The Fabric Wars: Cotton vs Polyester (Or, did you know that polyester is really plastic?)
Fabrics and clothes bring back memories. There's a reason why Cotton used the tagline the fabric of our lives in their commercials. There's a reason why quilts were not only prized for their warmth and purpose in times past, but because they wove a story of memories - from a daughter's first dress, to a baby's first blanket, to a husband's work shirt . . . and then, a single phrase changed my world and set me onto another deep dive . . . polyester is really plastic.
Sep 135 min read
Â
Â
Â
Of Roses, Pine Trees, and Egg Yolks: Old-Fashioned Healing in a Pre-Modern Medicine World
In my upcoming release, The Brooch, my hero comes home from the war with a severely damaged and infected arm. Prior medical help, for army surgeons were not known for the skill, has not only offered no help, but it has actually worsened his condition. His return home brings him to Elizabeth Johns McQueen and her healing hands. She trained under her father, a physician in the British army, who was better than the average army surgeon/barber.
May 1, 20223 min read
Â
Â
Â
Genetic Memories Anyone? (or, my fascination with Daniel Boone . . .)
Recently, someone posted about the old 60s television show Daniel Boone. Of course, there are a number of inaccuracies in the show. Boone wore a felt beaver hat not a coonskin cap (although Davy Crockett wore one). Boonesborough and the surrounding environ looks a LOT different than the television suggests. The Shawnee, and not the Cherokee, populated the Kentucky area. Boone and wife Rebecca had ten children not just two . . .
Apr 12, 20213 min read
Â
Â
Â
Book Review: "Pure as the Lily" by Catherine Cookson
If you have read my previous blogs, or talked to me in person, you know Catherine Cookson is my all-time favorite author. I cycled through every book I could find while in late junior high and early high school. When I went to Canada with my then fiancee to visit his parents, I found more Cookson books I could not find in the states (as she is an English author). I quickly snapped them up, happy as a clam that I had others.
Jul 1, 20184 min read
Â
Â
Â
Book Review: "Blessings," by Anna Quindlen
Blessings is the story of three lost souls - one young, one old, and one abandoned. It is a beautiful tale of the end of lives and the beginning of others, no matter your age.
May 16, 20183 min read
Â
Â
Â
Book Review: "Only the River Runs Free" by Bodie & Brock Thoene
In a short few words - I loved this book!
I have never read the Thoenes (pronounced Tay-Nee) before, but needless to say, I already have the next three books in The Galway Chronicles coming to my local library.
May 1, 20183 min read
Â
Â
Â
Pocketbooks & Pie Crusts
On my last last blog I shared my Chocolate Buttermilk Pie recipe, which is great comfort food even if its not good for your waistline. I mentioned I froze my pie crusts ahead of time so that I always had them handy. Doing so is a great time-saver.
So this week, after several requests, I am sharing my frozen pie crust dough recipe. And, let me say up front, I have no idea where I got this recipe from, so credit, unfortunately, cannot be given.
Jan 17, 20183 min read
Â
Â
Â
Alligator . . . er, Chocolate Buttermilk Pie
I love poems and silly rhymes. Can you tell? And unfortunately, I know LOTS of them after teaching school for a hundred years and then raising two boys.
I also love pies. Now that I have gone back to making dough balls for my crust and freezing them, I can have them more often.
Or, not so often as the case, and my waistline, may be.
I also have this penchant for old recipes - Jeff Davis Pie, Watergate Salad (which I wrote about here), Buttermilk Pie.
Jan 3, 20183 min read
Â
Â
Â
