For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Well, we are all rested and mostly back to normal here at The Investigators. Dr. Jorgenson just can’t understand how Misty could be completely healed with no lasting effects. He said every time Kat would visit Misty and Cristy they would automatically be feeling 20% better than before, now they are perfect again.
And so is everyone else. He just shakes his head saying, “I just don’t understand it, it shouldn’t happen this way.” He knows that Kat can help the healing process, but he doesn’t understand how she can do that. I tell him I don’t understand it either, but it doesn’t seem to help him. Galyna helped me, and Jennifer, plus Muffin and Storm.
It was a family counselling session which lasted all day, 3 days in a row. Poor Galyna. She needs a vacation, which is where she’s at right now, along with Jennifer and I, plus Jennifer’s “sister” Angel and my “sister” Misty. There are others along too, but we are pretending not to know each other. Galyna is with them, which includes Dawn, Melanie, and Kristina.
Then there is Milena, Astrid, Crystal, Sigrid, Cynthia and Kitty. We got to this island paradise, so called, yesterday evening and enjoyed a nice, quiet night. That part was great, and we are now enjoying a nice breakfast in their rather large restaurant. Our groups are the only ones having breakfast though and I mentioned to the waitress that it seemed strange that so few people were eating.
She told us it was too early, people just start to trickle in around 8 and it is busy by 9. We arrived at 7, which is when the restaurant opens. The waitress was friendly and would talk if we said something first, but her smile was forced. It was easy to tell she was not happy. I will say that is what Jennifer told me, I didn’t notice these things at all. Sigh.
The owner/manager allowed us to bring our cats into the restaurant since the other two groups of ladies didn’t mind, they each had a cat too. We had Muffin and Storm, the other cats are Midnight, Sunny and Ginger. Melanie and Crystal lost their cats in our last case and they were feeling quite bad about that which is why I picked them to come along with us on our “vacation”.
Anyway, as I was eating my waffles, Jennifer noticed me frowning and asked why. “Oh, uh, nothing really,” I said, “just thinking about the busy day we have planned.” She then took my plate of waffles. “Now, let’s try that again,” she said, “why the frown?” That got the attention of Misty and Angel who were now smiling, waiting for my response. Sigh. “My waffles will get cold,” I said.
“Only if you delay answering my question,” she responded. The other 2 giggled. “I sense trouble,” I said, “and it’s not far away.” “An orange is bright, the morning is quiet, looking around, at sky and ground,” she said quietly. The other 2 groups got the message, it’s Code Orange, starting now, act normal, be prepared.
“I don’t sense danger,” said Jennifer. Then our waitress came back, she had been crying, but she faked a smile and asked if we wanted more coffee and we all said yes. “Why are you crying on such a beautiful day like this?” I asked her. “Oh, uh, I, I’m not crying sir,” she said, “uh, it’s just something in my eye. Please don’t say anything more, I could lose my job and I can’t afford that right now.”
“Okay, no more said,” I told her. She thanked me and left. Another waitress came in now, getting ready for the main breakfast crowd. She came with more coffee for us. “The other waitress doesn’t seem too happy this morning,” said Jennifer. “Her name is Harley,” she answered, “it’s partly due to some creep named Greg that won’t leave her alone. And partly due to that crazy haunted house she inherited from her grandmother.”
“Does it have real ghosts?” asked Misty excitedly. “She says that she has seen ghosts,” she answered, “but it’s likely the wind or something making noises. I have never seen or heard anything. Harley and I are good friends, my name is Summer.” Summer was certainly a very happy, smiling type of young woman, very different than Harley.
Just then 2 young men came in and sat down and Summer gave them some coffee and told one of them to leave Harley alone. “That must be Greg,” I told the others. Harley then came out to take their order. “I want a kiss, followed by another kiss, then a hug and a kiss,” said Greg, “how about it babe?” “Stop calling me babe,” she said firmly.
“Aww, come on babe, cheer up and kiss me,” he said. He then stood up and forced a kiss on her. Jennifer did not like that and suddenly disappeared. Greg had a ponytail and his head suddenly jerked backward, compliments of Jennifer. She then hit his lower back causing him to groan and fall to his knees. “What’s wrong with you man?” asked the other man.
“Who did that?” asked Greg as he stood up. “What are you talking about?” asked the other man. “Someone hit me,” he said, “was it that guy over there?” “He never left his chair Greg,” said Harley. “Yeah, right, the air hit me,” he said sneering. He then came to our table. “You the idiot that hit me?” he asked. “Go sit down,” I said, “or you might get hurt.”
I continued eating. He grabbed my cup of coffee and threw it in my face. So much for a peaceful morning. I stood up to confront him but a voice got his attention. “Greg!” said a woman wearing a shirt with a large spider on it, a very real looking spider, “go sit down, now!” He did so without saying a word which was rather interesting.
“He works for me,” she said. Summer came running over with a towel to dry me off. “My apologies for his actions,” said the woman, “allow me to pay for your breakfast. My name is Irene Laurel.” “My name is Steve Kendrick and this is my wife Jennifer, my sister Misty and my wife’s sister Angel. We’re on a family vacation, one that is long overdue and, unfortunately, not off to a very good start.”
“I will make sure that Greg doesn’t bother you again,” said Irene. “That spider looks like it could be real,” I said. “They are real, and deadly,” she said, “just like a woman.” She smiled and went to sit with Greg and his friend. Just then a rather large man came in and joined the other 3. Rather interesting group. Summer returned with more coffee for me, and when she left a note dropped onto my lap.
To Be Continued.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Hi everyone! Nice to be here with you all again! Time for a cup of coffee, or whatever you prefer right now. It is a bit cooler here today with a mix of sun and cloud. We actually had a few light, actually very light, showers yesterday afternoon, barely enough to wet the surface of the street.
We need rain and lots of it in order to stop those raging forest fires. The smoke is not bad today, but yesterday it was thick and at times it was hard to see much more than just across the street. I was coughing all day long and still coughing today. And my eyes were so sore yesterday as well.

The smoke wasn’t so bad as we headed east along the highway.
Our neighboring province has lost more than a million acres (about 450,000 hectares) to forest fires already this year and nearly 25,000 people evacuated. We’re doing quite well here so far, our largest fire being about 87,000 acres (about 35,000 hectares). There is a much larger fire from our neighboring province that has moved into our province now and it is about 465,000 acres (about 188,000 hectares).
Hmm, more smoke seems to be moving into our area I see. The deer in town are busy with fawns being born all over town. Right here one was born in front of our building and another doe had twins out back of our building just a couple days later. Other fawns are being born all over town. Unfortunately I always seem to miss these events.

The smoke was mostly staying higher.
I would love to photograph a fawn being born, that would be just amazing! But I guess it won’t be this year now. Oh well. One of those things. As mentioned before, my friend and I went for a drive down the highway last Thursday and stopped at a few lakes along the way. I was hoping, among other things, to see some of our early dragonflies to get some photos.
There are some early ones that I don’t yet have in my collection of photos. We never saw even one dragonfly. That was very odd indeed. When I got home I was talking with the lady that cleans this apartment building (hallways and common areas), and she mentioned that they have had dragonflies in their backyard for quite a while already. (Steve bangs his head against the wall)

Even with a smoky look, the lakes were still nice.
I go and sit out behind our building for a couple of hours and see nothing, not even a robin. I hear birds singing, but I don’t see anything. So I come inside. Half an hour later I’m talking with another tenant and he asks if I saw the bear. When was that? He says just 10 minutes ago. (Steve bangs his head against the wall)
Someone tells me there are a lot of butterflies outside right now so I grab my camera and go out and sit…and sit…and sit. An hour later I still haven’t seen one butterfly. (Steve bangs his head against a tree)

A bit more smoke showing up in this photo.
Anyway, it’s a beautiful day and I am showing more photos from our road trip last Thursday. Enjoy! Have a great day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2025 Steve McLeod.