posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

Back in the Old Days, before the internet brought us "instant communications" and the ability to distribute "mail" with the drop of a hat, I received an occasional chain letter.

All I had to do was copy a letter so-many-times, which wasn't all that easy either by hand or typewriter, and send it to so-many-friends, which wasn't all that cheap, either, and usually required a trip to the post office for stamps. Then I was instructed to send some…

posted by Doranna



Of all my dogs, Belle is the quiet one. Even of my currently competing performance dogs, Belle is the quiet one. While Connery Beagle busily bays at strategic points along our agility courses--everyone knows when the Beagle is running!--Belle runs quietly, often getting the job done before anyone quite notices we've even been at the start line. Connery runs in the middle of the class at the 16" height...short-legged Belle runs at eight and…

Posted by Sheila Connolly

My across-the-street neighbors are delightful people. They've been married fifty years (we were invited to the big party thrown by their family in honor of the event, even though we had known them only three years). Both retired, they are diligent gardeners, and the missus delights in holding yard sales several times a year. (It is worth noting that mister left the state altogether to avoid this most recent sale–it's the women in the family who do…

posted by Leann Sweeney

Caution: This post contains graphic medical terms like "icky" and "disgusting."

I am pathetic when it comes to my pets. Probably because we live so far from our grown children and have no other family close, these furry friends have become very important to our mental health. We spoil them, we love them and they make life easier just by their presence. And since I work at home and spend many hours with them and only them, it makes matters worse…

posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

Yippee! Summer is almost over. No, I'm not looking forward to icy roads, icy sidewalks, icy winds, icy temperatures. That, I hope, is well into the future. In the meantime, we have my favorite season. I love the autumn. ("Fall" sounds rather treacherous to us Boomers, doesn't it?) I love the cooler temperatures, the brilliant tree colors, the woodsmoke tang in the air. Mostly, I love vacation.

Since our daughters have reached the age of…

posted by Doranna Durgin

So crowed a recent article in Kiplinger's, the magazine for the organization that leads "the way in personal finance and business forecasting."



I'm gonna take a wild guess and say most of the Kiplinger's readers are decently employed. (They are, after all, seeking investment advice.) And I'm gonna take another wild guess and suppose that they mostly have health insurance with that employment.



At least, I…

Posted by Lorraine Bartlett

It seems to me that too many young woman are willingly becoming, or advertising themselves as, STOOOOPPPPID! Need I say more than Britany, Paris, and Nicole (with Lindsay and Jessica not far behind).

Sadly, I know too many young girls who willingly going around with nothing but AIR between their ears. I'm not even sure some of…

Posted by Sheila Connolly

In case I haven't mentioned it, I'm writing a mystery series that involves an apple orchard. Set in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts, the story begins when my protagonist decides to fix up a colonial house her family owns in order to sell it, and finds that it comes with an orchard. I would say an "old orchard," except that apples trees don't live for centuries. But she learns that there has been an orchard on that (fictional) spot since the…

posted by Leann Sweeney

Face it. You watch TV and you like it. I won't tell anyone. Between the monsoons and heat indexes approaching Fahrenheit 451 here in the Commonwealth of Texas, I prefer air conditioning. And I suffer no shame in admitting I am addicted to crime shows. I like the real life ones on Court TV. Forensic Files, LA Forensics, North Mission Road. And my new favorite is on Spike--a station I've never tuned into in my life until they created a new program called…

Posted by Lorraine Bartlett

It's the little things in life that really bug me the most. Stuff I really don't have too much control over. Like...my mouse. Not alive, the one that sits beside my computer. For the past couple of weeks it has been unruly. I cleaned it, I squirted it with compressed air, I cleaned all the contacts and the roller ball (several times), and still it was recalcitrant.

I replaced it. I now have a nice, new laser mouse, but it feels awkward. It isn't the…

Posted by Sheila Connolly

This past week Ellen Goodman wrote in her weekly column about the fact that men dominate the world of political blogs: the column was titled "E-Male". She made the point that while there are many blogs written by a women or women, in the political sphere it is the male bloggers who get heard and who set the agenda.

This blog is not going to be about politics, even if there is a woman running for President (about time!).…

posted by Leann Sweeney

That title sounds self-serious and ridiculous all at once, doesn't it? I guess that sums up my personality. But this is not a post about me, but rather about the other me--a new character who needs a voice. And she doesn't have one. Not yet.

I have been writing a certain series heroine for years, one who jumped onto the page immediately. Guess I'd been planning her birth for years, so that could be the reason. Her name is Abby Rose and you should visit…

posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

Today's sermon...er, blog... is about researchers of easy virtue. The ones who go directly to the New York Times website to find articles and other information. The ones who pay for articles rather than looking for them as freebies. The ones who have a house full of books they've read once but will never touch again unless they dust them once in a while or pack them to move. (Do you know what it costs to move books? We are already weeding out books…

posted by Doranna

I have rainitude.

Once upon a time, I lived way too many years in the lake effect country of western New York (a place where one of our esteemed bloggers still lives, and where we all have ties of one sort or another). The weather there can be described, in a one-word nutshell: Gloom. An average of 200 cloudy days a year, thank you very much, thanks to the various Great Lakes looming around (Ontario, Erie). In Rochester, if I was to think…

posted by Lorraine Bartlett

I've always had a love-hate relationship with "how-to" books. Goodness, knows I have enough of them. From redecorating your rumpus room to building an entire house. I also have a lot of writing how-to books, as well as a few "diet" how-to's.

My latest diet how-to is French Women Don't Get Fat. I bought it at a yard…

Posted by Sheila Connolly

Inspired by Lorraine's last post, I thought I'd follow the bug thread. This makes some sense, because my husband is an entomologist (that's the bug person, not the one who worries about where words came from). He's a research scientist, and he works for the federal government, for one of those agencies known best by its initials. He's worked for several of them, and I always have to remind myself which one is current (APHIS, ARS, USDA, USFS, etc.). He…

Posted by Leann Sweeney

I have always had a need to keep my hands and my brain busy at the same time. If you write for pleasure, for money, for whatever, you have this trait. You've probably had it for as long as you can remember. No coincidence I painted (while listening to music) and cross-stitched (while watching television) before I began writing (while listening to music) and quilting (while watching television or DVDs). And of course it's no coincidence. Mystery writers…