Meet the Characters…

Hello Fellow Readers, I thought you might enjoy a glimpse into my world of the little animals and a little chair that were created to represent the main characters in my book.  They were all conceived via real-life experiences and I hope you enjoy reading about them.  Let’s take a look inside…..

In my home, I owned a mossy-green colored armchair that I placed in my bedroom specifically for my cat, Maximus to nap in and lazily lay across the top of the back to look outside the window onto our north acreage to watch birds and squirrels.  I felt the chair was a loving gesture to my beloved cat so that he would be eternally comfortably but, after a few years of using his claws to satisfy scratching urges on the defenseless little chair, it’s entire body of fabric took on the appearance of a 100 year old chair with frazzled fabric that became torn and dripping in strings, dangling from every part of the chair. With its appearance now being so unappealing, I decided to have the chair carried out into that north side acreage so that my outdoor cat, Violet, could also make use of it for claw sharpening practices as well as taking wonderfully long, lazy naps in it.    That is exactly what happened. She lived around and slept on that little worn chair for several years enjoying countless hours of warm sunlight on her beautiful gray and white fur as she slept and enjoying the soft, gentle breezes through the trees adjacent to the property.  The little chair became a symbol of determination and strength, it had endured a lot in its little chair life and was a catalyst for all new things to come.  My sweet Violet has since passed but, still lives on in my book as you will read. I’ve seen many squirrels and birds take comforting little breaks from busy acorn, walnut and coneflower seed hunting to jump up and/or fly upon its top edge to rest.  The little mossy-green chair still rests in the same spot today continuing to witness many lovely sunrises and sunsets and exist through boldly hot, sunny summers, cold wet winters and beautiful springs. It never fails to bring a smile to my face and makes me think of my beloved cats every time I look out my window.

A summers past, 3 years ago, my husband and I were sitting outside enjoying the sounds of dark fall as we live surrounded by woods and a lake.  I remember hearing the male and female pair of Barred Owls corresponding with one another in the wooded acreage across from our home and I remember how warm it was outside. While enjoying our conversation, we happened to notice something very small and light in color run from one side of our driveway to another.  We went to take a look to see what it was exactly and to our surprise, it was a tiny possum.  It had beautiful, shiny, gray and white fur, pink feet and nose and the cutest little round button eyes. My joy was immediately replaced with sadness as I was of the opinion that the little possum had probably fallen off of its mother’s back on their nighttime outing and it was trying to find her.  Knowing it was not safe for the possum to be on its own throughout the night without its mother, we brought it into our home for safekeeping.  The tiny possum spent the night in one of our cat carriers with wet and dry cat food (which I had researched and found they loved) and a bowl of water.  I was anxious for the next morning to arrive so that I could see it.  The possum was curled up in a tight ball underneath the soft towel that I had placed in the carrier and it was fast asleep.  The wet and dry cat food was gone as was almost all of the water.  Knowing that we could not return it to nature being so small, I contacted a local nature sanctuary that took in small, misplaced or injured wildlife.  It was an hour trip from my home and part of me was sad knowing that I would have to surrender this adorable little possum.  As the volunteers at the sanctuary pulled the possum gently from the carrier, it awoke and just stared at everyone in the room with it’s cute little round eyes trying to probably figure out what was going on exactly.  I gave in full detail his story from the previous night and I expressed my concerns that the possum was so tiny and was probably missing its mother and that it had been trying to locate her.  My expression of concern prompted smiles and grins from the employees and they stated to me that this was not a baby possum and that it was a juvenile.  It was wandering on its own because it had come time for it to jump voluntarily off of its mother’s back and start a life on its own.  That saddened me as I wanted to make sure the tiny possum was protected, well fed and happy and I admittedly had wanted to do all of that for it in my own home!  They let me hold it and it measured no longer than the palm of my hand.  I broken heartedly told the little possum goodbye and the employees assured me it would not be put out into the wild until it was medically evaluated and was indeed ready to go into the world.   I still think of that cute little possum today and hence, it became a main character in my book.  I wanted to never forget my experience so, I created the story of Primrose Possum, her little possum family and friends, and especially, Finn, her baby that falls off of her back while taking a nap.  He starts his own adventure to find his mother and his brothers and sisters as the possum family is trying to find the perfect spot for a picnic in Echo Forest on a beautiful, windy Spring day.

I enjoy sitting on my front porch frequently any time that it is nice outside.  I love to look at all of my flowers in their vibrancy and softness and listen to the little Goldfinch chatter as they survey my Pink Coneflower seed heads.  I enjoy watching butterflies lazily float above the flower tops and to look for the praying mantis slumbering in the boxwood shrubs.  I decided to sit out on my bench one day to enjoy my morning tea.  I kept a large metal bowl of fresh water on the side of the porch next to my beautiful pink flowering Clematis vine for my sweet cat, Violet to drink from.  It was early morning and the large green leaves were still shiny with the previous night’s dew fall. I happened to look down at the metal water bowl and in it I saw a little plump, bright green stink bug in distress swimming around and around in circles frantically.  Seeing that he could not get out by himself and not knowing how long he had been trying to escape, I reached down and scooped him up in my hand.  He did not try to fly or crawl away and I think he needed a moment to recuperate from his adventure and was quite tired.  After holding him for a moment, I knelt to the ground and placed him beside my beautiful Zinnias to rest.  I went in the house after finishing my tea.  I thought of him frequently throughout the morning so, I decided to check on him only to discover that he had flown or crawled away.  I was extremely happy that I had been able to save him so, I guess at that moment I became….Nora Bumblebee.