Author: Diane Chartrand

COFFEE AND INK (Diane Chartrand)

~ Diane Chartrand ~ 1 Comment

It was now January, and the weather had turned cold, so I headed to the local Tim Horton’s to get a much-needed coffee and something to eat.

The crowded tables were filled with several customers slowly sipping coffee and writing something in a notebook with a Paper-Mate style pen.

I was now curious about what kind of things they might be writing in their notebooks, but I hadn’t yet gotten up the courage to ask.

Finally, not able to wait any longer, I walked over to a woman who looked about thirty with short blonde hair and dressed in attire for an office and said, “If I’m not being too nosey, would you be willing to tell me what you’re writing about in your notebook?”

The woman looked up at me and said, “Sure. It’s just my journal, and every day when I have my coffee break, I sit here quietly and write about all the things that happened yesterday.”

“So why do you come here to write instead of at home after work?”

“Well, life is pretty busy at my house during the evenings as I have five children and a husband who needs my attention more,” the woman replied.

“Well, thank you for talking with me,” I said, returning to my seat where I had left my coffee and notebook.

That was interesting. Now, I’m even more curious about several others, especially the men, as I don’t believe they would be writing journal entries.

I sat and wrote in my notebook about my talk with the woman, then decided there seemed to be more to this concept. I got up after gaining enough courage to talk to one of the men in the room.

I approached a man with silver streaks in his short, nicely groomed hair and said, “Excuse me, but could I be so bold as to ask what you’re writing about in your notebook?”

He looked at me with a large grin on his face and said, “I’m writing a letter to my wife, who is away on a business trip in Japan for the month.”

Curious now, I asked, “Why don’t you just e-mail your wife or talk to her on the phone?”

“I find it more intriguing to write long letters to her, being able to share all my love in a manner she can see over and over as many times as she wants instead of just a quick casual moment in life,” he replied.

“That’s an interesting way to put it,” I thanked him for his time and honesty.

Returning back to my table I took a sip of my coffee, which had now turned cold. I concluded that people had found a unique way to share their coffee with their ink.

For me, this would be a great way to write down short stories or ideas that I could use to develop a complete story for a book. The bonus is that I get to have coffee and a quiet place to enjoy doing it.

For all who are stuck with their writing or just want to journal or write letters to others, I recommend buying a small notebook and a Paper-Mate type pen and getting to work. I guarantee it will be a rewarding experience.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from the point of view of Comet (Diane Chartrand)

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When Rudolph came to the North Pole, the reindeer had a red nose, which was different from all the others. Comet had never been impressed and seemed a bit jealous of all the attention the other reindeer were giving this one.

Comet was the oldest of the nine reindeer brought to the North Pole to pull Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve. In the beginning, things went well, but the weather had changed over the years, making it a challenge to get to all the children.

One night a week before the big day, Comet saw a red light glowing in the distance and went out to check it out. Once he saw that it was Rudolph’s nose with a red glow going on and off, he began to laugh and laugh. 

“Are you for real, Rudolph? What is that you have attached to your nose?”

Tearfully, Rudolph told Comet it wasn’t an attachment but his real nose.

“Come on, none of us have noses that light up. I know your nose has always been red but the same color glowing of all things.”

“It just started to do this, and I have no idea what’s going on. Do you Comet?”

Comet walked away laughing and went back into the barn to tell all the others. As he revealed what he had just seen, the other reindeer told Comet he had to be mistaken, and they all walked out to where Rudolph was standing, covered in tears.

They all watched as Rudolph’s nose had a red glow going on and off. Vixen told the others that Santa needed to know about this so he could get the vet to check Rudolph out.

“Come with us, Rudolph, to see Santa. He will get to the bottom of this problem and fix it for you.”

Comet was watching from the doorway and followed the others as they escorted Rudolph to Santa’s workshop, hoping he could fix the problem. Quickly, Comet stepped in front of the others and, getting Santa’s attention, told him that he needed to fix Rudolph’s nose before it caused a problem on the big day.

“Rudolph, come over near me, and we can see what the problem is that Comet is so worried about.”

The youngest reindeer slowly made his way through the crowd of reindeer and stood near Santa, his nose shining a red glow over the entire workshop.

“Santa, please make it stop.” Rudolph cried.

“I see now why when you came to us, you had a red nose instead of the normal color like all the other reindeer. Let’s go and see Dr. Humour. Maybe he can tell us why it’s now glowing and if there is a way to turn it off and on. Everyone else, go back to the barn, and I’ll let you know what we find out.”

Comet stomped away, upset at all the attention the baby reindeer was getting just because his nose wasn’t typical. Maybe once he could find out how to get one like that, perhaps even more significant, he would then be treated special, too.

Santa and Rudolph returned to the barn and told them that this particular reindeer’s red glow was usual. It would be helpful whenever the weather was challenging to see through on our big day.

Comet was not impressed and asked Santa how they all could get a nose like Rudolph’s.

Santa replied, “That’s not possible. You have to be born with this special red nose like Rudolph’s.”

Santa declared Rudolph would be put in the lead on bad weather nights to light their way.

MAKING A WISH BY BLOWING ON A DANDELION PUFF (Diane Chartrand)

~ Diane Chartrand ~ 2 Comments

Dora and her friend Max were sitting on the front porch just talking. Dora told him she couldn’t wait for her birthday to come so she could blow out her candles after making a wish.

“Dora, my Mom showed me a different way to make a wish any time we want to.”

“How do you do that, Max?”

He told her that since they were both too young to light matches to light a candle in order to make a wish, his mother showed him a safe way to make a wish any time he wanted to.

“So, How Max? You didn’t say how?”

Max grabbed Dora’s hand and took her out to the backyard. He told her to look for some dandelions that weren’t yellow anymore. The two walked slowly around the yard, going in a different direction with their search. After a short while, Dora yelled out, “Found some Max, come quick.”

Max made his way to where the swing set was and sat on the grass next to Dora, looking down at a bunch of dandelions that had large white tops.

“Good job, kid.”

“So now, what do we do now, Max?”

He instructed Dora to carefully pick one of the dandelions without losing the ball of white stuff on the top.

Dora took in a deep, deep breath as she carefully broke off the stem from its roots and held it in front of her.

“Now what, Max?”

He told her to make a quiet wish and then gently blow on the dandelions white top.

Dora closed her eyes and made a wish. Then she blew all of the white puff balls off the dandelion. She watched as they blew all over the yard.

“Do you think my wish will come true, Max?”

Wait and see. My Mom says it really works. “Now, my turn.”

HOPE (Diane Chartrand)

~ Diane Chartrand ~ 1 Comment

Hope means to cherish a desire with anticipation or to want something to happen or be true.

The other night, I was having a conversation with my oldest daughter about age. She got into how so many people are living until they are 100 or farther. I told her that I hoped to live at least to 100.

She asked how old she would be then, so I reminded her of my age and how many years I had to then. I told her to take her age and add that number. She decided that wouldn’t be too bad.

I have a lot of things to have hope about. First, that I live a long and productive life. Second, that I accomplish many more things in that time. I know now that I’m mostly healthy and hope for that to remain for many more years.

I have another hope that can happen soon. I want to meet some of my newest great-grandchildren now that they live closer to the Canadian border, and that hope is to accomplish that this summer before the newest baby is born in August.

I hope that this year, there will be a period where I can visit my two younger sisters in Massachusett for a while. I used to take Greyhound buses everywhere, but now they have left Canada for the most part. I did find out that there is one that goes from Toronto to the United States again, so that is good but not great.

I did find out recently that there’s a train that goes from Toronto to New York City, and that is a great discovery. There is also an Amtrack train that goes from New York City to Boston and a few places in between that will help me fulfill my hope to go home for a week or so.

My biggest hope is to find a way to spend time with my daughters, who all live in different places in the United States. I miss them so much, especially the oldest one, whom I would visit every year and who has been going through so many things without me there.

As for my writing work, there is a hope to get back to the pace I had before Covid showed up, as now, for the most part, I have lost my way. I question if this is what I want to be doing or should my path be different. Is there something more for me? If so, I hope that it will be revealed to me soon.

For now, my only hope is to work every day on my current books and make progress in the right direction. I need to go forward with a lot of anticipation for it to become great.

To all of you who are listening to me read this or who are reading this on their own one question. What do you hope for?

“Blue Christmas” ( Diane Chartrand)

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When those blue snowflakes start fallin’, Ivan runs up and down the street trying to collect them, but they melt in his hands. He was amazed to see this strange thing happening.

“Marge, come outside quick. It’s magical and somewhat disturbing at the same time.”

Marge opened the front door and saw her crazy husband trying to catch blue things falling from the sky. As she glanced further closer to the stoop, Marge realized what was falling were blue snowflakes. She didn’t get it. Shouldn’t they be white?

“Ivan, what is going on,” Marge called out to him as she put on her coat and went outside.

“I have no idea but isn’t it sad that the snow is blue. I wonder why this is happening. Why is Mother Nature so sad that her tears are coming down blue?”

Marge put her hand out and let some of the blue snowflakes gather on it. They weren’t the same as white flakes since they disappeared as soon as they landed. She tried to push some together on the grass, but the same thing happened. No snowball-making ability was available.

“Ivan, I think we need to send Mother Nature a letter telling her we’re here to help in any way we can to stop her from being so blue.”

“Where would we send it? We don’t know her address.”

Marge thought about that for a minute. “We can send it to Santa and ask him to get it to her. I’m sure he knows where she is since he knows where everyone is located.”

Ivan and Marge sat down and wrote a short letter to Mother Nature asking why she was so blue that her tears were coming down as blue snowflakes. They left all their information so she could respond with how they could help. They addressed the second envelope to Santa with a short note inside asking him to get their letter to Mother Nature as soon as possible.

The blue snowflakes continued coming down off and on over the next two weeks. On Christmas Eve, Santa left an envelope on their mantle for them to find the next morning. When Marge got up, she looked outside and saw it was snowing, but the flakes were white again.

“Ivan, go look out the window quickly. The snow has changed back.”

Ivan sleepily wandered into the living room and looked out the front door window. He pulled open the door to check it out, picking up some of the flakes.

“They are white again. I wonder what made Mother Nature happy again.”

Marge then noticed the envelope on the fireplace mantle with their names in the middle of it. Curious, she picked it up and slipped open the flap. Taking out a piece of paper, she read:

Dear Ivan and Marge,

I received your lovely letter asking what was wrong. I was sad because I wasn’t going to be able to bring joy to all the beautiful children all over the world. There is so much sadness everywhere, and it makes me sad.

I’m sorry my tears turned blue and frightened you. Everything has been taken care of for me to share my time with all the children of the world even though some of them have gone to another place from their homes.

I will try harder to not let my moods influence the proper way that nature happens. Thanks for caring so much and offering to help. Just getting your letter was a big help.

Sincerely,

Mother Nature

Ivan looked over, and Marge had tears running down her face. She convinced him they were tears of joy, not sadness, and handed him the letter from Mother Nature. Kindness is always rewarded from places you would never suspect, so be kind to others.

A CAR NEGOTIATION FROM PERSPECTIVE OF THE CAR (Diane Chartrand)

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“Hey mister, isn’t my red awesome?”

“Well, it’s nice, but a bit bright for someone my age.”

“Your age? You look to me like someone who loves to show off your car.”

“Well, yes that’s true.”

“Check out the engine. I think it sings and purrs like a kitten.”

Melvin turned the key and listened for a bit and turned back to the car. “Actually, it sounds a little rough to me.”

“Rough man! You have to be joking. I think that I’m just what you’re looking for. Smart looking, a few years older, and sounds content.”

Melvin walked around the car again. He could agree that it seemed better than all the other ones he looked at so far.

“I have one more perk for you.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“I come with an eight-track player and a CD player. Now, where else can you get that. I think all the new ones on the lot have gone to just a radio. Please say yes sir. I will always be faithful to you and never let you down.”

Melvin called over the salesperson. “I’ll take this one if I can drive it away today.”

After all the paperwork was done, Melvin climbed into the driver’s seat, turned the key, and said, “Okay sweetheart, the wheel is yours.”

Maybe in Another Life (Diane Chartrand)

~ Diane Chartrand ~ 1 Comment

As I was drifting off a thought came about. Maybe in a different life. A world appeared with a young high school girl. She was popular and smiled all the time. As I looked closer I could see that girl was me.

I was taken through her time in high school and then to university where she became a teacher. She, that girl, was me. What a wonderful happy life was happening right before my eyes.

The other me was happy, accomplished, and had so many friends. Somehow my dream cycle was now doing a comparison of the current me and the different life me. What was it trying to get me to see?

My time went back to watching a life of joy, fulfillment, and moving forward. There was love, marriage, and a couple of children now growing up in a happy environment. I felt good there and hoped that maybe that could be my life now.

How can I swap that one for the one I am in now. I did ask but no one answered any of my questions. I now knew that we could have and experience a different life but only in our dreams. The life we have is the one we have, or maybe, just maybe I can do something to make changes and fulfill myself with what I saw and experienced in that different life.

Abruptly, I jumped up in bed shaking. I took a drink of water and calmed myself now being able to remember what just happened and where it took me. The rest of the day my head kept telling me, “Do it, do it, you can do it.”

Dark Night (Diane Chartrand)

~ Diane Chartrand ~ 1 Comment

Needing a distraction, I  rolled open a blind and looked out the window into the dark night.  It was two in the morning, and all was quiet in the complex.  I woke up with so many thoughts and worries going on in my head and couldn’t get them to stop.

Soon we will be coming out of a terrible situation, and where I go next haunts me.  As I keep looking out the window, I realize it’s not what I see in front of me that is dark, but I am personally experiencing what is known as ‘Dark Night.’  It’s listed as an internal condition where you become lost to the world you once knew.

As my eyes adjust, I see in front of me my worries all lined up farther than the eye can see.  The first one that approaches me is uncertainty.  It reminds me of all the risks that are out in the world if I go out there.  “Yes,” I say.  “But, at some point, I’ll have to venture out and try to find the person I once was so many months ago.”

Uncertainty just shakes its head and walks away.

Next in line is ego.  I am reminded about all the things done just to please him.  I don’t want to be that person anymore who relies only on ego.  I want to be someone who does things with a purpose in mind, not what I can gain only for myself.

“I’m done with you and your reckless ways,” I say.

Ego just laughs and reminds me that everyone always comes back because it’s the way of the world. He bellows out as he disappears, “All for one and more for me.”

I lean my hand on my chin.  My mind is lost and empty.  Where did I go?  Where did my ability to plan my future go?  Having spent so many months at home all alone has caused me to lose myself.

Joy stands in front of me with a happy face plastered on her chest.  “I am your every day and night, so smile, “ she says.

“Sorry, Joy.  You are no longer a part of me, and I have no idea how to get you back, so leave.”

Joy tries over and over to get me to smile, but nothing causes me to do that, and she leaves.

Several memories started to emerge from my past—the birth of my children, bad marriages, learning for new careers, and hundreds more. Unfortunately, none of them impressed me.  All of those items from my life are so far behind me and no longer important.

The final thing in line said, “Hi.  I’m your new path.”  She handed me a blank page with New Path written at the top.

“So, what am I supposed to do with this?”

“Write on it anything you want to do from this moment on.”

“I don’t know what exactly I want to do going forward, but I am sure it is nothing that I have done so far.”

“Maybe start at the top with I want to and then just write what is in your soul.”

I backed away from the window and sat down with the paper in front of me.  I kept telling myself, you can do this, just start.  Then I took up a pen and wrote at the top as New Path instructed.

I want to…..  

Looking to the Future (Diane Chartrand)

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Life has been so grim since March 2019, causing Brianna to stop dwelling on now and envision what is to come in her future.

She closes her eyes and lets her body relax, focusing on what she can see in her mind.  The first thing that comes up is the downtown core with people walking around and talking to others they meet.  No one has a mask on or standing far apart.  They at times hug or kiss.

The next thing that comes up is Brianna sitting at her computer creating a video for her next book to be published.  In the past, it was possible to go out and read portions of your book to a crowd of people or go to conventions to promote a new book. 

She sees herself signing copies of her book in several local bookstores.  The line is long and goes on forever all the way out the door, and someone said even down the street.

Tired from signing her name, she now looks further in the future to a vacation.  Water lapping on the shore and a cool drink in her hand as she watches the surfers maneuver the waves.  Yes, this is the future she wants.

Opening her eyes, Brianna now knows the direction she will be taking for the next couple of years. First, she will finish the two books already started and arrange with the local bookstores to have signing events and meet her fans.

Next, she will give herself that vacation she has always wanted to Hawaii, where she can sit on the beach with a special drink in her hand and watch everyone with joy. Then, she would visit the volcano and maybe all the other islands before going home.

Brianna can now see an ending to all that has depressed her over the past months.  Once everyone is safe and unable to transmit the virus, she will be free to have a future. Unfortunately, she has gotten to the point that the only place she can experience a future is in her mind, but it will all become real one day.

Going again to work at the library, visiting family who are far away.  That is the future she seeks, and she knows that it will all happen with a plan.  Won’t It?

She knows that planning a future is the only way to get through the now and move forward.  Pleasant thoughts, happy places are all there in the future, just to spend time with and breathe.

She knows taking precautions now will give everyone a future.  Yes, it will probably be a different one than everyone imagined a year ago, but it will be a future.

Brianna knows in her heart that everything will get better and all her visions will happen.  She just has to believe that in order to move on.  She will put everything that has happened over the past year and just focus on her future plan.

As like Brianna, we all need to look to the future and plan what we want to do or accomplish when we get there.  So everyone, pick up a notepad and start planning what you want to do in your future—Good Luck from Brianna. 

Delia’s Special Gift (Diane Chartrand)

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The meeting began under a tall umbrella of rust-colored leaves high up in the middle of Peachview State Park.

“First to Mrs. Blackbear,” Delia said to the group gathered. “Can you update us on the humans causing trouble around your winter cave?”

Shaking her head to flick off a bee, Mrs. Blackbear addressed the large group.  “It was terrible, so, so terrible.  They woke up the children, and Marvin and I had to try and find food for them from the slim pickings this time of year.”

With Mrs. Blackbear not able to go on, Delia turned to the rabbit family and inquired about the damage to their holes.  It seemed the humans entering the forest illegally brought shovels and filled in the top of the rabbit’s homes.

They had to dig for a long time to get them cleared again.  The elders reported they were glad to have found all their family and friends.

“Miss Delia, why is it that you can hear what we say to you?”

Looking at the young fox, she told him it was a special gift she was born with, just like the one he is born with to search for food.

Delia looked out over the series of woodland creatures before her. They had stopped running away from her once they realized she could hear them as they spoke.  Over the past year, she visits every morning as the sun is coming up.  She has conversations with the birds flying by on their way to find food for their young.

When she was very young, her mother would take her for long walks in the woods that were on the edge of their farm.  They would sit in the very spot where the meeting is being held today and just remained still when the animals went by.  At first, she was afraid, and then it became a game to see if any of them would sit next to them.

“Okay, everyone.  Back to the problems at hand so I can get them taken care of.  Who is next?”

“Me,” said the beautiful doe with her twins at her side.  “I want to tell you about how those bad humans tried to steal one of the twins.  If it wasn’t for my husband showing up in time, Pascal would be gone, and who knows what they would have done to him.”

“Oh, that is not a good thing.  I’m so sorry that happened to you.  I’m sure all of you were very frightened.  I’m going to have another meeting this afternoon with the park ranger to see if we can find out who these bad people are and make it stop.”

“Miss Delia, Miss Delia, I have a question,” a red-headed woodpecker called out.

“What is your question?”

“How do I stop those bad ones from raiding my nest?  Every time I lay new eggs the next day when I get back from finding food, they’re gone.”

“Have you ever seen anyone around when you fly off?  It could be one of the bad woodland creatures, like some squirrels, we know about who also steal eggs from nests to eat.”

The woodpecker didn’t know and has never seen anyone around as she flew up into the sky.  Delia knew about a few creatures who would steal eggs to eat or just to break open.  She did speak with them, but it is difficult to change old habits.

“I hope there is no one here guilty of doing that to Mrs. Woodpecker.  I will have the ranger put a protection cage around your nest until you are ready to sit on the eggs.”

Delia assured her that the hole to get in and out of the cage is too small for even a small squirrel to get into, and besides, the eggs would be too big to pull them out.

Having written down all the complaints, Delia said goodbye to all her woodland friends and went to her meeting with the ranger.  He indicated putting the cage over the woodpecker’s hole in the tree would be done before dark.  As for the humans causing chaos to the animal world, he had no news yet.

The following day on her way to go sit in the woods, Delia heard something happening a few yards in front of her.   She slowed down her pace and approached as quietly as possible.

In the clearing, she saw two teenagers carrying backpacks that had small folding shovels attached.  Hiding behind a tree, she listened as they carried on a conversation while sitting on a log.

“Mistie, we sure got those foxes this time.  I bet they will never get back out of their tunnels for hours.”

“Henry, that was so much fun, but it is getting later than usual, and we don’t want anyone to see us here, so we best head for home and not miss breakfast.”

Delia watched as the two got up and walked down the path that went back to the village. She followed them from a distance.  She had never seen the two before, having lived here all her life.

When they got to the visitors’ parking lot, the two climbed into a dark green jeep and drove away.  Delia memorized the license plate and headed for the ranger station to write it down and have him find out who the jeep belonged to.

When Delia got to the ranger station, no one was there.  On the door, there was a note, ‘Will be back at 3 p.m.’  There was a notepad nearby for people to leave messages.  She quickly wrote down MITE-394 and tore off the page putting it into her jean pocket.

She was desperate to find out who the jeep belonged to but how.  Maybe she could ask around town at the coffee shop and see if anyone has seen the teenagers named Mistie and Henry or might have seen the dark green jeep.

First, though, Delia went back to her house, got a shovel, and headed for the closest fox den to see if she could dig them out before the babies died without enough air.  Once she got one cleared, she could ask where all the other dens were located.

As the mother fox came out of the den, she just sat for a minute, appearing exhausted.  “How are your babies doing, Daisy?”

“They will be better now that they can get some air.  Thank you.”

“Do you know where all the other dens are located?  I heard the teens say they cover several of them with dirt and branches.”

After checking the babies first, Daisy took her to the other three locations, and she freed them.  Putting down her shovel she Delia sat on the ground next to it to regain her strength and then headed back to the ranger station.

She walked and pulled out the paper she wrote the license number on and placed it on the counter in front of the ranger.

“Can you check this plate number out and see who it belongs to.  I saw the teenagers very early this morning and listened to a conversation between the two of them.  Afterward, I followed them to a Dark Green Jeep in the parking lot, and this is the plate number from it.”

He looked at her intently when she mentioned the two teenagers’ names and then glanced down at what she had written on the paper.

“It will take me a little while for them to do a search on this, so I will let you know later today by phone once I have a result.”

Delia thanked him and went back to check that all the animals were okay.

After Delia left, the ranger took a deep breath, knowing who this Mistie and Henry were and who the jeep belonged to.  He needed to go home for a bit and speak with his sister about what her children have been up to and the damage they may have done to the animals.

His sister was visiting him and his wife and had brought along her son and daughter so they could take classes on conservation in the forest.  Well, he guessed they have decided to do more before attending those such classes at the high school.

“Martha, are you home?  I need to speak with you about Mistie and Henry.”

“What’s up, Mark?  You sound so official.”

“The kids have been wreaking havoc on the animals in the woodland areas.  Before breakfast, they went out there and buried the fox entrances with dirt so they couldn’t get out.  Luckily, a special friend of the animals heard them talking and undid the damage.”

“What?  How do you know it was my children?”

The ranger handed his sister the paper with the license plate number on it.  “Does this look familiar?”

“My jeep has this plate number.  So you’re saying that my two have also been driving the jeep without a driver’s license?”

He told her it looked that way and wanted to know where they were right now.  He did see the jeep parked in the driveway when he pulled up.

“Mark, I promise you this will be handled by me as soon as they get home from class.”

Satisfied, he went back to the ranger station.  He now needed to decide how to explain to Delia who those teenagers are and what was being done to keep them from never terrorized the animals again.