Like Fireflies I Always Come Back

Sheri Reynolds

Due to drinking coffee after five, I didn’t stumble off to bed until the wee hours in the morning. I curled up with a book written by Sheri Reynolds. Hannah, “Firefly Cloak” is another must read on your list. Her imagination is mind boggling and with this, as with her other books, there is a message that doesn’t get lost in the insanity. The book starts out with Travis and Tessie being left in a campground by their mother. Fortunately the mother had the sense to write her mother’s phone number on Travis’ back in black magic marker. Tessie and Travis were taken to their grandparent’s home where they were raised. From CIA bomb carrying baby birds to discovering their mother is a mermaid this book does not let you down. Brilliant, imaginative, poetic are just a few adjectives to describe this book. Like “Bitterroot Landing” and “The Rapture of Canaan” Sheri Reynolds wrote another novel to be remembered.



The Shirt

My daughter gave me a wonderful gift, a bright orange shirt that I would estimate its age at 8 years. To the human eye it shows its age sadly with worn out places and stretched out sleeves. To those that know, it carries tears, laughter, fears, and two hearts on its sleeve.



It is a magical shirt, that when you put it on it will take you back in time when life was bittersweet. It transports you back in time and if you close your eyes a slideshow of memories occurs. My memories, when I slip it on is of two brown hair teenage girls, rutted, washed out roads, beer can alley, a house by the river, and dreams of vineyards. I remember tie dying t-shirts in the basement, those crazy girls jumping in the lake in February, laughter, and the love two girls had for each other. My daughter’s memories are hers to tell.



From its beginnings of production to being taken home this shirt has traveled. It was a gift, to my daughter, along with a lock of long brown hair. It has been worn with pride to being held by a sad eyed brown hair girl. It absorbed her tears, her laughter, her memories, and when she slipped it on it felt to her that she was being hugged once again by her best friend.



Watching my daughter and her friend, I found out what friendship really means. I also found a person, a young teenager that had the ability to accept her fate, and had the ability to explain it to her friend in a way that I have never seen or witnessed. Her life was not a long good-bye, it was a daily hello.



Hannah, I love and miss you.

The Weather

We didn’t get any snow, not even a flake but enough rain fell to encourage the plants to grow. There is snow on the mountains and that is enough snow for me.

The Dream

Every once in a while my daughter, Hannah will send me one of her dreams for me to analyze. I am not an expert by any means but I have been pretty good at doing this. I have a dream for Hannah and others if they wish to try to figure this dream out. I rarely dream but when I do it is something that makes me scratch my head. This dream is a little embarrassing. I found a turd. Don’t know where it was, it was just there. I realize that this could come from Surely’s amazing abilities to poo 5 times a day. This rather innocuous turd suddenly sprouted a Furbie head but it was an angry Furbie head. Then bat wings sprouted from its side and that was enough to wake me up and make me sit up. This is not a good thing if you are sleeping in a bunk bed.

The Recipe

Crock Pot Recipe For Jolie

4 cups Chicken broth

1 can Cream of mushroom soup

1 16 ounces sauerkraut, rinse -- drain

8 ounces fresh mushrooms -- slice

1 medium Potato -- cut small cubes

3 medium Carrots -- chopped

1 medium Onion -- chopped

2 Ribs celery -- chopped

3/4 pound Smoked Polish sausage -- cube

1/2 cup Chicken; cooked -- chopped

2 tablespoons Vinegar

1 teaspoon Dried dill weed

1/2 teaspoon Pepper

Combine all ingredients in a 3 to 4-qt Crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours or until veggies are tender.