Johnny Appleseed, a dead mouse and a writer’s meeting–oh, and a missing DVD.

If I were to elaborate on my theme of "layers of life," today would be like the casserole dropped on the way to the church supper. Everything is in there, but it sure doesn’t look like the glossy magazine recipe you followed. Nothing went as it was suppose to, but somehow it all melded together and didn’t turn out half bad.

Monday begins another week of homeschooling. We’d skipped his birthday last week (Sept. 26), so I thought the boys might enjoy a unit on Johnny Appleseed today. Even if they didn’t, it’s September and I LOVE the story of the man who went around spreading apple seeds during the early days of America.

We started off in record time (always be wary of starting anything early.) Miah and I had just printed out the word search to begin the day when we heard company. It turned out to be my nephew, Bret, in between classes at the community college. He joined us for the word search (we’re all word search fanatics and enjoy a challenging race to start the day.) We managed to keep him through our spelling review and quiz. With the added bonus of "showing off," the boys raced through their work with plenty of time to spend the afternoon outside. I love it when a "plan" comes together.

It turned out to be one of those glorious autumn days someone copied from a picture postcard. Warm, sunny, the colors of the leaves and sky POPPING like a Gauguin painting. I took advantage of having Bret entertain the boys to look for a missing DVD.

Ever since we remodeled the kitchen and added digital cable, we’ve been renewing and searching for "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo." It vanished between the layers of pots, pans, boxes, video tapes, toys, clothes and everything else that got displaced. I’d been through all the book shelves, all the games, all the DVD holders of other movies when I decided to move the couch and love seat. I found a month’s worth of dust balls, a pacifier I searched all over for the week before with a baby screaming on my hip, toys and under the couch a very dead, very flat....mouse.
I swept him up and tossed him over the porch in the marigolds before the boys noticed. I didn’t find the DVD.

About that time, Miah came up to search for the binoculars. He’d seen a bug, "with a mustache and chain saw claws" and wanted a closer look. I went along, just in case. We went to the bug’s last known address but he’d vanished. I wasn’t sure if I should be happy at Miah’s vivid imagination, terrified if such an insect did exist or worried it might be watching me from behind some leaf. We tried to find the insect’s identity in a bug book, but none of them said anything about "chain saw claws." I was too intimidated to search for a bug with a mustache.

Tonight was the second meeting of the Southwest Ohio Children’s Writing Guild. We had a guest speaker, a wonderful teacher named Becky Storer, from Southern State Community College. She gave an informative presentation on children’s books. A few new members showed up----HOORAY!–so it looks as if we are growing. Who ever thought so much could happen in such a few short months?

I have to take time to mention my newest writing friends, Maribeth and Patty. The three of us met at Carol Cartaino’s "Let’s Write" series at our local library. We discovered we enjoyed writing for children and decided to form the SOCWG. Our main goal for the last two months has been to start a column for children in our local paper. We owe a debt of gratitude to another super lady, Gwen Clark, who writes the Clark Bar Devotions in the paper. She went to bat for us, interested the editor in our idea, and before we could catch our breath, we were columnists!
"Cookies and Milk" made it’s debut today in the October issue.

The three of us consider our meeting, the column, and the encouragement we’ve been able to give one another as gifts from God. In the scheme of writing possibilities, things rarely happen this fast or this wonderful. Guess it’s given new meaning to the verse, "With God ALL things are possible."