If Only For A Season

When Jeremiah Clark enters the Cripple Creek gold camp with a grubstake of $128, he finds there are already three railroads and 20,000 eager miners competing for the riches. It s the Colorado gold rush! But he also finds a local miner s union importing dangerous men, willing to do almost anything. They are drifters, malefactors, and miscreants - the ilk of a territorial prison. Only a thousand state militiamen can control the rough element, bent on bringing down wealthy mine owners. This thrilling novel brings Cripple Creek s labor wars to life in the events of one ordinary man who rises from two-dollar-a-week plow hand to Gold Coin Club millionaire practically overnight. But can his fledgling operation survive the conflict? If Only For a Season crackles with western action and drama. Characters like Sam Whitman - the aging Wild West prospector, Charles Moyer - the driven union boss, and Sherman Bell - the militia general, promise to delight all readers.

During the "Must See TV" 1990s, Americans enjoyed such immensely popular sitcoms as Friends, Seinfeld, Home Improvement and The Drew Carey Show. Shows that did not make the ratings cut numbered in the hundreds--the emergence of new networks and cable channels airing original programming resulted in a vast increase in short-lived sitcoms over the previous decade. Some of these "flops" were actually quite good and deserved a better fate. The author revisits them--along with the "dramedies" of the day--with detailed entries providing production and broadcast information, along with critical analyses, and recollections by cast and crew members. A subsection highlights sitcoms that returned for an abbreviated second season. Dozens of cast and crew photographs are included.

Advice given when buying plants or trees is "Don't expect any blooms the first year. Fruit trees may require three years." I planted a slim brown stick in my yard and got nothing the first year except a thin brown stick with a few leaves on it. During its second season of growth and beyond, that brown stick grew to 7 inches in diameter and now produces wondrous 20 foot pink clouds each spring. In an ideal world we learn lessons the first time around. So often, as with daffodils and cherry trees, we need more time to get it. Winter, incendiary summer, a few storms, and unexpected late frost toughen us, giving us confidence to face whatever life has for us. We can then bloom where we are planted. We often don't have choices about challenges life gives us, but we have free-will in deciding how to respond to them. We can embrace the One who gives Wisdom to live life abundantly. May these vignettes inspire you to find pearls of learning and wisdom to be harvested from the depths of your own life.