Were you hoping to attend the Lakeside-Marblehead Lighthouse Festival for your autographed copy of BENT TREE COTTAGE and stuff got in the way? Well, you can still get your personalized copy by submitting your request on my CONTACT form. I will get back to you as quickly as possible.

I had a wonderful time this past Saturday at the Lakeside-Marblehead Lighthouse Festival. A huge THANK YOU goes out to everyone who stopped by my booth and purchased books. Some of you were first timers who purchased copies because the storyline takes place in Marblehead, Port Clinton and Kelleys Island. Many of you who bought the first book in the series last year came back for the next three. And then there were those of you who love the Tanner Series and came to the event just to purchase the book you had been waiting for all year.

If you were hoping to get an autographed copy and couldn’t get to the event, you can fill out the contact form and let me know. I will be happy to send you a personalized copy.

It’s been a long time coming but the latest book in the Tanner family series, BENT TREE COTTAGE, is finally live on Amazon. Other outlets will be available in a day or two. I want to thank everyone who fast-tracked the editing and formatting process so the book could be available by October 1st.

The fourth book in the Tanner family series has Travis Tanner purchasing Bent Tree Cottage, located on Kelleys Island in Ohio, out from under the grasps of Uncle Sam. Owning the “cottage”, believed to be haunted by the residents of Kelleys Island, has been his boyhood dream. Now Travis and his cousin Nick begin the monumental task of bringing the huge house back to life after being closed-up for forty years. Meanwhile, his wife, Olivia Bentley Tanner, head of McLeod and Morrison, a company that builds ships for the Department of the Navy in Norfolk, Virginia, must keep herself and twin sons safe from enemy agents who will stop at nothing to retrieve the latest files on HELIOSmm-88, a newly developed tracking and monitoring device that will give our Navy unimaginable abilities over our enemies. The secrets held within the walls of Bent Tree Cottage bring the Civil War and today’s espionage crashing together on Kelleys Island.

After a year away from blogging it feels good to be back in the groove and focused on the completion of my current book, BENT TREE COTTAGE.

It’s been a rough two years. My partner of twenty-six years was diagnosed with lung cancer. Unfortunately, by the time he realized something was wrong it was stage four. My writing ceased as my head was filled with him and his care––Bent Tree Cottage was not going to meet the publication date of mid 2023. After his passing in April of last year and legal details completed, I packed up our two Yorkies, Hemingway (Hemi) and Peluche (Teddy) and headed down to our house on Big Pine Key, Florida. Big Pine Key is the home of the small Key Deer, and Hemi and Teddy love watching, and barking, at the little guys that roam freely around the island.

Florida in June and July is not the ideal time for an extended visit with temperatures in the mid to high 80s day and night. However, it was just what I needed to get my life back on track. While exploring parts of the island that I had not seen in twenty-six years of owning the house, the little voice in my head directed me to a street I had never noticed and at the dead end was a lovely gate with a FOR SALE sign. My curiosity took over and I sat there in the middle of the road and GOOGLED the address.

It turned out to be a fabulous “old school” estate built in the early 1960s. It was situated on ocean-front property, very private and on a street named Winifred. Well, it happened––by the time I got back home a new story was in my head. It’s called WINDSWEPT and my character’s name is Winifred.

I spent the next month driving to remote areas of the island, talking to the locals, and buying every book I could find on the history of the Florida Keys, especially the southern keys and Key West. I look forward to my future blogs and letting you in on my findings.

September rolled into October and it was time to prepare for the Retired Racehorse Project’s, Thoroughbred Makeover at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. After getting the okay from my cardiologist, I rented a large cargo van and loaded up the CANTER booth and all of our merchandise including Teddy’s gear (it’s amazing how much equipment a five pound dog needs for a week). On October 11^th Teddy and I headed south for the five and a half hour trip.

As the Executive Director for both CANTER Ohio and CANTER Kentucky (Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses), I’ve been attending the makeover, and manning the booth, every year since 2015 (except for 2020 when it was cancelled due to COVID). It was after 6:00pm by the time the booth was set up and ready for opening day and I was hungry and tired. Since I stay at the same Fairfield Inn every year, I know all the local eateries and had decided to swing by KFC for takeout. To my surprise, the tall sign was there and the building but the parking lot was empty and so was the restaurant. I found that to be the case with several places that were no longer in business and finally settled for McDonalds. Teddy and I checked into the hotel, getting the same room we’d had in 2019 because it was close to the back door where I park the van. Teddy crashed while I scarfed down a burger and fries then unloaded what seemed like a mountain of our stuff (mostly his).

By the third day most of the other vendors knew Teddy by name and always gave him a warm greeting, apparently I was invisible. He spent the days in his stroller or on my lap and I have to say he brought a lot of customers to our booth. The weather turned cold and we sold out of jackets, sweatshirts and hoodies . . . Teddy wore his Polo jacket. The drop in temperature didn’t help my arthritic knee and by the time Sunday rolled around I could barely climb into the van. My marathon patio-building project, lasting two months during the summer, had me lifting heavy pavers and bags of sand and now my knee was protesting. After dismantling the booth and loading the van I feared I couldn’t struggle with my knee, even one more time, so with a full tank of gas I drove straight through without stopping for potty breaks. Teddy was sound asleep in his car seat before we got off the grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park. We arrived home at midnight, I slid down from my seat and only took out of the van what Teddy and I needed for the night. Next year, I’m nixing the van unless I get a new knee!

What happened to my summer? Oh, yeah . . . it was derailed by Lyme disease and by all accounts it wasn’t giving up yet. Two months after the deer tick did its damage, my energy level was continuing to rise but my short-term memory and recall were still not showing improvement. Fortunately, my brain didn’t need to be fully functional for me to enjoy my new writing garden––even if I wasn’t writing. A Paper Key is a story that takes place during the Christmas holiday season and needed to be edited and ready to publish by the beginning of November. It would take my Fairy Godmother to make that happen, so I accepted the realization that the book would have to wait a year. The Humming birds had left to begin their long trek down to Mexico or South America and my favorite butterfly had disappeared. I enjoyed hours spent drinking in those special scents of fall as the leaves turned their vibrant colors and slowly began to fall around me.

If I could put a name to the month of August 2021 it would be frustrating. My strength was coming back enough that I could make my way up to my new patio and flop down into the old Adirondack chair. My masterpiece wasn’t done but at least I could enjoy being outside in what would eventually be my writing garden. The pills for the Lyme disease treatment caused sensitivity to the sun, and I now needed to wear protection against any deer ticks lurking in the bushes. So there I sat on a beautiful afternoon wearing long pants tucked into calf-high rubber garden boots, a long sleeved shirt, a wide-brimmed hat, large sunglasses and a face slathered in sunscreen. The only part of my body not covered was my mouth! I took pleasure in the Humming bird that swooped by and a couple inquisitive butterflies. With the pavers down my thoughts went to finding a bistro table and two chairs. Months earlier I’d found ten cute, black solar lights on sale that had a rather industrial look, then I couldn’t resist three torches with the same look as the solar lights. A decorative theme began growing as I sat there. Black wrought iron against the terra cotta floor and bright turquoise accent cushions––chic industrial. Since my brain still wasn’t capable of stringing more than a couple sentences together, I could shop instead! End-of-the-season sales were everywhere. I found the perfect furniture, painted the Adirondack chair barn-red to match the pavers, and planted pink and purple Astilbe for the butterflies. Deer don’t particularly like the feather-like plumes of the flowers. I hung a red feeder for the Hummers in the tree and wind chimes for me. A Paper Key wasn’t going to make it to the editor by September 1^st––not even by the 31^st. However, the place to finish the book was taking shape nicely.

OH DEER!!!!

The week following the July 4^th holiday, I was still in bed with the flu or possibly a GI infection. It was time to see my doctor, but she was on medical leave until September. So I willed myself to leave the house and went to my local Urgent Care Center. I was told that several people had come in lately with similar symptoms to mine and I probably had a nasty GI bug. Just to make sure, I was sent off to a lab for blood work. The next day I received a call from the Urgent Care doctor asking me to come in right away. The good news was that I didn’t have the flu or GI issues––the bad news was she didn’t know what I had, but I was at least feeling better. She took my blood pressure and checked my pulse while we talked. That’s when she said, “Oh, my,” and checked my arms, legs and back. Turns out my heart was skipping beats and I was covered in rashes. She suspected Lyme disease and called the local Cleveland Clinic hospital and let them know I was on my way.

My emergency room stint lasted six hours during which blood was drawn and I was hooked up to various machines and everyone in the department wanted to see my mysterious rashes. The outcome was admitting me to the hospital until my ailment could be identified and treated. Day two confirmed that I had recently been attacked by a nasty deer tick––probably during my marathon paver laying days. Treatment was started and on day four my internal medicine doctor, my infectious disease doctor, and my cardiologist all agreed I could go home––with 21 days worth of pills.

Home sounded good except that I had the energy of a garden slug, I had to wear a heart-monitor, my brain seemed to be in a permanent fog, and oh yeah, I’d left my short-term memory somewhere! After the 21 days of treatment, my infectious disease doctor said I was doing well and he wouldn’t be seeing me again––unless another tick decided to latch on to me. And my short-term memory should return to normal in two or three months, worse case scenario – six months. I’m a writer; I need to keep track of my thoughts! Finishing A Paper Key by the September 1^st deadline looked doubtful.

WHAT HAPPENED TO JUNE & JULY 2021?

My patio got off to a slow start the beginning of June when serious work began to slow down. Mother Nature wasn’t giving up her tiny spot of land without a fight. She sent torrential rains spaced between days of heat that could melt concrete. And if the weather didn’t keep me housebound, it was fundraising events and a slew of family outings that kept me from spreading sand and leveling paving stones. However, I did manage to spend bad-weather days researching and writing A Paper Key which was due to my editor on September 1^st. Not a problem since I had July to catch-up, which is usually dry weather in northeastern Ohio and perfect for creating a patio fit for a fairy tale. I looked forward to finishing the book while sitting with my laptop at the bistro table.

Midway into June, I pushed the new deadline for the patio completion to July 4^th. That holiday weekend (starting on Friday) I spent every possible hour spreading and grading sand and leveling the pavers. Shear determination kept me working each day from morning to dusk until my body refused to take another step and I hobbled back to the house exhausted. I celebrated with the knowledge that I would make my goal of laying the last paver as the fireworks went off in the neighborhood.

On Monday, the 4^th I quit early, before the last row was finished. I didn’t feel well. It started with chills, sweats and a headache that wouldn’t quit. My whole body ached and I blamed it on my nonstop determination to finish the project. It was a job for a young, strong person––and I ain’t young––or strong! I needed to give myself time off to heal. Probably just a flu bug I picked up along the way. I gave myself a new deadline of July 15^th. But Mother Nature had other ideas.