SimplyLife

Remember when you had to read certain books to make your English teacher happy? The kicker was writing an actual report on the book, which meant you had to read the majority of it. Most of the time, it was no sweat, since I loved reading. It's been years since handing in a book report, but now I'm writing a new version. They're called book reviews, and it's from the other side of the desk. There are a lot of nice people in the writing world, and I've been privileged to get to know some of them via the Internet. They're authors who want to get their books in the hands of readers, just like me. Most recently, I've connected with two ladies who have earned high marks from me and others on their books. Both are devotional in nature with practical applications and are spiritually challenging no matter where you are in your Christian walk. Let's start with the daily devotional entitled God, Me and Sweet Iced Tea by Rose Chandler Johnson. About the A...

We've been dog-sitting for the past week, and enjoying the company of Dude, our youngest daughter's dog. After howling the praises of Buck, our late yellow Lab, enter a different kind of dog. Clancy has mixed feelings about the visit, but he's holding up. Dude's Birthday Celebration Dude is a rescue from a Mississippi shelter. He was once was a sad little face behind the wire just waiting for someone to adopt him. His dream came true, and now he's a well-traveled dog, who rode shotgun across the country to end up in Arizona. The West suits his personality, because Dude by all accounts is a Feist. The Feist dog is peculiar to North America, a mix of terriers and most likely American Indian dogs. They've been around for over 200 years. The Feist has been mentioned in writings by George Washington, Lincoln, Faulkner, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling . The dog is known for its bravery and hunting skills. I'll get to the hunting skills i...

With summer, comes critters. Some have more legs than others--enter the tarantula. They have eight. Hairy, blackish-brown in color, they appear from their burrows to feed on insects, which is OK with me. However, their size is a little intimidating, but they're outside spiders, not ones who prefer hotel accommodations. Whew! After some of the monsoon storms, you'll see hordes of them crossing the wet pavement, like something out of a sci-fi movie. It's males on the move, looking for....females. Unfortunately, for males their life cycle is limited to a few months, but females have been known to live for 20+ years in captivity. Doesn't seem quite fair, does it? Casa Wallace Tarantula Females can lay upwards of a 1,000 eggs in their burrows. They spin a web over the opening, and VOILA! Dinner is served. Unsuspecting crickets and beetles are soon tasty morsels for the spider. My husband feeds the birds and rabbits, and now he's taken up feeding the tarantula who...

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Border Patrol agent, David Burke. He's the supervisor of the K-9 program in the Tucson Sector. His partner, Bailey, an 8 1/2 year-old Belgian Malinois was also there. She's a detection dog, working to locate concealed humans and narcotics. Although, Agent Burke will tell you that she can't match his first partner Cisco, Bailey does all right. Her best month netted over $2 million in marijuana. Not too shabby.  She's also very adept at finding people who don't want to be found. Like those who are stowed in compartments secreted in truck beds, and other places. Dog w/ protective vest. Photo: BP  These hardworking dogs and their handlers are a visible reminder of where we live. Being 20 miles miles from the international border means we have a lot of illegal traffic--both drugs and human. Most often I see these dogs at a checkpoint on Route 90. They sniff at a steady stream of northbound vehicles that are...

by Rose Ciccarelli, Editor She wanders in and out of your thoughts. You can see her in intimate detail, down to the freckle on the base of her palm. You want to know her life story. You can’t keep your mind off her. You’re either in love … or preparing to write about a character. So, how to bring her from your mind to the page? Who is this person? Find out all you can by using questions to dig deep and jot down what you discover. You probably already have an image in mind, so physical details such as race and ethnicity, age, height, weight, and hair color should all be easy. Delve deeper. Does your character have any physical or mental defects? How about complexes? What about inherited attributes? You may have thought about occupation and education, but what‘s she like with family and friends? How about her place in the community? Does she do volunteer work? Is she affiliated with a religion or a political party? How does she go through life? Optimist or pessimist? Frust...

It's monsoon season in Arizona. This means it rains somewhere everyday for a couple of months. It comes along at the end of June and tapers off in September. Grass is now appearing in the front yard. The gardens, both flower and vegetable look happy. The leaves are a healthy green, and lush. Even the squash looks happy with big yellow blossoms promising a harvest to come. It's amazing how the mountains turn from brown to green in just days. Once the rains stop sometime in September, things will gradually go back to brown. It usually doesn't take too long. Without the consistent watering from the sky, the landscape dries out quickly. Without the daily rains, the desert returns. Even if I collect the rainwater and use it later, it's not the same. And so it is with feeding our souls. The daily time spent alone with the Savior can't be replaced with anything else. Hearing from God in His Word, and pouring out our hearts to Him in prayer has to be done daily. He has ...

If you've had several dogs over the years, there's always one that's a little above the rest. It's like the Border Patrol agent I recently interviewed who told me that his first canine partner would always be his best one. The dog was just plain special. And so it is for us. The canine who merits top dog in our family was a yellow Lab named Buck. He came into our home as a four-year-old. That in itself was out of the ordinary. We'd always had puppies. But after the demise of a dog who looked for every chance to escape the yard, our vet suggested we get in touch with a local breeder.  Buck was a handsome boy who'd sired quite a few litters, but had been retired early from that job. Neutered, shots up-to-date, and AKC paperwork in hand, we took him home to see if he'd be a good fit. He'd been shown in the breed ring, his obedience skills were well established, and his laid back personality were all big pluses. In no time, we were sure Buck would be a g...

Guest Post by Rose Ciccarelli, Editor Dialogue is more than words. It can show the reader how your characters interact. In every scene, characters talk (or avoid talking) because they WANT something. They may use different strategies to get it, communicated by words and actions. If one strategy doesn't work, then a character will try something else. That scene construction leads to conflict and forward movement in your story. The simplest way to make dialogue realistic is to invest time listening to how people really talk. Tune in at a baseball game or concert. Eavesdrop on the booth behind you in a restaurant. Listen to children chatting at the bus stop. What you’ll notice is that people don’t give a summary of events because the person they’re talking to already knows the situation and remembers what’s happened to this point. Also (although there are exceptions) people seldom say exactly what they mean. How often have you heard a real person say something like: “I’m bei...

Last night a mega monsoon storm hit our area with high winds, and buckets of much needed rain. Our rain gauge which was a little tilted because of the wind measured three inches. We've been waiting since February for a significant rain, and we were blessed with a downpour. Within an hour into the storm, the bleating of goats or maybe sheep filled the air. But it wasn't either one. The sound came from small, but very loud, male spadefoot toads which remain buried in the sand until a major rain. The boys were trying to attract the girls--nothing new in nature. The unique life cycle of the spadefoot is all about waiting--a very long time, sometimes more than a year to emerge from the earth and reproduce. But once they emerge, they must get the job done in quick order. Temporary ponds formed by runoff in the desert are tricky things. They can disappear in week or two. Often the pools of water evaporate within a few days. Toads and frogs lay eggs which then hatch into polliwogs. B...

Big dog? Little dog? Long haired? Short haired? Temperament? There are lots of questions to ask yourself before deciding on the perfect breed for you and your family. If you're purchasing a dog from a reputable breeder, they'll most likely have a questionnaire for you to fill out before they'll even consider selling a puppy to you. Some shelters may do the same thing.  For a successful match up between a dog and its new family there are lots of things to consider. The American Kennel Club distinguishes differences between dogs by categorizing them in different groups. If you've watched the Westminster Kennel Club Show on TV in February, you've seen all the breeds paraded around the ring.  The groups are:  Working, Sporting, Non-Sporting, Hound, Terrier, Herding, and Toy. There's lots of variety within these groups, but dogs are bred for specific purposes, which determines personality, natural abilities, and how well they'll fit into your family dynamic. ...

If you've ever read the book of Judges in the Old Testament, you know about the exploits of a man named Gideon.  He was one of Israel's judges before a king had been crowned. He was a leader when Israel was under horrible oppression by the Midianites. Life was miserable. The crops were destroyed and livestock stolen by these marauders from Midian. The Israelites went into hiding, living in caves and remote mountain areas, trying to survive. They were on the run and the Promised Land was in ruins. Gideon was instructed by God to take out the enemy, so he sent messages out everywhere to gather an army. His call was answered with the arrival of 32,000 men. Not bad, but the Midianites had over 120,000 men. But God told Gideon that he had way too many men. God wanted His strength to be shown, not Israel's, so He commanded Gideon to cull the group by sending those who were afraid to fight back  home. Twenty-two thousand immediately hit the road. But there were still too many. I...