Good morning and happy October.
I'm back after a visit with my mother and other family members. When I left Cheney, WA it was 92 degrees and 102 in Sacramento, CA. I remember when I was a kid that Sacramento was always execessively hot in September so I went prepared. What I didn't remember was that the first week in October turns windy and rainey. Atleast it did this year.
My mother, is such an inspiration and just a beautiful woman. No, seriously! she is 98 years old and has this thick white hair, short and styled beautifully. I love the way she plants her glasses on the top of her head. When I do that they always seem to either slide down or they irritate me so I can't stand them, any way I wear mine all the time. Last time I visited she was always leaving hers some place and looking for them, so she has finally found the solution for a place to leave her glasses when she isn't reading. Yes, she reads! She has a stack of her favorite books next to the rocking chair that is her nesting place most of the day. She reads the newspaper, her Bible and 4 or 5 others, among them THE HAT PIN MURDERS by Joyce Caudel. Yes, that is me her daughter, she likes to remind me that it is dedicated to her, Natalie Scaggs, the best mother a girl could have. That is a true statement! My mother has served the Lord Jesus Christ all her life and taught me to do the same. I feel so blessed to have been grounded in the Christian Faith since I was a child. Even though I strayed from it in my youth I always knew that God was with me and I came to that day when I truely made a commetment to serve Him. What a blessing to have a mother that prays for her children and loves them unconditionally.
My cousins, Kathy, Patty and Mary Ann drove up from Visalia, Fresno and Madara for a short visit. Patty and Kathy are my double cousins. Let me explain, their father and my mother are brother and sister. Their mother and my father are brother and sister. It's as simple as that. We all 4 went to Fairfield for a short visit with our Aunt Sally and her son, Roger. We picked up burgers (IN AND OUT BURGERS, which we do not have here in Spokane), they are Aunt Sallys favorite meal, at 91 she is still the fun lady I always remember. How to live a long life? Be an inspiration and pass your love around. Of course I had mailed my book to her when it was first published, she said she couldn't believe that I had written a book. (I can't either) She was sure happy and surprised when she received it.
A visit from (my other daughter,) Erin and her son Matthew, surely blessed us all. Erin makes necklace scarves, beautifully croched scarves that she passes out to everyone she meets. She also sells them to help her sons sports team with uniforms or what ever is needed. Erin can be reached at - efrederici@digitalpath.net. She gave me a dozen to sell and to use the money to help with Natalie's ballet lessons. The scarves sell for $20 and I can mail you one, contact me on Face Book. Natalie is my granddaughter living in New Zealand, but will come here, with her mother, after Christmas to join my son, Mark and grandson Matthew that are already living here. Long story but the devistating earthquake in NZ hastened their move to America. So Mark and Matthew came in August so Matthew could start high school and Ingrid and Natalie stayed in NZ so Natalie could finish out her elementary grade and continue her ballet. I'm sure they will spend Christmas with friends and family there, we will surely miss having them with us for that celebration.
The only down side to my visit in California was that my nephew, Vernon passed away suddenly while I was there, but I'm blessed to have had a good visit with him just the evening before he passed. Prayers for his family would be appreciated.
It is so nice to be back at my desk typing away, I have been filling your eyes with so many of my thoughts, but there is so much to talk about and a Blog is the place to do it. I've been asked if I'm working on a second book? Yes! I'll close this Blog and get to it.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Just another summer time blog.
It's time to post another note to my blog. It's still summer here in Cheney, WA. I'm excited about the coming weekend, I will be attending the Spokane Red Hat Convergence at the Double Tree Hotel. I will also have a booth to sign and sell my novel THE HAT PIN MURDERS.
I have had such good feed back from my readers that I'm encouraged to work on my next book. The Red Hat Ladies are busy solving another crime against one of their own. Many of the same characters will be there and I've added a few new ones.
I hope that all of you that bought and read my first novel will purchase and read the next one.
I will be heading to Sacramento, CA to visit my mother and celebrate her 98th birthday. If her long and healthy life is any indication of my own, I should be able to finish off a whole series of mysteries. I thank God for all His blessings and the wonderful friends I've made along the way.
I have had such good feed back from my readers that I'm encouraged to work on my next book. The Red Hat Ladies are busy solving another crime against one of their own. Many of the same characters will be there and I've added a few new ones.
I hope that all of you that bought and read my first novel will purchase and read the next one.
I will be heading to Sacramento, CA to visit my mother and celebrate her 98th birthday. If her long and healthy life is any indication of my own, I should be able to finish off a whole series of mysteries. I thank God for all His blessings and the wonderful friends I've made along the way.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Blogging again
Hello Bloggers,
I guess I'm a little behind on my blog. It's 4 1/2 weeks after my total hip replacement surgery. Everyone tells me I'm doing well, but it seems a little slow to me. The worse thing is bending over, I painted my toe nails the other day and got as much on my toes as on the nails. It's a real stretch.
I joined a group of GrayDogPress authors the other evening to discuss some new marketing plans. As you must know after a book is out the first few months sales will be pretty good, but after that sales really drop off. We have to find new markets for our books. This is a very time consuming effort and takes away time I would like to be devoting to writing my next novel.
Speaking of novel number 2, I've been doing pretty well with everything but who will commit the murder. yes, there has to be a murder. I pretty much had it figured out and got into some good dialogue, of course I save everything on a flash-drive. Well, the problem was apparently I didn't save this last chapter that I was working on. Yesterday I searched and searched to no avail. It was a good piece of work. So I'll get back to my lap top, plug in the flash-drive and write another chapter.
My son and grandson are finally here from New Zealand. Matthew has a few more weeks before he has to start school. My granddaughters will be leaving next week to go to college at Biola U. in So. California. I will sure miss them but so happy to have Mark and Matthew here. My daughter-in-law and granddaughter will come after Christmas. Life is good here in Cheney, Washington.
I guess I'm a little behind on my blog. It's 4 1/2 weeks after my total hip replacement surgery. Everyone tells me I'm doing well, but it seems a little slow to me. The worse thing is bending over, I painted my toe nails the other day and got as much on my toes as on the nails. It's a real stretch.
I joined a group of GrayDogPress authors the other evening to discuss some new marketing plans. As you must know after a book is out the first few months sales will be pretty good, but after that sales really drop off. We have to find new markets for our books. This is a very time consuming effort and takes away time I would like to be devoting to writing my next novel.
Speaking of novel number 2, I've been doing pretty well with everything but who will commit the murder. yes, there has to be a murder. I pretty much had it figured out and got into some good dialogue, of course I save everything on a flash-drive. Well, the problem was apparently I didn't save this last chapter that I was working on. Yesterday I searched and searched to no avail. It was a good piece of work. So I'll get back to my lap top, plug in the flash-drive and write another chapter.
My son and grandson are finally here from New Zealand. Matthew has a few more weeks before he has to start school. My granddaughters will be leaving next week to go to college at Biola U. in So. California. I will sure miss them but so happy to have Mark and Matthew here. My daughter-in-law and granddaughter will come after Christmas. Life is good here in Cheney, Washington.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Boa
Hello Bloggers,
As I was trying to fall asleep last night, I was also trying to think about my next book and where I am going with it. As with the first one, THE HAT PIN MURDERS,I had a difficult time wrapping my mind around the mind of the murderer. So I went with the really bad guys, the Mifia. I can't go that way again, so I thought perhaps I'd check out how to make a pipe bomb on the internet, how about putting a pipe bomb in a hat box and call the book THE HAT BOX MURDER. But then I'd have to call in the bomb squad and on and on. But, as I was brain storming in my twilight sleep minutes, I thought about the boa that all of us Red Hat ladies love to wear. So I decided as I drifted off to sleep that I'd put a boa in a hat box, and it may not be all feathers.
Back to real life: I'll be having hip replacement surgery on Monday, July 11. I hope that after I recover from the drugs I'll have some time to write, or atleast enjoy some summer sun, finally! I've been making casseroles and putting them into the freezer so George will have something to eat while I'm laid up, as George does not cook.
I will have a booth at Cheney Jublee in Cheney, WA Saturday, July 9th and Sunday July 10th. I'll be signing my book, THE HAT PIN MURDERS. I hope to see some of you there. Come and enter to win a gift bag which will have one of my books in it as well as some other goodies, like chocolate! All the fun of the week end will keep my mind off the surgery the very next morning. HaHa
As I was trying to fall asleep last night, I was also trying to think about my next book and where I am going with it. As with the first one, THE HAT PIN MURDERS,I had a difficult time wrapping my mind around the mind of the murderer. So I went with the really bad guys, the Mifia. I can't go that way again, so I thought perhaps I'd check out how to make a pipe bomb on the internet, how about putting a pipe bomb in a hat box and call the book THE HAT BOX MURDER. But then I'd have to call in the bomb squad and on and on. But, as I was brain storming in my twilight sleep minutes, I thought about the boa that all of us Red Hat ladies love to wear. So I decided as I drifted off to sleep that I'd put a boa in a hat box, and it may not be all feathers.
Back to real life: I'll be having hip replacement surgery on Monday, July 11. I hope that after I recover from the drugs I'll have some time to write, or atleast enjoy some summer sun, finally! I've been making casseroles and putting them into the freezer so George will have something to eat while I'm laid up, as George does not cook.
I will have a booth at Cheney Jublee in Cheney, WA Saturday, July 9th and Sunday July 10th. I'll be signing my book, THE HAT PIN MURDERS. I hope to see some of you there. Come and enter to win a gift bag which will have one of my books in it as well as some other goodies, like chocolate! All the fun of the week end will keep my mind off the surgery the very next morning. HaHa
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Joyce's Little Blog: Summer has arrived in Cheney, finally!
Joyce's Little Blog: Summer has arrived in Cheney, finally!: "Summer finally arrived in Cheney, WA. Yes, we thought it would never come but at 1 p.m. it is 86 degrees. Happy summer days, my granddaught..."
Summer has arrived in Cheney, finally!
Summer finally arrived in Cheney, WA. Yes, we thought it would never come but at
1 p.m. it is 86 degrees. Happy summer days, my granddaughters are pulling weeds out of my strawberry patch and of course their reward will be that they can harvest the barry's. yum!
Last Saturday I had a booth at Founders Day in Medical Lake. Since the day before had been nice and warm I expected another warm day and only wore a light jacket. There was a wonderful croud that came out to watch the parade and the 3 on 3 basket ball games. By noon it was really cold and by 2 p.m. it was pouring rain. My son and daughter in law came to my rescue and took my gazabo down and loaded up my stuff. I climbed into the truck and said "turn up the heater". All in all it was a great day, I signed and sold 5 of my books, THE HAT PIN MURDERS. I met some really nice people and saw a few old friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. If only I had thought to wear my parka and Uggs. Now that is all behind me and I'm nice and warm I've been encouraged to do some writing. I'm working on my next Red Hat Mystery.
My next adventure is to have my right hip replaced. I will see my doctor tomorrow for my pre-op appointment. Then will schedule the surgery. I should have plenty of time to work on my novel while I'm recovering. Sounds like fun, huh?
1 p.m. it is 86 degrees. Happy summer days, my granddaughters are pulling weeds out of my strawberry patch and of course their reward will be that they can harvest the barry's. yum!
Last Saturday I had a booth at Founders Day in Medical Lake. Since the day before had been nice and warm I expected another warm day and only wore a light jacket. There was a wonderful croud that came out to watch the parade and the 3 on 3 basket ball games. By noon it was really cold and by 2 p.m. it was pouring rain. My son and daughter in law came to my rescue and took my gazabo down and loaded up my stuff. I climbed into the truck and said "turn up the heater". All in all it was a great day, I signed and sold 5 of my books, THE HAT PIN MURDERS. I met some really nice people and saw a few old friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. If only I had thought to wear my parka and Uggs. Now that is all behind me and I'm nice and warm I've been encouraged to do some writing. I'm working on my next Red Hat Mystery.
My next adventure is to have my right hip replaced. I will see my doctor tomorrow for my pre-op appointment. Then will schedule the surgery. I should have plenty of time to work on my novel while I'm recovering. Sounds like fun, huh?
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
What a Beautiful Day
'Oh what a beautiful mornin, Oh what a beautiful day, I've got a beautiful feelin, everythings goin my way.' Yeah!!
George, my husband, and Robert, my son are out side digging out our dead rose bushes and planting some new ones. One of the roses was like a tree so Rob had to get out his wench and his come-along but with a little muscle out it came. I took pictures so I will try to put them on FB. Notice I said try.
I just returned from Gray Dog Press, my publisher. They made 2 lovely posters for me with my picture and a picture of my book and of course a nice blurb about me and the book. It will be a great tool to have for my next events.
Russ my publisher seemed very pleased that there have been quite a few sales of my e-book. So that really made my day. Yes it has been a beautiful day.
George, my husband, and Robert, my son are out side digging out our dead rose bushes and planting some new ones. One of the roses was like a tree so Rob had to get out his wench and his come-along but with a little muscle out it came. I took pictures so I will try to put them on FB. Notice I said try.
I just returned from Gray Dog Press, my publisher. They made 2 lovely posters for me with my picture and a picture of my book and of course a nice blurb about me and the book. It will be a great tool to have for my next events.
Russ my publisher seemed very pleased that there have been quite a few sales of my e-book. So that really made my day. Yes it has been a beautiful day.
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