"Sqwuork!"

Annabelle the Sweet Pea Whimble sat straight up in bed. The combined sounds of her squawk and snort had certainly disturbed her slumber.

"My goodness! What WAS that?" she asked herself, looking all around. The bedroom…

The Woodland Whimbles continued along the winding pathway. Ahead, Nikki swooped and dipped. 

"Come on you two! Step lively!" encouraged the hummingbird. 



"Now, then, Nikki! You stop that chatter right away! I don't like your route at all, not at all!" Manning retorted,…

One fall morning, when Sophie was rolling out pie crusts for an apple pie, she heard, "Tap, tap, tippetty, tippetty, tap." She looked up to see Nikki perched in the window box, beak to glass pane. She ran to open the door.

Nikki's whirring iridescent wings were as dazzling as the…

In the fall days that followed Manning spent much time in his garden. Under the Harvest Light he picked tomatoes, melons, pumpkins, and cabbage. He climbed his ladder to pick one rosy apple after another. Sophie washed and pared the apples, creating wonders for the palette from apple sauce…

Manning the Woodland Whimble chirped softly. He walked along the shady path toward his favorite glen hidden in the woods. The most wonderful ferns grew there: Boston, Maidenhair, Lady, Painted. After the last bend in the path, the Whimble stopped in his tracks. His feathers ruffled. He shook…