Interview with a Snowbird and Recipes from Gloria Hart by J.Q. Rose #BWLpublishing #mystery #recipes

 

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q.Rose
Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Click here to find more books by J. Q. Rose from BWL Publishing

Hello and welcome to the BWL Authors Insider Blog!

Gloria Hart, the main character in my mystery novel, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, is my guest today.

INTERVIEW WITH SNOWBIRD, GLORIA HART

I caught Gloria just before she was leaving for exercise class at the community center in Citrus Ridge 55+ Resort and Golf Club located near Florida's Gulf of Mexico. We sat in her golf cart to chat a bit.

JQ--Thank you for visiting today with our readers, Gloria. You refer to yourself as a snowbird. What exactly is a snowbird?

Gloria--Oh, yes, my husband and I are snowbirds, running away from the snow up north during the cold winter season. However, I prefer to be called a sunbird because we really leave to chase the sun. 

I am so happy to be here with your readers on this beautiful sunny day in Florida. 

JQ--You went through a pretty rough winter here in Citrus Ridge several years ago. Tell us about that winter that wasn't so much fun for you.

Gloria--You can say that again. We had a horrible, frightening winter, and it wasn't because of the weather or sickness invading our community. No golf, no games, no beach time, and no early-bird dinners at the Golden Corral. Instead, the residents in our retirement community lived in terror. We had no idea who or what was killing the folks on Sunshine Boulevard, one of the streets in our community.

JQ--I understand your husband Jim was quite involved in solving the mystery.

Gloria--Because Jim is the Captain of the First Responder Team, he was pulled into the investigations and saw first hand the emergency calls. He still has nightmares when he remembers those death scenes.

JQ--I'm sorry to hear that. What about your friends? Were any of them murdered? 

Gloria--Sadly, we lost neighbors. We did lose some friends, but not because they died. Our friends betrayed us by keeping secrets from us. One of them even ended up falling naked into a geranium bed!

JQ--Oh my! I bet there's a story there! Didn't people go back north to get away from this terror?

Gloria--Some snowbirds left, but many of the people in Citrus Ridge live full-time in Florida. They couldn't leave their homes. 

JQ--Why did you stay?

Gloria--We discussed leaving, but we couldn’t leave our friends and neighbors during this catastrophe. Jim wanted to stay to help with the First Responders Team. Many of the old folks were experiencing heart attacks, panic attacks and health issues brought on by the frightening events in the neighborhood. We couldn’t return to Michigan because our hearts would remain in Florida. So we stayed and managed to survive that winter of deadly events and do what we could to help out in the situation.

Beach scene

JQ--So do you return to Citrus Ridge every winter?

Gloria--Yes, we do. I doubt any winter could be as bad as that one. Although the Covid pandemic has been pretty bad. We are following the precautions and returning to normal as quickly as possible.

JQ--I saw your lovely garden behind your place. 

Gloria--This year, the garden is doing great. Jim is happy with the harvest. He loves growing vegetables and sharing them with friends and neighbors. Needless to say, I have had to come up with some creative recipes to use up all the wonderful, fresh produce from his garden. 

JQ--Oh, fresh veggies from the garden in the backyard during the winter months sounds like a dream. Can you give us some recipes on how you prepare the vegetables for your dinner table?

Gloria--I'd love to share some recipes with you and your readers. I'm sure some of them have made New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier this year, so maybe these recipes will inspire and keep readers on track to a healthier year.

JQ--Thank you, Gloria!

Garden vegetables
Image courtesy of Sereneste at Pixabay

RECIPES FROM GLORIA HART

Stuffed Green Peppers

We like the peppers stuffed with or without the meat using corn or peas or more veggies from the garden.

Place 6 peppers (either a full-sized pepper with the tops off and seeds cleaned out or a cleaned pepper cut in half) in a micro-waveable 8" x 8 " dish. (Yes,this is so much easier than boiling them for 5 minutes in boiling water, I think.) Salt the inside of the peppers. Cook the peppers in the microwave for 3-4 minutes depending on how thick the wall is. They need to be hot.

Prepare a cup of rice--instant, brown, whatever your family prefers.

Brown one pound of ground beef with onions in a large skillet. Drain. Return to the skillet.

Add rice and 3/4 can of diced tomatoes to the meat and onions including juice. You may add salt and garlic to taste. Heat through.

Stuff peppers with meat mixture. Top with remaining tomatoes and juice. Return to microwave and cook covered 10-12 minutes or bake in 350 degree oven, covered, for 45 minutes. Remove foil from oven baked peppers, and cook 10-15 minutes longer.

Remove from heat and sprinkle tops with cheese. No need to return the peppers to the heat as the cheese will melt.

I let the dish of peppers set for five minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Seven Layer Salad, one of our family favorites. You may want to add or delete any of the layers. I like to add boiled eggs and radishes, so that may make it a nine layer salad. Use what you have from your garden to make this a tasty addition to your turkey or ham dinner or to your cookout with burgers and dogs.

Seven Layer Salad

Shred lettuce to fill a 9 x 13 pan.

1/2 c. chopped green pepper

1/2 c. celery

1 sweet onion, sliced thin or green onions from your garden

1 package frozen peas, not thawed or fresh from the garden

1 c. mayonnaise mixed with 2 T. sugar(I use the light mayo)

Place veggies in pan in order listed above.

Sprinkle 4 ounces cheddar cheese on top of dressing. (Sub fat-free cheese)

Cook 6 strips of bacon. (optional) 
Break them up when cool and place on top of cheese.

Cover. Place in refrigerator for 24 hours.

Click here to connect online with J.Q. Rose

It's Not Spring by Helen Henderson

 

Windmaster Golem
Click the cover for purchase information

 

In my family, spring cleaning traditionally began when the weather warmed enough to open the windows. The heavy drapes were taken down and hung out to air. Carpets adorned porch rails for beating out the winter's accumulation of tracked-in dirt. Trunks came down from the attic full of summer clothes and went back up full of heavy, woolen sweaters. And in the coal country of my ancestors, wiping down windows, walls, and glass lampshades removed the omnipresent coal dust and gray film.

Holiday decorations are back in the attic and the house is again neat and tidy. Outside it is 20 odd degrees, chill factor in single digits, and snow covers the ground. It is not spring, so why am I cleaning?  

 

The beginning of a new year offers the opportunity to discard, shred, or otherwise dispose of outdated paperwork. Files more than ten years old come out of the file cabinet or storage boxes and piles of papers litter the floor. Each stack contains receipts, drafts of published articles, cards, utility bills, or no-longer needed documents. 

Image Courtesy of Pixabay

Some piles are recycled. Others are more fun to dispose of. There is a cathartic sound to a shredder chomping sheets of paper into little bits. The small fire pit in the backyard will gobble up sensitive sheets while providing a comforting warmth.

Don't forget to include reviewing and purging your electronic files in your cleanout. They may not take up physical space, but can slow your computer or tablet. Even more serious can be the delays the clutter causes in your research. 

While not as satisfying as a fire, deleting digital files or organizing digital photos for quicker access is a useful activity. The new year can also be a good time to delete (or toss for prints) photographs that are blurry or upon reflection you decide you don't want in the public domain.

Although it it not spring, it is time to start cleaning, sorting, and organizing. You might even have a surprise benefit at the end. You're ready to file the paperwork needed for the taxman.

~Until next month, stay safe and read. Helen

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination. Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads or Twitter .

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky who have adopted her as one the pack. 

To Write or Not to Write by Nancy M Bell

 

To explore more of Nancy's books click on the cover above. 

I'm working on another installment of the A Longview Romance series. Storm's Refuge was the first book, which was followed by Come Hell or High Water and A Longview Wedding. Michelle is the heroine in the first three books and her life is turned upside down when her supposed fiance comes home from the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas married to someone else. 

Rob Chetwynd, the fiance in question, has played a role in the first three books, but this time I'm sharing how the impromptu Vegas wedding comes about. Kayla's Cowboy is the title and is told from Kayla's POV. How she meets Rob and how their relationship progresses is certainly a work in progress.  

I'm struggling with how to bring these two disparate characters together. Kayla is an accomplished dressage rider who is at the NFR to give a demonstration of her sport. Her sponsors have arranged the whole thing and have sent another horse and rider pair along as well. Kayla and Anna split the duties with one of them doing the riding and the other providing the commentary on a rotating basis. This is all okay until Anna's horse, Arizona, gets cast in the stall and unable to perform, which puts added  pressure on Kayla and Wellington. 

Anna's a bit of a party animal and she brings Rob and his pal into Kayla's orbit. She thinks the cocky, but admittedly sexy, cowboy is an adrenaline junkie for getting on rough stock not to mention enraged bulls.  But, things take some twists and turns and she is thrown into his company more and more. Somehow, the cockiness wears off and a more vulnerable side of Rob comes to the forefront.

He confesses that, while he and Michelle have been friends forever, and everyone in Longview expects them to get married, Rob isn't in love with Michelle that way. His mother is pushing him to get on with it, and Michelle is certainly unaware of his reservations, added to the pressure is the fact his late father's dying wish was that Rob and Michelle get married and combine the Wilson and Chetwynd  ranches. Rob isn't ready to settle down with Michelle and he sure as hell isn't ready to quit the rodeo road.

That's it so far, now I've just got to figure out how Kayla agrees to marry him. She noticing the chinks in his armour and as a woman who was raised by her aunt after her parents died, she realizes how Rob's cocky facade is just a front to hide the face he's fighting his own demons. 

So, to write or not to write, the dreaded writers block. I keep turning my characters this way and that and trying to figure out how they fit together. <sigh> 

I know this dilemma should help me deal with the Covid isolation blues, but somehow it just doesn't seem to be working. I'm into Covid Winter x 2 and not liking it at all. Hopefully, either Kayla or Rob will cosy up with my muse and help me out here.

Until next month, happy writing. Stay warm, stay safe and stave off the dreaded writer's block.

Nancy 

Being a Blog Host or Guest by Janet Lane Walters #BWLAuthor #BlogHost #BlogGuest

 

I have an active blog eclecticwriter and often have guests. I’ve been guesting on other people’s blogs. Since the first of the year, I’ve been noticing some things about the blogs I’ve visited. They all did something I often do not do. So I’m making a note to let the person pposting to know when their material will go live. Hopefully I’ll remember. Now for some questions from people who have blogs and those who visit other people’s blogs.

 

How do you promote your own blog when you have guests? Do you let them know? Do you post the appearance on Facebook, Twitter or other places that allow promotion? I try to do them all.

Do you go to your won blog when there’s a visitor and read the comments and make your own if needed? This is something I hope to do better with.

 

Now for those who are guesting, a few questions. Do you visit the blog and let the author know you’re glad to be there? Do you promote your appearance on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other places that allow this type of promotion? Do you check periodically for those who have visited and made comments? Do you dialogue with those who have commented?

 

When I visit, I do promote the blog I’m visiting on the day I appear. I also chack for about a week to see if there are any comments and also to comment if needed.

 

Other people’s blogs can give you venues and find readers and writers you may not know.

 

 

My Places

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 https://www.facebook.com/janet.l.walters.3?v=wall&story_f

bid=113639528680724

 http://bookswelove.net/

 http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com

https://www.pinterest.com/shadyl717/

 

Buy Mark

https://bookswelove.net/walters-janet-lane/

Crazy Canucks, by J.C. Kavanagh

 

The Twisted Climb

Book 1 of the award-winning Twisted Climb series

Winter time in central Ontario, Canada, brings about snow, ice, freezing rain, blizzards and white-outs. If you like extreme weather, you'll fit right in. If you don't like the cold or any of the above weather conditions, well, you won't like Canadian winters. Me, I love it. Having the crisp, icy-cold wind ripple against your cheeks and feeling the delicate frostiness of snowflakes descending on your face... ah, that is a rejuvenating winter experience.

Me and my awesome and often crazy partner love to cavort in the elements. Summer is for sailing. Spring and Autumn are for taking care of the woods on our rural property. But winter - oh winter - it's for:

• Chopping and stacking bush cords of hardwood
• Shovelling snow (and driving snowblower)
• Hiking the property (with glass of wine in mittened-hand)
• Snowshoeing the property
• Bonfires 
• Enjoying home-cut fries/poutine around the bonfire
• More snow shovelling (and driving snowblower)
• Star gazing at back of property (with glass of wine in mittened-hand)

Ian and J (carved by Ian with chainsaw)

Firepit area

One section of trails

Clearing driveway in 'Canadian' disguise

Woodstove ready

After the hike... photobomb

And our newest outdoor entertainment: Axe/Knife throwing

My partner has this thing about knives (is it a guy thing?) and ever since axe-throwing became popular, he's wanted to build a target and set it up beside our shop. So, during the Christmas break, he decided it was time to design and build the target. Once that was accomplished, then of course we had to buy a set of throwing axes/knives. No sense building a target without deadly instruments.

Have you ever thrown an axe? Or a specially-designed throwing knife? Not for the faint-hearted. But definitely a challenge. Also a hilarious challenge. Most throws will have the axe/knife 'clunk' against the target and fall straight down. Or, it will completely miss the target (it's 40" x 50"). Great fun!  

J-I Axes homemade target. Yup, it says 'EyesBull'

Canadian chill at -25 Celsius (-13 F)

While some people might think outdoor winter activities are for crazy Canucks, I like to think they're for anyone crazy enough to enjoy the elements. That's me.

However, if you're the kind of person who prefers to curl up inside your home with a hot cup of cocoa, then I have two perfectly good, non-deadly instruments for you to hold on to. The first is: The Twisted Climb, voted Best Young Adult book, and the second is The Twisted Climb-Darkness Descends, voted Best Young Adult book in 2018. Book 3 in this exciting series is on the way!

Until next time, stay safe everyone.

J.C. Kavanagh, author of
The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2)
voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada
AND
The Twisted Climb,
voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll
Novels for teens, young adults and adults young at heart
Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
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