Dear Stella

God's Wild Creatures Poem by Frank Newell A coon and a frog, and a possum on a log. A duck and a goose, a bobcat on the loose. A deer and an owl and a fox on the prowl. A quail and a dove, a turkey gobbler in love. A squirrel and a hare, and a hawk in the air. A wasp and a bee, a hornet nest in a tree. God's wild creatures everywhere. A tiny little mouse and a great big bear. He made some big and he made some small, but He made the little bluebird prettiest of them all. Poem by Frank Newell Music & Vocals by Stefanie Drexler (vocals@stefaniedrexler.com) Song dedicated to Donna Bishop 💜✨ _________________________ "The poem My job as a wildlife specialist with the Federal Wildlife Service, from which I recently retired, required me to spend most of my time working alone in swamps, forests, riverbanks, and a variety of other wild habitats in daylight and the darkness of night. I felt comfortable alone in far out, lonely places with only the wild creatures and me. Without knowing or realizing it, I gradually became addicted to the peace, quiet and serenity required by nature's wild things living wild and free, indebted to no one, not knowing anger, jealously, revenge or sin. Like the wild creatures, I could sit motionless for hours, nothing moving but my eyes. I worked countless unpaid overtime hours simply because I hated to leave the peaceful world of the wild animals and return to the noise, hustle and stress of human life. My wife, Peggy, hit the nail on the head one time when we went out to eat dinner at a restaurant. The place was crowded and noisy. People were talking loudly back and forth, laughing, shouting, and smoking. Peggy looked at me and saw that I had my back against the wall, my eyes were focused on the door and drops of cold sweat were trickling down both sides of my face. She said, "Frank, you spend so much of your time alone in the woods and swamps that you have gotten so you don't want to be around people." To me, every day that I spent alone in the wild habitat was special. On one such special day, in the late spring and around 10 a.m., I sat down on one end of an ancient cottonwood tree long ago blown over in a storm and lying across a medium size creek. Wildlife and wildlife tracks and other signs were all around me, and I thought to myself that I will see more wildlife today than most people will see in years. On a sand bar in the middle of the creek I saw the tracks of a black bear, raccoon and bobcat. As I sat there, an old blackjack 'possum came out of a hollow on the log's other end and began to lap water from the creek. He startled a bullfrog that jumped from the creek bank into the safety of deep water. Off in the distance upstream, I heard a wild turkey gobble four times. In the same general area I also heard a bobwhite quail whistle and the lonesome call of a mourning dove. I watched a squirrel run up to the top of a sycamore tree on my side of the creek and jump onto the top limb of a maple on the other side. Something in the air caught me eye. A red tail hawk was circling silently overhead. That squirrel had better be careful. As I scanned the far bank, I spotted a cottontail rabbit sitting snug in a clump of swamp grass. Way downstream, I heard a gentle splashing of water and looked to see a whitetail deer wading across the creek. Couldn't tell if it was a buck or doe because it was the time of year that bucks had shed their antlers. A gentle breeze had been moving the reeds and leaves, and suddenly it calmed down. That's when, close by in a stand of hardwoods, a great horned owl pierced the stillness with its deep hooting followed by the turkey gobbler giving answer. A honeybee lit on the edge of the sandbar to drink water, followed by a black wasp. I stood up, walked off the log and continued downstream. I hadn't gone far when I startled a Canada goose and a wood duck swimming on a beaver pond. A little farther on down, I saw a huge hornet nest hanging from a limb of a sweet gum tree. Later I quietly watched a red fox digging for a wood mouse at the bottom of a rotten tree stump. Turning in my driveway at the end of a long day, I stopped to check several bluebird houses and found nests, eggs or baby bluebirds in all of them. It had been a good day. That night, as I lay in bed waiting for sleep to come, I made a mental inventory of all the wild animals that I had seen that day. I was off duty the next day, and I took a little time to write a little poem about them. I entitled it "God's Wild Creatures." Source: https://www.warrenrecord.com/opinion/article_0fd197e8-ea84-11e7-ba66-5b7e4804191f.html Frank Newell's Legacy: Eastern Bluebird Rescue Group https://www.easternbluebirdrescue.org/frank.htm

"The Last Kiss" appears on Dear Stella Debut EP “Time Zones” released November 13, 2020. Buy TIME ZONES CD: https://dearstella.bandcamp.com/album/time-zones “The Last Kiss” Acoustic Version written, produced, recorded, engineered by Stefanie Drexler and Eric Barao. Mixed by Stefanie Drexler. Lead vocal: Stefanie Drexler Piano: Eric Barao SUBSCRIBE to Dear Stella YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/dearstellamusic FOLLOW Dear Stella: Website: https://www.dearstellamusic.com​ Instagram: https://instagram.com/iamdearstella​ Facebook: https://facebook.com/dearstellamusic​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/dearstellamusic​ Bandcamp: https://dearstella.bandcamp.com​ FOLLOW Eric Barao: Website: https://www.ericbarao.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/ericbarao ​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ericbaraomusic Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericbaraomusic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ericbarao Bandcamp: https://ericbarao.bandcamp.com​ Music video by Dear Stella performing The Last Kiss (Acoustic Version) © 2021 Time Capsule Records. _____________________________________ THE LAST KISS (Stefanie Drexler, Eric Barao) We fall apart Have we lost our minds Or lost track of time Let's race back to the start Are we out of breath Is there nothing left Could we still rewind Let's close the distance While everything's going down hill Now suddenly a single kiss can kill Out of touch Out of sight Out of time to make this right In a dream In a fright A wish for one last kiss goodnight Stopped counting the days Trapped in a garden maze Hazy, yet wide awake I cry out loud To somewhere up in the clouds It's where you live now Help me find a way out We kept our distance When we started to feel a chill And suddenly a single kiss could kill Out of touch Out of sight Out of time To make this right In a dream In a fright A wish for one last kiss goodnight I'd go the distance If I only could tell what's real Suddenly a single kiss could heal Out of touch Out of sight Out of time To make this right In a dream In a fright A wish for one last kiss goodbye #TimeZones #TheLastKiss​ #DearStella

Buy “Time Zones”: https://dearstella.bandcamp.com/album/time-zones Brighton Beach (Stefanie Drexler) On a Friday in November That’s when I gave you my heart It was raining in my home town I was outside in the dark You were sitting on the beach in Brighton When you called We were talking for some minutes Before I dropped the bomb And I told you about my feelings I’ve been holding back so long It took you by surprise So you didn’t know what to say Just don’t lead me on If you don’t mean it I need to be strong While you think about it I hope you’ll figure out That all you need is only me We both had a strong connection Through music, that’s a plus Then you said that goes a long way 'Cause it means so much to us But how will I know if that’s enough for you To call it love Just don’t lead me on If you don’t mean it I need to be strong While you think about it I hope you’ll figure out That all you need is only me I had this feeling in a dream some years go And I promised once I find it I would never let it go Now I found you almost ten thousand miles away And inside I know that’s where my heart belongs to anyway Do you feel it too? Oh I wish you would’ve told me What was truly on your mind It felt good to hear me say that Were you trying to be polite? If you really ever care about me let me know Just don’t lead me on If you don’t feel it I need to move on Think about it I hope you’ll figure out That all you need is only me On Brighton Beach Appears on Dear Stella Debut EP “Time Zones”, released November 13, 2020 “Brighton Beach” written, produced, recorded, engineered and mixed by Stefanie Drexler. All vocals and instruments by Stefanie Drexler. FOLLOW Dear Stella: Website: https://www.dearstellamusic.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/iamdearstella Facebook: https://facebook.com/dearstellamusic Twitter: https://twitter.com/dearstellamusic Bandcamp: https://dearstella.bandcamp.com #TimeZones #DearStella