My Nana's House by Coleman

Coleman's writing assignment this week is to write about something he knows well and can describe in detail. He chose Nana's house:

My Nana's House by Coleman


My Nana's house is the best place ever in the whole world. It's in Massachusetts. Her house is tall and skinny on the outside. The outside is not the most attractive site, but the inside is beautiful. The colors inside are warm and soft. There is a fuzzy grey rug to walk on in most of the house.


When we first get there Nana usually has a big, warm apple pie waiting for us. The air smells like apple pie made with skill and experience. There is nothing better than sitting by a crackling fire and eating Nana's apple pie. The sound of a cowboy movie comes from the basement, where Papa is watching it.


I like to lay on Nana's big, soft bed any time of day. It's always relaxing. I feel good when I am there. Nana's house is a joyful place filled with wonder. My Nana's house is the best place ever in the whole world.

Enter: The Ma!

We've got a Broody Hen on our hands, she's known as The Ma around these parts. A name given to her by the boys. "The Ma" is what Nana is called by herself and occasionally by her children and Papa. Which made it the perfect name for a mama hen. The Ma has seven adorable chicks following her around everywhere. OMG are they cute! She and her brood sleep in Kitty's dog crate in the garage where it is dry and not as drafty as the outdoors. Soon her babies will be old enough to rough it with the big chickens in the run/coop area.

You're wondering how this could be, as we've got no roosters around here? Well, lucky for The Ma I'm clever. I took a ride to Watsonville and bought a dozen fertile chicken eggs from a farmer who's got roosters. (They were $12/doz! Sheesh!) Anyhow, I placed them into the nesting box, she sat - for 21 days! And, Presto! Seven baby chicks peeping out from underneath her. How darn cool is that? So far the only one with a name is the brown one in the front - Brownie. (We've already got a Hershey and a Fudge Face). I'm just hoping that at least one will be female. I won't be keeping the roos.

Davenport Beach

Davenport is a little "town" north of Santa Cruz. There is not a lot there. Beaches. Two restaurants. Two art galleries. A few houses. A lumber mill. Cows, strawberries, pumpkins. It is on Route 1, which is the coastal route and as you drive along this road the ocean is usually sparkling with sunlight. So far we've visited two beaches there. As far as I know they are the only publicly accessible beaches in Davenport. We've now been to both. I chose this beach because I read surfers bring their dogs their and leave them on the beach to play with each other while the surfers, well, surf. I only saw one surfer. He didn't have a dog. There were dogs there and some were off leash, and Kitty spent the better part of her day off leash too. Kitty also sprang a leak. A remarkable leak I wish I had gotten on film. At some point she drank the water; apparently not a good idea. Her little butt was just spraying a thin stream of "water". Have you ever filled a water balloon up only to realize there was a pin-sized hole in it that squirt you in the eye? Well picture that squirt from Kitty's little bottom. Poor Kitty. Eventually it stopped. But she put on quite a show for a while.