Available Now - Book 2 in the Family Affair Series

I’m Beatrice Lulu Eberhardt. Some of you know me from my niece Callie Johnson. Callie’s the new Chief of Police of our little town and I first appeared in her book, All in the Family.

Callie doesn’t know it, but she’s my favorite. I annoyed her  sometimes because I tried to fix her up with a nice young man, well several nice young men. I didn’t want her ending up an old maid like I almost was. If Ed hadn’t come along – well I shudder to think what my life would have been like. Callie didn’t much care for any of the men I introduced her to. Praise God, she finally met a nice young man on her own.

But that’s neither here nor there. This story isn’t about Callie. It’s about me. That’s

right, me and pretty much no one else. I’m a bit of a sleuth. Some call me nosy or a busy body, but honestly, I’m only trying to help. I don’t mean to interfere.

It all started when Ed and I bought a cabin. It’s a beautiful place with its own lake. Ed loves to fish. We thought it would be fun to have a place just for us, away from everyone. You may not remember I’m from a large, crazy family. Crazy in a fun-loving way, of course. So Ed and I wanted a place to relax, not that it’s turned out that way. We’re seldom alone. Guess it’s because we genuinely like people. So now days when we go up there, someone always comes along. Usually Ethel and her husband, Greg. Ethel’s my sister, by the way. I have two other sisters, also – Charlotte, we call her Lottie,  and Lillian. Lillian is Callie’s mother, and we have a brother, Clyde, but we don’t see him as often.

Anyway, we bought the cabin and Ed and I went up there to clean it up. No one had been in it for years. Cobwebs filled more than the corners I’ll tell you that. It was going to take days, if not weeks, to clean it. But Ed promised we could fix it up and Ed never breaks a promise. That’s one of the things I love about him.

So there we were looking around, deciding what to do, and Ed decided to build a fire to take the chill and damp out of the air. The place smelled musty, the way empty houses smell after being locked up for a long time.

Well there I was, thinking about where to start when I heard a strange clattering noise. I thought Ed fell or something. I turned around and lying on the fireplace hearth was an arm – well what was left of the arm, bones and tattered flannel from a shirt, I assume. Although I’ve been told never to assume anything.

If you want to know what happens next you’ll have to read about it in All’s Well That Ends Well soon to be released from Books We Love.

If you haven’t read All in the Family – Book 1 of the Family Affair series, you can find it and all my books at Books We Love. Just click on the book and it’ll take you to the buy page. They're also available from Amazon and other markets. 

A Morning Without Coffee...

is like a day without sunshine. Dreary and bleak.  My husband ususally makes coffee in the mornings. Partly because I stay in bed, even though I'm awake long before him. I know, it's not nice, but if he doesn't get up by seven-thirty/eight o'clock then I get up and make it. Most days he's up by seven, which is great because I wake up around six and it's awfully difficult to stay in bed that long. 
So this morning wasn't much different, except I actually slept until seven. Hubby was up and after my morning routine, I looked forward to a good cup of coffee. Strange thing, I didn't smell it brewing like I should have. 
I went in the kitchen and the pot was turned out, but nothing was dripping out. I opened to make sure he'd remembered to put in water (yes, I've forgotten that step a time or two). Yep, there was water, but no coffee dripping into the pot. 
Darn pot wasn't all that old and we only used it for a pot a day, unlike years ago when we drank several pots a day. Those pots sure lasted longer than the ones today.
At any rate, the only thing left to do was boil water, pour it over the grounds and make a pot the old fashioned way. Although it works, it's not something I'd want to do every day. 
After we had a couple cups, it was off to the store to replace it. I couldn't go another morning making coffee with boiling water.  I was half tempted to look for the old-fashioned percolators, electric of course. I didn't have much luck with the ones on the stove. Either they boiled over or the coffee was either too weak or too strong. 
I guess I'm not that old fashioned and have grown accustomed to our modern conveniences. Although, I don't think I'd like one of those new coffee makers that only make a cup at a time. My husband and I both drink at least two cups each, usually three. Making it one cup at a time seems inconvenient to me.