• Oct. 27, 2009
Snow
By Jill
“What? All ready?” Cassie got up and opened the blinds.
Suddenly she yelled “Look Jill it snowed!”
“What! Let me see!” I said as I jumped out of my bed. We stared out of the window in amazement. “I can’t believe it actually snowed!” I gasped.
“Everybody is already up,” stated Cassie. She went downstairs and I followed.
“I told you it would snow today,” Mom said, as we both ate breakfast. “Since I don’t know what the driving is like, I think we will stay home and not go to church. So, go ahead and play outside, this may be the only snow this year!”
“Yea!” I shouted. “Let’s go!”
December 2007
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• Oct. 27, 2009
Rattlesnake Adventure
By Jill Hoffsommer
It was the spring of 2000 when I was just five. We were moving from Nova Scotia to Washington. We were in Wyoming following the Oregon Trail and stopping at different sites. It started to get windy and rainy.
“Let’s stop at just one more place, okay?” said Dad as he drove into a parking lot.
Cassie and I got out first and followed a trail from the parking lot. Cassie ran on ahead. I was trying to catch up when my eye caught sight of a black, striped rattlesnake! I ran back to the car and hurriedly told Mom and Dad about the snake.
“It was probably just a stick,” said Mom trying to reassure me.
“No, I really saw one!” I tried to explain.
“Let’s go have a look,” said Dad. “Show me where it is.”
Dad was surprised when I showed him the snake. Cassie was crying because she was too scared to come back. Dad rescued Cassie by carrying her back to the parking lot on a different trail. We are thankful for the cold weather that kept the snake inactive.
2007
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• Oct. 27, 2009
Waterslide Challenge
by Cassie
It was a mild summer morning at Lake Chelan, Washington, a favorite vacation spot of my family’s. Inside the 1970s vintage blue condo where we stayed each visit, everyone was busy getting ready for a day at the water slides. Everyone, that is, except for two certain little girls who had already slapped their bathing suits on under their clothes and were waiting impatiently to leave. Those little girls were my sister, Jill, and I, aged three and four.
It was my first time going to a water park, and I didn’t know what to expect. Would the slides be ginormous and terrifying, or would some be docile and at least tolerable? Until I entered the gates of the park, I was totally clueless to how the day would turn out. An atmosphere of carefree playfulness greeted me. It instantly had me enlivened. Kids all around were laughing with delight, rushing to be the next in line for a speedy and vigorous trip down the water slides.
Passing this scene, Jill and I followed Mom to the kiddie area. Spread out before me was a large, shallow impression filled with a foot or two of cold, chlorinated water. This wading pool was complete with some cute springy toys and a fountain of water, but the real focal point was a pair of whimsical slides, just my size! The first took the form of a friendly pink dinosaur with yellow polka dots scattered down its back. A larger slide, which was a slippery green frog, crouched on my right and seemed to taunt me with his protruding tongue. He looked close to formidable with his big bulging eyes staring at nothing. Intimidated, I went to introduce myself to Mr. Dinosaur first.
Sliding down the dinosaur's smooth, wet tail was fun for a while, but I soon lost interest. For a change, I determinedly set out to confront that insolent toad. As I sat in the mouth of the beast, my pluck vanished, but sheer will pushed me forward the one inch I needed to slip down. What a feeling! Besides conquering my fear and reluctance, I had discovered a thrill I had not know before! This made me eager to try more slides outside the small scale of the familiar kiddie zone.
I agreed to go with my dad on a few trips down one of the white slides I had seen the lively kids line up for. My nervousness of going down the “big kid” slide was lessened as I was tucked safely in Dad’s lap the whole way down. It was a brand new sensation and I was drinking up the gleefulness in every second of it. Unfortunately, a dad’s lap is available for only so long. Since I had nowhere else to go, It was back to the kiddie pool for me.
I was not a baby and I was getting tired of the now disdainfully small slides in the kiddie area; I needed a change in scenery. My chance for another ride came when Mom invited me to go on a good-sized slide with her. There I was, sitting at the top of the steep slope, about to push off. Seeing the water churn below made me fidgety, but it was too late to change my mind! Panicking, I hit the water going full speed. The butterflies in my stomach were making such a ruckus that I had forgotten to hold my breath! My nose was waterlogged and I was just miserable. I was sure that everyone was having a good time but me, especially Jill.
Jill had always been the brave one. Distressed, I returned once again to the "baby" slides, while Dad took her on a slide farther up the hill. It was so far up that I couldn't even see where they went; as I saw it my choices were to either stay at the wading pool and be bored to tears, or risk drowning again by going after my dad. Sadly, my fear of taking risks depressed my appetite for thrills. Being cautious should have a limit, but I never learned this until much later in life.
It was almost time to go, and Dad was heading toward the big slide one last time. I gasped as I realized that this would be my last chance to go with him today, for the the rest of the week, the rest of the year, and maybe my whole life! Making my decision, I pattered up the sopping cement walkway after him. My bare feet, tender from so much wear and tear that day, were sensitive to its texture. Clouds had begun to gather in the sky and were blotting out the sun; a chill wind whispered across my damp skin, sending goosebumps down my arms and legs. After going only a little ways, I had lost sight of my dad and saw only strangers. If only I could have caught him! But it was too late, and my chance was gone forever, so I thought.
My disappointment was acute, and I expressed this to my mother in a 4-year-old sort of way. Mom was very understanding and gentle with me, putting my mind at peace by making me understand that missing out on only one slide should not be enough to ruin my day. There might be a time when I could come back and start over.
Mom was right, of course. I was at Slide Waters only several years ago and enjoyed every single slide the park had to offer to the max, especially those that seemed most daunting. My lesson may not have been learned as a little girl, but today I can surprise myself by mustering up just a bit more courage, however guarded it may be, that helps me take part in new and exciting activities without always being afraid. Although I don't plan on going skydiving or bungee jumping any time soon, and I may still be hesitant of boarding a roller coaster at an amusement park, I am now able to do things I wouldn't have dreamed of doing five years ago. When I do have the guts to hop on that roller coaster, I will always have the satisfaction of saying, "I did it!" and maybe admit that I enjoyed the ride, too.
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• Feb. 17, 2009
Don't Be a Snoop!
Don’t Be a Snoop!
By Jill
Back in the year of 1960, my Grandfather, whom I call Opa, stumbled into some pretty unfortunate trouble. It was a crisp Fall morning, and his Dad, Helmut, had gone to work and left Opa to rake and burn the leaves in their front yard. Little did he know that this would be a source of his problem later that night. Later that evening, his friend Harvey Daniel called.
“Hey Al” Harvey greeted. “Do you want to go for a ride around town? John will be coming with us, and I’ll pick you up in my car.”
“Sure,” he replied. “I’ll be ready when you get here.”
As they were cruising around in Harv’s 1957 Chevy, the friends noticed a pavement driveway with many trees around it. The friends, who where curious, decided to check out where it would lead. As they drove up the drive, they spotted an old carriage house and decided to park and look around. Because there was a turntable inside of it the garage, it indicated that the owners were once probably wealthy. Together they stepped out and caught sight of a huge abandoned mansion nearby. On the second floor of the large mansion, they noticed together a small flickering glow, as one in a fireplace. They realized that maybe the mansion was not notably abandoned, and that some one would catch them snooping!
Just as they hopped into Harv’s Chevy, a police car drove up the driveway. The policeman got out of his car and ordered them out as well.
“What are you doing here?” He asked sternly.
“Just checking the place out” The friends replied innocently. The policeman wasn’t satisfied, and again asked them what they were doing there. Again they answered that they were just looking around. Finally, he asked a third time,
“What are you doing here? Don’t you know this is deserted property?”
Suddenly, it dawned on them at the same time! And Opa defended;
“Wait, if the property is deserted, then why is there a fire up in that window?”
Immediately, the police got on his radio and called the fire station, and told suspects to keep their hands up as he searched their clothes. Immediately he discovered matches in Opa’s pocket that he used that morning for burning leaves. He also smelled like smoke, which caused further suspicion. Fire trucks approached with sirens blaring and lights flashing, along with several other police cars. Because of the commotion, neighbors came out of their homes and crowded around the excitement. Opa and his friends, who were startled at the turns of events, weren’t worried or scared. Out of the crowd stepped another friend of the three, equipped and thinking that he was a wise guy said, “Setting houses on fire again, are you?” As Opa was suspected of setting the fire, the three were driven to the Grosse Point Police Headquarters.
They were all questioned in different cubicles to discern if their story was true. Because the boys were found innocent, the police drove them back to their car they had left at the mansion. Eventually, they learned that some old compressed paint rags in a closet, which caused combustion, started the fire. Back then; police did not contact parents to tell them what trouble their misbehaving kids were in. Opa, who didn’t want to lose his cruising rights, didn’t tell them right away either. Opa did learn though, that snooping around could often lead to undesirable circumstances.
December 2008
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• Feb. 16, 2009
Don't Play with Matches!
Don’t play with Matches!
By Jill H.
When my Dad was young he was curious. He liked to experiment with fire even though his mom told him “Don’t play with matches!” One summer, when he was 12, his experiment could have been tragic.
One day when no one was home my dad went to the garage and got some gasoline and an empty coffee can. He then went to the backyard and put the gasoline in the can. He lit a match and stepped back, waiting for an explosion. To his surprise, nothing happened. He tried a second time. Nothing. On the third try, it lit. He stood there looking at the small flames for a few seconds, feeling disappointed.
Then, hoping to make bigger flames, he kicked the can. Flames burst into the air, rising higher and higher every second until they reached fifteen feet! Not only were the flames out of control; they were alarmingly close to the house. He thought quick and dashed into the house. Right in front of him was the pantry. He remembered that baking soda could put out fires. He grabbed some and ran back outside. He dumped it all over the fire, then used the hose and sprayed water until it was one big, gooey, white mess.
He cleaned it up but never mentioned that he almost burned the house down until he was thirty years old. By then, he knew that a spanking would be out of the question. Now he tells us “Don’t play with matches!”
December 2006
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• Feb. 16, 2009
A Story In My Life
A Story in My Life
By Jill H.
One fall morning when I was eight years old, I looked out my bedroom window and saw a white and orange tabby cat. I was happy to see my new cat friend again. It came before when Cassie and I were playing on the swing set, and I quickly made friends with it. I hastened down the stairs and outside.
My mom and Cassie came outside to inspect this new stranger. I looked at them and told them how I found him when I felt a sharp stab in my finger. I screamed as I turned around and saw that the cat had bitten my finger! The startled cat ran away as Mom helped me inside to put a band-aid on my wound.
A few minutes later a car drove up, and it happened to be our friend Alice, who was a nurse. She looked at my wound as mom told her what just took place. She said I would have to go to the doctor because it looked bad. But in the meantime I soaked it in water.
At the hospital, the doctor said it was a deep cat bite and I might need an operation. I was scared to have an operation but mom said she would get me a brand new toy if I thought it would make me feel better. In awhile the doctor checked it again but said I was fine. We were all thankful that I didn’t need an operation. But then again, if God hadn’t sent Alice over that day, I would have had a brand new toy.
December 2006
