Shopping With Eler Beth

Our local Value City Department Store is closing, and right now everything they have left is 70-80% off.

They had lots of cute shoes and boots in our sizes still on the shelves, and they were all 80% off their regular prices.

Need I say more?

I Wonder Where She Gets Her Sarcasm?

You know how picky I can be, right? Eler Beth was doing some geometry today, and I reminded her that you always put a period at the end of the abbreviation for "inch". And then I reminded her that you never use a period at the end of any metric abbreviation. She was writing "cm", so I said (with emphasis), "Never, ever, put a period after 'cm'."

She answered, "What! Will they sue me if I do?!"

Mission Accomplished!

At least, I think it is.

I posted my query about the poem on the Heyer Reading List Yahoo group to which I belong, and a very resourceful member named Robin found a poem quoted in a book of sermons that seemed to fit what I was looking for. I did a google search using a different line from the poem and was able to find it and the author. At least, it's very close to what I remember, so it must be it. Here it is.

One Day When We Went Walking
by Valine Hobbs

One day when we went walking,
I found a dragon's tooth,
A dreadful dragon's tooth.
"A locust thorn," said Ruth.

One day when we went walking,
I found a brownie's shoe,
A brownie's button shoe.
"A dry pea pod," said Sue.

One day when we went walking,
I found a mermaid's fan,
A merry mermaid's fan.
"A scallop shell," said Dan.

One day when we went walking,
I found a fairy's dress,
A fairy's flannel dress.
"A mullein leaf," said Bess.

Next time that I go walking -
Unless I meet an elf,
A funny, friendly elf -
I'm going by myself!

I'm still searching for more information on Valine Hobbs who was apparently a teacher in Texas, who published a lot of children's literature, and who has a scholarship in her name. She was a teacher back in the 30s and 40s, I think, so my mother could very well have read this poem when she was in school!

I'm On A Quest . . .

to find this poem. I'm hoping that someone out there can help me locate it. The last two lines of the poem are:

"The next time that I take a walk, I think I'll see an elf,
'Cause the next time that I take a walk, I'll take it by myself."

This was in a scholastic literature book back in the seventies when I was in elementary school. The poem was a few stanzas long and was about two children taking a walk. One child is very imaginative and the other isn't. The imaginative one keeps seeing fanciful things and drawing the other child's attention to it; for instance he may see a leaf and tells the other child that it's an elf in little pointed shoes, but then the other child says, no, that's just a leaf; so whatever the one imagines he sees, the other one bursts his bubble by telling him what it REALLY is. So the first child finally decides that the next time he takes a walk, he'll go alone so he can see what he WANTS to see. It's a wonderful poem!

My mother, who is 85, thinks she remembers the poem from when she was young, so it could be very old (then again, she may just remember reading it in our school book). I am in America, but it could be a poem from another country. I have googled the last two lines but so far haven't been able to find anything. If anyone has heard of or read this poem or remembers reading it in school, please let me know all that you remember. And if anyone knows the name of the poem or the author, I may have to leave you something in my will!

Thank you!

Mara's Father

Mara, of I Have Tea, lost her father on Friday. He had been ill for a while and is no longer in pain. If you know Mara (or even if you don't) please call 'round to leave a word of sympathy. I'm sure she would appreciate it.