The Mystery of the Swaying Crepe Myrtle

The Mystery of the Swaying Crepe Myrtle

A branch on the crepe myrtle just outside my window is swaying. What is making it move? It isn’t the wind. The breeze is still; all the other branches are still. It’s a mystery! (I think I know the answer–a squirrel, but since I didn’t glimpse him, I’ll just keep the mystery.) Mysteries are on […]

How Do You Look at Things?

How Do You Look at Things?

My sister-in-law Linda and I found these old glasses in their case when we were cleaning out Mom and Dad’s storage room.  I know two things about them:  they are old and I like them a lot. They did not belong to my parents and I’m guessing some previous owner of the house and storage […]

The Heat of Summer

  The Heat of Summer–that’s the name of the poem Nancy wrote. She read it to us yesterday during the critique, a beautiful poem, commemorating some of the favorite moments in these lovely days of summer. In Nancy’s busy life this summer, she has been to a women’s conference in Branson, Christian Communicators’ Conference, where […]

The Beauty of Brothers

The Beauty of Brothers

  Today is the birthday of my oldest brother, Tracy. We laugh and call him the Emperor, the boss of the clan. It is also the birthday of my oldest nephew, Clint. In honor of this, I re-post an article I wrote a couple of years ago. My brothers and I often reminisce. Sadly, we don’t […]

The Making of a Mystery

The Making of a Mystery

  Do you in NW Arkansas remember the rainy March we had? Do you recall that we had two full moons in the month of March, so the second one was called a blue moon? Did you know that this natural phenomena was the inspiration for the third Ned McNeil cozy mystery?  Moonstruck and Murderous […]

A Tight Grip on Freedom

A Tight Grip on Freedom

  I hate war. I hate the thought of it: the separation from loved ones, the pain and death and cruelty and barbarism. What is at the heart of war? Why can we not live, each in his own country, peacefully? “War is hell,” said General Sherman. He should know. He certainly inflicted a lot of it on […]