Fierce Storms

What a difference a night makes!Tornadoes tore through parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma last night. It was a fearful time with people going to their safe places and praying that the tornadoes would pass them by. My heart and prayers go out to those affected and I’m thankful for the safety of family and friends. In Moore, Oklahoma, someone took a picture of a broken power pole dangling from electric lines. The snapped-off pole was the shape of a cross. The photographer wrote, “God is with us.”

Yesterday afternoon the weather cooperated and the day was sunny as the Cozy Critters gathered. It was a happy, encouraging time of critiques, coffee, and cookies laced with laughter. Nancy brought a copy of her brand-new book, Grace Impact, to be released next month. She had a lot of information to share about her journey into publishing and the Mid-South Writer’s Conference in Tennessee she attended this month.

Helen continues to write devotionals. Her schedule includes sending out two devotionals each month to receptive magazines. One of her devotionals yesterday was The Old Railroad Car. This is among the best I’ve ever heard. And, as always, left me feeling encouraged.

Jane had a birthday! We wished her many happy returns and admired the two pictures she had painted. One was a bright rendition including a full cup of coffee (I’m sure it was Folgers). One was a painting inspired by a photograph of a little girl in an old-fashioned dress. She found the photo in her mother’s trunk. No one knew the child but on the back of the picture someone had written “Lillian and her dog.” Her mother framed it and hung it in Jane’s bedroom where it stayed and years later became the inspiration for her poem and painting.

And I? Well, sometimes cozy mystery writers veer off the chosen path. I read a story in progress, a children’s patriotic story about a cat and a flag and how a song came to be written.

We missed Peg and hope she will soon be kicking up her heels and able to join us. Her chair at the hundred year old table was strangely empty.

The storms held off until everyone was safely home for which I’m thankful! Oh, and by the way, you should have heard the giggles as we discussed sit, sat, sat, as opposed to set. I think we finally got that straightened out. Jane, you need to write a poem about that!

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