Never met one like her

Admittedly there are dog families and cat families

Have know a few that had both

Seemingly there is just as much prejudice about likening a dog or cat

As there is about the color of your skin or your religion

But my ilk were dogs

Which gave me the opportunity to be involved

In the socialization of ‘Molly”

My daughter’s families latest rescue dog acquisition

Seeking to stay active and a new six month old puppy

Would present endless energy

The challenge would be to simply let Molly outside

And let her water the lawn or whatever

Have trained many a dog over the last fifty years

‘Back of my hand’ is my reference manual

Observe animal’s behavior until goal is achieved and repeat

Never failed till now

Did forget to mention Molly is a bloodhound

A beautiful red brown big bloodhound

Only knew bloodhound were very good at sniffing

Their least acquired skill was watering the lawn when requested

Nonetheless daily, clear, rainy, or spitting snow

This ritual was pursued

Alas I had met my training match

No not Molly

Her nose, her OCD nose

Everything, everything had to be smelled, sniffed, and inhaled

Occasionally a neighbors dog might bark

Momentarily halting the search for a new scent

Sought out clues to my training failure on Google

Bloodhounds can track their prey for five miles

Five miles, I can’t walk five miles

Walking the yard for five miles would be a day’s walk

Originally had this idea that after Molly had done her duy

That she would be rewarded with a treat when taken in

95% of the time she would not merit a reward

But for going back in the house she got one anyway

Now the routine continues with Molly

Spending most of her search

Circling me until I take her in and give her a

Most undeserved treat!

At least I was well trained

Frank X Cameron 2/22/2020

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Don’t Know What To Say

Simple enough task

Wednesday afternoon

Attend church service with my granddaughter, Osa

Diagnosed with Downs Syndrome, 10 years old now

Two pews behind allowed me to pray and watch

A young 8 year old to her left another to her right

Who I now call Angel

Osa became tired, eyes closed

Angel gently nudged her

Eyes opening

Osa turned to watch

Angel fold her hands

As my granddaughter followed suit

What had transpired was so incomprehensible

One child so confident in her faith as to share it

The other child so at peace in her class

As to follow the gift of acceptance

Immaculata Classical Academy Thank you

FXC 02/20/2020

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Continue reading

Richer than I ever imagined!

Like so many, no real desperate drive for riches and glory

More so a searching need for love, friends, food on the table, a roof over my head

Never in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned

Being the recipient of a family heirloom of Fiesta dinner plates

Sixteen lead free Fiesta plates

There are just two of us so you can imagine

The numbing realization that never ever would

We lack for a dinner plate even if we lived to a hundred

Like any lottery winner considered sharing with other family members

However that idea was quickly and firmly nixed

By the well established Madame of the house

So it is then

Worrying about dinner plates has been crossed off the bucket list

Attention may be turned towards the remainder of the place settings

Though there remains many unopened boxes

That might fill the definitive need for completing these places settings

The richest family of two in the world!

FXC 2/16/2020

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Estate Sale Queen

So many times have been in Grandma Mary’s house

Never delved into exactly what was in there

Do know the walls were covered

Children, relatives, travel, awards

Memories which papered their walls

Furniture, sturdy stock tinged with wear

Always felt functional beauty would be an apt description

Sitting on a fall away lot

Views of the seasons colored one’s days

But Grandma Mary and Poppee

No longer gaze out the picture window

They still see us much as I feel we see them

Now we try to sort and share their last possessions

So practical now how one analyzes belongings

That were once hardly noticed

Some items, now they are called items, too personal

To share outside the family

Huddled conversations to determine

Another home to preserve the memory

Like pebbles on a pond

Possessions are scattered

Now some to those willing to purchase

Soon enough the house now eerily but peacefully quiet

Empty except for echoes

Their third child and second daughter

Has stepped into the breech to lead her sweet sisters

In the healing

She now the Maitre d lost in thought wanders the empty rooms

Her job done, a job she did not seek

Finally the door must close

To a family’s life of 70 years

Who knew that Poppee and Grandma Mary

Were hiding the Queen of their own Estate Sale

FXC 2/9/2020

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