Month: October 2023

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Last Call for Carvers!

ellenparkerwrites

Today’s your last chance. Grab your pumpkin and a good, strong knife.

This will be messy work. Try outside if the weather is fine. Lots of newspaper in your space if carving inside.

Study the fruit well. Consider what you want to carve — traditional face — or something different.

Ready? Plunge in the knife for the first cut to make a lid. Be sure your hand will fit. Oh…here we are at the messy part. Seeds and stringy fibers holding them. Handful after handful goes on the newspaper.

Last chance to pick an area. Got it? Here we go!

Tomorrow pumpkins will be for pie. But tonight they are for fun. Happy face? Sad face? Teeth? Eye shape?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

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Space-saver

ellenparkerwrites

Not so many generations ago, siblings, and often entire families, shared a bedroom. Or, if the home was small, the bed, or beds, shared the living space.

Trundle beds solved part of the space problem. During the day, the child’s bed was pushed under the larger bed. At night, you simply pulled it out and claimed your space.

Another space-saver named the Murphy Bed arrived later. Tip the bed up in the morning, close the “closet doors” and use the floor space during the day.

Louisa, the heroine in the sweet romance, New Dreams, is furnished a narrow cot in the storeroom behind the bakery. For more about the book — check the blurb here: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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Rest Stop

ellenparkerwrites

Today when we travel, we appreciate a chance to stop, stretch our legs, and walk around a bit. Perhaps we seek out a toilet, or a snack.

When this pair arrives at a rest stop, they stay still. Oh, move a hoof a little and shift weight, in general they stay in place. I suspect they wonder if the human will bring them a drink.

This team pulls a wagon designed for tourists up and down a hill all day during the season. Aside from the driver, who they are familiar with, I wonder how many stories, in how many languages, they hear in a day.

In fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois, the teams at Bergmann Livery and Freight responded best to commands in Deutsch. Six days a week they pulled freight wagons up from the warehouse on the levee and delivered goods to merchants and residents of the area.

For more on this sweet romance set in 1851, click here: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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Out, Out, Black Spot

ellenparkerwrites

Today I grab a stain-removing stick full of chemicals.

My mother soaked whites in cold water and bleach. Colored clothes got a good rub of soap and waited for their turn in the washing machine.

Previous generations?

A washboard was more than a musical instrument.

Picture yourself with soapy clothes fresh from the hot water (perhaps a boiling kettle). Rub, rub, rub. Cloth against rippled metal or carved wood to loosen and remove stubborn dirt from aprons, underclothes, and workday trousers.

No need to do formal exercises to maintain upper body strength when washday is near. Or many other household tasks which we now turn over to electric servants.

Louisa, the young Deutsch immigrant in New Dreams, a sweet romance, encounters an additional complication while doing the laundry.

https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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At Great-Grandmother’s

ellenparkerwrites

Housekeepers, be they the lady of the house or hired help, consider a few things necessary in every generation. A place to store kitchen basis is on this list.

This fine collection of crocks with wooden lids would have been welcome in generations of homes. I can imagine them filled with salt, lard, and cookies. (Yes, as a young girl, I knew exactly which crock on the back porch held the cookies at my Great-Aunt’s home.)

Take a look around your kitchen. Do you spot cannisters or other containers designed to store basics? Are they plastic? Ceramic? Metal?

Keil’s Bakery in fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois would have had a collection of crocks (many of them larger than in the photo) to store food for the winter. Some for baking and others for personal use. I’d expect to find the larger ones in the storeroom beside the flour barrel for the bakery. Learn more about the people in the bakery in New Dreams, a sweet romance, by clicking here: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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Lowland Champion

ellenparkerwrites

Warmth. Moisture. Sunlight.

Three things growing plants appreciate in differing quantities. For oak and ash trees, these come together in the correct proportion in the low-lying woodland of Southeastern Missouri.

In a distance measured in yards on a metal boardwalk within Big Oak Tree State Park, you will find a placard by the remains of a former state champion bur oak and current state champion pumpkin ash.

With a diameter of sixty-two inches (5′ 2″) and a height of 104 feet (similar to a ten-story building) I made no attempt to capture the entire tree with my simple camera.

A little time in the peace of the forest (benches are spaced on the boardwalk) does much to restore a soul bruised by the fast pace of the current world. Listen to the birds. Or the breeze in the trees. Savor the fresh air.

Unable to travel? The sweet romance, Morning Tryst will introduce you to several of Missouri’s state parks. Follow the photographer heroine as she records sunrise – and learns truths about herself and the quiet hero, Zack.

Book information here: https://amzn.to/35gH37S

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Perfectly Paired

ellenparkerwrites

Do you enjoy visiting historic sites? Covered bridges? Grist mills?

Missouri has just the deal for you. Along the Whitewater River in rural Cape Girardeau County, the Burfordville Covered Bridge sits beside Bollinger Mill.

Completed in 1868, after a delay during the Civil War, this 140-foot-long structure is the longest of Missouri’s surviving covered bridges. It was a toll bridge until 1906. That’s the year local farmers took matters into their own hands, removed barriers, and started using the bridge as a public road. The bridge remained part of the highway system until the area became a park in the 1960’s.

Today, pedestrians of all shapes and sizes are welcome. They can also visit the adjacent mill and admire the displays of machinery. If lucky, or inquire in advance, you may be treated to a demonstration of turning corn into cornmeal.

In the sweet romance, Morning Tryst, our photographer heroine visited the site multiple times. One planned shoot was delayed, perhaps cancelled. You’ll need to check the book to find out the reason. https://amzn.to/35gH37S

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Autumn Stroll

ellenparkerwrites

On a sunny, autumn day, a stroll is just the thing to pick up your spirits. No need for a jacket. Nor a hat. Just wake from a brief nap, give a good shake, and set out. What will I see today?

My sibling, of course I see them. After all, we share a den. Humans populate the other side of the sturdy, glass enclosure of our home. Nice crowd today. Pleasant temperatures and sunshine always increase their numbers. Odd creatures, humans. They talk and gesture and make way too much commotion to ever be a success at hunting. They couldn’t sneak up on a deaf gopher.

Hmm. How shall I amuse the humans today? Perhaps I’ll scratch my claws against the log our keepers provide. There’s enough chill in the air to make the waterfall or pool unappealing. I know, I’ll browse around for a snack. Once, just once, a confused rabbit got into our home. Now that caused some excitement.

Human readers: Do you want to amuse yourself without visiting the bears at the zoo? I suggest a book. If you care for sweet romance, I suggest New Dreams. You can step into the past and pick up a tip or two about traveling and village life in 1851 Illinois. https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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Goose Tale

ellenparkerwrites

In the dark of a summer night the deed is done.

A theft? Vandalism?

No to both. Actually, it’s an addition — a gift of sorts. The decorative goose is placed with care beside the gazebo.

The next morning, walkers, and some of their dogs, blink and look again. “I don’t remember that from yesterday.”

A week or two later, the goose moves. She doesn’t go far. I think she’s testing out spaces to find the perfect spot.

What’s the phrase? “Go with the flow?” When a naked, decorative goose appears — dress her for the season.

Animals are included among the characters in the historical, sweet romance New Dreams. Horses are vital to both the story and the era. A farmer has milk cows — and a dog. Young pigs put in an appearance on wash day. But no geese are mentioned. If you had the space — would you raise geese?

https://amzn.to/3vWydWE