Nothing has made me happier lately than getting my first shot of the COVID vaccine. After days of dead-end leads, I finally scored an appointment at the Wilson Medical Center here in eastern North Carolina.

If you still subscribe to the Rocky Mount Telegram (and fewer and fewer people do, unfortunately), maybe you read my most recent Sunday column about the difficulty in finding a spot to take my shot. It was a project. But I’m going to be optimistic in predicting that it’s going to get easier as manufacturers learn how to produce the vaccine faster and administrators learn how to put shots in arms more efficiently.

Barbecue!

After getting our Moderna vaccines, my husband and I treated ourselves to lunch at the world-famous—should be if it isn’t—Parker’s Barbecue in Wilson, North Carolina. Our state has barbecue wars, mainly East (vinegar-based sauce) versus West (tomato-based sauce). Living in the eastern part of the state, I vote for vinegar-based and don’t order barbecue west of Raleigh, unless it’s at the Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q chain, which I know has vinegar-based.

The barbecue isn’t the only good thing on this plate, though. Check out the Brunswick stew, fried chicken, boiled potatoes, slaw, and of course, corn sticks and hushpuppies (yes, we want both, we told our waiter). Fine dining in eastern North Carolina.

Spring Is Coming!

If you want to trust a rodent and his shadow, we’re in for several more weeks of winter. I prefer to check my daffodils. They’re peeking through the pine straw, signaling spring isn’t that far away.

Life and Death in Narrow Creek!

I’m happy to announce that book #2, tentatively named Life and Death in Narrow Creek, has been edited several times by both me and the professionals. I’m now looking for a publisher.

If you read my debut novel, Ms. Dee Ann Meets Murder (and if you haven’t, why not?), you may remember the small town of Narrow Creek as the setting. Book #2 is now the second in the Narrow Creek series.

What’s it about? Here’s the two-sentence synopsis: Dee Ann Bulluck’s landlord Floyd Powell dies unexpectedly, and his wife Miss Josie is accused of his murder. Amateur sleuth Dee Ann steps in to help Miss Josie prove her innocence. To find out more, click on the link above titled Life and Death in Narrow Creek.

Someone Loves Winter!

“When I’m feeling blue, all I have to do Is take a look at you….” Remember this old song A Groovy Kind of Love by Phil Collins? These opening lyrics describe how I feel looking at this picture of my four-year-old grandson all bundled up, mask included, on Beech Mountain, North Carolina. He loves the snow: sledding in it, rolling in it, throwing it at his brother…there are many possibilities for fun. Spring is coming, but in the meantime, winter isn’t all bad either, at least according to my grandson.