Zombies, Pumpkins, and Spooky Stories, What's not to Love About Halloween? By Connie Vines

 I’ve written about my love of Halloween, my fondness for Classic Universal  Studio Monster movies, and my belief that the novel "Dracula" is a tortured love 💕story.

If Halloween is your fun-kid-friendly holiday, you're probably familiar with many exciting and spooky facts. But we've got some Halloween trivia questions and answers that will entertain your guests and your trick-or-treaters if they dare to ask. 🎃🦇👻🧛

🐺 Black and orange were deliberately chosen as Halloween colors because of the fall-winter connection the day represents. Orange symbolizes the warmth of autumn and the last of the harvest season, while Black represents the cold, dark, and long winter.

🎃Pumpkins are technically a fruit. Pumpkins are members of the gourd family, including cucumbers, cantaloupe, zucchini, and melons. 

TRUE OR FALSE, WOMEN USED TO PERFORM SPOOKY RITUALS AIMED AT FINDING THEIR FUTURE HUSBANDS?

Answer: True.  

Women used to perform "rituals" to help them find their future husbands. 

🍎 Women tossed apple peels over their shoulders, hoping they'd see the shape of their future hubby's initials on the ground. 

🕯 Another involved a woman standing in front of a mirror in a dark room and holding up a candle to see their future husband's face. 😨 (too scary for me!)

I also enjoy baking 😋. Pumpkin Bread? No. Banana Bread 🍌🍞 because..well, a bunch ripens so very quickly! Halloween Cookies will be in tomorrow's oven.

I hope you enjoyed the Halloween Trivia featured today.

Remember:

Smashwords is holding a Super(natural) Sale on all BWL books this month!!

Load up your cart 🙋🛒and 'treat' yourself with Howling good reads!

Reviews for "Here Today, Zombie Tomorrow"

Alive, Steampunk novelist Meredith Misso worked hard at living the perfect SoCal celeb life. Now that she is a Zombie, it’s all about the make-up, non-vegan lifestyle, and her soon-to-be ex, who somehow managed to Velcro himself back into her life.

Novella length: “Quirky, Sassy, and Fun! ~Authors Den Review

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First Line: “You and Elvis have done a great job on this house,” Meredith said as her older sister led the way downstairs toward the kitchen, where the tour began.

Review:

Meredith Misso, a thirty-two-year-old raised from the dead and living undead for the last six months, goes through a heck of a time pretending to be something she no longer is, so she breaks off her longtime relationship. Viktor, her ex, has his own reasons for throwing in the towel.

Ms. Vines writes quite a fun spin on the supernatural, the romance, the break-up, and the surprises, all leading to a happy ending. An excellent page-turner, captivating and humorous, and it left me smiling. I would enjoy reading another of Ms. Vines’ books. 

Eat, Drink, and Be Scary!

Happy Halloween 

Connie

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/vinesbwl

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

Honoring Ukrainian Courage, Culture, Devotion, and Life By Connie Vines

All of the world is focused on current events at the moment. Therefore, my blog post will feature my 'Slovic' background, to honor the courage and devotion to democracy by the Ukrainian people.

Like many whose ancestors were able to immigrate before the time of the Iron Curtain, I also came to not all of their extended family members chose/or were able to make the journey.

My maternal grandmother's family traveled from Bohemia/Czechoslovica via a ship and settled in Chicago. Many of my childhood memories are of the Slovic culture, foods, nursery rhymes, fairytales, music, dance, and the drive to succeed.  Hard work, Family, Faith, and honoring those who came before them, was part of daily life.

Where did Ukraine originate from?

The history of Ukrainian nationality can be traced back to the kingdom of Kievan Rus' of the 9th to 12th centuries. It was the predecessor state to what would eventually become the Eastern Slavic nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.

Famous Ukraine Story

"The Mitten” is a story of a little boy that lost his mitten in the snow. Soon after, an animal finds its way into the glove to seek warmth and shelter. It doesn't take long until many more animals have the same idea. The mitten becomes stretched out and cramped for space.

Traditional Crafts

Posted on Pinterest

Petrykivka painting (or simply "Petrykivka") is a traditional Ukrainian decorative painting style, originating from the village of Petrykivka in Dnipropetrovsk oblast of Ukraine, where it was traditionally used to decorate house walls and everyday household items. The earliest known examples of this style date from the 18th century, but it continues to thrive and develop as a modern art form.

The distinctive features of this folk art style are its flower patterns, distinctive brush techniques, and its traditionally white background (contemporary painters, however, often work on black, green, red, or blue backgrounds. (Wikipedia)

Traditional Clothes

Pinterest: Traditional Clothing and Embroidery 

Traditional Food

(Ukrainian hostesses cook this dish with sweet potatoes as a dessert.)

 Pinterest photo

Potato Pancakes

Ingredients:

6 potatoes

1 egg

3 tablespoons of flour

1 onion

sunflower oil

1 package of sour cream

Instructions:

Peel potatoes and onion and grate them. Beat an egg and combine it with potato. Add salt, flour and mix everything properly. 

Heat the sunflower oil in the pan and pour the potato mixture in the form of round pancakes. Fry until one side of the pancake until golden, then and then turn over.

Serve a dab of sour cream.

I will close with a Ukrainian Proverb: 

Take care, my dear friends and readers,

Connie

XOXO

Remember:  All of my books are on sale at Smashwords this month!!

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

https://books2read.com/Lynx

https://books2read.com/Gumbo-Ya-Ya

https://books2read.com/Brede

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

https://books2read.com/Tanayia

The Key to Your Heroine--is Hidden in Your Closet? by Connie Vines

 Research is my middle name.

I plan family vacations to include possible ‘future book settings’, ‘historical events’, ‘regional foods’—well, you know where I’m going with this.

In the past, research often required hours spent at the public library using the card catalog, or reading microfiche.  Oh, how the Internet has simplified my life.

However, breathing life into your heroine, and bringing your story to life, are all elements that writers spend hours and hours perfecting.

Sensory details, setting, motivation, and that ‘something’ which is the spark of each and every story is often elusive.  Sometimes, just sometimes, the pieces of your fictional universe fall neatly, and unexpectedly, into place.

This is what happened to me.

While sorting through my closet, I discovered a treasure of carefully-packed-away-items.  Being the eldest daughter, I’ve acquired the family photos, was blessed with the oral histories of grandparents and one great-grandmother, as well as that of and other relatives.  I carefully placed the items on my bed.  I stroking a silk scarf belonging to my maternal grandmother. I focused on the blending of colors and the threads of silver catching the light. This was when I knew I was experiencing an 'important moment' in her life.  A snap-shot of who she was, who she wanted to be—a time before she was my grandmother. Before she was married. Before she had a child of her own.

She was a young woman.

Had she gone shopping with her sister or her mother to purchase this scarf?  Or had she ridden the EL, after work, to a department store in downtown Chicago?  

Was she going to a dance? 

To dinner?

Or, to the theater?

Her mother, Marie, was raised on a farm in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia (before it became the Czech Republic). As an adult she moved to Prague, working as a secretary until she married her husband, They had 6 children, my grandmother was the youngest.

In 1898, the family (minus my grandmother, who was born in the United States) boarded a ship and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Ellis Island and before settling in Chicago, Ill . 

My grandmother in the 1920s working at A.B. Dick.
Which later became Xerox.  She became their 1st female supervisor and held
 that position until she retired.

I located pieces of her jewelry, the scarf still smelled faintly of her perfume (or was it simply my memory of her fragrance?), necklaces, earrings, broaches, and bracelets. There was a beaded evening bag.  I recalled a photo taken when she and her sister worked as extras in the motion pictures of the 1920 and 1930s.  They stayed with their older brother (musician, Tony Lada of the Louisiana Five) in San Monica, California.  

Tony (Anton) Lada's band was the first band to tour Europe. He preformed at the Troubadour. He was one of the founding members of SAG .  There were so many stories about Jimmy Durante, Bing Crosby, and many more. . . 

I was certain I had it in a box, perhaps a few of the pictures had already been scanned to my computer.

The wax music cylinders were all damaged in a flood but I had some sheet music and one '78 record. 

Louisiana Five/youtube link

These are the steps that help me discover my heroine and my hero.  

This is why my characters become living, breathing people to me and to my readers—step by step; their stories are revealed to me as snapshots of pieces of their lives. 

Gritty Old Chicago?  

The glorious film sets when talking pictures were cutting edge? Or the days of silent movies.

Rudolph Valentino was all the rage (Catch his silent movies on YouTube—he really was was a hottie!)

There are so many wonderful stories in passed down through a family oral history.

The relative who immigrated from Sicily.  

I also have my great-great-grandmother’s butter churn from the 1800s— when made the journey from Tennessee via a covered wagon (the Scottish branch of the family tree) but that’s another story.

So, what treasure do you have hiding in your closet?

What stories have your ancestors passed down to you?

What story is waiting to be told?

Thank you for stopping by to read my blog posting.

My current release, "Gumbo Ya Ya" is set in New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou. My husband's family is from Louisiana. New Orleans and The French Quarter are wonderful cities. 

Remember, my novels always, always include delicious recipes. And Gumbo Ya Ya, not only has gumbo recipes; but old time pass-down-family recipes, too!

Happy Reading!

Connie

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