Our strawberries are starting to bloom. We don't expect ripe fruit for a while yet, but it's yet another sure sign of spring. At her European duty station, Younger Daughter has a balcony off her apartment where she keeps a few potted strawberry plants. Interestingly, though, many of the flowers aren't white. Some are light pink. Some are dark pink. Some are dark red. And yes, some are white. They're all strawberries – she regularly gets fruit – but I have no idea why the blossoms vary in color to such a degree. Does anyone know ..read more

Tiny homes are all the rage lately. We know a business in which building tiny homes is a brand-new side project. This is the company's first completed project, custom-tailored to one customer's specific requirements: The business was having an open house before the customer took possession (hence the paper taped to the floor), so I took advantage of a tour. I'd never been in a tiny home before, and was surprised to see how spacious it was. Per the customer's instructions, it didn't have a kitchen range, but it did have a full refrigerator (with the blue protective film still on it). (That's m ..read more

Despite being in the middle of a chilly spell (windy, scattered rain, high of 50F), spring is indisputably here. One of the surest signs is the blossoming of the arrow-leaf balsamroot. These large, showy blooms prefer shallow soil and sunny south-facing slopes. During this time of year, they positively carpet meadows and light up distant hillsides with color. Another sign is deer. They're everywhere. I mean, deer are always "everywhere" here, but this time of year they're more "everywhere" than usual, if you know what I mean. No fawns yet, though. It's too early for that. the oak ..read more

Thank you all for the well-wishes during my recent bad head cold. Except for a lingering cough, I'm feeling much better. And I'm over halfway done with my NaNoWriMo project! I just logged in about 26,700 words (out of 50,000). I emailed my editor at Harlequin yesterday, and she's looking forward to my proposal (synopsis + three chapters), which will lead to negotiating with my agent for a new contract, etc. It feels good to have the ball rolling again. I'm also working on two articles both Backwoods Home Magazine, due at the end of the month. So yes, even though I was down sick for a while an ..read more

Just some random pix of Mr. Darcy at leisure. It's hard to believe this little puppy dog is now a middle-aged gentleman. We brought him home in August of 2017, so he's already seven years old. Possibly his favorite resting position (weather permitting) is out on the deck, chin resting on the lower rail, alert to any turkeys he can chase off. "What? You lookin' at me?" Enjoy watching Darcy at leisure as I recover from this bad cold ..read more

Don stumbled upon a map of England depicting a cross-country trip across the length and breath of England. The trip lasted fifteen hours and doubled back and forth, zigzagging across the nation. He got to wondering how such a trip would compare to Idaho, so he pulled up a map of the state and tried to recreate a journey of the same length, staying strictly within the boundaries of the state. You'll notice the road is more of a backwards "J" shape rather than the zigzag. That's because there are many remote parts of Idaho that don't have roads, notably the massive Bitterroot Mountains in the ..read more

An older gentleman in our church passed away late last week, and his funeral is this Friday (Don is a pallbearer). I was asked to make some chocolate-chip cookies for after the service. Lots of chocolate-chip cookies. For this task, I took the best chocolate-chip cookie recipe I've ever found, and multiplied it. It's kind of an awkward recipe to multiply, since it starts with 11 tablespoons of butter. I had a full two pounds of butter I wanted to use, so I had to figure out the ratios. A little cross-multiply-and-divide (for those who remember that classic high-school math trick) and I determi ..read more

America went stark raving crazy over today's solar eclipse.  Oh the ridiculous conspiracy theories that abounded over what was, after all, a common and predictable event! We could expect earthquakes! False flag attacks! Biological warfare! Acts of terrorism! EMPs! Civil unrest! Mass zombie behavior! Communications blackouts! Internet down! Martial law! Lock downs! Um, have I missed anything? Of course, the moment the eclipse was over and exactly NONE of these predictions came to pass ... crickets. Here in Idaho, we were well outside the path of totality. Using this eclipse website, we wou ..read more

Years ago I read a story. It seems a Vegas showgirl, who stood a stately five-foot-eleven-inches in height, was regularly met at the stage door by a man who was barely five-foot-six. He always brought a dozen roses and a charming smile, and would ask if she'd like to go out to dinner with him. Concerned about their differences in height, she gently turned him down, over and over. Undeterred, the man would appear evening after evening – not pushing or harassing, simply asking. Finally she said "yes" and he took her out to dinner. They had an astounding amount in common, fell in love, and got ma ..read more

Our blueberry bushes are budding like mad. The harvest promises to be good. Last year we picked sixteen pounds of berries from these fairly young bushes, which I canned up. However I hadn't really used up any of the canned berries; and if we're going to get a similar harvest this year, I figured I'd better come up with an excuse to use last year's fruit. So, borrowing a cobbled-together dessert I made years ago, I made blueberry tarts. I started by taking four quarts of berries, and draining them. I used puff pastry for the tarts. I stinkin' love puff pastry. It's so versatile for both sav ..read more