Carla Neggers's Blog, page 9
April 6, 2020
An Irish castle walled garden in spring
It might be mud season on our Vermont hilltop but elsewhere spring flowers are in bloom. Like so many of us, I’m an armchair traveler at the moment, but a few years ago we arrived in Ireland early on an April morning and wandered in a walled castle garden filled with spring flowers. It was snowing in Vermont when we took these photos. It snowed here last week, too. Hm. Enjoy!
It might be mud season on our hilltop…
It might be mud season on our Vermont hilltop but elsewhere spring flowers are in bloom. Like so many of us, I’m an armchair traveler at the moment, but a few years ago we arrived in Ireland early on an April morning and wandered in a walled castle garden filled with spring flowers. It was snowing in Vermont when we took these photos. It snowed here last week, too. Hm. Enjoy!
April 4, 2020
Irish walks
With gyms and just about everything closed, many of us are tying on our walking shoes and heading outside for a wander. I love to walk, whether at home in New England or on our travels. I’ve come up with countless scenes and descriptions for my books while I’m off in the Irish hills. Here are photos of some of my favorite trails. I find them inspiring and soothing during this challenging time, and I hope you do, too.
April 1, 2020
Molasses Cookies Recipe
Are you baking while staying at home? Below is my favorite recipe for molasses cookies using simple ingredients I typically have on hand. This is one of the recipes included in A Knights Bridge Christmas, a hopeful contemporary story with a connection to World War II.
Molasses Cookies
3/4 cup vegetable shortening or butter (I use butter)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. each salt; ground cloves; ground ginger
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
Melt shortening or butter and let cool. Add sugar, molasses and egg. In a medium bowl, sift or stir with a fork th… Read More
March 21, 2020
Welcome, Spring!
Spring is here. It’s a welcome time of renewal, rebirth and new beginnings…and green grass and flowers. We had snow last week and more snow on the way this week, but I see signs of spring everyone here on our Vermont hilltop. I love these photos we took last spring in Scotland (Edinburgh and Isle of Skye). I hope you enjoy them. 
Take care, everyone!
Carla… Read More
February 14, 2020
Happy Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day! Chocolates, jewelry, a candlelit dinner…I love them all, but I have a special place in my heart for flowers. We were in Edinburgh in late May/early June, in time for the famous blue poppies at the Royal Botanic Garden. They’re popular, and for good reason!
The gardens are also well-know for their rhododendrons, many still in bloom when we were there. 
Maybe I’m drawn to flowers on Valentine’s Day because I’m usually on our snowy hilltop in Vermont! It’s beautiful, but I do love the colors of Valentine’s Day, whether o… Read More
January 22, 2020
Running and Writing: Training for the Covered Bridges Half-Marathon!
Do you do new year’s resolutions? I don’t, and I’ve read many articles that say it’s just as well. Most resolutions are abandoned before Valentine’s Day.
However…
My daughter and I signed up to run the Covered Bridges Half Marathon in June!
It’s an event on the calendar not a resolution, but it will take some doing to get myself ready. This will be our fourth CBHM and my fifth half-marathon since I started running longer distances a few years ago. That fifth one was in Dingle, Ireland, an amazing experience with breathtaking scenery, even in heavy r… Read More
January 15, 2020
BOOK NEWS: Classic Mill Brook Trilogy now in eBook!
Early in my writing career, I penned a number of short romance novels, stories with lots of humor, adventures and often a touch of mystery. They went out of print and were never in eBook. Readers who want to read or reread them have had to scour garage sales and such.
No more!
I’m delighted the Mill Brook trilogy is now available in eBook*, with only light editing on my part. Finders Keepers (Book 1) is now on sale, and Within Reason (Book 2) follows on February 4th) and That Stubborn Yankee (Book 3) on February 25th.
All three books are set in Vermont and Tennessee, two places I know well. We live in … Read More
December 13, 2019
Merry Christmas from Vermont!
Christmas is fast approaching. Lively, busy days for so many of us!
We just bought our Vermont-grown tree and plan to decorate it on Sunday. Off to Christmas afternoon tea tomorrow at the Inn on Boltwood in Amherst, MA, an annual event with my mother, my youngest sister (I have three sisters!), my daughter and my two young granddaughters.
Be sure to take a moment to enter my holiday contest. (US only). I chose the calendar on a recent trip to Ireland. It features watercolor illustrations of Irish hedgerows and farmland. Aren’t they beautiful?
The winner will also receive signed hardcove… Read More
November 15, 2019
BOOK NEWS: First in two series now on sale
Do you like to read a series in order? I don’t always start a series at the beginning, but once I’m into the characters and their stories, I love going back and reading the books in order, especially starting with the first one. Now the first books in my Sharpe & Donovan suspense series and my Swift River Valley contemporary romance series are on sale for just $1.99.
Two people, isolated by their pasts. An obsessive killer who will force them together. Welcome to the Sharpe & Donovan Series!
Beneath the surface lie the greatest tr… Read More
