Lauralee Bliss's Blog

The Anniversary of an Avalanche

The humble railtown of Wellington, Washington in the heart of the Cascades Mountains was like any typical town in 1910. It offered a way station for passengers riding the Great Northern rail lines between Spokane and Seattle, with a hotel, general store, and modest post office. The town thrived on the train travel.

But the winter of 1910 wreaked havoc. The snows piled high, at times in double-digit feet. When tracks were opened by the rotary snowplows (pictured below) and workers tirelessly shoveling by hand, a new storm would drown the lines in a sea of cold white yet again.

Then in late February, under heavy snow, the trains reached a standstill in Wellington, including a passenger train and the important fast mail train. For days the workers tried to unearth the tracks buried in feet of snow. Each day came the promise to tired and complaining passengers, some with fussy children and even babies, waiting to be freed from this frozen prison. As the end of the month came, so too came the hope that they would move at last.

But it never came.

In the early morning hours of March 1, 1910, a fierce thunderstorm hit the area. Around 1 AM a huge half-mile chunk of heavy snow off the shoulder of Windy Top careened down the mountain, hitting the trains broadside, hurling them into a steep ravine near the Tye River. The area turned into a mass of twisted cars and shattered lives for those sleeping that night.

Ninety-six people lost their lives. Men, women, and children. The worst avalanche catastrophe in U.S. history.

Now on the anniversary of this terrifying event, Lauralee Bliss brings this tragedy to life in the book “When the Avalanche Roared.”

Though told through the eyes of two fictional characters, many of the people and events are factual. As is the devastation that ensued.

In a time that still sees tragedy unfold, this book is a humble reminder that even in great loss, hope can still be found.

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“When the Avalanche Roared” is Released

Reviews for “When the Avalanche Roared” –

“The descriptive writing brought it to such a reality that at one point I looked out the window to see if it was snowing.”

“Ms. Bliss skillfully combines fact and fiction in this heartbreaking, emotion-packed story which is also filled with hope and faith. Through vivid, detailed descriptions, I could picture the destruction and feel the trauma of the event.”

 “It’s a very emotional book with characters you won’t soon forget.”

“Wow!”

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My Mom’s Favorite Holiday – Cookies, Cookies

Mom went to heaven on March 31st of 2012, and in honor of her, I celebrate the holiday she loved best – Christmas.  Mom always did up Christmas big. It was truly her favorite time of year. And her biggest gift was baking varieties of cookies.

Mom making Christmas cookie plates for neighbors and friends

 

In our house, Mom would make over a dozen different kinds.

Lots of storage containers contained the cookies

The list is big, but these are the ones I recall. Mexican Wedding cakes. Marshmallow Treats. Spritz. Icebox cookies. Date Pinwheels. Sour Cream cut-out cookies (which we always iced and decorated on Christmas Eve). Frying pan cookies. Chocolate Butterscotch clusters (recipe below). Fudge (this was my duty – to make this treat for the family). Chocolate crinkles. Coconut meringues. Hershey Kiss peanut butter drops. Fruitcake. And more.

When I was little, Mom took out some shoe boxes and made cookie boxes for neighbors and friends. It was one of the highlights of the Christmas season for me, delivering the neighbor’s cookie box. Oh…and sneaking homemade cookie dough out of the freezer or fridge! One year I ate a whole bunch of Mexican Wedding Cakes stored up in a closet. When Mom went to fetch them for the cookie boxes, the can was nearly empty. Mom said nothing but took out her recipe book and made more. The same for the sugar cookie dough that vanished from the fridge.

That was the kind of woman she was.

This was Mom’s last Christmas with us and she still had a huge plate of cookies to celebrate!

Here is a family recipe for one of my favorite candy cookies. It’s so simple to make, even the kids can help!

Chocolate Butterscotch Clusters

1 6 oz pkg semisweet chocolate chips
1 6 oz pkg butterscotch chips
2 Tbsp peanut butter
4 cups Rice Krispies

Melt the chocolate and butterscotch along with the peanut butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture melts. Remove from heat. Stir in Rice Krispies. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto wax paper. Cool until firm. Store in a container.

A Little Gingerbread Love

As part of the Christmas celebration, cookies are everywhere. Whenever I write a story that takes place during the Christmas season, the beloved or rather yummy Christmas cookie must be a part.

So it is with my upcoming release on January 2, “When the Avalanche Roared” where the heroine, Lillian, is helping her pregnant cousin bake up a batch of gingerbread cookies to distribute to the needy and even share with the hero Griffin and his unruly roommates.

This is Lillian’s home of Wellington, Washington that will eventually endure the tragedy of a raging avalanche in “When the Avalanche Roared”

I’ve incorporated gingerbread in several of my novels and novellas, including Christmas Angels of Virginia of which one story, set in Williamsburg, encapsulates a colonial Christmas. There’s something about the Williamsburg gingerbread recipe that evokes memories of a spicy and wonderful Christmas season. And so I share this favorite recipe with you as you enjoy the holiday and best wishes for a Merry Christmas.

A Colonial Williamsburg Gingerbread Recipe

1 cup sugar

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 cup melted butter

½ cup evaporated milk

1 cup unsulfured molasses

¾ tsp vanilla

4 cups unbleached flour

Preheat oven to 375. Combine the first six ingredients. Add the melted butter, milk, and molasses. Add the extract and the flour. Knead the dough for a smoother texture, adding ½ cup more flour if needed. When the dough is smooth, roll out to ¼ inch thick. Cut with assorted cutters. Bake on parchment paper 10-12 minutes.

Other Christmas cookies:

Jan Hagel recipe

Latest release in the Day of Disaster Series:

When the Avalanche Roared

Destiny with Eternity

Today I just received the news of a church friend whose wife and two grandchildren perished in a horrific accident. They were in their car waiting at a construction site on an interstate. A truck barreled into them, their car burst in the flames, and suddenly eternity was meeting three out of five. Just last week a Gospel band lost most of its members in a plane crash in Wyoming while on their way to meet the Gaithers band and set sail on an Alaskan cruise.

Such tragedies make me think of the tragedy I wrote about in the book When the Avalanche Roared. The passengers and crews went to sleep that night in the sleeper cars, expecting deliverance to come the following morning when the train would move on to its destination of Seattle. Inexplicably, in the middle of the night, a wall of snow swept the train off the track and most of them perished.

It is difficult to understand God‘s reasoning in tragedies like these. But it makes one realize that eternity can meet at any time, anywhere, at any place. And in ways that we cannot avoid. We could be doing the simplest of things in life and have it meet us. God knows our times. They’ve all been written in His book for us. We need to live out each day expecting that it could be our last.

So if you haven’t said you love somebody, do it. If you haven’t accomplished that task and you still have another day to do it on this earth, do it. We don’t know the times and the seasons, and we don’t know when the end will come and we meet eternity. But rest assured, if Jesus is your savior, eternity with Him is beautiful and perfect even if this life is beset with tragedy and sorrow. The old will pass away.

And He will wipe every tear from our eyes. Revelation 21:4

Destiny with a Disaster

I’ve always had an interest in disasters. It began as a fifth grader when I checked out a small paperback book at the elementary school library that described events such as the Johnstown flood, the Hartford Circus fire, the Hindenburg, the San Francisco earthquake, and others. I would gaze at length at the black-and-white photos and think about the great damage that ensued and what men, women, and children saw and felt. I would consider what the people endured during those horrific times and how they survived. I’m unsure why it made such an impression on me at a young age, but it did. After that, I would watch movies based on disaster events, from Earthquake to Towering Inferno, Dantes Peak, and a documentary on the eruption of Mt. St Helens. Even to this day, if there is a natural disaster such as a hurricane, I’ll be glued to the weather and other news for information. And if I have the chance, I’ll visit the places of the disaster and recall what unfolded, such as my trip to Mt St Helens.

San Francisco Earthquake

California Wilfires

Mt St Helens

Little did I know that this childhood fascination would carry with me into my adult years and eventually I would write a book about a natural disaster. When my publishing house decided to publish a series of books based on real-life disasters in history, I said to myself – I have to be a part of this! It’s my destiny!

I launched in and auditioned with a couple of ideas – one of them being the worst avalanche in US history in Wellington, Washington. The editor agreed and bought it. Thus the book When the Avalanche Roared was born and is now part of the Day to Remember series, releasing next January.

In future blogs, I will delve into the history of this historic avalanche and the impacts such horrific events can have in people’s lives.

Wellington Avalanche

The Harvest

Back in February, I put up a blog showing the progression of a veggie garden – from tiny seeds to potted seedlings as I anticipated a summer harvest. Here’s an update on what’s happening:

As you can see, my tiny tomatoes back in February have now grown into a huge forest of growth. Probably too much to consume but at least they’ll be plenty of tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and just tomatoes to munch on.

I also have butternut squash, a sugar pumpkin (hopefully Thanksgiving pie), and I tried growing potatoes as an experiment using russets from the grocery store. I had more potatoes than just the two, but these are the largest ones that came from the harvest before the potato plants succumbed to disease (I learned from the process and hope for better results next year).

I find it important every day to be out there checking for insect predators, diseases, and steady watering. And of course, picking the produce. I’m reminded to be faithful in the field so that I can have a good harvest for future consumption.

So too, we should be faithful in the fields that God has given us, whether in our work, our home, or in our garden, wherever He puts us for that season. If the harvest isn’t working out, find ways to improve what you do. Wait patiently. And stay prayerful.

 Here’s hoping for a wonderful harvest for the summer season and getting ready for new fields of growth ahead.

Other blogs:

Getting Ready for a Harvest

Revelation of a Lighthouse Climb

There’s nothing like a trip to the beach. We’ve taken yearly pilgrimages to the Outer Banks over the years, but because of past issues, we had not been there for a while. One day we decided to venture down the coast of Cape Hatteras and to the Bodie Island Lighthouse. There we got tickets to climb the metal steps to the uppermost part where the light is. Lighthouses themselves offer quite a few spiritual principles. Such a beacon in the darkness and storms of life. From the vantage point where I looked out over the landscape, and then noticed how small the people and cars were and then ended with a new revelation. 

No wonder God tells us to think of things above and not below. Gazing from a lofty vantage point, I could see that the people really are like grasshoppers in His sight. I think of all the mighty ones that are leading the nations, some astray, others instituting godly principles. From God‘s vantage point, they are still grasshoppers. Easily squashed under His mighty hand. Really…insignificant. Or so it seems. I gained a greater appreciation of how He sees us and how He also sees his children who are just like those grasshoppers but yet nurtures and loves us, even if we are minute in His eyes. 

It was a fascinating revelation, gazing out over the landscape and seeing the people on the boardwalk below. And realizing that, despite the might of the nations, they really are a drop in the bucket. So I encourage you, if you can, to find a lofty place to climb where you can view the world. It will give you a better appreciation of how God sees us, both the wicked and the righteous, and marvel how He cares for us even if we are tiny in His sight.

The Lighthouse

There’s nothing like a trip to the beach. We’ve taken yearly pilgrimages to the Outer Banks over the years, but because of past issues, we had not been there for a while. One day we decided to venture down the coast of Cape Hatteras and to the Bodie Island Lighthouse. There we got tickets to climb the metal steps to the uppermost part where the light is. Lighthouses themselves offer quite a few spiritual principles. Such a beacon in the darkness and storms of life. From the vantage point where I looked out over the landscape, and then noticed how small the people and cars were and then ended with a new revelation. 

No wonder God tells us to think of things above and not below. Gazing from a lofty vantage point, I could see that the people really are like grasshoppers in His sight. I think of all the mighty ones that are leading the nations, some astray, others instituting godly principles. From God‘s vantage point, they are still grasshoppers. Easily squashed under His mighty hand. Really…insignificant. Or so it seems. I gained a greater appreciation of how He sees us and how He also sees his children who are just like those grasshoppers but yet nurtures and loves us, even if we are minute in His eyes. 

It was a fascinating revelation, gazing out over the landscape and seeing the people on the boardwalk below. And realizing that, despite the might of the nations, they really are a drop in the bucket. So I encourage you, if you can, to find a lofty place to climb where you can view the world. It will give you a better appreciation of how God sees us, both the wicked and the righteous, and marvel how He cares for us even if we are tiny in His sight.

A Desert Journey

Oh, what interesting things we see and learn from the experiences we have. I had the opportunity to spend a month in Arizona on the Arizona Trail, an 800-mile trail that goes from the Mexican border all the way up to Utah. I journeyed about halfway on this trail to Roosevelt Lake and hope to do the rest of it this coming fall. It was an adventure, both physically and spiritually.

Along the first half of the trail, the hiker walks the Arizona desert. When one traverses a trail in desert-like conditions with heat, nonexistent humidity, limited water sources (some of my sources came from cattle troughs), and thorns everywhere, a Christian can’t help but draw deeper connections to it and to the sufferings of Christ when He was here on earth. Jesus spent forty days wandering around in the wilderness, undergoing all manner of temptation, and it frequented my mind as I traversed the trail, shouldering my backpack, walking the sand and rocks among the cacti. I thought about how tough it is to find water out here, how much you cough because your throat dries out or how the intense sun reacts with your skin to cause ugly rashes and swelling. How much the wind will buffet you and even turn your lodging like my tent upside down so that I had to camp out in the open.

Then of course the thorns that were everywhere from a landscape covered in cacti.

Thorns that get into your hands, get into your backside when you think you’re sitting on quiet ground and you’re not. I had one of the thorns from a cholla cactus pierce my skin and it hurt for twenty minutes. One thorn.

I had several tinier thorns that got embedded in my fingers when I picked my hiking poles off the ground I didn’t remove them quickly and left there actually caused a reaction and my skin swelled. They were poisonous. It required me to pull out my small little jackknife to scrape out the thorns to relieve the pain. Just thinking about what Jesus suffered with having a crown of thorns, I couldn’t begin to imagine after just these encounters. He went through the desert and beyond. He is acquainted with grief and with suffering. He understands.

A desert walk brings to mind so much. And gave me a new perspective of what it means to not only go through a desert walk but to see through to the better things that we discover. Beauty and satisfaction of having endured it and survived. Of life and salvation and then on to eternity.