It’s a cold January day here in the Midwest. No snow, but the wind comes sweeping down the plains. I need some warmth and to hear the sound of the surf in the distance. And what better place to experience that than Sandhill Island? Here’s a new novella about the characters who inhabit the tiny island off the coast of Corpus Christi.
Strawberry Sundae Delights takes place in an ice cream shop on the island. In the summer on the beach what is better than ice cream?
Schoolteacher Sienna Schultz is still stinging from a bad breakup with her fiancé when she finds herself unexpectedly infatuated with a new man. While working her summer job at her aunt’s ice cream shop in the small tourist town of Sandhill Island, she meets Jake White, a college student from Corpus Christi who is working on a shrimper for the summer. Sienna is not ready for another relationship, but Jake is difficult to resist.
Sienna’s peaceful summer is shattered when a series of suspicious events unfold. Her aunt’s suppliers refuse to sell to her, putting the future of the shop in jeopardy. Then, when the store is vandalized, they wonder if someone is out to harm not only the business, but Sienna and her aunt as well.
Jake offers to help uncover who’s behind the incidents, which brings the two of them closer together. Can Sienna trust him…or is she headed for another heartbreak?
Strawberry Sundae Delights adds new characters to the island and revisits some you may already know. It is a romance with a hint of suspense. Summer on an island with a new love – ahhhh. Could life get any sweeter?
Strawberry Sundae Delights is an e-published novella available through Kindle, Nook, iTunes and distributors everywhere. It might be just the warmth you are looking for this winter.
Expect the Unexpected. What are you reading this week?
With the week we’ve had politically, it is time for something fun. Expect the Unexpected. 
Each year I decide on a topic for the blogs I write. Sometimes I get off the beaten track, but this year the pathway is clear. “Expect the Unexpected” is what I’ve chosen. For some time, I’ve wanted a tag line for my writing and since I write more than one genre, this seemed like a good tag line and topic for this year’s blogs. 
I walked in the door at Lowes near the garden area and it caught me by surprise – cinnamon. Not the common fertilizer and weed killer smells. It smelled like Christmas. It took a while to find where they hid it. The scent was somewhere in the store. And I followed my nose. Up high above my head, I found them. Cinnamon pinecones. The scent of Christmas. I had to have those – later – closer to Christmas. If they were still there. I love the scent of cinnamon no matter the time of year, probably because it reminds me of my mother’s snickerdoodle cookies and Christmas as a child.
It’s 12 days until Christmas (I think there’s a song about that) and we have snow here on the Great Plains! If you’re from up north, you would laugh at our little snow, but it can shut us down. At least me. 
Perseverance is a word that best describes the petunias that came up in my garden this year. Several appeared voluntarily from the ones I planted last year. Seeds I didn’t’ realize were in the soil. I never went to the greenhouse. I was surprised to see them and decided to transplant them into pots that were strewn around the garden to protect them – then more appeared.
It’s Thanksgiving week! There will be turkey, stuffing, pies and lots of overeating. I will join in those festivities, but Thanksgiving will be different this year. Fewer people are traveling and that is a good thing physically, maybe not emotionally. 
If you’ve ever lived with a sweetgum tree, you will understand. Last year was the worst. We’ve lived in this house for 24 years and the house was built in 1980. I can only assume the tree is 40 years old since it was probably planted when the house was first occupied. 
Peggy Chambers "Views from the Hammock" site 