Passions Of those Anderson Girls

The strength of the Oak Tree Is a symbol of Family, a block print by N Roncketti

Keeping  Mother’s Research

Keeping  a daily journal has always been something that my family did. In fact, I know it goes back generations. My Grandmother had a trunk full of Journals from her ancestors and herself when she past away. My mother inherited many of them and some were sent to my Uncle Roy. Now some are stored in my sister Peggy’s garage in an old trunk along with my Mothers old Journals.

My Little Writers writing

 
I remember getting my first Diary when I was 5 years old. It was white with gold trim and it had a lock with a key. I was so excited to write my thoughts every night before I went to bed. I watched my Mom and Grandmother do that and I felt like it was such a grown up thing to do. I never read my Mom’s writing until much later in my life, but she wrote many stories based on her daily journals. I don’t think I really appreciated her writing as much as I do now. Maybe it’s just something older people get off on, but reading her stories now is different, now that I have spent some time writing myself. The old stories and pictures of where my Mom came from and those of my grandmothers and even the older ones from my great grandfather and his brother, Nathanial an artist In Lamar, Colorado. Old news paper articles about my Dad’s Dad and his restaurant and truck stop in Fremont Nebraska, they all give me this kind of understanding about who I am and how far my family has come, It’s so interesting to me now to see the evolution of our family and know our history.

Before my Mom died she was frantic about losing her research for a story she was writing. She kept trying to keep it in order. She kept it all in a Tupperware container. It was a story about Admiral Byrd and his trip to the center of the earth. My Mom had worked for Jeppesen Mapping Company in Denver when she was in her 30’s and I believe she met Admiral Byrd at that time. I think she had a life long crush on him and found excitement in his discoveries. I sent the research to a friend who belonged to the Middle Earth Society to see if there was any information that was printable- "No there wasn’t" she said, but I still have her Tupperware container and though all the pages were mixed up, (she kept it with her even in the nursing home until she had no idea what it was!) all her research was kept in that box, in the basket of her walker. Even when she ran away from the nursing home her story went with her!
My friend Laura Hendrie a writer I met when I was caring for my Mom, went to see her a couple times a week and they talked about her “research” and writing. She would perk up to tell me about their visits. I owe a lot to Laura, and I thank her again for what she did. Laura has written a few books I just finished "Remember Me" and  "Stygo"  is a favorite.

I feel like my Mother’s research should have been sprinkled with her ashes.

Laura Hendrie,You can order her books in any bookstore.

There is something so very personal about the written word. A part of you goes into the page. Maybe no one will ever read it, which really isn’t the point; it’s the writer writing and the emotion in putting the words out into the universe that gives you a sense of foreverness. Maybe that’s why so many old people write their memoirs. Of course there are many people who are so fascinating you really want to hear their stories. My family had stories but living through the Dust Bowl Days and The Depression and Cowboys Life on the Range, wasn’t really interesting to me, at least not when my Mom was writing about them. I know what I write about is not really  interesting to most people but I can’t stop the words from coming!

Scrap booking is such a rage for some these days. Crafting the perfect pages is so cutsie to me. I thought I would never do that. When I was about 10 my Great Aunt Madge gave each of my sisters and I a scrapbook that she had made of old cards and newspaper clippings and post cards that she had saved over her life. I thought then it was so cool that she had made all of them and that they were all so different. I wish that I had kept it now, but some where in my traveling it was lost. I think my sister Peggy still has hers. I want to think Blogging is Queen of like scrapbooking without the cutsie!!

I clip things that are interesting to me out of magazines and I make Idea Books and Cookbooks it’s all pretty much a waste of time except when I need an idea or a recipe! I sit here nearly every morning for a couple hours purging words or cutting and pasting. Many say my words should only be written in my journal, and maybe that’s where my Mothers words should have stayed too, but I sit and write, to you and the universe. This is what trips my trigger.

Peggy Lee  with her brand new Gibson

The Sisters

I have wanted to write about my sisters for the longest time. I think they are strong fascinating and creative women.
   Peggy Lee was always my sister in crime. Growing up only a year apart we shared everything, Peggy started writing songs and playing the guitar when we were in high school. She also learned to play the piano by making a cardboard cut out of the piano keys and she would sit and “practice” on cardboard without the sound. She wrote about love. She played in a band or two and she even made an album, vinyl the old style. I was so proud of her for her song writing. Having 2 beautiful daughters, Millicent and Cindy, at a young age seemed to intensify her ambition for music and a career. Sometimes a strong passion for something takes you to places you don't mean to go and are misunderstood. Mistakes that are difficult to overcome. Believe me I have made mine! Maybe Peggy's second marriage was only to increase her music skills and to produce the only beautiful baby boy in our family, in that generation! Adam. Adam was the last of my sister’s children and he deserves a story of his own someday. 

  I don’t think Peggy writes as much any more, but she has kept up with her music skills over the years, besides the guitar and the piano, she plays the flute and the cello, I love to hear her sing and play. She has a beautiful voice that changes her personality when the melodies drift out of her lips. I myself was not as musical but I loved playing the clarinet and the saxophone in the marching band when I was in grade school, Later I tried the Banjo, with lessons from Banjo Bill, an icon who played banjo for years in Victor Colorado, at the Victor Hotel, (He asked me to marry him, why I didn’t I'll never know!) The washtub base I played during my Palmer Lake days when I was pregnant. That was quite a spectacle in my overall skirt And Carlee’s Dad at the guitar. Later the harmonica caught me and my favorite number was “Kinda Fond’a Wanda” by Neil Young! I called myself an Axe Woman for a while!

   Peggy also developed her talent for sewing. Through a home based business in quilting and design she has been quite successful. She owns a quilt machine with a 14-foot arm so she can do quilting of king size quilts professionally. She also shares a space with other juried artists in The Spanish Village, which is a part of the Balboa Park and the San Diego Art Museum. Check out Peggy at quiltarte@zhibit.org. She has some very unique pieces of fabric fun including horsehair felting and flower dyed quilts. She also teaches her craft at the Spanish Village Square.
Sewing was after her 30-year career in Jewelry making and Gemology, she began making Indian Jewelry right after high school in a shop in Manitou, CO. She had her own shop in El Cajon,CA and was making beautiful pieces when divorce took her shop and tools away. She still works in a jewelry store, but she needs to have the ability for expression that working for yourself gives.I believe she is doing appraisals now.

Judith Kay and her great smile

                                       
 


  During all this writing, artistry and music making my youngest sister, Judith Kay was growing up with a furious passion for horses. She kept a trunk of equestrian paraphernalia, brushes, combs, leads, halters, books, and blankets. She had a couple of horse dolls from the time she was very young and she would get all the adornments for her toys. Her first real horse was a pregnant Shetland pony she caught at a rodeo. That caused my Mother quite a stir as we lived in an apartment with nowhere to keep it! The horse passion still burns in Judy. She and another woman started the LA Equestrian News Paper. Judy worked as the Art Director for the Paper, and now she handles a web-based business ushorse.biz and does freelance illustration and graphic design. Judy has done an awesome job with her writing and illustration work, not to mention her Fine Art and Photography. Her dedication is so unique and unbelievable. Judy went to Art Center, In Pasadena and has studied with some very fine artists, I recall Herman Raymond for one and her watercolor series of Blues Singers was phenomenal and my favorite.
Judy was married to Dennis Walker who filled her life with music and blues! As a blues producer and writer, bass player, piano player, etc. he has quite a career with interesting and colorful personalities. Clearly he brought passion for music into her life, along with increasing the rest of the family's passion for music.
  Her present husband, Peter works for Universal Studios as an Art Director for movies and episodic TV and Is now working on the remake of Hawaii Five 0. We are all so excited to see the new show and wonder what Peter will do next! 
Peter has done some special effects in remodeling on their home in Glendale, CA also. As a gardener and gourmet cook he spices up Judy’s life. And his children gave her a ready made family.

Judy rides Dressage and practices daily with her Hanoverians, a breed of horse from Germany. Peggy also loves horses and rode with her husband Roy Caballero as mounted police officers for San Diego Police Department. Roy works for a construction company in San Diego County and he also has a special flare for cooking! He was born in Mexico and his authentic Mexican cuisine is very yummy. Roy and Peggy also did a huge remodle on their home (the home where Gregory Peck was born, they call it the Peck House!) Peggy keeps her horses in her back yard and loves them like children! 
My sisters and their families are very talented and wonderful people I respect and love them very much. They're support and patient understanding means the world to me. I wish everyday that evolution didn’t mean living so far from the ones I love! I just want to go have coffee with my sisters in the worst way.

My oldest sister Sue Ellen always has been somewhat distant, trying to keep in contact with her is always a puzzle. She has lived for the past 15 years on Orcas Island in the San Juan’s near Seattle. I’m not sure why she has isolated herself from the rest of the family and I don’t really have a clue why she has no desire to know and love her fabulously talented and caring sisters and their families, maybe it has something to do with having to spend so much of her childhood babysitting the rest of us, and though she hasn’t kept in touch I just bet that she writes. And I bet music is in her blood and there is color and beauty around her. She is a vital part of this Peppersauce Family and I hope someday she will find her way home.
  I feel like writing about my sisters does not really do them justice They are such real and special friends but this is a quick glimpse into my family and selected memories shares a little bit about who we are and where we came from. 

We are all very different and we live very different lives but there is this thread of similarity that runs thru us and connects us in ways that only families share. We are a Peppersauce Family that grew from the Peppersauce Bottom in Southern Colorado on the Arkansas River. Four women raised by women, with a strength and understanding that was breed into us. My sisters carry the passion of  wild mustangs and the pallet of a sunset in a mountain canyon, music in their hearts and a sense of communication that we all welcome the chance to share. I hope you have enjoyed my story; it’s been so long since I’ve written and please check out our web sites and spend some time telling your story to someone you love.

My Mom and I The Last Good Picture!

Ms Peppersauce Bottom Does Halloween Tricks

Last but not least is Ms Gracie Grassroots

The Grandmother Spirit lives on forever!

The Grandmothers live a Green life-Protecting the Earth and the people

The Fairy Grandmothers life in Peppersauce Bottom on the Arkansas River

Chapter 7 Ms Gracie Grassroots

   Gracie, Gracie, Gracie! What would we do without Gracie? Gracie has the bed and breakfast at the Peppersauce Ranch or like we called it back in the day, a boarding house trailer. Her’s is a two story and she always has a bed ready for a passerby. Gracie is getting back to basics, She has a cow, Bossy and a goat Sassafras and the big red hen Squawks and the little piggy, Buttons. She is also a weaver and a baker like Ms Lucy and now she is into preserving and she puts up tomatoes, corn, peas, apples and peaches and plums and the Peppersauce peppers and chilies and whatever is abundant in the crops. Lucy makes cheese, yogurt and butter out of the goat milk and the cow’s milk. She is so busy all the time I don’t know how she has time to make up special pies to sell for the church or to pack up boxes for a friend! But She does that too!
  Gracie weaves pillow tops and blankets and special pieces of art. She is very crafty, that Gracie! She is learning how to crochet and make little slippers for all the Grandmothers. I can’t wait to get mine!
  Gracie wears Capri’s and little home made shirts with and apron just about all the time now, except on Sunday when she puts on her dress, with an apron. She wears high top sneakers and a scarf in her hair. Gracie Makes you laugh. Her nose and eyes crinkle up and she giggles and you just laugh with her. She IS very special.
  Gracie defiantly loves the Mountains. Living on the front range of the Rocky Mountains you can never get lost, you just look up and there you are! Gracie really likes this because she tends to get lost. Then the Grandmothers have to send out an alert to gather the teams to go find Gracie. It just hardly happens any more. Gracie has found her points of reference! Her Faith will pull her through.
 Gracie really has gotten back to basics, it’s funny how all the grandmothers can be so different and still be such good friends. If you knew them you would love to sit in the branches of the apple tree and look down at the little Ranch. There is always an opening at the Peppersauce Bottom Ranch for more Fairy Grandmothers or visitors tell me about your rig and yourself and we will make room for you at the PSB Ranch!

  Of course ALL the grandmothers are special and all Grandmothers are different but best of all Grandmothers are magical. You see, there will be more stories about the Grandmothers, Grand Mothers never really die they just acquire little wings and become smaller in size but that’s only so it’s easier to make wishes come true, so we will never run out of the Grandmothers’ stories because they are never ending!

It's Ms Lucy Larkspur

Ms lucy Larkspur's Tipi and Ms Gracie Grassroots Boarding Trailer

Chapter 6 Ms Lucy Larkspur

   It’s not so hard to spot the Tipi from the lofty apple tree branches the white color and the triangular shape exposed by the early morning sun makes the visions of the grandmother spirit clearly defined as the trails of the old ones weave around the canvas. Ms Lucy so patient and calm has always carried the grandmother spirit. She is tall and thin and her long blonde hair trails down her back. Her costume is plain and simple a pair of Levi’s and a worn but warm sweatshirt, a kind of rough ruggedness in a peaceful way. She can pack up her tipi in a flash and load it on a small cart that is pulled by her white horse, a beautiful sweet horse named Cloud and a strong horse, a Paint named Lightening. Ms Lucy, Lightening and Cloud live a simple and easy life now and the land is their playground. Searching for arrowheads and Indian relics, old Tipi circles and rocks is their pleasure. Ms Lucy makes artificial body parts for people who are broken. She is a whit’ler and an artist and she can make you strong in no time flat. She also weaves and makes beautiful blankets she trades for what she needs and maybe a beer now and again! Ms Lucy Larkspur lives the old culture, she loves solitude and meditation, strength and perseverance but mind you she has a cowgirl streak, I call it rowdy! And there is something that changes when the Grandmothers all get together it is a powerful site! Darn right powerful. The color of the air changes, the old women turn to young vibrant passionate strong souls, look out! The Boots come on!
  Anyway, Ms Lucy a caring compassionate understanding Grandmother you want to visit every day. A cup of coffee in the morning with Lucy will put you on your way knowing someone is on your side all day, Ms Lucy loves to bake bread and she once made her own crackers to share, I wonder if I could get her recipe? And she like all the grandmothers loves to make green chili, the campsite favorite meal.
   Ms Lucy has been quite inspirational in getting the Peppersauce Bottom Ranch under way. She has great ideas and she already has a camp the Grandmothers stay at every now and again. The grandmothers pack up and take a road trip to Hartsel for the annual Chicks in the Sticks Camp Out. They owe a lot to Ms Lucy Larkspur!

Meet Ms Ruby Hot Rocks

Ms Bunny Bugles and Ms Ruby Hot Rocks Homes at The Peppersauce Bottom Ranch

Ms Ruby Hot Rocks

Chapter 5 Ms Ruby Hot Rocks

  Ms Ruby Hot Rocks is a famous designer of rock. She builds large signs by blasting words into the rock, She glues rocks onto other rocks to make a sculpture design sometimes she adds clay or fabric or wood or even iron to her designs. Ms Ruby also does jewelry in glass and beads and other items like ceramic pots, dishes, platters and bowels, but that is not all! Ms Ruby does dolls and Inko dyes and quilts and sewing, and she builds furniture and this probably is n't near the end of what she can do. She is an artist by trade and a multi-talented Fairy Grandmother. She also likes to sail her boat out on Lake Pueblo. Ms Ruby is a rotund woman like Ms Peppersauce Bottom and she loves comfort. Her clothing is loose and flowy and brightly colored and she moves quickly and has determination in every step.
   Ms Ruby is a “DOG” person, seven in all and though she is quite talented there is chaos around her always! The other grandmothers wonder how she manages to do so much with all the chaos! I think it inspires her. She sleeps in a big old feather bed with all, yes all 7 of the dogs. There’s Sparkle and Champy, Mugji, Muffin and Zeke (a rooster cat goat Terrier mix) and Boo and Lolly, A big pack of little dogs all a mixture of Terriers and Beagles. 
 The grandmothers gather at the big caldron pot every morning for coffee and breakfast and all the dogs’ dash away to the big prairie where they chase each other and run so fast nipping at each other’s tails.Watching the dogs run makes me shiver with delight Even the Horses and Spicy and Sassafras the goats, the old milk goats, and Bossy the old milk cow get all excited and join in the chase. When the dogs run in the morning the chickens in the chicken coop jump and flutter their wings and Buttons the pig rolls in the mud, every one is awake and ready for adventure, will today be the day? Will the Grandmothers pack up the casitas and take a road trip?

Oh Yes, Inspiration yes, yes, Back to Ms Ruby. She flows in her little batik print dress and her Hawaiian Shirt and her Birkenstock (little Sandals) She Is a Picture, indeed! And a great sailboat Captain too! Eye Eye Ruby Hot Rocks Cap’ in, and she is off with the grandmothers. Ms Ruby’s little casita has a rock front and real Rubies are mixed in with the rock that dazzles in the sun. A large wooden door carved out by Ms Ruby herself and a big welcome sign adorn her front porch, Her casita is like a big tunnel inside with rock walls and big wooden beams, She also has a big red couch that she shares with all the dogs too. The other end of her casita has a sauna, A Room that fills with steam from the little rock stove where water is dripped across the rocks to make steam and heat that cleanses your skin and warms your bones. Grandmothers just love that, too! They sit naked in the sauna and sweat. The steam heat clouds the little room and after awhile they run and jump into the swimming whole they have carved out of the little river, Cold icy water but just a quick dip then, then back to the old comfy chairs by the caldron pot to warm by the fire.
  Ms Ruby and the next 2 grandmothers, Ms Lucy Larkspur and Ms Gracie Grassroots along with Ms Peppersauce Bottom have had a close bond. They were really the inspiration for this tale I’m telling you. Their lives have interconnected and lasted for many, many years. They shared many ups and downs and kept a close friendship throughout time. Why Peppersauce Bottom Ranch came to be, pert'near from their shenanigans!

Ruby Works in Carhearts and a blaster Rod

 Ruby's extra clothes

                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Meet Ms Bunny Bugles alias Melody Meadowlark

 Chapter 4 MS Bunny Bugles alias Ms Melody Meadowlark

   The casita on the other side of Ms Peppersauce belongs to Ms Bunny, Ms Bunny is a little tricky but she loves to travel, sing and bake cakes, beautiful big cakes with lot’s of sweet frosting and beautifully decorated. Ms Bunny has those funny little teeth (buglers) that make her just belt out the songs and there is always a party around her, singing, dancing and all the merriment. She is so much fun to be around that all the Grandmothers enjoy a grand time in her company. Did I say Ms Bunny plays the piano? She dose, quite well. She knows all the tunes from time but her absolute favorite song is “I got my Thrill on Blueberry Hill!” She plays and sings long into the night. Her Casita is a 2 story with a big front porch with a porch swing and a wide French doors and a player piano, it plays songs on paper rolls that feed through and make the notes play magically. They were wonderful back in the day!
   Ms Bunny has a big bag that Ms Peppersauce made her to carry around her magical talent. Yes, yes, we will come to that part latter. Ms Melody Meadowlark as she likes to be called, is her show name. She is an actress and a singer and all the Grandmothers just love to watch her perform, especially at the Melodramas. She is a Tallish, grand Woman, striking and groomed and people take notice when she enters a room. She wears Bling, lots of shine and jewelry that pop out at you as you can’t keep your eyes off of her. She has a magnificent colored light around her. Her dress and shawl flow in the breeze as she twirls past you and her dress swishes by. Elegant, elegant woman, she is.
   Ok, the big bag is a healing bag. Ms Bunny has medicine in her bag. It will make you well if you are sick and happy if you are sad and full of energy if you are tired. It will make you eat when you can’t and if your tummy feels upset and you need some help it will help you BUT this is important you never take medicine when you are by yourself you always need someone to help you and sit with you and Ms Bunny will do that! You just have to ask, and quick as a bunny wink she is there by your side.
   Ms Bunny has a roof top garden where she grows herbs and spices that will fill her bag with flavors and scents and tinctures and rubs all medicine for her bag or sometimes for the big caldron the grandmothers cook in.
   Ms Bunny surely loves to travel pert’near everywhere. She loves to see how other people live, and what they eat, and sing in lands around the world. The grandmothers love to hear her stories but not as much as they love her famous double chocolate fudge cake with the creamy fluffy chocolate cream cheese frosting!
So after we finish this big slice of chocolaty heaven we will travel down the rocky path to the next casita, where we find another party place, Ms Ruby Hot Rocks!

Meet Ms Bee N Serene

Ms Bee N Serene

Chapter 3 Ms Bee N. Serene

  The next Grandmother lives in between Ms Honey Garden and Ms Peppersauce Bottom. She is Ms Bee N. Serene. Her Casita sparkles from the refection of the Sun. It is made of Aluminum and is polished to perfection; though it’s small it’s very comfy inside. The bees and butterflies all are attracted by the shinny surface and the refection of all the flower

Ms Bee's Dress and D

 blossoms. Even the Hunnybirds like to build nests in her window covers. Ms Bee has no pets so the little flying bugs and birds are very welcome at Ms Bees.
   Ms Bee is a lovely old Grandmother with white hair and blue eyes. She is shortish and rounder than Honey Garden but not as rotund as Ms Peppersauce Bottom! Ms Bee likes to drum. She has a few different drums and you can hear her out in the forest making the drumming sounds of many Grandmothers before her. Drumming is a prelude to dance, and when she gets going on her rhythms all the Grandmothers cannot help themselves, they get up and dance. Sometimes in the summer and fall the Grandmothers gather on a mountaintop and look into the stars while they sit and contemplate the world and the big “circle of Fire” that illuminates the forest around them. Ms Bee is a healer of sorts and a blessing to have in your company. She wears a large brimmed straw hat with ribbons and flowers and Mexican striped serape around her shoulders with long floral print dresses and Mary Jane shoes. Crystals and brightly colored stones adorn her neck, ears, fingers, and wrists. She is not flashy exactly but she is thoughtfully put together. MS bee is a creator also; she loves to make a creation to give as a gift. Ms Peppersauce has many of her creations hanging on her walls and shelves. Their friendship has not been long but it has been very fruitful. Once they planted sacred stones and wishes all over the mountains to make good fortune come to the land. I’m thinking they should do it again!
   Ms Bee is also a diviner and she can find water with the “shaking of the sticks.” This can be very helpful because living on the river sometimes the water is going to rise! And fall!! Sometimes when there is a full moon you can find Ms Bee and the Fairy Grandmothers up on the highest mountain peaks with a large fire circle and visions of the older grandmothers sitting at their fire too, drumming, chanting and praying for all of life’s goodness to be bestrode upon the lands. Ms Bee is a leader and inspiration to all. Maybe that is why all the birds and butterflies and dragonflies are always around her dashing from flower to flower between Ms Bee and Ms Honey’s garden. I need to point out that Ms Bee is also quite good at decorating and she puts some fantastic colors and ideas together. Her Casita is so beautiful and arrangements fit the space so perfectly. All the grandmothers respect Ms Bee so very much.

Meet Ms Honey Garden

Ms Honey Garden 

Chapter 2  Ms. Peppersauce Bottom’s introduces Ms Honey Garden

  I want to introduce you to the Grandmothers that travel and work wishes with Ms Peppersauce Bottom, Ms Honey Garden has lived and worked with Ms Peppersauce since the beginning of time. Ms Honey Garden is kind of a curmudgeon some times and she gets into lots of trouble but she always has an immaculate casita and the best green house and garden you have ever seen. Ms Peppersauce always over looks her indescrepancies because she loves her like a sister, they have been friends ever since they were young Fairies. They learned the art of Fairyism together.

  Ms Honey Garden is just the opposite of a sweet old women and she is not a chubby fairy either. But she is a filterer. She is constantly flittering and pulling weeds. In fact she moves so fast that it's like she has an extra set of legs. She is up and down so fast. But that’s what makes her Garden the best in the west. She flitters so fast you can hardly see when she bends down to pick weeds, then as fast as that she is back up again!
  One thing about Ms Honey, she has a great sense of humor and she does belly laughs! The kind that make you roll on the floor and laugh until you pee. She is tallish and thinnish and very preened but she always has a few spots of garden dirt on her face and hands. She wears high quality Gear from the Old Gear Shop; she has a connection there. Sweet little t-shirts and comfy shorts or a longish skirt and usually hiking boots that is what you see her wearing, out in the garden. She wears a gathering vest, Ms Peppersauce Bottom made especially for her that accommodates her harvests. It has many little pockets that separate the herbs, nuts, fruit and veggies as she picks each little morsel for the big cooking pot or the next baking or a great big fresh salad.
  Ms Honey has a big brick oven in her casita that is the best for her famous oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies or big loafs of crusty warm bread or even a pizza now and again. Her brownish hair kind of layers around her long thin face and her eyes crinkle and sparkle as she passes around her platter of cookies.
  She also has a wonderful window garden on the front of her casita. A regular little greenhouse filled to the brim with her herbs and spices growing fresh along with onions and radishes and crispy salad greens. Ms Honey loves Sweet Potatoes better than anything. She grows those too along with a sweet potato vine that winds around the whole inside of her home. Ms Honey loves sweet potatoes more than anything, anything except her garter snake, Peaceful. Peaceful sleeps in the pocket of her vest, when he isn't in the garden looking for a tasty mouse or rat that is scavenging, hissss... tender baby plants,! Then of course her hound dog Elitches, a pounsy puppy that is up and down faster than a roller-coaster, but he keeps up with Ms Honey and the three, they are a team!

Ms Peppersauce Bottom

Ms. Peppersauce Bottom and her band of Fairy Grandmothers

  Out of the top of the Rocky Mountains near the Continental Divide there babbles a brook of icy cold, clear water that flows into deep valleys winding down into a river known as the Arkansa. Down through the town of Leadville, Buena Vista and Salida, past Cotopaxi and Canyon City, out on to the southern plains of Pueblo and Rocky Ford to Lamar. Then the river flows on into Kansas, eventually into the Missouri River, and the Mississippi out into the Gulf of Mexico.

  Just outside of the small town of Florence, before the river runs into the city of Pueblo there is a grassy knoll where large Pine trees and Scrub Oak and Aspen trees reach down to the edge of the Arkansas River. Rocks of red and smokey crystals line pockets of bubbling swirling water. Flecks of gold sparkle in the sun, reflections of real nuggets of gold, down on the bottom of the rushing creek waters. If you sit down on those rocks at the edge of the water you can hear the very small wee happy sounds of the Grandmothers, singing, whistling and making music while they busy themselves with chores. Decorating, gardening and preparing foods, some to be stored for the winter months, this is how they live, along with other various magical things they do. I cannot speak about the mystical stuff until I know you better!

  Ms. Peppersauce Bottom is a Fairy Grandmother, the Grandmothers are sometimes hard to spot because they blend in so easy in the rays of Sun, one minuet you see them and the next they are gone. Ms. Peppersauce Bottom is always dressed in brightly colored swatches of glistening fabrics and floral arrangements, she puts together herself. Stripes and polka-dots, laces, beads, feathers with scarfs, bows and ruffles and of course Peppers! Peppers are every where. How those little wings hold her up above the ground and let her dart from place to place faster than a hunnybird, I’ll never know.

  Today is one of those sunny days when it is particularly difficult to watch her work, She flits from the rocking chair on her front porch to the garden out in the grassy knoll and back to her kitchen, then to the porch where she grabs her fishing poll quickly to snag the trout as it jumps to get away. Now mind you, she is very obese and she loves her biscuits and gravy but those little wings just flutter so fast when she dashes around you that all you see is a spark of light but you feel her warmth as the air stirs around your cheeks. Old Fairy Grandmothers do things like that down where Ms Peppersauce Bottom lives.

  The Fairy Grandmothers live very simply, and very green. They love the Pine Forest and the scrub oak trees and the glittering golden Aspens. And their village is notched out of the red rock and the clay and if you climb up in the apple tree beside the bank and look down between the branches, you can see the leaves rustling and little puffs of smoke from the big black caldron where the Grandmothers cook. They all gather to cook and sing and tell jokes and stories and make a meal. Each one has a special place where she sits by the fire to laugh and chat.
  They live in smallish coaches painted in incredibly bright colors with glittering stones embedded on the sides. All the coaches are linked close together by the rocky river bank path and old stone front porches The back ends open up to the big caldron cooking pot, as you look past the forest into the southern Colorado prairie. Their little casitas blend in to the woodland and the riverbank so well they are pert’near invisible. Each home incases a Fairy Grandmother’s own kind of magical specialness. The little wagons resemble a gypsy wagon, which makes it easy for the fairy grandmothers to travel together on adventures. Ms Peppersauce Bottom lives and travels with her big spotted tom cat Cosmo and her old milking goat Spicy.

  Pussy willows and cattails grow along the water and the smell of wild rose, lavender and lilacs, sweet peas and wild raspberries are all mellowing together with the roasting chili peppers, garlic and homegrown tomatoes. Wonderful, delicious smells drifting up your nose as you watch from high in the branches of the old apple tree.

  Ms Peppersauce Bottom has lived by the river and the mountains for many, many years but she loves to travel with the band of Fairy Grandmothers. They have so many adventures. They look for adventures that include a special affair, an affair where someone is in need of a special wish. You see the Fairy Grandmothers’ purpose on this earth is to make wishes come true. A very big job for chubby, little, old Fairy Grandmothers with tiny wings! (Of course not all of the Grandmothers are chubby, but they all do have little wings!) Ms Peppersauce Bottom is a bit chubby and clumsy and some days she requires a nap but that is not a disability for making wishes come true. When a Fairy Grandmother whispers in your ear and you feel that warm breeze blow past your cheek you have been granted a wish.

  It’s always a good thing to have wishes stored up in case the opportunity arises for a granting. You must be ready with the perfect wish. The best way to make a wish is to get in a quiet place, raise your head to the stars and the moon, close your eyes and be grateful for what you have. Grateful for your family, (yes, even your brother or sister,) your friends, your home and the food you eat, That is how I start a wish. Let your mind wonder for a short while. Think about what is most important, far more important than anything else. Make your most important wish have a special ending!  With your eyes still closed see your vision clearly. Now let it go, let your idea go drifting to the heavens. That is how I make my best wish! Some days I make several, it doesn’t matter how many you make, you just have to make them in advance so when Ms Peppersauce Bottom or one of the band of Grandmothers comes flittering by you’ll know you are ready, one of your wishes is going to come true.

  I always like to make my best wish at night before I go to sleep because after I make my wish and I let my mind wonder my dreams play with my wish as I sleep. Dreams and wishes and prayers get all twisted up together and when I wake up I am waking from an adventure, Much like the Grandmothers’ adventures! Even though I have been asleep I feel my wish so much stronger and when it comes true it sometimes turns out even better than I have wished! Then I open my eyes and wiggle my toes to a new day and I’m very grateful for that, too!

  This is just the beginning of my stories of Ms.Peppersauce Bottom and the Fairy Grandmothers. I hear whispers as I lay in the branches of the Apple tree. The little voices tell me to write down their stories and I must oblige them!

Please leave a comment about my story Ms Peppersauce loves to here your thoughts! 

Welcome to my Blog

Of course I had Carlee's expertise in the design. It is my birthday and this is my present. I'm so excited to get started writing again.

Well it's way past my birthday but it takes me awhile to get the concept going in my head! It's taken me all month to just get myself ready to go on into a New Year. My surgery went well I had what was called hardening of the uterus and believe me it was no walk in the park!! That was the end of November and I'm just now coming back to life after the latest sinus infection. It's definately soggy and moldy up here in Oregon.
In my Christmas photo you can see across the street where the little creek runs, Pringle Creek. Also My little Buddy Boy is sleeping in the cat cozy under the tree.
I'm working on some new stories and pictures and I'll share them soon.
Kisses Nancy

June and Randy's Salida Home

A watercolor for June and Randy Jirone. It was their home in Salida for 35 years. 6 kids lots of grand children were raised there. I painted this for there new house warming present. It makes me feel like Iʼm in Salida.

Peppersauce Salsa

4 chopped ripe tomatoes

1 large white onion chopped small pieces

1 whole small chopped jalapeno

1 small can chopped green chilies

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1⁄4 teaspoon black ground pepper

1⁄4 teaspoon dried red pepper

1⁄4 teaspoon oregano

1⁄4 teaspoon cumin

1⁄2 teaspoon garlic granules or 2 fresh cloves minced

1⁄2 teaspoon granulated onion

1⁄4 cup chopped cilantro

Juice of 1 lime or lemon

Mix all together in small bowl make ahead and refrigerate covered for 2 hours.