This morning on our walk, Ramona and I saw lots of these cute little purple blooms, with daffodil leaves shooting up nearby! What a great start for a Sunday morning which was warm enough to stroll with a light jacket–no earmuffs or gloves!

I send this out especially to family and friends buried beneath 40-50″ of snow, in Iowa and Pennsylvania: you, too, will see flowers again someday! For now, enjoy these!

But this fairy tern also gives us a sense of knowing its own POWER…and that’s my goal now as I approach a birthday, and come to the table for new contracts with ALL of my editors. I have this fine, feisty sense that I will continue the Love Secret series, with a fine new editor; that I will continue to write as Melissa MacNeal for a Kensington editor, and my agent and I also have a new proposal idea for the Dorchester editor who now works at Kensington, for whom I’ve written my Angels of Mercy series, and to whom I originally sold my Love Secret series! And–I began brainstorming with another editor at our NINC conference last fall.

FOUR editors are interested in my work–or at least interested in working with ME right now! I see that as reason indeed to flap my wings and fly high this year!!

I wish you the same sense of optimism as you test your wings and know your own inner strength and power!

Actually, these posies came with The Prayer of St. Therese, who believed in doing the little things well. “May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.”

If we can just live out those two “little” things each day, think how much happier our lives would be! And that peace within–that trusting God–those are totally within OUR CONTROL, too!

So stop and smell the roses! Smile! And go for that Peace and Trust today!

Could be the moon and sun and all my planets are aligned just right! My astrologer, Maria, and my numerologist, Alison, have given me glimpses of a FABULOUS year ahead. And I BELIEVE!

So I hope you’ll join in! Let me know what you think of my new site! Try one of my recipes! I’m still tweaking a bit with my fabulous site designer, Frauke Spanuth, so stay tuned for newsletters and contests and all sorts of stuff to make you smile…just like that photo of the moon and sun at the North Pole!

HUNDREDS of decks are out there! One of the most basic, the Rider-Waite or Universal Waite, has been around for a century now and is featured in many learn-the-

Tarot books. It was my first deck, and as I felt the need to explore other decks—or saw others that jumped out at me—I acquired them. For me, the pictures provide endless help when I interpret spreads for myself or for friends: I see different details each time, even though they’ve been there all along! I’ve found that while some decks are spot-on for readings, others are better when I’m plotting my books and creating their characters.

Another suggestion: go to www.aeclectic.net/tarot or look at www.tarot.com to preview decks of every theme and design! You’ll be astounded. You’ll want to click on dozens of the decks and see the selected cards—something for every taste and mindset!

Let your heart, your eye, and your instinct be your guides. When you find a deck that draws you in and excites you with its color, design, and details—go with it!

Preheat oven to 350. Put parchment paper on cookie sheets or spray them. Cream the shortening, margarine and sugar, and then mix in the egg and extract. Stir the dry ingredients together and blend into the dough, adding the raisins last. Roll into 1” balls and place on the cookie sheets—press in a criss-cross design with a fork dipped in sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes. Makes about 3 doz.

1 C. flour
¾ C. yellow cornmeal
¼ C. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
¾ C. mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
½ C. milk
½ C. vegetable or canola oil
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray your muffin pan or prep paper muffin cups. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. In a measuring cup, mix the milk and oil with the egg until blended. Stir liquids and mashed banana into the dry ingredients until well moistened. Divide the dough into the muffin cups and bake about 10 minutes, or until the tops are just firm—don’t overbake! These freeze well.

In a large soup kettle/Dutch oven, brown the sausage with onion until no longer pink. Drain on paper towel, and break into smaller pieces. Discard grease in the pot–then put the meat and onions back in, along with the veggies, juice and seasonings (you might want to cut some of the frozen veggies smaller). Simmer at least 30 min., so veggies get cooked, stirring occasionally and adding water to allow room for the pasta to expand. Add in the pasta and simmer another 15-30 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve. Freezes well.

Hint: the secret to this soup is seasoning the liquid! Don’t be afraid to add lots of garlic powder and especially the dillweed, which brings out a richer tomato taste.