I'VE BAKED A FRESH COBBLER

About the Book

The story is set in rural Michigan early in the twentieth century and opens in the spring soon after Edith’s second birthday.  Papa Clarence and Edith are in the snowy yard to feed the birds.  Momma Clydis is in the kitchen beginning an arduous day.  Old Sniffer lies in a shed nearby with Tawny and her five pups, the dogs to add humor and nuisance throughout the tale.  It soon develops that pastoral serenity is marred by troubles far and beyond the frisky dogs.  Something real deep troubles Momma.  Family and friends pitch in, coping with episodes of terror and of distance she displays.  A mysterious white oak dresser is paramount to resolving her plight.

The story is flavored by colorful, often humorous characters sharing situations of suspense, romance, glee, terror, tragedy, passion, woe, and triumph as the families cope with Clydis’ problem coupled with home reconstruction, timber harvesting, Indian affairs, child birth, horse run-a-ways, and the five rambunctious pups.

Electrification comes into home and community spawning industry not unlike a gold rush.  The town installs sewer and main and some of the Nation’s first concrete streets as the theme of a Summer Festival, that event clouded by moonshine.  County fairs play a role in the characters’ lives, serving to enlighten, threaten, amuse, amaze, and fulfill the aspirations of Indian, farmer, homemaker, and child.  Meanwhile at the swinery rapist and killer are vying.  Family and friends stick with the Groner family.  Finally, a peach cobbler serves symbolically as a new beginning for Clydis.

I’ve Baked a Fresh Cobbler is the third of the Jericho Books by T. F. Platt.  The Jericho stories are intended for adults and young adults.  The tales do not include explicit sex and they omit profanity.

About the Author

T. F. Platt was reared in a protestant family and presently enjoys church membership.  His first writing success was in grade school, discovering that he could entertain by reading aloud the story or skit that he’d written.  Later, during his career as a college professor, his articles appeared in the scientific press and for eleven of those years he served as editor for a national scientific society.  The idea for the Jericho series of books occurred in 1975 when he visited his mother at her retirement complex.  Nearby was a railroad bridge that in the author’s mind became Lower Lead Bridge and a walk around the area soon identified other prominent features of the Jericho stories.  During his youth Mr. Platt enjoyed tramping the miles of forest and streams in his neighborhood where he and cohorts were sure Indians still roamed.  His writing of Indians and their needs is a continuation of youthful insights.

Having sold the Piper Cherokee, Mr. Platt is happy to fly with a buddy as often as possible.  Airport Fly-ins and Air Museums are frequent destinations.  He likes, too, to fire up the antique backhoe and move a little dirt every once in a while in keeping up their home four acres.  The Platt family recreates around two ponds, many trees, lots of birds and other wildlife, and many leafy lanes that his children, grandchildren, and friends ply by golf cart.  At the ponds Uncle Ben may assist the little ones in fishing techniques while Grandma Helen may stir them toward crochet and other crafts.

Author and family reside in southern Michigan, some one hundred fifty miles from the site of his Jericho stories.  They have four grown wonderful children and four marvelous grand children all of whom serve as inspiration for the writer.