Graham Quartet - Part 29

Good Morning FFFs,
After all the wind we had yesterday and last night, the quiet of this morning is really wonderful. The trees without any leaves are nearly motionless while the pine tree seems to be whispering soft morning greetings to the birds or perhaps it is spreading the soft message that the sun is coming!

It was rather a crazy week. I'm not sure what day it is and I feel like I have a hundred things I need to work on and haven't gotten to more than one or two of them this week. :P Let's see, what did I do this week?

I guess I should start with last Friday as that's the last time I posted. We cleaned house and then in the evening Sis and I babysat for some friends for about 4 hours. No writing that night.
Saturday: I seemed to spend most of the morning in front of the computer trying to get e-mails sent and things done. I tried calling my best friend to see if she wanted to go walk in the afternoon, but she wouldn't answer her phone. I did get some written that evening, but I don't recall how much.
Sunday came and another small group at church. One family was back and another was out because of sickness. I did write some that night.
On Monday I went over and helped price puzzles and pull things and wrap DVD spinner racks. Light of Faith is at their first homeschool conference this weekend in Nebraska. We'll be heading to the Kansas City conference next weekend, so if you'll be in the area, stop by and say hi. :) I did get some written Monday night.
Tuesday came and with it Election Training. That took up a good chunk of my morning. Yes, another election is coming up on the 8th of April. I wrote that night and finished Part 50.
Wednesday brought my last writing class until fall! (But, *sigh* two of my students didn't bring all their assignments back yet, so I still have 4 to grade.) My grandparents came down in the afternoon.
Yesterday my grandparents were still here and last night Grandpa and I went to a music concert. It was lovely. How could it not be when you get to spend 2 hours listening to music by Haydn and Schubert?

Would you all enjoy seeing the picture of the horses from the Triple Creek Ranch? Let me know.
But here is the next part of this long story. I hope you enjoy it. 

The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers

Part 29 

This story has been removed to publish it.

Thank you!

Thoughts or comments?

What do you think is going to happen?

Is Guy around?

What about "Aaron Burr"?

Will you be back next week?

Graham Quartet - Part 28

Spring Greetings to my Favorite Friday Fiction Fans,
Even if you don't read this on Fridays. :)

This morning as I sit here at my desk, the sun is coming up and a few thin clouds are stretched across the pale blue sky. The birds have been singing every morning even before the first hints of dawn have streaked the eastern sky. It must be spring!

I have a little "friend" I'm watching as I type. He/she is on my window sill and is not much larger than the head of a sewing pin. It's eight thin legs are hard to see as it moves here and there, spinning a neat web to catch another tiny bug. I watched him eat one yesterday. :)

This week has been rather crazy. Saturday was pretty normal.
Sunday we only had 3 full families and two members of another family at church so it was a smaller group. But that did mean I got to play with my "Baby Doll." We "washed" dishes together. She loves bubbles. :) When we left church, there was snow on the ground and it was snowing!
Monday it warmed up and I played quite a bit of "catch-up."
Tuesday was Salsa Day. We spent the morning making it. My sister-in-law and the kiddos came over and helped. Well, we pretty much had the salsa cooking when they got here, so I read and played with the kids. Sis-in-law did the canning for us. :)
Wednesday was writing class day and, since I hadn't been able to prepare on Tuesday, I had to do it that day.
Yesterday we babysat the kiddos from about 4:30-9:30. At least it was nice enough to take them out to ride bikes before supper. :)

I did get some writing done this week. In fact I'm now 3/4 of the way done with Book 3 of the TCR. It's fun to see things coming together but the hardest part is before me, so keep praying. I have about 14 parts left to write. (Unless the books goes a little longer.)

Are you tired of the Graham Quartet? You only have 5 more parts after today. Oh, I need to get some other short stories written! :)

The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers

Part 28 

This story has been removed to publish it.

Thank you!

Any questions? Comments or thoughts?

I'd love to hear what you are thinking about this story now.

Graham Quartet - Part 27

Good Morning FFFs!
Today is different than most Fridays. Usually we clean the house in the morning and then work on usual things in the afternoon. But today is a "pricing party" which means we're heading over to my brother's house this morning to work on pricing things for the upcoming conference season. We'll come home for lunch and a break and then head back over later, eat supper over there and work until it's dark probably.
Yesterday the kids all came over before supper and got to ride their bikes in the church parking lot across the alley from us. Then we ate and Pickle Puss and I played with the 18" dolls. She loved it! It's the first time she's gotten to play with more than her own.
The rest of the week was pretty normal.

How much writing did I get done? Enough to be able to say that I'm now 2/3 of the way done with writing Triple Creek Ranch Book 3!!! Are you looking forward to reading Book 3?

But I have things I need to work on so I'll keep this short. And you probably want to just read the next part of

The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers

Part 27 

This story has been removed to publish it.

Thank you!

Do you think you'd be hungry in the middle of a mystery?

What advise would you offer the Quartet?

And do you think that man really was "Aaron Burr"?

Graham Quartet - Part 26

Good Morning!
I can't believe that it is really Friday again so soon! I'm sure I just posted and I know I just cleaned house two days ago at the most. :P
Have you ever had weeks like that? One in which the days fly by so quickly that it feels like you must have missed several days? It wasn't even that all my week was full of things either. Let me see, what did I do? Not much writing, I know that!

Friday I cleaned house and then babysat the kiddos in the evening. I also heard that my grandpa broke his arm that day. (He's pretty much back to normal now.) [No writing]
Saturday: Usual things except that a very good college friend of Mom's (and Dad's) came that evening for supper and spent the night. [200 words written]
Sunday came with winter weather and the Department of Transportation issued a "no driving" ban across nearly all of the state in the morning. So, no church. However, we did take our lunch and head over to my brother's for lunch and visiting since our guest wanted to see them. [No writing]
On Monday our guest left and we did usual things. [800 words written]
Tuesday we had Funny Boy and Doodle Bug all day from 7:25 AM until 8:30 PM. [No writing again.]
Wednesday was writing class day and I ended up with a headache after my students left. Actually I had it before the first class was over. [Managed to get 500 words written.]
Yesterday was pretty normal. I did do art with Pickle Puss in the afternoon and I actually started reading a new book!!!!!!! [1,000 words written last night!]

And that, my blog readers, was my week. But here is the next part of this mystery for you. I hope you are enjoying it. If I had more time to write other short stories or parts of Dr. Morgan, I'd give you more of this story during the week. Maybe if I can finish TCR-3 by the beginning of April, I'll give you the ending all together. Would you like that?

Oh, for those of you who are really wanting to read Book 2 of the Triple Creek Ranch series and have been waiting for the kindle version to go on sale, it will be going on sale today.

The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers

Part 26 

This story has been removed to publish it.

Thank you!

Would you trust Mr. Hinken?

Why or why not?

Are you tired of this story yet?

Graham Quartet - Part 25

Welcome to Friday, FFFs!
Winter has returned to us and we are supposed to get sleet, freezing rain and snow over the weekend. And we thought spring had come. Well, I don't know why we thought that since it wasn't even March yet and we seem to get at least one big snowfall in March which comes one day or night and is gone the next. Crazy.

I spent most of Monday night planning and researching for Triple Creek Ranch, so I was only able to get about 200 words written. But things got better Tues. and Wed. and last night . . . I reached and passed the 1/2 way mark in Book 3! Now all of you Triple Creek fans can celebrate with me and eat a cookie (if you have any around the house). But please, don't stop praying. I'm going to try to get the other half written by the first of April. We'll see. I'm pretty sure some of this will go quickly, but I don't know how many times I'll get stuck or something new will pop up to add to the story. Some new characters have been introduced in this book and some old ones have hung around a little longer so I'm better acquainted with them. :)

S and I babysit the kiddos tonight, so I won't be writing. And then an old friend of Mom's is going to be here Sat and part of Sunday so I don't know if I'll write any on Saturday night or not.

But I hope you all enjoy this next part of

The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers

Part 25 

This story has been removed to publish it.

Thank you!

What should the Quartet do now?

Was Guy one of the ones on that train?

What are your thoughts on this situation?

Will you be back next week to see what takes place? 

P.S. Let me know if you are going to join the celebration by eating a cookie or something today. Or whatever day you read this. :)

Graham Quartet - Part 24

Hello Friday Fiction Fans!
We had a warm spell come through this week and it was actually 71º! It's chilly right now. I don't know if it's above freezing or not, but this morning the sun is out and it's supposed to be 60º later on.

I did a lot of writing this week. And it was mostly on TCR-3. I can't remember how much I wrote Friday night, but on Saturday it was 1,100 words, Monday 1,200, Tues 1,500 and Wed. 1,800 words. Over 5 1/2 parts and the weeks not over yet. Last night I was stuck! Completely stuck. I didn't know where to go or what to write. I even tried Dr. Morgan, but was stuck on that too. :( I'm going to try again tonight, so keep praying. I have so many ideas for the book, I just have trouble sometimes when I have to figure out what happens next because sometimes something I had never thought of comes along to add to the story.

For those of you who enjoy reading about Priscilla de Silvosa's travels across the United States, there are a few NC letters posted on her blog. I was going to write Day 5 this week, but each time I sat down to write, the internet decided not to work. And it's very difficult to write about a place you've never been to if you can't use the web site. :P Yesterday the internet was working, but I was not in the mood to write, so I went and read.

I do hope you are all still enjoying the Graham Quartet and aren't tired of it yet because you have 10 more parts counting today's. I told you this was a long story.

The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers

Part 24 

This story has been removed to publish it.

Thank you!

What would you do with a day off of school?

What would you do if you were a member of the Graham Quartet?

Was "Elsa's stranger" spying on them?

Will you be back next Friday?

Graham Quartet - Part 23

Happy Valentine's Day, FFFs!
Thinking back on the last half a dozen years or so I think I've spent more of those Valentine days babysitting then I have spent doing anything else. And this evening will be no different. Sis and I will have 8 kiddos ages 7 and under. We'll have our own niece and nephews as well as another friend's 3 kids. Should be fun! Don't you wish you could drop off your younger siblings or join in the fun too? Just be sure you bring a box or two of Annie's mac & cheese because that's what's for supper. :)

I've been writing this week and so far I have 6 and 1/2 parts of TCR-3 written and am hoping to at least finish part 19 tomorrow evening. That means I'm almost 1/3 of the way done! It was a little slow in some places but things are really starting to move now. Keep praying because I still get stuck and have to sit and stare at NEO for a while some times or else I give up for the time and go do something else.
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Dr. Morgan completely. I'd still like to work on it, but if I want to finish writing TCR Book 3 by my birthday, I have to work on it. And any questions, suggestions or ideas for Dr. Morgan or Triple Creek Ranch Book 3 would be greatly appreciated!

How is your weather? Ours has finally decided to start warming up! Nearly all our snow is melted and it was nearly 50º yesterday! It is cloudy right now and even rained a little. Not much but enough to enjoy the pit-pat-patter-pat on the skylight while I had my quiet time this morning. The sun is supposed to come out later and tomorrow it's supposed to be nearly 60º! Yay!

I hope you all are still enjoying:

The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers.

Part 23 

    “And Guy didn’t give you any hint when he’d be back?”
    All four brown heads were shaken. “He didn’t even write this note in code, Dad,” Tim pointed out.
    For several minutes Mr. Graham was silent. “I’m afraid I don’t really know what to tell you,” he said at last. “If the note was not written in code, then he was either assuming that no one else would find it or that it really didn’t matter if they did because he’d be long gone by the time it was discovered.”
    Selena spoke up for the first time then. “I don’t think Guy really went to the train station.”
    “Why not?” demanded Matt quickly.
    “Because I’m sure he would have written that in code if he was. I think he just had to be somewhere else and wasn’t sure when he’d be back and didn’t want us to worry about him not being there.”
    Mr. Graham nodded. “That sounds like it’s a possibility. As for the stranger, his car might have gotten stuck and then he figured that by the time you kids got home he would have found someone else to help him.”
    “But he was spying on us, Dad,” Tim protested.
    “You think he was,” Mr. Graham corrected. “How long was it that you actually saw him?”
    Tim looked over at Matt and then shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    “Could it be that he was just trying to see if it was a real house?”
    “Maybe he was tired and sat down a few minutes to catch his breath,” Selena suggested softly.
    “But Dad,” Elsa interjected, “what about Guy?”
    “What about him?” Mr. Graham turned to look at the slightly worried face of his eldest daughter.
    With a sigh, Elsa replied, “I guess I’d just feel better if I knew he made it safely back to the cabin tonight.”
    When the rest of the Quartet nodded, their father promised he’d drive out and check the cabin first thing in the morning.
    “Can we go with you in the morning, Dad?”
    Mr. Graham smiled. “If anyone is up and about, they are welcome to go. Now you four should probably head upstairs. Tomorrow is Sunday, remember, so don’t stay up too late.”

    Matt and Tim had joined their sisters in the girls’ room before they split up for the night. They were all worried about Guy, and Tim wasn’t convinced at all that the stranger had really been looking for help. “I know he was spying on us,” he insisted for the tenth time.
    “We know that, Tim,” Matt groaned. “I think he was too. But why? And where and how does he fit into the picture?”
    “What do you think about the stranger?” Elsa turned to Selena.
    Selena shook her head. “I don’t know. He didn’t seem like a bad guy, but I would have said the same about Aaron Burr. And how they all fit together, I don’t know. It’s so confusing!”
    “Maybe we should go over all the clues again,” Tim suggested, settling himself a bit more comfortably on the end of the bed.
    “I have,” Matt sighed. “And they’re all a mess. We know that something is going on either at the furniture factory or with it, but what does Communist paper, Aaron Burr, Hong Kong, Vanderbilt, Aster, Siam, trains, Mr. Hinken and now this stranger have to do with each other?”
    “And don’t forget the message about hens laying and hounds getting closer, that Guy received,” Elsa added.
    For several minutes the Quartet sat and puzzled over every clue they had discovered and any possible connections they might have with each other. At last, hearing the distant chime of the clock down in the library, Matt stood up and shook his head. “It’s no use to think more about it tonight. We’ve got to be missing some important information because we’re getting no where. Let’s all sleep on it and perhaps we’ll dream up a solution.” Matt rolled his eyes as he added the last words.
    “I don’t know if I can sleep.” Selena’s quiet voice turned Matt back from the door.
    “Why?”
    “I can’t help thinking about Guy.”
    Elsa put an arm about her sister. “I do too.”
    Stepping back to the bed, Matt said, “I think we should pray for him right now.”
    Without another word, the four heads bowed and Matt prayed for their friend.

    Mr. Graham had been right when he said he would go out early in the morning to check the cabin. It wasn’t even light when he tapped lightly on the two bedroom doors of the Quartet. Even though it was early, all four siblings were ready and anxious to go along. However, the trip was disappointing. There was no answer at the door of the cabin, and when Mr. Graham opened the door with his key, everything was as the Quartet had left it the night before. There was no sign anywhere of Guy. While Mr. Graham and the girls looked inside the cabin, Matt and Tim went at once to the place where the stranger had been hiding.
    “Look,” Matt pointed. There was a set of tracks leading to the cabin.
    “I wonder if these join a set of tracks leading away from the cabin.”
    “Huh?” Matt looked at his brother. “Oh, you think that even though it looked like he was heading straight towards the road, he might have doubled back to this track?”
    Tim nodded. “Think we can check it out?”
    Shrugging, Matt turned to the cabin which was being shut again. “Let’s ask.”
    When the question was put to him, Mr. Graham hesitated a moment and looked at his watch. “Well, if it doesn't take too long. Mom will probably have breakfast ready when we get back, and we don’t want to be late for church.”
    “Thanks, Dad,” Matt smiled.
    “But we should see where he went when he left,” Elsa put in. “Just in case he didn’t go the same place.”
    “Good idea. Let’s split up.”

What do you think they'll find?

Can you make anything out of all their clues?

Do you agree with Selena about Guy?

Or did he really catch a train?