Sandhill Island is a magical place. The lives of the people on the island are linked to the sea and her bounty. Meg grows a garden in a salty environment, Alex paints the ocean with Meg’s produce for medium, Paul fishes for shrimp, Sam cooks for his neighbors and tourists, and Billie sings the blues.
Having lived by the sea all their lives, these people know her moods and are affected by the environment around them. The sea sooths their souls. But like the sea in all her moods, the people are not always calm and serene. Sometimes lives are turned upside down.
In Secrets of Sandhill Island, Meg grows her garden while hiding out from the past and that of her family. The father of her son died before they could marry and start a life together leaving her to raise the boy alone with a tyrannical grandfather making their decisions for them. Now that Jon is grown and Meg lives on the island alone, her past begins to catch up with her – and it is not all good. There is a lot of money in Meg’s family and money brings out the worst in most people.
In Stones of Sandhill Island Billie sings the blues because of her love of music but also because of the loss of her family. She comes home to take care of her ailing mother and Sam hires her to sing at the restaurant on the weekends. But her past also followed her from Corpus Christi. The man who caused the accident that killed her family wants redemption and is willing to go to any length to get it.
Sandhill Island is a real island in my mind. There are lots of islands off the coast of Corpus Christi and cities dotting the Gulf of Mexico. But Sandhill Island is the most beautiful and interesting.
Pick up a copy of Secrets of Sandhill Island http://tinyurl.com/gnjp94b (coming soon to audio) or Stones of Sandhill Island https://tinyurl.com/y9qp6qzp and immerse yourself in the lives of the inhabitants. They ebb and flow like the sea and you will be caught up in their lives like a rip tide. You won’t be able to get away from Sandhill Island like the inhabitants who live there.
It’s almost time for a beach read.
I’ve been a mother for a long time and I may slowly be getting the hang of it. I married young and had my first child much too early, but we persevered (That’s me in in the middle with the blooming belly). Because as a parent, what else can you do? The child is dependent on you. And you will find you are also dependent on the child. The bond between mother and child never ends. I can’t imagine the pain of losing one, but I’m lucky to have never had to face that obstacle. 
I had two children, one girl and one boy, and then decided I’d filled the house up and it was time to quit. They were the best thing I ever did with my life and somedays I wondered why. If you’ve raised teenagers, that sentence needs no explanation. 
Today my kids are middle-aged which makes me old, but we are still a family. Last night my grandson graduated from high school and heads to college in the fall. I remember this stage in life when my kids were that age. A child in college, one in high school and my parents retired and left town six months out of the year. “Here’s the key, look after our house and pay the bills from this checkbook. We’ll call later.” I had lots to do with a job, teenagers and aging parents. But I would do nothing different. It was life. It was family. And it was what I wanted to do.
Years ago, I had an imagination flash and wrote a post-apocalyptic short story called Bra Wars. A publisher who is no longer in business liked it and wanted 4 or 5 more stories in the world I created to e-publish. I wrote them. Eventually the short stories turned into a book titled The Apocalypse Sucks, a snarky take on civilization after a virus decimates most of humanity. I mean if you can’t make fun of the end of the world, what can you make fun of? Eventually that book found itself in the hands of the uber-talented Airship 27 Productions and with the help of Andy Fish 
I’m not a gambler. My version of gambling is – do I have to shave my legs today? What are the odds of my pant leg hiking up, so anyone will notice. So, with that mindset, I went to the casinos this weekend.
Victim mentality
I’m clearing my life of unwanted clutter and offering up new and inventive ideas this year.
My mother died of cancer 18 years ago, one day before seeing her great grandson born. She tried desperately tried to hang on to see that little bundle of joy, but nature had other ideas. The next day I became a grandmother. I couldn’t attend the birth because I needed to help my dad, who had Alzheimer’s and heart disease, plan a funeral. That morning I put my husband’s pickup in a ditch when I hit the only patch of ice in the whole town. They say things come in threes.
I had a great time at the Meet the Artists! event at A New Chapter Bookstore and Café yesterday. Music by Chloe-Beth, coffee and tea from the bookstore and even cookies! From 4-6 the public shuffled in and out and were entertained by the music of Chloe-Beth (much of it original). Families came and brought the kids. The relaxed atmosphere brought music and literature together in a cozy environment. Friends bought books and drank coffee and tea and enjoyed the early spring afternoon. 
Enid has a lot to do for a small town and plenty to get involved in; some for pleasure others for need. The Garfield County Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) hold an event each year on the Courthouse square. The wooden children in the picture represent the 246 cases of abused or neglected children in Garfield County reported to authorities each year. Many are never reported. The numbers incline or decline depending up on the year, but Enid is not a metropolitan city and Garfield County is not an especially large county. I think that number is much too high, but CASA is working hard to reduce it. My husband and I adopt one of these wooden children each year and dress it, take it to the Courthouse lawn with all the others and hope that the money collected will be enough to help with this worthwhile project. 
I recently met an incredible talent right here in my own hometown. Chloe Beth Campbell (stage name Chloe-Beth) has a voice like an angel. She writes and performs her own music and released her first CD on her 18th birthday titled Remnant. She has gigs all over town – and some out of town – and I am sure she will go far in her singing career.
I’m still cleaning white woodwork. The more I clean, the more dirt I find. Cobwebs love the lattice work. Eventually, cleaning will have to be painting, though I try to deny it. The white, while clean and crisp, only remains that way for so long.
