K.B. Pellegrino's Blog, page 10
December 5, 2020
Slow Learner....
I did not pay attention to Mom as she suggested, "Put on your boots, or gloves, or heavy jacket, or scarf." I was too busy most of my life to listen to the small tips given for good living. What was I doing? I was following whatever dream or inspiration popped up in my life. I didn't sweat the small stuff. Today, therapists tell their patients not to sweat the small stuff. But, i caution them, think about who you are talking to before you give that advice. Now, I have learned, finally, if you don't want blue fingers, wear gloves. If you can't feel your toes when you're out in the snow, check that you have warm boots on. When that wind is nipping down your collar, well, just why didn't you put that scarf around your neck. At this age I have finally learned some small lessons, others learned when they were very young. A slow learner I may be, but in the end I did learn. Life teaches us. Some of us stumble in the learning. I have arrived and for some unfathomable reason am proud of myself for having learned my lesson. K. B. Pellegrino, Author
November 29, 2020
Thanksgiving Recovery
As in a good mystery novel, we must wait for the plot ending. Did I overeat the turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce? I'll know when I weigh myself which I will not do until I've walked, exercised, and eaten moderately for several days. Why be frustrated? We were careful with our interactions with our interactions with others during the holiday based on COVID-19 fears; and yet we learned later of a new case, unknown before, but placing some of us at risk. Quarantine is our standard behavior for any exposure. Oh, oh, lots of time to exercise. The plot thickens and will take 14 days to end. I will use that time to place the spotlights outside to flood my Christmas decorations and to write. Hopefully Thanksgiving Recovery will not mean something else for me. Preparing for the in case situation, I am hydrating and resting. Take care in your recovery. K. B. Pellegrino, Author
November 24, 2020
2020 THANKSGIVING
My suggestion is: Do not, Do not regret 2020 and its limitations. Within their framework life is now quite valued by most of us. Work sensibly within the rules. As in any mystery novel, plot what will work for you and your families. Distance, masks, no tasting food from another’s plate, hold smaller gatherings, and give a big thank you for our life. Some have survived; some have suffered. For our lost loved ones or friends or acquaintances, do grieve, but don’t give up on life. HAPPY THANKSGIVI...
November 20, 2020
Concrete vs Not
Well, I've been busy investigating stamped concrete for places exterior to my home. I am a Licensed Construction Supervisor and an engineer, so for some reason, I love this stuff. Then off I go to my office, dreaming of murder plots and plotting away. Both fulfill me in some manner. I do like construction. It is realizable in the real world. You plan to build; you build; you have a finished product you can touch. Feels good. Writing, however often you touch the finished book in your hands, insists you write another. Why do I listen? Because the creativity involved does not leave my brain. When I wake up in the middle of the night it is never regret over a stamped concrete design I did not choose. No, more likely the thought revolves around a choice of character saying thoughts belonging to another character or a plot line I chose not to include and now have reservations. However all together, I find some balance in life including both the artistic and the practical. K. B. Pellegrino, Author
November 18, 2020
23 degrees and no walk today
At 7:300 am today, I rebelled. Despite my desire to escape my home for the great outdoors, I wimped out. I was not quite ready for below freezing walking. So instead, I wrote a poem on winter weather. Writing recaptures my soul to again use weather as inspiration and not as an invitation to depression. It worked. I was able to transfer my creativity to the novel I am currently writing which will be my seventh in the West Side MCU Captain Beauregard Mystery Series. The sixth in the series has an ...
November 12, 2020
November - 2020
Unlike Poe, I do not envision 'bleak November.' What I have seen in 2020 is Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter weather. In western Massachusetts, our weather has run the gamut from snow in early November to 75 degrees and we are not half done. Is this weather a result of an attempt by the weather gods to compensate for the trials of 2020? Or is it another bullying by New England weather patterns of change to keep us on our toes? No matter, I've had many more days available for daily two mile walks. Some flowers survived until the temperature hit 28 degrees several nights in a row. Meanwhile I have been productive: in the process of publishing my sixth mystery novel in the Captain Beauregard Mystery Series; holding a book launch for my fifth novel in the series; and just completing twenty percent of the first draft of the seventh novel in this series. Life is good when I feel the energy to write. Life is good even when I must do what Elvis Presley's mantra says TCB "Taking Care of Business." I guess life is always good and this November, better than expected. K. B. Pellegrino, author
November 10, 2020
Veterans Day
How I love honoring our veterans by celebrating this day. Veterans Day originated for the purpose of recognizing the service of our first world war soldiers. Now it symbolizes our respect for all those who fought in wars or skirmishes to protect our citizenry. I did not serve in our military but my brothers, uncles and cousins did. I remember having the honor of carrying our flag in Veterans and Memorial Day parades when I was a child. I still feel a lump in my throat when I hear “The National ...
November 5, 2020
WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON?
COVID-19 keeps changing the rules for our everyday life. But it will not stop us or me. I and you will just learn to be careful. Our governor of Massachusetts has changed some mandates starting this coming Saturday evening. I can meet them. I may not want to, but I can meet them.
I reviewed a book on scary stories a few weeks ago to include some of the stories in my story telling for kids at a Halloween party. I'd also written a few of my own to tell. I was to be joined in the dramatic readings by my friend Marsha. Totally prepared were we, when it was cancelled because of rain and cold. The kids were disappointed (ages 7 to 12 years) and we were disappointed. We however are prepared for 2021. Nothing is lost, just postponed. Today, the weather in Springfield at noon reached 68 degrees F. Joe and I took the opportunity to grab some traditional food at the Storrowton Tavern in West Springfield. We sat outside viewing the old green, central to the Big E compound. The sun shone and there was a breeze and the last of the bumblebees' days allowed them to bother us a bit; but not too much.
Last night I joined a smaller group of my family for a birthday party for our friend Dave, the tree man. Smaller group but still fun was had. Perhaps 2020 is the year of constant adjustment, a reminder that we are able to get up again and look for the good.
K. B. Pellegrino, Author
I reviewed a book on scary stories a few weeks ago to include some of the stories in my story telling for kids at a Halloween party. I'd also written a few of my own to tell. I was to be joined in the dramatic readings by my friend Marsha. Totally prepared were we, when it was cancelled because of rain and cold. The kids were disappointed (ages 7 to 12 years) and we were disappointed. We however are prepared for 2021. Nothing is lost, just postponed. Today, the weather in Springfield at noon reached 68 degrees F. Joe and I took the opportunity to grab some traditional food at the Storrowton Tavern in West Springfield. We sat outside viewing the old green, central to the Big E compound. The sun shone and there was a breeze and the last of the bumblebees' days allowed them to bother us a bit; but not too much.
Last night I joined a smaller group of my family for a birthday party for our friend Dave, the tree man. Smaller group but still fun was had. Perhaps 2020 is the year of constant adjustment, a reminder that we are able to get up again and look for the good.
K. B. Pellegrino, Author
November 3, 2020
THE VOTE
My friend Carol and I voted today in Springfield at the Carew Street Boys and Girls Club. There was excitement in the air. The staff and police officer were friendly and professional. It felt good to exercise our right to vote without all the drama in the news present in the room. Voting is a right and a duty and we all should fulfill our duty.
Given that, we in Massachusetts were told today by our governor to implement some new rules for COVID-19. Mask all the time in public whether outside or ...
October 29, 2020
A ghost story for you and your children. Enjoy!
A DESERVED FRIGHT! © 2020
By K. B. Pellegrino
Jack Gennaro and Bobby Regan, friends, and both 11-year-old sixth-graders lived a block away from each other. They typically walked to school each day together, were noted for getting into a few fracases together, and teased their younger sisters to the exhaustion of their parents as if they planned the teasing together.
All that had changed. It was 2020 and COVID-19 time. They were now parked in front of their computer screens listening to their teacher for six hours per day with a forty-minute break. Their parents and sisters were at a breaking point; Jack and Bobby created nothing but havoc in their homes. Sports and entertainment were not available. Everywhere they went they wore masks and had to keep six feet away. In desperation, the parents, after reaching an agreement to help the boys let off steam, allowed the boys loose in the neighborhood as long as they stayed together, wore their masks, and stayed away from others.
Perhaps the parents should have questioned why the boys did not argue or debate with them for expansion of their fun; but they didn’t.
The boys had a plan for what they would do when they were free. They had several months to figure it out; to think about what was at all interesting nearby.
There was a deserted house in the neighborhood. It was over hundred years old according to Mr. Gennaro who was into rehabbing old homes and who said this house was a gem. The boys thought it was eerie and scary and so wanted to go inside, but it was boarded up.
However, Jack had noted it had a big overgrown tree growing along-side and he figured they could climb the tree and get into the second story window that was partly open. Only the basement and the first-floor windows were boarded up. There was one big window with wavy glass in it that was neither on the first nor second floor that was not boarded up.
Bobby was certain the house held treasures. He said, “It’s near Halloween and we can’t go trick-or-treating and Mom said this would be my last year going anyway. Not fair! We’ll go into the scary house.”
Jack had some concerns at first because his mother told him that the house used to have a very old lady who lived in it for all her life and she died thirty years before. He wondered why nobody bought the house. He thought it was beautiful; better than some of the houses his father rehabbed. Just what was wrong with this house?
Although the climb looked difficult from the ground, the boys took Mr. Genaro’s climbing cleats to get to the lowest tree limb which fortunately was level with the open window. Once inside they toured the second floor. All the rooms had furniture in them as if someone just walked away one day. The rooms were all twice as big as the boys’ living rooms and they were impressed.
But it was the curved stairway with the enormous wavy window opposite, like they’d seen in a movie. They thought it was beautiful. They slid down the curved bannister, whose curve fortunately prevented them from going too fast, to what Jack thought was the great room. It was enormous. Next to it was a study with wooded paneling and big leather chairs. Searching, they found a box filled with cigars. There also was a closet filled with jackets. The boys sported two of the velvet jackets trimmed in red, lit a cigar with their secreted matches, and sat in the big chairs. Jack said, “When I grow up, I want to live like this. It’s the life, Bobby.”
Bobby thought there should be a footman who would deliver them a martini with olives like in the movies. As they laughed about the possibilities of a future life away from the boredom of little sisters, controlling parents, and boring at home school, a damp mist settled around them. Bobby shivered, saying, “What happened? It’s cold now.”
A kind of filmy vision came and scared them. Jack asked if Bobby saw what he saw and was told ‘maybe.’ The vision smiled at them and sat behind the desk. They thought it was a lady, but she had no eyes. Jack said, “These cigars must have drugs in them. This is like those ghost stories, but my mom says there’re no ghosts.”
The lady spoke, “There are ghosts and goblins, and ghouls, and witches and warlocks, and apparitions, and protoplasm everywhere. You just don’t see them.”
Bobby, always the most fearless, said, “You are real? Where are your eyes and why can I see through you? How can you sit in a chair and I can see the chair through you? I think it’s the cigar giving me visions. You are not real.”
“And the cigar is making you hear me, too? Young men, you are where you are not supposed to be. You are very lucky indeed, that it is I who is visiting you in my study and not my husband. You are wearing his favorite smoking jackets and smoking his Cuban cigars. He would not be happy. What are you doing here anyway? This is not your house. It is almost Halloween when the spirits are most available for you to see. If you visited tomorrow, you would not leave without horror. I’d advise you to get out now.”
Bobby said, “We’ll leave but we have to go to the second floor to climb down the tree.”
The ghost laughed, “Why didn’t you come through the front door? I always use that door.”
Jack sputtered, “You can’t, Mrs. Ghost. It’s bordered up. We can’t go through things like you do.”
The lady said, “I watched you both. You didn’t do your homework before breaking-in. The bottom of the board on the front door has no nails and you two could slip through. The door is unlocked because the lock is broken and you can open it easily.”
Without waiting, the boys ran to the front door. it was not locked and further they saw they could slip through the board opening to get out; which they did. They ran out to the street before they stopped. Bobby denied being frightened, but Jack said, “The lady has to be a real ghost. She told us stuff we didn’t know. It can’t be our imagination. Our parents are wrong. There are ghosts.”
Bobby agreed. “Jack, she tells the truth, maybe we shouldn’t go back there even though we now know how to. If her husband is there, he’ll be really mad at us smoking those cigars. My dad can’t get Cuban cigars for less than twenty dollars each.”
Jack and Bobby returned to their homes and to the surprise of their parents were nice to their little sisters. Bobby’s mom asked him if he had been smoking. Of course, he denied it, but did say he now believed ghosts were real. His mother, of course, ignored him, but did notice that Bobby did all his homework, which was unusual.
By K. B. Pellegrino
Jack Gennaro and Bobby Regan, friends, and both 11-year-old sixth-graders lived a block away from each other. They typically walked to school each day together, were noted for getting into a few fracases together, and teased their younger sisters to the exhaustion of their parents as if they planned the teasing together.
All that had changed. It was 2020 and COVID-19 time. They were now parked in front of their computer screens listening to their teacher for six hours per day with a forty-minute break. Their parents and sisters were at a breaking point; Jack and Bobby created nothing but havoc in their homes. Sports and entertainment were not available. Everywhere they went they wore masks and had to keep six feet away. In desperation, the parents, after reaching an agreement to help the boys let off steam, allowed the boys loose in the neighborhood as long as they stayed together, wore their masks, and stayed away from others.
Perhaps the parents should have questioned why the boys did not argue or debate with them for expansion of their fun; but they didn’t.
The boys had a plan for what they would do when they were free. They had several months to figure it out; to think about what was at all interesting nearby.
There was a deserted house in the neighborhood. It was over hundred years old according to Mr. Gennaro who was into rehabbing old homes and who said this house was a gem. The boys thought it was eerie and scary and so wanted to go inside, but it was boarded up.
However, Jack had noted it had a big overgrown tree growing along-side and he figured they could climb the tree and get into the second story window that was partly open. Only the basement and the first-floor windows were boarded up. There was one big window with wavy glass in it that was neither on the first nor second floor that was not boarded up.
Bobby was certain the house held treasures. He said, “It’s near Halloween and we can’t go trick-or-treating and Mom said this would be my last year going anyway. Not fair! We’ll go into the scary house.”
Jack had some concerns at first because his mother told him that the house used to have a very old lady who lived in it for all her life and she died thirty years before. He wondered why nobody bought the house. He thought it was beautiful; better than some of the houses his father rehabbed. Just what was wrong with this house?
Although the climb looked difficult from the ground, the boys took Mr. Genaro’s climbing cleats to get to the lowest tree limb which fortunately was level with the open window. Once inside they toured the second floor. All the rooms had furniture in them as if someone just walked away one day. The rooms were all twice as big as the boys’ living rooms and they were impressed.
But it was the curved stairway with the enormous wavy window opposite, like they’d seen in a movie. They thought it was beautiful. They slid down the curved bannister, whose curve fortunately prevented them from going too fast, to what Jack thought was the great room. It was enormous. Next to it was a study with wooded paneling and big leather chairs. Searching, they found a box filled with cigars. There also was a closet filled with jackets. The boys sported two of the velvet jackets trimmed in red, lit a cigar with their secreted matches, and sat in the big chairs. Jack said, “When I grow up, I want to live like this. It’s the life, Bobby.”
Bobby thought there should be a footman who would deliver them a martini with olives like in the movies. As they laughed about the possibilities of a future life away from the boredom of little sisters, controlling parents, and boring at home school, a damp mist settled around them. Bobby shivered, saying, “What happened? It’s cold now.”
A kind of filmy vision came and scared them. Jack asked if Bobby saw what he saw and was told ‘maybe.’ The vision smiled at them and sat behind the desk. They thought it was a lady, but she had no eyes. Jack said, “These cigars must have drugs in them. This is like those ghost stories, but my mom says there’re no ghosts.”
The lady spoke, “There are ghosts and goblins, and ghouls, and witches and warlocks, and apparitions, and protoplasm everywhere. You just don’t see them.”
Bobby, always the most fearless, said, “You are real? Where are your eyes and why can I see through you? How can you sit in a chair and I can see the chair through you? I think it’s the cigar giving me visions. You are not real.”
“And the cigar is making you hear me, too? Young men, you are where you are not supposed to be. You are very lucky indeed, that it is I who is visiting you in my study and not my husband. You are wearing his favorite smoking jackets and smoking his Cuban cigars. He would not be happy. What are you doing here anyway? This is not your house. It is almost Halloween when the spirits are most available for you to see. If you visited tomorrow, you would not leave without horror. I’d advise you to get out now.”
Bobby said, “We’ll leave but we have to go to the second floor to climb down the tree.”
The ghost laughed, “Why didn’t you come through the front door? I always use that door.”
Jack sputtered, “You can’t, Mrs. Ghost. It’s bordered up. We can’t go through things like you do.”
The lady said, “I watched you both. You didn’t do your homework before breaking-in. The bottom of the board on the front door has no nails and you two could slip through. The door is unlocked because the lock is broken and you can open it easily.”
Without waiting, the boys ran to the front door. it was not locked and further they saw they could slip through the board opening to get out; which they did. They ran out to the street before they stopped. Bobby denied being frightened, but Jack said, “The lady has to be a real ghost. She told us stuff we didn’t know. It can’t be our imagination. Our parents are wrong. There are ghosts.”
Bobby agreed. “Jack, she tells the truth, maybe we shouldn’t go back there even though we now know how to. If her husband is there, he’ll be really mad at us smoking those cigars. My dad can’t get Cuban cigars for less than twenty dollars each.”
Jack and Bobby returned to their homes and to the surprise of their parents were nice to their little sisters. Bobby’s mom asked him if he had been smoking. Of course, he denied it, but did say he now believed ghosts were real. His mother, of course, ignored him, but did notice that Bobby did all his homework, which was unusual.
