Meet Sally Diggory, Master Gardener-Sculptor

Sat. May 7th, don’t miss Sally Diggory’s lovely eclectic garden and backyard cottage-studio, located in down town Aromas. Let the old fashioned ambiance draw you in, smell the sweet Jasmine and enjoy the lush green flowering garden. Follow the path to the citrus garden along the lime-hedge, past the gorilla hiding behind the honey bush, to the back lawn by the fruit trees and vegetables. That’s where you’ll find Sally’s cottage-studio. This is not an ordinary cottage and Sally is not an ordinary woman. She is the co-founder of the Garden Tour, a master gardener and an artist who creates fantastic ceramic sculptures and arranges them as accents throughout her garden. You will see dozens of life-size heads of well known people and unknown characters, plus colorful fish and birds. The sculptures are glazed and fired. She usually plants a succulent, fern or flower in the top of their heads, substituting as hair. She will be demonstrating her sculpting techniques’ and I will be signing my mystery novel, Secure the Ranch, in Sally’s backyard, May 7th, 10:00 to 4:00. Hope to see you there…………….by Joyce Oroz

Poem "Weather" Written By Joyce Riley

Photo Taken by Avery Laurin


Though my eyes are closed and shades are drawn,

My inner clock tells me it is dawn.

But, I hear no sounds of birds a calling,

Only silence of snowflakes falling.

The shades fly up. My eyes grow wide.

There is a world of white outside.

Where heavy laden pine trees stand

As guardians of winterland


Photo Taken by Avery Laurin

Poem Writen by Joyce Riley (cousin of Joyce Oroz) and Photography is by Avery laurin (Joyce Oroz's grandson)

Author Joyce Oroz - "Secure The Ranch"

Available in both Kindle and Paperback

Take a Peek Into Josephine's World...

Excerpt from Secure the Ranch:

Then I heard it, coming up fast from behind, the roar of an engine propelling a truck with major muffler problems. It backfired. I jumped a couple inches in my seat and my heart skipped several beats. Headlights flashed in my rearview mirror. Solow howled again, his head stretched out the window as far as it could go. I made a right turn onto Central Avenue, stifling the urge to stomp on the gas pedal. The truck behind us followed at the same speed until we left the streetlights behind.

Highway nine was a windy two-lane road that followed the San Lorenzo River through the redwood forest from Boulder Creek, all the way south to Felton. There were no street lights, just sharp turns, narrow bridges and steep drops down to the river.

“Brace yourself, big guy.” I put my foot down hard, the engine coughed, and we sped up only to slow down for a sharp turn.

And so it went, turn after turn with the Dodge bearing down on our tailgate like an eight-cylinder cat playing with a four-cylinder mouse. I had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, sweat running down my back and my jaw was tighter than a double-knotted shoelace. I had driven through the valley many times and knew my way around, but the McFee's had the “home advantage”.

I felt a hard jolt from the right rear of my truck. Solow yipped.

In slow motion, we spun to the left on two wheels, across the other lane and instantly turned a closed garage door into a million toothpicks. The one-car garage, perched high above the river beside a rustic cabin, stood about five yards from the highway. The little house was typical of many in the area, probably built in the thirties or forties when building codes were lenient or nonexistent.

Thankfully, we stopped before my pickup could break through the back wall of the garage and drop eighty feet down to the river. I heard Solow whine and didn't blame him. I felt like a good cry myself.

Shaking like crazy, I cautiously opened the door and climbed out. Once I had my balance, I stumbled down a dark path to the cabin. The porch light blinked on and the front door opened. A very distraught elderly couple dressed in pajamas looked at me as if the Martians had landed.

I stepped into the light and apologized profusely. Feeling wobbly, I wrapped my arm around a porch pillar. I always hated it when females fainted in the old movies, and I never wanted to be a fainter. But there I was, feeling numb and shaking like a maple leaf. Next thing I knew, I was laying on a couch too short for my body. My feet were up on the armrest. Pieces of peanut butter sandwich clung to the toe of my right sandal. “So that's where Theda's sandwich went,” I mumbled.

The plump little old lady patted the goose egg on my forehead with a wet cloth. “I'm so sorry I ruined your garage door. I'm sure my insurance will pay for a new one.” I looked up and thought I was hallucinating. A huge caribou head hung on the wall behind the couch. Its yellow marble eyes glared down at me accusingly.

“Relax, dear,” the frizzy-haired woman said. “You've had a terrible shock.”

The elderly man stomped into the house with his pajamas in a twist and announced that his collection of stuffed animals was a complete loss. It seemed odd to me that he wasn't nearly as concerned about his garage door as he was about some silly stuffed animals.

“I'd be happy to buy you some new ones,” I said, feeling horribly guilty. The little lady looked like she was ready to split a gut. “Honey, you can't buy them. You have to kill the mangy animals and then they're stuffed and ready to spend thirty years in the garage, or until a nice accident takes them out.” She couldn't hold back any longer and let loose with uncontrollable laughter, slapping her knees and wiping her eyes. Her husband stomped out of the house.

Author Joyce Oroz Interview

Jennifer Chase: Welcome Joyce. Please tell us a little bit about your background.

Joyce Oroz: At the tender age of twelve, I was painting in oils and writing poems while normal children socialized with each other. I was a female nerd full of pre-teen feelings of inferiority. A bazillion years later, after raising a family, working at my commercial art/mural business and taking creative writing classes on the side, I finally wrote and illustrated my first children’s book. And then I wrote twenty-six more stories, but my dream was to write a novel. After watching my husband write a book, I decided to give it my best shot. Now that I’m practically ready for the rocking chair, I am busier than ever, writing “mystery novels”, but also enjoying country life in Aromas with my husband and golden lab.

Jennifer Chase: What inspired you to write a mystery?

Joyce Oroz: Going back to twelve years old, I loved reading Nancy Drew Mysteries and read every one the library had. The Nancy Drew seed was planted, but the seed didn’t sprout until I read my first Janet Evanovich mystery five years ago. I tried to write like Janet, but only she can pull it off. Only she can blow up Stephanie’s vehicles every other day and make it seem normal. But she had set me to writing, and because I love to read mysteries, I decided to write one of my own.

Jennifer Chase: What was the hardest thing about writing this book?

Joyce Oroz: For me, the middle of the book is always the most difficult to write. I generally know how the story begins and how it ends, but there are a couple hundred pages in the middle I know nothing about. I try to let the story pull me along and take me to surprising places. If I relax and shake-off my writer’s block, the story will usually go where it needs to go.

Jennifer Chase: How long did it take you to write and what’s your writing schedule?

Joyce Oroz: One day I had an epiphany. If I could write one page a day, in one year I would have a complete novel. "Secure the Ranch" was born nine months after that idea was conceived. But the rewrites lasted two years! I average two hours of writing, six days a week, forever and ever. I look forward to it, even though it’s sometimes frustrating. But when a workable idea makes it way into my brain, it’s all worth it.

Jennifer Chase: Who are some of your favorite writers and why?

Joyce Oroz: Colleen McCullough was a favorite author (The Thorn Birds). I loved “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Nowadays, I read a mix of material by J.A. Jance, Jennifer Chase, Janet Evonavich, John Grisham and many others. The hard part is finding time to read, write and live a busy lifestyle, which is why my red pickup truck (still wearing an American flag on the rear window) speeds down the road for twenty minutes to Jasmine’s yoga class where I am able to relax and then speed home.

Jennifer Chase: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Joyce Oroz: I hope you enjoy my first effort. The effort was to make you laugh and maybe raise some hairs on the back of your neck. It was to entertain you and take you away from ordinary life. If those things didn’t happen, try my next book coming out at the end of 2010, and enjoy the ride.

Jennifer Chase: Last but not least, I love asking this question. If you were stranded on a deserted island, and were allowed to bring only 3 things, what would they be?

Joyce Oroz: Since I don’t have time to be stranded on a deserted island, I would take a map, a bicycle pump and an inflatable yacht.

Jennifer Chase: Thank you so much Joyce. I look forward to your next book.


To view orginal author interview, go to: http://authorjenniferchase.blogspot.com/2010/06/interview-with-new-mystery-author.html

Order your copy of Secure the Ranch

Available in Paperback and Kindle

Secure the Ranch - A Josephine Stuart Mystery

Josephine Stuart, a fifty-year-old widow, is blessed and cursed with an overactive curiosity, a strong sense of right and wrong and a willingness to put herself on the line for her friends. Josephine has been hired to paint murals in the secluded Munger mansion, located at the top of a wooded mountain. Certain local reprobates have their reasons for wanting the Mungers to leave. Accidents, fires and the death of a forest ranger have everyone on edge. Josephine's curiosity drives her down the mountain, into the world of illegal activities and nefarious characters. Her situation becomes dire - no way to escape. One captor has a knife, the other has a rifle. Can she save herself and her friends?

Available on Amazon & Kindle