M. Jean Pike's Blog, page 2

So, what’s your new book about?

I always have such a hard time when people ask me that question. How to sum up months of work, a multilayered plot and a dozen subplots succinctly, in a way that won’t leave the person with that glazed-over look in their eyes, lol. My publisher just put together a trailer for Chester’s Miracle, hitting all the highlights. So in case you were wondering what my new novella is about (lol) this is what it’s about

It’s available for preorder on Amazon.

Better yet, it’s also available in the Pelican Book Group Book Store for just .99 cents for a limited time!

I hate to see October go

Each year as October draws to a close this line from an old Barry Manilow song runs through my mind. Oh how I hate to see October go… Though the calendar says it’s still fall until the 21 of December, I always feel like November first marks the beginning of the winter months. November can be cold, wet and gloomy (even snowy, depending on where you live.)  In November, October’s vibrant color is lost as the trees shed the last of their leaves.

All in all October has been a good month. A mostly quiet month of finding quiet joys at home. As you know, I did a bunch of jigsaw puzzles! My latest was this pretty, fall scene of a cabin in the woods. I loved the little scarecrow with his buckets of apples

 I read just two novels, because I have been busy reading ARC’s for Christmas novellas! I will post about those after they release.

The Orphan Sister by Gwendolen Gross. Based on the synopsis (and yes, the cover ) I thought I would love this book. I wanted to love it:

Clementine Lord is not an orphan. She just feels like one sometimes. One of triplets, a quirk of nature left her the odd one out. Odette and Olivia are identical; Clementine is a singleton. Biologically speaking, she came from her own egg. Practically speaking, she never quite left it. Then Clementine’s father—a pediatric neurologist who is an expert on children’s brains, but clueless when it comes to his own daughters—disappears, and his choices, both past and present, force the family dynamics to change at last.

Sadly, I didn’t love it. But I didn’t hate it, either. The writing was lyrical and in places, quite beautiful. But there were parts I found to be just too silly. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler:

In Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler, eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis. It’s a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mom in her thirties, to drop everything to drive Isabelle from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. With no clear explanation why. Tomorrow. Curious whether she can unlock the secrets of Isabelle’s guarded past, she agrees, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives.

This one I did love. The writing was lovely, and the story was by turns humorous and heartbreaking. I gave it a solid 5 stars.

On the social scene things were fairly quiet. I had some friends in for a craft day. Our church hosted a ladies prayer tea, and I attended our monthly Bible study. Since October is almost over and I had not yet indulged in my once-a-month splurge (I’m still hanging in there with my sugar-free lifestyle) my friend Sharon and I took a lovely fall drive to the small town of Beaver today, to a little hometown café called Sully’s in the Valley.

I’ve been craving pizza and this little 8″ pepperoni pie sure fit the bill

But for the real splurge, I got a dish of Cider Mill ice cream. Sharon went with Butter Pecan.

In the writing world, I appeared as a guest on my first ever podcast this month. I also got my ARC’s for my Christmas novella, Chester’s Miracle and am eagerly awaiting it’s release I am making slow but steady progress on Blackberry Summer, so I hope to keep my streak going and have a release in 2026.

I hate to see October go. But November has its own stark beauty and plenty to celebrate. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving and holiday decorating, a tree trimming party at my church, and of course, plenty more Christmas stories to devour! What was your October like?

A Sunday Thought

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Jeremiah 31:3

Wishing you a beautiful, restful Sunday!

Neighborhood Watch

Miss Emma was flabbergasted this morning when she went out do do her morning inspection of the yard and spotted these men climbing around on our neighbor’s roof.

She remembers that the same thing happened to our other neighbors earlier this summer, so she’s standing guard to make certain they don’t get any funny ideas about our roof.

Miss Emma. Keeping the neighborhood safe one roof at a time

999 Pieces

Last week during my mini vacation I spent some time organizing my closet. With the days, and especially the nights, turning colder I had to make room to store my air conditioning unit. I also had to start putting away the capris and lightweight tops to make room for sweaters. I filled two small bags for Goodwill, so I felt pretty good about my progress. I also went through my puzzles and found a couple I just had no interest in putting together. There is one particular puzzle though… I put it in the ‘donate’ bag twice. Twice I took it back out. I got it at a yard sale a couple years ago because it looked fun. The puzzle was broken up into segments featuring old TV shows, many of which I remember watching. The problem is, it was a 1,000 piece puzzle. I have not put together a puzzle of that size in quite awhile. The more pieces, the smaller they tend to be. It creates a strain on my eyes. Plus I don’t have room on my card table to properly sort that many pieces. But I decided to give it a little more time, because really, it did look fun

Over the weekend our bright blue October sky turned grumpy, gray and rainy so I took that as an invitation to light the candles, put on the music, and finally start that 1.000 piece puzzle.

I finally finished it today. It was quite a challenge and in the end, I still had not completed a 1,000 piece puzzle – I completed 999. If you look closely, you will see that Jethro’s chin is missing. Oh, my aching OCD!!

Would I have started the puzzle if I’d known there was a piece missing? Probably. Am I glad I spent the time on a defective puzzle? Absolutely. It’s just one of those little reminders that life is never perfect, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good

Miss Emma’s Bath Night (This one is for our friend, Stephanie)

Since some of Emma’s friends have been asking about her, I thought I would add a little update to my last post — Emma’s bath night was a success. Mostly. If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know that bathing Miss Emma can be tricky. First, there is getting her into the tub. Then there is making her stay there. She has skin issues and we are supposed to let her medicated shampoo sit on her coat for fifteen minutes to bring about the best results. Tonight we managed nine minutes before Emma had had enough.

Miss Emma in the bath.

Though we didn’t hit the fifteen minute mark for the shampoo this time I did manage to get her ears cleaned and all of her nails clipped, so that was a win! Now my girl is all clean and sweet smelling for another three weeks and sporting her favorite game day bandana for the weekend.

Go Bucks!

Definitely Not A Do-Little Week!

It’s been lovely having this week off. The holiday season starts early where I work and I needed a little time to rest and refocus my energy before the extra busy-ness begins.  Though I have done a good bit of relaxing, it was not exactly the do-little week I had planned. I was very busy in my kitchen this week, but that is the best kind of busy to be

On Monday I made a second batch of Glazed Doughnut Muffins. Our church hosted the monthly Ladies Prayer Tea on Wednesday, and I thought the muffins would make a sweet addition to the breakfast casseroles and fruit cups the other girls were providing. It was a beautiful Tea with twenty-five ladies representing seven different area churches. Food, prayers and a lovely inspirational message from my sister, Marge, about the joys and challenges of raising a special needs child, and how God delights to see His children grow and progress – even if not by the world’s standards.

Our little pumpkin table decorations were a hit!

Once a month Marge and I provide a hot meal for a local addiction recovery center. That was scheduled on Tuesday. This month Marge made savory pots of beef stew. I contributed homemade applesauce, made from the apples I picked a few weeks ago.

And a Texas Sheet Cake for dessert – so much yumminess!

I don’t mention this to get a pat on the back. As Christ followers we’re called to love and serve others to the best of our abilities. There’s a lot more I could and should do. But since the girls in my family are pretty good in the kitchen, this is my little way of honoring Jesus’ command to love my “neighbor.”   

Of course I set aside plenty of time for books and puzzles this week! I finished this one, The Old Mill Pond, in a couple of sittings.

While looking through my puzzles, I found a few I didn’t remember I had. I have no idea where I got some of them and to be honest, there were a couple I just don’t want to do. This one has a lovely picture, but goodness, my aching eyes! The pieces are miniscule!

I’m comparing a piece from that puzzle to the size I normally do. Y’all, just no! I’ll be donating the little one to the local puzzle swap.

Exciting news — I got my ARC’s for Chester’s Miracle!! I’ll be posting more about that in the near future

The weather has been drop dead gorgeous this week. Today was Bible study day at our little country church and it was a beautiful day for a drive. Though there is not as much color as we normally have by mid-October, the trees are finally starting to show off a little bit.

With just one day left of my vacation, I still have to get Miss Emma into the bathtub (I’ve been putting it off all week – she will not be a happy camper lol), get my work clothes washed and ready for the weekend, and hopefully finish the chapter of Blackberry Summer I’ve been struggling with.

So it’s been a super busy week (for me ) even though I have not gone to work. But all in all, it’s been a wonderful week and I am blessed. How is your week shaping up?

Sunday thoughts and a coffee puzzle

Happy Sunday, my beautiful friends! Is it me or has this week been a week and a half?

I haven’t been sleeping well and I admit I am feeling overwhelmed and overtired this week. Customer service can be tricky for an introvert. On any given day I might wait on anywhere from 50 to 120 customers. That’s 50 to 120 conversations a day, in addition to stocking shelves, processing photo orders, pulling outdated merchandise, etc. etc. etc. Some days when I get home I can’t process one more piece of information, even information I really want to have, like your blog posts I have gotten very far behind in the last couple of weeks. I promise, I will catch up soon because I really love your poetry and your photos. I love to read about your children, the vacation you went on, the books you read, the books you are writing, and the amazing new recipe you made. I’m going to take a couple of extra days off next week (Thank God for PTO!) and try to get caught up on some things. So if you have not seen me at your place lately, you will soon

As I’ve said, puzzles are my go-to for relaxation after a long work day. I got this adorable coffee puzzle for my birthday. I got it out a few days ago and I could not stop working on it I finished it before work yesterday.

I hope you have a lovely and blessed Sunday. See you soon!

Christmas Crazy!

We had our first frost two days ago, so yesterday I dug up my dahlia bulbs and cut the last of the blooms for a bouquet to bring inside.

Pulling up the dahlia bulbs seems to go hand in hand with cleaning out the blue bird nest box and storing my glider swing and my summer yard decorations in the car port for the winter, so I did all that yesterday too. With summer safely put away, I’m ready to get out the Christmas tree (kidding not kidding.)

I am the first to admit it. I’m Christmas crazy! We’ve started getting our Christmas merchandise in at the store and I can hardly wait until we can put it out I am excited for Christmas music and seeing lights twinkling like jewels all over town. For getting out my Christmas totes and the yearly reunion with some of my very favorite things. And for settling in with Christmas stories I can’t wait to see this year’s lineup for Pelican Book Group’s Christmas Extravaganza. I’m so excited that Chester’s Miracle will be a part of it!

I’ll start on the Christmas books soon, but I am going to make myself wait for at least November 1 to put up the tree, lol. Just curious, how early do you put your tree up?

A Few Thoughts On A Rainy Tuesday Afternoon

Today Miss Emma and I are practicing the fine art of relaxation.

It’s such a wonderful feeling to wake up on a random Tuesday and remember that you have the day off There were a few things I could have done today, but nothing pressing. Truthfully I might have stayed in my pajamas all day if I hadn’t had to go to the vet’s office this morning and pick up Emma’s Bravecto. It just seemed like that kind of a day.

I’ve been contemplating a life change recently. Having made my decision after a lot of thought and prayer, I made a phone call this morning and set up an appointment for later this month — it took a lot out of me. Change, even positive change, can be hard. I have to work up to it– Sometimes for weeks! But I’ll tell you more about that later.

It started to drizzle as I was on my way home from the vet’s office and has continued for most of the afternoon. I don’t mind the rainy days, and we can really use it. I’ve noticed that my maple tree is shedding its leaves a little earlier than normal this year. The strange thing is, they are still green. I’ve never known this tree to do that before. It could possibly be because we have been under drought conditions, but we were last year, too, and they still changed color…

Work has been on the hectic side lately, so today has been a “take it easy” kind of day. I puttered with some revisions for Blackberry Summer. I broke out the coffee puzzle I got for my birthday back in June.

I read some lovely blog posts, I drank some coffee, and I listened to the rain falling on my metal roof. And today, that was enough