A blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours!

I'm a bird lover and a bird watcher, but there are two nasty territorial crows hanging around trying to scare off Rocket J., the darling squirrel who lives in one of our trees. So I need a scarecrow!

But I need little else. This is the time of giving thanks, and so I do. For my hubby in general, for his full health in particular. For two great kids who picked spouses who complete our family.

For the grandbaby who has totally stolen my heart.

For friends and neighbors who fill our days, and the Lord who sustains us.

For the memories of our sweet Labradors who left us all too soon.

For the loving and loved relatives who will join us on Thursday. They complete us too.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Ps. The Tim McGraw concert totally rocked. I'll blog about it in depth soon at Petticoats and Pistols. Wait for it!

Live Like You Were Dying....

I haven't had that great of a start to today. I just found out my terrific editor is leaving the profession to concentrate on her own writing career. I can understand. As meticulous and gifted as she is with editing, it's got to take its toll on her creativity...and her time. We've still got one project we're working on together, and I know she's passing me on to good hands but...

....I'm broken hearted. As I told her, I can't decide if I want to cry or throw up.

To help me feel a bit better, though, I'm heading out in a bit for a Tim McGraw concert with my dear buddy Charlene Sands. I figure this is our sixth concert hunting him down LOL. He's not only a hottie, but the author of much of my life around here:

Live Like You Were Dying became one of our anthems during and since testicular cancer. My Little Girl is the beautiful, tear-jerking song our own little girl picked for her daddy-daughter dance at her wedding three months ago.

And My Old Friend brings to our heart and mind our own dearest friend, my twin brother Mike, who passed away two years ago come Christmas.

I fear I'll be plenty tearful during the concert, don't you?

Friday the Thirteenth...at Petticoats and Pistols

While you're here, why not click again and visit my take on cowboy boot lore and superstition over at the all-western site, Petticoats and Pistols! If you're wearing cowboy boots today, make sure they're old ones. New ones bring bad luck today!

And while you're there at Petticoats, don't forget to enter our Cowboy Under The Christmas Tree contest.

Before you go, got any superstitions to post for today?

Give a Vet a Hug Today...and every day...

A blessed day to those who serve and protect us. I myself am the wife, daughter, sister, niece, cousin, great-niece and great-great-great-granddaughter of U.S. veterans.

Daddy served as a translator/radioman in the Aleutian Islands in WWII. Hubby medic-ed in Germany. My great-uncle Albert died in The Great War. His remains didn't return home for three years, in time for my uncle/godfather to be named after him.

My great-great-great grampa marched with Tecumseh Sherman to the sea. Family lore says he got sidelined with illness before the burning of Atlanta. All right by me.

Veterans' Day started out in 1919, as Armistice Day, to honor the first anniversary of the end of "the war to end all wars." World War One. Ironic, isn't it? Less than 20 years later another one raged.

Truth to tell, have wars ever stopped?

In 1938, Armistice Day became a national holiday and was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 to honor all veterans from all wars, living and dead. Today there are 23.2 million veterans. Let's give them their due. Let's tend those in need.

After all, all gave some. Some gave all.

Thanks, veterans, for keeping us safe and free.

Lawmen and Outlaws, Christmas-style

Just finished: Painted Desert by Nancy J. Farrier, grade B+

Sincere thanks to Melinda Elmore for visiting my blog this past week! Good work, Melinda. Keep it up!

I was thrilled last Thursday to learn I will be part of the 2010 Christmas "Lawmen and Outlaws" anthology from The Wild Rose Press! Right now you can read about four hottie Wild West heroes and the women who tame them in the current "Lawmen and Outlaws" anthology, written by four of my "Cactus Rose" colleagues.

In my upcoming Christmas for Ransom, horsethief "Canyon" Jack Ransom finds himself guilt ridden after snatching the horseflesh of a sweet old lady rancher who reminds him too damn much of his own gram-maw. The old gal raised him best she could and extracted two promises from him on her deathbed...promises he has yet to keep.

Throw in the old rancher's granddaughter, Eliza, a beautiful schoolteacher whom Jack hires to teach him to read, a snorting outlaw gang reluctant to let Jack reform himself, and a blazing shootout, and all you have left is Jack and Eliza getting snowbound...just in time for Christmas.

I'll keep you posted.

Meet Melinda Elmore!

"This book shows that true love knows no physical or spiritual bounds and that destiny will always prevail." -----Wells Mahkee Jr., Managing Editor, Navajo/Hopi Observer


I’d like to introduce you today to fellow historical romance author, Melinda Elmore, who sets her stories in the 19th century native American cultures. Melinda is a writer, a wife, and the mother of two. Native Dreams reveals the turbulent times of the 1800s and the hardships of Native Americans. Melinda is a freelance writer for the Navajo/Hopi Observer in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Here’s an excerpt from her latest release, Native Dreams.

Precious Hawk is viciously taken from her people
and forced to live in the white world, causing
inner turmoil. Many years later, Cloud Feather, a
perfect stranger, arrives to work on her
husband’s ranch. Experience the “awe” when Cloud
Feather rescues his beloved Precious Hawk, who
has come to him in many of his dreams. His heart
is to return Precious Hawk to her ancestral lands where she rightly belongs.

On the run, the daring couple nearly lose their
lives. Cloud Feather is gravely wounded. He is
taken to his village in hope that Red Wing, their
medicine man, can save his life. All the while,
Precious Hawk is with child, Cloud Feather’s child.

But Precious Hawk knows the evilness of John
Altan. Will he ever leave her alone? No, not until he is dead.

The Great Spirit joins their love, faith keeps
their minds hopeful, and their spiritual guides deliver guidance.


Melinda, I love your cover and the names of your H and H. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I have lived in Arizona and Tennessee. I have discovered wealth is not measured in how much money you have but in how much love you share.
I have been happily married to my wonderful husband, Tom for 22 years. I have two remarkable children, Shaelee and Erik.

As a young child, I loved reading and writing. Many nights I would wrap up in a blanket, daydream, while I turned the exciting pages of a book. The books would take me to many places. I loved the idea of going from the normal world in which I lived, then instantly I would be taken to a place far away.
To my surprise, I started writing and creating my very own world. A place where I could go and lose myself with just a pen and paper.

I grew up with the fascination of the American Indian. My love for them grew by leaps and bounds as I read about them from my history book. I wanted to show, in my writings, of the proud people that the American Indians truly are. They show honor and respect for all living things. If I can capture just a small portion of that in my writings then that would be an added bonus for me.

Native American Romance and Native American mysteries is my passion. I hope to reveal in my books the uniqueness of the American Indian. I feel truly blessed to try and reveal how special the American Indians truly are.

The love of my family and the love for the American Indian have become focal points in my stories. I will do my best for both of them. I sincerely pray readers enjoy the characters that I bring to life on each turning page!!!!

I promise, Melinda, we’ll enjoy those characters you bring to life, and the native cultures you so honor. Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope you visit me again soon!

Dia de la Muertos...the grateful dead

Hello! Happy Day of the Dead!

More than three thousand years ago, natives of today's Mexico mocked death in rituals honoring their goddess Mictecacihuatl during the month of today's August. Spanish explorers deemed the rites pagan and sacrilegious...but changed the dates to coincide with the Christian All Saints and All Souls Days, November 1 and 2, when the Aztec practice refused to die out.

Today, the holiday honors loved ones who have died, celebrating their lives with joy, special foods, and displays of their favorite things, on altars called ofrenda. Marigolds are the traditional flower and are even eaten in certain recipes.

I hope you'll join me on Wednesday, my regular blogging day at the all-Western romance site, Petticoats and Pistols, for a bit longer explanation on this fascinating holiday. Today, skulls are still an important part of the tradition, and but not with the grim gore of Halloween. Calacas and catrinas are usually depicted laughing and dancing, and kids enjoy eating sugar candy skulls.

I'm thinking of my dear, departed dad right now, with love and joy.