Jessie's Cafe by Nancy M Bell

 

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Hello, Usually I would use one of my book covers as the image, but I wanted to share this old building with you as it will figure prominently in my next book. This is Jessie's Cafe on main street in Castor, Alberta. This building has a long and storied life being built in the early 1900's when the railway was coming to Castor from Stettler and beyond. It is now empty having been many things in it's past including  a great place to have coffee and gossip, excellent Chinese cuisine and the upper floor was a boarding house in the far distant past. It was once known as The Golden Crown in later years (note the 'crowns' on the corners of the roof) There is even an outhouse on the flat roof of the cement block addition at the back of the building for the use of the boarders. I kid you not!

Jessie's Cafe is the working title of the new book and will involve some time travel and some interesting twists and turns. Stay tuned, Jessie's Cafe is due out in May of 2026.

Here for your viewing pleasure is the outhouse on the roof of Jessie's Cafe. Bet it was a might chilly in the winter. 

Until next month, stay well, stay happy.

Gardens in Bloom by Nancy M Bell

 

What is it about a garden? Sometimes it's like hockey and farming - There's always next year- but then sometimes it all comes together so wonderfully. Gardening and getting dirt under my fingernails goes back to when I was a kid and my grandfather would spend hours in the huge garden behind our house. I tagged along behind him and by osmosis learned so much with him having to speak a word. 

To this day I think of Grampa when I have my hands full of earth or my arms full of the autumn harvest. Just last night I spent an hour or so with my head and arms buried in a red current bushes and came home with stained hands, more than a few mosquito bites and an ice cream pail full of juicy currents. Today's job it to turn those currents into jelly.

Fruit and vegetables are always a joy but my real passion is flowers. Annuals, perennials, it's all good. Although I do have to say I have a secret love of the perennials, they show up every year like old friends come to stay for the summer. While I'm pulling out the never ending weeds I talk to the plants and I do believe it does make for more blooms and vigorous foliage. My husband thinks I'm just a bit wacky. Okay, more than a bit, but hey...life is too short to worry about what others think. Even one's husband LOL. 

This is my second spring and summer in the new house and it is taking a bit to get the gardens looking the way I would like, but one step at a time. It is coming along and there is a quiet satisfaction in starting from scratch again and then seeing the yard bloom with colour and hear the soft hum of bees in the hollyhocks and  other flowers.

I'm starting work on a new book set in an abandoned restaurant in my small town. It's going to be a time travel/romance/kinda historical. How's that for a confused genre? However, I do believe it will be fun to write. The working title it Jessie's Cafe and yes there really was a Jessie way back in the day. Stay tuned for more info as the work progresses.

I thought I would share some garden pictures to close. Happy gardening. Stay well, stay happy. Until next month...

Lavatera

Sweet Peas

Sweet William

Potato blossoms