Writing, etc.

After 34 years of marriage, Hubby and I discovered we both love baseball.

I grew up watching the Pittsburgh Pirates on television and listening to the games, announced by the legendary Bob Prince, on radio. I had an uncle who was a rabid fan. My dad just loved the game. I celebrated the team led by Willie Stargell. I marveled at Kent Tekulve's arm. I mourned the loss of a true hero, Roberto Clemente. We claimed the song We Are Family as our own.

But that was well before I met my husband, who has his own tales of attending games at the long-gone Forbes Field as a small child.

Last night, we went on a date night to our little minor league franchise's ball field to watch the Washington Wild Things.

Meet The Wild Thing:

It was a hoot! There were foot races between a doughnut, an iced latte, and a cup of coffee. Another foot race involved the team mascot and a small boy. The boy won. A couple of kids competed in a hula-hoop contest. We all sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame during th…

It's DONE. I have sent Zoe Chambers Mystery #6, titled UNEASY PREY, to my editors. Another deadline met.

This one was a challenge. Lots of obstacles fell in my path over the last year. But I made it with much thanks to my friends, especially Ramona Long, who invited me to her writer's retreat in eastern Pennsylvania. I affectionately dubbed it Book Jail.

I traveled with my frequent road trip buddy, Martha Reed. Kensi was very unhappy with Aunt Martha for coming to take me away.

What a face!

And this is it! Officially it's "Clare House" but to us, it was our home for a week of writing. It was also Book Jail for those of us (ME) on deadline.

The grounds were lovely, with lots of statues of St. Francis of Assisi.


We had a trio of deer who visited us daily.

While we holed up in our own private spaces all day to write, we each took turns cooking dinner, which we shared as a group. Most evenings, we dined outside. Here is Martha Reed and Edith Maxwell about to dig into…

I finally admitted I'd outgrown my kindergarten-level Samsung Galaxy Core Prime smartphone and upgraded to a Galaxy 7S a little over a week ago. I could sing love songs to this new phone. And I am extremely grateful to my favorite Verizon guy who took the task of transferring all my "stuff" from the old phone to the new. Technology-wise, the smaller the learning curve for me, the better.

One of the things I did before putting my old phone on the shelf was transfer the photos I'd taken on it over the last two years to my computer. I've deleted more than I kept because--let's face it--3 megapixels. The camera sucked.

But here is a sampling of life as captured by my cell phone camera over the last two years.

Beginning with lunch with my friend, Terri Watson, in Nashville, TN. Such a fun afternoon! Great memories.

An in-the-wild book sighting of Bridges Burned:

Kensi daring me to keep working on edits:

Caught on Mystery Lovers Bookshop's "Best of 2015&qu…