Took a Week Off

Well, sort of.

I am on Chapter 6 of my next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery in that series. I've sent the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery off to the publisher.

But this week my daughter and her husband came to visit. And except for doing a few email and Facebook things, I've mostly concentrated on having fun with them.

Both are retired now and moved from the home on the coast down to Murietta which is close to San Diego and much farther from our home. About a 6 hour drive--would be less except the traffic is horrific on the So. Cal freeways. Their reason for moving? To be near their children and grandchildren--and they are loving going to birthday parties, dance recitals and competitions, track meets and ball games,

Because hubby and I have given up driving on the L.A. freeways, to get down there we have to rely on another daughter to drive us. (We still drive other places but So. Cal drivers are scary.)

This daughter is our first born. She was a great kid and so helpful when her four siblings came along. Hubby was on active duty in the Seabees when our children were growing up and was gone on many assignments, including three tours in Vietnam.

She married her high school love when they were 18 and 19--and it turned out great. She had a wonderful career as a personal assistant for a school district after her two kids grew up.

With their motor home parked in our second daughter's driveway, we've all spent a lot of time going back and forth from that house to ours. (A 5 minute drive.) We're having a great time catching up, watching movies, playing games and sharing meals.

So--what does this have to do with mystery? I'm brainstorming with the girls (yes, even though they are grandparents they are still my girls) about the mystery I'm working on now. I want to rev up the excitement and I'm gathering ideas from them. See, no matter what, we mystery writers can't get too far from what we're working on no matter what's going on.

I promise next time I'll stick to mystery. (Or maybe not--we have two grandsons weddings in a row.)

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith