Grandkids are great fodder for books. I love this picture of two of our grandkids. It reminds me of Happy Days. You know, two teenagers sipping on a drink in a soda shop. Of course, my grandkids here aren't teenagers, but it makes me think of that.

It also puts me to mind of great friends. This picture could trigger an idea for a book of a budding romance that started as friends when they were little kids.

Ideas for writing come from everywhere. Many times pictures spur that in me when nothing else can. It's a jumping off point. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. For me, the picture gets those thousand words on the page! Magazine pictures, websites, and yes, even the grandkids. It's all fair game.

Life is full of snapshots. You know, those moments in your day that for some reason stick with you for a long time. I'm always amazed at the trivial things that stick with me. For instance, when I was in fifth grade, school let out and it was pouring down rain. I normally walked home (about 12 blocks), but on this particular day, my mom was there to pick me up. I remember the smell of the rain, the chill in the air, the pounding of the rain on our car, the blurry windshield wipers, and running into the house where a pot of chili simmered on the stove.

I wonder if that sticks with me because I felt secure, cared for, loved? I didn't have to walk home in the cold rain. After school, I was hungry and hot soup waited for me. My mom's actions were an expression of love and it stuck with me.

Do you have a random memory? One that makes you wonder why you remembered it, but there it is?

Labels: memories, pictures, Reading, snapshots, writing

I can look at this picture and hear the rush of the river, feel the cool air on my face and catch a scent of pine and rich, moist earth if I try hard enough. It takes me far, far, far back in time to my childhood, when we lived in Ventura, California. Being from deep in the hills of Arkansas, Daddy often got a hankering for the wilderness, so he and Mom would pack a lunch, buy some salmon eggs and fishing line, and haul me up into the mountains between Ventura and Santa Barbara, where there was no traffic, and where the streams were fresh and filled with fish. Don't ask me what kinds of fish, because this all happened before I turned five.

As soon as we arrived at a creek Daddy took his hatchet and cut bamboo shoots for fishing poles, then strung line for all three of us. Now that I think about it, I don't know if we ever even caught a fish. That wasn't my favorite part of the trip. What I loved was being safe with Mom and Daddy, enjoying the beauty of God's world all around us, playing in the stream, watching pollywogs, plucking cattails for Mom to decorate with, eating bologna sandwiches without having to worry about my weight. Oh, the good times.

What about you? Do you have memories of happy times when you were safe with people you loved, you believed life would always be good, and the simple act of eating bologna and mayonnaise on white bread was a real treat?

Labels: beautiful California, childhood, fishing, memories, mountains

This is my son and his daughter. They are getting ready to leave for a Daddy-Daughter Dance that his community puts on every year. I think this is the third year he has taken her.

Labels: face time, memories, sharing

MOTHER'S DAY
Mother's Day is this weekend in case it's crept up on you. I'm proud of the kids Dave and I have managed to raise, and now our family has grown to include Donna and Mark as well. And being a Grammy--well you all know how I feel about that! I was lying in bed last night and thinking about MY mom though. If someone were to ask me what my most vivid memories were of my mother, here they are:

1. Sitting on the sofa and painting her toenails. Funny how I know the shape of her feet as well as my own!
2. Rushing home from school to watch Dark Shadows with her in the afternoon. I was in love with Barnabas Collins. :-)
3. Seeing the expression on her face when I stepped in cow patties in my grandma's back field.
4. Feeling proud when she came to school for something. I always thought I had the prettiest mom in the school.
5. Going in the principal's office and seeing her and my Dad there all worried because I sideswiped a car with my bike and kept on going.
6. Her screaming when a rat got in the house. I was maybe 5? It made an impression. LOL

How about you? Want to share some memories of YOUR mom?

Labels: memories, Mother's Day