The free August Children's story is now posted on my web site.

www.grannywrites4kids.com

The April children's short story is now posted on my web site for your viewing.

Read it on-line or print it out.   www.grannywrites4kids.com

 

I had such a wonderful time yesterday at Almondale School.  I was part of the Read Across America readers for that school.  I must say Mrs. Richard's and Mrs. Johnson's classes were absolutely marvelous.  They were polite, attentive, and it was my pleasure to read to them from my books. And did they ever have some great questions for me to answer.  Thanks to all the second and third graders that let me be a part of Read Across America at their school. You kids are awesome!

The July free children's short story is now posted on my web site:

http://www.grannywrites4kid...

The art of barbecuing is definitely a male dominated activity. The women make the salads, the beans and fix the bread, but it's the men who cook the steaks, chicken, hot dogs or hamburgers. They seem to know instinctively when the coals are ready and how long to wait before turning the meat over.

When I became single it was my turn to barbecue. I'd watched my ex do it so many times you’d think I would have absorbed the process. I was quite smug and knew it would a piece of cake. The steaks were gorgeous, an inch thick with the perfect amount of fat. One for my 16 year old son, one for my 11 year old daughter and one for me. I think my first mistake was not using enough charcoal. When I spread it around, it was a little skimpy in spots and I didn't wait long enough for the coals to burn down so the fire was way too hot.

As the fat dripped, the coals flared, the steaks caught fire and I forgot to have some water close at hand. Besides that, I had left my long handled fork in the house. We got the fire out, scraped off the burnt part of the steaks, but ended up with dry, overcooked steaks. What a waste of three beautiful pieces of beef.

It looked extremely easy when someone else did it. I was not going to let my first attempt be my last. Hot dogs! That would be easier and cheaper just in case I goofed again.

The next Sunday I figured I'd learned from my mistakes and would try it one more time. I had the right amount of charcoal to cover the bottom of the grill. This time I didn’t get over-anxious and I waited a long time for the coals to cool down before I put the hot dogs on the grate. I must have let the coals get too cool, or maybe the grate was too high. Anyhow it took forever to cook those hot dogs and we had to warm the buns in the microwave. One more disaster!

After a month or so, I thought I would try one more time. Had lots of charcoals left so I figured this time I would try chicken. I thought it was done and was quite pleased with myself, until we started to eat. It was still raw. I had to finish the job by putting the chicken pieces in the microwave. Later that year, I thought about trying hamburgers, but decided I’d probably goof them up too.

I now do salad, beans and bread. Sometimes I bake a cake, but I let my son-in-laws do the barbecuing. After all, it’s a man thing, this cooking called barbecuing.

I have just posted the May children's short story on my web site.  Every month you will find a new free story which you can read on line or download. Hope you and your children enjoy these stories which change on the first of every month.

http://www.grannywrites4kid...

Now that I have my Christmas and Easter pictures developed I have more things to post on my refrigerator. I doubt if there will be enough room, but I’ll squeeze them in somehow. I keep going back to the store to buy more magnets, then go home, put up the new pictures, the new notes and the hand drawn pictures from my grandchildren and find out I need more magnets.

Somewhere under the hand drawn pictures from my grandkids is the new phone number for the Pizza Parlor, but I haven’t found it yet. I thought about taking some of them off and putting them in a box, but how can I take something so important and store it away in some dark corner.

Notices of meetings and special events are on the freezer door. Need to make sure I see those. My memory has never been reliable, but I am an excellent note writer. The only problem is I sometimes misplace my notes. Thus the refrigerator door is an excellent receptacle for significant information.

Also, my refrigerator bulletin board is a great picker-upper if I’m feeling a little down. How can I not smile at my granddaughter’s picture of a house, a sun, a tree, a stick dad, stick mother, two children and what looks like a dog, or maybe it's a cat? And that darling picture of my grandson kissing my cocker, how could I ever remove that from my display?

I even have a picture of myself and three friends when were ushers at a Rodeo in Santa Maria the summer after our junior year in high school. Talk about old memories. That was 60 years ago. I have black and white photos, colored pictures and even some that have faded to an odd shade of brown, but they will stay right where they are.

It’s not that I don’t have pictures scattered throughout my home. I have lots of them and check look at them frequently, but when I stand back and look at my refrigerator, I see a multitude of wonderful moments in my life; the brand new grandchild, a kindergarten graduation, a special birthday party, my children, the grandchildren, and now the great grandchildren. There are silly faces, pouting faces, grinning faces, happy faces and even angry faces. It’s fun to catch them off guard. I think at last count, including husbands and wives there are 36 that I can claim as immediate family. Yes, my refrigerator is certainly overloaded, but it has become a colorful trip through my past and I love the memories these pictures and drawings bring to the forefront of my mind.

I do believe, however, that in the near future I’m going to have to consider buying a larger fridge.

Peg Connelly will be autographing her books, Grannies' Critters, Grannies' Shorts and her new book My Quirky, Oddball, Eccentric, Unpredictable Grandma at Barnes and Nobles on March 24th between noon and 4pm.

Every month a new children's short story is posted to my webpage. You can download this story or just read it to your children. A new story will appear on the first of March.  Hope you and your children or grandchildren enjoy these little tidbits for kids.

www.grannywrites4kids.com