Mark Hayes Peacock – blogs

Telling a story at the same time a national presidential election is unfolding most likely means no one was listening to my story. Interesting, especially because in the story the lead character tells his disciple how not to get upstaged.  The story, Curtain!, found in The First Gathering Of The Break Time Stories and in the ebook Four Break Time Stories, features a working actor, envious of more successful and famous actors and living his life through noting the mechanics of their performances, passes on to his protege his best instructions. This is complicated by their May-December romance and the age difference troubles him.  Things don’t work out and her career disappears without a trace. And then, later in life, she reappears. It’s a “talky” story that explores the dynamics of actors creating realistic characters and how to live the lifestyle of a performer.

Marina’s Gretel and Andy, God’s Gift; The Lives Of Two Seeing Eye Dogs, continues to sell well online. The Osceola Seniors want some sort of an encore to the book debut event. Marina’s spoken intro at the event was excellent and there is some video. Since she cannot see to read from the book, we’ll see what can satisfy the “encore” request.

Son Aaron is back in his home in Portugal after a ten day visit. We had a family gathering to remember our late daughter Heide’s birthday. Hannah and Dewey Fansler were our hosts and it was good. Aaron built a cover for our entry ramp with the assurance that it will save me some snow shoveling/ice removal efforts this Winter. I’m sorta ready for the season: the dock and pontoon have been pulled, outside items have been covered or moved to protected areas, and today I’m going to winterize the golf cart batteries.

So yesterday was the debut of Marina’s book, Gretel and Andy, God’s Gift; The Lives of Two Seeing Eye Dogs. We had the event at the Osceola Senior Center, a venue we worked hard to secure for senior activities and events like the one yesterday. I’d arranged a cake with the photo of Gretel and Andy on it. The cake had to be made over in Amery and was to be delivered yesterday to Dick’s Market in Osceola. Well, “Duck’s Off!” if you’ve ever seen that Fawlty Towers episode about Basil’s “gourmet night”. The cake had been marked for delivery November 25th, not October 25th. I’d been nervous about it and called that morning to reassure myself the cake was in Osceola. It wasn’t. Apparently, Baker Bob called Amery and they got to work right away to create the cake. However, there was no courier to get it to Osceola, so when I showed up to collect our cake, there was no cake. Baker Bob set to work as I stood there and created a cake for us, complete with paw prints. I managed to hustle over to the Senior Center without dropping the cake and arrived just as things were set to begin.

This was an event that I was not sure would bring in anyone, despite a newspaper ad and a news release, but I entered the room and it was full! On top of that, two of our kids, Britta and Aaron, sported doggie ears and black noses so that they were “in character” for reading short bits from the book. Marina spoke off the cuff for 15 minutes or so, keeping people spellbound, per usual. She did a great job! There were questions and then cake, coffee, teas and lots of conversation. Marina had brought 20 books and all but one sold. FYI, locally Amery’s Bowman Collective handles her book and it’s on Amazon under Marina Heide Peacock. I think Marina was a bit stunned by the whole thing. On top of that, her online sales royalties have been mounting nicely. Why, she might be able to support me in the fashion I’d like!

I had the pleasure of reading two stories today at Luck’s Senior Center. The event was sponsored by The Friends of Luck Library and followed the weekly Senior Citizen lunch. I read two stories, the Mangled Fairy Tales yarn Sinner Ella and the somber I Loved That Bike! Sinner drew lots of laughs and I even got a laugh or two out of the bike story.

Reading for small groups is how I began reading my stories. That led to reading in libraries in Polk County and across the river in Minnesota, for larger groups, on the radio, twice as a fund raiser for St.Croix Festival Theater, and also twice for the classic Old Settlers Picnic. The trick now is getting to be not to repeat a story that someone may have heard before at another venue. However, I have 27 stories out there in print so I may not be at great risk of repeating myself. In any event, today was fun, there were good questions (Are you working on another story right now? [No.] (How do your stories develop?) [Between 3-5 a.m. and usually with the dialogue almost fully formed.] (Do you keep a file of ideas?) [No. I used to but not anymore. I still have a few file folders with ideas but I find I never look at them and so I should purge the file drawer.] I said it was fun, didn’t I?

As of today, Marina’s book, Gretel and Andy, God’s Gift; The Lives of Two Seeing Eye  Dogs, is available in Amery at Bowman Collective. I was there today and enjoyed a delicious and creative cupcake, part of what the owner Catherine Olson hopes soon will be a full blown coffee and snack shop. She hopes the shop will be a place where people come and feel comfortable just hanging out. There are some comfortable chairs and sofas, just right for someone who wants to quickly get into my or Marina’s book they just bought.

Gretel and Andy, God’s Gift; The Lives of Two Seeing Eye Dogs, with the story told in the dogs’ voices by Marina Heide Peacock makes its debut on Friday, October 25th at 2:30 p.m. at Osceola’s Senior Center. Instead of doggie treats, guests will be treated to coffee and cake. Gretel will be voiced by Britta Marrinan and Andy’s voice will be Mark Peacock’s. The book is receiving nice reviews and many online sales.

Mark will be sharing two stories on Wednesday, October 23rd at 1:15 p.m. at the Luck Senior Center.

Last night’s story broadcast on WPCA-FM was Lost Wax, one of the six short stories in my paperback Six Short Stories. It’s an effective story that has produced tears at every public reading where I’ve shared it. I think I read it better in public than the radio version, where long pauses just mean “dead air”, which in radio is something to be dreaded. The story is about a painter who becomes a sculptor, aided by a perceptive, hard-working wife with vision and marketing savvy.

Marina’s book just out, Gretel and Andy, God’s Gift; The Lives of Two Seeing Eye Dogs, has garnered several nice five star reviews and has been outselling my books by a big margin. I’m one of Marina’s cheerleaders, so I’m happy about those results. The Seeing Eye Foundation interviewed her last week for a social media posting coming out soon. The interview was followed by the comment that they would like to see her next book, which is about growing in Nazi Germany. Today’s Ukraine War brings back too many ugly memories of when the Russians came into Berlin and how they treated common people. The Gretel and Andy book is told in the dogs’ voices and is both cute and informative.

Winter seems to be rushing our way very quickly but I have been able to get many of the items accomplished that have been on my list. The pontoon boat still is in the water and I hope to be able to give it a run when my elder son, Aaron, arrives from Portugal. I think he would enjoy seeing from the water the shore of the property where he grew up. We have had some downed trees, as well as large branches, because of strong winds, so the chainsaw needs to get fired up again to produce logs for the log splitter. As a concession to age, I’ve pretty much quit splitting logs by hand.

One fun thing recently was catching the Flamenco troupe out of the Twin Cities when they came to St.Croix Falls. We were up close–second row seats–even though there are no bad seats in the Festival Theater’s Black Box space. One of my former Macalester College students had danced with one of the women in this troupe back when he formed Alfredo Y Amigos. It was fun to share a bit of time with a couple of the dancers and the cantor.

I did a fill-in preaching at Wolf Creek United Methodist Church last Sunday and received a nice warm welcome back. One of the men produced a special mug for me. It reads: “A truly great pastor is hard to find, harder to part with and impossible to forget.” In my six years of pastoring Wolf Creek I was constrained by my personal circumstances and the church’s expectations so I did not get to enjoy the kind of “kitchen table listening” that I used to do; however, I got to know enough to this man’s story to give the mug special meaning. To have been a part of enhancing a person’s spiritual journey is a special blessing for which I am grateful.

I am looking forward to reading stories at the Luck senior Center. The program has been set up by Jill Glover, Luck’s Librarian, and Friends of the Library. The reading will follow the Senior’s potluck lunch on October 23rd. I will do my best not to pig out on the lunch. Kenneth Larson’s shop is just around the corner from the Senior Center and he has all my books for sale. I anticipate Marina’s story will be available there, too.

Tonight’s WPCA-FM reading was the first”mangled” fairy tale I wrote, The Many Trials. You’ll find it in the ebook Four Break Time Stories and in my first paperback story collection,  The First Gathering Of The Break Time Stories. In it, a young man with no resources other than his native cleverness, must solve three near-impossible tasks in order to win the hand of the beautiful princess. She cheers him on through each difficult task and, eventually, after he solves the dilemmas set forth by her father, the king, they marry and settle down to live happily ever after. There’s nothing like a happy ending. How the couple got to that finale is the fun of the story. It was fun to listen to the story being read.

Speaking of stories, Marina’s new book, Gretel and Andy, God’s Gift; The Lives of Two Seeing Eye Dogs, has been receiving very positive comments and a rash of initial sales. Marina is excited; it’s hard to tell what Andy thinks. He’s still recuperating, I think, from being “skunked” in the face a few weeks ago. Today, though, after his “supervision” of Marina’s swim at the Osceola pool, he did a fine job of navigating the aisles of Walmart and its parking lot. That, after getting a treat at the bank. Andy also had a bout with Lyme’s disease and seems better after a month’s worth of treatment. Marina writes under Marina Heide Peacock. The book is available through Amazon.com and other bookstores.

We have our pontoon boat back in the water and it has been out for a couple of runs after being out of commission following a pontoon leak, some welding, and the replacement of the entire ignition system because the sole key disappeared and has yet to re-surface–if it ever does. Finally, after a dismal summer season (lots of rain, then intense heat, then more rain and thunderstorms) we have warm, dry weather. It’s just in time for the cabin people to put their summer stuff back into winter storage and leave us until next Spring. Even after Labor Day, though, most boats and docks remain in the water. Maybe we and the others are simple optimists. Because our property owners as a group lost about a third of our beach in a lawsuit, we have less space for docks to accommodate all the back lots that have lake access, so I have invited Tim and Katie, newcomers, to share our dock. It looks like the arrangement will work out well. (I told him that he could share the dock and buy it when I die. That might be humorous.)

Last month’s calendar for preaching had me at Parkview United Methodist Church in Turtle Lake. Per usual, they were most kind. They are a fine bunch of people. Andy stayed home; his skunk aroma would have tried the sensibilities of even a fine bunch of people, even if he sat and slept (that’s “working”, too) right down front, where no one sits. Next up is Wolf Creek UMC the end of the month. We have been swinging through the Wolf Creek environs every couple of weeks to pick up eggs, including duck eggs, from Michael and Virginia (Villa) Hansen. They tell me the kitchen has been re-done and I’m sure the women did a great job.

Last week we had some very powerful winds hit us. I awoke to the sound of a locomotive, which I understand is the sound of a tornado. Marina was in the shower and because she is totally deaf without her cochlear implant, there was no way I was going to be able to get her to understand what was happening and to get her downstairs with me. We did not have obvious signs of a tornado after the storm passed but I’ve never heard wind sound like that, even the actual tornado that hit us four years ago. However, I found the top third of one of our trees in the back of the property had been spun off, so the chainsaw has been put to use. I’m about a quarter through cleaning up the mess but there will be more firewood for next season.

Aaron, my computer whiz elder son, sent me a link to his mother’s just published  book Gretel and Andy, God’s Gift: The Lives of Two Seeing Eye Dogs. Here ’tis: www.https://a.co/dg7a06ev.

The book now is available as an ebook. The book’s contents are the same; the cover’s different with a photo of Marina and the two dogs, whereas the paperback has Gretel and Andy as painted by Jan Tockman from my photograph. The paperbacks have been selling well, thanks I’m sure to Facebook mentions by daughters Britta, Alice and Hannah. It’s nice to have such family support, especially for a book that’s so informative and fun.

Tonight’s WPCA-FM story broadcast was Futuro De Oro, “Golden Future” in English. The title is taken from the name of a sea bluff slum outside Tijuana, Mexico, where people from Mexico’s interior have come in the hopes of finding a better life in the city than they had in their previous homes in the country’s interior. However, like any city anywhere, Tijuana was unable to keep up or ahead of an influx of new settlers, so things like water and sewer were unavailable in Future de Oro. People bought their water from trucks hauling it from wells down by the sea below the squatters’ shacks on the bluffs. Roads were axle busters and children living in the tar paper shacks suffered malnutrition.

Those conditions were appalling to the young woman in the story who was taken around by a young man who had a hot sports car and a special dining place south of Tijuana in Ensenada. I believe Casa Rey Sol, the oldest French-Mexican restaurant in Mexico, still is there. In the story, the young woman, a law student, and her boy friend, heir to a family business,  have opposing views about what to do about poverty, about war, and about what to do if drafted into the military. Can they resolve their differences? Read Futuro de Oro to find out!

Futuro is a “talky” story with the arguing interspersed by Baja driving too fast and near sliding over the ocean- kissing cliffs into the sea. It does raise our never-resolved issues about how to raise people from poverty into a better life. Generation after generation we’ve never really solved it, despite philosophical and political efforts to find a remedy.

Again, I am grateful to WPCA-FM for its monthly broadcasts of my stories. As I’ve said, I never know ahead of time which of my 27 stories they will select for you to hear.

People have asked whether, now that I’m retired, there will be more stories. I’ve said that I really don’t know. But around 4 a.m. the other morning I had the bones of a story come–that’s the way my stories have come, usually with dialogue first and in the wee hours of the morning–and since that morning there has been nothing. This possible story felt longer than the short stories I have been publishing. Perhaps the “nothing” is because I’ve been busy with “life”, as well as putting the finishing touches on Gretel and Andy, God’s Gift, Marina’s book in which her Seeing Eye Dogs, Gretel and Andy, talk about what life is like as a guide dog. It’s a cute book and informative. You can get it for $15 on Amazon.com and your favorite book store. Marina also has written a draft about her early life in war-time Berlin, Germany and I have done a first draft of my own growing up in the Hollywood Hills, a rural oasis in the middle of a major metropolitan area. Both of these accounts will demand some of my time and may just crowd out stories for awhile. We shall see.

Marina’s book about life as a Seeing Eye Dog, as told in the voices of her guide dogs Gretel and Andy, is published now and available on Amazon.com at $15. link: https://a.co/dg7a06ev) I will be publishing the book soon as an e-book that can be read on Kindles or on your computer. The price is yet to be determined. (Mine go for $2.99.) It’s a cute book but also informative. Gretel, of course, was a much-traveled dog and flew with us on trips to Portugal, Berlin, Chicago, and Los Angeles. She could find our car in the vast airport parking lot. Andy has not had Gretel’s travel experience but can find Marina the right door to enter out of a choice of six, for example. One species helping another; I still find it amazing! The book title is Gretel and Andy, God’s Gift; The Lives of Two Seeing Eye Dogs. Although the story is told in the dogs’ words, the author is listed as Marina Heide Peacock.