Beth Trissel's Blog, page 8

Furbaby Friday with Brenda Whiteside!

I’m glad to have fellow Wild Rose Press Author Brenda Whiteside with us to share her wonderful dog memories and western romance, The Deep Well of Love and Murder (The Love and Murder Series Book 5).

Brenda: I’ve been lucky to share the life of a host of cats and dogs over my lifetime. The luckiest period of time was a ten year stretch when Rusty lived with us. He was by far the best animal friend FDW and I ever had. The day we walked into PetSmart for cat food and walked out with a rescue puppy, was a surprise and a great day. That puppy looked at me with big eyes rimmed in deep brown, and I fell in love.

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Rusty came from the Navajo Indian Reservation in Northern Arizona. His mama was a Red Heeler cattle dog and his daddy was a stranger passing through the res. Judging from Rusty’s long fur, streaks of gold, and personality traits, we’re pretty certain that stranger was a Golden Retriever.

Not only was Rusty an affectionate doggie, but he was also the “smartest dog in the world.” He helped me unload groceries from the car carrying in packages of paper goods and other sundries. Then, I would stand on a stool, and he would hand me rolls of paper towels and toilet paper to store on the shelves. When he saw me carrying dirty clothes from the hampers to the laundry room, he’d chomp some pieces and follow me. Every morning, he’d wait at the door to go out for the newspaper. He was FDW’s favorite fishing buddy. He’d jump with excitement whenever my husband had a fish on the line. But he’d also scold him when he went too long in between catches.

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He’s been gone for three years and we still miss him.

Rusty has a role in my latest release, The Deep Well of Love and Murder, series book five. He was the inspiration for Perro, a Red Heeler mix and the best friend of Randy Silva. Perro was born unable to utter any sound and his hearing is limited to Randy’s high-pitched whistle, but his other senses are heightened. He warns Randy of danger more than once. I had fun including Rusty/Perro in this story.

Blurb:

After an abusive childhood and bad marriage, Laura Katz has finally found a home, stability…and possibly love. But her blissful refuge as nanny on the Meadowlark Ranch, miles from Flagstaff, shatters when her ex is released from prison, determined to reclaim her.

Randy Silva, the Argentine foreman, has plans for his own ranch, but a nasty land grab is underway. While the battle escalates, Laura steals his heart, but there are outsiders who stand in their way. He’s in a fight for his land, and the woman he wants by his side.

Stakes are high, as the attacks on Randy and his ranch draw blood. While the vengeful ex-husband stalks Laura, a mob-backed land developer teams with a desperate gambler. Randy can’t be sure where the next attack will come from—or who will be caught in the crossfire.

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“You let me be the judge of what messes I choose in my life.” His hands twitched at his sides, longing to hold her and stifle her anger. He narrowed his eyes and stared deeper into hers instead. “Taking care of your ex is a mess I look forward to.”

“This is my mess, not yours.” Her tone grew more combative. “I’ve handled what I’ve been dealt, and I’ll continue handling whatever gets thrown at me.”

“I don’t see it that way.” He kept his voice level, but hard edged. His own emotions, convincing her while fear of losing her, hammered his self-control. “You’re locking me out. Why? Because you think you aren’t allowed to be happy?”

Her mouth pinched in a tight line, and she glared at him. “Randy—”

“I think it’s about damned time you stopped blaming your mother, your ex, or whoever for your unhappiness.”

She whirled away, ready to flee, but he couldn’t stop now. He needed her and had to make her see how much she needed him. “Don’t be afraid of me, Laura Jane.” He shuffled a half-step closer.

“I’m not afraid.” She faced him again. “But I don’t need you to tell me how to run my life, if that’s what you think you can do.”

Perro jumped and planted his paws on Randy’s hip, panting heavily. “For Pete’s sake, Perro—”

Laura’s brow furrowed. “Do you smell that?”

“What?” As soon as he’d asked, the hot, smoky scent assaulted his senses.

Fire.

Buy Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Well-Love-Murder-Book-ebook/dp/B07CLRX7Y8

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-deep-well-of-love-and-murder-brenda-whiteside/1129082442?ean=2940162047827

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-deep-well-of-love-and-murder/id1376415644?mt=11

https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/5877-the-deep-well-of-love-and-murder.html

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-deep-well-of-love-and-murder

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Brenda_Whiteside_The_Deep_Well_of_Love_and_Murder?id=vKFfDwAAQBAJ

[image error]Bio:

Brenda and her husband are gypsies at heart having lived in six states and two countries. Currently, they split their time between the Lake Roosevelt basin in Central Arizona and the pines in the north. Wherever Brenda opens her laptop, she spends most of her time writing stories of discovery and love entangled with suspense.

Visit Brenda at www.brendawhiteside.com

Or on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendawhitesid2

She blogs on the 9th and 24th of every month: http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com

She blogs about life’s latest adventure and has fun guests on her personal blog: https://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003V15WF8

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3972045.Brenda_Whiteside

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/brenda-whiteside

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brendawhitesideauthor/

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave Brenda a comment!

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Many of My Books In Audio! #Audiobooks

If you enjoy listening to stories, I have a growing number of audiobooks. More  will soon be added to my author page at Audible and Amazon. The latest of my books now in audio is ghostly Time Travel romance, Somewhere My Lady (Book One, Ladies In Time). Narrator Sarah King did a super job.

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Story Blurb:

Is he real or is he a ghost?

Lorna Randolph is hired for the summer at Harrison Hall in Virginia, where Revolutionary War reenactors provide guided tours of the elegant old home. She doesn’t expect to receive a note and a kiss from a handsome young man who then vanishes into mist.

Harrison Hall itself has plans for Lorna – and for Hart Harrison, her momentary suitor and its 18th-century heir.

Past and present are bound by pledges of love, and modern science melds with old skills and history as Harrison Hall takes Lorna and Hart through time in a race to solve a mystery and save Hart’s life before the Midsummer Ball.

Listen to Somewhere My Lady at: https://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-My-Lady-Ladies-Time/dp/B07FDJYJJ2

The White Lady, Book Two Ladies in Time Series, is also a recent audio addition. Narrator Susan Marlowe did an excellent job.

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Story Blurb:

Avery Dunham has always been ready to follow her friend, time-traveling wizard Ignus Burke, on incredible adventures. This time, though, she has serious misgivings. It’s just one week before Christmas, but she cannot get him to change his mind. The usually cool and collected magic-wielding leader is wholly obsessed by the portrait of the White Lady whom he is bent on rescuing.

Almost as soon as they begin their journey, it becomes clear their mission is a trap. Avery was right: this adventure is not going to be like any other.

Listen to The White Lady at: https://www.amazon.com/White-Lady-Ladies-Time-Book/dp/B07CGPG29C

Another new addition to my audio fold is historical mystery/adventure romance Traitor’s Legacy, sequel to Enemy of the King. Both novels are set during the high drama of the American Revolution. Narrator Lisa Valdini is excellent in this audiobook.

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Story Blurb: 1781. On opposite sides of the War of Independence, British Captain Jacob Vaughan and Claire Monroe find themselves thrust together by chance and expediency.

Captain Vaughan comes to a stately North Carolina manor to catch a spy. Instead, he finds himself in bedlam: The head of the household is an old man ravaged by madness, the one sane male of the family is the very man he is hunting, and the household is overseen by his beguiling sister, Claire.

Torn between duty, love, and allegiances, yearning desperately for peace, will Captain Vaughan and Claire Monroe forge a peace of their own against the vagaries of war and the betrayal of false friends?

Listen to Traitor’s Legacy at: https://www.amazon.com/Traitors-Legacy/dp/B07BH7WC4P/

A wonderful British narrator, Rebecca McKernan, did a fantastic job with my English historical romance, Into the Lion’s Heart.

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Story Blurb:

Will the English captain save a woman the French Revolution would devour when he knows the truth?

Georgian England, 1789: As the French Revolution rages, the English nobility offer sanctuary to many a refugee. Captain Dalton Evans arrives in Dover to meet a distant cousin, expecting to see a spoiled aristocrat. Instead, he’s conquered by the simplicity of his new charge. And his best friend Thomas Archer isn’t immune to her artless charm, either.

French émigré Cecile Beaumont didn’t choose to travel across the Channel. And she certainly didn’t expect that impersonating her own mistress would introduce her to a most mesmerizing man. Now she must play out the masquerade, or risk life, freedom – and her heart.

Listen to Into the Lion’s Heart At: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Lions-Heart-Love-Letters/dp/B079N77LVY

Poignantly sweet, ghostly Christmas Romance, Somewhere The Bells Ring, is a wonderful audio book. Narrator Tom Jordan is fabulous.

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Story Blurb:

Caught with pot in her dorm room, Bailey Randolph is exiled to a relative’s ancestral home in Virginia to straighten herself out. Banishment to Maple Hill is dismal, until a ghost appears requesting her help. Bailey is frightened but intrigued. Then her girlhood crush, Eric Burke, arrives and suddenly Maple Hill isn’t so bad.

To Eric, wounded in Vietnam, his military career shattered, this homecoming feels no less like exile. But when he finds Bailey at Maple Hill, her fairy-like beauty gives him reason to hope – until she tells him about the ghost haunting the house. Then he wonders if her one experiment with pot has made her crazy.

As Bailey and Eric draw closer, he agrees to help her find a long-forgotten Christmas gift the ghost wants. But will the magic of Christmas be enough to make Eric believe – in Bailey and the ghost – before the Christmas bells ring?

Review for Somewhere the Bells Ring at Audible: “Well done!

This isn’t my usual genre, but I found myself liking the book more than I thought I would. The narration was excellent and really drew me into the story. I recommend the book.”

Listen to Somewhere the Bells Ring at: https://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-Bells-Ring-Time-Book/dp/B075GWRZ1G/

Another super audiobook is The Hunter’s Moon, Book One in my Young Adult Fantasy Series Secret Warrior. Narrator Victoria Brodski did a sensational job.

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Story Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Morgan Daniel has been in the witness protection program most of her life. But The Panteras have caught up with her and her younger brother. Her car is totaled, she’s hurt, and the street gang is closing in when wolves with glowing eyes appear out of nowhere and chase away the killers. Then a very cute guy who handles a bow like Robin Hood emerges from the woods and takes them to safety at his fortress-like home. And that’s just the first sign that Morgan and her brother have entered a hidden world filled with secrets…

The Hunter’s Moon has a super audio review: 5.0 out of 5 stars

“Great on Audio

ByR. Grabowskion May 15, 2018

Format: Audible Audiobook

This was a fun read… or listen. It was actually one of the first YA books I listened to on audio.

The beginning of the book pulled me right in with a scene with 16-year-old Morgan and her 10-year-old brother, Jimmy. It reminded me a lot of the relationship Meg has with Charles Wallace in a Wrinkle and Time because Jimmy is also very smart. (He was actually one of my favorite characters.) I loved how the author created a beautiful world in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia where some people can change into werewolves. The focus of the book was more on Morgan’s curse and her future. The real action will start in book 2 as this was only a novella. It kept me hooked with interesting characters and a unique take on werewolves.”

Listen to The Hunter’s Moon at: https://www.amazon.com/Hunters-Moon-Secret-Warrior/dp/B076TMHF6Z/

All of these books are published by The Wild Rose Press and the audios are done through the company.  I could seriously use more reviews. If you are an avid listener of audiobooks, please give these a listen and leave me one.

Visit My Page At Audible:

https://www.audible.com/author/Beth-Trissel/B002BLLAJ6

My Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B002BLLAJ6

Furbaby Friday with Sandy James!

I am very glad to welcome Sandy James to the blog to share her dear little furbaby with us. I have followed Sandy on Facebook ever since she got this little dog and am touched to share the deeply moving story behind him.

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Sandy:  April 2015

I needed a puppy as much as I needed a proverbial hole in my head. My husband Jeff had just finished a twelve-dose round of chemotherapy to fight his colon cancer. He’d taken disability retirement from his job because of the toll cancer had taken on his body, but he was hopeful that he would regain some of his strength and be able to start living his life again. My concern was that he said he was lonely when I was at work and it was sometimes a battle to get him to do simple things like go on walks. My solution?

Max.

Jeff and I had lost our schnauzer, Carter, the year before. He’d been “my” dog, tagging around after me from the moment I brought that little black ball of fur into my home. When his kidneys failed at age fourteen, it broke my heart. I held him in my arms as he died, and I swore I’d never get another dog. Ever. Since Jeff got sick not too long after Carter passed, we really had no desire to have a new pet.

But then Jeff was lonely. He’d often told me how much he’d wished Carter loved him as much as he loved me, and I started thinking… (Something that gets me in tons of trouble.) Maybe Jeff needed a dog to keep him company…one that would be “his” since the pup would be spending more time with Jeff than with me. And since we both loved small, smart dogs, I started searching around for a good schnauzer breeder.

I found the best—Riggs Miniature Schnauzers in northern Indiana. Daphne, the wonderful lady who is Riggs Miniature Schnauzers, is absolutely amazing, so much so that her puppies are reserved a year or more in advance. Jeff was reluctant, but he loved the pictures of her dams and sires, so he acquiesced and we put a deposit down on a pup that would be born in the spring and we waited.

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In August, I got a call from Daphne. One of her litters had been larger than expected, and she wanted to know if we wanted to be bumped up to get our puppy sooner. Of course we did! So over fall break, we drove up to her home and picked up our Max.

Sweet Lord, I’d forgotten what puppies were like! Carter had been a very “chill” dog, and Max was about as far from that as a pup could get. Max had two speeds: all out or sound asleep. There simply wasn’t anything in between. But we tried to adapt and joked about how we were both probably too old to have gotten a puppy. At least we could tag team, which allowed us to (barely) keep up with Max’s energy level.

[image error]Then our entire world was turned upside down when Jeff’s cancer returned.

Through more rounds of chemotherapy and then radiation, Max was always there to snuggle with Jeff or with me when we were sad or just needed a bit of emotional support. He licked more tears from my cheeks than I can even remember. I think animals are amazingly empathetic, and Max seemed in tune with us. He’d be quiet and cuddle when we needed that or would do something silly if we needed a laugh. Even as Jeff’s health worsened and we realized that he was going to lose his battle with that bastard disease, Max was there to sit in Jeff’s lap or lie beside him on the couch.

I lost Jeff in September of 2016. Max kept me from feeling so damned alone. As I tried to find a new life for myself as a single instead of as a wife, my wonderful salt-and-pepper dog always let me know that he was there for me.

I don’t know what I’d do without him.

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(Sandy and Max)

About Sandy James

Sandy lives in a quiet suburb of Indianapolis, where she teaches psychology. Published through Forever Yours, Carina Press, and indie-published, she has been an Amazon #1 Bestseller multiple times and has won numerous awards including two HOLT Medallions.

For more on Sandy visit her website: https://sandyjames.com/

Follow Sandy’s Amazon Author Page:

https://www.amazon.com/Sandy-James/e/B002BLZOFW/

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave Sandy a comment.

Herbal Preparations by 18th Century Botanist Sir John Hill

18th century botanist Sir John Hill, also an apothecary, playwright, actor, novelist, and journalist, was quite an accomplished gentleman. Sir John is also among the most vilified men in Georgian England for his attacks on the Royal Society, with whom he was at odds. Disappointed by the society’s refusal to elect him a fellow, coupled with his disapproval of their scientific standards, Hill wrote many strongly worded reviews of the lauded society. And they weren’t the only ones to come under fire by Hill, outspoken to a fault. He was attacked in turn, but onto his charming and informative work, The Family Herbal.

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Hill states his herbal is intended to inform those who live in the country and are desirous of being useful to their families and friends, or charitable to the poor in relief of their disorders, of the virtues of wild plants, and describes his book as, ‘An account of all those English plants which are remarkable for their virtues, and of the drugs which are produced by vegetables of other countries: with their descriptions and their uses, as proved by experience.’

He prefaces his herbal with detailed explanations as to which part of the plant is used and the steps in preparing the desired form for administering its healing properties.. Fascinating stuff. I love Hill’s many references to the ‘charitable lady’ who is concocting herbal medicines for her family or community and he gives painstaking instructions and recipes for making juices, infusions, decoctions, distilled waters, cordials, tinctures, conserves, syrups, oxymels, vinegar of squills, ointments, plaisters (plasters), essential oils…[image error]

He says, “The virtues of different plants residing principally in certain parts of them, and those different according to the nature of the herb, these several parts are to be selected, and the rest left: and these are in some to be used fresh and just gathered; in others, either necessity, or the natural preference, make it proper to dry and preserve them.

In some only the leaves are to be used; in others the whole plant cut from the root: in others the flowers only; in others the fruits; in others the seeds; in some the roots; and of some trees the barks; some the woods; and only the excrescences of others: while some vegetables are to be used entire, whether fresh gathered, or dried and preserved.

When the whole plants dies, (in winter), the root is seldom of any virtue; but when the root remains for many years and sends up new shoots in the spring, it commonly has great virtue.”

He’s speaking of perennials and recommends taking the leaves growing from the root rather than the stalk, “for they are more juicy, and for many purposes much better.”

[image error]“When the juice of the leaves of any plant is required, these are the leaves from which it is to be pressed…if fresh, they should be cut up close to the root, and only shook clean, not washed; for in many, that carries off a part of the virtue: they are to be cut into the pot. If they are to be dried, the same caution is to be used…when herbs are to be used fresh, it is best not to take them entire, but only to cut off the tops; three or four inches long…the tops of the plants thus gathered are always preferable to the whole plant for immediate use.

When the entire herb is to be dried, the season for gathering it is when the flowers are budding; and the time of day must be when the morning dew is dried away…for if they be cut wet, herbs will not dry well. And if they be cut at noon day, when the sun has made the herbs flag, they will not have their full power.”

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He recommends either hanging the herbs in bunches to dry in an airy room in good, not damp, weather, or spreading them upon the floor, tables, (or drying racks) and turning them until they are ready. Good air circulation is key. Then he suggests storing them between sheets of paper in drawers. Closets and cupboards would also work. Make certain you do not store them where it is damp or overly hot. He advises drying flowers, such as lavender, rosemary, and red rosebuds in their prime in much the same method and storing them. However, he adds many flowers used in medicine are best fresh, but as they are available for only a short time of year, the best method of preserving them is in the form of syrups and conserves.

[image error]Regarding seeds, these are all to be used dry and gathered when perfectly ripe. Among the roots, he says, “a great many are to be used fresh, but a greater number are best dried. The best season for gathering roots for drying is in the earlier part of the spring…when the leaves are just going to bud: the juices are rich, fresh, and full.”

He directs that roots are to be wiped clean, but not washed, and prepared for drying. Depending on the kind and size, they may be sliced cross-wise and dried on hair cloth (wiry fabric woven especially from horsehair or camel’s hair) stretched across a frame, frequently turned, and thoroughly dried before storing. The juicier roots are to be strung upon a line to dry by drawing a needle threaded with a small twine through them, after they’ve been cut length-wise, quartered, and the heads cut off. If the root has a hard woody center, this is to be discarded.

“The barks of trees make but a small part of English drugs, and most are best fresh.” But Hill goes on to say, they may be preserved and will retain their virtues when dried by cutting them into moderate pieces and stringing them up in the same manner as the roots.

[image error]“There is no form of medicines sent from the apothecary, which may not be prepared from the herbs of our own growth in the same manner. Electuaries (medicinal pastes incorporated with sweeteners to hide the taste) may be made with the powders of these barks, roots, and seeds, with the conserve of flowers, and of the tops of fresh herbs; and syrups, made from their juices and infusions…”

“Juices are to be expressed from (fresh) leaves or roots; and in order to do this, they are first to be beaten in a mortar.” He particularly recommends this method, but cautions, “the juices may have an ill taste, or be cold upon the stomach, or otherwise disagree with it, there are methods to be used to make them sit better upon it. Allow the herb juice, fresh drawn, to settle and grow clear: a little sugar may be added in beating the herb.” Or the juice of a Seville orange. To the roots, he suggests adding a little white wine in the bruising, also a little sugar and powdered ginger.

[image error]“Infusions are naturally to be mentioned after the juices, for they are in many cases used to supply their place. Juices can only be obtained from fresh plants, and there are times of the year when the plants are not to be had in that state.” He goes on to recommend recourse to those plants that have been dried and preserved, either by yourself or purchased from the shop. Cut the desired herb into pieces and pour hot water over it to extract the medicinal qualities. *Infusions may also be made from fresh herbs. “Infusions are of two kinds. They are either prepared in quantity to be drank cold; or they are drank as they are made, in the manner of tea. This manner is best, but people will not be prevailed upon to do it, unless the taste of the herb be agreeable; for the flavor is much stronger hot, than it is cold.” He suggests a little sugar.

To prepare a cold infusion to be given over a period of time: “A stone jar is to be fitted with a close cover; the herb, whether fresh or dried, is to be cut to pieces; and when the jar has been scalded out with hot water (I assume to sterilize it), it is to be put in: boiling water is then to be poured upon it; and the top is to be fixed on; it is thus to stand for four, five, six hours, or the whole night, according to the nature of the ingredient, and then poured off, clear.”

More of some plant is required for some infusions than others: “For the most part, three quarters of an ounce of a dried plant, or two ounces of the fresh gathered.” Again, he says a little sugar or white wine will help the medicine go down, and possibly a little lemon juice if available. *Avoid the use of metal in preparing infusions, except for boiling the water.

[image error]“Decoctions are contrived to answer the purpose of infusions upon plants which are of so firm a texture that they will not easily yield forth their useful parts. In these, the ingredients are to be boiled in the water.” In an infusion, the boiling water is poured over the plant, like brewing tea, while a decoction requires boiling the ingredients to extract their properties. He says, “In general, leaves, flowers, and entire plants whether fresh or dried, are used in infusions; the roots and bark in decoctions.” So decoctions are for the tougher materials. When fresh roots are used, he advises first cutting them into thin slices. Fresh bark should be shaved down to better prepare it.

[image error]When dry ingredients are used, the roots and bark are best pounded to pieces. Herbs and flowers (if part of the mixture) are best added toward the end of the decoction, requiring less time. “Let the ingredients of the decoction stand in cold water for twelve hours, before it is set on the fire, and then it should be heated gradually, and afterwards kept boiling gently as long as necessary: and this is to be proportioned to the nature of the ingredients. Generally, a quarter of an hour is sufficient, sometimes much longer is necessary. They are to be strained off while they are hot, pressing them hard, and the liquor set by to cool: when they are thoroughly cold, they are to be poured off clear from the settlement, for they always become clear as they cool, and sweetened with a little sugar. Also, it is proper to add to them a little white wine, as to the infusions.”

[image error]Distilled Waters: In short, these are herbs, or spices, that have been distilled (in an actual still which Hill assumes you have on hand) either with water alone or the addition of spirit (he recommends ‘molasses spirit’ which is rum made from molasses). The ‘waters’ with spirits are referred to as cordials. One recipe calls for three pounds of dried mint put into the still with four gallons of water and two gallons to be distilled off. Cinnamon water is a cordial made with a pound of cinnamon, a gallon of water and a gallon of spirit, with one gallon to be drawn off, or distilled. Both the mint water and cinnamon cordial are recommended for sickness in the stomach, and the list of recipes goes on for treating various complaints.

Some additional ones mentioned are: pennyroyal water for treating hysterics and to promote the menses (possibly the woman is hysterical because she suspects an illicit pregnancy), aniseed water for soothing colic and lavender water for palsy. The ‘charitable lady’ is expected to keep an assortment of curative waters, cordials, and tinctures at the ready, “for a tincture will contain more or less of the virtue of every one of these (plants) and be convenient, where powder or decoction could not be given.”

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To make a tincture (given in drops): “Two ounces of the ingredient is to be cut to thin slices, or bruised in a mortar, and put into a quart of spirit; it is to stand a fortnight in a place a little warm, and be often shook; at the end of this time, it is to be taken out, strained off, and made to pass through a funnel, lined with whitish brown paper, and put up with the name of the ingredient.”

Hill advises keeping the tinctures of many roots on hand. He also gives recipes for a making variety of tinctures from imported ingredients including cardamom seeds, cinnamon, ginger, long pepper (also called Indian long pepper, is a flowering vine cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a seasoning), dried orange peel, myrrh, saffron, camphire (an old spelling of camphor)…and the list goes on.

Not to neglect Hill’s in-depth instruction for the preparation of conserves, syrups, ointments and plaisters (plasters), adding that bruised herb leaves make the best plaisters. (*His spelling)

[image error]Conserves are made of the tender tops of herbs beaten up with three times their weight in sugar. In a similar way, the flowers of rosemary, mallows, archangel, lavender, and red rose buds may be made into conserves. Hill mentions conserves made of rosehips and sloes (also used in making sloe gin). He says to gather fully ripe hips and set them by in the cellar until soft, then lay the hips on the back of a large hair sieve with a dish placed underneath. They are to be broken with the hand or a wooden pestle and rubbed about until all the soft matter is forced through the cloth, leaving the seeds and skins behind. The pulp is beaten with twice its weight in sugar. Sloes are gathered when moderately ripe. These are set over the fire in water until they are softened, but not until the skins burst. Then they are to be laid upon a sieve and the soft matter driven through. A conserve is made by beating this pulp with three times its weight in sugar.

“Syrups are made of many ingredients: they may be made of any infusion with sugar added to it in a due quantity.” He says, “the liquor (liquid) of which a syrup is to be made may be the juice of some herb or fruit, or a decoction, or an infusion; whichever it be, let it stand until quite clear; then to every wine pint of it, add a pound and three quarters loaf of sugar. First beat to a powder: put the sugar and the liquor together into an earthen pan that will go into a large saucepan; put water in the saucepan and set it over the fire. Let the pan stand in it til the sugar is perfectly melted, scumming it all the time; then as soon as it is cold, it may be put up for use and will keep the year round without danger.” He also refers to using honey instead of sugar for some syrups.

[image error]His recipe for ‘Honey of roses’ sounds particularly delightful.

“Cut the white heels from some red rose buds, and lay them to dry in a place where there is a draught of air; when they are dried, put half a pound of them into a stone jar, and pour on them three pints of boiling water; stir them well, and let them stand twelve hours; then press off the liquor (liquid) and when it has settled, add to it five pounds of honey; boil it well, and when it is of the consistence of thick syrup, put it by for use. It is good against mouth sores, and on many other occasions.” (Which means it has many other uses.)

Onto recipes for oxymels (a mixture of honey, water, vinegar, and spice, boiled to a syrup). Hill favors an oxymel of garlic prepared with fennel and caraway seeds and honey. Vinegar of squills (lily-like plants) made with vinegar and honey, and the garlic oxymel, are both recommended for asthma.

The simplest ointments are made with herbs and hog’s lard. The lard is melted and the herbs are chopped to pieces and thrown into it. They are boiled until the leaves begin to feel crisp, then the lard is strained off. Hill also lists exotic bases for unguents such as oils, wax, resin, and gives his favorite combinations. Some include pitch and turpentine.

[image error]“Of the same nature with the ointments, are, in some degree, the oils made by infusion of herbs and flowers in common oil.” Which means, essential oils are prepared in a similar manner to ointments. For example, “Oil of elder is made of a pound of elder flowers, which are to be put into a quart of olive oil, and boiled til they are crisp, and the oil is to be strained off.”

Hill adds several more ‘waters’ he considers essential: Lime, blue, and alum, with recipes.

For a julep, he recommends six ounces of one of the ‘simple waters’, two ounces of one of the compound waters, or those made with spirit, two drams of syrup, and fifty drops of a tincture. “Thus for an hysteric julep, let the simple water be pennyroyal, the strong water the strong pennyroyal, the syrup that of saffron, and the tincture of castor.” *Please note, the use of this much pennyroyal concerns me given the medical cautions surrounding strong infusions of this herb, so bear that in mind.

He confides, the apothecaries will not be pleased with his disclosing “the mysteries of their profession, but the public good is of more consequence than their pleasure.”

And there you have it!

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Furbaby Friday with Karen Docter!

I’m thrilled to have the fabulous Karen Docter here to share her wonderful furbaby rescue and gripping romantic suspense, Killing Secrets (Thorne’s Thorns Book 1).

I Never By Karen Docter

You know that word you should never say…never?

I said I’d never give in to another dog in the house. Two is enough…right? I believe I even said, at one point, that one dog is enough. That memory is a bit vague. After all, we tend to like big dogs and there’s just so much tripping over the Great Pyrenees or the Labrador or the American Boxer you can do without losing your mind and balance. The word move is not generally in their vocabulary. I think, in dog, it translates to walk between my legs. I’m too short for their translation.

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But I digress.

When we lost our Great Pyrenees, our lab went into a decline. Piper seriously grieved over the loss of her best friend and we were worried about her health, so we decided she needed a new playmate. We adopted my daughter’s 2-year-old boxer, Mikka. They were already playdate friends. Our pet lives were full again. We’ve never (there’s that word again) had more than two dogs at one time so I figured we were safe from temptation for the foreseeable future. We’d never add another dog to the mix.

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Famous last words.

I’m usually the soft touch. My husband can say no fairly easily, but I’m blaming him for the third dog to enter the house. Okay, I’m the one who carried Tucker through the door. Still. Husband’s fault!

I was minding my own business, happily working on my latest book. My husband had gone across the street to visit with our neighbor and his guests from Oklahoma. (We knew them, had even gone on vacation with them for the last neighborhood ride. We all have motorcycles. Ours is bright yellow and called Bumblebee, a whole ‘nother story!) He’s gone five minutes, I swear, and comes rushing in the front door and tells me I have to come see this puppy they brought with them from Oklahoma.

Following, with him talking a mile a minute about how cute he is, yada-yada, I was halfway across the street when it hit me, “We’re getting a new puppy!” So, when I met little Tucker I was still trying to wrap my head around where my husband was leading me. My resistance was down. It’s the only explanation. The next thing I know, our friend thrust this week old, maybe 10-day old (I can’t remember, it’s all a blur) bundle of fluff and cuteness, his eyes barely opened, into my hands.

[image error](Teeny baby Tucker. Such cuteness!)

I was done. I was in love. I didn’t put him down again even after I carried him through our front door. “Never” became a leaf on the wind the moment I heard his story.

Tucker’s mom, a border collie, was run over when the litter was barely a day old. Her owners didn’t even realize she’d delivered her puppies until they heard them crying later that night. My friends took one of the pups to foster him. I didn’t know at the time they brought Tucker to Colorado with us in mind as his new parents. We’ve since forgiven them.

He was still being bottle fed and they offered to take him back to Oklahoma with them until he was weaned but I couldn’t let him out of my sight. I have to say, despite the fact I said I knew what I was getting myself into, I wasn’t quite ready for the reality of bottle feeding a puppy every two hours or bathing him as often as his mother would have or weaning him or….well, you get the picture.

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I don’t think I’ll ever (variation of never that might come back and bite me in the fanny someday) take another puppy that young again, but I wouldn’t have missed Tucker for the world. We have a special relationship with him that we didn’t have with any of the others who were weaned first. My husband and I, and the two older dogs, are his littermates.

He’s over two years old now and really attached to all of us, including my new daughter-in-law who moved in downstairs. I think he’s in love with her, to be truthful. He runs downstairs to be with her whenever she’s home and has even been known to push his way between her and my son. We may lose Tucker when they move out because I’m not sure he won’t whine for his new girlfriend—he whines incessantly when he knows she’s home but he can’t get to her—but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Until then, I can honestly say that we’ll never add another dog to the household. It’s against the law in our town to have more than three dogs. Now, I just need to keep my husband from visiting the neighbors without me. ~

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Beth: Karen, I love Tucker’s story! I have two cats who were abandoned as kittens that I raised from infancy and am also especially close to.

Now for Karen’s exciting romantic suspense!

Killing Secrets (Thorne’s Thorns Book 1) by K.L. Docter Blurb:

Some secrets are better left dead.

Rachel James’ ex-husband is released from prison determined to reclaim her and her little girl — the child is his key to controlling the James fortune. Frightened, Rachel flees to Denver with the child who hasn’t uttered a word since her daddy went to prison.

Contractor Patrick Thorne wants nothing to do with another of his parents’ charity cases. He failed his own wife so abysmally she took her own life as well as his unborn son’s. After two years, it’s time to concentrate on the bid he’s won and the saboteur trying to destroy his construction firm.

There is no room for trust in either of their hearts. But trust is all that will untangle the secrets that dominate their lives, free a little girl of her silent prison, and save them all from a serial killer who stands too close.~

[image error]Excerpt from Killing Secrets

© Copyright 2014 – K.L. Docter

Denver, Colorado.

At the first crack of gunfire, Rachel dove headfirst into the garden she was weeding. Listening for the second report she expected to follow, she prayed Amanda stayed at Patrick Thorne’s house where she’d gone an hour ago to play with her new friend, Suze.

Gasping for air, she inhaled the rich, spicy scent of freshly turned soil and crushed nasturtiums instead. Dirt and grit bit into her cheek and the bare flesh exposed by her cutoffs and T-shirt. The mid-afternoon sun beat hot against her shoulders and legs, and all she could do was lie there and watch a fat bumblebee dip into a russet blossom three inches from her nose.

Had she run almost nine hundred miles only to die like this, grubbing alone in the dirt like a spineless worm?

A surge of anger gave her impetus to lift her head. She peeked over the flimsy wall of twelve-inch annuals between her and the street. A second gunshot rang out, belched in a cloud of black smoke from an ancient Volkswagen bus that disappeared around the corner.

Backfire?

She groaned, more relieved than embarrassed by her overreaction. Her chin dropped. Taking several deep draughts of the thin Colorado air, she worked to calm the pound of her heart against her ribcage. Her efforts made her head swim. A minute later she was able to push herself out of the three-foot section of garden she’d mown down.

Her nerves had been on edge since she fled Dallas on Friday, five days ago. If she weren’t so overwrought it would have occurred to her Greg would never stand at a distance and take potshots at her. No. Greg liked to look into her eyes when he meted out his punishments.

An icy shiver skimmed her skin. Each day that passed without his appearance should have reassured her she’d made the right decision to accept Katy’s arrangements with the Thornes. As long as Greg didn’t track her and Amanda to Denver, they were safe.

Problem is she hadn’t felt safe since Amanda was born and she discovered what kind of man she’d married. Now she couldn’t pluck enough weeds from Evelyn Thorne’s gardens by day to tear the anxiety from her heart at night. Her growing sense of trepidation kept her awake long after the morning stars dimmed above the mile-high city’s cloudless skies.

How could the justice system simply hand Greg a “get out of jail free” card? She’d always known the man had connections in high places, but how had he arranged for the evidence in his case—evidence she’d risked everything to provide—to disappear before he even went to trial? If he’d accomplished that feat while behind bars, how in the world was she and Amanda going to stay out of his clutches?

She felt like there were giant bull’s-eyes painted on their backs, that it was only a matter of time before Greg tracked them down. During their marriage the man would spend weeks, even months, laying meticulous groundwork for one of his cons. He’d had six months to plan dozens of new punishments for his betrayer.

“‘Til death us do part, darlin’.”

His words echoed over the expanse of time and distance, ringing a fresh peal of dread in Rachel’s breast. With one hand, she brushed clumps of soil off her tangerine T-shirt and whispered a small prayer. Please don’t let him find us!

***Read Killing Secrets, Karen’s first standalone book in the Thorne’s Thorns series, at a special discounted price of $2.99 for three days only, Friday, Saturday & Sunday, July 27-29. Dead Ringer, Thorne’s Thorns Book 2, COMING SOON.

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2iFFWmg

B&N: http://goo.gl/wsqVxB

Kobo: http://goo.gl/KM563U

Google Play: http://goo.gl/mogQqs

iTunes: http://goo.gl/pg58wN

[image error]Bio: Bestselling Author Karen Docter writes contemporary romance. When she feels the need to feed the dark side, she writes intense suspense thrillers as K.L. Docter. She’s an award-winning author, a four-time Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® finalist, and won the coveted Kiss of Death Romance Writers Daphne du Maurier Award Category (Series) Romantic Mystery Unpublished division.

Connect with Karen:

Website/Blog: http://www.karendocter.com

Twitter: @KarenDocter

Karen Docter FB: goo.gl/6TXc5X

K.L. Docter FB: goo.gl/uD1iGL

Goodreads: https://goo.gl/bsswDd

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave Karen a comment!

Free Kindle–The Bearwalker’s Daughter (Native American Warrior #1)

Free in kindle from 7/26 -7/29 at: https://www.amazon.com/Bearwalkers-Daughter-Native-American-Warrior-ebook/dp/B007V6MA22

‘A change was coming as surely as the shifting seasons. Karin McNeal heard the urgent whispers in the wind.’

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Historical romance novel, The Bearwalker’s Daughter, is a blend of carefully researched historical fiction interwoven with an intriguing paranormal thread and set among the clannish Scots in the mist-shrouded Alleghenies. The story is similar to others of mine with a western colonial frontier, Native American theme, and features a powerful warrior or two. My passion for the past and some of the accounts I uncovered while exploring my early American Scots-Irish ancestors and the Shawnee Indians is at the heart of my inspiration.

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A tragic account is the driving force behind the story, the ill-fated romance of a young captive woman who fell in love with the son of a chief. As the result of a treaty, she was taken from her warrior husband and forced back to her white family where she gave birth to a girl. Then the young woman’s husband did the unthinkable and left the tribe to go live among the whites, but such was their hatred of Indians that before he reached his beloved her brothers killed him. Inconsolable and weak from the birth, she grieved herself to death.

Heart-wrenching, that tale haunts me to this day. And I wondered, was there some way those young lovers could have been spared such anguish, and what happened to their infant daughter when she grew up? I know she was raised by her white family–not what they told her about her mother and warrior father.

Not only did The Bearwalker’s Daughter spring from that sad account, but it also had a profound influence on my historical romance novel Red Bird’s Song. Now that I’ve threaded it through two novels, perhaps I can let go…perhaps….

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The history my novels draw from is raw and real, a passionate era where only the strong survive. Superstition ran high among both the Scots and Native Americans, and far more, a vision that transcends what is, to reach what can be. We think we’ve gained much in our modern era, and so we have. But we’ve also lost. In my writing, I try to recapture what should not be forgotten. Remember those who’ve gone before you.

As to bearwalking, this belief/practice predates modern Native Americans to the more ancient people. In essence, a warrior transforms himself into a bear and goes where he wills in that form, a kind of shapeshifting.

Blurb:

Autumn 1784: Karin McNeal hasn’t grasped who she really is or her fierce birthright. A tragic secret from the past haunts the young Scots-Irish woman who longs to learn more of her mother’s death and the mysterious father no one will name. The elusive voices she hears in the wind hint at the dramatic changes soon to unfold in the mist-shrouded Alleghenies in Autumn, 1784.

Jack McCray, the wounded stranger who staggers through the door on the eve of her twentieth birthday and anniversary of her mother’s death, holds the key to unlock the past. Will Karin let this handsome frontiersman lead her to the truth and into his arms, or seek the shelter of her fiercely possessive kinsmen? Is it only her imagination or does someone, or something, wait beyond the brooding ridges–for her?~

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*Cover by my daughter Elise Trissel. She also formatted the novel for print.

***The Bearwalker’s Daughter is a revised version of romance novel Daughter of the Wind Publisher’s Weekly BHB Reader’s Choice Best Books of 2009

“Ms. Trissel’s alluring style of writing invites the reader into a world of fantasy and makes it so believable it is spellbinding.” –Long and Short Reviews

For more of my work, visit my Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Beth-Trissel/e/B002BLLAJ6/

Many of My Books Now in Audio!

For those of you who prefer listening to stories, I have a growing number of audiobooks. Several more titles will soon be added to my author page at Audible and at Amazon. Some of these books are novellas and others are novels.

Visit My Page At Audible: 

https://www.audible.com/author/Beth-Trissel/B002BLLAJ6

My Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B002BLLAJ6

I will give the individual Amazon link as I touch on each book.

The latest addition to books of mine now available in audio is ghostly Time Travel romance, Somewhere My Lady (Book One, Ladies In Time). Narrator Sarah King did a super job.

Story Blurb:

Is he real or is he a ghost?

Lorna Randolph is hired for the summer at Harrison Hall in Virginia, where Revolutionary War reenactors provide guided tours of the elegant old home. She doesn’t expect to receive a note and a kiss from a handsome young man who then vanishes into mist.

Harrison Hall itself has plans for Lorna – and for Hart Harrison, her momentary suitor and its 18th-century heir.

Past and present are bound by pledges of love, and modern science melds with old skills and history as Harrison Hall takes Lorna and Hart through time in a race to solve a mystery and save Hart’s life before the Midsummer Ball.

At Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-My-Lady-Ladies-Time/dp/B07FDJYJJ2

The White Lady, Book Two Ladies in Time Series, is also a recent audio addition. Narrator, Susan Marlowe, did an excellent job and presented an enjoyably told tale.

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Story Blurb:

Avery Dunham has always been ready to follow her friend, time-traveling wizard Ignus Burke, on incredible adventures. This time, though, she has serious misgivings. It’s just one week before Christmas, but she cannot get him to change his mind. The usually cool and collected magic-wielding leader is wholly obsessed by the portrait of the White Lady whom he is bent on rescuing.

Almost as soon as they begin their journey, it becomes clear their mission is a trap. Avery was right: this adventure is not going to be like any other.

Get The White Lady at: https://www.amazon.com/White-Lady-Ladies-Time-Book/dp/B07CGPG29C

Another new addition to my audio fold is historical mystery/adventure romance Traitor’s Legacy, sequel to Enemy of the King. Both novels are set during the high drama of the American Revolution. Narrator Lisa Valdini is excellent in this audiobook.

Story Blurb: 1781. On opposite sides of the War of Independence, British Captain Jacob Vaughan and Claire Monroe find themselves thrust together by chance and expediency.

Captain Vaughan comes to a stately North Carolina manor to catch a spy. Instead, he finds himself in bedlam: The head of the household is an old man ravaged by madness, the one sane male of the family is the very man he is hunting, and the household is overseen by his beguiling sister, Claire.

Torn between duty, love, and allegiances, yearning desperately for peace, will Captain Vaughan and Claire Monroe forge a peace of their own against the vagaries of war and the betrayal of false friends?

At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Traitors-Legacy-Beth-Trissel/dp/1628304774

A wonderful British narrator, Rebecca McKernan, did a fantastic job with my English historical romance, Into the Lion’s Heart.

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Story Blurb:

Will the English captain save a woman the French Revolution would devour when he knows the truth?

Georgian England, 1789: As the French Revolution rages, the English nobility offer sanctuary to many a refugee. Captain Dalton Evans arrives in Dover to meet a distant cousin, expecting to see a spoiled aristocrat. Instead, he’s conquered by the simplicity of his new charge. And his best friend Thomas Archer isn’t immune to her artless charm, either.

French émigré Cecile Beaumont didn’t choose to travel across the Channel. And she certainly didn’t expect that impersonating her own mistress would introduce her to a most mesmerizing man. Now she must play out the masquerade, or risk life, freedom – and her heart.

At Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Lions-Heart-Love-Letters/dp/B079N77LVY

Poignantly sweet, ghostly Christmas Romance, Somewhere The Bells Ring, is a wonderful audio book. I can’t rave enough about the performance of narrator, Tom Jordan.

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Story Blurb:

Caught with pot in her dorm room, Bailey Randolph is exiled to a relative’s ancestral home in Virginia to straighten herself out. Banishment to Maple Hill is dismal, until a ghost appears requesting her help. Bailey is frightened but intrigued. Then her girlhood crush, Eric Burke, arrives and suddenly Maple Hill isn’t so bad.

To Eric, wounded in Vietnam, his military career shattered, this homecoming feels no less like exile. But when he finds Bailey at Maple Hill, her fairy-like beauty gives him reason to hope – until she tells him about the ghost haunting the house. Then he wonders if her one experiment with pot has made her crazy.

As Bailey and Eric draw closer, he agrees to help her find a long-forgotten Christmas gift the ghost wants. But will the magic of Christmas be enough to make Eric believe – in Bailey and the ghost – before the Christmas bells ring?

Review for Somewhere the Bells Ring at Audible: “Well done!

This isn’t my usual genre, but I found myself liking the book more than I thought I would. The narration was excellent and really drew me into the story. I recommend the book.”

At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-Bells-Ring-Time-Book/dp/B075GWRZ1G/

Another well done audiobook is The Hunter’s Moon, Book One in my Young Adult Fantasy Series Secret Warrior. Narrator Victoria Brodski did a sensational job.

Story Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Morgan Daniel has been in the witness protection program most of her life. But The Panteras have caught up with her and her younger brother. Her car is totaled, she’s hurt, and the street gang is closing in when wolves with glowing eyes appear out of nowhere and chase away the killers. Then a very cute guy who handles a bow like Robin Hood emerges from the woods and takes them to safety at his fortress-like home. And that’s just the first sign that Morgan and her brother have entered a hidden world filled with secrets…

The Hunter’s Moon has a super audio review: 5.0 out of 5 stars

“Great on Audio

ByR. Grabowskion May 15, 2018

Format: Audible Audiobook

This was a fun read… or listen. It was actually one of the first YA books I listened to on audio.

The beginning of the book pulled me right in with a scene with 16-year-old Morgan and her 10-year-old brother, Jimmy. It reminded me a lot of the relationship Meg has with Charles Wallace in a Wrinkle and Time because Jimmy is also very smart. (He was actually one of my favorite characters.) I loved how the author created a beautiful world in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia where some people can change into werewolves. The focus of the book was more on Morgan’s curse and her future. The real action will start in book 2 as this was only a novella. It kept me hooked with interesting characters and a unique take on werewolves.”

At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hunters-Moon-Secret-Warrior/dp/B076TMHF6Z/

I could seriously use more reviews. If you are an avid listener of audiobooks, please give these a listen and leave me one.

Happy listening! All of these books are published by The Wild Rose Press and the audios are done through the company.

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Summer Inspiration From Our Farm in the Shenandoah Valley

[image error]Summer days on the farm sail by like clouds in the blue. Each morning brings a fresh look to our familiar  scenery. The sights that greet us have comforting continuity and yet are ever-changing.  No two days in the country are identical.

Breaking dawn and soon after is the best time of day. Nightly slumber renews the garden, beading every leaf and blossom with dew. Cows amble in the sparkling meadow, and the pond swims with waterfowl… It’s the garden of Eden time.

(Lilies with the barn in back.)

Pastoral beauty and flowery nooks beckon and I get out my camera phone. Suspicious geese flee the crazy lady unless I sneak up on them. Fussy bunch. Summer sounds create a symphony while I dart around picture-taking. Birds sing, roosters crow, cows bawl, geese fuss… The cooing of mourning doves is a continual background note, and we have an insane mockingbird who runs through every tune he knows. Repeatedly. The trill of meadowlarks is heavenly. Finches and robins have the happiest song. Red-winged blackbirds sound their classic wetland call  at the pond. Ducks converse amiably, unlike the squawky geese.. There is much life here.

I love the music of the garden. Bees hum, crickets chirp, fairies sing…

[image error](Phlox and more phlox)

[image error](Zinnias and cosmos from seed I saved and sowed in May, also pictured below)

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Hazy, hot, and humid stretches of summer do not inspire me. Pics are dulled when the air hangs like a warm wet blanket. My spirits soar in the ‘Reaching to heaven blue sky days’ and these are the best for image taking. But I also love the mist. Mist lends itself well to mystery. You can hardly say mystery without it.

Magic returns again in the long summer evenings. We’re blessed with a spectacular view of sunsets over the meadow, the pond, and hills with the Allegheny Mountains rolling beyond them. Once again, the geese may enter into these images. It depends on how sneaky I am and how fast they are. The host of lightning bugs blinking in the garden and meadows are impossible to capture on film.  Cicadas serenade us from the trees. Earthy farm smells are not for everyone but you have to love the scenery.

[image error](Our pond at dusk)

[image error](Our barn at sunset with sunflowers)

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I’ve captured glimpses of midsummer in ‘The Shire’ as I term our little patch of earth and hope you enjoy my sharing.

[image error](The geese running toward the meadow-away from me)

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‘The summer night is like a perfection of thought.’ ~Wallace Stevens

‘In summer, the song sings itself.’ ~William Carlos Williams

‘Each fairy breath of summer, as it blows with loveliness, inspires the blushing rose.’ ~Author Unknown

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‘Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer’s year — it brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul.’ ~Author Unknown

‘Then followed that beautiful season… Summer….

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape

Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.’

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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‘To see the Summer Sky

Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie –

True Poems flee –’

~Emily Dickinson, c.1879

‘I drifted into a summer-nap under the hot shade of July, serenaded by a cicada lullaby, to drowsy-warm dreams of distant thunder.’ ~Terri Guillemets

‘One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.’ ~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show

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***In addition to the farm and garden, I’m an author. I write historical, time travel, and paranormal romance. Also young adult. Plus nonfiction about gardening and country life. For more on my books, visit my Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B002BLLAJ6/

Furbaby Friday with James DiBenedetto!

I am glad to have James DiBenedetto here to share his much-loved writing kitties and exciting Dream Doctor Mysteries.

James: Like most people who have cats, I’ve gotten very used to my four-legged friends “helping” me when I write. Daisy (the beautiful tortoise-shell who we had for ten years) loved to sit herself on the desk, right in front of (or on top of!) the keyboard. I can only assume that she had ideas for my books that she just couldn’t wait to share with me.

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Danny (the handsome white cat we’ve had since 2014) has a different approach. He’s obviously read all the stories that talk about how bad it is to sit for an extended period, so he makes sure I get up from the keyboard frequently to get some exercise. He does this by jumping on the bookshelf and trying to knock items off. Catching them before they hit the floor helps to hone my reflexes, so clearly this is a coordinated fitness program for me!

It’s probably no coincidence that animals feature in almost all my books, too. In the Dream Doctor Mysteries, Sara, our heroine, has a dog throughout the series. When we first meet her, she’s the owner of a Golden Retriever named Lumpy, whom she got as a puppy when she was ten. Later, after she’s graduated medical school, she adopts a Labrador-Retriever mix named Chrissy, and at the end of the series, when she’s about to see her daughter graduate from college, she’s got a Beagle named Bucky.

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Speaking of the Dream Doctor Mysteries, I’ve just relaunched them, with new covers (which I think look really cool). I already mentioned that Sara is the heroine, and the reason they’re called that is, Sara has the gift (or curse) of being able to step into other people’s dreams, which causes her no end of trouble!

The first book of the series is Dream Doctor, and it opens with Sara preparing for her wedding, until another supernatural dream threatens to upset everything.

A short excerpt, from Dream Doctor showing Sara’s relationship with her beloved dog:

So why do I want to tear off my beautiful dress, jump in the car and drive away as fast and far as I can?

I know exactly why.

“I need a minute,” I mumble, and I go upstairs to my room and lock the door. Lumpy’s sitting on the bed and I’m grateful. I’m going to need someone beside me who loves me unconditionally to get through this.

I pick up the phone and dial. Brian’s mother answers on the first ring, sounding very harassed. “Is Brian there? I need to talk to him,” I say without preamble. She can hear the panic in my voice, and I can hear the tiny note of hopefulness in hers as she calls out to Brian to pick up. It’s a year and a half and she still hasn’t really warmed up to me. She never, ever will, either. That’s fine – she’s about to get her wish.

As I wait for Brian to pick up, Lumpy nuzzles against me, licks my right hand. After this is done, he’ll be the only one who won’t think I’m horrible or stupid or crazy – or maybe all three. I hear a click as Brian picks up the phone. He’s panting. “Sara? What’s wrong?” He must have run to the phone. I can’t even guess what he thinks might be going on with me. I hate that I’m doing this to him, but what choice do I have?

I don’t know how to begin, so I just blurt it right out: “I love you – you know that. But I think I – we – you shouldn’t marry me. It’s not fair to you.”

[image error]Book Description from Dream Doctor:

Between adjusting to life as a newlywed and trying to survive the first month of medical school, Sara Alderson has a lot on her plate. She definitely doesn’t need to start visiting other people’s dreams again. Unfortunately for her, it’s happening anyway.

Every night, she sees a different person and a different dream. But every dreamer has one thing in common: they all hate Dr. Morris, the least popular professor in the medical school, and they’re all dreaming about seeing him – or making him – dead.

Once again, Sara finds herself in the role of unwilling witness to a murder before it happens. But this time, there are too many suspects to count, and it doesn’t help matters that she hates Dr. Morris every bit as much as any of his would-be murderers do.

Dream Doctor is the first book of the Dream Doctor Mysteries.

Follow James at:

His website – www.jjdibenedetto.com

Facebook – www.facebook.com/jjdibenedettoauthor

Twitter – http//twitter.com/jjdibenedetto

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Furbaby Friday with Meg Mims / Meg Macy!

I’m very happy to welcome Author Meg Mims / Meg Macy to the blog to share her darling furry loves and holiday romances and mysteries. What fun covers! Be sure to leave a comment for a chance at her giveaway.

Meg: Thank you, Beth, for inviting me to chat about my furbabies today! Dogs and cats play a big part in my holiday romance, western historical, and cozy mystery writing. Characters in my books always have a pet – it gives them a sense of “reality” if they love an animal as much as if not more than a romantic hero. And my heroes, in turn, also must love dogs or cats.

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Holiday Books by Meg Mims and Cozy series by Meg Macy

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I started writing long ago with a loyal dog lying at my feet. Corky, my poodle, was not like the cat (Toby was my daughter’s cat). Toby walked over the keyboard or begged for attention in other ways – even brought me a present of a live mouse from outside. Eeek! Whenever Corky needed to go outside, that gave me a welcome break.

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He also loved to sleep tucked beside me on the sofa at night, so I switched from writing at a desk to sitting in my “Sheldon spot” (a la The Big Bang Theory TV show). Having him there really helped give me comfort, for some reason – I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s akin to a feeling of belonging, of being “with” someone who gives you that unconditional love and support. And yes, someone – not “it”, because my dogs/cats were family members.

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After losing Corky to old age, my husband and I rescued a Malti-poo named Dusty who was just as loyal. A bit too loyal and territorial – he wouldn’t let visitors in the house! Hoo boy. But he also loved sleeping beside me on the sofa, or at my feet.

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Our second rescue, Benji, was more of a dog’s dog – he loved the floor or lying on the sofa by himself. In hilarious positions. But alas, he succumbed at a young age to a nasty spider bite that turned into necrosis (I still blame myself and the vet for not recognizing it in time. Sob!) Benji inspired my first novella, Santa Paws, which helped me overcome the loss four years ago. Even Dusty missed his pal Benji.

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Although I’m allergic to cats, we rescued Toby as a stray. My daughter wanted a cat, and voila, Toby appeared one day in our yard. Apparently she’d been hanging around for a while, since Dusty knew her – and we started feeding her. Gradually she adjusted to being an indoor cat. My second novella, Santa Claws, helped me deal with losing Toby to thyroid disease. Poor sweetie, she loved my husband (not a cat lover) so much, she would drool on him, purr, rub hair all over him. Cats keep trying to convince those who don’t love them back, don’t they? Ha!

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And I followed up Santa Claws with Home for the Holidays, although I only had Dusty on the sofa beside me at that time. I also included Corky in that book to memorialize him, along with a dachshund my family had when I was a child. The idea of a rescue organization seemed to follow naturally, and all three novellas inspired me to create my current cozy mysteries, the Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear series. I included a ‘teddy bear dog’ as the pet of my heroine Sasha Silverman, of course, and added a black cat (remembering Toby) for some ‘cat/dog’ wars over sleeping spots. That’s always fun to imagine how they get along – or not!

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Bearly Departed debuted in May of 2017, and Bear Witness to Murder came out in late May of 2018. Unfortunately, Dusty succumbed to old age in between books, so that was a heartbreaker for me. I’ve found it very difficult to write without a dog beside me, but I am currently working on Have Yourself A Beary Little Murder, book 3 in my cozy series. I also plan to get another dog, possibly another poodle or poodle mix, by next year. My husband needs a break, we’d like to take a few trips over summer, so that means waiting. Augh! But soon. I love dogs so much, and miss mine terribly! For now, I have to be satisfied with my fictional creations.

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Thanks again, Beth, for hosting me today on your wonderful blog!

Beth: I am delighted to have you.

[image error]BIO: Award-winning mystery author Meg Macy lives in Southeast Michigan, close enough to Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and Dexter — the setting of her “Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear” cozy mysteries for Kensington. She is also one-half of the writing team of D.E. Ireland for the Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins mysteries; two books, Wouldn’t It Be Deadly and Get Me to the Grave On Time were Agatha Award finalists for Best Historical. Meg’s first published book, Double Crossing, won the 2012 Best First Novel Spur Award from Western Writers of America. Meg loves reading historical and cozy mysteries, gardening, crafts, and watercolor painting.

[image error]It’s CHRISTMAS IN JULY! — Meg will giveaway ONE e-book of Santa Paws, her first holiday romance novella, to one lucky commenter. What pet do you have?

VISIT MEG via the following links:

Meg Mims Amazon Author page

Meg Macy Amazon Author page

Visit me on my website!

Or my Facebook page Meg Macy

Also my Facebook page Santa Paws and Claws

Follow me on Twitter! https://twitter.com/megmims

And Instagram

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave Meg a comment.