Layer upon Layer

In the early morning of April 1895, a fire broke out in a livery stable in downtown Tahlequah. Before the blaze was extinguished, it destroyed much of the town: dry goods stores, grocery store, church, residences. The fire happened long ago, is a part of history, and many people have forgotten but in the restoration […]

Twelve Days

A Cozy Mystery Writer’s Spooky Twelve Days of Christmas On the first day of Christmas, Santa brought to me: a creative cozy mystery. On the second day of Christmas, Santa brought to me: Two tidy murders and a creative cozy mystery. On the third day of Christmas, Santa brought to me Three suspects skulking, two tidy […]

A Good Day to Hibernate

Animals who hibernate have the right idea about how to pass cold, cloudy, blah days of winter. A toad once lived in the terrarium in my kindergarten room. Someone found this particular toad one fall, captured the hapless little fellow and brought him to me. The children and I put dirt in a large glass […]

I Firmly Resolve…

I firmly resolve and forswear to work hard at sharpening my writing skills by never, ever writing run-on sentences unless they are called for by content of the story or one of the characters steps up and says he is going to say thus and so causing the sentence to become first a paragraph, then […]

Ring Out, Wild Bells!

Ring Out, Wild Bells!

Ring Out, Wild Bells Alfred, Lord Tennyson Ring out the old, ring in the new,    Ring, happy bells, across the snow:    The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Happy New Year! And, happy birth month to all you wonderful people who were born in January. Your birthstone […]

Taking Hope

A new year is waiting to make its appearance tomorrow. As we look at 2025, I think an important word is “hope.” We all hope for a better year in every aspect of life. Here in the South, we can’t start the New Year without those all-important black-eyed peas.  That particular practice goes back to […]