birthdays and anniversaries

To celebrate John's birthday each year, I usually get a cake pop from Starbucks.  This year, I was in Orlando visiting my sister and her family in February.  To commemorate his birthday, Sharon and I got a Mickey cake pop at Disney!  

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I have also started the tradition of getting a wind chime to mark the anniversary of John's passing.  Since I spent the weekend at Disney this February, I wanted one Disney-related.  Since I couldn't find one that hit me just right, I ordered the chime in the picture below.  It is "Cinderella blue," and has a butterfly (which played an important role in the live-action Cinderella movie).  

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....and of course, here is a picture of Cinderella and me!

John would have gotten a kick out of me meeting her.

Relay for Life

The school where I teach held its first Relay for Life to raise money for the American Cancer Society in May, 2016.

This is my luminary in memory of John and my friend Vickie.

Camouflage: The Day After Tomorrow

My latest short story is now available on Amazon/kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A3JQUZQ/ref=s9_simh_gw_g351_i1_r?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1MSE1RSG0QMQVYVT8YYD&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop



Chaos. Everywhere. And now someone, or something, had discovered her hiding place. Could Cammie keep her cover much longer? With Grandfather missing, would her questions ever be answered? Will the turmoil in "Camouflage" be tomorrow's headlines?

Taylor County (FL) Friends of the Library

July 27, 2015
The Taylor County Friends of the Library were a gracious audience for my talk about "Liquidating Life", Voices Against Brain Cancer, and the publishing process.

summer of discovery

Doing more painting and while taking figurines off a shelf, found another sticky note from John folded and hidden there.  He must have written it early on because it has my name and the message made sense.

John Strikes Again

Summer brings the major projects I've put off until I have the time, such as painting and moving furniture to clean.  Today I painted the hall which meant I had to take the pictures off the wall.  When I went to rehang the largest one, on the back I found another sticky note from John, as well as a photo.  He went through a phase of scanning leaves from the yard and making photographs of them.  (One particularly excellent one is enlarged and hanging in the living room.)  Just when months or a year passes and I'm not expecting to find another note from him, one appears.

..........and again today, June 17, 2015, while prepping to paint the bathroom, I took the picture off the wall, and stuck to the price tag still hanging on the back was this sticky from John:

which begs the question, how long HAS it been since I've deep cleaned???

Big Dog and Georgia Girl

My latest writing available on Amazon is "Big Dog and Georgia Girl:  A Montana Short Story".  It is approximately 30 pages and set in and around Glacier National Park Montana.

"After her husband's death, Amanda escapes to his family's cabin in Montana. As she ventures from her cocoon of solitude, she unknowingly wins the heart of the local sheriff. Will her fear of having to survive Montana winters keep her from a second chance at love?"



This is the link:
 http://www.amazon.com/Big-Dog-Georgia-Girl-Montana-ebook/dp/B00VL9N0ME/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428805454&sr=8-1&keywords=big+dog+and+georgia+girl+ebook

Oddly enough, I wrote this before John was ever diagnosed with and passed away from brain cancer.