I am on vacation.  Yea!!!  I dropped my December 15-due date manuscript into expressmail on Friday, December 14, and then I left town Saturday morning, December 15th.  I’m here in Fairfax, Virginia (northern Virginia outside Washington, DC) enjoying family and holiday preparations.  Yesterday, I took my granddaughter to a favorite area knitting shop, Uniquities, in Vienna, [...]

I’m almost there. . .pant, pant.  I can see it in the distance.  
This morning I’m startting Revision #4 (out of 5) for my latest mystery., which is due December 15th.  I was up till way past midnight last night inputting all the corrections  from revision #3.  And on and on until it’s finished.  And it WILL be [...]

This is a very versatile soup recipe.  You can use pumpkin, butternut squash, or acorn squash.  Each works well.  Canned pumpkin works very well with this soup.  If you’re using butternut or acorn squash, use two to three medium large squash, enough to provide the same amount as the canned pumpkin would yield.  Both butternut and [...]

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  I sure did.  Turkey and all the trimmings.  In our family, we always called it the Annual Carb Blow-Out.  Boy, is it ever.  Yummy, but deadly.  But it’s a great prelude to The Holiday Kitchen. 
After turkey day, I had lots of fun searching for just [...]

Black Friday.  Yes!  Bring it on.  Oh, I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving, all right.  Love that yummy food.  But I am revving up for those Big Three Shopping Days.  Black Friday isn’t enough for me.  Oh no, I need all three days.
 Why?  Because believe it or not, I have to get all of my Christmas [...]

Yes!  I’m there at last.  I’ve reached the chapters in the holiday mystery I’m writing (due December 15th) where I get to show the sleuth—Kelly Flynn in the Knitting mysteries– put all the pieces together and figure out WhoDunit. 
I LOVE writing those scenes.  It’s so much fun showing how your sleuth sorts through all those [...]

One of the many things I love about my career as a novelist is that I can take it with me.  I can write just about anywhere–and have.  Years ago when I was scribbling my novels in spiral notebooks, I could shove the notebook in a backpack, briefcase, or a large purse and take it [...]

It must be Fall, because the leaves are gorgeous and I’m making soups.  I LOVE making soups in the Fall and Winter.  That’s when all those yummy gourds are ripe and ready—like pumpkins and squash–butternut and acorn are my favorites.  Yesterday I raced over to my favorite market (a local/regional one that has outstanding produce) [...]

Hey, folks—I’ve seen some really good movies lately and wanted to share.   All opinions are personal responses to each film.  Check ‘em out and tell me what YOU think. 
First:  I thought Jodie Foster was excellent in THE BRAVE ONE.  And the story is a fascinating psychological portrait of what her character goes through.  Plus, a great mystery, [...]

Oh, my gosh.  I’m back on the bleachers again.  Watching a volleyball game.  But instead of watching oldest daughter, Christine, playing on the court below, I was watching her team play their hearts out.  Yep.  Tempus sure does “fugits.”  (See mangled Latin references).  Now, my former star volleyball-playing daughter is old enough to have kids [...]