With love, from my house to yours

By Gayle Carline
Mystery Author and Woman-Whose-Sanity-is-Slipping

This is my last post for 2013, and I want you all to know how much I enjoy being a part of this crew. I learn a lot from the other folks, and I can only hope I've been of some use to everyone, even if it's only for comic relief.

My family has its holiday traditions, one of which is the Christmas photo. We began in our living room when our son was a tot. One year, we included the dog in the picture. The next year we added the cat. When I bought my first horse, we had to get creative, so we moved everything (including the cat) out to the ranch where Frostie is stabled. Over the years, we've lost one dog, gained two more, and of course, have two horses now.

We've also gotten the photo session down to a science. In the old days, we used to do a lot of scrambling to find the perfect location, get the animals settled, and pray that there were more than six exposures left on the roll of film. Our prayers were rarely answered, so with each click of the camera we were hoping that everyone was at least facing the same direction.

Now, Dale and Marcus take the dogs and cat while I get the horses out. Frostie, my little red mare, stands with either my hubby or my son. I have to hold Snoopy, because he's a nibbler. It begins with his muzzle on your shoulder, followed by his lips, then the teeth come out.

At one point this year, Snoopy wanted to sniff Duffy's butt. Duffy was not having it, and turned around to bite Snoopy's nose. It could have been World War III if I hadn't been there to spank the horse and kick the dog. (Oh, I didn't KICK him, really. I just pushed his tush around with my boot.)

All I can say is, thank God for digital cameras.

This is what we started with:

This is how it all ended:

If you'd like a very badly narrated version of the Carline Christmas letter, go to my blog post. Otherwise, I will see you all in 2014. I'm really looking forward to it - it's gonna be great!

Appreciating the Season

I read and review books about crime and murder on a regular basis, but I don't recall ever being directly affected by violence.  (I'm knocking on wood, right now.)  And one of the differences between crime fiction and real life is that most of the fiction has a happy ending. 

Christmas is generally a cheerful time of year, but the incident in Connecticut just ten days ago adds some poignancy to the atmosphere.  It was deeply troubling, and as a result many of us are making a point of appreciating our loved ones more than usual.

I read one statement that really struck me, and I'm sorry I don't remember who wrote it.
The writer expressed regret that what's remembered after incidents like this is the name of the perpetrator, and not the victims'.

That this is undoubtedly true made me very, very sad, so I'm going to  pay my respects to everyone who suffered due to the violence in Newtown by listing the names of the twenty children and six seven women whose lives were ended so abruptly.

- Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female
- Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male
- Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female
- Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female
- Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female
- Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female
- Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06, male
- Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65, female
- Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06, female
- Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06, female
- Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male
- Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06, male
- James Mattioli , 3/22/06, male
- Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05, female
- Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female
- Emilie Parker, 5/12/06, female
- Jack Pinto, 5/06/06, male
- Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male
- Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06, female
- Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06, female
- Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female
- Lauren Rousseau, 6/1982, female (full date of birth not specified)
- Mary Sherlach, 2/11/56, female
- Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female
- Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male
- Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06, female
- Nancy Lanza, 52, female


(And many thanks to NBC and THE VOICE for providing the perfect video to accompany this post.)