Beggars Would Ride

“You know,” I said, “I was looking again at Marvie Saunder’s book.”             “No, Ned,” Pat interrupted. “Remember, you’ve given that up. You’re going to let Cade and Gerald handle whatever is going on about that house. You are fixating on that book of poetry so, stop it!”             Stung, I said, “What a thing […]

Little Cedar and the Big Storm

Fierce winds tugged at Little Cedar. His scrawny boughs bent and swayed but he dug his roots deeper and hung onto the rock buried beneath the mountain soil. “The wind is so cold,” said Little Cedar. He shivered from his topmost limb to the bottom of his twisted trunk. “It must be nearly Christmas again.” […]

Nancy and Me and a Mystery

As a youngster, I learned many things from Nancy Drew besides what was on the pages of her books; I learned that Nancy was the kind of girl I would like to be.  Nancy was a magnet who attracted mysteries. To anyone else, clocks were clocks and staircases were just staircases, but not to Nancy […]

A December Mystery

Just in time for Christmas, the first book in the Ned McNeil moonlight series is a free e-book on Amazon.  Ned anticipates a joyful reunion with her uncle, her last living relative, but her return to her hometown is not the happy occasion it should be. Neither are the people around her to be trusted–that […]

Backyard Zoo

Backyard Zoo Six squirrels, some robins, a rabbit or two– My yard resembles a wildlife zoo. Snowbirds, titmice, cardinals and doves, Lots of birds that everyone loves. But, what is the matter with those noisy jays? They’re rude and raucous with no polite ways. They aren’t inclined to share and act sweet I’m sadly afraid […]

A Day That Will Live in Infamy

“A day that will live in infamy,” President Roosevelt said. And, indeed, it has and will. A sneak attack by Japanese aircraft against the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor triggered the United States’ entrance into World War II, December 7, 1941. As I watch old film clips and read first-hand accounts, I can imagine […]