Kate Collins's Blog, page 211

Recovering From Thanksgiving

By Sally Wright

My left hip – the one that got trashed when the mare I shouldn't have bought bucked me into a wall – rebels the day after Thanksgiving. Too many hours standing and cooking – apple and pumpkins pies (Julia Child’s dough made Wednesday night), rolled and assembled at six a.m., then all the standing and chopping and leaning-over to get the rest of it done that we all know so well.
I love to cook, and eat the long-time favorites we only have on Thanksgiving, but the older I get the harder it is to bounce back. And when what you slave-over gets eaten in an hour, it does seem strangely out of all proportion.

Still, as I looked around the table, there was so much to be grateful for – our only two grandchildren, both boys who look nothing alike (Joey, ten months old; Dylan not quite four months), our daughter and son and their loved ones, and Jake the boxer, behaving himself perfectly (while clearly wishing the babies would disappear as mysteriously as they arrived so that he could get all the attention he so rightly deserves). My husband grinning at the far end of the table, who does the dishes and doesn’t complain, and has kept me wanting to wake up in the morning for more than forty-three years.

And me, just to be here, I can’t tell you what that means, two years and four months after having Whipple surgery for pancreatic cancer - to have finished a book I've really cared about too, and even have hopes that I may write the next one – I've been given gifts of peace and joy and laughter through all that that I never could've imagined.

I asked everyone two questions on Thursday - what they were most grateful for, and, “What piece of advice has meant the most to you?” Since nobody likes advice, even when they need it, I thought that might be interesting, and worth asking myself – though I won’t reveal our admissions.

The Pilgrims, that first winter, dug seven times more graves for the dead than they built houses for the living. Their seed didn’t grow, and the ship that was supposed to bring food and supplies brought nothing but thirty-five hungry people – and yet the Pilgrims’ thankfulness to God brought us to the table yesterday, even those who know nothing about them (much less why they came), which may be a fairly large number today.

I hope your Thanksgiving meant as much as mine did. And let’s us not forget that we have leftovers (even if there’s never quite enough gravy)!
Sally WrightBreeding Ground, the first Jo Grant Horse Country MysteryThe Edgar Nominated Ben Reese serieswww.sallywright.net

Help us welcome the new Chick on the block!

The Cozy Chicks are thrilled to announce a new Chick!

Please help us welcome our dear friend Mary Jane Maffini, also half of the mother-daughter writing team of Victoria Abbott.

As of next week, Mary Jane (otherwise known as MJ) will be taking over the Thursday blog posts.

Don't know MJ?  She writes:

The Charlotte Adams Mystery series:
The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder - 2011
Closet Confidential - 2010
Death Loves Your Messy Desk - 2009
The Cluttered Corpse - 2008
Organize Your Corpses - 2007

The Fiona Silk series
Too Hot to Handle, 2007
Lament for a Lounge Lizard, 2003

The Camilla MacPhee series
Law and Disorder 2009
The Dead Don't Get Out Much 2005
The Devil's in the Details, 2004
Little Boy Blues, 2002
The Icing on the Corpse, 2001
Speak Ill of the Dead, 1999

The Book Collector's Series
(with Victoria Maffini writing as Victoria Abbott)
The Wolfe Widow, September 2014
The Christie Curse 2013
The Sayers Sleuth 2013

Welcome, MJ!
 

Happy Thanksgiving!

by Julie

Today, in the United States of America, we celebrate Thanksgiving, a day where we take time to say thanks and to remember all we are grateful for.



On this Thanksgiving day, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank YOU for tuning in to read my posts every Thursday. I've been very lucky to be part of The Cozy Chicks blog for more than a year, but my shift here is up. I've had a fabulous time, and I'll miss hanging out with you, as well as with the other Cozy Chick authors, all of whom are wonderful, talented, and fabulous women.

Thanks for reading! I'll miss you!

Hugs,
Julie

The Gravy Queen

By Deb Baker/Hannah Reed


Today we are in full prep mode for tomorrow's big dinner. Whether you are hosting or guesting, there is plenty to do. Plotting and planning so the turkey is done on time and the day is a big success.

I'm not hosting this year, but will bring a few side dishes to go with the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes.


I'm also in charge of the gravy when the time comes. I'm the queen of gravy. Sixty years old and I've finally perfected the stuff!!

How about you? Are you the gravy king or queen? Or do you gracefully present that crown to someone else?

Thanksgiving in Texas

by Maggie Sefton



Hi, Folks----I'm down in Texas, between Houston and Galveston, to spend the Turkey Day holiday with daughter Serena and friends.  This will be a briefer post because it's been a LONG day into evening due to Winter Storm Boreas or whatever its name is sending snow and winter storms all through the nation's midsection which delayed flights everywhere.  My flight from Denver was delayed nearly an hour, but that's not a big deal.  We regular travelers are used to delays.  We cope.  But after I landed, got my luggage, and picked up my rental car, well. . . .that's when the real fun started.  (She says wryly).

You forget that the area of South Texas that encompasses Houston and Galveston have Serious Rainstorms.  By that, I mean, a deluge of Biblical proportions.  You may laugh.  But the rain is coming down in sheets, so thick you cannot even read street signs at night  Sigh. . . . let's just say it took me waaaaaaay longer in the rain and the rush hour traffic and the Rain and the missed turns and the RAIN.

Thank goodness a yummy dinner and big cup of hot tea awaited me.   And it's an early bedtime tonight because Serena will be up at 4:30am to leave at 5:30am for NASA.  I will leave at 6:30am to join a group of her close friends where we will go to NASA to watch an underwater demonstration of Serena and another astronaut doing their practice EVA tasks.  The underwater environment is the closest thing to the weightless that people experience in outer space.  Should be fun as well as educational.

Meanwhile, I'm already yawning and drifting off over the keyboard even as I type this.  I was awake this morning at 5:30am.   So. . .I will bid you all adieu until next week.  Check out my Maggie Sefton Author Facebook page this week because I hope to post some photos by Wednesday.  Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

The Power of Positive Clinking

by Kate Collins

This Thanksgiving I'm declaring my house a Positive Clinking Zone. Hopefully, this "zone" will be so well received by my family that, besides the applause, the accolades, and the admiration they are bound to heap on my humble yet strong shoulders, it will become a new tradition.

What is this so-called zone? Funny you should ask.

But first, let me backtrack.

For the past several months I've been reading about the Law of Attraction and other laws of quantum physics that directly impact the quality of our lives. I even wrote a blog about how showing appreciation, and giving thanks for things we love, enjoy, and feel blessed about brings forth more of the same.

So being the hostess/chef/chief bottle washer, I decided that this year at our big Thanksgiving dinner, after the prayer but before anyone dives into the food, we will go around the table and clink glasses, and for every clink, a person will state one thing s/he is grateful for. I'm thinking two rounds will be adequate, but if it turns out to be the rewarding experience I think it will be, who knows how many rounds?

Okay, realistically, I'm thinking just two or the crowd will turn mutinous. And if that were to happen, I'd have to change the blog title to Mutiny in the County.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

Do you have any similar traditions?

Kittens and Puppies and Babies

by Leann

As the first big holiday approaches, my extended family won't be with us. We will spend the day with good friends whom we have known for decades. It will be a special day and I am glad this may be the last holiday we will spend in the rental. I want my own home again.

As usual, I have editing to do. It always happens this time of year. But I
am grateful to be doing rewrites. I had a feeling this book needed work, but letting the editors have at it is always good because I can step back for a few weeks and let it rest. I am seeing it much more clearly as I respond to their comments with revisions. This week is all about being grateful, right? I'm grateful to my editor and her assistant.

I am also grateful for all my loyal readers and all my writer friends. It has been a tough week because even though I welcome revisions, seeing those errors, being confronted with the lack of clarity in a manuscript makes me beat myself up. I am very sensitive person and it gets to me, even when I know I can make it right. People seem more stressed this time of year, too. They lash out and sometimes only recognize their own point of view and do not listen to the other side. That is human nature. But when you are the person being hammered, it can be tough. I mean, I cry at the drop of a pin. I would love to spend the rest of my life surrounded by kittens and puppies and babies.
They don't judge, they don't criticize and they don't care if you've screwed up.

Do I wish I could be with my East coast and West coat families where we're all laughing and sharing and playing games? Sure I do. Doesn't mean it would be all Normal Rockwell, of course. But I can dream. For now, I am taking it one day at a time. My precious epileptic kitty Marlowe is teaching me how to do that because I never know if he will be gone tomorrow, taken by this mysterious illness of his.  Everything happens for a reason and he was sent to me to learn this lesson.

What about you? Do you have days where it would be wonderful to just have kittens and puppies and babies--or rather the feeling of being completely accepted for who you are? Maybe your Thanksgiving will give you that this year. Have a happy day, everyone!

Contest - Name A To-Die-For Pie

By Ellery Adams

I'm working on the fourth Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery, which is tentatively titled, Lemon Pies and Little White Lies. It'll take place in the months of May and June and will feature a bake-off of historical proportions.

Because I include recipes in this series, I'm always on the lookout for pie recipes. I've covered some major ones but the wonderful thing about pie is how one can tweak a familiar recipe and make it brand new. For example, adding Red Hots to an apple pie or adding chocolate to a pecan pie.

So I'd love to hear about the best pie you ever tasted. The pie that made you swoon. The pie that made you weak in the knees. The pie that tasted like love.

And because of the time in which this book takes place, let's skip the pumpkin and mince pies. Anything with lemon would be much appreciated, seeing as I need a killer lemon pie to match the title!

Just post your favorite pie below (savory or sweet, it doesn't matter) and you might win this super yummy coffee prize pack including these adorable "I Believe in Pie" mugs and coasters. I'll pick a random winner on November 30 and post an announcement on Facebook and at the end of the comments.



Good luck!

Don't rush the season!

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

I kid you not, I got my first 2013 Christmas magazine of the season in SEPTEMBER.  (What's with that?) Of course, I'd been hoarding my Halloween issues since July.  And the Thanksgiving ones came in August.

What is WRONG with magazine publishers?  When I'm boiling hot in the dog days of summer, I do not want to be reading about carving a turkey and pecan pie.  And when the last rose of summer is almost five weeks from fading, I do not want to read about Santa traversing my chimney.

As I said, this year I have put my magazines in a special (visible, so I don't lose them) place to wait until the season is right.  I'm not touching those Christmas issues until the day AFTER Thanksgiving.  Why rush the season?

However, I also have a treasure trove of old Christmas-issue magazines going back to the late 1990s (both US and UK) that I haul out every December and devour.  For the most part, I remember the articles, but some of them are new to me every year.

This year I'm determined NOT to rush the season.  I usually start listening to Christmas tunes on November first, but not this year.  (I waited until the 8th...okay, the weather got cold.) But otherwise, I'm postponing the Joyous Season for a few more weeks. After all, I'm all for having a green (as opposed to white) Christmas.  (I fell three years ago on a slippery step and it took me six months to recover from deep tissue bruises and a frozen shoulder, and I am not eager to repeat the event on snow.)

So bring on Christmas ... but not until after Thanksgiving.

Are you with me on this?

Cozy Mystery Contest

by Julie

Just in time for the holidays! A chance to win a lovely gift basket filled with goodies from Salt & Pepper Books (or a gift card if you're out of the U.S.).



Enjoy learning about some of my other cozy friends, Daryl Wood Gerber, Krista Davis, and Lucy Burdette. In order to enter you'll have to visit our websites to find answers to the contest questions. But it'll be fun. And I've already gotten you started by providing links!

Have fun! Just click this contest link and follow the directions!

Good luck!

Julie