Rituals

Rituals! A practice with meaning that becomes a habit. Do you have a daily ritual? I begin each day with coffee and Bible reading.  It’s a pattern that gives structure to my day.   It’s a funny thing. The women in my cozy mysteries begin the day with drinking coffee too. And Flora, at least, […]

Magical Mushrooms

This is National Mushroom Day! I didn’t know that, until I read it this morning, so I assume that’s right. Mushrooms are interesting little fungi that seem to appear overnight, after the ground has received quite a bit of rain. How did they get there? So far as I know, nobody has ever seen them […]

Ned McNeil

She really knew how to push my guilt button. I had plenty of time. My only job was working part-time for Daisy and her real estate company, and I could certainly have turned her down, but she looked so needy that I couldn’t refuse. So, here I was on a windy, autumn day standing at […]

Tempest

The ocean is fascinating and it is also dangerous. In a very short time, its mood can change from benevolent to violent. Life is like that. Everything can be fine and dandy (as Dad used to say) and then, it’s not. If life is a sea and people are the boats sailing it, we are […]

One Wild Goose

As I sat on my deck, I heard a piercing sound slice through the morning air. It took a moment to recognize it–the cry of a wild goose. Only one? Where were his friends and family? Had he gotten lost on his trek to warmer places? Tree limbs were between me and the goose and […]

Mornings

“My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning” (Psalm 130:6). Something about mornings brings hope. I believe it is related to a life force within us that rises, like the mercury in a thermometer, with each new day. As I read that verse from Psalm 130, I can imagine […]