Month: December 2025

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By the Light of the…

ellenparkerwrites

Horses don’t wear headlamps. Only the most expensive carriages had lamps. Street lamps – coal gas – arrived in the large cities first.

Look to the sky for your light.

Earlier this month, we were graced with the final full moon of the year. It was a beauty! Can you imagine using this light to either walk or ride your horse to visit your sweetheart? Perhaps you treated her to a moonlight carriage ride. (If her father/guardian approved.) Warm or cold, this secondary sky light calls you outside.

The residents of fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois kept an eye on the moon’s cycle. On a clear, full (or near full) moon night a person had no need to carry a candle lantern in 1851. In the sweet romance, Stitching a Dream, the characters keep a lantern nearby during the long winter evenings. More book information is at the link: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

Happy New Year, faithful reader!

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Nature’s Special Touch

ellenparkerwrites

Snow for the holidays? Do you live in a region where winter brings snow in late December? Or are you in a more mild climate? Perhaps you have temperatures below freezing, but bare ground. Or even warmer — a place where snow is rare.

As a child, I lived in a colder climate than I do as an adult. In the United States, a distance of less than 400 miles to the south can make a big difference. While snow in late December is possible in my current home — our snow is more likely to arrive in the first two months of the New Year.

More than a decade ago, Mother Nature decorated for New Years. (Photo taken 12/29) The new owners of sleds or skis received as Christmas presents were thrilled. People required to drive to work that morning — not as thrilled.

North of St. Louis enough to have a longer winter, fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois, often had small amounts of snow in late December. In 1851, according to the sweet historical romance STITCHING A DREAM, a light snow fell more than a week before St. Nicholas Day. (Dec 6) Click on the link for a more complete description of the story. https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

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Fear Not …

ellenparkerwrites

Take it easy — I’m not here to harm you.

Angels tend to issue reassurance before they deliver the assigned message. Are they scary? Huge? Glowing?

In holiday displays they tend to have a different demeaner. Friendly? Pretty? Sparkly?

This angel, from a neighborhood display, appears friendly enough. I’d like to invite her to sing in the choir. Or play her harp with us.

Polly Black, seamstress, changes her place of worship near the Christmas holiday. To learn the reason, read STITCHING A DREAM, a sweet historical romance set in 1851 Illinois. Here’s the book link: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

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Pretty Poison?

ellenparkerwrites

Bright red berries against dark green leaves. A little prickly around the edges — but looks great in a wreath or vase.

Small children in your house? Think twice. The berries contain poison. Same thinking required if you have pets. While certain species of birds eat the berries with no problems, the story is different with children and pets. Adults? Still poison — but more likely to have stomach upset — think body weight.

Holly — fresh from a friend’s bushes gives a festive note to my home. No small children. No pets. Not expecting any guest to be mentally challenged enough to eat the decorations.

Americans in the 1850’s decorated their homes for the holidays. Often the decorations were ties to their European country of origin. Holly would have been a favorite of English and their descendants. Deutsch, like the characters in the sweet romance, New Dreams, would have set up a Christmas tree. Check the book link for details on a story of new arrivals. https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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A Cup, A Spoon, and A Dash

ellenparkerwrites

December among my family and friends includes an increase in baking. Favorite recipes, often spotted with traces of ingredients, are pulled out of folders, boxes, and cookbooks. Shopping lists include once-a-year items. Cooks search cupboards for pans stored eleven months ago.

The scents of cinnamon, anise, and peppermint fill the kitchen air. Mumbles, commands, and shouts are given to and by cooks and helpers of all ages. (And species if you have pets.)

Sprinkles and colored sugars add a festive touch to cookies. Cakes and pies appear in record number. And candy — fudge, pretzels dipped in chocolate, and divinity are found cooling on the counter.

Do you have a recipe you make every year? A dish that gives a special “touch” to your holiday?

Louisa Mueller, a young baker in the sweet historical romance, New Dreams, hums and sings as she prepares treats for the fictional village of Elm Ridge, Illinois. Check out the book at the link for more information on this tale of new Americans and their dreams. https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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Holiday Tunes

ellenparkerwrites

The year is fast approaching the end. Social events are stacking up on calendars all over the United States. Office and work parties. Neighborhood gatherings. Family traditions. Everything wants to be celebrated before the last day of the year.

Draw a deep breath. Sit and listen to the music. These end-of-year holidays are filled with sacred and secular melodies.

Only three of octaves of bells capable of making pretty melodies. Have you ever rung bells? Attended a bell concert?

In the sweet historical romance, New Dreams, Louisa Mueller enjoys all sorts of music. She hums hymns and folk tunes during her working hours in the bakery. And every Sunday afternoon she enjoys music and dancing at the beer garden. Check out the book and join this story of arriving in America in 1851. Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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Tools of the Trade

ellenparkerwrites

Not so many decades ago, this is the equipment used to milk the dairy cows. Twice a day (sometimes thrice) the farmer, and perhaps family members or a hired hand, would milk the cows and put the milk to cool before the truck from the dairy picked it up.

Milking by hand? Note the bucket and stool.

Milking by machine? Note the surcingle (belt) around the cow. The one is this display is not well adjusted. The handle of the unit is set on the metal portion of the surcingle and the inflations (rubber insets in metal) are slipped over the teats.

The cow is usually peaceful and calm, head in the stanchion and sometimes with a little hay to chew while the humans, or machine, takes her milk.

How long ago? This type of machine was used well into the 1960’s in the heart of daily country. Herds were smaller then, seldom more than 50. The change to milking parlors was underway.

One of the farmers in New Dreams, a sweet historical romance, wants to start a dairy. Step back into 1851 and join his cousin during her first year in America. Follow the link to more book information. https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

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Winter Work

ellenparkerwrites

You needed to be strong and quick for this work. Stout boots were a must. Outdoor winter clothing required. After all, you were building a legend — you were the kernel of truth behind Paul Bunyan.

You worked in the northern woods felling trees and skidding/hauling them to frozen rivers and streams. Oxen and horses shared your working conditions along with a few mechanical beasts in the later years.

Guiding logs into the river, preparing to raft them downstream to the sawmills. You needed to be alert and have an excellent sense of balance. More than one man drowned while doing this work.

Fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois has a sawmill powered by a creek. They buy white pine rafted down from Minnesota in the sweet romance, Stitching a Dream. An owner rough around the edges gives Polly Black a few sleepless nights as she weighs options of bad and worse. Check out the book blurb at the link. https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

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Equine Enjoyment

ellenparkerwrites

After the work day — or when the humans take a day off — the animals get to relax. This pair has long days without pulling farm equipment or wagons for they are lucky and live at a historical site.

Sometimes I wonder what a farm horse’s favorite task was. I doubt it was plowing — pulling a sharp blade through the field is hard work. Pulling a seeder or planter would be better. The implement does not dig deep into the earth. Perhaps pulling a mower or hay rake? All the work is above ground. Best to go steady to keep the gears turning and the work progressing. A wagon? Hmm. I suppose it depends on the load. Hay can be awkward. Rock for construction is heavy. Grain to the mill? Can we nibble on any spillage?

In the sweet romance, New Dreams, Hans Hoffmann finds employment at the livery and freight company. He starts with a lowly task — cleaning stalls and harness. He likes the work — and the horses like him — but the real story is between the people in this 1851 tale. Follow the link for more story details. https://amzn.to/3vWydWE