Last year my son’s class did a fun science project. They incubated chicken eggs and raised the chicks. The school had an all-day track meet on a hot day and the teacher was concerned about the chicks overheating. When I told her that my daughter and I were going to return to the school for … Read More

If you spend any time at all on Facebook, you’ve seen the “Pick Your Five…” lists. People either love them or they hate them. Sometimes it’s both. I’m not sure why we do them. Does anyone really care which five countries I would most love to see? Which five albums I could listen to all … Read More

“And the winner is . . .” Please — not me, not me, not me… Every other kid in the crowd leaned forward, expectantly. Everyone wanted to win this prize. Everyone except me. At my elementary school (way back in the dark ages), we had an annual writing competition for fourth through sixth graders. We … Read More

One of my favorite things about our yard is the blueberry bushes. The year we moved in, I looked at the berries and decided that I needed to bake a pie. I was not very experienced in the kitchen and had never made a crust from scratch before, but I figured since I was using … Read More

Okay, I’m officially re-naming my Friday posts. In reality, I don’t review books, I recommend books. But “Recommendation” is such a long word and I get tired of typing it! So, I’m going to call it “Book Pick Friday.” Short and sweet! So, looking for a good weekend read? This weekend I want to recommend … Read More

Yesterday I posted about those “hand in the cookie jar moments.” We’ve all had them. We know we’ve done something wrong and we’ve been caught red-handed. My son reminded me tonight of his moment. It’s a precious memory to me. Last year I was reading the last of the Narnia books to my son (then … Read More

Have you ever had one of those great hand-in-the-cookie jar moments? I once held a summer job at a wildlife park, and we wore these awful two-toned brown polyester uniforms. They were mostly tan, but had dark brown pocket flaps and these folded back and buttoned flaps on the shoulders. There was a patch on … Read More

Author Mary DeMuth mentioned the term “flashlight worthy” on Twitter the other day. (I guess I should say, she “tweeted” it). I got a shiver down my spine when I read those words. My biggest desire is to write books that are flashlight-worthy. You know the ones. They the keep you up all night because … Read More