Halloween, All Hallows' Eve, and Trick-or-Treaters By Connie Vines #Halloween #ZombieRomCom

 Halloween is almost upon us...Black Cats,

Witches Hats, Goblins, Scary Bats, and Pumpkins are all in a row!

I was scribbling a flash fiction story that has turned into a  YA anthology...

This is why I'm venturing into my favorite Halloween Short Captions.

Do I hear a symphony of groans?

Halloween, for me, is harmless fun. Why? Because I have nightmares like a three-year-old. Bambi died off-screen in a cartoon,

I'm still frightened of the dancing mops in Fantasia and the talking trees in The Wizard of Oz (why the flying monkeys don't disturb me, I do not know).

In other words, I'm a sissy when it comes to Halloween.

My heroine in Here Today, Zombie Tomorrow is a vegan who eats chicken upon becoming a zombie.

No blood and gore for me.

No screaming, please!

And no jumping from behind the shrubby or out of a tree...because...well, just because.

Please comment with your favorite :) Halloween Caption.

Or provide one of your own!

Ghouls just wanna have fun!

Don't worry, worry, we're friendly ghosts.

Howl about them candied apples?

Everything's better with a bit of magic.

Bad to the bone.

Bugs and kisses.

He's trapped in my web.

You're a Zombabe.

My favorite: "Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere."  -- It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

If Supernatural RomCom is your Halloween treat idea, consider adding  "Here Today, Zombie Tomorrow" to your favorite eBook Reader! 

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/connie-vines

https://bookswelove.net/vines-connie/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/connie%20vines

https://books.apple.com/us/author/connie-vines/id624802082

Wishing You Halloween a bucket filled Treats and

and an eReader Stuffed with Spookie Reads,

Connie Vines

Summer Vibes by Vanessa C. Hawkins

 

 Vanessa Hawkins Author Page

    

Summer is always a busy time for me. Book wise, there is just a ton going on. This summer, I have already had several book signings and a few conventions. But now that the season is winding down, I have a writing retreat, which if you have been following my blog, know that I attended last summer! 

I. AM. SO. EXCITED. 

But on top of that, I have been invited to host a workshop for Wordsfall, which is an annual writing event in my hometown province. I'm pretty excited about it, as I get to talk about writing fantasy with a group of aspiring writers. I have also been invited to read that night. Then there is horror fest, and an upcoming release of a new novel, and finishing up the draft to Twice Hung, which is part of the Canadian Historical Mystery series. 

I'm pretty pumped. But also going crazy with all the writing projects that I have going on. Three novels, an upcoming project to be announced, as well as a workshop, reading, and keeping up with life in general. 

I guess... whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger? 

December by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

https://books2read.com/u/me2Bd9 

 

The word December comes from the Latin word decem which means ‘ten’. In the Roman calendar, which began with the month of March, December was the tenth month. The days between the end of December and the beginning of March (cold and snowy in the Northern Hemisphere and hot and sunny in the Southern Hemisphere) were originally unnamed. Eventually, those days were given the names January and February and they were considered the first months of the calendar year. Although December was now the twelfth month in the Gregorian calendar, which was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, its name was kept.

December has the shortest daylight hours and longest nighttime hours on December 21 and that day marks the beginning of winter. It is the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, with December 21 having the longest daylight hours and shortest nighttime hours. That day marks the beginning of summer.

The long, dark days of December can cause a drop in the hormone serotonin which can lead to a depressed mood and loss of energy. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) was first described in 1984, by Norman Rosenthal and colleagues at the National institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD., as recurrent depressions that occur at the same time of year. But that wasn’t the first time it was talked about. In 1679, Dr. Richard Saunders advised eating fruits (apples and pears) and vegetables (onions and cabbage) after eating meat to counter the ‘melancholy and phlegm’ brought on by the shorter days in December.

The Anglo Saxons had two names for the month of December. One was ‘Winter Monath’, which is self-explanatory, and the other was ‘Yule Monath’ which is the custom of burning a Yule log as part of the pagan Yule celebrations. Yule, at the time, meant the observance of the Winter Solstice. It is now synonymous with the word Christmas and the celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus. When the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity they changed the name of ‘Winter Monath’ or ‘Yule Monath’ to ‘Heligh Monath’ meaning ‘Holy Month’.

For the Native American first peoples, the full moon in December was called the ‘Full Cold Moon’ because of the cold winter months that followed it.

The unluckiest day of the year is considered to be December 28. On this day King Herod ordered all baby boys to be put to death in an attempt to kill the baby Jesus. Even now, it is considered unlucky to start a new job, begin a new venture, or even do anything new on this day.

In more modern times and on a happier note, Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901. He took art classes in school and was hired as a commercial illustrator at the age of eighteen. He moved to California and established Disney Brothers Studio with his brother, Roy. They developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928 and went on to produce such feature cartoons as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bambi. In the 1950s, Walt expanded into amusement parks and television programs. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966.

December has two birth flowers and holly is the first one. At one time the Celts believed that the holly brought luck and protection. The red berries of the holly represent the bloody wounds of when Jesus was nailed to the cross. The second flower is the paperwhite narcissus which symbolizes sweetness. The birthstone of December is the turquoise which can range from vivid green to a blue-green, to a sky blue.

There are other important holidays observed in December along with Christmas. The Jews celebrate Hanukkah, which takes place on the 25^th day of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar and lies between late November and late December. This is in recognition of the rise of Jews against their Greek/Syrian oppressors, as well as, the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the 2^nd century AD.

The Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day on December 8. A man named Siddhartha sat under a Bodhi tree and meditated for three days until he found the root of suffering and liberated himself from it. On the third day he discovered the answers he sought and became enlightened. He was then known as Buddha or the ‘Awakened One.’

A Hindu festival, Datta Jayanti, commemorates the birth day of the Hindu Deity Dattatreya or Datta, which is the combined form of the Hindu male divine trinity of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. The festival takes place between November 30^th and December 3^rd in the temples throughout India.

December is a month full of historical events, festivals, and observances of special days. And it marks the end of the old year and a time to look forward to the new one.

 

Happy New Year! by Eileen O'Finlan

 

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Click here to visit Eileen O'Finlan's website

I'm sometimes asked why there is no mention of Christmas in either Kelegeen or Erin's Children. The answer is simple. In Kelegeen the characters are too busy trying not to starve to death during Ireland's Great Hunger to celebrate Christmas and in Erin's Children which is set in Massachusetts, the holiday wasn't much celebrated. While the time period for Erin's Children, the 1850s, saw the establishment of Christmas as a holiday in Massachusetts (in 1856) it would still be a while before it got much real attention. Thanksgiving was the really big holiday at the time (you'll find three of them in Erin's Children!) along with George Washington's birthday and the 4th of July. New Year's was also celebrated though not with the same fanfare we associate with the holiday today.

Before 1752 New Years was celebrated on March 25th, the date when the new year started according to the Julian calendar. In colonial times young ladies prepared bowls of wassail and went "wassailing." The word comes from Middle English and means "health to you." The drink consisted of mulled ale or cider and sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and other spices and little bits of toast floating on top. It was also customary to give small gifts on New Years. In the 18th century these gifts were usually oranges decorated with ribbon and spiked with cloves. By the 19th century people began exchanging other gifts, though they were still just small tokens. 

In my current work-in-progress, sixteen year old Jerusha Kendall is given a diary for New Years in 1838. What she writes in it throughout the year piques the interest of Charlotte Lajoie, a folklorist and one of Jerusha's descendants, who uses it to uncover a long-hidden family secret. Thank goodness for New Years presents.

                                     

John Porter Bowman and The Haunted Mansion Book Shop by Eileen O'Finlan

 

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One of my favorite spooky sites in Vermont is the Bowman Mausoleum in Cuttingsville across the street from what used to be The Haunted Mansion Book Shop. 

When my grandparents were alive, my family traveled several times a year from our home in Massachusetts to their home in Vergennes, Vermont. On the way, we always stopped in Cuttingsville to check out the book shop and get a glimpse of the mysterious figure in the cemetery. 

The figure is John Porter Bowman, or rather a statue of him. Bowman was a Vermonter who, in 1852, moved to Stony Creek, New York with his wife, Jennie where he became the wealthy owner of a tannery.  The couple welcomed their first child, Addie, in 1854. Sadly, the baby died at only four months. Another daugher, Ella, was born in 1856. Ella died at age nineteen, followed within a year by Bowman's wife. 

Having lost his entire family, the deeply grieving John Bowman moved back to Vermont where he purchased land in Cuttingsville, the town where he first learned the tanning trade. At Laurel Glen Cemetery he had a mausoleum built by over 100 skilled stonecutters. The bodies of his wife and two daughters were brought to Vermont and interred in the mausoleum in 1881. After that he had a mansion which he named Laurel Hall, built across the street so that he would be near his family and could visit them often. At the same time, he commissioned a statue of himself, dressed in a mourning cloak and carrying a mourning wreath. The statue was placed just outside the mausoleum's door. Grief is etched into the statues face as Mr. Bowman eternally mourns his family.

             

    The Bowman Mausoleum                                        John Porter Bowman in mourning

Bowman also had a greenhouse built on the cemetery property in order to always have fresh flowers available to adorn the final resting place of his loved ones. Once completed the mausoleum became a tourist attraction. Vistors came by the thousands. Bowman had a guest book placed inside and hired a guide to provide tours.

In 1891 John Porter Bowman died and joined his family for eternal rest inside the mausoleum. He left money specifically for the upkeep of Laurel Hall. Perhaps he believed in reincarnation because the instructions he left behind were for a caretaker to not only keep Laurel Hall in good condition, but to have the table set for the family's dinner every night in case he and his loved ones decided to return for a hot meal. The funds ran out in 1953 and most of the furnishings were sold.

By the time I was a teen, a couple had purchased the property and turned it into a book store. Perhaps it was due to the mausoleum being prominent at the top of the hill directly across from the mansion or maybe it was all the stories about both the mausoleum and the house being haunted or maybe it was the odd request for the table to be set every night, but whatever the reason the new owners decided to christen it The Haunted Mansion Book Shop. It certainly drew attention.

Laurel Hall - The Bowman Mansion and for a while 

The Haunted Mansion Book Shop

Many a strange tale was told about the place which naturally made my teen self eager to check it out. Over the years that we traveled back and forth to my grandparents' house in Vergennes we made it a habit to stop at the book shop. It may have been nothing more than the power of suggestion, but I did get a creepy feeling (that I relished!) every time I entered it. 

Sadly, the book shop is now closed though the historial society still maintains the property.

Brand New Website by Eileen O'Finlan

 

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Click here to visit Eileen O'Finlan's website

I knew the time to renew my contract with the company that built and maintains my website was coming up and I was dreading it. The annula fee was exhorbitant. Besides that, I wanted a new look, something that felt more me. Don Lutz, the husband of my friend and fellow writer, Jane Willan, had built a beautiful author website for Jane so I asked him how much he would charge to build one for me. His answer - ice cream. That was a fee I could afford.

Don and I met to discuss what I was looking for, what feel I wanted, how I envisioned presenting my author brand. I gave him a quart of chocolate ice cream. He built a basic site. We met again for a training session in which he taught me how to design the pages, create links, upload pictures, and whatever else I thought I might do on the site. He also linked the sign up box for my newsletter to my email marketing platform creating a smooth transition and worked with my previous site host to get my domain name transfered to me. I gave him another quart of chocolate and a quart of black raspberry.

I now have a website I love, one that I feel reflects me and my brand perfectly. I have one more meeting with Don coming up so he can help figure out how to design the rest of the pages I want to add. I will bring more ice cream. 

This, by the way, isn't just any ice cream. For years I have purchased my milk from a local dairy farm. They make other dairy products as well. Their ice cream is beyond belief. Hancock Dairy Farm uses primarily Ayershire cows which give the creamiest milk so everything they make from it is utterly (udderly??) delicious! Don's reaction to his first taste of their chocolate ice cream was, "Now this is what ice cream is supposed to taste like!" Once a week during the season, I stop on my way home from work at the farmer's market to pick up my milk which allows me to avoid the delivery charge I pay during the rest of the year. At the same time, I pick up Don's ice cream (and maybe some for myself). Hmmm...if they have it, perhaps I'll pick up some of their amazing chocolate cheese for Don to go with his ice cream. Maybe some for me, too.

Check out my new website here!

The ice cream-making cows at Hancock Dairy Farm 

in Barre, Massachusetts

Romance, Handsome-Hunks, and Moon Milk by Connie Vines

It is April, well, almost May, and we are all still sheltering at home.  Like everyone else, I’m trying to establish some-sort-of-daily routine which is proving extremely difficult.  The weather goes from fall-to-winter-to-spring, and repeats.  However, as of yesterday, it slammed full-throttle into summer. 

Chanel, my sassy toy poodle, follows me around in confusion.  Last week were didn’t venture past the covered patio because of continual down pour of icy sheets of rain.  Then it was the wind and then rain, again.  Now we both get-up to at 5:30 a.m. and water the yards, etc.  before having a cup of coffee; while it is still dark outside. Chanel thinks I needs intervention. She positions herself on the davenport, where ‘we’ have our coffee and watch the 7:00 a.m. news, and barks at me (anyone who lives with a poodle knows they can give a dressing-down like southern mama) demanding I sit down.
I ignore her, and go outside--she follows me (mumbling all the way).

Calendars. Boy, do I have calendars! A poodle calendar in the kitchen, 2 small calendars in my purse (1-writing; 1-personal), a ceramic Snoopy Dog House (Peanuts) calendar where you change the month and daily date.  Well, you get the idea—I still can’t keep my days and dates straight.

However, I do have a system.  I eat brunch (because if I’m hungry at 9:00 am, I eat breakfast.  If I forget to eat until 1:00 pm, it’s lunch). Then there’s an evening meal and usually a snack (often with the vitamins I forgot about mid-morning).  I write/blog/post to social media daily.  You have probably noticed my newly vamped website and Facebook page, too. I’ve been posting cooking videos (without audio because, talking and cooking equals mistakes).

My current WIP is my Anthology (set in New Orleans, Louisiana) titled: Gumbo Ya Ya: for woman who like romance Cajun, and my 2nd Sassy & Fun Fantasy novella, titled: Bell, Book, and Gargoyle.  New Orleans is one of my fave vacation spots (my husband is from Louisiana).

Café du Monde serves the best coffee au lait and beignets (I wear my powdered sugar well). And then, let's revisit my swamp adventures—GTK, I was able to out-run a gator!

While Bell, Book, and Gargoyle takes place in Hollywood, California, so it in easy drive (if you ignore the hours and hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic) from my house.

All of my readers are aware of my ‘obsession(s)’.  One of which residing/experiencing the world of my characters/ aka: setting.  When it is impossible, physically, it is possible to live in my characters' setting in other ways.

1. I listen to the music/YouTube the local news station.
2. Cook the local cuisine.
3. Research, research, and research again.
4. Study the fashion trends.
5. Etc.

New Orleans is a snap (relatively, if you ignore the swamp adventure), I've vacationed there numerous time.

Southern California—I’ve got this! 

Ummm, now there’s the Gargoyle—still working out the ‘flying’ thing.  So, I decided to focus on my heroine.  She has trouble sleeping.  What helps her fall to sleep—especially after a fleeting encounter with a Gargoyle?


Moon Milk.

What is Moon Milk? You ask.  If you aren’t familiar with the natural sleep-inducing beverage, I’ll share both my research and personal experience.

Moon Milk is a drink made out of warm milk, honey, spices, and herbs. Supposedly, sipping on moon milk before bed time helps you drift peacefully into sleep.

The most important ingredient in moon milk is ashwagandha (also known as Indian ginseng, "has wide ranging health benefits and has a grounding and relaxing effect on the mind and body," to quote Dr. Chanoff , “It's used to treat stress, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, and nervous system disorders she added. You can buy it in powder form at your local health food store or on Amazon). *I’m not endorsing ‘ashwaganha’, as the warm milk, alone, is effective for me.

**I did look up ‘ashwaganha’ for health alerts. “For most healthy people, ashwagandha is considered safe. However, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should avoid it, in addition to people with hyperthyroidism . Furthermore, this herb may interact with sedatives, as well as medications for the following conditions: diabetes. June 11, 2019, consumerlab.com **  (inclusive on positive effects on hypothyroidism—so I monitor when I add ashwaganha to my Moon Milk). The ashwagandha powder smelled very off-putting. I was concerned about the taste. It proved to be delicious—creamy, cinnamon-y and sweet.

MOON MILK

1 cup whole milk or unsweetened nut milk (such as almond, or cashew)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon ground ashwagandha
2 pinches of ground cardamom
Pinch of ground ginger (optional)
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil or ghee (I do not like ghee)
1 teaspoon honey, preferably raw

RECIPE PREPARATION

Bring milk to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in cinnamon, turmeric, ashwagandha, cardamom, ginger, if using, and nutmeg; season with pepper. Whisk vigorously to incorporate any clumps. Add coconut oil, reduce heat to low, and continue to cook until warmed through, 5–10 minutes (heat, the stronger the medicine). Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in honey (you want to avoid cooking honey or you'll destroy its healing properties). Pour into a mug, drink warm, and climb right into bed.

It's 11:45 pm and it's time for Chanel (see picture) and I to go to bed.  I am not sipping Moon Milk.  I have be 'drinking coffee' (this was probably a bad choice of beverage).

Happy Reading, Stay Safe.  (remember my book are 60% off at Smashwords).

Remember to visit my author page at the 

Chanel while I write this blog post.

bwl website! For book purchase links and more!


Connie's website   (my blog feeds here)

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October 2020

August 2020

The Challenges of Updating My Novel for a Second Edition

                                Click this link for author, book and purchase information

This month BWL published a new edition of my first novel, Deadly Fall. BWL chose to title the book, A Deadly Fall, in part to distinguish the new release from the original. I have long wanted to update Deadly Fall, to bring the time frame in line with the sequel, Ten Days in Summer. Deadly Fall was set in 2004. Due to the years it took me to find BWL, Ten Days in Summer wasn’t published until 2017. I asked BWL publisher Jude Pittman if I should make the sequel’s story contemporary and Paula, my protagonist, thirteen years older? Or set the sequel in 2005, making it almost historical? Jude advised me to set Ten Days in Summer in 2017, but pretend it was taking place ten months after the original Deadly Fall.

“No one will notice,” she said.

Jude was right. Nobody who has read both books has questioned me about Paula and the world’s peculiar aging. I wish I could be lucky enough to age like Paula. 

For the original Deadly Fall, I was specific about the story year and referred to events of the day, such as the Iraqi hostage crisis and the jail sentencing of household guru, Martha Stewart. I even kept my local newspapers to make sure the story weather matched that of my real-life story setting, Calgary, Alberta. This was a mistake, I realized later, since Calgary enjoyed an unusual period of mild weather those September weeks in 2004. Calgary’s typical fall swings between warm and freezing, sunshine and snow, would have added interest to the story.

Since I didn’t want to radically change the second edition, I kept the mild weather from the original and found that it fit a story theme. A Deadly Fall ends with a forecast of a radical weather change, which symbolizes the changes to Paula’s life ahead as a result of the murder. I had to update the news references for the 2016 story, but tried to keep them more general. Syrian refuges arrived in Canada that summer, which they did in other years. 

As I worked through my revision of 2004 Deadly Fall, I realized how much the world changed in those twelve years. Paula, like me, was a little old-fashioned regarding modern technology. But in 2016, her answering machine with a tape-recorded message had to go or she’d be totally out of date. She did keep her land line phone and daily newspaper delivery, although the Calgary newspaper she receives dropped its Sunday edition sometime between 2004 and 2016. This newspaper also abandoned its ‘Community' section, but its re branded ‘You’ section works for Felix, a secondary character who writes a weekly column.

In 2016, the television program Cheers didn't appear in afternoon reruns. I changed this to Modern Family. The Canadian penny disappeared from monetary circulation. Paula no longer has a flip-open cell phone. She watches Blu-rays and Isabelle, a secondary character, works in a music store, not a video store.

I had to change numerous cultural and personal references for Paula, who is now born twelve years later than she was in the original book. Paula used to be a baby boomer, with typical attitudes of a child of the sixties. Now she’s born in 1964, past the boomer wave, with different memories of music and world events that shaped her life. 

The new release also allowed me to correct small mistakes that slipped past my first publisher’s proof-reader. Missing words like ‘a’ or ‘the’ and absent punctuation marks; the word pate that should have been plate and reign vs rein.

But my most critical editing task was fixing formatting errors caused by converting the PDF file of the published Deadly Fall to a workable WORD document. The conversion resulted in some odd fonts. Acronyms like TV, DVD, ID, BC and SUV appeared in lower case. Hyphenated words at the end of a line left out the hyphen. The WORD document omitted scene breaks and italics and often broke lines mid-sentence, or didn’t start a line of dialogue on a new line. 

I poured through the document with eagle eyes and had my husband do a final proof-read. After he caught my archaic penny reference, I had my character flip a quarter instead. Between us, I hope we caught everything and helped BWL produce a better book for new readers to my Paula Savard mystery series.   

          

An Afternoon with The King (Elvis) and Marilyn by Connie Vines

My blog posts are usually on the topic of writing.  Today, however, my blog post is about the King of Rock-and-Roll, with a nod to Hollywood’s blonde bombshell—Marilyn Monroe.

My husband still talks about the time he saw Elvis Presley preform at the Louisiana Hay-ride.

Connie, The King, and my youngest son

We all have a favorite Elvis movie.  Or favorite Elvis song. Many of us have visited Graceland (count me in), ate peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches, and acknowledge that Elvis had that certain-something (the it-factor) few, if any entertainers can match.

Dressed in black and wearing a sequined gold jacket, his long, but neatly combed black-tinted hair, The King stepped onstage last week at the stage of the Gardner Spring Auditorium and launched into the driving beat of “Blue Suede Shoes”.

Shaking, gyrating, and quivering, and oozing with sullen sexuality that shocked watchers in the 1950s, he swiveled through all the great hits: “Jailhouse Rock”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Don’t Be Cruel”.  It was had believe it wasn’t Elvis himself.

It was like stepping back in time.  The flirting, teasing, and banter between The King and Marilyn, was so true-life that you thought you were watching Elvis and Marilyn interact together.

Entertaining.

Fun.

And a wonderful tribute to Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe.

If you get a change to watch them preform live, or catch them on T.V., don't pass up the opportunity.

I sat in the orchestra section of The Southern California premiere of the tribute concert, The King & Marilyn. The concert features Ontario, CA’s very own Daniel Durston as The King. Daniel is currently performing in a hit show in Las Vegas and also starred in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical national tour, Million Dollar Quartet, and can be seen on TruTV this fall as Elvis.  Also starring television celebrity Alisha Soper as the bewitching Ms. Monroe. Alisha has been seen on TV portraying Marilyn Monroe in Lethal Weapon (FOX), Feud (FX), and Extra TV’s 25th Anniversary.

The audience had a wonderful time.  Daniel stayed in the lobby taking photos and getting to know every patron long after the performance had ended.


To watch snippets:

https://www.danieldurston.com/
 https://www.facebook.com/thekingandmarilyn/?ref=py_c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2UB1KyM4Yg

Can't get enough Elvis?  Check out "Here Today, Zombie Tomorrow".

Who is that man Meredith's sister married? 

https://books2read.com/Here-Today-Zombie-Tomorrow

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Happy Reading,

COWBOY COOKIES

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/752162

Links to all my historical novels:

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We're between the Christmas holiday and New Year. Here in the northeast we’ve had our first real cold snap, with a not-so gentle reminder that it’s soon to be another year.  December crackles and shrivels like a dead leaf. 

It’s a time when ancestors are remembered, sometimes in the patterns of light reflecting from 2017’s LED decked Christmas tree, sometimes in the carp-like mouths of Byer’s carolers you got from your Mom, sometimes in the low angle from which the northern sun sends rays into our aging eyes. 

I've had my mother-in-law, Carol Waldron, in mind, along with memories of shared holidays, all fast receding into the distant past. I’ve had something of a celebration for her, in fact. This is done in two ways, both which would probably amuse her. The first, and I’ve already talked about this one, is by wearing her 1970’s coat to the gym or anywhere convention doesn't require anything more than utility.  Despite the best efforts of the beautiful people—and don’t get me wrong—I’m in awe of their skill at self-presentation—I never looked anywhere near that good on my best young day—I still claim the right to wear an old coat sometimes. (Could it be the next frontier on the road to gender equality, the right to not give a damn about appearances?)

I suggested to Chris—who has been enjoying his time in our kitchen (working on his Palmdale Punjabi dinners)-- that he, for a change, try his hand at baking a batch of his Mother’s cookies for the holiday meal. This Christmas, in our case, was minimally attended.  My husband’s brother Nick would come up from Maryland, but he too would remember--and eat too many--of Carol’s cookies. Then we’d all have a sugar-induced spell of recollection about our clan as it was long ago in those long gone days of 20th Century yesteryear.

The recipe is titled Cowboy Cookies—and I think that says as much about the probable time of origin as anything.  The brand new media television thrived on cowboy shows, and boomer kids like me were crazy about Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans.

 (Carol, Springfield, MA H.S. Valedictorian)

Mid-1950’s, when all those educated young women were expected to morph into docile homemakers, Carol, the ex-chemistry major, would bake this recipe by the gross. She did so, too, and far too often, much to the detriment of everyone's waistline, but let no one say she was not enacting "Mom."

 A friend recently tasted one of these cookies and said she thought they were the original Tollhouse© recipe. These are nothing like the now fashionable gigantic, soggy, under-baked and laden with too much everything "cookie" of today. 

Cowboy Cookies deliver a balanced mixture of dough and additive. They are thoroughly baked. Although soft and gooey upon first emergence from the oven, they get even better after cooling overnight, becoming crunchy and buttery crisp along the edges.

   

 This Christmas, Chris used what we had in the cupboard, substituting about 1/2 cup brown flour for some of the oatmeal, which we’d run out of. And of course, following our taste-buds, we had Hershey’s© Special Dark chocolate chips and local black walnuts from one of the nearby farm markets for the gussying up.  

Cowboy Cookies

Sift together:

2 cups flour

1 tsp. soda

½ tsp. baking powder

In a separate bowl , cream together:

1 cup softened butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

Once that’s fully integrated, slowly beat in two eggs.

Next, combine dry and wet mixtures.

Finally, add 2 cups of oatmeal, a bit at a time, and then work in the (chocolate) chips, nuts of whatever kind. Drop by teaspoon onto greased/parchment cookie sheet and bake for 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Rack or paper cool. 

(Warning: sugar shock possible with unchecked consumption.) 

Happy New Year!
~~Juliet Waldron

http://www.bookswelove.net/authors/waldron-juliet/

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004HIX4GS

https://www.facebook.com/jwhistfic/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel