Dear Kids and All Readers, What’s the number one factor leading to lasting Happiness? Check out psychologist Jill Suttie’s article, “What the Longest Happiness Study Reveals About Finding Fulfillment.” Dr. Suttie, with the Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley, presents the findings from a Harvard study involving a diverse group of people that began in the…
Dear Readers, During my research for Book 5, Jacaranda Street: Gravestone Image, which involves a mystery wrapped around the nineteenth-century American writer Edgar Allan Poe, I uncovered a fascinating, real-life mystery. If you’re a fan of Poe, you probably know that he died in 1849 at the age of 40. His cause of death is unknown,…
Dear Kids and All Readers, I set a goal for January 2023: On New Year’s Day, I would begin writing Book 5 in my Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries series. The day came and went. For various reasons–still in a holiday mood; more research needed; hot chocolate is ready?–I had not written one word of Chapter…
Dear Kids and All Readers, This is the time of year when many of us pause and reflect on the end of another year. The joys and sorrows of 2022 have been washing over me the last two weeks as I holiday shop, send cards, and wrap gifts. Mainly, I am filled with abundant gratitude…
Dear Readers, You know the scene: You attend a holiday gathering and find children you see only this time of year or who are new to you. What do you say to break the ice with the younger set? In Katherine’s article “Beyond ‘You’re So Cute’: Thirty Questions to Ask Little Girls This Holiday Season”…
Dear Kids and All Other Halloween Revelers, Some people do or do not celebrate Halloween for religious reasons. Regardless, many people love Halloween, and I am no exception. Did you know that there are important scientific reasons to celebrate Halloween? Embracing and celebrating scary things in life could compel us to make some beneficial changes…
Hello, Kids, Readers, and Tennis Fans, I am saddened by the news that my favorite tennis player Roger Federer is retiring from competitive tennis tomorrow, September 23, following his last match in the Laver Cup, which is happening in London this weekend. Roger started his professional career in 1998 at the age of 17 and…
Dear Readers, Horse Lovers, and/or Admirers of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Here is a heartwarming story from the New York Times by Jenny Gross, dated September 12, 2022, that I thought might be as interesting to you as it was to me. Mr. Monty Roberts, an eighty-seven-year-old legendary horse trainer from California, has special reasons to…
Dear Readers and Rock Music Lovers, I just wanted to share something fun with you today–one of those happenstances that I couldn’t have foreseen when I set off for the grocery store last Saturday morning. One of our San Diego stadiums hosted a huge rock/punk/heavy and glam metal music concert on Sunday, August 28th. It…
Dear Kids and Animal Lovers, Recently, on one of my morning walks, I saw a murder of crows in a tall, otherwise barren eucalyptus tree. The fifty plus large black birds were waiting for . . . um, coffee? Huh? A murder of crows? What’s that? That’s the collective name for a group of crows–one of…
