It’s been a dry and warm week, at least until early this morning when we were hit with a couple of thunderstorms. Tornadoes are in the forecast for the east of South Carolina. Meanwhile, during the week I did get a fair bit of yard work done, but will have to wait for things to dry out before doing any more.
Michigan and Michigan State played last Sunday. State won the game, 79-62 and upped their record to 26-5 while Michigan dropped to 22-9. This was Michigan State’s 11th regular season championship under coach Tom Izzo, and they inched up to 7th in the Top Twenty-Five, while Michigan tumbled to 22nd.
Both teams played on the 14th in the Big Ten Conference Championship. State was the number one seed and played Oregon (8) while Michigan (3) played Purdue (6). State won their game and played Wisconsin (5), losing 77-74. Michigan beat Purdue 86-68 and went on to beat Maryland (2) 81-80. Michigan will play Wisconsin on Sunday for the Big Ten Conference Championship.
The Detroit Pistons won one game this week, while dropping two. They’re are now 37-31, but still in contention for the Eastern Conference playoffs, as long as they return to winning ways.
I watched my first Detroit Tigers spring training game this week. They won 5-1. As of yesterday, they are in 2nd place in the AL Central Division with a 9-9 record plus one tie.
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” – George Bernard Shaw. Compliments of https://press.barnesandnoble.com/bnpress-blog/inspirational-quotes-writing/.
So who was born on this date in history? Let’s find out who in the writing world was born on March 16th, the eleventh Sunday of 2025 and the third one for March. (Compliments of https://www.onthisday.com/birthdays/).
Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and writer; Gerbrant Bredero, Dutch poet and playwright (Klucht van de Koe); Michael Franck, German composer, poet, and baker; Madame de La Fayette [Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne], French novelist (La Princesse de Clèves -1st historical novel in French); Bengt Lidner, Swedish poet (Medea, Yttersa Domen); Anna Atkins, English botanist, photographer and the 1st person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images; Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philosopher and writer; Ernest Feydeau, French author, friend of Flaubert (Fanny); Sully Prudhomme, French poet and the 1st winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1901; F. A. Forbes, Scottish author; Ethel Anderson, Australian poet; César Vallejo, Peruvian-French poet and novelist (Los Heraldos Negros; Trilce; Russia in 1931); Francisco Ayala, Spanish writer; Samael Aun Weor, Colombian writer; Sid Fleischman, American author, and screenplay writer (The Whipping Boy; Blood Alley: The Abracadabra Kid); Geoffrey Freeman Allen, English railway writer; Harding Lemay, American writer (head writer for soap “Another World”; Don Richard Carpenter, American writer (Hard Rain Falling); Don Richard Carpenter, American writer (Hard Rain Falling); Kate Worley, American comic book writer (Omaha the Cat Dancer); and Lauren Graham, American actress and author (Gilmore Girls, Parenthood).
Any names familiar to you? There weren’t any for me this week. Whether you recognize anyone on the list or not, if today’s your special day I hope you have a great one!
My Work In Progress
Since I concentrated on outdoor work this week, I didn’t finish chapter sixteen of Vendetta, the sixth novel in my Bedlam series. I’ll get it finished this coming week and post it to the two online subscription writing sites I use. There were another eight reviews this week, bringing the total to 220. As always, plenty of suggestions to improve my writing.
Here’s another snippet:
Five hours later, the three-vehicle convoy reached Panama City. Bob weaved through the crowded streets to the American embassy on Demetrio Basilio Lakas Avenue, Clayton. Rufus and Trevor followed.
“Sir, wake up. We’re here.” Bob blew the horn to notify the Panamanian guards of their arrival.
After Bob showed diplomatic ID to the guards, they opened the gate, and the three vehicles entered. Bob continued to the motor pool area, where the Suburban and the Toyota Land Cruisers were handed over to the maintenance team. He told the maintenance chief about Jim’s body.
Bob led CC and the others up the hill to the six-story chancery. Once again he showed his ID, this time to a Marine standing inside a bullet-resistant booth.
The Marine asked for CC, Evelyn, Rufus, and Trevor’s ID. Upon viewing Trevor’s, the Marine came to attention and saluted.
Trevor smiled as he returned the salute.
The Marine pointed to a table to the left of his booth. “Please sign in. Once you’ve done so, Bob can take you inside. Admiral Blakely and the ambassador will join you soon.”
Fifteen minutes later, Bob escorted them into a conference room adjacent to the ambassador’s office. Everyone grabbed a seat at the rectangle table for twelve as a steward brought in a trolley laden with tea, coffee, water, juice, and pastries.
After they had something to eat and drink, they relaxed until the door leading to the ambassador’s office opened.
In strode the ambassador, followed by Admiral Blakely.
Everyone jumped to their feet.
The ambassador laughed as he took his seat at the head of the table with the admiral seated next to him. “Welcome back from your excursion into the Darien. I’m Charles Sanderson, the ambassador to Panama, at least as long as the president allows me to be here. But you can call me Chuck.”
Everyone smiled at the ambassador, who resembled the fictional character used in the KFC commercials—white hair, a white goatee, black-rimmed glasses, and dressed in a white suit with a red bowtie.
“Aye, Ambassador. Thank you for the loan of the vehicles.” CC grinned. “I’m afraid we added a few dents and scrapes to them.”
“Don’t worry about it. Can’t be helped when you go into the jungle.” The ambassador turned to Admiral Blakely. “Richard, it’s your show, so please take over.”
The admiral nodded. “I’ll expect a full report by the end of the day. In the meantime, I want to inform you about your next assignment.” He glanced around the room, stopping when he reached Trevor. “At a request from Ambassador Sanderson, we will be sending Bedlam Bravo sans Trevor, back to Yaviza to keep an eye on the Embera-Wounaan.”
“I was asked by the Panamanian president if we could assist in supporting their indigenous tribes in the Darien given the recent increase in crime originating in the area.” Chuck stroked his goatee. “Since I concur with the president’s request, I tried to hoodwink Richard in providing support.”
“I spoke with Sir Alex and Harrison yesterday evening, and both agreed to the use of Bedlam Bravo for this mission.”
Trevor raised a hand. “Sir, if I’m not going with my team, who will lead them?”
“Good question. Sir Alex, Harrison, and I had a lengthy discussion about this. We’d like Rufus to take over as Bravo team lead on a temporary basis. August will assume command of the quick reaction force until Rufus returns.”
“Aye, Admiral.” CC gestured toward Evelyn and Trevor. “What do you have planned for us?”
“I spoke with the president of South Africa while you were running around the jungle. At last, he’s agreed to have Bedlam Delta positioned in the country. You’ll be meeting with the State Security Agency. The director general of the SSA will become the overseer for Bedlam Delta.” The admiral frowned as he glanced at Trevor again. “He’s driving a hard bargain as he wants a South African in charge of the team. You know what that means.”
“Understood, Admiral. We only have one experienced South African in our existing teams—Gerhard Badenhorst. I’m confident Gerhard is up to the task.”
The admiral nodded. “He’ll remain with Bedlam Bravo pending our finding a suitable replacement for him. In the meantime, our existing Bedlam team leaders will head to South Africa to establish the groundwork for setting up our newest team. I’ll speak with Gerhard and explain his promotion. Keep him posted as much as you can.”
“Aye, Admiral. Anything else?”
“As a matter of fact, there is, CC. We still need to discuss your transition to my deputy and your replacement as Alfa’s team lead.” The admiral shook his head. “We might need to go on a snatch-and-grab with the military and intelligence communities for volunteers.”
“Och aye, Admiral. Things have a way of working out.”
More next time.
This brings us to an end for another week. I hope you found something of interest. If you have any suggestions for a topic you’d like to read about, please let me know. Until the next time, thank you for reading and hope you drop in again.
© Copyright 2025 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved
