Ms. June

Puff the Magic Dragon

A song about the loss of

childhood innocence

Yeah... Puff, the magic dragon,

Lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

In a land called Honah Lee.

Little Jackie Paper

Loved that rascal Puff,

And brought him strings

and sealing wax

And other fancy stuff.

Together they would travel

On a boat with billowed sail.

Jackie kept a lookout perched

On Puff's gigantic tail.

Noble kings and princes

Would bow whenever they came,

Pirate ships would lower their flags

When Puff roared out his name.

A dragon lives forever,

But not little girls and boys.

Painted wings and giant rings

Make way for other toys.

One grey night it happened,

Jackie Paper came no more

And Puff that mighty dragon,

He ceased his fearless roar.

His head now bent in sorrow,

Green scales fell like rain,

And Puff no longer went to play

Along that cheery lane.

Without his life-long friend,

He could not be brave,

So Puff that mighty dragon

Sadly slipped into his cave.

Oh, Puff, the magic dragon

Lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist

In a land called Honah Lee

Ms. June....

was born, schooled, married (for 44 years) and birthed a

daughter and son in the grand old state of Maine, and

migrated to California in 1976, eventually making

her home in Apple Valley in 1995.

During her career she served a large church as associate

pastor for 12 years, participated in a weekly radio show,

presented health and nutrition seminars in the community,

hosted years of major Christian concerts, produced plays,

edited and wrote newsletters and newspaper articles,

and taught “Cooking for Health” classes.

After five years with the City of Santa Monica working with City

Council and the management team for the Third Street Promenade,

a three city block outside shopping mall by the beach, she turned to

taking care of seniors in 1996 as a seasoned Executive Director.

She has continued that career choice for 12 years in Santa Monica

and the High Desert area. Her knowledge of state regulations and

eye for design allows her to consult with senior homes and assist

them in growing a successful business. As a graphic designer, she

creates brochures,flyers, business cards, newsletters, book covers

and CD covers for clients. She is now designing websites.

What you are looking at is an example!

She and her new husband Ray (pastor, musician and song-

writer), co-wrote, designed and produced a Christian CD on

line in 2007, and two more in 2008 and 2010.

June published a book of poems and short stories in 2003 and

has a new book of poems that came out in 2009.

They also conduct Sunday church services for Alzheimer’s

facilities each week, and entertain musically in the community

at large, weekly and on special occasions and holidays.

Around the holidays, Ms. June opens her collection of china cups

and tea pots, lots of silver and lace, and puts on full course

high teas for seniors and their families. She also sets up her

private collection of a lighted, New England Christmas village

in senior homes for the community to enjoy. It fills 24 feet of

tables and is a joy to behold! It was featured in a High Desert

front page story of the local newspaper, The Daily Press, in 2007.

Ms. June’s philosophy in life is to pay great attention to detail

and to the remembrance that you only have one chance to make

a first impression..she always tries to make it a good one!

As Hallmark cards said so many years ago (with a slight change

in grammar), “When you care enough, you will give your very

best." And you will be blessed. May God bestow that blessing upon you as you strive to serve Him daily!

A poem by my favorite author

Billy Collins

You Reader

I wonder how you are going to feel

when you find out

that I wrote this instead of you,

that it was I who got up early

to sit in the kitchen

and mention with a pen

the rain-soaked windows,

the ivy wallpaper,

and the goldfish circling in its bowl.

Go ahead and turn aside,

bite your lip and tear out the page,

but, listen - it was just a matter of time

before one of us happened

to notice the unlit candles

and the clock humming on the wall.

Plus, nothing happened that morning -

a song on the radio,

a car whisling along the road outside -

and I was only thinking

about the shakers of salt and pepper

that were standing side by side on a place mat.

I wondered if they had become friends

after all these years

or if they were still strangers to one another.

like you and I

who manage to be known and unknown

to each other at the same time -

me at this table with a bowl of pears,

you leaning in a doorway somewhere

near some blue hydrangeas,

reading this.

Truth from a child's story!

"What is Real?" asked the rabbit one day.

"Does it mean having things that buzz

inside you, and a stick out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the

Skin Horse, "it's a thing that happens to you.

When a child loves you for a long time, not

just to play with, but really loves you,

then you become Real.

It doesn't happen all at once."

said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a

long time....Generally, by the time you are Real,

most of your hair has been rubbed off, and

your eyes drop out and you get loose joints and

very shabby. but these things don't matter at

all, because once you are Real, you can't be ugly,

except to people who don't understand."

Margaret Williams

from The Velveteen Rabbit

So many of our beloved children's stories that we

grew up with, read to our children and then went on to

read to our grandchildren, really teach us some rather

startling lessons on life. Lessons in such a simple,

way, that many of us miss them.

I taught Sunday School and worked with children for

many years and have four grandchildren of my own,

so childrens stories have always been dear to me.

I find that many of them are quite profound

in their reality.

The Velveteen Rabbit was one I think I relate to

more that I am getting older. If you have never

read it, or if it has been many years since you

read it, please download a free copy and

enjoy it in your quiet time.

Another story that I have read to groups old and

young and also taught a woman's bible study around,

is The Giving Tree.

Although you can read that book on line, it is read

so much more tenderly when you see it

with the illustrations.

Winnie the Pooh is not just a "silly old bear."

Winnie the Pooh stories teach children important lessons about life.

Revisit your childhood with these adorable Winnie the Pooh quotes.

Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to

watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly

know everything there is to be known.

You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if

he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days

when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

Nobody can be un-cheered with a balloon.

A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.

I am a bear of very little brain, and long words bother me.

Just because an animal is large, it doesn't mean he doesn't want

kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants

as much kindness as Roo.

Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would

I'd never leave.

If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient.

It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.

I used to believe in forever, but "forever" is too good to be true.

A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference.

Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along,

listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.

If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never

have to live without you.

If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.

There is something you must always remember.

You are braver than you believe,

stronger than you seem, and

smarter than you think.

But the most important thing is,

even if we're apart...

I'll always be with you.

If there ever comes a day when we can't be together keep me in

your heart, I'll stay there forever

It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult

words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"

You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come

to you. You have to go to them sometimes.

When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts,

don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish.

People who don't think probably don't have brains; rather,

they have grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said,

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Matthew 18:10-14

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."

Matthew 18:1-6, 10-14

have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 4

Adaption of Colossians 1:28, 29

We proclaim Christ, admonishing and teaching our children with all wisdom, so that we may present all of our children perfect in Christ. To this end we labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in us, their parents.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man

who fills his quiver with them!

He shall not be put to shame

when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,

and the glory of children is their fathers.

Proverbs 17:6

Train up a child in the way he should go;

even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

On Children

While we try to teach our children all about life,

Our children teach us what life is all about.

Angela Schwindt

Youth is a wonderful thing.

What a crime to waste it on children.

George Bernard Shaw

There was never a child so lovely

but his mother was glad to

get him to sleep.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Children seldom misquote.

In fact, they usually repeat

word for word what you

shouldn't have said.

Author Unknown

What is a home without children?

Henny Youngman

THE CHILDREN'S HOUR

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Between the dark and the daylight,

When the night is beginning to lower,

Comes a pause in the day's occupation,

That is know as the children's hour.

I hear in the chamber above me

The patter of little feet,

The sound of a door that is opened,

And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,

Descending the broad hall stair,

Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,

And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper and then a silence:

Yet I know by their merry eyes,

They are plotting and planning together,

To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,

A sudden raid from the hall!

By three doors left unguarded

They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret

O'er the arms and back of my chair;

If I try to escape, they surround me,

They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,

Their arms about me entwine,

Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen

In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,

Because you have scaled the wall,

Such an old mustache as I am

Is not a match for you all?

I have you fast in my fortress

And will not let you depart,

But put you down in the dungeon

In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,

Yes, forever and a day,

Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,

And moulder in dust away!

All in the Golden Afternoon

Thus grew the tale of wonderland:

Thus slowly, one by one,

Its quaint events were hammered out -

And now the tale is done

And home we steer a merry crew

Beneath the setting sun

All in the golden afternoon

Full leisurely we glide;

For both our oars, with little skill,

By little arms are plied,

While little hands make vain pretense

Our wanderings to guide.

Alice! A childish story take,

And, with a gentle hand,

Lay it where Childhood's

dreams are twined

In Memory's mystic band,

Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers

Pluck'd in a far-off land.

In every real man a child is hidden

that wants to play.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Happy is he who still loves something he

loved in the nursery:

He has not been broken in two by time;

he is not two men, but one,

and he has saved not only his soul but his life.

G.K. Chesterton

The great man is he who does not lose

his child's-heart.

Mencius, Book IV

So, like a forgotten fire, a childhood

can always flare up again within us.

Gaston Bachelard

When I grow up I want to be a little boy.

Joseph Heller, Something Happened, 1974

I wish I didn't know now

what I didn't know then.

Bob Seger, "Against the Wind"

Every child is an artist.

The problem is how to remain an artist

once he grows up.

Pablo Picasso

One of the most beloved poems on Home.

The Lord has blessed me with wonderful little cottages

and some very beautiful spacious homes

over these many years. I wanted to share this poem

and a few pictures of our home in Apple Valley.

Home Sweet Home

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;

A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,

Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.

Home, home, sweet, sweet home!