Lovely Morning

It’s such a lovely morning, above freezing, sunshine, flowers hesitantly starting to take a peek at the world. I wonder, on such a morning, why there’s turmoil and trouble and hatred anywhere?  At last, I can breathe a sigh of relief for the robins. When snow and ice covered the ground, those real-life early birds […]

Murder Under a Full Moon

Murder Under a Full Moon

  An excerpt from my current work-in-progress, the fourth Ned McNeil mystery: The next day, Pat’s and Jackie’s reactions were similar to Cade’s. “Look,” I said, as Janie set our coffee in front of us. “My curiosity was already piqued, so Tom’s request just gives me a good excuse. It’ll be kind of exciting to […]

A Complaining Santa

A Complaining Santa

  Mrs. Claus: Are you feeling better, Dear? How about a nice, hot cup of coffee? Santa (throwing back the quilts and rolling out of bed): Just what I need. The trip was hard this year. Mrs. Claus: Did the reindeer behave? Was the sleigh over-loaded? Did you face a head-wind? Santa: Yes, no, and […]

Taking a Look Back

Taking a Look Back

Happy first day of winter! This is the shortest day of the year. From now on, the days will get longer and longer until June 20, which is the longest day of the year. It’s like the wise old squirrel told the puzzled little puppies in one of my favorite children’s books, “It’s like a […]

It Was Super Moist!

It Was Super Moist!

It’s a dark, moist sort of day. The deck is damp, but yesterday it was super moist. As in a Winnie the Pooh book, “The rain, rain, rain came down, down, down.” It happened when I went grocery shopping. Everything was fine as I went into the store. The forecast had said we might have […]

Small and Crawly

Small and Crawly

God’s Small World God made a tiny, shiny world in blades of grass and flowers, Where crickets creep and spiders spin and dewdrops fall in showers. And in this small, this crawly world are secrets and surprises. The caterpillars creeping here wear summertime disguises. No one but God could think of it; I don’t know […]