My maternal Grandmother was born in Waterloo, Quebec, Canada, and married a dairy farmer who chose to make his fortune in life by moving his family to the tiny Village of Ballston Spa, New York. While living in Canada, she bore and raised four children, Eric, Janie, Jim and Dick. Upon my birth in New York she became a grandmother three short years before my grandfather sold his dairy farm & ice cream store to Friendly's, after which the two of them retired to Chula Vista, California. Her first poetry book was published in 1940, entitled Dream Dust. She subsequently published three more books, Echoes of a Singing Heart in 1955, Chiaroscuro in 1965, and Wings on the Wind in 1976. Her poetry has been prominently featured in both Popular Poetry Magazine and The Poetry Digest. Besides her poetry, she was an accomplished artist that lovingly worked in charcoal, watercolor, oils, ceramics and more. She also contentedly dabbled daily in her expansive rose and vegetable gardens. My most precious memories of her are of strolling amongst the beaches and tide pools of Coronado Island and La Jolla, California, our myriad visits to the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park and numerous museums, as well as playing Scrabble, checkers, chess, backgammon, and other thought-provoking games and art-related projects on her screened-in porch. To this very day I still miss her dearly.

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David H. V. H. Meisburger

I was born on August 1, 1953, in Ballston Spa, New York, and raised on the family dairy farm for my first few years of life while my father served aboard a ship in the U. S. Navy during the Korean War. The farm had an honest-to-goodness spring in the far corner of their fenced property which fed a small brook, home to ravenous trout that bit at just about anything that was dropped in their path. As a toddler I explored everywhere I could get to; the barn, hayloft, cow and horse pastures, grain fields, farm equipment, and more. In my grandmother's first poem about me, I'm related as being a terror, well representative of my Leo's horoscope sign. I've traveled to and enjoyed the sights, sounds, and merriment in forty-eight of our fifty states, only missing Alaska and Idaho. I'm now 63 and officially retired, but I still help out my friends with their work whenever they're in need, as they do the same for me. Due to my grandmother, I began writing and appreciating art in all its myriad forms at a very early age, which has inspired me to compile and compose this book in her honor.