Winter Woods

Winter Woods

Wintertime trees are honest trees, stark and bare, their dark branches rising in graceful shapes. Nothing is hidden, all is in plain sight. There’s something bracing about walking through winter woods with the limbs of wild blackberries reaching out to snag the passerby and soft moss carpeting the rocks.  A chill breeze blows away cobwebs […]

December Snow

December Snow

Ned wanted nothing more than to spend Christmas with her Uncle Javin Granger, her last living relative. It had been forty years since she and her family left her hometown of Ednalee, Oklahoma; now, she was back, hiding from a threat in Atlanta and needing the peace and quiet of the old Victorian house her […]

The Mystery of the Missing Centerpiece

The Mystery of the Missing Centerpiece

It’s a pretty Christmas centerpiece: large bowl, candle inside, greenery around. I like it a lot. But, three years ago, when I put away Christmas decorations after the big day, I did an especially good job putting this centerpiece in a safe place where the bowl wouldn’t get broken. The question is: where? I haven’t […]

The Warmth of a Friendly Home

Are there times when you long for the warmth of a friendly home, the sincerity of a smile, the familiarity of people and a certain place, the knowledge that you are welcome? Do you ever turn to a well-loved book to recapture that comfort? I do. I go to Mary Roberts Rinehart. How many times […]

A Carpet of Gold

A Carpet of Gold

A carpet of gold stretches across my front lawn and the maple has lost its glory. The last few days, the wind has done its part in whisking leaves from trees and spreading them on the ground. The white mulberry  hangs onto its leaves and they are mostly still green. It is a different sort […]

A Butterfly Surprise

A Butterfly Surprise