Imagine the dire possibilities that might make Santa Claus late this year: -Santa was stopped at the border and searched for possible contraband. -Every package must go through scanners. -Santa has been charged with trafficking weapons. All Nerf guns, slingshots, rubber knives, bows and arrow have been confiscated and cataloged as evidence and stored …
I saw a redwood sapling in a terracotta pot the other day and wondered where the owner planned to plant it. I’ve passed by homes with redwood trees planted in the front yard. They grow with surprising speed in the right environment. Take that as a warning, if you’re new to California and you want …
Ranger, our five-month-old German Shepherd, is away at Puppy Boarding School with a professional trainer for a few days and nights a week. His loving attention can literally knock us off our feet. Hence, the call for help. A well-behaved and trained dog is pure pleasure. Ranger will be that after he serves his time …
Lots of people think meeting a deadline and turning in a manuscript is the goal for a writer. Not so. That’s somewhere in the middle of the long road to publication – and publication, even for a previously-published author – should never be taken for granted. The hardest part of writing a novel is starting. …
There are two fishers of men, and both know us very well. One knows our potential. The other knows our weaknesses. One gives us free will. We can choose the path we want to walk through life. We can choose to do what’s right or wrong. The other knows our sin nature and uses that …
We lost our beloved German Shepherd, Sarge, in March, before COVID hit. Rick’s heart ached for another dog. I wasn’t sure I could go through loving one and then losing another in 11-12 years. Needless to say, I gave in. We picked up “Ranger”, our all-black, fuzzy pup, along with instructions on diet. (I barely …
Over thirty years ago, when I first began writing Redeeming Love, I put three pictures on my bulletin board where I could see them as I worked. All three were of the same little girl; the first, a school picture of a pretty little 6-8 year old girl; the second, the same child, terrified and …
I can’t watch any more news about the horrific murder of George Floyd or about the protesters who have violently reacted by burning and looting. I need to hear more from the peaceful demonstrators who seek much-needed change, who address racial hatred with clarity and truth, who seek equal rights and equal justice for those …
As the shelter-in-place order has stretched from weeks into months, I’ve had more time to work in our vineyard. We have one hundred pinot noir grapevines, all planted thirty-plus years ago. When we moved in, the yard and vineyard needed a lot of TLC. In the beginning, someone had laid out a beautiful plan, but …
Mother’s Day is bittersweet for me because my mother went home to be with the Lord twenty-five years ago. We always knew my dad would not live a long life. He had his first heart attack at thirty-nine, and two open-heart surgeries. He used to joke and say the doctors should put a zipper in …