Hey World!…Join Me 

                If you enjoy humor that is occasionally irreverent, road trips and roadside Americana, musings on everything from the serious and even spiritual to the mundane, and mystery novels and writing, hopefully delivered with some grace and humility, you may enjoy this blog.

About me

                I’m a retired Mennonite pastor, but don’t let that stop you. I also write and read mystery novels and love travel, especially road trips featuring weird roadside attractions, with my wife, Jan, a retired public schoolteacher. I’m thoroughly Midwestern, having lived in Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. I love to laugh, but choke-up pretty easily as well. I love hearing stories and jokes from people, and telling them.

On the Road Again

                I’ve been in all contiguous 48 states, and hope to make it to Alaska and Hawaii before I die. So far I’ve been in 20 countries outside of the United States and hope to add a few more. I admit that the automobile, where we can get around readily but at our own pace, is my favorite form of travel and we do a lot of road trips. I’ve driven a car in at least seven of the twenty countries we’ve visited, even when that’s meant driving on the left-hand side. But then, I’m left-handed, so maybe that helped.

                One of the things about road trips by automobile is that you can stop when you want along the way. I like to find unusual roadside attractions, scenery, cafes and shops and visit with interesting people. We’ve traveled by car in all directions from our northern Indiana home. Two of my favorite trips have been three weeks on US Route 66 from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California and a six-week trip through eastern Canada including the Maritimes and returning home via New England.

                When I write about travel and road trips near and far, I’ll be labeling it, “On the Road Again.”

Millrace Musings            

                I’m likely to muse on just about everything from watching the blue heron who lives near us fly over the water, to politics (I lean left of center), to how life and spirituality intersect in interesting ways. We live in a house we designed that looks out over a millrace, a waterway that is human-made as an offshoot to a river. It’s a great place to observe life. When I write a piece that I consider a “musing,” I will label it, “Millrace Musings.”

Mystery Novels

                My love of mystery novels began in late elementary school when I found a series of chapter books called “The Happy Hollisters.” These weren’t murder mysteries, but situational mysteries from “kidnapping,” to lost or stolen items, and why a house in town was considered “haunted.” From there it was on to the Hardy Boys and Sherlock Holmes.

                No doubt my favorites are from the golden age of British mysteries and writers like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, but I also have a soft spot for noir mysteries like those from Raymond Chandler and Chester Himes. I’ve read everything from Walter Mosley to Louise Penny and Tony and Ann Hillerman. I like them from a variety of cultures and perspectives. I’ve documented that I’ve read over 2,000 mystery novels and am closing in on 500 mystery authors.

                Someone has said that mystery novels are “the only true remaining ‘moral fiction.’” There certainly aren’t any without ethical dilemmas, pretty much by definition. It’s those ethical dilemmas and motivations that fascinate me.

                I’m in the process of final editing and work at publishing my own first mystery novel, tentatively titled, “The Man in the Green Plaid Sport Coat,” featuring a “fallen” Mennonite minister and his peace activist uncle.

                Whenever I write a blog about mystery novels, I’ll label it as from the Minister of Mystery.

Hey World!…Join Me

                My goal is to post a least two fresh entries per week, so keep your eyes peeled and I hope you’ll join me and give feedback.