Yesterday, I dusted my furniture. The wood of piano, tables, bureau, all looks bright and shiny. Why do I put off this chore, since I enjoy the dust-free furniture so much? I’ll tell you–it’s moving the stuff I have sitting on top. Many people would look at all the small objects and wonder why I […]
The Magic of Music
Last night, I was privileged to hear junior and senior high school choirs in their annual Christmas concert. There’s something almost magical about beautiful music. The choirs sang traditional Christmas songs with new and lively interpretations, an excerpt from one of Handel’s oratorios, and a couple of their favorites. The stirring climax came when a […]

Growing Older
I have a sun dial in my flower garden. On it is an inscription from a poem by Robert Browning, “Grow Old Along With Me; The Best Is Yet To Be.” I’ve always liked that line. I suppose Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning had a wonderful marriage and did grow old together. Some […]

The Mystery of Good and Evil
Moonlight Can Be Murder. is a book of contrasts: friendship and distrust, love and hate, danger and safety, light and darkness. Ned and her friends Pat and Jackie decorate Granger’s Mansion for Christmas with red ribbons and candles, flames leap up Ned’s fireplace casting flickering shadows on the wall, Jackie plans a Christmas party, and […]

A Little Cedar and a Big Storm
Fierce winds tugged at Little Cedar. His scrawny boughs bent and swayed but he dug his roots deeper and hung onto the rock buried beneath the mountain soil. “The wind is so cold,” said Little Cedar. He shivered from his topmost limb to the bottom of his twisted trunk. “It must be nearly Christmas […]

A Battle Cry for Freedom
“A day that will live in infamy,” President Roosevelt said. And, indeed, it has and will. A surprise attack by Japanese aircraft against the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor triggered the United States’ entrance into World War II. As I watch old film clips and read first-hand accounts, I can imagine the shock […]

