Everyone should have a puppy for their birthday!  Really it’s just a cute little 2-person cake, enough to add a festive flare to an ordinary evening – just to make it a little extra-ordinary.

A few bites of cake, some Oreo Ice Cream, a long walk through the neighborhood, and the evening is complete.

It’s a great thing to share special occasions with friends (Yes, Aunt Joan – friends!) and know that one of life’s biggest blessings is that of friendship and another day to enjoy living.  A gift in itself!    M

What a fabulous time we had in Albion!  My mother and her sister (Aunt Joan – AJ to the inner circle!) are just wonderful to be around.  Sharing memories, which include laughs but also some ponderings, is a highlight, and we always discover something about our family that we didn’t know! 

On thing I did learn was that I could not ask for a more supportive family.  At one point on Friday evening my cousin Susan picked up the Nook copy of Letters to Mary and read chapter one aloud to the group.  So many discussions sprang from that, as to the history of Mary, Daniel, Charlie, and Alice – and the house that Charlie built. Thank you all for your interest and encouragement. 

Right now the sun is shining, the sky is blue streaked with puffs of fluffy clouds, and it is indeed the day that the Lord has made!  I’m off to teach my little Kindergarteners and worship with my Church family.  Have a blessed day.  M

Today the Skunk Hollow girls are getting together for our spring fling!  We hang out, eat too much, dissect the universe, take walks, and basically accomplish nothing important!  We all have skunk hats and/or scarves and tramp around town making people laugh (or shake their heads!).

So glad to have these special people in my life, and glad for the opportunity to celebrate life with them!  Here’s to the sweet-smelling fragrance of family and friends!  M

As I sit and look out my door, it is raining.  Everything is wet and there is a damp mist rising from the distant hills.

BUT!!!! It’s not snow!  The rain is refreshing the gardens, and tomorrow the flowers will be drying themselves happily in the June sunshine.  And so will I!

There are few things I love as much as being outside (other than the special family/friends in my life!) and knowing that the beauty of a garden washed fresh and clean in a late spring rain will just make it a tiny bit better.  So rain  if you will, but soon, the sun will shine, and I will BE OUTSIDE, playing in the dirt!  🙂  M

Last summer my sister and I spent an afternoon picking blue berries at my parents’ farm.  We nibbled a few, dropped a few, but bucketed most of them.  Chatting with each other and the disgruntled birds was part of the experience, but so were the stains on our hands. But those blue berries have sure tasted wonderful in salads, pancakes, muffins…  Yum!

Nothing really worth doing is completely effortless or without issue.  Planting flowers, cooking, doing research, relationships, housework, raising children, writing stories and books…. all of it requires getting a little stain on the fingers.

Don’t be put off by the thought of a little ‘mess’ or possibly more effort than you originally planned.  Just do it!  You won’t regret doing it, but you most surely will regret NOT doing it!

Have a great week, and read a book!!! 🙂  M

My word garden is planted and watered, and now I just have to wait for the harvest.  It is such a wonderful experience to have the opportunity to share Mary’s story with all of you, and I hope you will be blessed as you read.  Mary’s story is one of courage, faith, determination, and fulfillment.  I wish the same for all of you! 

As we springboard into the summer months, take time to ENJOY! 

God bless … M

Today is the day I have been waiting for so long, I can scarcely remember when the dream actually started.

Today my novel, LETTERS TO MARY, is available for sale at www.wingsepress.com.

I thank God for bringing me to this point, and know that He will direct my steps to go where He wants this to take me!   Can’t wait to see where that is!  M

What a long, lovely delightful day!  Started out early this morning, weaving my way through downtown Harrisburg looking for the State Archives building – as you see, we found it!  Spent about an hour and a half looking though the familiar letters to Mary – all the photos and documents that lived with me for 13 years!  Copies of about a dozen of them are tucked into my research folder and I am a happy camper!

After there, we went to Chocolate World, created our own custom chocolate bar, then headed back across the state.  Stopped to eat at Jean Bonnet’s Tavern in Bedford, complete with candlelight!  Very historic day, all in all – happy success, safe travels, and great company!    Blessings….. M

I am heading out shortly to spend the night with my cousin in eastern PA – tomorrow morning I will drive over to the state archives museum to get copies of some of the letters to Mary.  They are resting safely and with great comfort where they will be preserved and available for anyone to research, which is where they should be. 

It’s been a crazy week, what with a root canal, a new driveway laid, working all three jobs …  Calgon, take me away!  Not yet, but soon….  In the meantime, back to reading galley proofs.  So exciting!   Blessings.. M

For Christmas last year I received as a gift a garden in a bag.  All you did was open the bag, insert the bulb into the soil, water, and let it grow.

It did!  I was very surprised.  I sat it on the floor where it got morning light, and it bloomed several times.  Just when I thought it was time to toss it out, another little shoot would pop up.

Goes to show you that even in unlikely circumstances, beautiful things happen!  So I say, bloom where you are planted.   Have a great day!  M