The Reindeer Keeper

It's no secret that I have a sweet tooth. There's a drawer in the kitchen where I can go for a touch of sweetness during the day. But with summer in full gear, I now have another source of delight-a candy shop in the garden loaded with small, round, sweet, delicious cherry tomatoes. It's impossible to eat just one-or two so I don't bother trying. Sometimes when I'm hanging clothes on the line I'll bring a small bowl out with me. Before I hang the clothes I'll pick some of those delightful little tomatoes and put them in the bowl. Then as I hang the clothes I'll devour the tomatoes. I usually run out. So I'll go back and pick some more. It makes hanging the clothes a delightful reason to be outside near that little garden. Other times if I'm inside on the computer I'll have that bowl with me full of garden candy. As I go along I'll eat a tomato. Suddenly the bowl is empty once again. But not for long. I know I could throw those cherry toma...

Did you ever look at a photo and wish you could remember that moment; remember what lead up to it and what everyone was saying and who took the photo and what happened after the photo had been taken and life continued on? I had all those questions and more after receiving the attached photo from a cousin. That’s me sitting on a horse behind my Uncle Paddy-my cousin’s father. My older brother is sitting on the other horse. I have no recol lection of that day. But I do know if my Uncle Paddy was involved, it would have been a fun day. Most in the community knew him as owner of a shoe store. I knew him as an uncle who was a kid at heart. Uncle Paddy was the one who built us kids rafts out of telephone poles so we could go off on adventures on a creek that ran along behind our homes. Uncle Paddy was the one who helped my cousin and I set up a tent behind his house so we could camp out on occasion over summer vacations. Of course he was also the one who loved to scare us later on ...

For a few years, my now eight-year old granddaughter and I kept track of a bunny we'd see out back by the barn, hiding in the garden or hopping around and then disappearing in the rock wall. My granddaughter always felt the bunny was no ordinary bunny. She was convinced it was the Easter Bunny. When she was five we never saw the bunny during the summer, fall or winter. But the following spring when her little brother was here for an overnight, we both saw the bunny by the rock wall. We were so excited. I'd thought the worst had happened but the bunny proved me wrong. Adding to the excitement of seeing bunny, I'm certain I saw a few little ones scampering along beside her. Just before Easter that year, on a beautiful spring evening with geese flying and the sun setting over the fields, I went out back for a walk. I didn't get very far. As I came up the incline near the rock wall, I was astonished to find colorful, decorated Easter eggs lying in the grass. The...