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Sunday, June 8, 2014

The story behind my stories

Shop: ABCs w/Merrie by Merrie Giles

The altogether happiest moment of my life, with the exception of giving birth to my own son and adopting our daughter, has been the birth of my grandson, Kaiden.  Our lives changed upon his birth, all for the better.  I started documenting things he did, like when he started walking, his first words, and the different adventures we have had together.  I have turned our stories into coloring books to preserve these memories for him as he gets older so that he can have fond memories of me and some day share with his children.  Each coloring book, also has a flip book animated story, if fanning the pages backwards.  

I feature these coloring books in my shop (ABC’s w/Merrie)


I wish to tell you the story behind one of our adventures together shared partially in the story Kaiden Meets Turkey.   

We live in the high desert in Ridgecrest, California and spend a lot of time outside, enjoying the warm (hot to some) weather.  We live on the outskirts of town on an unpaved road, and see a lot of interesting critters… coyotes, rabbits, road runners and lizards, just to name a few.  On this particularly mild summer day, to our surprise and delight, we saw a peacock about three feet tall with a fully plumed tail, pacing our fence line. 


The peacock kept looking into our yard at our large pine tree as he paced.  Kaiden called the peacock Turkey.  What finally drove Turkey into the yard, was the appearance of an interested cat.  This gave him the incentive to do a short flight over the fence.  Turkey then spread his tail fully and flapped his wings at the cat, who promptly went the other way. 
The peacock almost immediately went over to the big pine tree and settled in. 

My husband, always the realist, said “He’s not staying!”  Not so much the realist, I disagreed.  Turkey sat quietly in the tree, enjoying his safe position, and we all went about our business and slowly forgot he was even there.  Until, that is, about five in the morning, when Turkey decided he must warn us that the sun had risen.  The first sound Turkey made in his new home resembled a tortured cat, and I ran for the yard, pulling on clothes as I went, convinced that someone was hurting one of our cats.  My husband calmly rolled over and said, “That’s why he’s not staying”. 

We came to be used to his calls and the sight of him standing in his water dish, to keep the hot sand off his feet or pacing the fence line with his tail fully spread, showing all passing how pretty he was.  He was with us about six weeks until his new home with a local farmer was found and ready for him.  I still miss his calls today, but I do admit we sleep more soundly these days. 

Thanks for taking the time to read about our story, and we hope you are interested in sharing the story with your own children.  Love, Merrie (Mim) and Kaiden


P.S., If you would like your child featured in a coloring book, click here to personalize My Day at the Animal Shelter.  Children love seeing their name in print.  “My Day at the Animal Shelter” is used to raise awareness of the loving animals desiring homes and part of the proceeds go to our local animal shelter.

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