The Lovely Feeling of Being Home

The older I grow, the more convinced I am that there’s absolutely no feeling that can beat the feeling of being home. Home…where you can just be yourself, relax, put on old shoes or go without shoes, eat if you’re hungry, go to sleep when you want, clean house until it sparkles or not. Home!

Being brought up in rural Oklahoma, I feel more at home in the country or in a small, friendly town like the one I live in now. I enjoy the wildlife that sometimes saunters in, the birds’ songs of morning and evening, the peace of it all. Ned McNeil, in the Moonlight Mystery Series, loves those things too. She lives in a small town and is blessed with living close to the animals and birds who also call Ednalee, Oklahoma their home:

As the sun sank below the trees, I decided to make this a short day and go to bed early. Last night, I had been so agitated from my hair-raising experience that I barely slept. Tonight, I’d drink a cup of chamomile tea before going to bed and, hopefully, sleep at least until sunrise.

Glancing out my kitchen window, I saw a few Juncos gathering at the empty bird feeder.

“I forgot to get sunflower seeds,” I told Penny, who stood at the door gazing longingly at those feathered appetizers. “I’ll take this leftover cornbread from supper and scatter it on the ground. Maybe it’ll tide them over until I go to the store tomorrow.”

Scooping two pieces of cornbread onto a paper towel, I walked into the backyard and breathed in the stillness and peace of early evening. Far off in the woods, an owl hooted. An answering hoot came from some place closer to my house. I loved the feeling of being home.

A couple of mornings ago, I raised the shade over my kitchen sink and there was a tiny visitor, stuck tight to the window glass. I was so glad to see him! We used to have tree frogs in abundance at Manos Meadows but, although I hear them in my back yard on summer evenings, I don’t often see one. This little fellow even posed for a picture. He must have been curious about my home and was peering in the window to see how it compared with his.

Tree Frog

As you know, I like to grow herbs. My ancestors did too and my great-grandfather on my mom’s side as well as my grandmother on Dad’s side, knew how to use them for medicinal purposes. A hundred years ago, doctors were a rare commodity and people had to know many home remedies for various ailments. Which brings me to the answer to today’s mini mystery.

A few years back, my sister-in-law and I ate at a tea room which served an attractive sandwich with basil leaves as, basically, a garnish. Well, I like herbs and I nibbled on the basil. It was so good, I ate all of it on my plate and hers too. After we paid for our food and left, I started to feel funny. My lips puffed up. My tongue felt thick. My throat started to close and I began coughing. My sister-in-law wanted to take me to the emergency room but I didn’t want to go. If I had something to drink, surely it would dilute the bad effects of the basil. Because, answer to the mini-mystery: The basil leaves were the culprit and although I had never been allergic to them, I was allergic that day.

Sure enough, after drinking a milk shake, I felt better and the symptoms left. Lesson learned: a person can develop an allergy to any given thing at any given moment.

Herbs are a natural enhancement, provided by nature, for many things, but a person must use good sense and not behave like a greedy pig. Which I did.

I have herbs at home now, growing in a plot out back. I enjoy their fragrance and have a healthy respect for their uses. Herbs, tree frogs, bird song–all things I love and all a part of being home.

If you like mysteries with an extra shiver, you’ll be glad to know that the first of the Darcy and Flora cozy mysteries, The Cemetery Club is always only ninety-nine cents at Amazon.com and is free on BarnesandNoble.com.

And, now you can pre-order By the Fright of the Silvery Moon at Amazon or at Pen-L.