever. Rain or no rain, here I go." Then, out she goes, for a quick check of her territory. And when Granny opens the door to leave for work, there is Missy, wet and bedraggled, but unbowed, waiting to come back in.

So, Maya can easily see, that although the world is a very big place, it is also a very small place. El Niño, which is in the South Pacific, made the weather change in the Pacific Northwest. That made no-see-ums lay low through the winter, so that there were twice as many little biters around come summer. And that caused Granny to put a screen in her bedroom window, which caused Missy to change her ways. So, Maya can see, how hot the water is in the South Pacific can affect the habits of a very small cat in Juneau, Alaska.

Missy Takes The Cheese

Missy and her dear friend, Abe. Do click and enlarge.
I wrote this for Maya when she was about five and Missy was still alive. How different little, four and a half pound Missy was from these ten and twelve pound Hooligans who live with me now. They would do this with almost anything I eat.

Now, Maya knows that Granny lives in a little apartment in Juneau, Alaska, with Missy. And Missy is a very sweet little grey cat, who is polite and loving and usually well behaved. Once upon a time, Missy had the best manners in the world. She knew that cat food was for her and people food was for Granny and she seldom asked for people food. Oh, when Granny opened a can of tuna, Missy would meow politely and Granny would drain the juice into a bowl for her. And when Granny ate ice cream, Missy would wait patiently and Granny would let her lick the bowl. And when Granny ate chicken, Missy would wait patiently and Granny would give her a bite or two — particularly, if it was Kentucky Fried Chicken, Granny would feed her some of the skin. But, Missy was always polite about it and waited patiently.

Then, one day Granny was in Carr's hunting for food and what did she find, but Limburger cheese. Now, Granny loves Limburger cheese and she hadn't had any in a long time, so she made sure she had the ripest one in the cheese case and scooped it right up and put it in her cart. When she got home she put it in a jar, because Limburger cheese has a very strong smell (or, as Maya would say, it stinks). And if she just put it in the refrigerator like it was, all the food in the refrigerator would smell of Limburger cheese. And whereas that is a good smell for cheese, it isn't very appetizing for strawberries. And she kept the jar in the refrigerator.

A couple of days later, Granny decided to eat some of that wonderful Limburger cheese so she got the jar out and put it on the counter so that the cheese would warm up — because all cheese tastes better warm than cold but particularly Limburger. And about an hour later Granny took the bread knife and a table knife and a plate and the sourdough bread and the jar of cheese to the table. She sliced herself a slice of sourdough. Then she opened the jar.

Whang! There was Missy, on the table! "Meow, meow, meow-ow-ow!!!!!" exclaimed Missy, which in cat means "Out of the way, where's mine?" Granny was astonished. Missy was putting her little nose right on the package of cheese! What made Granny's Little Mama and Maya's Mama and Uncle Richard turn pale (the smell of Limburger) made Missy totally lose all idea of what manners were. She smelled it — to a cat, just like to Granny and Granny's Papa, it smelled like heaven. She wanted it.

Granny picked Missy up and put her on the floor. Missy jumped right back up. Granny put her down. Missy jumped right back up. Granny put her down. Missy jumped right back up. Granny put a little Limburger in Missy's dish, and Missy stayed in the kitchen to eat it. Granny went back to the table and spread some Limburger on her sourdough. Suddenly, there was Missy again! "Meow, meow, meow-ow-ow" she cried pitifully. Granny put her on the floor and picked up her bread and Limburger to take a bite and Missy jumped back on the table and took a bite of Granny's bread and Limburger! Right there, while Granny was biting into it. Well, Granny was convinced after that. She understood that Missy loves Limburger cheese. She understood that there was only one way Granny was going to be able to eat it. So, now when Granny has Limburger cheese, she brings a saucer for Missy to the table, and she makes sure that Missy has some for as long as Granny is eating it. Because, Granny understands that Missy can't resist Limburger cheese. And Granny says, "If you can't change it, learn to live with it."

What They Really Saw

Chapter 1: Richard
One day, a very long time ago, when Maya's Uncle Richard was a five year old boy called Richard, and her Mama was a three year old girl called Julie, and her Granny was a young woman called Mom, they all lived in Redwood City in a little house with a staircase from the front door to the living room. And one day Richard came into the kitchen where Mom was washing the lunch dishes and he said "Mom, there is a black widow on the stairs." And Mom (in the classic manner of Moms the world over) said, "That's nice dear. Now go play in the yard."

So, Richard went down the stairs and played in the yard, and in a little while Mom finished the dishes and took the garbage out. And when she walked down those stairs, what do you think she saw? That's right. A black widow. Right there on the stairs, where she had sent her only son to go out to the backyard. So, she got a broom and killed it.

Chapter 2: Elzie
Now, Maya may not know that her Mama Julie and her Uncle Richard have a cousin named Elzie, but they do. So, a few years before Richard saw the black widow, Elzie was living on a homestead in Alaska with his mother and father and two sisters and brother and aunt and uncle and five cousins. All the grown-ups were in town working, except Elzie's Auntie Lori and all of the children (all nine of them) were playing in the yard and Auntie Lori (who was Elzie's cousins' mom) was washing clothes when Elzie came in and said, "Auntie Lori, there is a bear in the yard."

And Auntie Lori (in the classic manner of moms the world over) said, "That's nice dear, go out and play in the yard." So he did. In a little while, Auntie Lori took the basket of clothes outside to hang on the clothes line, and what do you think she saw? That's right, a bear! Right out in the yard, where she had sent Elzie to play with the other children. So she got the 30-06 to shoot it, but the rifle wouldn't shoot. Then she became very clever and got a transistor radio, turned it on real loud, and chased the bear away with that.

And when her husband and her brother got home from work that night, they explained to Lori about the safety and taught her to shoot a riflt.

The Lessons
1. Mothers the world over need to start listening to what their children say.
2. Don't leave children in the woods with someone who doesn't know how to shoot bears.

Maya Threw Rocks

We walked out the flume, forest beauty to seek,
& Maya threw rocks into Gold Creek.

"Look at the beaver dam," said Granny so fond,
& Maya threw rocks into the pond.






Icebergs and waterfall,
Glacier — the Mendenhall
What does it take?
& Maya threw rocks into the lake.

Up to Eaglecrest, blueberries to pick,
& Maya threw rocks into the crik.





Mama found berries up on the ridge,
& Maya threw rocks off of the bridge.

We examined the remnants of gold miners' dreams,
& Maya threw rocks into the streams.

Maya & Mama Come To Juneau

In July of 1999, just in time for Auntie Kathy's birthday, Maya and Mama came to Juneau. This was when Maya discovered that Granny didn't live at the Oakland Airport; that it was a step on the journey between Maya's house and Granny's apartment. It was a very long trip on the plane, and although Mama had brought gum for Maya to chew so her ears wouldn't hurt, she was too young to understand and swallowed it all and then there was none. By the time they got to Juneau, Maya's ears were aching terribly and she was crying. But, by the time they got to Granny's place, her ears didn't hurt any more and Auntie Kathy took her out with sidewalk chalk and she had a good time. That night when she called her Dado, she said, "It's so pretty here!"

Every day while they were in Juneau, Uncle Richard and Auntie Kathy and Granny had things planned that they could do as a family. They went to the Mendenhall Glacier, where they saw trees that had been chewed by beavers and all sorts of birds and salmon running in the stream, and of course, the glacier itself. And Maya found three different places to throw rocks in the water. That was Maya's favorite part of the Mendenhall Glacier.


One day they went up the tram to the top of Mount Roberts and ate and took a long walk and enjoyed the wonderful view of the mountains and channel and woods. And on their way down the tram, they were looking out the window, and they saw a whale in the channel. Everyone was so excited! And later, Maya threw rocks in the channel.

One day they went over to Douglas Island and ate at the Douglas Inn and explored trails around the old gold mine buildings. There were lots of little streams, and Maya threw rocks in all of them. Then they went on the beach, and Maya threw rocks in the ocean. Finally, they drove up near Eaglecrest, where people ski in the winter, and picked wild blueberries and Maya found three creeks to throw rocks in there, as well.

One day they went to the public library, where Auntie Kathy works, for story time and Maya heard a delightful story and made paper puppets. (She gave her puppets to Granny, and Granny had them on her refrigerator door for seven years, until the Hooligan cats tore them off and up.) And as they were walking back to Uncle Richard and Auntie Kathy's house from the library, Maya and Granny were walking a little behind Mama and Auntie Kathy and Uncle Richard and Maya said, "Let's hurry Granny and catch up to our family."

One day they took a walk up the hill from Granny's place and into the Silverbow Basin. All along the walk, they were on the side of a mountain -- first Mount Roberts and then Mount Juneau, and between the two mountains, was Gold Creek. There were several places where Maya threw rocks in the water. Because Maya was only three and a half, she found many interesting things in the woods. Pine cones. Spruce needles. Rocks. Indeed, this walk was so interesting that they took 45 minutes to get a quarter mile. And no one minded, because Maya was enjoying exploring the world and her family were enjoying watching Maya explore the world.

One day Uncle Richard had to work, and Mama and Auntie Kathy went fishing and Maya stayed with Granny. Maya and Granny read and talked and played games, and Auntie Kathy and Mama caught two salmon. When Uncle Richard got home, he grilled the salmon and for desert they had the monkey bread that Auntie Kathy and Maya had made.

One day they all went to the Dipac salmon hatchery and watched the salmon swim up the fish ladder. And there were so many fish that they couldn't swim without touching each other, and this was the one place where Maya didn't throw rocks, because she didn't want to hit a fish.

And whenever they went to Granny's house, Maya would pet Missy. But, she liked it better at Uncle Richard and Auntie Kathy's house, because they had Hobbes. And Missy was a very old cat who didn't play any longer, but Hobbes was a very young cat and he played all the time. At first Maya called him "Pobbes" but she soon got his name right. None of the grownups knew exactly how they felt about that, because they wanted her to talk correctly but Pobbes sounded so cute. Hobbes come running when he heard Maya coming and he would lay on his back and Maya would pile soft, light things like string and feathers and cat toys on him, and he would let her. She would pull a string over him and he would bat at it and she would say, "I went fishing and I caught a cat." Oh, Hobbes and Maya became very good friends, and for months after she had gone home, when Granny would go visit Auntie Kathy and Uncle Richard, Hobbes would hear her on the stairs from the street and come running and then be so disappointed that Maya wasn't there; it was just that old Granny, who just wasn't as much fun.

Maya Stories

Here are some stories I wrote for Maya, about Maya, when she was younger.
If
Maya loves Madeline. She loves for Mama and Dado to read the Madeline books to her. She loves to watch the movie and the videos. Gramps gave her a Madeline shirt, and she wore it for her school picture and looked just lovely. So, Granny knew that Maya would like a Madeline doll for Christmas, and indeed Granny was right. Maya liked her Madeline doll very much.

Now, in some of the Madeline books, Madeline has a friend named Pepito, and it occurred to Maya that her Madeline would like to play with Pepito. So, she said to Mama, "Madeline wants Pepito to play with. He is her best friend." However, Christmas was over and Maya had received many presents. And Maya's birthday was still three months away. And, most of all, no one makes a Pepito doll! So, even if it had been the right time for more dolls, and even if Mama weren't a little worried that Maya already had so many toys that it might not be good for her character, there was no way that Mama could buy a Pepito doll for Maya. But, she understood why Maya would want one. So, she said "Well, Sweetie, you know they don't make Pepito dolls. However, if they ever do make a Pepito doll, and if it is your birthday or Christmas, and if you are still interested, I will buy you one."

Maya thought about that, and that sounded pretty good to her. "Yes," she said to Mama, "if they ever make a Pepito doll, and if it is my birthday or Christmas, and if I am still interesting, you will buy me one."

And Mama said, "Oh, Sweetie, you will always be interesting."

Maya Is So Tall
When Maya was just four years old, her Mama took her to see the doctor for her check- up. At a check-up, the doctor always measures Maya to see how tall she is and how much she weighs. Then the doctor compares Maya's size to how big other children Maya's age are (the doctor has a chart that tells her this, she doesn't have to measure Maya against them all one at a time).
So, after the doctor finished measuring Maya and checking her chart, she could see that Maya was taller than the chart showed for four year olds. The doctor was very impressed and she said, "Why Maya, you're taller than everybody."
This confused Maya, who answered, "No, I'm not. You and Mama are both taller than me." And then, since the doctor just laughed, she said, "Mama, stand up and show her".
And Granny promises, one day Maya will understand why this is funny.

Granny Makes Mistakes
When Granny came to visit Maya, they played together and they took walks together and Maya showed Granny her room and her toys. Granny read stories to Maya, and they watched television together and they even went to see A Bug's Life together with Mama. Indeed they had a wonderful time, and Granny enjoyed it very much. In the morning when Maya came downstairs, Granny would be up and waiting for her at the table. In the afternoon, Mama and Granny would come to school to pick Maya up, and Granny would be so excited to see Maya again.

And the funniest thing happened — Maya discovered that Granny makes mistakes. Yes, indeed, as old and as wise as she is, Granny makes mistakes. The first mistake that Granny made was to call Maya's toy horse Milk Piccalilli! "No, Granny," Maya said, "Milk Piccadilly!" And then, she pronounced Tellutubbies as Tellatubbies. "No, Granny," said Maya, "it's Tellytubbies!" And then, to cap it all, one morning Maya and Granny were eating breakfast and Granny was having Cheerios and she said to Maya, "How about that, today we are both having cereal." And Maya had to say, "No, Granny, I'm having oatmeal!"

So, that just goes to show that even though Granny is as old as old and as wise as wise, still she doesn't know everything. And it goes to show that if you pay attention, no matter how old and wise you are, you can learn from a child.

Maya Gets to Choose
One fine spring morning when Maya was two years old, her Mama said to her, "Maya, would you like to wear your pink shirt or your yellow shirt?" and Maya answered, "I want to wear my blue dress." So that morning, Maya's Mama helped her put on her blue dress. And Maya looked lovely indeed in her pretty blue dress. After her Mama brushed her hair and helped her put on her socks and her shoes, Maya stood in front of the mirror, and she was pleased with what she saw. How nice she looked! She had known that she wanted to wear her blue dress.

Mama and Maya went down stairs, and Maya walked all by herself, holding on to the banister carefully the whole way down. When she was close to the bottom, she got a little tippy, so she sat down quickly. "Good save," she crowed with delight.

When Maya and Mama were in the kitchen, Mama asked "Would you like milk or juice, Maya?" Maya gave it some good thought, and she answered, "I want yogurt drink." So, since that was what she wanted, and since Mama had some in the refrigerator, that is what Maya had. Yum, yum. How she enjoyed her yogurt drink. And it tasted even better because it had been her very own idea.

Then Mama asked, "Maya, would you like to eat eggs or waffles for breakfast?" Maya thought about it and she thought about it. She tasted eggs in her mind. She tasted waffles in her mind. She thought about how much fun it would be to break the eggs. She thought about putting syrup or jam on the waffle and seeing it pool in the spaces. It all sounded very good, but somehow, well somehow. . . "I don't want to eat, yet" said Maya. Since Mama knows that only Maya knows if she is hungry or not, that was ok with her. Mama knew that when Maya got hungry she would ask, and then she could eat.

Later, after they got back from going to Safeway, Maya said she wanted to watch a video, and since she had been playing with her toys and going on expeditions, Mama was willing to let her watch one, and so Mama asked, "Well, Sweetie, would you rather watch Thomas the Tank Engine or Elmo?" and Maya answered, "I want to watch Barney." So she did. But later, when Maya said she would like to see another video, and Mama said, "Would you rather have Mama read you a book?" Maya got very excited and she went and got The Little Engine That Could and Mama read it to her, and that was the best thing they did all day.

Samantha's Garden

Once upon a way back, so far ago as the 80s, Maya's Mama was a young girl named Julie, and her Uncle Richard was a young teenager called Richard, and her Granny was known as Mom. This, of course, was before Maya was born, or they would all have their current (and real) names. At the time of this story, they were living in a small duplex in Stockton, just the three of them and Julie's dog Samantha (usually called Sam) and Richard's cat named Sheba, and two tanks of fish, and whatever gerbil or hamster Julie had at the moment.

In the very small back yard, right outside the sliding glass doors, there was a concrete patio, and then a strip of earth with cedar chips, maybe two feet wide, and then the back fence. Beside the patio was a large square of yard with cedar chips and a tree in the middle, and that was all. Nothing usually grew in the strip of earth, except weeds. So, since Mom liked to have a neat yard, she would pull those weeds right out of there.

Well, one day she was out there pulling weeds, and there in the cedar chips by the fence was a little plant that looked and smelled like a baby tomato plant. Since Mom didn't know of anything that looks and smells like a baby tomato plant except a baby tomato plant, she didn't pull it up. Instead, she started to water it. Well, it grew and grew, and sure enough, it was a tomato plant. Pretty soon it was very big and since there was a fence behind it, it could only grow out over the patio. It got so big that pretty soon the weight on one side pulled it over and it laid down on the concrete and soaked up the heat and the summer sun and got bigger and bigger and bigger. Then it began to be covered with little yellow tomato flowers, and then some of the flowers fell off and the cherry tomatoes came. More and more yellow flowers, more and more cherry tomatoes! Why, there were so many tomatoes that Mom was picking 20 or 30 a day, every day, all summer long! What wonderful salads they had! They could just eat a handful of tomatoes any time they wanted. And they did. Mom would say, "I wonder why this tomato plant decided to grow here. I never planted it. Where did it come from?" Julie and Richard always said they didn't know either, and there was never any reason to doubt that.

One day, Richard asked Mom, "If I tell you where the tomato plant came from, will you promise not to be mad?" And Mom said, "How could I be mad? This plant has given us so many wonderful tomatoes!" So, Richard confessed. One day he had been sitting in the living room and eating cherry tomatoes (that Mom had bought at the grocery store) and Samantha had been whimpering in the back yard to be let in, and he had become irritated with her and thrown a cherry tomato at her. That tomato had bounced on the back fence, and smashed apart, and fallen into the cedar chips. When it smashed on the fence, all the seeds inside were released. Well, when Mom heard that, she wasn't angry at all, even though Richard had broken two rules: not to waste food and not to throw things at Sam.

Another time Sam was instrumental in growing food in that same strip of cedar chips. It so happened that Sam loved apples. When Julie would eat an apple, she would feed the core to Sam and Sam would gobble it all up. Well, in apple cores are apple seeds. And dogs don't digest apple seeds. And food that isn't digested comes out in poop. So, one day a year or so after the tomato plant had come and gone, Sam made some poop right in that same strip of cedar chips and she deposited some apple seeds. And then a lovely pippin apple tree grew there, and it grew beautiful apple blossoms and delightful little pippin apples.

So, there were two plants that grew in the strip of cedar chips, and both of them provided food for Mom and Julie and Richard. And both of them were an accident. And both of them were because Sam spent so much time in the back yard. But, in one way they were different — the apple tree was because Julie loved Sam, and the tomato plant was because Richard was irritated with her.

Granny's Boys a story I wrote for Maya when I got the Hooligans

Now, Granny was very sad when Missy died. She felt very lonely and her lap was as empty as her heart. She missed Missy's soft grayness and the warmth of her purr. And she realized that it's hard to read a book without a purr in the background. When she came home from work at night, there was no old lady cat to greet her, no thump, thump down the stairs, no sharing how their day had gone. And Granny almost didn't want to go home at night, because Missy wasn't there.

At first Granny thought about how Maya and Mama and Dado were going to come to visit her that summer, and how Dado is allergic to cats, and how now he could come into her apartment and not get sick. And so Granny was going to wait until after they had come to visit to find a new cat to live with her. But when she mentioned to Mama how lonely she was, Mama said, "I don't know if we are going to be able to come to Alaska this summer. It may be a few years. You need to get a kitten and take care of yourself. When we come, you and Uncle Richard and Auntie Kathy can come to the hotel room to visit."

So then Granny started to think about a kitten and right away she thought, "One kitten all alone while I go to work would be as lonely as I am right now! That's not kind to do to a baby animal!" And, indeed, Missy had not started out as an only cat -- when Granny got Missy, Uncle Richard's cat Sheba and Mama's dog Samantha had been there.

So Granny started looking for a pair of kittens. But December isn't kitten season, and they were hard to find. Her friend Christina thought she had found a pair, but nothing came of it. Then her friend Rena found a pair, but they were given to someone else by accident. Oh, Granny was in despair! She wondered if she would find kittens before spring, if she would have to go home to that lonely apartment until then! Oh, she didn't know how she would stand it.

And then, Rena heard about a kitten that was coming to Juneau from Haines. And it had two brothers! And so she called the people who had the kittens, and they put the two boys in the shoe box with the little girl kitten and took them all to the air strip to fly to Juneau. Luckily the pilot of the four seat plane had a cat carrier that she was able to put the kittens in, so they didn't have to fly all that way tied up in a dark shoe box!

And so, two days before Christmas, a cat carrier was brought to Granny's apartment. And now when Granny comes home from work, she is looking forward to seeing her boys. They come thump, thump down the stairs or out from behind the couch and meow at her. They tell her about their day and she tells them about hers. And they climb and wrestle and chase toys and bathe each other and bat at the newspaper while she reads it and finally climb up and fall asleep on her bosom! And they purr so loudly, and she thinks, "Ah, magnificent thunder pussies."

And it is a very good thing Granny didn't wait until after Maya and Mama and Dado came to visit, because Dado wasn't able to come.

Granny Falls In Love

Now, once upon a time there was a little girl and her parents called her Joy Baby, and the adventure of that time of her life was being a little girl, and there are many stories about her, and Granny will tell you all of them that she can remember, but those are stories for another day. Now Joy Baby, who was the baby then, and whose life was complete, grew up and became Joycelyn and went to school, and the adventure of that time of her life was going to school, and there are many stories about her doing so, and Granny will tell you all of them that she can remember, but those are stories for another day. After Joycelyn was grown up, her life didn't feel complete any longer. But one day Joycelyn had a baby of her own, and his name was Richard, and the adventure of that time of Joycelyn's life was being a mother, and there are many stories about Richard, and Granny will tell you all of them that she can remember, but those are stories for another day. When Joycelyn had Richard, she became Mom. And then she had Julie, and now the adventure of that time of her life was having two babies, and her life was complete again. And there are many stories about Julie, and Granny will tell you all of them that she can remember, but those are stories for another day. Now, eventually Richard and Julie grew up, and then they moved away. Mom was very sad about this, because now her life was not complete any more. But, she knew that children are supposed to grow up and move away, and so she was glad that they had done it so very well. And the adventure of that time of her life was being on her own, but it wasn't as much fun as the other adventures had been. Richard and Julie had both turned out to be adults that Mom could be proud of, and so she went about her life and was glad.

After a while Julie met Ted, and Richard met Kathy, and they fell in love and Mom was very happy to see her two children so happy. Also, Mom was happy that now she had Ted and Kathy to love. "How lucky I am," she said, "I started with only two children, and they went out and got me two more wonderful ones to love." And so for a while Mom's life was complete again, because she had two more grown-up children to love. And the adventure of that time of her life was to love two new children. And things happened, and Mom moved to Alaska, and there are many stories about Alaska, and Granny will tell you all of them that she can remember, but those are stories for another day. Now, Mom loved Alaska, and Richard and Kathy moved there too. But Julie and Ted did not, that is not where their life led them. And Mom was sad about that. And as time went on, Mom's life was less complete. It was time for a new adventure, but it wasn't happening yet.

But before too very long, although it seemed very long to Mom, and also to Julie, Julie called Mom and said "Ted and I are going to have a baby!" And Mom was so happy, and she knew that this was the adventure for this time of her life, and just what she had wanted to make her life complete. And Granny's going to tell you all about it now, because that is the story for today. So, when the time came, Mom got on a plane and flew to Philadelphia to be with Julie and Ted when the baby was born. When she got to the airport in Philadelphia, there were Ted and Julie — and Julie looked so different, that Mom didn't recognize her at first. At first she saw Ted and wondered who that strange pregnant girl was that he was with — then she realized that that girl was Julie, with her hair brown! And Julie and Ted and Mom were all excited, because the baby was coming very soon now, and they could hardly wait. Actually, the baby was two weeks late, so they were tired of waiting.

So, one night Julie went to the hospital to get ready to have the baby, and after Ted and Mom had gotten her checked in and settled down, they talked to the midwife. The midwife said that Julie would sleep through the night, and labor would be induced in the morning, so they should go home and let Julie sleep. Ted and Mom went back to the apartment (after they went out and ate Greek food) and went to bed. The next day they got up and ate breakfast and were in no hurry because the midwife had told Mom that it would be some time before the baby came. But, pretty soon they couldn't wait any longer, so they went to the hospital. And what do you know, labor had been induced earlier than the midwife had planned, so Julie was much closer to having the baby than they had thought. So they were very glad they had left as soon as they did, actually they wished that they had left earlier.

Ted stayed in the birthing room with Julie, and Mom went to the waiting room and read her book while she waited for the baby. She knew it could be some time yet, so she had brought a very big book. Now, Mom had hardly read any of her book when the midwife came and said that Julie needed to talk to her, so Mom got her book and her cape and followed the midwife back to the birthing room. And when she opened the door, there was Julie sitting up with Maya in her arms. The baby was already here! And Mom was astounded. Julie looked so pretty and pleased, and Ted looked so proud, and Mom felt so full of love. And that was when Julie became Mama, and Ted became Dado, and Mom became Granny. Because Maya had made them so.

Now pretty soon Mama let Granny hold Maya, even though Mama never wanted to give her over for even a minute, but she loves Granny so she did. Granny looked down into Maya's face, and it was the prettiest face in the world. She kissed Maya's cheek, and Maya felt so soft, and smelled so sweet, and Granny wanted to spend the rest of her life holding Maya. When Granny looked into Maya's beautiful brown eyes she was overcome, and she felt all silly and goose bumpy and soft and fine. Granny was enchanted. She fell in love with Maya in an instant. Granny knew that now that Maya was here, the world was a finer place. Music sounded better, and food tasted better, and the snow was cleaner (even in Philadelphia) and life was altogether better. This was exactly the adventure that she was ready for now. And Granny's life was complete.

Happy 11th Birthday, Ka-Maya, Ka-Moona, Ka-Mine

Richard Takes Care of Them All

This is a story that Granny wrote for Maya, when Maya was about three or four, about Richard, when he was six.

Now, one Sunday evening in September, the very day after Maya and her Mama and Dado moved into their new house, Granny and Maya talked on the telephone. As it happened, Granny hadn't written a new story for Maya for two or three weeks, because she had been sick, and she had e-mailed Maya's Mama to let her know that and Maya's Mama had told Maya so that Maya would know that Granny stilled loved her even when she didn't mail her new stories. So, when Granny called that Sunday evening, Maya wanted to talk to her on the phone, so she did.

"The first thing I did was look for the cheese, Granny," Maya said. Dado had already told Granny that after he and Mama moved all their possessions to the new house and cleaned up the old one, they had taken Maya to say good-bye to the old house and to see that all of their things were gone. They wanted her to know that every single little thing they owned was in the new house. And when they went into the old, empty house, Maya ran right to the refrigerator to get some cheese, but the cheese had gone to the new house. So, since Dado had told her about it, Granny knew just what Maya was talking about.

Then Maya said, "I have my own bedroom, Granny." And Granny said, "Do you like your new bedroom, Maya?" and Maya said, "Granny, next week I am going to come and visit you. When I come to your house, I am going to take care of you, Granny." So then Granny knew that Maya knew she had been sick. Granny was very happy that Maya wanted to take care of her, and she wished that Maya really could come and see her next week. But then she remembered that she was going to go see Maya for Thanksgiving, and so she was very happy about that.

Now, when Granny got off the phone, she thought about Maya wanting to come to Juneau and take care of her. She thought about it before she went to bed, and she dreamed about it when she was in bed, and the very first thing she thought about when she woke up the next morning was Maya wanting to come to Juneau and take care of her. She thought about it so much that when she met Aunt Kathy for lunch, she told her about it. Aunt Kathy agreed with Granny that Maya was just the sweetest little sweety, and they had a good talk about her as they ate their Filipino food.

When Granny was walking back up the hill to her apartment, she still was thinking about Maya wanting to come and take care of her. Then she thought about when Maya's Mama was a very little girl named Julie, and her Uncle Richard was a little boy named Richard, and Granny was a young mother named Mom, and how twice she got sick and both times Richard took care of her and of Julie, both.

The first time that happened, Mom and Richard and Julie were living in Stockton, and Richard was 5 and Julie was 3. Mom got pretty darned sick with the flu, and she could hardly stand up. So, she went to the living room and lay on the couch, and Richard took care of her and of Julie all day. When it was time to eat, he fixed peanut butter sandwiches for Julie and himself (Mom was not hungry). And when it was time to go to bed, he helped Julie get ready for bed, and he got himself ready, and off they went. All day long he brought Mom water and made sure she was doing okey. And Mom didn't know what she would have done without him.

The second time, Richard was 6½, and Julie was 4½, and they were living on the homestead in Fairbanks. Now, the homestead was a very frontier place to live in 1969, and although it had electricity (so there were lights, and a refrigerator, and a tv) it didn't have water or plumbing (so Mom had to go out to the creek to get water to wash dishes with and everybody had to go outside to the potty) and it had a potbellied stove, and Mom had to bring coal in for the stove in buckets. So, it happened that this time when Mom got sick it was winter and the ground was covered with snow and it was very cold, so the stove had to be kept burning with coal. Mom was very sick this time and couldn't do much at all for several days. And all that time, Richard went out to the coal shed and brought in coal and kept the stove going. Now, remember, Richard was only 6½, so he couldn't carry in much coal each time, so he had to go back out and get bucket after bucket. And he had to put it in the stove just right so the fire wouldn't go out. And he fixed meals for himself and Julie, and this time he was older and he could fix soup as well as sandwiches. And this time, again, Mom didn't know what she would have done without Richard.

And when Mom thinks about that these days, she is still so proud of Richard and so thankful that he was able to take care of her when she was so sick.

Brandi Checks It Out

One day, about 12 years ago, Granny drove to Douglas to visit her friend Karla and Karla's daughters. At that time, Karla's youngest daughter, Brandi, was about 18 months old. Brandi and Granny really liked each other, and Brandi liked to look at the Smokey Bear on Granny's watch, and examine the Indian head on her $2½ gold piece that she wore as a necklace, and play with her hair. Brandi was so little, that in order to do all this exploring of Granny, she had to stand on her lap.

So, this day when Granny was visiting Karla and Brandi, and Brandi was standing on Granny's lap and exploring her, Brandi noticed that Granny had a little brown mole on the left side of her jaw. And then she saw a little brown mole on the left side of her neck. And then she saw a little brown mole on the left side of her collar bone. So, then she wondered how far down they went. And, because she was only 18 months old and didn't know anything about modesty, Brandi pulled out Granny's collar and looked down her blouse. Poor Karla was as embarrassed as could be, but Granny just thought it was very funny.

In A Nutshell follows.

Ginny & Flo Go Out Catching Birds

When Maya's Great-grandmother, who is Granny's Little Mama, was a little girl called Ginny, and Maya's Great-great-aunt Flo was a little girl called Flo, they lived in the country right outside of Ceres, California with their Mama and Papa, who later became Granny's Grandmother Lillian and Grandfather Percy. Now, this story happened when Ginny and Flo were old enough to play outdoors while their Mama cleaned and cooked and their Papa was at work. But they were still little girls.

So, it happened that one day Ginny and Flo had been playing and playing. They played hide and seek, although it is a little boring to seek only one other person after a while. They played dollies. They played jump rope. They didn't climb any trees, although Ginny wanted to, because Flo was a little lady, and ladies don't climb trees (which makes it pretty boring to be a lady, and explains why Granny never wanted to be one). But after a while they couldn't think of anything else to play, so they went into the house. "Mama, we don't have anything to do. We're bored," they said. Their Mama was mopping the kitchen floor, and she didn't have time to play with them. But, because she was a resourceful person, she did have time to think about keeping them busy. She thought about it and she thought about it and then she had an idea.

"Well," said Lillian, "would you like to catch a bird?"

"Yes, yes, yes," answered Ginny and Flo, who thought it would be wonderful to have a bird.

"Well," said Lillian, "here is a salt shaker for each of you. Now, the way to catch birds is to creep up behind them. When you get real close, pour salt on the bird's tail and then it will let you catch it."

Oh, how exciting! Ginny and Flo took their salt shakers and they stalked birds. When they would see a bird on the ground they would creep up, ever so slowly and ever so quietly, to put salt on its tail. When the bird saw them coming, it would fly away and they would run ever so fast to try to catch it. Oh, how they crept! Oh, how they ran! Oh, how they plotted! "We will name it Brownie," said Flo. "We will keep it in a cage," said Ginny. "We will catch a mate for it and build it a nest in the cage," said Flo. "Then it will have babies right in our bedroom," said Ginny.

All day Ginny and Flo chased birds with the salt shakers. All day they plotted. All day they planned. All day Lillian was able to clean house and cook uninterrupted. Of course, no bird would let a little girl (or even a big one) get close enough to pour salt on its tail, but Ginny and Flo didn't know that. They had a wonderful time in the sunshine and fresh air, and when it was time to go to bed they slept as sound as a couple of bells. It was a wonderful time.