The last couple of months have been filled with eldercare while completing the third manuscript, which is in the assassin’s editor’s hands now. While I was in Texas, cows floated through the flooding at the neighboring ranch, so I returned to my mountaintop especially thankful to be out of a low-lying area. I now am enveloped in a very green early summer.

A herd of cow elk hover at the tree line on the peak north of me, and they’ll calve soon. A rabbit that lives under the rock bench on a knoll above our meadow has blessed us with blond bunnies. Their antics make me smile every morning when I brew my hot tea.

The first of the house wrens is warbling madly outside the office, on a perch on one of the mountain blue bird houses. A pair of vicious magpies attack me when I walk behind the house, fiercely protecting their nest in a serviceberry bush in the meadow. I remember protecting my young, so cut their aggression some slack.

We will choose to ignore the pile of bear scat on the driveway. Thank you. I will garden armed.

The past four summers have been amazing: landscaping, church activities, writing, marketing. But this is going to be different. I have neglected that which is most important: family and inner growth. I plan to practice the Christian discipline of solitude this summer (once I finish incorporating the editor’s assault on my work). To hear God, I have to slow down a bit and focus on listening.

This parallels my protagonist’s, archaeologist Grace Madison, journey in book three. While my upcoming posts will reflect an inner journey, they also will include bits and pieces of her journey. Hers is much more dangerous, of course, somewhere far more volatile than my peaceful perch. Here’s a hint!

I’m so glad you’re here. You make this adventure much richer. I appreciate you and want you to know that you are a part of my success: we’ve sold almost 5,000 books in eleven months!

Summertime! Share it with me.