The Fraidy Cat Frog

The Fraidy Cat Frog

Don’t stumble over that ugly old rock of criticism and pessimism. Don’t ignore it and try to go around it. Climb on top of it and make it not a stumbling block, but a stepping stone. Glean anything valuable from it and disregard the rest. Don’t you dare let it dampen your day in any […]

Peggs Tornado, conclusion

Peggs Tornado, conclusion

  This is the second and final installment of my May 5, 1985 Daily Press article about the tornado which destroyed Peggs, Oklahoma on May 2, 1920. In 1920, Walter Neel lived with his parents, brothers and sisters on the Gid Morgan farm, two and a fourth miles southeast of Peggs. The storm went a […]

Splintered Thoughts

Splintered Thoughts

Do you ever experience a certain tune running through your head and it not only runs through, but it stops and stays a while? I do, quite often. Music has always been a big part of my life and it continues to be, from way, way back to earliest memories. I’ve always thought that what […]

Whispers From the Past

Whispers From the Past

Delving into one’s ancestry is a fun and absorbing business. I’m finding out about ancestors from way, way back. Some of those finds are surprising. They are all fascinating. These people had stories and I, rooted in the present day, am listening, trying to hear what they had to say. They were from different parts […]

All I Need to Know…

All I Need to Know…

Darcy, Flora, and Ned have taught me a lot. Did they teach me all I ever really needed to know? Well, let’s see now, they taught me… When you’re in a dark place, keep going forward…the tunnel has to end sometime, somewhere. Don’t believe everything you hear. You are more courageous than you think. Friendship […]

It Almost Didn’t Happen

 I wanted to write a second Ned McNeil Moonlight mystery, following Moonlight Can Be Murder. I had the title already, By the Fright of the Silvery Moon. It sounded suitably chilling. That was the starting point–I wanted to write it. But, it wasn’t all that easy. I wrote the opening scene and read it to […]