Sadness at Christmas

This is the time of year when I think most of my loved ones who have gone on to their final glory. The most recent of my family members who have departed for Heaven is my daughter Kris. She left us October 27th, 2013. While it has been well over a year now, her loss still stings, especially at this time of the year. Though she is gone, she still lives in my heart and I know she always will. I miss so many of the wonderful qualities she had, the best of which was to see only the good qualities in every person she met, rather than the other less desirable qualities. Kris was such a positive person, even as it related to her health. Right down to the very end of her life she saw the chance that her treatments would succeed in chasing the cancer from her body. She wanted to live so badly so she could continue teaching her college students the correct English she knew they would need to succeed in the world. Of course Kris was a realist; she knew towards the end that her life would not be spared, so she faced that final realization with great strength and undeniable dignity. I never knew anyone to die with more courage and dignity than my beautiful daughter. She told several of her family members at the end that she accepted her fate and was at peace with it. When she told me, I knew without any doubt that she meant every word of it. Her battle on earth was over.

I can almost see her now holding her English classes in Heaven teaching the angels about their use of prepositional phrases and how to eliminate those dangling participles. I can see her smiling as she teaches without any physical pain. I can see her up there, finally completely happy in her element. That is how I want to remember my beautiful daughter, Kristine Elaine Meredith.

The SWOB Affair--How I Wrote the Story

People often ask me where I get the ideas to write a book, let alone all the ones I have written so far. I generally tell them I am lucky because I rarely if ever suffer from writer's block, or the ability to not be able to write a part of the story I am working on. I can nearly always sit down and write at any time if I have my computer or tablet with me. As for where my ideas come from, let me just say that I get new ideas almost every single day that I could write about. As an example, with my mystery thriller story, The SWOB Affair, it came to me one day as I read about a poor young woman who was murdered in the area. As I read the newspaper account of the crime my thoughts drifted back to the area where we lived prior to coming to Florida to live. There was a horrible crime that took place there, maybe the worst I ever knew about. It was also the murder of a young woman with a small child. Her killing was not simply a shooting or stabbing, but was a shooting and dismemberment of the young woman. The child was left alone in a running car at the edge of a highway and found crying when the police stopped to see if there was something wrong. The mother had been taken to another location and killed. I wondered how the story would work if I kept some of the grisly details, but moved the crime to the area where I currently live. So I sat down and started to write. When I was eventually done with the story, I read it all the way through; I was pleased with the result, so after some final editing, I released it as an e-book. As for the title, that came as a result of being a member of a creative writing group I belonged to called The Senior Writers of the town where I live, which completes the acronym. The book actually started as a class project that I took on as an individual. The book has been widely read and still sells copies after several years have passed since it was published. The book may be purchased through Amazon.com as a Kindle e-book for just $2.99.

10 Commandments of Gardening

My senior daughter Kris passed from this world on October 27th, 2013. She had been writing a blog about gardening for several years. I kept her blog site so I could now and then share a post from it to my readers. Kris was brilliant; she could write and use perfect English, so any topic she chose to write about came through very clearly. Kris had a vivid imagination and a great sense of humor as well, so as I share these witty writings from her blog, I hope you will experience the joy that was Kris. She was one of a kind. Bless her huge heart.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The 10 Commandments of Gardening

Talking with David today, I was thinking about creating a "10 Commandments of Gardening" list. Here's what I have so far:

The 10 Commandments of Gardening

1. Thou shalt have no other interests before me.
2. Thou shalt not make for thyself a genetically modified organism, but shalt allow nature to take its course.
3. Thou shalt not curse Mother Nature, for she is fickle and will show no mercy to those who misuseth her name.
4. For six days thou shalt labour in the garden. But the seventh day is a sabbatical from weeding, planting, and harvesting. Thou shalt need the seventh day to cook, can, and otherwise preserve the food gathered.
5. Honor thy Father Sky and thy Mother Earth, so that thy garden days will be long and fruitful.
6. Thou shalt not kill beneficial bugs.
7. Thou shalt not water at high noon.
8. Thou shalt not steal food from thy neighbor's garden, but shall asketh kindly, offereth to trade, or purchaseth foods from local farmer's markets.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness about the bounty thy garden produces.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s garden, or gardening tools, or wheelbarrow, or any gardening thing that belongeth to your neighbour.

So...do you have any commandments to add?

Jessie's Passion Dream

Imagine if you can that you have just lost the love of your life to death. You are the lead detective on a brutal murder that has a mystery woman as the sole witness to a brutal murder. As you investigate the crime you discover you are falling in love with the witness. Now a second brutal killing takes place that forces you to plan a vacation to Florida in order for you to focus on the rest of your life. Now a travel agent enters your life. These are some of the events in the life of Dan Reynolds that turned him in a totally different direction. A story that begins as a thriller now crosses the threshold into a full-blown romance story that will cause the reader to cry, smile, cry again, and finally to laugh aloud. But what makes this story so great is the mystery, intrigue, deceit, hate, and finally the love it contains. Dan Reynolds finally finds the true love of his life in the most unexpected of times and places, right after the end of a murder investigation that had closed. Now starts the life Dan Reynolds never knew he ever  wanted--until he knew he had to have it. 

 

This is the site where the book can be ordered:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Jessies-Passion-Dream-Vila-Design-ebook/dp/B00OE783MW/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1413215876&sr=8-14&keywords=paul+r.+meredith

The Mushroom Joke

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Mushroom Walked into a Bar...

...but the bartender wouldn't serve him. "We don't serve mushrooms here," he said. Dejected, the mushroom walked out. He came back in the side door, strolled up to the bar whistling, and ordered a gin and tonic. "I'm sorry," the bartender said, "but we don't serve mushrooms here." Even sadder now, the mushroom walked out of the bar and came in the rear entrance. He sidled up to the bar, keeping as much of his face turned away from the bartender as possible. Before he even asked for the drink, the bartender said, "Look, it doesn't matter how many times you come in here. I'm telling you, we don't serve mushrooms here."

"Aw, c'mon," the mushroom wheedled. "I'm a fun-gi!" (read: "fun guy")

Vigilante Series

My Vigilante Series contains four mystery thriller  novels about the vigilantes out there who take matters of justice into their own hands. These stories are all compelling stories of what could happen when our formal justice systems run off course. Each novel is a stand alone thriller.

The first book, The Vigilante God is available at: 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s?store=book&keyword=The+Vigilante+God

The Rise of the Vigilante Goddess, The Return of the Vigilante Goddess, and The Copycat Vigilantes, are all available at:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/192-5514831-6955042?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Paul+R.+Meredith

My Mother

My Mother

Today I want to feature a bit about my mother, Olive Fern Cox Meredith.  Mom was born in Sullivan, Illinois in 1917 and died in 1992 at Decatur, Illinois. She was the mother of eight feisty kids. I am the oldest, now just one of five surviving children as I write this. Mom was married young to Paul E. Meredith. He died in 1985 in Decatur. My mother was a God-fearing woman who raised her kids in the church. Dad was of a different faith than Mom, but he let her raise the kids in the church of her choice so there was no family conflict. It was a good decision that allowed harmony in our large family. Mom never worked at a salaried job because she had so many kids it was a full-time job just caring for them, plus caring for Dad.

Life was hard for Mom and Dad. They had very limited educations. Most of the kids in our family were born shortly after WWII when money was hard to come by, so we had a large vegetable garden and raised a lot of chickens to help keep the grocery bill contained to some measure of affordability. Dad worked in a local iron foundry and Mom baked cakes and breads to earn a few extra dollars, plus Uncle Harley, Mom's brother, helped us a lot when we needed it. Dad was a frail man who was often ill and missed a lot of work, so Uncle Harley was that extra special person in our lives.

As I mentioned previously, life was hard back then in the early 1940s when I was starting school, but we lived in a neighborhood where most of the folks were plain working folks like us, several of them having large families like ours. We were poor, but we really never knew just how poor until a bit later when we were getting up in our grade levels at school. We started to notice that some of the kids dressed better than we did and they had spending money that we never had.

I think Mom and Dad tried to hide our lack of money as well as they could, but as we grew older we all understood how difficult it was for our parents to raise so many kids.

It was evident to me as I grew older that Mom and Dad gave their all to put their kids first in everything. They sacrificed everything they had for the kids in the family. 

When I was an adult and a father, I could finally understand the difficult life my mother had raising all the kids. There were times when I was at home when I resented the fact they had more kids than they could afford, but later I saw it a little differently.

Today as I reflect on the wonderful job Mom and Dad did in raising a large family, I admire them more than ever. Under the same set of circumstances, there are few who could have done it better.

Love you Mom and Dad

  

KENYAN SUNSET

This is a random excerpt, a humorous one, from my medical romance novel, Kenyan Sunset. It really is a terrific story, and a very serious one. I hope you will be interested enough to read the rest of the story.

***

 

Just how Loren was ever able to finally legitimately meet Tara in person has been lost to time, but it surely did happen—somehow. They even had that very first date. He took her to a movie, and then later to a restaurant where they had a bite to eat. He was careful not to order coffee in her presence, knowing exactly what her thoughts were regarding that nasty, dark poisonous liquid.

            “I can’t believe I actually accepted a date from a crude and uncouth person such as you,” she said to Loren, continuing to act in a way that made Loren feel he was a lesser person than Tara. “From all of my observations, you appear to be unschooled. Do you in fact have an education beyond elementary school?”

            “I went all the way through high school,” Loren flatly and proudly stated. “After working for a while at various jobs after graduation, I decided I needed to learn a trade, so I went on to technical school and learned to be a welder.”

            “A welder? Pray tell, what does a welder actually do, if I may be so bold as to ask?”

            “Welding is an art. I marry metals together to make something of value that we can all use.”

            “Please give me an example of something of value that you make that I can relate to. I have no idea what a welded article of value might be, let alone understand how you marry metals together. Is it something like a flower box?” she asked.

            “I could do that…weld a flower box, but right now I make the frames for automobiles. I weld all the various steel components together into a single unit. I work at the frame factory across town,” he informed Tara.

            “Oh yes, I took my class there one day last year. It seems to me that in that dirty place, they had mechanical contraptions called robots doing all that type of stuff you describe. Are you a replacement for a robot…like if they would break down or something?”

            “Well, that isn’t what I regularly do, but yes, I have covered those operations during an emergency situation when robots would have a mechanical or electrical failure.”

            “So are you telling me that you have the ability to cover for a mechanical manifestation that has no brains at all? Is that your statement to me?” she checked.

            “Well, yes, I guess so, but you make it sound like there is no skill involved, but there is plenty of skill required to be a welder. I had to go through two years of intensive company training so I could become a certified welder,” he attempted to explain. “Being a welder is like being a painter or a writer.”

            “I don’t think so; those skills require years of intensive training.”

            “I know, just as becoming a welder does.”

            “Would it be asking too much if I requested to see your certificate from the technical school you attended? Maybe then I could better understand just how a person can become a substitute for an ignorant, man-made mechanism that has no brains of its own.”

            “What certificate?”

            “You said you were certified, so you must have a certificate of authenticity or something to validate that you are in fact certified as a robot replacement. I am a certified teacher, and I certainly have a certificate of graduation from a legitimate college to authenticate my credentials that allow me to teach children how to cope with the challenges of life,” she told him. “It is called a diploma. May I see the certificate you have?”

            “Well, I don’t actually have that kind of certificate.”

            “What? Do you mean to say that you are not authorized to replace one of those brainless, mechanical, man-made contraptions after all?”

            “Yes, I am fully authorized. My company authorizes me to do that. Also, I do have a diploma from welding school that authorizes me to replace a robot. I can show you that if you must see it,” he enlightened Tara.

            “Yes, that would be nice. And you are sure that it says you are authorized to replace a mechanical robot?”

            “It says that I completed my welding course, not that I can replace a robot. The company gave me the training required to replace the robot.”

            “May I ask just how much training the robot receives to do its work?” Tara inquired.

            “They don’t really get trained like you are talking about. A person called a processor or an analyst, through a teaching method using a pendant, actually programs a robot in order for them to do their work. A robot can only do one part of a job, which in technical terms in industry is called an operation.”

            “So you are telling me that you went to a technical school for two years, and then you received company training for a period of time, and now you are able to do the one single part of a job of a mechanical contraption that required no training at all, right? That is some valuable skill you have there, wouldn’t you agree?”

            “Look, Tara, it’s not exactly like that.”

            “Are you authorized to call me by my first name? I don’t believe that I gave you the authorization to do that, unless I have somehow forgotten.”

            Loren sat there and fumed inside for a minute, thinking to himself, who the hell does she think she is anyway? She seems to think she is better than me. “Damn, but you are sure hung up on this authorization crap, aren’t you?” he blurted.

            “That’s it! I will take no more of this lewd pornographic talk that is coming from your vulgar mouth,” Tara said as she rose to leave. “I am a refined lady, and I do not listen to vulgarity like that from anyone.”

            “Okay, look, I’m really sorry I said that,” Loren said as he reached out and touched Tara’s arm. “I was just frustrated because you didn’t understand what I was saying.”

            Jerking her arm away from his touch, Tara said, “Sir, please don’t touch me in that manner ever again. I am not used to being manhandled in that way.”

            “I said I was sorry, and I am. I wasn’t manhandling you. I just touched your arm. Please just sit down and let me try again to explain to you that the work I do is important. It really is important,” Loren tried to explain.

            Tara looked at the skin on her arm to make sure it wasn’t dirty. “Those hands are despicable,” she told him. “Do you ever wash them?”

http://www.amazon.com/Kenyan-Sunset-Paul-Meredith-ebook/dp/B0051GP2YC

His Soul Mate

His Soul Mate was the very first romance novel I wrote several years ago. It remains one of my best.

His Soul Mate is a stirring and compelling love story of two people brought together by sheer happenstance. The very first moment that Ellen Meacham laid eyes on Wayne Granger as they passed each other on the sidewalk, she knew she would have to meet him again on her own terms. Fate brought the two people together later in a most unusual way, and a love affair slowly started to bloom, a love affair that at first was timid, then torrid, and finally it blossomed into the deep and caring love each had always hoped to find someday. Wayne Granger quickly realized that Ellen was the woman he always wanted and had to have. She was the one and only soul mate of his life.

Ellen Meacham soon discovers she has a medical condition just as she is starting to feel the deep love she has for Wayne reach a critical point. She has decisions to make that will affect the lives of both people, and she worries about making the correct decisions. The poignant feelings shared by the two people during this trying period of medical concern will have the reader on the edge of his/her seat from the early chapters to the final sentence of the last chapter.

The moment in time that Ellen Meacham and Wayne Granger shared together was so happy and fulfilling that it could only end one way.

The torrid love story is so compelling and powerful it has the reader emotionally involved, as if on a roller coaster, throughout the story right up to the very end.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/his-soul-mate-paul-r-meredith/1004707304?ean=9780595171354 

IN MY WILDEST DREAMS

In my Wildest Dreams

Synopsis

Joshua Whitley was a man working on his career goals when he met Julia Cusack in a lunch room one day. Julia was a beautiful young lady with career goals much like his. Yes, it was truly love at first sight for Josh, the name most people called him. Over time Josh and Julia became romantically involved and eventually married. They purchased the home of their dreams and started their family. However, their plan for life was soon to be derailed with an issue that was beyond their ability to solve. Life changed dramatically for Josh as his dreams for happiness spun out of control. Then an unexpected set of events in a family already marred with tragedy caused a change none in the family could have known would happen. Life for Josh went from being lonely, dull and boring, to a life filled with new hope and happiness for the future. In his wildest dreams Josh could never have planned what was about to happen to him, but it did happen. He met a new love in a place he never dreamed, and the rest as they say, is history.

            Was it fate that threw Josh and Dianne together at the most critical time of their lives? Nobody could know for sure, but it was a match that had to be made in heaven. From the time they were first together as a couple, it was almost magic how success came to the two of them, both in love and in their separate business ventures. Obstacles that would have stopped others from getting together were simply viewed as challenges to be overcome by Josh and Dianne. This is an epic story of how love can overcome almost any obstacle if the passion is present.

            Don’t think everything went smooth as silk for them though, because that would be a huge mistake. There is tragedy throughout this remarkable story, the loss of spouses, of parents, and even the horrible death of Dianne’s mother, all of which sent shock waves through this strong young couple as they struggled for success in life.

            Dianne made a totally unexpected career change when she realized she had seen in a vision where the body of a missing elderly woman was located, a woman she had never met or knew personally. When Dianne was questioned about how she knew of the location of the dead woman, her responses gave the local authorities cause to see a need to solicit her help in other unsolved murder cases.

            The story takes so many unpredictable turns it is difficult to write a synopsis that includes all the major parts of the story, but let it suffice to say the reader will be astonished by the unfolding of the story. It is a story that includes most of the elements one could possibly expect in a really great love story. 

http://www.amazon.com/My-Wildest-Dreams-Paul-Meredith-ebook/dp/B00ANQILIE/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403699295&sr=1-10&keywords=Paul+R.+Meredith

Olive's Angels

This is a nonfiction account of people who have had personal encounters with God's angels. It also contains what the Bible says about the angels, how many there are, their classifications and types, and their specific duties. This is a compelling read. You will learn a lot about God's angels.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/192-5514831-6955042?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Paul+R.+Meredith

Five Romance Novels

 

These are five of my best romance novels from the past few years. All are still available at Amazon.com as Kindle e-books. Three of them are also available as soft cover books.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/192-5514831-6955042?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Paul+R.+Meredith

Interview with Writers and Authors founder Jo Linsdell

I recently had an online interview with Jo Linsdell at Writers and Authors web site regarding my writing. It would please me if you would take the time to read it. It might be very interesting to you. Here is the interview site which you can copy and paste into your browser window:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/215772268511481/:


http://nblo.gs/XnSA6

Kenyan Sunset

This is a Christian Romance novel I wrote a few years ago that continues to bring accolades from readers. Here is a short appetizer from the first chapter.

Kenyan Sunset

The summer had been long and very hot; now the break was over and autumn was nearing. The change in seasons would soon bring welcome relief from the heat. Tara Longwood was ready for school to start again. She looked forward to welcoming her new crop of third graders back to school from summer vacation.

            Loren Williams saw Tara at a skating rink during the summer, and as the weeks passed, he finally found the nerve to call her at her home one evening. “Hello,” she said as she answered the telephone.

            “Yes, is this Tara Longwood I’m speaking with?” he had asked, noticeably nervous as his voice quivered.

            “Yes, this is Tara Longwood, and who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?” she boldly asked.

            “I’m Loren Williams, you know, the one who saw you at the skating rink a few months ago. I’m that same person.”

            “Well now, just how would I know what persons saw me at the skating rink? I didn’t ask all the people there if they saw me, you know. This means that I have no idea who I have the pleasure of speaking with right now, do I sir?” she teased, knowing full well exactly who was on the other end of the line.

            “I’m the one who asked you if you would skate with me,” he informed her.

            “Sir, several young men asked me to skate with them. How would I ever know which one you might be?” she teased again.

            “I’m the guy you turned down. Maybe if you saw me you could remember. Could we meet for coffee or something? I’m sure you’d recognize me if you could see me again.”

            “I turned several boys down. I do not skate with just anyone who might ask, and I have never in my life had a drink of coffee, nor do I ever intend to have a drink of that horrible liquid. Do you yourself drink that dark liquid that surely must coat your intestines and make them as black as the drink itself?” she inquired.

            “Well, yes, a little, sometimes, but not very often,” Loren lied. “It kind of gets me going in the mornings, if you know what I mean.”

            “I surely think that is pure hogwash. That’s a pure old lie of a tale if I ever heard one. There is no way that coffee can get you going, unless of course, you mean your bladder. It is a figment of your imagination that makes you even think such drivel could be true. But perhaps you didn’t know this fact, so I guess I could overlook it this one time,” she told him.

            “Gosh, thanks a lot, Tara,” he said.

            “Sir, if it pleases you, I would request that you call me by my proper name of Miss Longwood, at least until I can verify that you are not an ax murderer or some other type of hardened criminal who could be out looking for an easy victim.”           

            “Sure, Ta…I mean Miss Longwood, but I’m not looking for a victim,” he assured.

            “Then pray tell, just exactly what are you looking for? That’s what I need to know if this conversation is to go much further.”

            “Well, uh, uh, I was looking to…looking for a nice girl in this town to ask out for a movie or something,” he stuttered.

            “Or something? Just exactly what should I take that to mean? That sounds as if it could be sinful, or something even worse. I’ll have no part of that. Just what do you take me for?”

            “No ma’am, that’s not what I meant at all, I ju….”

            “I’m afraid this conversation is at an end, sir. I will not allow a strange man to talk sinfully to me like you are doing. I must say this conversation has concluded,” Tara said. She clanked the receiver onto the phone base while Loren attempted to sputter something.

http://www.amazon.com/Kenyan-Sunset-Paul-R-Meredith/dp/1413751539/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401719640&sr=1-14&keywords=Paul+R.+Meredith 

Olive's Angels

I started writing this story more than sixteen years ago, but for whatever reason, I placed it on the back burner as daily life continued on for me. I took up several other writing projects. My mother passed away in 1992, and then just last October, my precious senior daughter also passed. Losing her jarred me to open this project and start writing again--to finish this story before it was lost.

This is a story of one woman's belief in angels, as well as several stories of people who believe they had personal encounters with angels. Some biblical references are included, as well as a few misconceptions about angels people may have. This book in no way says angels are fact or fiction, just states things many people believe and what is said in the NKJ Version of the Bible. It was fun to do the research for this story. I learned so much I never knew before about the angels.

I actually started to write this story because on my mother--how she loved and believed in God's angels. She was as close to being an angel on earth as I could ever imagine a human could be. She was a godly woman in every respect. But I also wrote the story because I believe many of my relatives that are now deceased are in heaven with my mother.

 Please click on this link:

Olive's Angels.

Olive's Angels

Anyone who ever knew my mother Olive very well knew how much she believed in God’s angels. From early in our childhood we were taught to respect the angels. I admit that I thought I knew a little about angels when I started writing this story, but I never realized just how little until I started doing the research. I discovered some astounding things about angels that I am sharing with you in this story. Not only is this story true, but it is truly amazing. It contains some of Mom’s legacy in how we still respect the things she taught us in our childhood. But the story also contains much of my research from the KJ Version of the Bible, plus many personal stories of angel encounters within our very own family, including close relatives, a sibling, myself, and several other people, all real people.

Whether one believes in angels or not, this is a compelling story. I hope you will read it.

Olive’s Angels

Available for the first time today at:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Olive%27s+Angels

Olive's Angels

Of all the seventeen books I have had published, my upcoming one will be the one I am most excited about. It will be a book on angels. The book will be titled, Olive's Angels, and dedicated to my mother who believed in angels stronger than anyone I ever knew. It will be my eighteenth book, but my very first nonfiction one, It will contain what I know (what I believe) about angels and a number of stories of people who have had angel visits or encounters of one kind or another. The cover is being designed as I write this, so in a very few days the book will be out and ready for download from Amazon Kindle. If you believe in angels (and even if you don't) you should read this story. It is captivating. Much of the story centers around angel experiences within my family. I hope you won't miss it.

Acronyms, Placebos and Doctors

Acronyms, Placebos and Doctors

A few years ago my wife Sandra was the administrator of a medium-sized health care facility in the town where we lived. It was common for the doctors to socialize in the same circle as my wife and me because of her management of the facility.

There were five full-time doctors of various specialties, two nurse practitioners, and a physician’s assistant headquartered in the facility. Several other specialists held office hours on a satellite basis one day each week. Whether or not I wanted it, simply because it was my wife’s work world, I absorbed by osmosis much of the medical language that was spoken around me. Sometimes when a group of medical professionals were gathered, I heard so many medical terms and acronyms that it nearly made my head swim.

          Many folks do not understand the medical world of super bills, CPT codes, and all the many other terms that doctors and other medical personnel use most of the time as they go about their medical business. Most of us have now heard of UTI (urinary tract infection), AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), and now even SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), but why have we suddenly learned to shortcut the names of these particular diseases when there are so many others that could use a darn good shortening? To shorten how we call some of these diseases, I would suggest the following acronyms in parentheses for diseases like the Whooping Cough (WhC), Rheumatic Fever (RhF), Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), Pancreatic Cancer (PaC), Abdominal Cystic Lymphangioma (ACL), Basilar Artery Migraines (BAM), Camptomelic Syndrome (CaS), Darier’s Disease (DaD), Davenport Donlan Syndrome (DDS), Fallot Tetralogy (FaT), and the list goes on and on practically forever. Should there be more than a single disease with the same first initial, a second initial could be added either in the first or second part of the name. For instance, an example for Rheumatic Fever might be Rfe, or if that one is already taken, perhaps RhF, as depicted previously.

          Wouldn’t it make sense for the doctors and other medical professionals to complete the mystery and talk one hundred percent in medical terms we absolutely can’t understand? They are well along the way as it is.

          I suggested to my wife that she should pass these ideas along to the doctors in her staff meetings, but she rejected the idea as being too radical and revolutionary. I believe she truly meant it was more because the doctors wouldn’t listen anyway, especially since a nonmember of their fraternity could not possibly have a decent idea that could work.

          I also suggested a few more acronyms for use by the doctors. Most people know that doctors prescribe placebos for mystery and/or unknown ailments of the human body and/or mind. When a doctor cannot diagnose a patient’s medical condition, he or she has two alternatives to select from, depending on their best judgment at the time of the office visit. Should a patient suggest he or she is suffering from an ailment that is foreign to the doctor’s knowledge base, he or she may refer the patient on to a specialist in the field, thereby losing a fair amount of office and personal cash flow income. However, before doing so, the doctor may elect to treat the patient with a best-guess methodology to ensure decent cash flow, at least for a minimum of six office visits. Should the patient seem to be a chronic hypochondriac, the doctor may simply prescribe a placebo, which in many cases either cures the ailment completely or will cause a sudden drastic improvement. This is sometimes a preferred method because it ensures many, many office calls for follow-up consultations to see how effective a placebo is to the patient’s problem. Sometimes a doctor will discover that a combination of placebos works even better, which provides even more cash flow and results in the ability of the doctor to move up from a Buick to a Mercedes or even a Porsche.

Some examples of these imaginary ailments and their acronyms might include items from the following list, any of which could make a doctor very wealthy if properly nurtured:

Ordinary Chest Pain – OCP

Left Leg Pain – LLPS (left leg pain syndrome)

Right Leg Pain – RLPS (right leg pain syndrome)

Unknown Internal Organ Quirk - IOQ (internal organ quirk)

Unknown External Limb Pain – ELQ (external limb quirk)

Common Headache – CHA

Common Backache – CBA

Heart Burn – HEB

One can only imagine how rich a doctor might become if he or she would shorten all of these ailment names to short acronyms. That would allow much more rapid patient turnover, which in turn increases cash flow dramatically.

          The next time you see a doctor drive into the hospital parking lot in his or her Mercedes of Porsche, you may stop and wonder if placebo patients made it possible for the mode of transportation being driven, or if in fact it could be due to the rapid flow rate of patients in from the waiting room and through the doctor’s office visit, primarily caused by the extensive use of these new acronyms.

Paul R. Meredith

1997

Olive's Angels

This is a very brief excerpt from a book I am writing about angels. This book has been in some measure of progress for thirteen years or more. I was never certain I would publish it, but that all changed after the death of my senior daughter. Now I know I will publish it soon. I must complete a small part of it that is in progress at this time. I hope you enjoy the idea of my book on angels and want to read it when it is completed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My sister Trudy approached me one day after my first two fiction novels had been published. She asked me if I would be interested in writing a book that would become a collection of angel stories, stories she would collect for me at the angel store that she and her daughter Leisa owned together, Olive’s Garden of Angels, the store named in Mom’s honor. After some limited conversation on the topic, I agreed to at least think about it, but only if she would start collecting a few stories for me to analyze and see if it was something I could actually get into. She agreed to do it, and eventually she sent a handful of angel stories for me to work with. These stories were from customers of her store, and some of the people who submitted the stories were from Mom’s town of Decatur, Illinois, which is my birthplace and the birthplace of my seven siblings. Some other angel stories came to me from Iowa and other points through my daughter, Tara, who owned a web-based scrapbooking business at that time. She had solicited the stories from her customers over the web. After I read a few of the personal stories, I thought it would be appropriate for me to do some research about angels and try to gather enough information to write a short introduction to this book.

I realized I didn’t know a lot about angels when I started writing this small book containing some true-life stories of peoples’ encounters with angels, or in a few cases, just simple stories of faith. But I thought I had a basic knowledge of angels. I decided to get my Bible out and see what it had to say on the subject of angels. I quickly discovered I had something close to zero knowledge about angels, which surprised me in a way. I always thought, for some strange reason, that I had a reasonable amount of knowledge regarding angels, but as I delved into the depths of the Bible to find out where and how angels were mentioned, it surprised me how little I actually knew about them. In one respect there were so many references about angels, but in another respect, there was very little information on the classifications of angels. I learned a lot more than I ever thought I would by the time I completed my study. A good portion of my study involved research on the Internet. While I cannot vouch one hundred percent on the validity or accuracy of what I discovered on the Internet, I will say that I was able to corroborate most if not all of it from more than a single source. I will share some of what I discovered here. In honor of my mother Olive, I am naming this book, Olive’s Angels.

The Copycat Vigilantes

This is my very latest book, my seventeenth (17th), It is hard for me to realize I have written so many books, but I have. I have even more of them in the pipeline.

The Copycat Vigilantes. It is a really good thriller that will be difficult to lay aside once you start reading. This is actually the fourth book in my Vigilante series. Even though this story is a stand-alone story, you may want to read the previous three books in the series in order to get the entire picture of how I got to this point.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Copycat+Vigilantes

Ten Commandments of Gardening

In her gardening blog, my daughter, Kris Meredith Sulzberger, wrote very interesting articles like the one shown here. She had a tremendous sense of humor even though she was terminally ill with breast cancer. Kris passed away October 27, 2013. I miss her more than I can say. Here is her blog site:

http://englishprof-playinthedirt.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The 10 Commandments of Gardening
Talking with David today, I was thinking about creating a "10 Commandments of Gardening" list. Here's what I have so far:

The 10 Commandments of Gardening

1. Thou shalt have no other interests before me.
2. Thou shalt not make for thyself a genetically modified organism, but shalt allow nature to take its course.
3. Thou shalt not curse Mother Nature, for she is fickle and will show no mercy to those who misuseth her name.
4. For six days thou shalt labour in the garden. But the seventh day is a sabbatical from weeding, planting, and harvesting. Thou shalt need the seventh day to cook, can, and otherwise preserve the food gathered.
5. Honor thy Father Sky and thy Mother Earth, so that thy garden days will be long and fruitful.
6. Thou shalt not kill beneficial bugs.
7. Thou shalt not water at high noon.
8. Thou shalt not steal food from thy neighbor's garden, but shall asketh kindly, offereth to trade, or purchaseth foods from local farmer's markets.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness about the bounty thy garden produces.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s garden, or gardening tools, or wheelbarrow, or any gardening thing that belongeth to your neighbour.

So...do you have any commandments to add?

Ten Minutes Past Two

I wrote this story a few years ago after a trip to Spain with my wife. It is a really good romance story that takes place on two continents. I hope you enjoy this excerpt and want to read the rest of the story.

TEN MINUTES PAST TWO
by
Paul R. Meredith
 

Chapter 1

    Estelle Mercer was sipping her first cup of coffee of the new day. She looked out the window and saw the breaking sun turn the sky from the dark of night into the bright of early morning. It was a huge and beautifully brilliant yellowish orange ball, now just half visible above the tree line on the distant horizon. She saw the gorgeous work of God being displayed in a magnificent fashion, and it somehow gave her new hope and inspiration for the future.
    As the sun slowly rose in the east, her Florida room was flooded with the rush of the day rapidly heading west. The light quickly grew so bright it nearly blinded her from being able to continue looking eastward. She donned the pair of sunglasses that were conveniently in front of her on the table. She kept a pair there for just this very reason, because she dearly loved to watch the sun come up these last few mornings when it was not possible for her to sleep well. This is the day I must start living the rest of my life, Estelle thought. I must put my troubles behind me and look to the future. Paul is gone now. I’m on my own from here on out.
    Estelle Mercer’s husband Paul died exactly two weeks before in a horrible work-related accident at the relatively young age of fifty. For the ten days since his funeral, Estelle had found sleep hard to come by. She had had her soul mate by her side nearly constantly for all thirty of the years since they married. She smiled as she thought back to that day so long ago. She was eighteen and Paul was twenty. They had fallen in love three years before in high school and had gone steady from that moment forward.
When Estelle’s father turned down Paul’s petition to marry his daughter, she was heartbroken. She devised the plan to run away and get married. Paul was nervous about the idea, but he knew her dad was firm in his decision, and as much as Paul loved Estelle, he knew he couldn’t live four more years without her. That was her dad’s decision—to wait. He wanted the kids to wait until Estelle was out of college. After that he would give his blessings on their marriage.
    Paul told Estelle, “Honey, let me go back and ask him one more time. Maybe he will give in and let us get married. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”
    “He won’t ever give in Paul. He says I will never finish school if I get married first. Dad told me it was his obligation as a father to make sure I get started in life with a chance to make it, and it takes a college education to make it these days. He won’t cave on it, I’m telling you,” Estelle said. “I know my dad.”
    “I’ve got to try it one more time, but if it doesn’t work, we’ll just elope as we planned. But somehow, I just feel he will allow us to go ahead and get married,” Paul told Estelle.
   
Paul begged Estelle’s father the next evening to let them go ahead and get married. He promised that he would continue with his last two years of college and make certain that Estelle started and finished her own college education. Her father would have none of it, saying to Paul, “No, her mother and I know that Estelle would most likely get pregnant and cut her education short. You kids can’t afford to do that anyway. College is expensive as hell these days.”
    “But sir, my folks would probably help us a little if we needed them to. I think we could do it, and we’d be careful not to get in a family way.”
    “Look Paul, I like you a lot. I think you are a fine young man, and there will come a time when I will be more than happy to welcome you into our family with open arms, but it will have to be after Estelle gets out of school. The two of you are young. Four years will be a good test of your love.”
    “But sir, we have already been tested for three years. I love her so much, and she’s the only girl I would ever want to be my wife,” Paul argued.
    “That’s good, but the answer is still the same, and you shouldn’t expect your folks to help support you kids after you’re married. Being married is a grown up responsibility. Your folks have a lot on their plate anyway. They can’t afford a burden like that,” Bryan Sager said.
   
    Estelle and Paul did elope to Arkansas and got married. The parents were upset at first because they feared the worst—that Estelle and Paul would never get their college degrees.
    Now, as Estelle recalled those days so long ago, she at first smiled, and eventually openly laughed out loud at how it had all turned out.
    Paul worked hard at two part-time jobs during college, while Estelle worked at a good part-time job. They were both able to secure a little scholarship money from various sources, and yes, the folks on both sides helped them some when they got in tight pinches. Paul graduated and was lucky enough to land a great starting job in a local industry as a mechanical engineer. Estelle continued on with school and was able to graduate two years after Paul. She immediately went to work as an accountant in a local firm that was growing rapidly.
    There was no pregnancy during that time, nor were there any huge problems of any kind. The pieces just sort of fell into place for the young couple. Paul insisted on paying the parents back the money they had provided when they were desperate. He had carefully and completely kept track of every penny given them, and even though the money was never considered a loan by any of the parents, Paul always considered it as such. Paul and Estelle paid back every single dollar to their parents, even though it wasn’t required. Paul never let the parents refuse the payments—told them they owed it and would not feel free until they reimbursed them.

Available at:

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00DS736E4

The Mushroom at the Bar

This is copied from my daughter Kris' blog site, Playing in the Dirt. I loved the things she wrote about.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Mushroom Walked into a Bar...

...but the bartender wouldn't serve him. "We don't serve mushrooms here," he said. Dejected, the mushroom walked out. He came back in the side door, strolled up to the bar whistling, and ordered a gin and tonic. "I'm sorry," the bartender said, "but we don't serve mushrooms here." Even sadder now, the mushroom walked out of the bar and came in the rear entrance. He sidled up to the bar, keeping as much of his face turned away from the bartender as possible. Before he even asked for the drink, the bartender said, "Look, it doesn't matter how many times you come in here. I'm telling you, we don't serve mushrooms here."

"Aw, c'mon," the mushroom wheedled. "I'm a fun-gi!" (read: "fun guy")

Yes, folks, it was a bad pun, but I was attempting, in my lame way, to prepare you for the horrific picture you are about to see. You know how, when people talk about death, taxes, and other unpleasant subjects, they try to make a joke about it to ease the tension? It's sort of like that.

So okay, enough of the pleasantries and joking--let's get to the fearful topic of...fungus. You'll see I've included a picture at right of a mushroom that has been growing in my yard all summer. We had a couple of 'shrooms last year (please let me reassure you at this point that we are NOT eating them, and if you have anything remotely resembling the pictured fungus growing in your yard, I wouldn't recommend adding it to any dishes), but nothing like this one.

This fungus, dubbed the Voracious Mutant Rock-and-Leaf-Eating Fungus from Outer Space and viewed with great trepidation, has evolved into an amorphous blob of spongy goo. I dared touch it, and the slick, glistening surface is actually dry and smooth. You can see hints of mushroom texture on the outer edges of this fungus blossom. Please note that the rock and leaves are STUCK--no amount of tugging would release them in one piece. I think the fungus is actually consuming them. I carefully placed a quarter in the upper right quadrant before taking the picture (which has not been photoshopped other than to simply be resized to fit the blog) so you could get a sense of the gigantuhugimammothian size.

All I can say is I am glad I am moving. I do not wish to be caught in the house unawares when this glistening, slavering beast darkens the doorstep.

Posted by EnglishProf at 10:17 PM
http://englishprof-playinthedirt.blogspot.com

/2008_10_01_archive.htmlhttp://englishprof-playinthedirt.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

An Iowa Blessing

Book Review

An Iowa Blessing

This is a story of the life of June Disney, a woman blindly running away from a tragic situation. She was desperate to find a new life, or maybe she was just running from her old life. This is a story of hope and unexpected love. It happens in a place she never expected to find herself, far from her Minnesota roots. This story will make you laugh, and cry, sometimes at the same time. But for sure, it will tug at your heartstrings. This is a great read for romantics. I heartily recommend this story.

 An Epic Love Story

http://www.amazon.com/Iowa-Blessing-Paul-R-Meredith-ebook/dp/B00A51VZ94/ref=la_B00DS736E4_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398530829&sr=1-13

People often as me, "What is your best romance novel?" Well, I truly don't know the answer to that question, but I will say that this story is right there in the running with my very best stories. The good news is that it is available in either soft cover or as an e-book on Kindle or Nook.

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00DS736E4
or

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s?store=allproducts&keyword=paul+r.+meredith

If you hunger for a real-life kind of love story, you have to read this book. You will not be able to lay it down until you have read the last sentence. It is that compelling.

The Love Wish

By

Paul R. Meredith

Linda Folger had always dreamed of growing up and finding her prince charming, marrying him and having two or three children. She wanted to live happily ever after with her little family in a house in the woods with a white fence around it. That was it! That’s all she ever wanted from life.

She suffered through a rocky period when her love wish seemed out of reach, but then her life took an unexpected turn for the better. Suddenly she had it all in the palm of her hand, and she thanked God for all that He had done for her. Then, as life often does with each of us, Linda’s life took another turn, and she was dealt a situation that took her in a totally different direction, a situation that we all fear could someday happen to us.

This is Linda’s story—of how she handled both the ups and downs. This is the story of Linda’s Love Wish.

Paul R. Meredith

pmeredith@cfl.rr.com