Fresno Chaffee Zoo Tigers

The angels in Easton Harvest will be making a trip to the zoo soon. Here are some Tigers from the Fresno Chaffee Zoo

Easton Harvest - The Angels Help Jonathan

In Easton Harvest, Deputy Jerry introduces the troubled youth Jonathan to the angels and Lauren.  Jonathan has a problem and no one believes him when he tries to get help.  After spending time with Jason, Eric, Sonja and Lauren, Jonathan tells them his secret and together they "investigate" this new mystery occurring in the little town of Easton.

Although the Sanders don't have any pigs on their ranch, I think they are cute.

Easton Harvest - New Kid on the Block, Lauren

In Easton Harvest, the angels help the new kid on the block, 14 year old Lauren and her widowed father, Alan. Lauren finds herself uprooted and moved to her father’s hometown of Easton, California. 

Living in a new house, in a small town and enrolled in a new school. a lonely Lauren reaches out to the angels and the Sanders family, and with the help of Jason, Eric and Sonja’s collective charm, wit and antics, the angels slowly pull Alan and Lauren together.

Lauren is determined to make the caretaker's cottage they live in less bleak and plants flowers. Here are a few flowers to brighten up the day.

Easton Summer review

I sent my mother a copy of Easton Summer because, well she's my mother.  She called me this evening all excited she had finished reading the book.  She said she couldn't put it down, she just had to keep reading to see what happened next.  Thanks Mom!

She wants to know when the next book will be ready.  No pressure.

If you've read Easton Summer, could I ask a favor and go to Amazon.com and leave a review?  I would greatly appreciate it.

Today's picture is an old one from 1996, but is of my mother and the author.

Easton Harvest introduces new angel

In Easton Harvest, the second book in the Easton series, a new angel joins Jason and Eric at the Sanders Ranch in Easton, California:

Sonja was new to the Sanders ranch. She was the tallest of the three angels with a cap of short red hair and a peaches and cream completion. As with most redheads she had a crop of freckles across the bridge of her nose. At 13, Sonja was bossy and had a temper to match her red hair.

Also new to Easton Harvest are Lauren and Jonathan.  Together with the angels they investigate the strange things happening in the South West Avenue neighborhood.

Sonja has a fascination with the Sanders' turkeys.  Today's pictures are turkeys.

Easton Harvest Soccer Game

In Easton Summer the neighborhood kids have an impromptu baseball game in the Sanders ranch field.  In Easton Harvest they switch to soccer.  Not happy with just calling the neighborhood kids the "neighborhood kids," I named them Kevin, Ryan, Mike, Paul, Ben and Bobby.  Having more players in soccer I added, Scott, Brandon and Nick.  Anyone care to guess the source of these names?

Here's a snippet of our soccer game:

     I stood on the back porch, hands on hips and watched the activity in the pasture. There must have been 20 kids out there. It looked like they were trying to play soccer. Jerry was out there with them. I think he was the referee. Mike Andrieni’s father, Wade, was out there directing the playing. Mom was darting from place to place with her camera. I grinned at her determination to catch every shot she could.

     Jonathan and Lauren were both in the field with Jason, Eric and Sonja. I thought Jerry had taken Jonathan home after dropping us off at the house, but it looks like Jonathan came back with Jerry. Jonathan seemed a bit skittish. I think it would be good for him to spend time with the kids. Honey and Cookie were out in the field with the kids. Honey stood with her tail at attention waiting for the ball to come her way. She would take off with the ball if she could. Moo was munching the dried grass next to the fence and Cookie was facing the big cow making sure she stayed away from the tiny dog. Freckles was in the field standing next to Eric. The little spotted dog stayed close to his master. I hope he didn’t get stepped on.

     “Hey,” I called out to the field. “What are you playing?” Jason and Eric looked my way. Jason had his usual grin on his face.

     Jason gave me a wave and jogged to the fence. “We’re playing soccer.”

     “Do you have enough people to play?” I asked, not real certain how to play soccer in a pasture.

    “Oh, we’re just playing for fun. We’re divided up evenly,” Jason enthused. “Eric, Sonja, Jon, Lauren, Derek, David and me are on one team, and Mike, Ben, Kevin, Scott, Brandon, Ryan, Paul and Bobby are on the other team.”

     “So you’re just dribbling balls back and forth and whoever gets the most goals wins?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Jason said fidgeting to get back.

     “Well, go play. I’ll watch from here,” I told him. Jason ran back out to the field and I watched the boys and girls run around chasing after the soccer ball. Someone had dragged a couple of wooden benches out to the field from the barn to serve as goals. Kevin was guarding one side and Eric the other. Since no one had on uniforms or any equipment, it was hard to tell who was on which team.

     Sonja stood holding the ball eyeing all the kids. She was throwing the ball into play. She moved the ball over her head and aimed it at Bobby and threw it. I heard “I got it, I got,” from a few of the kids and then the ball was off. Bobby was running it towards the goal guarded by Kevin. She passed the ball to Jonathan who ran with it a few steps and then passed it on to Eric. Scott tried to intercept it. Nick actually tackled the ball away from Eric sending it over the imaginary touch line. Somewhere Jerry had found a whistle and blew it to indicate the ball was out of play.

     I watched as the kids really got into playing. The ball was ran up and down the field and it seemed all the kids were taking turns moving it. I heard “Score” shouted a couple of times but I couldn’t tell who had scored. Coach Wade spent his time gesturing with his hands as the kids played. I scratched my head and wondered how they were keeping track of what they were doing. I was going to have to brush up on soccer, I thought. 

Let me know what you think.

Easton Harvest Update

I just finished 40,000 words in writing book 2 in the Easton Series:  Easton Harvest.

Our angels have returned and Jason is enjoying a day with his aunt and cousins.  He is trying his hand in a batting cage.  I've actually tried batting in a batting cage and it was hard (for me).  Let me know if I have it right.  FYI Jason is 13, Jay is 10 and Gail 7.  Here is a snippet:

Jason, Jay and Gail hung on to the batting cage, their faces pressed into the chain link fence watching the batter in the cage swing at the ball as it was pitched. Every so often the batting cage attendant would chase them back behind the yellow line so they wouldn’t hang on to the batting cage. “One of the balls could hit you,” the attendant told them as he motioned them to wait behind the yellow line once again. Jay watched Jason and Jason watched Gail and Gail watched the attendant walk down the line of batting cages and turned the corner. As soon as he was out of sight Gail motioned he was gone and the three cousins rushed forward across the yellow line and once again grabbed onto the batting cage to wait their turn.

Soon bored with watching the batter in the cage, Jason, Jay and Gail returned behind the yellow line. “How do you hold the bat?” Gail asked the boys.

“Wrap your hands around the handle,” Jason started. “Are you right handed, Gail?”

“Yeah. Like this?” she asked looking up at Jason and holding the bat with her right hand on top and her left at the bottom of the handle.

“That’s how,” Jay answered for Jason.

Jason nodded his head and demonstrated to Jay and Gail by showing her how he held the bat. “That’s good. See, this is how I hold it.”

Jay positioned his hands on his own bat and the three of them stood side-by-side adjusting their grips on their bats.

Jason drew his bat back behind his right ear and watched as first Gail and then Jay copied his motions. The three of them were standing there as if posing for a photograph when the batting cage attendant walked by again in his rounds. He paused to look at the cousins, shook his head slightly and continued on his path. Jason grinned at Jay and Gail and they all started laughing at the look they had garnered from the attendant.

Spreading out a bit, they each practiced their swings. Placing their feet at their shoulders’ width apart, they practiced rolling from their back foot to the front and stepping towards the imaginary pitcher’s mound and then swinging the bat where the ball would be pitched.

On his next round, the batting cage attendant stopped and once more slowly shook his head at the cousins and requested they not swing the bats outside the batting cage. “You might hit someone,” he said.

The batter in the cage had finally finished and after a little arguing among the cousins, Jason went first since he had actually played softball in school. Jay and Gail crowded next to the batting cage to watch as Jason gave it a try. 

Jason adjusted his stance in what would be home plate in the batting cage: feet shoulders’ width apart, elbow back and raised, weight on back foot and shifting to his front foot when swinging the bat. He practiced swinging a couple of times pulling his weight from his back foot to his front foot and deciding he was as ready as he would be, he pushed the pitch button. There were three speeds, slow, medium and fast. Jason put it on slow not sure how fast the pitching machine would really pitch the balls.

Watching where the pitcher’s mound would be, the first pitch went right by Jason. He stood there surprised. Shaking his head he prepared himself for the next pitch. He watched the ball arc as it came towards him, shifting slightly and moving the bat further behind his ear, he shifted his weight from his back to his front foot and swung at the ball and missed. He had swung early. Adjusting himself all over again, Jason prepared himself for the next pitch.

It took four more pitches before Jason connected with the ball. He at first hit the ball up into the roof of the cage in pop flies. He just barely touched the next ball and it rebounded off of the cage and came close to hitting Jason in his head. He was now glad he was bearing the batting helmet. Jason hit the next four balls and any team would have been proud of the line drives he delivered. By now Jason was fully grinning and enjoying batting. After the sixteenth ball, the pitching machine powered off and Jason removed his helmet. Still grinning with the exhilaration of batting he exited the cage to watch first Jay and then Gail give batting a try.

Jay proved to be proficient at hitting the balls and took only three pitches before he regularly connected. The surprise was Gail. She had good eye and hand coordination and except for the first pitch, hit every ball. Jason and Jay eyed her with their mouths open as the little girl jumped up and down with joy at surpassing her brother and cousin. And like any true girl, could not stop talking about batting. Jay just shook his head at his sister, knowing he would never live down that she batted better than he.

Well, the angels are having fun and I'm having fun writing their antics.  Let me know what you think.

Today's photo are geese.