Should They Stay or Should They Go? by Karla Stover

 

Parlor Girls

Wynter's Way

A Line to Murder

Murder, When One Isn't Enough

   It's that time again; time to think about Christmas cookies. For a while the women at the office where I worked swapped cookies which may be how I ended up with some of these recipes, but then most of the women began buying  boxes at the grocery story hoping to exchange some of them for what those of us who baked, baked. So not fair. Glad I retired.

    I don't make near as many cookies as I used to, no matter what time of the year, but when the various clubs in my garden club district meet, my club usually has a bake sale, everything a dollar or fifty cents so out comes my collection of recipes.

    Here's one called Wheat Sticks that I got from Mary, ( last name long forgotten ) a former co-worker. I don't think I ever made them. Mary claimed to have issues with white sugar so the Wheat Sticks have brown sugar plus nuts, cocoanut, and both whole wheat and white flour. I don't generally have wheat flour around and don't know why I hold on to the recipe.

    Vera's Biscotti is a recipe my mom got from an Italian co-worker. Anise makes it a good cookie but biscotti it is not! You roll the dough into a ball to bake and then while still warm, glaze the balls - - very messy to eat. 

    Snow Flakes is a recipe a British friend gave me. It has grated orange peel and cream cheese instead of butter. The dough is supposed to go through a cookie press so you can make cute shapes but I can never get the dough to stick to a cookie sheet. I usually roll a ball and press it with a fork-- not particularly attractive. They taste good, through.

    Dad brought home the recipe for Danish Pastry. It's pretty easy to make,  press a crust onto a cookie sheet and cover it with a layer of eggs and things, bake and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into squares. The eggs create a puffy top. Almond extract gives it a yummy flavor.

    As I go through my collection I find two more of Mary's recipes, one for Half-way Cookies and one for Indians. Both have white sugar. Did she make these before her white-sugar-issue or did she get over it?  I also have instructions for making Brownies ala Lucy Johnson the president's daughter which I cut out of the paper: Mom's oatmeal cookies and favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe; Bacon Grease cookies from the war and my grandmother's Vinegar cookies (love 'em). Molasses cookies with raisins and Madeline's (not worth the effort.) So many recipes I will probably never make

    And in the end I ran out of the time it takes to bake cookies so I made mini loaves of orange bread and then forgot to take them to the sale. (Heavy sigh) But it didn't matter. Most all the other members really came through and we made over $200.

    Holidays are never easy. And should some of these recipes stay or should they go?

Dad is Curious About the Internet - by Barbara Baker

 

My dad turned 90 in August. Mom passed away four years ago, and Dad is adamant he can take care of himself. He got a new knee, cleats for his boots and canes with pokey prongs that flip up when the sidewalks are clear of snow. We tease him about getting more steps in a day than we do. 

One of Dad’s recent interests is understanding the basics of computers, technology and Google. When he loses a game of chess on his iPad, he says Siri is in a bad mood. When Siri wakes him up from a nap to tell him it’s going to get cold tomorrow, Dad thanks her for the update and scrolls the Weather App to see what’s blowing in.

A few years ago, when the Sunshine Ski Resort posted free WiFi Hot Spots at the top of the lifts, Dad asked what WiFi was all about.

I told him, “It’s so you can use your phone and log onto the internet for free.”

“Up here?” His moustache twitched. “Why would you want to do that?”

On a recent visit with Dad, I sit in the living room scrolling through Google for blog ideas while he stretches out on the couch to read.

After awhile Dad points at my laptop and says, “What are you doing?”

“I’m working on my blog for next month.”

He closes his book and sits up. “You’re working on what?”

“A blog.” I smile. “It’s a short piece of writing. Hopefully I can make it funny, or entertaining, maybe informative, or insightful.”

“What do you do with it when you're done?”

“I post in on a website which puts it on the internet for people to read.”

He tips his head. “Who reads it?”

“I’m not sure.” I shrug. “People who read blogs, people who might be interested in what I have to say.”

“Do you get paid to do it?”

“Indirectly. Maybe. Sort of." I give him a bigger smile. "I hope some readers will check out one of my books, maybe buy it or get it from the library.”

I stare down at my laptop to hide my grin and continue the search for popular blog topics – expert insights (nope), science posts (nope), upcoming trends (nope), DIY tips (nope)…personal (possibly).

Dad clears his throat, and I look up.

“Let me get this straight," he says. "You find something to write about, you put it on the internet for the world to see but you don’t know who will read it and you don’t know if it will make you any money?”

I nod.

“Well,” he pauses. “Do you enjoy doing it?”

“Yes, yes I do.”

“Well,” he picks up his book, stretches out on the couch again and lets out a sigh, “that’s good.”

        Happy holidays and all the best of wishes for 2023. 

        You can contact me at: bbaker.write@gmail.com

        Summer of Lies: Baker, Barbara:9780228615774: Books - Amazon.ca

        What About Me?: Sequel to Summer of Lies : Baker, Barbara: Amazon.ca: Books

 

 

Leave It to Santa to Take Credit for Everything Us Moms Do by Vanessa C. Hawkins

 

 

 Vanessa Hawkins Author Page

      It is December, which for most, is the month of holiday cheer, presents, candy canes and Santa Claus, but for me its the inevitable month of writer's block. Nanowrimo--which for those of you that don't know is abbreviated for National November Writing Month (I think...)--- is the month where we write a bunch of words as fast as we can, with the ultimate goal of acheiving 50k words.

So 50k. It's a goal I used to find feasible, but after having spawn, realized it was way too &5^$ing crazy for me to ever accomplish now. SO I aimed for 10K and hit the mark. Now it's December, and I feel like a deflated bag of goo, chock full of little hairs, rocks and whatever else you may find stuck to the carpet. 

Me.

Now how am I supposed to write when there is Christmas to think about? Not to mention that I used up all my good ideas in an effort to get my draft done (which it isn't, by the way). I figure I have about 10k more words to go, but all I want is a good hoodie, some wine and true crime shows. 

Merry Christmas! Next up on Cold Case Files...

And you know... It used to be that if you finished Nano, you got a sticker. Now they don't give them out (at least where I am) so I can't even do it for the bragging rights! Not to mention that they changed the website and I can't even see my past achievements... you know... the days when I WAS able to write 50k in one month. 

So I guess I'll just keep writing and figure it out later. Afterall, that's what I told y'all to do when you get a case of writer's block. Wouldn't make any sense for me to tell others to keep on truckin' right? 

Ughh... I hope Santa brings me a nap...

Santa's Reindeer by J. S. Marlo

 

Wounded Hearts

"Love & Sacrifice #2"

is now available  

click here 

 

 

  

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

‘Male reindeers lose their antlers in winter and females don’t, so Santa’s sleigh is actually pulled by a team of women…’

When I saw that quote on Facebook, it caught my attention. First, reindeer, like deer, don’t have an “s” in their plural forms. Second, it struck me as odd that the females didn’t lose their antlers, so I did some research.

Female reindeer can grow antlers, making them unique in the deer world. However, not all females have antlers since growing them costs lots of energy. In habitats where food is scarce or of poor quality, antlerless females dominate.

The female reindeer use their antlers to dig through the snow in search of food and to defend themselves. Those with the largest antlers tend to be socially dominant and in the best overall physical condition, but they still shed their antlers every year. Unlike male reindeer who lose them late autumn after the rut, female reindeer retain their antlers until spring because access to food is critical during their winter pregnancy.

Does that mean female reindeer are pulling Santa’s sleigh?  Not necessarily. Most of the reindeer used to pull sleds are castrated males because they are easier to handle than “full” males. Castrated reindeer have antler cycles similar to those of the females, only losing them in the spring.

Conclusion: Santa’s reindeer are either female or castrated male.

101100508 © Publicdomainphotos | Dreamstime.com

Other interesting facts:

– There are more than 15 subspecies of reindeer, some of which are extinct. 

– Reindeer are domesticated or semi-domesticated caribou.

– They live primarily in the Arctic, where winter is drastically colder and darker than summer.

– Their hooves are soft during warmer months, but in winter, they become hard and sharp for breaking through the ice to forage vegetation.

– To adapt to seasonal changes in light levels, the part of their eye behind the iris changes color from gold in the summer to blue in the winter.

– They travel up to 3,000 miles and swim long distances.

– They have two layers of hair to keep warm: a dense woolly undercoat, and a top layer of hollow air-filled hairs which float. Their hair have been used to fill life jackets.

– The Finnish Forest Reindeer is one of the rarest subspecies of Reindeer.

In my 2021 Christmas mystery The Red Quilt, Grandpa Eli is marooned on a potato farm with his five-year-old granddaughter. On Christmas Eve, Eli ventures outside to draw reindeer hoof prints in the snow. Here’s an excerpt:

The two forward toes made prints resembling curly teardrops with the tip pointing ahead, toward the carrot underneath the branch. He added a dot behind each teardrop design to account for the two back toes.

A vehicle turning into Lana’s driveway diverted his attention from the second print he was drawing. When blue and red lights began to flash, Eli dropped the carrot and the branch, and raised his hands as he straightened to his full height beside the bush.

The door of the patrol car opened and a silhouette stood behind it. “Mr. Sterling?”

“Yes.” The female voice jogged his memory. “Fancy meeting you here tonight, Constable Davidson. May I lower my arms?”

“Yes, please. I didn’t mean to scare you.” The lights stopped flashing, but the door remained opened as she walked toward him. “The lights were on so I thought you might be up, but then I saw someone hunched by the bush, so I overreacted.”

“I’d rather you overreact than ignore a suspicious guy making reindeer hoof prints in the snow in the wee hours of the morning,” he teased.

A smile enlivened her face as she shone the beam of her flashlight in the snow. “It’s small for a reindeer, but otherwise, it’s pretty accurate.”

Stumped by the remark, he squatted the snow. “What do you mean by small? Do you masquerade as a biologist in your spare time?”

Her laughter rose in the crisp air. “No, but I have an older sister who’s a conservation officer in the north. She spent years following the caribou herd’s migration. I know more about caribou than I ever wanted to know. For accuracy’s sake, you want them to be about four inches long.”

Click here to buy The Red Quilt, and give it to someone you love for Christmas.

Happy Holiday 2022!

J. S.

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

 

The Beauty of Book Covers by Eileen O'Finlan

                    

                        Click here for purchase information     Click here to visit Eileen O'Finlan's webiste

As I write this blog post, it is less than a week since our celebration of Thanksgiving here in the U.S. That holiday always brings with it a time for reflection on the people and things for which we are thankful.

As I thought about my own debts of gratitude, I could not help but include the extraordinary art director who creates the amazing covers for BWL's books, Michelle Lee. Not only do I love the covers Michelle has created for me, I have yet to see a single BWL book that doesn't have an outstanding cover. Click here to check them out for yourself.

Whether it's rational or not, book covers are widely considered to be the most important factor, or at least the first one, in whether or not a reader decides to consider a book. That makes covers extremely important.

One of the most exciting moments for an author with a new book about to be released is his or her first look at the cover. So when I knew the cover for my next release, All the Furs and Feathers Book 1 in the Cat Tales series was on the way I could hardly contain myself as I waited to see what Michelle would create. Just as I expected, I was not disappointed. The cover is fantastic!

I am not quite ready to do a complete cover reveal yet. That will come when the pre-order is available and I have it to link the cover to. But meanwhile, here is a sneak peek at what everyone will see when All the Furs and Feathers is released on February 1, 2023.