Summer is upon us....

Ah, another June has tiptoed into the year. Summer is here in the South: hot, steamy days with only a bare breath of wind. Good for diving into the pool, or wading in a cool, shady creek. I used to love walking through the deep woods on my grandparents' 80 acres; the small creeks turned into rushing rivers with mossy banks and slippery logs you could sometimes cross carefully. Nowadays unless I go to a wooded park, I'm rarely able to enjoy that natural pleasure.

However, luckily there is a small wooded park about a mile from my house. I often take the dogs there, simply because it's cooler with graveled paths and even on a scorching day, there's a light breeze.

Wooded park path where I walk dogs almost daily

Week before last we had a terrible family situation. My brother-in-law was going in for mitral valve repair and/or replacement; he unexpectedly had an adverse/allergic reaction to something administered at the start of the procedure, had to have CPR to revive him. We were all shocked, since he's had several surgeries in the past, with nothing like that happening. The surgical team saved him, and of course, ran a series of tests to find out what caused the reaction. We're still not sure, as some of the tests should be back soon. In the meantime, the surgery has been re-scheduled for next Thursday, and we're all hoping for a good outcome. It's been stressful and worrisome to wait this length of time, because he does need this surgery -- since he's having problems related to the failed mitral valve. At any rate, I'm trying to keep my anxiety in control, and as usual, indulging in my greatest diversions: reading/writing.

Although I haven't made any progress on a rough draft for the YA novel, I'm still researching and daydreaming about it. I need a fairly long uninterrupted time when I first start -- at least to get the solid beginning underway. Since I plan to use the previous story as the basis, I've been going through it, snipping and cutting parts not needed.

Also I'm occasionally editing a novella I should have online sometimes this month: "The Walking Wounded." It's about crime victims, and how deeply they are changed by criminal action against them. Something I researched back when it was written (90s) and found interesting. If you've never been the victim of a crime, it's nearly impossible to understand the lasting effects of that life-altering experience.

Dogs & cats are thriving, although Oscar does have another benign tumor on his paw. The vet pointed it out the last time I had him groomed; she said it was not a problem at this point, but if it started growing, would need to be removed. It doesn't seem to be sore or tender; he still loves his walks in the park! Oscar has a couple small benign tumors on his chest too -- and the vet said it was not uncommon to find benign tumors on older dogs (Oscar is almost 11 years old).

Rambo & Muffin are doing great, still enjoy playing and chasing each other around. Oscar refuses to play, just watches and occasionally barks as if telling them to "behave themselves!" :-)

The cats are okay too; however, Slinky, the eldest at 16, seems to have developed a small benign tumor on her neck. Vet said the same thing as Oscar: let it be unless it grows.

I'm starting a free promotion of my novel, "The Secret of Crybaby Hollow" which will run from tomorrow through the end of the week.

And I also have two promotional runs for sales of "Quest for Destiny" which should cover a couple weeks. Hoping to find new readers, always!

I guess that's it for today. Not a lot to write about, but I do like to keep this blog updated occasionally.