Melanie Anne Phillips

  Cracking Snow (written four years ago)   Mom - you've been gone these 27 years, but I recall how you talked about growing up in Chicago in the winter, and how the snow would thaw a bit, refreeze and crackle under your feet as you walked. Well, I've live quite a bit of my life in snowy places since you passed on, and perhaps I've experienced those weather conditions you spoke of and not paid any attention. But there's something different, something special about this year. And today, as I walked to the mail box, the sun was hanging low in the sky. And the snow that had been glistening in the sun all day was now again in shadow. And as I walked back to the house, the snow crackled beneath my feet and I thought of you. Just wanted you to know that mom, because I thought it would make you smile.  

  Our Pal, Turkey       Turkey first showed up down the street near our home in Pine Mountain Club, California. Teresa and I heard him gobbling and when out to see what was causing the racket. He was walking from yard to yard looking for food.   We had some seed for the local birds and put a pile down on our side deck where he might see it. Turkey found the seed, ate it hungrily, and then settled in for the whole summer.   I learned a lot about Turkeys that year. They aren’t dumb, and they have feelings. After a few days I found that if I spoke in kind and gentle tones as I would to a dog or a cat, Turkey would respond with gentle chortles. And if I used the fame tone you would use to say, “Good boy!” to your pet, he would lift his head high and fan out his tail feathers in full display.   We began to sit by the food after putting it down, and though he never let us touch him, he would eat when we were two or three feet away, and walk past us without ...