 Hello All. Hope you like the above picture of my brother Kira. Our family spent so many Halloweens going out TRICK OR TREATING I mean my MAMA loves this holiday. TRICK OR TREATING meant DRESSING UP, RUNNING AROUND IN THE DARK, THE SMELL OF DRIED MAPLE AND OAK LEAVES, WAFTING UP AS SHE AND HER BROTHERS RAN AROUND KICKING LEAVES UP EVERYWHERE. GOING TO NEIGHBORS AND BEGGING AT THE DOOR FOR CANDY (very cool). Then she spent the next week DIGGING FOR TREASURE, AS SHE DUG THROUGH HER BAG AND ATE EVERY SINGLE PIECE. I mean she loved it. She told me that she would start with the BEST OF THE BEST IN HER BAG. That would OF COURSE be the CHOCOLATE, THEN THE CHOCOLATE, THEN THE WELL, YOU GET IT. It was like GRAZING IN THE GRASS. I mean, she would collect a brown paper shopping bag full of candy. And then spend the next week, EVERY SINGLE DAY, grazing through that bag. It was sublime. And when she became a grammie, well, she and PAPA would go with Auntie Kelly and take the grand kids out into the DARK NIGHT OF A OCTOBER SKY AND SHE LOVED EVERY SINGLE BIT OF THOSE EXPERIENCES. They would go trick or treating IN THE SNOW, IN THE RAIN, ON BEAUTIFUL NIGHTS AND THOSE WHERE WINTER WAS SCREAMING, JUST AROUND THE CORNER, I AM HERE, I AM HERE. She told me more than once that as a child there would be snowstorms BEFORE HALLOWEEN, I MEAN, ARE YOU KIDDING? And that in order to GO TRICK OR TREATING AT HER AUNTS NEXT DOOR, SHE AND HER BROTHERS WOULD HAVE TO SHOVEL A FOOT OR TWO OF SNOW, DOWN THIS LONG, LONG PATH DOWN THE BACK OF THE YARD, JUST TO GET TO HER AUNT ANNA'S HOUSE. YOWZA. Perhaps it was because of those MANY MANY MANY HALLOWEENS RUNNING AROUND IN THE DARK, THAT OCTOBER REMAINS, Mama's ABSOLUTE FAVORITE MONTH.  Mama and Kira when he was young. October 1995  And so I hope you all have enjoyed my story.
Dharma Dharma
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 Hello Everybody! Thanks for checking in with my BLOG. This week we are getting ready for a trip to Philadelphia. Papa is going to see the GRAND MASTER OF CIVIL WAR BUDDIES, ED BEARS. Anyway, Mama and I and Merlie will be camping while PAPA IS DOING HIS VERY BEST CIVIL WAR DUTY. In May Mama and Papa and O'l Jim, our recording guy went to our local elementary school and we recorded KIDO'S SINGING DHARMA DOXIE AND PLAYING GUITARS AND UKULELES AT THE SAME TIME. HOW COOL IS THAT! Maestro Leesha on the right is from the MONT VERNON VILLAGE SCHOOL. She was such a pro getting all of those guitars and uke's ready to support all of those kido's LIKE CAROLYN singing my song. I am going to try to put the song on my website. And so, keep checking for it. And of course SING A LONG! We hope to have it out in a couple of days.  Here's Uncle Jim McClure from Bets's Folly Studios, our RECORDING GUY! We never met him before we started working together on my song. But it turns out, Mrs. McClure and Mama worked together when Mama taught Law in High School. Small world, huh? 
Here I am on the swing. Summer is over. The fall is here and we spend much time, swinging, and swinging and enjoying the beautiful yellow maple tree that our swing is under. The air has chilled, the light is waning from the leaves, the geese fly over heading south, or over to the farm for a late night snack out in the field. Fall is here, and the chill has only begun to wave into our living. The leaves crunch when we walk through, mold and other woodland spores waffle up into our smelling, letting us know that the death of leaves is upon us. The leaves are thrown aside, as if to say, it is time, it is time, we are falling, let us go. We hate to have the fall, leave us. We hate to say goodby to the glorious color that fall in New England gives us. But each day, that we get to swing, and swing, and swing, and watch, one leaf at a time, falling, falling, falling, we are grateful for the gifts that are before us. Blessings. Blessings. Below, Mama's beloved birch trees. Her picture from Maine.   These folks came ALL THE WAY FROM GEORGIA. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? Here we are at the Lincoln Craft Fair in THE WHITE MOUNTAINS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. This is Fred and Mrs. Fred who were SO EXCITED TO SEE MY BOOK! When they realized that I WAS BORN IN GEORGIA, it was like THE CHERRY ON TOP OF A ICE CREAM SUNDAY. YUM, YUM . SWEET!! We met so many happy people at our little booth. We listened to my song. Read my book! YOUNG AND OLD ALIKE CAME TO VISIT AND STAYED FOR A WHILE!! It was fun. HEY FRED AND MRS. FRED, DON'T FORGET TO EMAIL US AND LET US KNOW HOW YOUR TRIP BACK HOME WAS. Anyway, the days were not terribly warm there in Lincoln. On Saturday Mama bundled me in a sweater of hers, that she put on me like a doggie sweater, then she put on a wool plaid blanket from Scotland that old friend Victoria gave to Mama at one time, and finally I was wrapped in a insulated blanket that was like a jacket. It took me a while to get warm. MY TOES WERE CHATTERING. I was so bundled, people thought MAMA WAS HOLDING A BABY. HA. Once they saw my little nose sticking out, they were always interested in visiting.  What a great picture this is. This is Patrice, LITTLE STELLA, and Marc. Stella is four years old, JUST A BABY. Patrice is a retired teacher, JUST LIKE MAMA. They are all from Walden Vermont, part of the North East Kingdom. We had a great visit. And don't we all make a great picture. Thank you to STELLA AND HER FAMILY FOR CHECKING OUT OUR LITTLE BOOK. Stella made me think about my o'l bro Stoney Wall. COUCH POTATOES THAT WE WERE. All the times that he and I and Mama slept on the couch. Mama would line up on her left hip, Stoney Wall would lay across her right hip, and LITTLE OLD ME WOULD CRAM MY WIGGLY BODY BETWEEN MAMA'S BUTT AND THE BACK OF THE COUCH. JUST THE WAY I LIKED IT. THOSE WERE THE DAYS!! And so, many little kids came by and read my entire book while listening to my song which was JUST SO PRECIOUS. So many wanted to pat me and well I guess I never got so much attention IN THE WHOLE OF MY LIFE.
We finished our time in Lincoln camping at the Hancock camp site at the White Mountains National Forest. It was such fun. Brother Merlie really enjoyed hanging out by the fire, as did I. You can see just my ear sticking out here. The second picture was of our back yard at the camp site. It is the Swift River. WE HAD A WONDERFUL TIME.
HOPE EVERYONE IS WELL. DHARMA HUGS. DHARMA DHARMA  Hello all! Well, not actually Rocky Mountain High. I mean Mama is a very old FRIEND OF JOHN DENVER, the Rocky Mountain king. But this mountain, I mean the mountain was very high! Like 6,285 feet, or some crazy number, and very rocky. I have never had such a NATURAL HIGH IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. First Merlin and I got to run around in the mountain meadow at the bottom of the mountain. You can see that EVERYONE IS PANTING IN THIS PICTURE TAKEN BY PAPA. Then Mama, she drove up, and up, and up and yikes I mean I was getting dizzy. I thought it would NEVER END!! But it did. The trees were so beautifully decked in yellow, and orange and red LIKE THEY WERE GOING TO THE PROM OR SOMETHING. I DON'T KNOW. Anyway, we watched the trees change, and the little green fuzzy stuff I think they were called LICHENS OR SOMETHING, take over the mountain and then ALL OF A SUDDEN OUT OF THE BLUE, THE SKY BURST FORTH LIKE LIGHT THAT WAS FLOODING OUR LITTLE HEARTS. It was so blue the sky this day. And once we were no longer SHELTERED, AND I MEAN SHELTERED, by forest on either side of this LONG AND WINDING ROAD, the expanse into the eastern horizon OPENED UP LIKE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. It was as if LIGHT AND JOY WAS A THING THAT COULD BE TOUCHED AS IT FLOODED IN, SURROUNDING US and all we could do IS STOP, PAUSE, LOOK, AND BE PRESENT IN THIS INCREDIBLE PLACE. It seemed like hours to the top but in reality only one half hour had passed. We got out of our truck pulled out the sitting chairs, faced the eastern horizon mountain range that was glorious it its palette of every shade of gold, red, yellow, orange and we all sat down and had our picnic. DID YOU KNOW THAT MAMA LOVES PICNICS? She could tell you about a few interesting places that she and Papa have had picnics. Her personal favorite is having a picnic in Baltimore Maryland in the cemetery where Edgar Allen Poe is buried. Ask her to tell the story some day. Anyway, once we were done with lunch we went EXPLORING UP TO THE VERY TOP. It was very cool and we met some really nice people.  Now the first person who approached us, because of course Mama was carrying LITTLE O'L ME up the last flight of stairs to the top was Chris. You can see him with me here. He told us all about his girlfriend who had a doxie who was a short haired red. He was originally from Connecticut but currently lives in Boston. He said it was one of the things about doxies, that once you pick them up they just melt in your arms. They are so sweet. It was so VERY COOL how many people talked to us about their dogs this day. So many of them had such great stories about their doxies. What is it about dogs that no matter who you are, COMPLETE STRANGERS, I MEAN COMPLETE STRANGERS WILL WALK RIGHT UP AND TALK TO YOU LIKE YOU ARE A LONG LOST RELATIVE, AND IN SOME WAYS, I GUESS ALL DOG OWNERS ARE RELATED.  Here is a picture of me and Danny. He was so cute and was only two years old. . I wanted to KISS HIM ALL OVER. I AM DEFINITELY GIVING HIM THE EYE! His parents said he LOVED DOGS and the keys hanging from Mama's lanyard. Chris and his family were from Rhode Island. We were truly having a ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH EXPERIENCE! And so, Dharma's Do's? Do know that DOG LOVER'S ARE EVERYWHERE!! EMBRACE THE LOVE! Special thanks to Danny and his family and Chris for letting us use their pictures. Have a great day and thanks for checking in!!
Me and Mama and the Mt. Washington Train. Here is little old windswept me. Just enjoying the breeze.  DHARMA HUGS!!
DHARMA DHARMA  MEET MAX!! You can see that he is a RED SOX FAN. I met him at the LAMSON FARM DAY just last Saturday. He reminded me so much of Stoney Wall. For JUST A MOMENT I THOUGHT IT WAS HIM. But I digress. Let me start over. Mama lived in Germany decades, I MEAN DECADES AGO, (ha, that tells you how old she is, don't tell her I told you). Anyway, when she was living in Augsburg, Germany she had her VERY FIRST DOXIE! Now Mama had never SEEN, I MEAN SEEN IN PERSON a dachshund before. She had only seen pictures of them in books. But then, she was living IN THE LAND OF DOXIES! This is where she learned ALL ABOUT THEM. Did you know that doxies are known as BADGER DOGS? This is because they will dig into the ground with their very strong front legs and pull the dirt out with their very strong back legs as they are digging in a hole TRYING TO GRAB A BADGER. Once they catch up to that wiggly creature they would grab it and drag it out by BACKING UP. CAN YOU JUST IMAGINE? Here is a doxie grabbing the badger, dirt flying everywhere, and you can only see the doxie's but, YES I MEAN DEIRIERE hanging out of the hole and those back legs, well they are working hard. Anyway, you can just hear it, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP as the DOXIE BACKS UP. So Mama learned about doxies after flying across that big blue ocean, landing in Frankfurt Germany, taking a drive south, where she eventually ending up in Augsburg. And this is where she saw her first VERY FIRST WIRE HAIRED STANDARD SIZED DAUSHUNDS. IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. THEY WERE SO CUTE, AND SO OF COURSE SHE HAD TO GET ONE. MAMAS FIRST DOXIE WAS A WIREHAIRED STANDARD SIZED NAMED TINA PUP. After Tina Pup Mama had no doxies in her life for a very long time. CAN YOU IMAGINE? I MEAN LIKE, HOW IS THAT EVEN RIGHT? But one day after visiting a friend she met a couple who was holding one RIGHT IN THEIR ARMS. Which totally amazed MAMA because of course standard sized doxies are not little dogs. That is when she found out about MINIATURE DOXIES and of course THIS IS HOW THEY CAME TO HAVE Stoney and Me.  Back to Max. Here are his folks from Florida with the BIG BOY. I had spent Lamson Farm Day day barking at every dog that came by. Bark Bark! Who are you? Get away from my MAMA AND PAPA. You know the drill. I am still in SOCIALIZATION SCHOOL because of course AFTER MY YEARS OF BEING A COUCH POTATO I really do not know how to do the MEET AND GREET. So I am barking here and barking there and Mama she is telling me "no bark, no bark", and gently holding my nose. But when MAX skipped over, I was like AMAZED, CONFOUNDED, CONFUSED? Who is this MASKED MAN I thought? Oh sorry, I am getting my SUPERHEROES mixed up. I mean he did have a mask but it was all dapple grey. Any way this doxie was the same size and coloring of my old brother STONEY WALL. Except of course Max had that very dramatic, handsome, dapple head. I MEAN I could not stop KISSING HIM, SMELLING HIM, MUGGING HIS FACE ALL OVER. Wow, for a moment I thought he WAS STONEY WALL. My little heart TWISTED JUST FOR A MOMENT and then I realized, no he was not my brother. But that was okay BECAUSE HE WAS THE NEXT BEST THING. And so his folks Terry and Paul from Florida, came by with Max to visit TWICE. I MEAN TWICE. AND WASN'T THAT SPECIAL? I DID HATE TO SEE HIM LEAVE. Before they left they promised to check us out on once they get back home. WHICH IS JUST GRAND TO ME. And so, thanks for checking in! Dharma Hugs! Dharma Dharma
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AuthorChell Sommese is a retired teacher.
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