There was a sad little 16th note that wanted to be much more in the staff of life. He didn’t even like his name. In Britain he was called a semiquaver but that wasn’t much better even though a “semi” IS better than a sixteenth of something.
“I wish I could be a quarter note or even an eighth note. I don’t dare hope to be a half note and whole notes act like they don’t even know I exist!”
Then one afternoon in a semi-famous composer’s music room the old gentleman drew the sixteenth note incorrectly and only placed one flaring line instead of two.
The 16th note was suddenly now an eighth note and was happy for the first time in ages.
But then he noticed that he was also a “B” note.
“Well…that’s disappointing”…the eighth (really sixteenth) note moaned. “I always wanted to be middle C!”
The moral of this little story is…”Be proud of who and what you really are and be the best that you can be. And every time you get the chance, make sure to do your finest and always be kind to 32nd notes.”

Grandma’s Gift

Lucy loved visiting her grandma every weekend. She always had something new to show her, like a painting she made or a cake she baked. Grandma was very creative and talented, and Lucy wanted to be just like her.

One day, Lucy asked her grandma how she learned to do so many things. Grandma smiled and said, “Well, my dear, I have a secret. Do you want to know what it is?” Lucy nodded eagerly. Grandma took her hand and led her to a small room in the back of the house. There, on a shelf, was a collection of colorful books. Each book had a title like “How to Paint”, “How to Bake”, “How to Knit”, and so on.

“These are my magic books,” Grandma said. “They contain all the knowledge and skills I have acquired over the years. Whenever I want to learn something new, I just open one of these books and follow the instructions. They are very easy and fun to read.”

Lucy was amazed. She looked at the books with wonder and curiosity. She wanted to read them all. “Can I borrow one of these books, Grandma?” she asked.

“Of course, my dear,” Grandma said. “You can borrow any book you like. But there is one condition. You have to promise me that you will use the book only for good purposes, and that you will return it when you are done.”

Lucy agreed. She chose a book titled “How to Write Stories”. She thanked her grandma and hugged her. She ran home with the book in her hands, eager to start writing her own stories.

The next weekend, Lucy came back to visit her grandma. She brought with her a folder full of stories she had written using the book. She showed them to her grandma, who read them with delight. She praised Lucy for her imagination and creativity.

“I’m so proud of you, Lucy,” Grandma said. “You have a gift for writing stories. You should share them with others.”

Lucy smiled. She felt happy and proud too. She thanked her grandma for lending her the book and asked if she could borrow another one.

“Of course, my dear,” Grandma said. “You can borrow any book you like. But remember the condition.”

Lucy nodded. She chose a book titled “How to Play Piano”. She thanked her grandma and hugged her. She ran home with the book in her hands, eager to start playing piano.

This went on for several weeks. Lucy borrowed different books from her grandma and learned new skills every week. She became very good at painting, baking, knitting, playing piano, and many other things. She also shared her creations with others, who admired and appreciated them.

Lucy loved learning new things from the books. But she loved spending time with her grandma even more. She realized that the books were not only magic, but also precious. They were grandma’s gift to her.

One day, Lucy decided to give something back to her grandma. She borrowed a book titled “How to Make Jewelry”. She used the book to make a beautiful necklace for her grandma. She put it in a box and wrapped it with a ribbon.

The next weekend, Lucy came back to visit her grandma. She brought with her the box with the necklace inside. She gave it to her grandma and said, “This is for you, Grandma. Thank you for everything.”

Grandma opened the box and saw the necklace. She gasped and smiled. She put it on and looked at herself in the mirror.

“It’s beautiful,” Grandma said. “You made this?”

“Yes,” Lucy said. “I used one of your books.”

Grandma hugged Lucy and kissed her cheek.

“Thank you, my dear,” Grandma said. “This is the best gift I ever received.”

Lucy smiled.

“No, Grandma,” Lucy said. “You are the best gift I ever received!

“Hi! The keys on my keyboard are helping me give a shout out to you today. Normally I’m not a very popular key because you see I’m the DELETE button.”
“Oh, I do have a few close friends like the space bar (who never says much but is a great listener) and the backspace arrow, who kinda does the same job as me, so we have something in common.”
“The most popular keys like E and ENTER never want to chat. I’ve never shared a single word with CTRL…EVER.”
“I can’t actually figure out why I’m so unpopular with almost all of the other keys, after all I give them another chance to be used over again later. But I’m content with my role on the keyboard and actually I believe that I’m one of the most popular keys. Why do I think that you ask? Because my writer Russ makes so many mistakes, he actually uses me more than any other key.”
“I was going to chat longer but I’m an expert about knowing when to delete.”

“Look over there…by the bench.”
“Hey….yeah….isn’t that funny. I don’t think I ever saw one that hungry before.”
“Naw…me either.”
“Look at that one …prancing around like a Peacock or something.”
“Amazing. They are so busy eating I don’t think they care whether we’re watching them or not.”
“You must admit…it IS fascinating.”
“Well…yeah I agree with that. Some of my friends think I’m batty watching them and all of their colorful idiosyncrasies.”
“I especially like feeding times. How they all scramble and get in lines and sometimes get pushy. The bigger ones always seem to elbow their way to the food.”
“Well…are we done here today?”
“Yeah…I think so. Want to go get something to eat ourselves?”
“Sure. Over on the corner there’s a great place to eat.”
“My FAVORITE place. They always have the deluxe mix with the nuts and berries. Let’s fly over there now.”

“I’m really getting full already and it’s only…I have to wait until he stops shaking his head so that I can see the clock…ah….yeah…WOW 6:46 AM… that’s a new record.”
“You know some of this stuff he throws away isn’t all that bad. This one about the five legged cat is pretty good…oh but wait…um… dangling participle in that second paragraph and inconsistent tense…and….yeah…he was right to chuck that one.”
“OUCH! Another paper cut. HEY…CAN’T YOU WAD THEM UP TIGHTER BEFORE YOU THROW THEM AT ME HEMINGWAY!!!”
“Oh what’s the use he can’t hear me anyhow. What was that last one about?”
“A two headed cow that argues with himself constantly…he’s into the “weird animal syndrome” again. Didn’t work before…LAST FIVE TIMES!”
“I wonder if I can get moved to the spare bedroom so I can finally get some sleep. Naw…won’t happen. He likes the fact that I look like a basketball goal and I guess my decor won’t integrate into that lilac and pink bedroom anyway. I’m doomed!”
“Hey…you know what…I just noticed? It’s been 14 minutes since he’s trashed me with a reject wad and he’s been typing like crazy.
You don’t suppose…Naw couldn’t be…but then….he’s still at it. Do you think….”
“He’s jumping up and down and whooping…you know I think he actually finished writing something…He’s holding the pages…let me see if I can….OH JUST TURN THEM TO THE LEFT A BIT SHAKESPEARE SO I CAN SEE…”
“Well…I’ll be…there’s the title…”SILLY GRANDPA’S WASTEPAPER BASKET!”

Filbert was drawing his usual crowd of interested animals near the bottom of his home tree.
“Do that back flip again Fil!” Reggie the Robin said.
“Sure!” responded Filbert and performed the highest back flip he’d ever done. His bushy tail didn’t even touch the ground his flip was so high.
“Wow!” That one was the best one ever!” exclaimed the red bellied woodpecker.
Then Filbert told a few jokes about humans and all the animal audience laughed. Just as “Fil” was ready to deliver his last punch line, a tall man walked over from the flagstone path and said…”Filbert Squirrel….may I speak to you Sir?”
All the birds and chipmunks scurried away to safer areas of the garden but Filbert was sort of blocked from his tree by the intruding well dressed stranger.
“Ah…what….do you want?”asked Filbert , the tremble in his voice giving away his instinctive fear of humans.
“Oh I’m not here to hurt you….in fact…well …I’m here to make you famous!”
Then the man reached into his jacket and Filbert quickly and fearfully looked around for a path of escape to safety.
“Here….it’s a contract. We want you to star in a full length feature movie and….there’ll be guest appearances on TV shows and a tour around the country to promote the movie and….”
“WAIT! Are you serious or is this one of the Mr. Johnson the squirrel hater’s mean tricks?”
“No…Mr. Filbert I assure you this is a bona fide offer of….well…stardom!”
“I….don’t know about this. I would be entertaining who?”
“Ah…humans of course…they’re the only ones with money Mr. Filbert. You would be joining a full lineup of star animals….ducks, mice, dogs, birds, even elephants….well….I could go on. But you see we don’t have a squirrel in our pool of stars and you would be PERFECT! What do you say?” The man reached down and handed the contract to Filbert.
Filbert couldn’t read of course but the paper did look very important with gold seals and signatures and then he saw it, at the very top…that unmistakable logo….”DISNEY”.
“Just put your front right paw onto this ink pad and then onto this spot on the contract Mr. Filbert Sir.”
And just as Fil touched his paw to the black pad something very sad happened………..

……….he woke up!

“He just sits there and stares out of the window. I thought that I saw an actual tear roll down his cheek earlier. There’s no comforting him.” Miss Jones, the science teacher had neither explanations nor remedies for the sorry state of her Principal Mr. Hudgens.
It was the very last day of school, half day actually, and well, all of the students and teaching staff needed at least a parting word from their scholastic chief before all would depart for the annual summer vacation.
After a sip of water and untold shoulder pats Mr. Hudgens finally looked around at the congregated concerned and uttered a few moans.
“Three hundred twenty seven of them and not one, not a single one mind you, missed a day of school for the entire year. Not a one was sent to my office for reprimand or even for advice.”
Mr. Hudgen’s head was slowly moving side to side now…”Not a voice was raised in argument, and not a single parent required an appointment to see me about the disappointing progress of their child.” The tears were welling up again.
“Where have I gone wrong. All of my years of training for what? They don’t need me. I could have remained in absentia the entire school year for the simple, unmistakable reason that I wasn’t needed.”
“But…Sir. You are our…THEIR leader. Their Principal…you must say something to the school body as they leave…Sir….please…anything.”
“Yes…of course, you’re right. Give me the microphone.”
With a cracking weak voice Mr. Hudgens summoned one last effort and merely wished all within earshot to…”Have a wonderful vacation!” then he slumped onto the desk.
The children calmly and quietly walked two by two past the Pricipal’s office, down the center hallway and out of the double main school doors and did not cut across the front lawn, and patiently waited for the buses in a single line and slowly and serenely departed for their homes and summer vacation.
During that summer, Mr. Hudgen’s made an application, then interviewed for and was awarded a job more suited to his experience as Principal of Centerville Elementary School…the job of Ringmaster of the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

CHAPTER ONE An Idea

“I wish that there was a land where puppies and kittens and boys and girls stayed young and fun for…well, ALWAYS!”
Sarah was an extremely smart little girl who had just celebrated her fourth Birthday and was thinking about all small and young things and how much she enjoyed life as a pre school “Big” little girl.
Adults were “way up there” and most dogs were too big and too scary for little her and even though grown cats were nice to pet and were gentle, she still preferred kittens. One cat was enough but you could never have too many kittens!
“And big kids, especially boys, try to boss you around a lot and parents and all adults always were reminding you who was in charge of EVERYTHING, and you weren’t!”
I did tell you that little Sarah was smart!
Sarah’s family used to have a dog before she was born, but it apparently ran away and all that remained of that era was the old dog house in the far right corner of their back garden.
The worn sign above the front opening read “OSCAR”, (the wire haired terrier’s name) although Sarah couldn’t read all words, she knew what those letters spelled.
Sarah looked inside of the “doggy house” as she called it and it was a mess. Now Sarah was a believer that things that you touch should be clean. But she had to touch all the dirty stuff in the dog house to get it clean. She decided to close her eyes and clean out the old OSCAR home and then wash her hands and maybe arms too…oh and legs too maybe…after she finished making the inside nice and fresh!
That she did, and quickly.
The “stuff” was piled outside the house and since she decided to make the dog house her playhouse she moved all of the debris over to the trash can and put it all in, with the help of a long stick to lift the high lid and then throw all the icky things in, and then close the lid back so no one would know.
Success!
“Sarah…what are you doing Darling?”
It was her Mom…”Just playing Mommy…”
“OK…have fun Dear!”
“Oh I will” thought Sarah…and she sure did!

CHAPTER TWO Adventure

Sarah knocked on the back door and her Mother came to open it and when she saw how dirty Sarah was she said…”Oh my Sarah, we’ve got to clean you up. If you are going to get so dirty you’ll have to wear old jeans and shoes….and…”
Her Mom was still explaining about dirt and playing and clothing and little girls should stay as clean as they can….while Sarah was getting her dirty self cleaned up she was thinking about going right back to the doggy house!
Her Mom said something about “Tom Boy” but Sarah didn’t know any boys named Tom but as soon as Sarah got outside again she went straight to you know where.
Once inside her relatively clean “playhouse” as it now had become, Sarah looked around at the place and noticed a small hole on the right side of the back wall. She tried to look through but it was too tiny an opening. In fact, the hole was so tiny that her little pinky finger barely fit into the space and as she wiggled her pinky, the entire rear of the dog…I mean “playhouse” swung open and there was a wire haired terrier puppy there that began to lick her on the nose!
The tag on the puppy’s collar read “OSCAR”.

“I’ve been wondering when someone would find out about us!” Oscar said in a childlike little voice.
“I’m Sarah!”
“I know!”
“But you were an old dog right?”
“Well, here we are all like you…young and rather small and, most importantly…HAPPY!” Oscar resumed licking Sarah’s face!
“You should tell Mom and Dad that you are here. They miss you Oscar!”
“Oh…I can’t go back. And I really don’t want to either.”
“Is it that wonderful here?”
“Oh my yes. Me and all of my friends will stay little, and friendly and happy and frisky…forever!”
“And if I stay will I remain a little girl for always?”
“Oh sure. But there are problems here just like over there!”
“Problems!” Sarah was a bit surprised by that revelation from Oscar.
“Well, we don’t have any butterflies here, they are all still caterpillars.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Sarah.
“But puppies and kittens and ponies are all GOOD things!”
“Oh yes Sarah, we all love the fun of it all!”
“And some of the bad things are good things too.” explained Oscar.
“Huh?” Sarah didn’t understand that one.
“Yeah, we’ll never be adults and do adult things like drive a car but there are no traffic jams.”
“Dogs don’t drive cars anyhow!”
“Especially not here!” Oscar declared.
“And we never have to go to work!” added Oscar.
“Do you go to school?”
“Well…no but we learn from each other. Many of us were old once and we can still remember important lessons.”
“I guess I understand but I want to be a teenager.” mused Sarah.
“Well…that is your decision. You can go back anytime you wish.”
“But can I visit?” asked Sarah.
“As long as the dog house is still there…yes!”
Oscar took Sarah around to meet some of his friends but there was not a single human around although Oscar said that “Kids come and go often. I guess there are a lot of dog houses in the real world.” Oscar explained.
“Sarah thought for a long time and finally decided that she would rather visit than actually live on the “puppy side” as she called it.
So Sarah went back through the back of the dog house/playhouse and played with her dolls and ate hamburgers and watched butterflies and planned her next visit to Oscar’s.

The cabin door opened and when I saw the bright warm sunshine glinting off of that shiny wing I flew straight out of there as fast as I could!
I had been trapped in that airplane for hours. Shouldn’t have followed that kid onto that plane in the first place but that cheese steak sandwich smelled SO GOOD! (Never did get to land on it!)
But then, even though I was warm, I was hungry and I had no idea where I was or where to go.
Just then another fly buzzed by and I followed him until he lit on a hamburger wrapper.
“Hey ah, where am I buddy?”
“Huh…what kinda accent y’all got there anyhow?”
“Oh…well, just got off of the flight from Philly.”
“Well, there’s another one going back in an hour try to get on that one.” The new fly obviously did NOT want to be friends. But he continued: “I don’t mean to be mean, but I just got off of the flight from Atlanta and I can’t understand a single word they are buzzin’ here in Dallas.”
So I went into the terminal and buzzed around looking for something to eat while I waited for my next flight and I just happened onto a discarded brisket sandwich. Well, I though the Philly cheese steak was good but that brisket…WOW!
To make a long story short I made my home in Dallas and live behind Pete’s Brisket Palace with a mess of friends and some cousins that just flew in from Fort Worth.
Gotta go. Here comes young Jimmy with the trash! Yum!

With all of my toys

And all of my joys

Friends girls and boys

When I am lonely

I hug myself

Days and nights

Can be full of frights

So when I’m scared

From things I’ve feared

I hug myself

When I get down

And there’s no one around

Whether I’m at home

Or on the playground

I hug myself

So whomever you are

An unknown or a star

When times get tough

And you’ve had enough

Just hug yourself