A Trip (literally) back in time-a Cornish Village in Wisconsin, by Diane Scott Lewis

Years ago someone, after I told him my novels were set in Cornwall, England, suggested I visit this village called Pendarvis in Wisconsin, so off we went in the spring of 2015.
Pendarvis was built by the hundreds of Cornish immigrants who poured into southern Wisconsin in the 1830’s to work in the lead mines. They were homesick, so designed small timber and limestone cottages that reminded them of what they’d left behind. There’s even a Kiddleywink (a common word used for the working class and poorer people’s drinking houses) Pub.

Author in front of Pendarvis

But the mining faded away as the mines were exhausted. People went west for the California Gold Rush.

A hundred years later, most of these cottages had vanished. Two men, Neal and Hellum, teamed up to preserve the ones that remained. In 1935 they started reconstructing the buildings, and, in the Cornish tradition, named each cottage: Pendarvis, Polperro, Trelawny.

My husband, George, and I had been to Cornwall, England and toured local cottages. We even stayed in one built as a barn in the 1600’s, then converted to a home in 1750.

We walked through the refurbished Wisconsin version of Cornwall, quite impressed. Furniture from that 19th century time period filled the majority of the dwellings. I fell in love with one cottage and had to be dragged out.

Then the visit turned into a Comedy of Errors. My husband, who is tall by 19th century standards, walked into a low door lintel, knocked himself backwards and scraped his arm on a table. Due to a heart irregularity, George is on blood thinners. By the time we got outside, on our way to the next cottage, blood was dripping down his arm.

He told me to wait and he’d rush to the car for a bandage. Being stubborn, I started up the stone steps toward the next dwelling. In the shade, unbeknownst to me, the step was covered in slippery moss. Not the most graceful of people, I of course, slipped and tumbled into the low shrubs next to the walkway. The shrubs broke my fall nicely. But George had hurried back to pull me out, blood still dripping down his arm. As he danced around, trying not to smear me with blood, and I struggled to rise, we made an amusing sight. Thank goodness we were the only ones there.

If you’d like to learn more about old Cornwall, visit my website, or check out my novel, The Apothecary’s Widow, set in Truro, England in the 18th century. The Historical Novel Society called it “entertaining.”


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Source: http://pendarvis.wisconsinhistory.org/About/History.aspx

Diane Scott Lewis writes historical fiction with romantic elements.
Visit her website:
http://www.dianescottlewis.org

Remember the Recipe by Victoria Chatham

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I had it all. Characters. Setting. Plot.

I worked on it all summer, jotting down names, incidents, and snatches of dialogue. I volunteered time with a Riding For the Disabled Group, learning what made a good RDA horse or pony, how it was trained, how riding benefited both mentally and physically challenged children and adults. I shared in the simple pleasures the riders derived from their lessons, and learnt a whole new language from the young man with Touretts Syndrome. Thrilled with successfully negotiating his first jump he let rip with such a stream of invective that even his horse laid its ears flat to its head as if to shut it out.

At the time the details of this book were circulating in my mind, I was working in a bookstore where I was a Jill of all trades. Occasionally I worked in the store but mostly I invoiced books to go to any one of my two hundred (or thereabout) school accounts. The best part though was unpacking new stock. And, in that new stock that fall, was my story. I held the book in my hands and looked at the cover in disbelief. The illustration was one I could have drawn myself. The characters and plot could have been pulled out of my mind. I flicked through it, barely cognizant of my boss asking me what was wrong.

“This is my story,” I wailed, tossing the book onto the unpacking counter. I continued to rant and rave, mostly that I was going to give up writing because what was the point if another author beat me to the punch line, so to speak. My boss wisely said nothing until I’d finished venting. Then he smiled and simply said, “Remember the recipe”.

Recipe? What recipe? What was he talking about? And then it hit me. My own personal ‘Aha’ moment. I had a Victoria sponge cake recipe that never failed. My friend made the best dinner rolls. We swapped recipes but she could never get her cake to rise like mine while my dinner rolls were a disaster. Same recipe, same ingredients, but in another person's hands the recipe had totally different results.

My boss’s analogy was an apt one and was something I shared when I taught Introductory Creative Writing. One of the first questions my students asked of me was how could they make their writing different. In the first class we brainstormed a character, the popular vote decided whether it was male or female; they chose hair and eye color, physical attributes, the character’s strengths and weaknesses, what was their deepest, darkest secret? What did they fear the most and why? What was the character’s family background? What was their biggest ambition? By the end of the first class, we had the character with which they worked for the ensuing weeks. At the end of the course it was always a thrill for me to listen to my students read their first stories, all starting out with the same character, but each and every story being so very, very different.

When I read books today that might sound a little like mine, I look deeper into my own writing to see what I can change to really make it my own. As my boss so wisely said all those years ago, ‘Remember the recipe’.  

Victoria Chatham

 http://bookswelove.net/authors/chatham-victoria/

www.victoriachatham.webs.com

www.facebook.com/AuthorVictoriaChatham

Jed Clampett’s Texas Tea Party

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Jed Clampett’s Texas Tea Party

Good ol’ Jed Clampett went hunting to feed his family and ended up striking Texas Tea, more commonly called Black Gold and moved to Beverly Hills. Or so goes the story in the Beverly Hillbillies. Back then oil was oil and as long as it wasn’t black as tar everything was good. But technology advanced and vehicles engines began to run hotter, with higher compressions, stricter tolerances and then along came computers. All was good, Jed was a rich man and then green movement came along and slowly changed everything.

            This reminds me; what happened to the good old days when you knew the best stuff out there was a gold plated whatever? Now there’s platinum, titanium, and what next? Superdoopermanium? Wait until they start changing the Olympic medals and gold is the measly runner-up award.

            It was back in the sixties when we starting growing our hair, getting stoned and environmentally conscious that some scientists, as they sat out in their backyard talking to little animals, said, “Hey! They quit making dinosaurs a long time ago. This is a problem.”

            So they decided to start looking at alternatives, like synthetic oils. Much of this research began even further back in the thirties with a German scientist named Dr. Hermann Zorn (So of those out there reading this are wondering, I’m not making this up, that’s his name, if I invented this character I’d given him something like Zultrid Nifinager, a true scientist type name, couldn’t imagine a movie star or a pornstar with a name like that could you?) He searched for lubricants like natural oils but ones that didn’t gel or turn to gum under gasoline engine environments. His work led to the invention of over 3500 esters, including diesters, polyolesters and banana oil (chimpanzees and apes declined testing the banana oil synthetics, although baboons weren’t so smart. One look at their rear ends you’ll know what happened there). Not good, not good at all.

            Just a sidenote; this led to the testing by other Monkees in the sixties and this explains why they ran around so fast on their TV show always looking for washrooms. 

            Poor Dr. Zorn. Unfortunately he thought he was working for his company on a synthetic beer/bratwurst combination, which would have made him immensely rich, famous at Octoberfest and a national hero. “Beer and bratwurst in the same glass without any gaseous side effects.” Years later they found him wandering incoherently in Berlin’s skid-row muttering, “Deichsel und mit getriebenen unterscheiden vermoche nach dem sie darstellen staubwolken au wirhelten.”

            Which literally translated means, “I was robbed.”

            If you’re wondering, synthetic oils weren’t made by some mad scientist between Frankenstein’s monster, stem cell research and inventing a cure for cancer and PMS - much to his depressive haranguing wife’s disgust. Which of course made him wish he’d been single like Einstein yelling, “Eureka E=mc2.” Which wasn’t his original solution to the Theory of Relativity, but to the perfect milkshake recipe. The milkshake idea fizzled out after he took out his backyard and half of Detroit in 1948.

            Synthetic oils are ester-based substances, along with other additives, which far outclass any ordinary oils. Yes, I know, the first pantyhose were polyester-based and, oddly enough, the first polyester sweaters (the clue is in the name). Scientists soon realized that if you get pantyhose turning fast and hot enough (?), it turns into a rubbery mass called a fan belt. Hence was born the expression, “Get on yer bikes, girls.”

            This led eventually to SynLube in Vancouver in 1969. The only market at that time was selling their synthetic oils to the Lunokhod 1 Moon Rover and the US Moon Rovers. They soon realized that wasn’t a very profitable, or large, market. Okay they did sell four quarts to the Americans for $3,000,000,000 dollars US each, but after six trips to the moon the Apollo program was cancelled.

            A small note to history buffs here, they also sold two quarts to the Russians, who at the time didn’t make it to the moon and couldn’t afford to pay in rubles, but ended up paying with 2,000, bottles of Vodka. “It’ll be a delirious three months until we sober up and the Vodka runs out,” said one SynLube official. “Three months?” the Irish spokesman replied, “what do you take me for, a tee-totaler?”

            Although it does seems funny that with all those potatoes around the Irish never invented Vodka. 

                        Any disadvantages to using synthetic oils? Yes. This, believe it or not, is straight out of Wikipedia; Potential stress cracking of polyoxymethylene plastics when mixed with polyalphaolefin particles (just a word to the wise here, no matter how many times you spell this out, the red underlining is all over the place from Word’s SpellCheck, no wonder Bill Gates is going broke). And the rational thought to most of us intelligent, reality watching TV public is “WHAT THE BLEEP?” (that went over my head faster than a 747 at the national cheerleading competition). Actually, what that means is, don’t use synthetic oil as car wax, dishwashing liquid or as a shampoo, unless you want to look like Phyllis Diller, Kojak, or Ilea (from the first Star Trek Movie).

            Oh, and synthetic oils are not recommended in rotary engines. Here’s a little bit of trivia. Did anyone out there know that GM (Generally MadCorp) had built a four-cylinder rotary engine that was going to go into their Corvette advertised as “It sounded like a sewing machine, but out dragged a Mustang? (car, not the horse).” Then Mazda bombed with their first R100 car with the rotary (Wankel in some parts of the world, wanker in many others) engine and the Corvette dudes changed their minds.  

            So why buy synthetics for $9-$19 per bottle, you ask, when “I can get a great buy on a case of twelve jugs of oil at my local grocery store for $2.99”.

            Not likely, you get what you pay for. Ever look closely at a container of oil? They all seem to have this funny starburst type stamp on them. Oil is rated by weight and by compositions needed to meet operating standards in various years of vehicles. Multi-grade oils were originally called All-Season oils. When you look at the can and read 5W30, that means in the winter the oil will pour out at the thickness of a 5 weight rated oil and in the summer with the thickness of a 30 weight rated oil. For many decades we had a few specific rated oils, mainly 5W30, 10W30, 20W50. Lately, with engine tolerances getting tighter and emission standards being raised, we’ve seen the advent of oils as radical as 0W60. Next year they’ll be bringing out 000W120 which will pour out like water when sitting overnight on the surface of Pluto and glug out like maple syrup when orbiting the sun for a week (I guess they’re still trying to sell a quart of oil to NASA at $4 trillion. “Hey I just gotta sell them one bottle and I can retire like granddad”, said Ned Clampett).

            Compositions were first rated, and for decades later, by the API (American Petroleum Institute). Every once in awhile the people there get together to have one of their swanky week-long soirees. Now, being scientists, they do mad scientisty things like put lamp shades on their heads (still a gut buster with that crowd), and decide to establish new oil standards for cars and RVs (wow! Riveting stuff of legends in the cutting edge hydrocarbon field). The current standard is SN - good for cars from 2011. The last standard was SM established in 2004. The one before was SL, for vehicles from 2001. So, if that can you’re holding says something like SD, it’s good for pre-1971 vehicles. In other words, nearly pure oil and not much else. Yup, you definitely get what you pay for.

            But don’t get fooled by just the API ratings, there are others out there now. The newest ILSAC (International Standardization and Approval Committee) ratings are GF5 for 2010 vehicles and older. These are those scientists that weren’t invited to the API annual conventions and you’d think these folks with the wow-knock-their-socks-off name should pretty well have the market sewn up on oil ratings. Nope, here’s where it started to get crazy. Along comes the ACEA (European Automotive Manufacturers Association). Yeah? How does that make ACEA? I asked as well. The Europeans, still upset about the whole synthetic beer/bratwurst thing, and the Americans absconding with their scientists, decided to establish their own ratings.

            Then VW came along establishing their own ratings for their vehicles. The current benchmark is 504.00 for gasoline and 507.00 for diesels. Yes, they are really mad about the beer/bratwurst issue, don’t find lampshade jokes very funny and are trying to confuse the heck out of us.

            Mercedes-Benz then joined the fray with their own ratings MB 229.1 to MB 229.51. Way too confusing to explain in less than 4000 words as these are Very Sophisticated Scientists, who won’t even admit to being coolly upset by the beer/bratwurst issue. Last time I tried to talk about the hilarity of the lampshade stunt they hung up on me. And I’m not even going to mention JASO (Japanese Automotive Operating Standards Agency) or the other automobile companies joining the bandwagon en-masse. (PS no funny jokes about these guys at JASO, they know Karate! And keep ninjas around for party jokes).

            So if you own an RV, or towing any other vehicles with your RV, it would be wise to check with a certified shop to make sure the oil they use is meeting the various spec’s required by your vehicle. If you’re unsure, check your owner’s manual (that’s if you’ve still got it and not, like me, used it for toilet paper when stuck in the back country for four weeks). As for the supermarket oil that’s a steal at $2.99 for a twenty-litre pail? When you consider the cost of your average engine job - between $4,000 and $8,000 - that works out to about $20-$40 dollars for that cheap basically crude oil in a can. Not a bargain after all.

            And as for Jed Clampett, he went to California and bought forty acres in the middle of nowhere, decided to throw a big sign on the side of a hill after his adorable granddaughter Holly was born and the rest is history. Some people are born with horseshoes stuck to every part of their interiors. 

                                                                             

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Tips for Finding Your Bliss in a Turbulent world by Sandy Semerad

            While mourning the senseless killings in Paris  and elsewhere at the hands of terrorists, I've been thinking about peace and these words, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” I heard that song again recently and would like to share some lessons I've learned about achieving blissful peace in my own life.

The most important lesson is, don’t judge others or yourself. There are a myriad of opinions, just as there are many different religions. I try to communicate affably and listen respectfully.

I've also found it’s essential to express gratitude and make a list of blessings and say, “Thank you.”

I enjoy expressing appreciation and looking for ways to compliment and encourage. Encouraging others make me feel good. Thinking positive and expressing gratitude attracts more blessings, I think. Gratitude is a powerful multiplier.

Whenever negative thoughts infect my brain, I recite positive affirmations to negate them. I once heard Oprah suggest this affirmation: “Every time I turn around there’s a check in the mail.”

Louise Hay has several good affirmations on her website. She suggests looking in the mirror and saying, “I love you. I really love you.”  Another one is: “Abundance flows freely through me.”

(I say all of the above and also these: “Millions of readers love my books," "Everyday I become more enlightened and find a way to help others," "I appreciate every moment," "I am confidant and make good choices," "I am loving and forgiving."

Social media is a powerful source and I appreciate the opportunity to interact with friends and promote my books on places like Facebook, but these sites can be addictive. So I try to limit my time there and write more. Television can be another time zapper, although my dog P-Nut likes to watch TV. Dog shows are her favorite. So I sometimes run the picture and turn down the volume.

I like to set aside a few minutes each day to meditate. If done correctly, meditating can bring tranquility. I wrote about meditation in last month’s blog post, how I attempt to erase the negative brain static through meditation and become more trusting, peaceful, loving, giving, kind, respectful of others and confident. I also meditate on my professional goals. Right now I’m working on a sequel to A MESSAGE IN THE ROSES. With my day job, it’s often challenging to find time to write, but I tell myself, as I complete each page, I’m getting closer and closer to the end.

One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn is to avoid negative, judgmental people. I prefer being around positive, happy folks. They’re uplifting.

Exercise can also be uplifting. I realize not everyone enjoys exercise, but I've learned I feel better when I make it a habit. Exercise releases endorphins, our body's natural pain relievers. The latest studies claim we need some form of exercise every day. Forty-five minutes is optimal. I have a Jane Fonda Prime Time, Fit and Strong DVD that’s about 25 minutes. Then I try to walk for twenty minutes, which isn't difficult because I walk P-Nut. She lives in the moment and never fails to lift my mood.

Speaking of mood-lifting events, I like to spend as much time as possible in activities I’m passionate about. I’m passionate about writing, reading, enjoying my loved ones, etc., and I've learned to say, “No” more often. This one word has given me additional time for the activities and people I love.  

I also enjoy day dreaming and visualizing success. Some experts on visualization recommend creating a dream board with pictures and goals. One of my visualizations is picturing my books on the best seller list and seeing them become movies.

But getting back to reality and the need to hunker down, I think it’s important to work hard and do my best. Some days are better than others, of course, but I've discovered if I do my best and don’t complain, I have fewer regrets about what I've accomplished. There’s a famous Zen saying: “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.” This rings true for me.

I hope you've found these ideas helpful. May they bring you more bliss in your life, and as we approach Thanksgiving, I want to thank you for allowing me to share my writing with you. Please know, I'm very grateful.

I wish you love and peace. Peace begins with us.

Please visit my website for more information: www.sandysemerad.com

Here's my latest book: A Message In the Roses

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You can also check out my other books on the Book We Love site:

 http://www.bookswelove.net/authors/semerad-sandy/

12 Pointers on Poinsettia Care by J.Q. Rose

Deadly Undertaking
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‘Tis the season of the year when the transformation occurs from the darkness of winter to the joyful brilliance of colorful lights and decorations of the holidays. The poinsettia plant, introduced to the US by Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US Ambassador to Mexico, remains the all-time favorite of decorators. I know because before I turned to writing full time, my husband, Gardener Ted, and I owned and operated a floral shop, greenhouse, and garden center for almost twenty years. Our top-selling holiday plant was the poinsettia. Today I’m passing along the 10 pointers on poinsettia care we offered our customers.

12 Pointers on Poinsettia Care by J.Q. Rose

Purchasing a poinsettia

The poinsettia flower is
 in the center of the pink leaves
Photo by J.Q. Rose

·         Do you know the beautiful shades of red, pink, and white are not the poinsettia flower? The flowers are located in the center of the colored leaves or bracts. When purchasing, look for buds. The freshest plants have the buds and will last longer than plants with flowers opening or already opened or missing.

·         Check the rest of the plant to be sure leaves are a rich green, not yellowed, wilted, or curled.

Wrap it up

·         In cold areas, your newly purchased plant should be wrapped or sleeved before taking it outside to your car or truck. Poinsettias hate cold drafts.

·         Don’t leave the plant in the vehicle for a long time in the cold weather even if it’s wrapped.

Watering and Fertilizing

A red poinsettia plant, the traditional favorite
Photo by J.Q. Rose

·         When you get home with the plant, immediately unwrap it.

·          Dig your fingers into the soil to see how wet it is. Go about an inch deep.  Poke a hole through the foil wrap or remove the

foil before watering to allow the water to drain.

·         Always set the poinsettia in a tray to catch the water that drains through. After an hour or two, empty the tray of remaining water.  Just like you and me, the roots of the poinsettia don’t like their feet wet all the time.

·         Don’t fertilize while the plant is blooming. To keep the leaves green after blooming, fertilize once a month with a liquid fertilizer.

·         With any plant you have in your house, always feel the soil to determine how wet or dry it is before watering.

The Best Location in your house

·         Poinsettias do well in bright light, but not hot sun. Find a brightly lighted area in your home.

·         Don’t put the plant in a cold window or near a heat vent.

Poisonous?

         Poinsettias have been wrongfully accused of poisoning pets and children. The Pet Poison Helpline  states, “While poinsettias are commonly “hyped” as poisonous plants, they rarely are, and the poisoning is greatly exaggerated.” PetMed  adds “If the leaves are ingested, they will often cause nausea and vomiting, but it would take a large amount of the plant’s material to cause poisoning, and most animals and children will not eat such a large enough amount because of the irritating taste and feel from the sap.” You can be assured the poinsettia can safely claim its place adding a pop of color and beauty to your home or workplace during the holidays.

If you have any questions about caring for your poinsettia plant, please ask in the comments section below. I’d be happy to answer. Do you usually have a poinsettia plant in your home during the holidays? What is your favorite color? (I’m traditional because I prefer red.) Do you have other holiday plants like the Christmas cactus, amaryllis, and cyclamen?)

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About J.Q. Rose

Mystery author J.Q. Rose has been working with flowers most of her life. She began by helping in the family’s funeral business setting up flowers for visitation and

Author J.Q. Rose

funeral services.  Later she and her husband owned and operated a floral shop, greenhouses, and garden center where she designed floral arrangements which included casket sprays, wreaths, and more. In her latest mystery, Deadly Undertaking, her main character is the daughter of a funeral director performing many of the jobs J.Q. knows so well. Visit J.Q. online at the J.Q. Rose, Author site.