The Not So Nice Mice

The Not So Nice Mice

A Fable By Blanche Day Manos The hundred year-old barn was home to a cow, a rooster, some hens, and a mule who pulled a plow. The days they spent in working; each one did its best, and when the sun sank from the sky, the animals wanted rest. But, when evening fell across the […]

A Squirrel, a ‘Possum and a Yarrow

A Squirrel, a ‘Possum and a Yarrow

A Fantastic Fable Wind tore at Squirrel. Rain blinded her, but she kept going, an inch at a time, down the tree toward the river. The roar of the flood drowned out all other sound. The tip of ‘Possum’s tail appeared above swirling dark water near the bank where the Yarrow grew.  With the river […]

Just Supposin’

Just Supposin’

Writing a mystery is doing a lot of just supposin’. Come with me a moment into the mysterious realms of the fourth Ned McNeil mystery. Just suppose that it was part of Ned’s job to take a picture of an old farmhouse for her boss, Daisy. But, suppose that when Ned goes inside the dark […]

Hold Onto the Lifeline

Hold Onto the Lifeline

  When you feel you’re about to sink in a sea of uncertainty, grab onto a lifeline–a book. It’s hard to be confined mostly to our homes and not be able to enjoy getting together with friends. It’s hard to experience the loss of freedom that we’ve never known before. This time of enforced loneliness […]

Imagination

Imagination

Imagination is a wonderful thing, a mystery.  It can take you anywhere, to any place, at any time. Children know this. Teachers of young children know this. So do moms and grandmas.  One of the things I miss most of all, since my son was grown a long time ago, my grandchildren are long past […]

The Time Tunnel

The Time Tunnel

Go with me this morning on a journey–not so far in miles, but a great distance in time and quite a giant leap in imagination. We’re going to struggle through years of wild undergrowth–bushes, weeds, grape vines, wild rose bushes, blackberry briars, giant oaks, and we’ll stop at the remains of a small, wood house. […]