Kate Collins's Blog, page 290

I Still Want to Marry McCartney

by Leann

With reports that Paul McCartney was to marry this weekend--probably already has--I was reminded with a pang how very much I wanted to be his bride many many moons ago. Me and about a gazillion other girls. He was my one and only teenage heart throb celebrity. But here's a twist. I never admitted it. Instead, since one of my best friends adored Paul, too, I decided to say George was my favorite. I felt like I'd be betraying her. Yeah, like either of us had a chance at a Beatle. What dreamers we were!

My love for him began early in my teenage years when my British pen pal told me all about the group. I remember my heart pounding when I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. I didn't cry, but I think, if I could have scored tickets for a live performance, I would have cried. Never did see them in person, though I did see The Dave Clark Five (accompanied by my friend and both our mothers--not so great) as well as The Rolling Stones. I was older when I saw Jagger and crew and went just with friends. Great show and he threw a calf skin jacket to a lucky girl in the crowd.

I have a great memento of my Beatle love. The Niagara Falls Gazette took a picture of the "queue" to get into the first Beatles movie, Hard Days Night. It made the front page. Pretty good picture and I am quite recognizable. I loved that movie and the insight it gave me into the Beatles sense of humor made my adoration even greater. For me, it was Paul all along, a secret I kept--which actually made my puppy love all the crazier. Bit of irony attached. The girl friend I didn't want to "betray" by liking Paul since she declared her "love" for him first? When we were in high school, she stole my real-life boyfriend. How's that for loyalty?

What about you? Were you or are you a Beatles fan? If so, who was your favorite?

Mary Jane's Jacket or ... What's a writer to wear?

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

[image error] My friend author Mary Jane Maffini always looks professional.  Professional and downright cute!  Her winning smile is only part of the package. MJ knows how to dress, and part of her professional look is a great jacket. I'm not talking just one jacket--she seems to have a thousand of them. (I don't think I've ever seen her in the same outfit twice, but I would bet that's because she knows how to accessorize.)

I have never been a clothes horse.  In fact, for my entire adult life, I have depended on the kindness of friends and relatives to pick out my clothes.  I just don't have the interest or the talent for it.

But I've got an occasion coming up that calls for one to get "spiffed up." Yesterday I found THE jacket.  I immediately thought of MJ. She would look spectacular in this jacket -- except she's a little biddy thing and it would be too big for her. Well, it's a teensy bit small for me, but I bought it anyway.  It's my GOAL jacket.  You see, I'd also like to lose a few pounds before this occasion.

Since January, I've lost (as much as) 18 pounds. (Right now, it's 16 -- I seem to keep gaining and losing the same couple of pounds.)  I'd like to lose at least another 10 if not 15 pounds before my occasion.

Mind you, I've had goal jeans, etc., but never anything like this spectacular Laura Ashley jacket. (It's even got sequins.  I'm not sure, but I don't think I've ever owned any piece of clothing with sequins, although I do have a pair of earrings . . . )

I love this jacket.  I'm going to lose that weight so that I can wear it to my occasion, and I'm going to think of MJ when I wear it.

Have you got a piece of "goal" clothing?

Mary Jane's Jacket

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

[image error] My friend author Mary Jane Maffini always looks professional.  Professional and downright cute!  Her winning smile is only part of the package. MJ knows how to dress, and part of her professional look is a great jacket. I'm not talking just one jacket--she seems to have a thousand of them. (I don't think I've ever seen her in the same outfit twice, but I would bet that's because she knows how to accessorize.)

I have never been a clothes horse.  In fact, for my entire adult life, I have depended on the kindness of friends and relatives to pick out my clothes.  I just don't have the interest or the talent for it.

But I've got an occasion coming up that calls for one to get "spiffed up." Yesterday I found THE jacket.  I immediately thought of MJ. She would look spectacular in this jacket -- except she's a little biddy thing and it would be too big for her. Well, it's a teensy bit small for me, but I bought it anyway.  It's my GOAL jacket.  You see, I'd also like to lose a few pounds before this occasion.

Since January, I've lost (as much as) 18 pounds. (Right now, it's 16 -- I seem to keep gaining and losing the same couple of pounds.)  I'd like to lose at least another 10 if not 15 pounds before my occasion.

Mind you, I've had goal jeans, etc., but never anything like this spectacular Laura Ashley jacket. (It's even got sequins.  I'm not sure, but I don't think I've ever owned any piece of clothing with sequins, although I do have a pair of earrings . . . )

I love this jacket.  I'm going to lose that weight so that I can wear it to my occasion, and I'm going to think of MJ when I wear it.

Have you got a piece of "goal" clothing?

How Fun is This?

By Heather Webber / Heather Blake

Forgive my gushing, but I couldn't wait to share this cover with all of you.  It's for my first foreign book! It will be released in Germany next September.

Technically, this is Truly, Madly but the German publisher changed the title to (correct me if I'm wrong!): By Order of Love: A Case for Lucy Valentine.

I'm thrilled with the cover--and can't wait to get a copy of this book. Even though I don't know a lick of German, I know I'm going to love seeing every word in print.

Guest Blogger Jenn McKinlay on Her "Orphan Annie"

We are celebrating an anniversary in my house -- a happy one. A little over a year ago, I was walking my five month old puppy Otto, a Schnauzer with very expressive eyebrows, through the neighborhood when I saw a very large dog off leash. Not knowing if the dog was friendly and not wanting Otto to become the big guy's appetizer, I took a short cut.

Halfway down the alley, I saw a mid-sized brown and black brindle dog, huddling against the fence. My first thought was: Oh, crap, out of the pan and into the fire! As there was no escaping this dog, I scooped up Otto and put on my best mean face. As we passed, the dog hunkered low and growled, a very scary growl.

I got Otto home and then began to worry about the stray dog. It was the end of summer in Arizona, temps were still in the low hundreds and not likely to break soon. I decided I had to go back. Now, having been bitten by a few dogs in my time, I have a healthy respect (also called sweaty-palmed-terror) of dogs I don't know. I decided to bring canine ice breakers, i.e. Milkbones, to see if I could get close enough to the dog to assess the situation.

The brindle was in the same spot, still hunkered low, still growling. I offered a biscuit. She growled. I offered another. She growled and thumped her tail at the same time. Hmm. I tried to get close.She growled and scared me so naturally I went and woke up my husband.

The Hub came back with me and talked so nicely to her, that if I had been her, I would have been in his lap immediately. He got her to come forward a little bit, where we could determine that she was a her. Given the heat, he figured she was dehydrated and went to get water. I waited with her not getting any closer. She and I stared at each other, each trying to read the other.

I started talking to her as nicely as the Hub had. She thumped her tail and growled. I held out a biscuit.

She stayed low to the ground and belly crawled toward me. I had a moment of panic (she has a gorgeous face with definite pit bull bone structure) but I kept my hand steady and kept talking. She scuttled until her nose was just under my hand. I held my breath. She nudged the biscuit aside with her nose and pressed the top of her head into my palm and looked at me with her big baby browns.

Then she gave a huge shuddering sigh, as if she were psyching herself up for something, and she climbed into my lap. She leaned against me but held herself stiffly as if bracing herself for rejection. There was no question that she was taking a huge leap of faith by trusting me. When she looked at me, it was there in her soft chocolate eyes: Please don't hurt me!

I carried her home, talking to her all the way. The Hub was just bringing out a big bowl of water and she slurped it down and promptly threw up. She had a collar but no tags. We didn't know what to do.

My sons, the hooligans, came out to meet her. It was love at first sight on both sides. Then we let Otto out to see how it went. He and Annie did the butt-sniffing "How you doin'?" thing that dogs do and then ran around the yard about eighty times, alternately chasing one another, until they both passed out in the grass.

There was silly talk about finding Annie's owners, flyers were put up, but no one ever called. Clearly, she had been tossed out with the trash. Since we already had a dog, a fish, two hamsters and two cats, I was not super up for another pet, but how could I send her away, knowing that most dogs that have any pit bull in them end up being euthanized, and after witnessing her incredible leap of faith when she chose to trust me?

Names were tried out; Pepper, Scarlett, Tiger, Cinnamon Bun, but Annie from Little Orphan Annie (the Hub's last name is Orf, so it's really Orf'n Annie) stuck. The Vet was visited repeatedly until she was immunized and nipped and tucked. We were told that she was about a month younger than Otto and just a puppy herself.

It took her about 6 months to understand that she had found her forever home. She still has phobias (the broom, the garden house, loud male voices), but it's been a year now, and she has settled into our house of clutter and chaos as if this is where she was meant to be – and truly, it was.

Annie has inspired me in so many ways. Honestly, she makes me a better person and probably a better writer! In two of my mystery series, the Cupcake Bakery and the Library Lover's, my heroines rescue abandoned animals. In the upcoming, DEATH BY THE DOZEN, readers will get to make the acquaintance of Captain Jack, a stray kitten with a taste for cupcakes. I hope he wins your hearts like Annie has won mine.

Thanks for inviting me to blog today! It's always a treat to visit the Cozy Chicks! - Jenn McKinlay

Erma Bombeck, I Miss You!

by Deb Baker/Hannah Reed

Erma, the American humorist, wrote sharp, funny, one-liners, had a syndicated column that appeared in 900 papers, and was the author of numerous books dealing with family life - husbands, in-laws, kids, the neighbors - drawing from her own experience as a housewife and mother.

While we were dealing with all of life's drama - wayward kids, knuckle-headed spouses, battle armed mother-in-laws, she made us laugh instead of cry.


Some of my favorite quotes by Erma:
"I haven't trusted polls since I read that 62% of women had affairs during their lunch hour. I've never met a woman in my life who would give up lunch for sex."
"Somewhere it is written that parents who are critical of other people's children and publicly admit they can do better are asking for it."
"A friend will tell you she saw your old boyfriend - and he's a priest."

"Did you ever notice that the first piece of luggage on the carousel never belongs to anyone?"

"Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely."

"God created man, but I could do better."
And finally, before she died in 1996:

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'"

Thank you, Erma, for everything! I miss you.

I Can't Believe It's October

by Maggie Sefton


I know some of you folks are ready to build a moat because you've had so much rain, but some of us in the U.S. are still having unbelievably warm (85+ degrees) weather this early October. For someone like me who LOVES summers and warm temperatures, it's truly heaven. I've worked outside every afternoon this past week. By work, I don't mean yard work or gardening, I mean "other" work----like paying bills, both mine and my mother's, handling financial details for my mom, and, yes----my REAL work, writing. Revising, actually. Specifically, I've been doing revisions on the latest Kelly Flynn mystery which I turned into my editor this June.

I'd received revisions and since the weather was glorious, I wanted to be outside as much as possible. So, I chose to work outside on my back patio while my doggies kept me company. Or, rather, I kept THEM company. Katy and Max really keep their own company. Running after squirrels, racing to either side of the house to see who might be walking on the front sidewalk and barking accordingly, checking the adjoining backyards just in case a cat might be wandering about, sleeping in the sun, and joining the neighboring dogs in sending out an "intruder alert" bark whenever the dreaded UPS truck entered the neighborhood.

It's curious. . .the neighborhood dogs don't seem to bark at the FedEx truck as much as they do Big Brown. Why is that? Anyone know?

Anyway. . .I even checked email outside and booked airfaires and whatever else I could do---all while enjoying that glorious weather. We've still got the 80's today and will tomorrow. Weather Channel says we'll get a chilly front later this week with some rain when a Pacific Front moves our way. So.....this might be the last hurrah for the October 80's. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy it while we have it. In fact, I think I'll head up into the mountains---the High Country---on Wednesday and hike around Rocky Mountain National Park and listen to the bull elk bugle. It's Rutting Season, and the male elk are fighting to keep their harems of females or start a new one. Mountain Music, Kelly Flynn referred to it. I have to agree.


What's your weather like where you are? Sunny, warm, hot like Texas, or rainy like the East Coast?

Want to Buy a Cow?

by Kate Collins

 I'm not really selling a cow. I've never evenowned one. But if I did, and lived on a Wisconsin farm, I'd be in big trouble. Why? Because a judge there has decided that "individualshave no fundamental right to own or use dairy cows, to consume the milk fromtheir own cows, to board their cows off their own property, or even to produceand consume the foods of their own choice, period."
Wait. What? Wisconsinites have no right to own cows? And if they already have one, they have no right to make and eat butter,cream, or drink the cow's milk? Can that possibly be true?
You got it. After being petitionedfor clarification about his decision in a recent legal case involvingindividuals' freedom to consume raw milk and own shares of dairy cows, JudgePatrick J. Fiedler declared that individuals "do not have a fundamentalright to consume the foods of their choice."
Helloooo! The Ninth Amendment to the US Constitution establishes that thegovernment has no business interfering in the affairs of individuals outside ofwhat has been specifically enumerated to it, which, of course, includes freedomof food choice. Judge Fiedler apparently believes otherwise.
This article caught my eye partiallybecause of the mystery I wrote around the inhumane dairy farm factories that mysleuth, Abby Knight, protests against. (SLEEPING WITH ANEMONE, Flower ShopMystery #10). But more than that, it caught my eye because I hate abuses of power, and this seems tome an obvious abuse of power. It seems to me like Wisconsin is on the road tobecoming a police state. Can other states be far behind?

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) filed a lawsuit against theWisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) onbehalf of Zinniker Family Farm in Elkhorn, WI., and several other farms, backon Feb. 25, 2010, asking it to clarify its interpretation of the law in regardsto raw milk (http://www.ftcldf.org/litigation-wi...). You can read JudgeFiedler's entire response here: http://www.thecompletepatient.com/s...  In the meantime, if you agree withthe Ninth Amendment to the US Constitution, pass along the links above, or alink to my blog, so people are aware of what's happening to another of ourfreedoms.
This worries me. Does it you?

What's in a Name?

by Leann

Time for rewrites on my new book, The Cat, The Wife and The Weapon. I like "having written" rather than writing and especially love rewriting. It is a way to help the "baby" grow and then let the "baby" out into the world. Every book is unique and this time, a little something made me realize how important character names are to me.

I've changed names in my works-in-progress plenty of times without a problem, but this time, when I came to an editorial comment in the rewrite to change a character's name, it dawned on me how I have never changed a character's name AFTER I've finished the book. I guess it would be like choosing your child's name, filing the birth certificate and then changing your mind and doing it all over. Coincidentally, this actually happened in my mother's case. Her name was Virginia and then became Marian. (Not even close, huh?)

But there it was in the margin of my rewrites from my editor: "Please change this character's name." I was dumbfounded--not so much by the request but by how much it bothered me! This character is my creation and the name is right ... well, at least in my mind it's right. How could such a small thing bother me so much? For the first time in ten years, I actually called my editor to discuss the change. She is not a "phone talker." She prefers e-mail, but I needed to understand and she needed me to understand. Sometimes the only way is to actually hear the rationale, not read it. After the call, I understood and we compromised. Easy five minute conversation. We are both happy.

I was reminded, however, that when a book is in its infancy, not ready for public consumption, even small changes can seem monumental. In an article on fiction writing I once read, the writer talked about how you know when a book is ready. It's when you can let it go out into the world and not feel worried or sad. It's sort of like how you can't wait for your kids to go to college. (Please leave. Please!)

The rewrites continue and I am now fully aware my little book isn't ready to walk out the door quite yet. I'm pretty touchy about it right now. How about you? In whatever you do, is there an emotional bond that cannot be broken prematurely? Or am I just a little weird? :-)

Recipes and Memories

by Lucy Arlington

Last month I promised to veer away from the healthy recipes and offer you a decadent one instead. With a penchant for sweet baked goods, I have an unending supply of decadent recipes, so deciding which one to post today was not an easy task. Should it be a pie or a cake? Cookie or square? Chocolate or fruity?

As I leafed through my recipes I not only started to feel a craving for something yummy (tough on a person who is trying to be disciplined in her weight loss plan), but I also began to feel nostalgic. My recipe collection is like an epicurean journal—this recipe is for the cake my mother used to make on my birthday; those are the cookies my kids always ask for, even now as adults; that pie recipe was given to me by a dear friend who died a few years ago.

My senses have always evoked memories, transporting me to a time in my past. The smell of French fires always puts me on the beach in Port Stanley. The song, Sunshine on my Shoulders by John Denver, has me walking the halls of high school. If I have a bite of gevulde speeculaas (a Dutch treat—see my post from last December), I'm sitting at the table with my mother. It's amazing what might unearth the many experiences we have buried in our minds and hearts. This week, my journey through happy memories was prompted by foraging through my recipe box.

Do you have recipes that bring to mind special memories?

Oh, I almost forgot. Today's recipe is for yummy marbled chocolate cream cheese brownies. What memory do they conjure up? Sitting with my longtime friends, talking, laughing, and enjoying rich chocolate together.

Chocolate Marbled Brownies

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup dark cocoa

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 tsp vanilla

Cream Cheese filling:

250 g. package cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt.

2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat.

3. Stir in cocoa. By hand, beat in sugar, eggs and vanilla.

4. Blend in dry ingredients.

5. Pour half the batter into a greased 9-inch (2.5L) square baking pan.

6.Cream cheese filling: Beat the softened cream cheese with the sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth.

7. Carefully spread the cream cheese filling on top.

8. Spoon the remaining chocolate batter over filling. Pull a knife through to create a marbled effect.

9. Bake in a preheated 350ºF oven for 40-45 minutes. Cool.

Makes about 2 dozen brownies.