Sunday, January 6, 2008

The Last of the Harry and Tom Stories

The story "Harry and Tom Take the Rabbits to the Park" is the last of the Harry and Tom stories. As my Spinal Cerebellar Degeneration disease progressed, I found it harder and harder to concentrate. It just got to be too much work trying to concentrate and on the writing. Also after just 1 - 2 hours or writing I would be exhausted. As a result I thought the stories were beginning sound as if I were repeating myself.

Now as I post this two years after writing the last story I think I made the correct decision. My niece has asked if I would help write and "A to Z of Advent" children's book and I am finding that I am having the same issues with concentration and exhaustion. I am not even certain I will be able to help my niece with her book.

Harry and Tom Take the Rabbits to the Park

L,

One day last week, Harry, Tom asked me if I wanted to walk to the library with them. So as soon as I was ready I met them outside my house. As we were walking to the library we met Ruth Rabbit pushing two baby strollers with six babies in each stroller. Tom stopped to talk to Ruth and asked her where she and her twelve babies had been. Ruth told him she was coming home from the grocery store. I asked Ruth where her groceries were. Ruth said that Roger Rabbit would pick them up when he came home from work for his lunch. Harry told Ruth that we were on our way to the library and that after we left the library we would stop at the grocery store and carry her groceries home for her. She said thank you and started pushing her baby’s home while Harry, Tom and I continued walking to the library.

After we each had selected a couple books at the library, the three of us left the library and walked to the grocery store. When we arrived at the grocery store, Harry and Tom put all our library books in the box on the back of my wheelchair. There were five bags of groceries so Harry and Tom each carried two bags and I carried one bag on my lap.

As we walked home Harry, Tom and I talked about how busy Roger and Ruth Rabbit must be with twelve baby rabbits. I said, maybe Ruth would like it if the three of us took the 12 baby rabbits to the park that afternoon. Harry and Tom thought that was a great idea. When we arrived at the Rabbits house we put the five bags of groceries on the kitchen table and asked Ruth if we could take the babies to the park that afternoon. Ruth said that was nice of us to think of doing that. She said that after the babies had their afternoon nap, she would call Harry and Tom to let them know it was time to take the babies to the park.

Later that afternoon, after the babies had their nap, Ruth called Harry and Tom. When we got to the Rabbits house Ruth had all 12 baby Rabbits in the two strollers. Harry pushed one stroller and Tom pushed the other one. I rode in my wheelchair behind them. At the park we went to the huge sandbox. I sat in my wheelchair and watched as Harry, Tom and the 12 rabbits made houses, stores and roads in the sand. Just as they finished making the sand town, Roger Rabbit walked up with his camera and took a picture of the sand town with the 12 baby rabbits and Harry and Tom standing behind it.

After taking the picture, Roger helped us clean the sand off the 12 baby rabbits and put them back in the strollers. When we arrived at the Rabbits house, Ruth and Roger thanked us for taking the babies to the park.

Can you draw a picture of Harry and Tom pushing the two strollers to the park? What color would you make each stroller? Do you think you could make a picture of Harry and Tom and the 12 babies standing behind the sand town?

Until next time,
Grandpippy

Harry and Tom flowers grow

L,

The flower plants are growing and getting bigger. Harry, Tom, Charlie, Dan, and Samantha are busy each day with the flower plants. One day as I sat in my wheelchair looking out the back window I saw the five friends standing by the plant house talking. As I watched, I saw Harry and Tom walk to the front of their basement house. They began to walk around and draw something on the ground in front of their house. What do you think they were talking about and drawing on the ground? Dan saw me watching and walked over to our back door. He told me that the flower plants were ready to be planted. He asked me to come to the plant house and help them with the flower plants.

When I arrived at the plant house, the five friends had taken the shopping bags and placed them on the ground by Harry and Tom’s front door. Harry and Tom took shovels and other planting tools and started to make the flowerbed ready for the flowers. While they did that the rest of us carried the flowers from the plant house to the flowerbeds. Have you helped plant flowers before?

After we had filled the flowerbeds with flowers we saw that we had lots of flowers that still needed to be planted. However, there was no room in the flowerbeds. What would you do with the left over flowers?

The six of us looked at each other and looked at the left over flowers and than looked at each other again. Finally Harry said that he had an idea. He told up about the Roger and Ruth Rabbit family. He said that they had just had 12 baby rabbits. Harry said, because Roger and Ruth were so busy with the 12 baby rabbits they didn’t have time to plant flowers. Harry said we should take the left over flowers and surprise Roger and Ruth Rabbit by planting the flowers in their flowerbed. So we put the flowerpots into the red wagon, each of us took some of the shovels and rakes and walked to Roger and Ruth’s house. When we got to their house, we all hurried to plant the flowers.

Just as we were finishing planting the flowers in the Rabbit’s flowerbed Samantha saw Roger Rabbit came walking up the sidewalk. We hurried and gathered all of the flower pots, the shovels and rakes and ran around the corner of the Rabbit’s house to hide. As Roger walked up the front sidewalk to his house he stopped and looked at all the flower plants planted in his flowerbed. He hurried up the front steps of his house and opened the front door and asked Ruth who planted the flowers. After a little bit Roger and Ruth came out of their front door each holding 6 babies. As they stood on the front porch looking at the flowerbeds we 6 friends came around the corner of the house and told them that we had planted the flowers for them.


Do you think you could draw a picture of Roger and Ruth’s house with the flowers in the flowerbed? What color would you make their house? What colors would you make the flowers?

Until next time,

Grandpippy

Harry and Tom worry about flowers

L,

The last time I wrote you a letter, I told you about Harry and Tom Planting flower seeds in little pots. After all the seeds were planted, the little pots were placed in the plant house. Every day Harry and Tom would go into the plant house and check on the flower seeds to see if any flower plants had started to grow. Also every day when Harry and Tom went into the plant house Dan the deer, Charlie the cougar, and Samantha the squirrel would stand outside the plant house and look through the windows and watch Harry and Tom checking on the plants.

One morning, about one week after the six of us friends had helped Harry and Tom plant the flower seeds, Harry, Tom, Dan, Charlie, and Samantha knocked on my back door. When I opened the door the five friends told me to hurry and put on my coat, hat, and mittens and meet them at the plant house because they had a surprise to show me. I hurried and got ready and rolled my wheelchair down the ramp, around the house, and across the back yard to the plant house. Samantha opened the door and I rolled my wheelchair into the plant house Harry and Tom told me that the flower seeds had started to grow and now there were little green plants in each of the little pots.

That night when I went to bed, I was so happy that the flower seeds we six friends had planted were growing. I lay in bed and thought about all the different color flowers there would be. However, the next morning when I woke up it look dark outside my bedroom window. I rolled my wheelchair over to the window and looked outside to see that it was snowing.

Just as I finished breakfast, Dan, Charlie, and Samantha knocked on the back door. They asked if I wanted to go with them to the plant house to see how the flower plants were doing. I told them I would not be able to take my wheelchair out in the snow. Samantha said they would go the Harry and Tom’s plant house and see how the flower plants were. After a little while I saw Charlie walking through the white snow to my back door. When I opened the door, Charlie came into the house to get out the cold. When I closed the door, Charlie told me the cold weather and the snow had not hurt the flower plants.

Can you draw a picture of the plant house with snow on the roof? Or can you draw a picture of the three friends, Dan, Charlie, and Samantha walking through the snow? What color coats do you think they each have?

Until next time,

Grandpippy

Harry and Tom Plant Flower Seeds

L,

Yesterday Harry and Tom went to the nursery store and bought flower seeds, pots, and soil. This morning, after breakfast Harry knocked on the back door. When I opened the door he walked in carrying two large bags from the nursery store. He put the bags down on the kitchen floor and told me that he would be right back with the bag of planting soil. When Harry came back in with the bag of planting soil. After putting the bag of soil down he asked me if I had some old newspapers. Do you know why he wanted some old newspaper? I turned my wheel chair around and rolled into the other room where the old newspapers were kept. I put a pile of old newspapers on my lap, turned my wheelchair around and rolled back to the kitchen. When I rolled to a stop in the kitchen, Harry took the pile of newspaper from me and placed them on the kitchen table.

I asked him where Tom was. Where do you think Tom was? Harry told me the Harry had gone to ask Charlie the cougar, Dan the dear and Samantha the squirrel to come to my house and help plant the flower seeds. While we waited for the four others to come, Harry and I place layers of old newspaper all over the kitchen table.

Just as we finished covering the table the four others knocked on the back door. While I opened the door to the four others, Dan placed the bag of planting soil in the middle of the table. Tom opened the bag of planting pots and put six pots in front of each of us. Samantha took the little bags of flower seeds and placed them on the table.

We all gathered around the table and started to fill the small pots with the planting soil. After all of the small pots were filled with planting soil Samantha handed each of us a little bag of flower seeds. We each put the flower seeds in each pot and covered the flower seeds with a little more planting soil. After each flowerpot was finished we wrote the name of the flower on the side of the pot. Tom sprinkled water on each of the pots; Charlie and Dan put the pots in six boxes by the back door.

After we had cleaned up the kitchen table, we put on our coats and hats and while the five friends went out the back door. I rolled my wheelchair down the ramp in the garage and went around the side of the house to meet the five others by the back door. We each took a box and carried them to the plant house and set them on the shelves by the plant house windows.

Do you think you could draw a picture of the six friends carrying the boxes of flowers to the plant house? If you asked you dad and mom, you could plant some flower seeds in a pot.


Until next time,

Grandpippy

Harry and Tom buy Flower Seeds and Planting Pots

L,

This morning after I had eaten a breakfast of toast and a banana and brushed my teeth, Harry and Tom knocked on the back door. I opened the door for them and asked them to come in. After they had wiped their shoes and had taken off their coats and hung them up on the coat hooks, they came in. We all sat down by the kitchen table and they asked my what type of plants they should plant in their plant house. I suggested that they should go to the local nursery store. A nursery store is a store that sells plants, plant seeds and all the other things you need.

Harry looked at Tom and at the same time they both said that was a great idea. So after they had put their coats on they walked out the door, down the stairs, around the side of the house and down the sidewalk towards town.

That afternoon Harry and Tom once again knocked on the back door. When they came in the told me that they had not only gone to the local nursery store, they also had gone to the library and now had books on how to raise plants. They put all the books and plant catalogs on the kitchen table. We sat down and started looking at the pictures of different flowers. When one of us found a picture of a flower we might like to plant we would show the picture to the others. If we all liked the flower we would write down the flowers name.

After we made a list, we decided to go back to the nursery store. While I got my wheel chair ready, Harry and Tom went to their home to get their red wagon. We walked to the nursery store and showed the sales lady the list of the flowers. She showed us where to pick up the flower seeds and told us where to get little pots to plant the flower seeds. While Harry picked up the flower seeds, Tom went to get the little pots, and I went to get the soil to put in the pots. We put everything in the red wagon and the three of us walked down the sidewalk home.

Do you think you could draw a picture of the three of us going to the nursery store? What color flowers would you like to grow? Maybe you could draw a picture of the flowers you like.

Until next time,

Grandpippy

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Harry and Tom Take an Airplane Home

L,

This morning I was sitting at the table eating my breakfast oatmeal. I had just finished making a face in the oatmeal with raisins for the eyes, nose, and mouth and nuts for the ears and cinnamon for the hair. Have you ever used raisins to make a happy face in your bowl of oatmeal? Well, I looked out the window and what a surprise I had. There by the new plant house were Harry and Tom. They walked all around the plant house, stopped and scratched their heads, looked around to see if they could tell how the plant house came to be in their back yard.

I hurried and finished my oatmeal. I rushed to the bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth. After dressing as fast as I could, I filled an oxygen tank and put it in the box on the back of my wheelchair. I put on my black coat, mittens, and hat. I rolled my wheelchair down the ramp in the garage and around the side of my house and came to a stop next to Harry and Tom. Just as I stopped my wheelchair, Dan, Charlie, Samantha walked up.

We all started talking at the same time, Samantha telling the two brothers how we wanted to give them a welcome home present. She told them how the four of us each drew a picture of how we thought the plant house should look and how we had made one plant house with the best ideas form the four pictures. Charlie told Harry and Tom how we asked the man at the store to send his helpers to build the plant house. Dan opened the door to the plant house and showed them the tables where the little plants could sit. I asked everyone to come to my house for snack of apples and cheese.

When we all were sitting around my table sharing a plate of cheese and apple slices, Harry and Tom started telling us about their trip home. Tom told us that when he and Harry talked about coming back home they had to decide if they would take the train or if they would fly on an airplane. Harry said he wanted to try flying on an airplane because he had never been on an airplane before. So they decided to fly home. Have you ever been on an airplane?

When the time came for them to go to the airport Henrietta and Thelma drove them in their car with the flowers on the side. Tom said that when they went inside there was a place to get their ticket and to leave their suitcases. After they did that, they walked down a hallway past a lot of shops and restaurants until they came to a place to sit. Harry told us how they sat and looked out the window watching the airplanes land and take off.

Soon it was time for them to get on the airplane that was to take them home. They gave their ticket to the person and walked down a hallway to the airplane. Tom sat next to the window and Harry sat next to Tom. When all the people had found their seats, the airplane took off in a huge rush. Harry told us that it was kind of scary because he felt pushed back into his seat. Tom said that he enjoyed looking out of the window watching the ground speed past. Tom told us how all of a sudden he felt the airplane lift up into the sky. He looked out the window and saw the airport building getting smaller and smaller.

After they had been flying for a little while, a man came and asked them if they wanted something to drink. Harry told us he had apple juice and Tom had orange juice. When they both had finished their juice Tom took some paper and crayons out of his travel bag and started to draw pictures of the airplane flying through the air. Harry said he was tired and so took a nap. Harry told us that when he woke up from his nap, Tom was looking out of the window at the clouds. Tom said he was just about ready to take a nap when the airplane pilot talked to them over the airplane speaker. She told them the airplane was just about to land.

Tom told us how after they got off the airplane, he and Harry walked for a long time to the place where the suitcases were. He and Harry picked up their suitcases and walked outside to the place where the taxicabs were. After the taxicab driver helped them put their suitcases in the trunk of the taxicab, they all got into the taxicab and came home. Tom said it was so late when they arrived home that they were too tired to unpack their suitcases. They just brushed their teeth and went to bed.

Harry and Tom said they were glad that they had visited Henrietta and Thelma. However, they were happier to be back home. Have you ever been away for a long vacation? Can you draw a picture of your long vacation? Do you think you can draw a picture of you flying in an airplane? What color would you make an airplane?

Until next time,

Grandpippy