Month: September 2024

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Forgotten Fruit

ellenparkerwrites

A visit to an outdoor museum prompted my memory. They had this plant in one of the gardens which looked familiar. I knew we’d not grown it when I was a child. (We didn’t grow the largest variety in the area.) But I think some grew “wild” nearby and the paper-thin pouches holding the fruit looked familiar.

Wouldn’t you know — they didn’t have a nameplate on the raised bed.

Fast forward an hour or two later and the name was supplied — ground cherries. The cook had some soaking in preparation for making a cake.

Louisa Mueller has grown up in a bakery and enjoys the life. Early hours to get the bread into and out of the oven before the shop opens are just a way of life for her. In addition to wheat and rye bread, she makes pies and Kuchen with seasonal and dried fruits. Plus, she has a reputation for the best molasses cookies in town.

Check out Louisa’s early Illinois adventures in the sweet historical romance, New Dreams. Be sure to have your favorite beverage and a treat close at hand.

Here’s a link to the book: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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Midday Pleasure

ellenparkerwrites

The autumn equinox is two days past. So officially, the season is autumn. Expect to see colorful leaves attempting to match the sweaters and sweatshirts of the humans.

Sunshine continues, albeit in limited quantities. Animals who want to make the most of the situation settle in during the midday hours and blissfully absorb the solar rays.

Warm sun on warm mud — hog heaven. This resident of a demonstration farm in a local park may become concerned about the shortened hours of sunshine, but she does not need to fear the butcher.

In the fictional village of Elm Ridge, Illinois, the Deutsch butcher shop is owned by the Hebing family. Year round they sell fine sausages, ham, bacon, and other smoked meats. Polly Black, an American seamstress, is a regular customer. Once in a while, she will purchase a cut of beef or a chicken. But pork is a staple. After all, ham hock and beans is one of her son’s favorite meals in the sweet, historical romance Stitching a Dream.

Click on the link to find more book information: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

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Gobble Expert

ellenparkerwrites

What image does the word “gobble” prompt in your mind?

Do you imagine a person eating without showing manners and skipping most of the chewing?

Or do you picture a bird from a children’s book and begin to imitate his sound?

This example of a relative of the latter was captured in a public garden. I wonder what she was eating that day. Were seeds on the menu? Or was she heading off to pick some berries? Insects and worms also need to be aware of where she pecks her beak. She’s not a fussy eater — a fact farmers and home gardeners alike sigh about.

Illinois is part of the natural range of the wild turkey. By 1851, the area near fictitious Elm Ridge was settled enough that the bird was becoming scarce. But I would expect farmers did enjoy a few which made it to the dinner table.

Polly Black, seamstress, selected her meat at the butcher shop. Hunting, even on the land of a friend, was an activity which she left to others. Check out the sweet historical romance, Stitching a Dream, to meet her friends — American and Deutsch. Here’s a link to find the book: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

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Dual Purpose Fowl

ellenparkerwrites

Cluck, cluck, cluck. The small flock of chickens is outside and making happy noises. When the hen goes inside, will she seek out a quiet place and lay an egg? Or will the slowest of the flock end up in the frying pan on Sunday?

This lovely flock lives a protected life at a Midwestern outdoor museum. They are the heritage breed Black Java. While not the egg-laying machines favored by large producers — they are said to hold their own by laying an egg every two or three days. (So six hens should give the family a couple every day — enough to bake a cake and add an egg to the biscuits and bacon on a regular basis.)

To my eye, they looked plump under those feathers. I’d target extra roosters for the cooking pot. Perhaps my farm ancestors learned how many times a year to let a hen “set” on a clutch of eggs to replenish both the flock and pan.

Polly Black, seamstress, in 1851 fictional Elm Ridge, IL, buys her meat at the butcher shop and eggs from the grocer. Her life is full with earning a living at her trade and raising her young son. Find out what happens in the eventful first year she lives in this river town in the sweet historical romance, Stitching a Dream. Click on the link for more book information. https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

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How full is your Bucket?

ellenparkerwrites

Dreams. Goals. Plans.

Almost everyone has a few. Try completing this sentence. I really want to visit, see, or experience __________.

In recent years, the list of things which an American wants to do before they die has become known as a “bucket list”.

Perhaps it’s the history lover in me — or the farmgirl. But when I hear the word “bucket”, one of these pops into my mind.

Do I have a “bucket” list? Absolutely. But you won’t find it written among my household bookkeeping. You will find hints on lists of yearly goals. But most of it remains in my brain, let out in stray comments in conversation with friends. I imagine starting with one “bucket” full of slips of paper with destinations or experiences listed. Then, as I manage to make a trip or attend an event, the slip of imaginary paper moves into the other “done” bucket.

Years have passed. My “done” bucket contains lots of slips. My “to do” bucket, while not empty, is less full — for I have gone places and done things during my life.

How are your buckets doing? Did you move any slips from “to do” to “done” during the first portion of this year?

Do you have reading on your list? Sweet historical romance, such as Stitching a Dream, makes a great escape when you cannot physically travel. Consider a visit to 1851 Elm Ridge, Illinois, the next time you’re browsing books. Here’s the link where you can read the blurb: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

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America the Magnet?

ellenparkerwrites

Attention: Residents of the United States of America — listen up.

Unless your heritage is Native American, your ancestors were born on another continent.

Were they born in Africa? Very likely someone was kidnapped or captured in a skirmish between tribes and transported against their will to North America.

Were they born in Asia? My guess is they came to work. Perhaps on Hawaiian plantations. Or US railroads. Often the men came first, and if possible later, sent for families.

Were they born in Europe? Immigrants made the journey for many reasons. Usually the head of household made the choice — often dictated by economic reasons. The cost of land. Crop failures. Avoid military service. Adventure. Idealism.

Difficult work and unfamiliar weather, crops, and neighbors greeted them in this New World. But tell me — when did they become American?

Kurt Tafel was born in Pennsylvania and learned Deutsch as his first language. Is he American? What about his father — also born in Pennsylvania? Are the Tafels more or less American than the Scots and Irish who followed them across the ocean?

Just a little question to keep in your mind as your read the sweet historical romance, Stitching a Dream. Set in 1851 Illinois, enjoy the adventures of the residents of the fictional river town, Elm Ridge.

Here’s a link to the book: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

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Function First

ellenparkerwrites

Housing in America through the centuries has been a mixture. Shelter, shelter, shelter was the priority for the first European settlers.

Abundant wood supply led much to be built of this material. Settlers would perhaps start with a “lean” open on one side. In most regions, a proper cabin soon followed. Of course, cabins varied. Dog trot was rather like a duplex — with a breezeway between the two portions. Many included a loft for additional sleeping space.

Now, how to have the children assigned to sleep in the loft get up and down? A ladder was the first solution. I’ve seen them akin to climbing the wall with a few rungs for assistance. When room allowed, steps were constructed.

These, not fancy, but functional, were in many modest homes in the mid-19th century. A person could actually carry a basket or box in their arms as they went up and down.

Can you imagine yourself, or your children, darting up and down these stairs several times a day?

In the sweet historical romance, Stitching a Dream, the newly reconstructed dress shop living quarters has similar steps. A great improvement over the steeper, narrower stairs destroyed in a summer fire. Guess the calico cat’s favorite place to watch her humans?

Here’s a link to the book: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

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Journey to the Sea

ellenparkerwrites

The river flows to the sea.

It’s the way the world works. No matter where the drop of rain, or flake of snow, falls, eventually, the same water will end up in the sea. (I can think of only a handful of exceptions — including the Dead Sea watershed.)

Yes, some of the water will go deep into the soil to nourish plants or continue down to an aquifer. Other individual drops will be slurped up by animals.

The remaining drops, combined with many others will form a rivulet, a stream, a creek, a river, a larger river, and then to the sea. Always going from high point to low the water demonstrates gravity to those who pay attention.

Humans have lived on the banks of these rivers since before recorded history. They drank the sweet water. They learned to catch and cook the fish. They built rafts and boats to travel from one settlement to another.

Humans still live on the banks of rivers. Many cities grew at the point where rivers joined each other or met the sea. Humans have lived along the river in the photograph for centuries. Europeans arrived 400 years past. The posts look like the remains of a much more recent dock. The rock has been placed to prevent the bank from collapsing and widening the already generous river.

Do you have a favorite river you like to watch? Perhaps from a local park or certain building?

The Mississippi River (not in the photo) is important to the fictional village of Elm Ridge, Illinois during the 1850’s. Check out this pair of sweet historical romance for a story of to young immigrants – New Dreams – and an American woman and Pennsylvania Deutsch man – Stitching a Dream. Follow the links for more information:

New Dreams: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

Stitching a Dream: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh