one night my ista gathered wood and told me she was going to build a fire. I really didn’t know what that meant, but I liked pulling sticks out of the wood pile and putting them near the rocks in the backyard. Ista had pulled a few large rocks from the woods and put them in a circle. I didn’t ask her what this was for, I just admired them. I like rocks, but these ones are so big, I can’t move them…or throw them. Once ista had all her wood, she started arranging them inside the rock circle…I wanted to get involved, but she kept telling me to “get back” and “sit down” …I persisted. I really wanted to knock that teepee down! Then she stuffed paper under the teepee, I watched in glee. With the stroke of a match, she put flame to the teepee and it began burning. smoke, fire….I was really excited. Ista continued to tell me to “sit down”…I just couldn’t do it, I wanted to be in the middle of everything she was doing. Finally, after ista blew a few times on the flames, the bigger pieces of wood caught fire, and she sat in her chair, pulling me on her lap. I tried to watch the flames, but I really, really still wanted to run around. mommie came outside, and ista told me I was in trouble. I don’t know why, but I believed her. mommie was carrying a tin, which looked like fun, like I could play the drums with it. Ista left and went into the bushes…they were both acting really strange, and I couldn’t figure it out. mommie sat down just as ista came back from the bushes with two long sticks. She was carving the ends with a knife, making them really pointy. I thought, great, something to poke the dogs with, yipee! Then mommie pulled out these white fluffy looking things and stuck them on the end of the sticks. I was curious. mommie let me hold the stick with her, and we held it in the fire. This was exciting because I got to swish the flames. After a few minutes of swishing, mommie pulled the fluff off the stick and called it a “mashmellow, mmmm, mum mum” I was tentative at first, stuck my tongue out at it (like licking icecream), then took a bite…oh what joy, sweet, sticky, mellow … I was in heaven.! Didn’t take me long to put that one down the hatch and ask to cook another. With a ring of stickiness around my lips, I smiled and swished another mellow to golden perfection. meantime, mommie was telling smores stories to ista.. this I didn’t quite understand, mostly because I was lost in the euphoria of this new sensation, but also because it sounded like ‘grown up talk’. “sticky, sticky, sticky” I kept repeating until they listened to me. ista pulled my mashmellow off and gave me another bite….oooh, it was good. I had two mashmellows, and they tell me that I managed to leave one on my face. I told them I was saving it for later….

Blow
Lick
Sticky