Melting snow looked like Snoopy, the Peanuts character.

Flowering house plants are making me happy while I wait for outdoor gardening. We have lots of vegetable seedlings. While I'm itching to set out plants, we have several hard freezes yet before May 15th, our typical last freeze.

I may be able to plant hardy vegetables this weekend. Kale, lettuce, beets. Whether indoors or outdoors, gardening offers life lessons, if you listen to the earth and the plants. 

• “Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” Luther Burbank

​Here's a link to more gardening quotes.

Eccentric Circles is an excellent way to sample a variety of genres and writing styles. Published by Encircle Publications, the anthology features short stories by their authors writing everything from thrillers to historical fiction to mysteries and more.

My story Cindy's Storm is about Rock Shop Mystery secondary characters Cindy and Herb Lyons. It's a departure from my usual mystery short stories. More of a romance, it gives the backstory for rock shop employee Cindy and her flock of half a dozen children. 

I'm reading my fellow authors' stories, and adding their novels to my TBR (to-be-read) pile.

Whether you're seeking your new favorite novel author, or simply enjoy short stories, Eccentric Circles offers a collection of twenty-five tales with  appeal. Available here.

Writing a novel requires planning. I have spent a month outlining a new novel. Now I can begin fleshing it out and doing the actual writing.

I have been a home gardener as long as I've been a writer. Gardening is an activity that teaches you lessons applicable to the rest of your life. Patience, Perseverance. Experimentation. And Planning.

I ordered seeds for my future vegetable garden. One experiment is trying new varieties of jalapeno peppers. I didn't grow enough last season to can. I have a few in my freezer, but my goal in 2022 is to have an overabundance worth pulling the canning equipment out of the closet.. 

Last year's garden provided green beans and tomatoes - enough to carry us through to next season. My husband was between contracts during peak gardening season, and took an interest in the vegetables and flowers. The more beans you pick, the more the vines produce. Or so it seems.

Pole beans, unique varieties of tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers are part of our future garden plans. I also hope to improve our beet production, and push indoor starts for eggplants and cucumbers to produce earlier in the season. My husband is sprouting marigolds indoors. We're going to try starting pots of flowers indoors for earlier blooms in our short growing season.

In the writing world, I have ambitious plans for three novels. I can't possibly finish three books in one year, but I can lay the groundwork for each, and complete at least one.

Whatever your 2022 goals are, begin with a little planning. I hope you enjoy a bumper crop of success!

I received my author copies for Doubloon Jeopardy. I'm thrilled with the vibrantly colored cover art. The cozy mystery novel is part of a series available here.

​I had so much fun writing this novel. I like the stylized fictional pirates of literature and movies. Writing a story where I could play with real versus fictional pirates, and include pirate dialect, was a blast.

​This is the description on the Annie's Fiction website:

​As the townspeople of Crescent Harbor, California, prepare for the inaugural Pirate Days festival, excited tourists clad in pirate attire descend on the charming village. Local legend claims a pirate landed there and buried his treasure. Scarlett McCormick, head curator of the esteemed Reed Museum of Art and Archaeology, is pressured to validate the legend or face a mutiny.

Scarlett plans special exhibits at the museum to coincide with the event, and she stops at a pumpkin patch for autumn decorations. The errand takes a disturbing turn when she finds a dead man dressed like a pirate.

Dead men tell no tales, so it’s up to Scarlett and her friends to learn the truth. The discovery of an ancient cutlass and gold doubloons supports the man’s connection to the pirate festival. But the cause of his demise remains unclear. Was it an accident or murder?

While Scarlett investigates the death and the artifacts, she unwittingly becomes a target. Will she solve the mystery before she’s forced to walk the plank?

I saw this sticker on a vehicle while driving a few days ago. You have to appreciate the honesty.

In the fiction writing world, a battle rages between Pantsers and Plotters. Learn what the brouhaha is all about in my article appearing on the Pikes Peak Writers blog here.

I have envied children and their library reading clubs. They earn prizes for reading books. Being a dedicated reader my entire life, I would have liked a little recognition for my motivation. Finally, my moment has arrived.

The Pikes Peak Library now offers an adult reading program. 

"Join us for this year's Winter Adult Reading Program: Ocean of Possibilities
"From Tue., Feb. 1 - Thu., March 31, 2022 log 30 days of activities to earn prizes! Activities include attending any of PPLD's virtual programs, anything listed under the activities section below, and reading for 30 minutes or more a day."

Thirty minutes reading a day? I've got that covered! Now to collect my prizes...

Yes, the days are slowly getting longer, but we are far from outdoor gardening season. I am already perusing the seed catalogs. Spring can't come soon enough. To lift my sagging spirits, I tended to my indoor garden - houseplants. Some plants readily root when a cutting is placed in water. I planted several-week-old cuttings in pots. My African violet looked crowded. I planned to repot it. To my amazement, there were three plants in the pot! When did that happen? I broke them apart and gave each one its own pot. My husband threw a handful of marigold seeds in a pot as an experiment. They have sprouted and look terrific. Now the question is, how are we going to make room for all the new additions to our plant family?