A not so wonderful National Day

National Tie-One-On Day arrives every year the day before Thanksgiving.

Is it really a good idea to tie one on?

It's been my experience that feeling tipsy is nice. Being drunk is not. The room spins and, at least for me, I spent an hour or so worshiping the porcelain god. Oh, and then there's the hangover where you feel like you will NEVER feel well again. I highly recommend NOT getting totally potted. Drink responsibly.

Have you ever wished you hadn't had too much to drink?

Turkey Day Approches

Would you trust Pixie to cook the turkey?

She really, really loves me!

I have been lucky to have a string of wonderful cats. In fact, I came across a saying just yesterday:  "No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat." They were all special, but one stands out:  Fred.  He was my son. My little prince.  My sweet puppy boy. I adored him from the day I first saw him at Pet Smart. It took me five months to convince Mr. L to finally let me have him. (The store stipulated that he MUST be adopted with his brother, which is why they were both there for THIRTY-NINE WEEKS.)

Unfortunately, George didn't work out. He was a runt, but he was also a bully. He attacked the other cats, and even I was bitten (and my thumb started to turn black), but when he viciously attacked our Betsy, that was the last straw. He had to go. (And believe me, it was a tearful decision. We'd never had a cat failure.) Luckily, Mr. L's cousin's best friend was looking for a cat. George went to live in Buffalo and the minute he saw Cindy, it was love at first sight. He's still with her and he has not only tolerated her other cats, but been best buddies.  Go figure. (We learned the hard way that five cats strains the system.)

After George left, Fred became my boy. He was the most cheerful cat on the planet. All I had to do was look at him and he would purr. He loved for me to throw him over my shoulder and dance. He came when I called him. He wasn't much of a lap cat, but he'd sit with me for at least five minutes every evening. I loved that cat with all my heart and he loved me. I'm still broken-hearted that we lost him to kidney disease 20 months ago.

But loving Fred did not prepare me for Emma.

We got Emma and her sister nine months ago after 11 sad months of being catless. Not that we didn't look for cats. We looked for cats all the time visiting shelters and pet stores. None spoke to us. We wanted babies, because all of our previous cats had been elderly and we didn't want to lose new ones for at least a couple of decades. (We had three cats that lived to be 20.) One of my readers fosters cats.  She told us about Poppy and Emma.

At first, Emma was aloof and Poppy was the lover. (She still is, but on HER terms.) It took Emma a while to warm up to us. She's only now learning to be a lap cat (and it seems ONLY when I'm sitting in the family room editing the day's work. Go figure.)  But over the summer, Emma decided that I am her human. She is with me at least 22 hours of the day. She sits beside me (in the other chair) in my office. If I get up, she gets up. She follows me like a puppy. If she's out of sight and I call, she immediately comes running.  At night, she sleeps either at my feet, or next to my pillow.

Lately, we noticed that the normally silent Emma only talks when I go into the kitchen. For the rest of the day, she's as quiet as a mouse. Here's a video I took of her the other day.



I often feel sorry for Mr. L because Emma snubs him. The other day, I walked into his office (which adjoins mine) and Emma walked past him (on his desk) to jump to his other office chair, climbed on top and begged me to make a fuss of her. She would love it if I made a fuss of her 24/7 telling her what a beauty she is and how much she's loved.

Yeah, she (and her sister) is a keeper.

Have you ever had a very special cat?

Rock-a-Bye Poppy

For a while now, I've been having a problem with my baby girl, Poppy. She's the sweetest little girl in the world. Unlike her sister, who pays attention to everything and comes when she's called, and does everything she's told, Poppy is a rebellious girl. She doesn't listen all that well. Like her sister, she's a flipper and a flopper. She loves to roll on the rug--back and forth and forth and back. She's a good lap cat at the end of the day and will sit quietly, but during the day? Not so much.

She also likes to bite -- everything. Not just me, but paper, boxes, desks, you name it, she bites it. She's not teething. She has passed her first birthday, but she still likes to BITE.

Recently I realized that there was a way to calm her. She will settle in my arms and I rock her like a baby. She purrs and purrs and then falls asleep. This is all very nice and loving ... until my arms and feet fall asleep. Then I have to put her down and she almost immediately jumps back on my lap. This makes it very hard to get any work done.

The girls chill under Mr. L's lamp.

Luckily, Mr. L has a 200 watt light bulb in his office. Under the light we've placed three cat beds. (We used to have more cats.) The girls often sleep under the warmth of that incandescent bulb. (We aren't going green with that lamp any time soon.) I also have a small oil-filled radiant space heater in my office and I keep a cushion next to it that's big enough to accommodate both girls. Now that the weather has turned, I'm hoping they will use it more and let me work.

It's not a terrible problem to have cats who love me and want to be with me. I just need to convince them that they need to change their timing.

What's your biggest pet problem?

The End of Summer = Back to School

Okay, summer doesn’t officially end until September 23, but for most of the country, Labor Day marks the end of the summer season.

When I was in school, Labor Day felt like some kind of death knell. Summer was over. School started. Nobody I knew liked going back to school, but I absolutely loathed it. I hated every single day of school, staring with Kindergarten, and some days more than others.  The highlight of my entire school career was the two years I spent in high school with my best friend Lori D. Back in those days, I was known as Lori, too.  “Lorraine” seemed so old-fashioned (and it still does) and I desperately wanted to be cute and thin like she was, and since I couldn’t be either, then at least I could be “Lori Bartlett.” (And incredibly, a two people still think of me that way. And thanks to Facebook, I’m still in contact with both of them. Hi Lori and Lee!)

Just yesterday, I went thrifting with my neighbor and her two boys and I admitted to them that I hated school, and my neighbor’s youngest son (who has the same name as my younger brother) shouted, “YES! She gets it!”

Of course, his mother didn’t want to hear that I hated school, but she also had to concede that a hatred of our educational system still managed to produce a New York Times bestselling author.

Except … that I don’t think I ever learned all that much from public school (besides learning to read and type). Algebra? Forgetabout it. (My favorite subject wasn’t English. Sorry, even now I could not deconstruct a sentence.) All that crap bored me. In fact, I spent a hellulva lot of the hours during my public education daydreaming (and getting in trouble for it). There were stories running through my head and I found it really hard to focus on schoolwork. Mr. L thinks I am probably mildly dyslexic. I had a couple of classes (and teachers, two who were actually married to each other) who encouraged me, but most did not. I fell through the cracks.

And then after high school, I found Star Trek fandom. What I never learned in school, I leaned from wonderful women who mentored me. We met through Star Trek, but it was other fandoms where I first started writing. These wonderful women encouraged me when all I wanted to do was write and didn’t have a clue how to do it. (And I learned even more when I connected with romance writers.)

My neighbor is currently homeschooling her oldest son because traditional high school let him down, and he's doing well. This kid is gifted. He’s a little nutty, but guess what—that’s what sets us creative people apart from the rest of the crowd. If the opportunity to be home schooled had been open to me, I think I would have flourished. Mind you, through high school I still managed to hit honor roll for three of my four years, but I can remember so many times when teachers stomped on my work because it wasn’t “mainstream” enough for them. Excuse me for being pompous, but I’d sure like to shove my NY Times bestselling honors up their butts.

So what’s my point? I’m not at all sure. But my friend’s kid is going to have a lot of options in the future. His parents understand and encourage his creativity. When I look back, so did my parents. When I announced my desire to be a professional writer, my Dad shook his head and said, “Why would you choose one of the hardest jobs in the world?” I had no words. He was only six months away from death when I hit the New York Times bestsellers list for the first time. He never knew that I hit it five more times or got nominated for an Agatha award.

School is still a sore subject with me. Far too many kids are pushed toward college and saddled with tremendous debt that will shadow them for a decade or more. If I was coming out of high school today, I think I would have considered the construction trade. (I did take wood shop in high school, which was actually quite fun.) Even so, I know I still would have been writing, but I would have had a trade and good-paying job. As it was, I was caught in the pink-collar trap and made crap wages for almost all my traditional working years.

So, where am I today?

Glad that I don’t have to go back to school next Thursday. Instead? I’ll be working on my next novel. And that makes me happy.

How do you feel about your school years?

Yard Sale Woes

My neighbor and I try to walk at least three days a week. Everybody needs exercise, right? Last week, she mentioned that she was going to have a yard sale on a Thursday and Friday. Mr. L and I had plans for Friday, but I asked her if she minded if I brought some of my stuff down and tried to sell it on Thursday. "Sure!"

I've had boxes of stuff sitting in my garage for two years. That was the last time I attempted a yard sale. (It got rained out.) While Mr. L is fine about going to yard sales, he's not keen on hosting them. He says we never make any money, and it's a lot of hard work and time wasted.

But, all I had to do was fill the van, drive down the road, and unload it. That was the first fly in the ointment...setting up. I had three card tables, a folding metal shelf, and a tarp, and I needed all of them. There was so much stuff--stuff I considered to be "good stuff." That's the kind of stuff I look for at yard sales. Pictures, picture frames, kitchen stuff, and a lot of what we called "smalls" when I had a booth at the antiques arcade. And at 7:30 am it was HOT and MUGGY. By the time I finished setting up, I was soaked with sweat. (Well, we didn't get to walk, so that was my exercise.)

Before we had even finished setting up, we had a few people stop by--either on their way to work or just coming off the night shift. Right away, my neighbor sold a kid's wagon for $20. Was this a good omen? Well, not exactly. It was another neighbor coming home from work.

We also had a strike against us. We live on a quiet street that is connected on both ends by very busy roads. Unfortunately, there's a bridge under reconstruction at the end one of those busy streets, so the road is closed except to "local" traffic. So possibly thousands of cars never passed our street by the south side.

Highlights of the day:  A woman who bought a sign that said LET IS SNOW. She was visiting our area from Florida. "Hey, we decorate for the holidays," she said when my neighbor laughed. In fact, she lives on the Intercoastal Waterway and said everyone decorates their docks and yards.

Neither my neighbor or I had breakfast, so around 10 o'clock she brought out these JUMBO cinnamon muffins. Holy cow, I haven't had a BIG muffin in a long time and this was REALLY good! And we were sucking back water like crazy, although the humidity did lessen as the day went on.

Around 1 o'clock, another neighbor and her adorable Westie (Cooper) came to visit. So we're sitting there shooting the breeze when something crawling on the garage floor catches my eye. At first I thought it was a cicada (although we mostly see them in August), but then I saw ... THE TAIL.

EEEEEK A MOUSE!  It came in from the side of the garage. My neighbor leapt from her chair (I'd already done so and was going EEEEK EEEEEK). The mouse changed direction and ran outside, and my neighbor tried to chase it into the grass, but the mouse panicked and ran back into the garage. Cooper (a terrier, and they were bred to kill rats) wanted to attack, but his mother held him back. My neighbor had the coolest head and took care of the situation.

Around 4 o'clock there was not much happening, and I wanted to pack up, but my neighbor convinced me to hang on until 4:30. We had one more customer -- and I made $1 and my neighbor made a quarter. Woo-hoo! It took 45 minutes to pack everything up (and not as neatly as it was in the morning). My earnings for the day: $39.20. My neighbor did much better.

My take?  The reason I find such good stuff at yard sales is because the average yard sale attendee doesn't care for that kind of stuff. It seemed like people were looking for children's clothes, toys, tools, and cooking utensils. Not much in the way of decor, and nobody wanted anything Christmas (In July, no less).

Back home, Mr. L made me a refreshing adult beverage and since we hadn't seen each other all day, we just sat and talked for more than an hour. It's amazing how exhausting it is just to sit around all day doing nothing. I sit around all day working, but it's different. My neighbor was SOOOOO glad to have company that day. (She'd done the yard sale last weekend, too.) She was going to do it again this morning for 4 hours and then call it quits because the heat index is up in the 100s today and that's just too hot.

Meanwhile, Mr. L is took me to a rummage sale.

The stuff that's leftover? My neighbor is donating hers to a church rummage sale. My stuff is going to Goodwill.

And Mr. L and Mr. H both said -- NO MORE YARD SALES.

Neighbor and I will just have to go to them instead.

Have you ever done a yard sale? Was it worth it?

FB Giveaway

Woo-hoo! Over on my Facebook Group Page, I'm hosting a holiday craft giveaway to celebrate my holiday books. Come on over and leave a comment sharing a favorite holiday memory to be in contention for a different craft project for the next few days.

Today's featured story is CHRISTMAS AT SWANS NEST.

The holidays are fast approaching, and Kathy Grant is hard at work on the renovations of her soon-to-be bed and breakfast. An unexpected winter storm disrupts her friends’ plans, and it looks like her B&B will have to open a little early. And then there are the cryptic notes that hint of a treasure to be found somewhere in the house. Will Kathy and her friends find a cache of cash?

Kindle US | Kindle Worldwide | Nook | Apple Books | Kobo 

Click this link to  join my Facebook Group Page. 

Come Thrift with me #1

Let me now if you'd like to see more of these videos!

50% Off Smashwords Sale

Smashwords is having a great 50% off sale on many of my Lorraine and LL Bartlett titles that's good for the entire month of July.

Check out my hard-boiled suspense titles.

Murder On The Mind  |  Dead in Red  |  Room At The Inn  |   Cheated By Death   

Bound By Suggestion  |  Dark Waters  |  Shattered Spirits  |  A Jeff Resnick Six Pack    

Evolution: Jeff Resnick's Backstory |  Off Script 

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Check out my cozier titles:

With Baited Breath  |  A Reel Catch  |  Love & Murder

Tales of Telenia: STRANDED   |  Tales of Telenia: JOURNEY

Mystical Blythe Cove Manor  |  Recipes To Die For: A Victoria Square Cookbook

This is a great time to stock up on my titles!

Now Available in Paperback

POISONED PAGES, the 12th Booktown Mystery, is now available on

Tricia Miles, mystery bookstore owner and amateur sleuth, throws a housewarming cocktail party in her new apartment and has cooked all the food by herself--quite a feat for someone who previously couldn't boil water. Then one of her guests is poisoned and dies. Tricia's left to wonder if her cooking is to blame or if there's something much more sinister at play. Either way, Tricia's once again in hot water with her ex-lover, Chief Baker.

Meanwhile the charming town of Stoneham is being disrupted by a vandalism crime wave. It's the hot topic in the race for Chamber of Commerce president which sees Tricia pitted against two bitter rivals. With all that's going on can she find the killer before she's the next item on the menu?

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Books A Million  |  Chapters/Indigo  |  Indiebound  

Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)

Order your copy now and help me hit the USA Today's bestseller list!

WATCH THE VIDEO BOOK TRAILER!

Would you wear one of these?

I polled reader on my Facebook Group about author swag a while back. Now I need to know what series they (and you) might be interested for T-shirts, totes, and mugs.

Below are my logos (and I have others, like Sweet Sue's from Victoria Square, etc.)

What would you like to see on a shirt, tote, or mug?

Got a boring task? Audiobooks are the cure!

Are you an #audiobook fan? Check out the Lorna Barrett audio page on the website! And lookout for the audio edition of the upcoming A Killer Edition on June 13th.

http://lornabarrett.com/the-booktown-mysteries-on-audio/

Are you into relish trays?

Years ago, Mr. L took me to a wonderful restaurant that has now been abandoned for decades. Before your dinner was served, they set out a relish tray. The highlight for us was the corn relish that came with other relishes, pickles, and veggies. Over the years, we've lamented the fact that the restaurant is history ... but what about making a relish tray?

Here's the definition of a relish tray according to the Stack Exchange website:

"A relish tray is an assortment of pickles, olives and small sticks of celery and or carrots. You might also have chow chow or chutney. Any type of relish like fancy cranberry relish or a little savory you might add to your dinner plate might be on a relish tray."

We've tried corn relish in jars, but they just don't have the taste we remembered for that restaurant, so I guess it's time to try and find a recipe and make it for myself.

I'm not a stranger to such things. Last weekend I made rhubarb chutney, which is relish-like. (And boy is it good.)

I started collecting relish dishes a couple of years ago. I had only been using them as places to dump my cheaters so I could find them when I want to read something. I have relish trays in my kitchen, dining room, and living room. It really does help me find my glasses.  But now I want relish dishes for ... well, relish!

Lately, we've been making small relish trays. The only real relish we include is a hot sweet pepper relish. Other items on our small tray are bread-and-butter pickles, banana peppers, and dill slices. I'm more than willing to add more things to our relish tray. Do you have any suggestions?

Tis the season to garden!

Back in April, when the forsythias bloomed, it was time to cut back my roses. The first time I did this (and I mean REALLY cut them back), I was sure I would kill them. But not only are roses beautiful, they're TOUGH. Sure enough, they not only bounced back, they bloomed even better.

I should have planted my snap peas at the same time. It was such a wet spring, I didn't want to to go out because it was COLD and I was afraid the seeds would just rot.

But nature is not to be denied. The perennials came up despite the cold and rain. They're doing remarkably well ... for some reason, the critters have left them away (so far). The daffodils, tulips, and rhododendrons are already done, but the iris, red-hot pokers. I've been trying to get rid of the lily of the valley (which is determined to take over the entire garden), so I ripped a bunch of them up. But then I think I might have pulled up some of my sun-drops, too. (Oops. They'll come back.)

I've got a bumper crop of rhubarb. I asked my Facebook friends what they used rhubarb for and I have a bunch of ideas. But this weekend I'm going to be making rhubarb chutney (the recipe is included in Recipes To Die For: A Victoria Square Cookbook).

Additionally, I'm planning on making some rhubarb muffins.  I've got a couple of really good recipes (included in The Best From Swans Nest, a Lotus Bay Cookbook).

I noticed that I had some self-sown lettuce growing, so obviously Mother Nature thinks it's safe to grow it and I planted seeds. I should have enough for a (full) salad in about a month.

Sadly, I've decided to give up my veggie garden. It's not that I don't want to grow veggies, but it's too heartbreaking when critters eat the stuff before it's ripe enough to harvest, and I've had a terrible problem with tomato blight. I'll still be growing herbs and maybe some beans in container pots, but I'm going to turn the veggie garden into another perennial plot. I want to get some different varieties of roses (I already have about seven knock-out roses) and I'm not fond of tea roses (not enough blooms), but I think I will wait until I go to the nursery to make a final decision. Right now, it's a clean slate.

What do you think I should put in my new garden?

Trying to go greener

When Earth Day rolled around last month, I started thinking about how much waste goes into my garbage tote.  Mind you, I've been trying to adopt more green ways.

Earlier this year, I decided I needed to cut down on my use of paper towel.  It so happens, my mother bought a lot of washcloths at yard sales for our family's cottage. I decided there were way too many stuffed into a drawer and I took them home and washed them to use in my kitchen. (I wrote about it on this post back in January.)

Since then, I figure we're using half the paper towel we used to. (Have not yet trained Mr. L to reach for these washcloths.) We used to go through at least a roll a week...now it's take two weeks and a few days. There are still a few things I use paper towel for, but not just to dry my hands, etc. (That's what the tea towels are for, and boy have I got a lot of them, too.)

But last month I had leftovers to put away and reached for the cling wrap. Then I stopped. Plastic is forever. I need to stop using so much plastic. So instead, I opened my cupboard and looked for a plastic container to put the leftovers in. Yes, it means washing another item, but water can be filtered and used again. Plastic stays in the landfill for hundred (if not thousands) of years.

Of course, there were a LOT of containers without lids. So a few days later, I hauled everything out of the cupboards and matched them up. Wow--I have a lot of them. But it's been two weeks and I haven't used any cling wrap.

And one of the reasons for that is ... wax paper. Okay, it's a lot more fragile, but it will degrade in a landfill. In addition to the wax paper wrapped around tomatoes and other items (with a rubber band around it to keep the air out), I also bought waxed paper bags. I bought a big box and they are smaller than I would like, but they are still very useful.

It's been more than two weeks and I haven't touched the cling wrap. Luckily, I was running low on it and probably won't buy any more.

Next up: going through my linen napkins, washing them, and using them instead of paper napkins.  I will look for colored ones at yard sales, because ... you know, spaghetti and curry stains.

What are you doing to go just a little bit greener?

Happy Book Day To Me ... The Best of Swans Nest

Woo-hoo! Two years in the making, but at last THE BEST FROM SWANS NEST is now available. It's a companion cookbook for the Lotus Bay Mystery series.

What's been fun for me is giving background information for Kathy Grant and what her inn and food mean to her. If you're a fan of the Lotus Bay Mysteries, and you like to eat, you'll want to add this companion to the series to your ereader. (And yes, it will also be available in print -- hopefully on the same day as the ebook. I'll keep you posted.)

Here's a brief description:

Kathy Grant, owner of the Swans Nest Inn on beautiful Lotus Bay, has collected more than a hundred mouth-watering recipes that she not only offers her B&B guests, but the brides who book their engagement and wedding parties at the inn.

Now you can enjoy the same treats like sweet sausage coffee ring, lots of marvelous muffins, quiche, stuffed mushrooms and many, many more!

Kindle US | Kindle UK | Kindle Worldwide | Nook | Kobo | Apple Books

Save Me From Windows 10

My computer had been ailing for almost a year. It was coughing up blood and I held my hands over my eyes so I didn't have to witness it's slow-and-steady decline. I would turn it on and the monitor would be black. I would pull the plug, wait a few hours, plug it back in, and it would regain conscientiousness--sometimes for a few months, but two weeks ago, it finally expired.

Luckily, I have a laptop. (In fact, the one I typed this on.) It, too, has had problems.  Every time Microsoft does a major update, it would lose conscientiousness. I would have to take the battery out and restart (once as many as 11 times over the course of two hours) to try to bring it back to life. It updated a little over a week ago and suddenly everything about it was different. All new sounds--it even took my wallpaper with it.  And I got an email from Microsoft saying as of January 2020--they wouldn't be updating it. I should have celebrated. Instead, I pulled out my "new" laptop. And did I mention the tiny screen?

Three (or was it four) years ago, I asked my friend Steven to suggest a new laptop. He's an IT guy and he suggested I get an ASUS laptop. Unbeknownst to me, it came loaded with Windows 8. OMG -- it didn't even have a Start Menu and I had no idea how to do ANYTHING on it. I put it back in the box and it sat under my easy chair gathering dust ... until Monday. Caveat: At some point during those years, I had our computer guy upgrade it to Windows 10 because Microsoft was only going to make that upgrade Free until a certain date. And there it sat, quietly gathering dust.

Last Monday, I took it out and decided I needed to learn Windows 10.  This ASUS fooled me. The Start Menu looked very much like Windows 7. YAY. I successfully loaded some software, but didn't really test it. But on this sort of triumph, I went out and bought a desktop computer.

With help from one of my readers (waving to John P), I bought a computer that had lots of speed and loads of gigabytes of storage, . Welcome back big monitor!!!  Only I didn't realize that Dropbox would suddenly dump over 40,000 files onto my (supposedly big) hard drive. Oy -- that took over FOUR HOURS to straighten out (and two online chats with Dropbox).

While that was happening, I tried loading my camera's software, took a few pictures of my cats, and tried to upload them--with NO results. I was online for another two hours trying to figure out how to solve that problem. Apparently some people have had some success, but 90% of Canon owners weren't able to upload their pictures, either. Finally, in  desperation, I called the local camera shop where I got my camera. (Yes, I bought it in a bricks-and-mortar store.) The helpful "Canon Lady" told me, "just take out the photo card, plug it into your computer, and copy/paste those pictures." It's a workaround, but I loved my Canon software that took the pictures, loaded them directly to Dropbox, and labeled the folders by date. That isn't going to happen anymore. (And P.S. the laptop doesn't have a card reader--so I'll have to buy one with a USB.)

Next up, trying to load my label maker software. The computer opened it with open arms. It's even Windows 10 compatible -- EXCEPT IT NO LONGER WORKS. (Another two-hour time sink looking for options. Still haven't figured that out.)

And that's why I'm typing this blog post on my Windows 7 laptop. I KNOW it works. In fact, I've decided to take a few days off from Windows 10 ... unless, of course, this computer starts coughing up blood, too.

Did I mention how much I LOATHE Windows 10?

What was your experience (supposedly) upgrading to Windows 10?

Happy Mother's Day

I guess it's an acquired taste

I'm currently researching craft breweries for a book I'm working on. It's fascinating. Not just the production of the beer, which is a lot more complicated than I thought, but all the things that go with it. The tasting room and/or restaurant--and even what's stocked in the (usually small) gift shop. (Seems like T-shirts are a big seller!)

It all sounds great. There's just one thing. I don't like beer. My father never drank it, so it was never in our house. Of course, my brothers (who were much more sociable than me and went out with friends at night ... while I was reading) acquired a taste for beer ... but not me.

There are other things I never acquired a taste for. Wine is one of them. (Tastes like shoe polish remover to me.) There's such a mystique about wine. Think about it:  wine,women, and song. The whole bacchanalia in the Disney film Fantasia. People are always drinking wine and have been doing it for thousands of years. (The go-to drink in ancient Rome. Heck, even Jesus turned water to wine.) I found red wine gives me a headache, and if I'm drinking white wine, I like sweeter varieties. But I'll take whiskey or gin over grape-based wine any day.

I never acquired a taste for coffee, either, although I did try. When I was in college, I figured when I got out of school and went to work in an office, I'd have to drink the stuff. I mean, who had a tea kettle handy? (As someone who worked in offices for more than 25 years, I can tell you: NOBODY.)

So, for three weeks, I drank nothing but coffee. Of course, the swill the school served was dreadful. To this day, I still can't stand the taste of coffee (although I do like the smell of it brewing, especially of freshly ground coffee). I make a pot of coffee for Mr. L every morning. I make myself a pot of tea.

Of course, there are some things I have acquired a taste for:  Olives.  (Kalamata are my favorite.) Asparagus. Lima beans. Then again, I'm really not into fruit. They pick it too early (so it's usually not ripe) and by the time it ripens, it's ready on the outside and rotten on the inside.

So, what's your acquired taste?

Happy Book Day, Ellery Adams

Happy Book Day to my friend Ellery Adams, with her 5th entry of her Book Retreat Mystery series.

Storyton Hall, Virginia, is a paradise for book lovers who come from all over for literary getaways. But manager Jane Steward is temporarily leaving for another renowned resort—in hopes of solving a twist-filled mystery . . .

Jane’s boyfriend is missing, and she thinks she may find him at North Carolina’s historic Biltmore Estate. Officially, she’s there to learn about luxury hotel management, but she’s also prowling around the breathtaking buildings and grounds looking for secret passageways and clues. One of the staff gardeners promises to be helpful . . . that is, until his body turns up in the reading room of his cottage, a book on his lap.

When she finally locates the kidnapped Edwin, his captor insists that she lead him back to Storyton Hall, convinced that it houses Ernest Hemingway’s lost suitcase, stolen from a Paris train station in 1922. But before they can turn up the treasure, the bell may toll for another victim...

Get  your copy now!

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Happy Reading!

My Easter Dessert

The best part of holidays for me is ... the food. It's so enjoyable to share a wonderful meal with friends and/or family, and this year for Easter we're going traditional with a spiral ham, deviled eggs, honeyed carrots, rolls, and at least one more fresh veggie. We'll see what's at the store tomorrow.

But my favorite part of the meal is the dessert.  Okay, I've got a sweet tooth. This year, I'm leaning toward cake. My upcoming book, The Best From Swans Nest, a Lotus Bay Cookbook, has ten cake recipes and five frosting recipes. YUM! I'm leaning toward making spice cake with maple frosting. (That maple frosting also takes great with carrot cake or hummingbird cake. Yum-yum!)

Spice Cake
Ingredients
¼ cup butter or ½ cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark-brown sugar, packed
4 eggs
½ cup milk
½ cup molasses
2¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC, Gas Mark 4). Butter and lightly flour two 8-inch round cake pans. Cream the butter or shortening and slowly add the two sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, then add the milk and molasses, beating thoroughly. In another bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients and add to the wet mixture, beating until well blended. Pour the batter into the pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack.

Frost with your favorite cream cheese or buttercream frosting. Also tastes great with maple or caramel frosting, or sift confectioners’ sugar over the top.

Yield:  6 to 8 servings

Maple Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2¾ cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ cup chopped walnuts

Place the softened butter in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 30 to 40 seconds until whipped. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Sift the confectioner’s sugar into the bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 30 to 40 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the brown sugar and maple syrup. Beat for 2 to 3 minutes or until the mixture is fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in the walnuts until just until mixed and spread on the cooled cake.

Yield: 3 cups

THE BEST FROM SWANS NEST arrives on May 14th. Pre-order your copy now!

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Poppy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Our kittens are growing like weeds, but they are still kittens. They get into EVERYTHING.

Yesterday, I pulled out my computer tower because I needed to unplug it to try to coax it back to life. (It has issues.)  I try to start it up (cue the Stones) every few hours. Because I was going to do that, I left it pulled out from under my desk.

For some reason, the kittens decided that playing behind the tower was a fun thing to do. They got yelled at several times, but--they're reckless teens. (That's why we have no guns and motorcycles around here.) Poppy got back there and, usually when I holler, she listens to me and stops her bad behavior, but this time she didn't come out. I hauled the tower out even farther and found she was totally entangled in cords for the computer, the label printer, the Internet, the router--you name it. One of the cords was wrapped around her neck. Needless to say, I panicked but quickly managed to extricate her. Holy crap! My kitten nearly strangled herself!!!

Half an hour later, they had their (second) breakfast. (They get kitty kibble as a snack, then an hour or so later, the REAL breakfast of Friskees.) Soon after Poppy ate her food, she started pawing at her mouth and sounding like she was choking. YIKES! She did this for about ten minutes. She let me look in her mouth, but I couldn't see anything stuck on her teeth.

I called the vet, but got put on hold. While waiting, she stopped the pawing. I got cut off, but decided I was overreaching.  Until ... two hours later, she started doing it again. Now I was getting panicky. What if near strangulation had hurt her throat? She seemed to be breathing a lot faster than her sister when snoozing.

The vet was able to squeeze us in and so off we went. They had a lull and we were sent right in and were relieved that it was our favorite vet who saw Poppy. As soon as I told her about the noise Poppy had made, she went, "Aha." And then she showed us that Poppy already had a couple of her adult teeth, and that her gums were a little red and she had a wiggly tooth, but not wiggly enough to come out. (She tried.) Boy, was I relieved.

I'M A NEW MOM. I PANIC, OKAY?

And just as good, the vet didn't charge us for our little emergency.  (The woman is a saint and a brilliant kitty surgeon.) She said all Poppy needed was a visit from the tooth fairy.

Okay, I've lived around cats all my life, but we weren't around the babies all that much because we worked 8-5. Now, more than 20 years later, we're around them 24/7 and ... honestly, I never saw a kitten teething before.

So, first Poppy nearly got strangled, then her teeth hurt, then she was stuck in a carrier and driven to the (horrors!) vet. Yes, it really was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for Poppy.  But we gave her extra cookies for Happy Hour and she seems to have overcome her ordeal.

Have you had a panicky moment with your pet?

Happy Book Day To Me!

It's always a fun day when you have a new book drop. Today, Foul Weather Friends, my 5th Tale From Blythe Cove Manor, is available. Check it out!

Alone and suddenly single, Teagan Tate's visit to Martha’s Vineyard for a previously planned 
couples weekend leaves her feeling more of a third wheel.  And when the last ferry off the island 
is cancelled, she finds herself stranded in the middle of a nor’easter. Will the magic of Blythe 
Cove Manor and the kindness of two strangers help her find a new and happier life path?

Kindle US | Kindle Worldwide | Nook | Kobo | Apple Books | Smashwords

A DELICATE SUBJECT ...

 They say that a major contributor to global warming is (ahem) cattle farts. Well, in this house there are no cows/steers.

There are kittens. Kittens who fart. Kittens who take great DELIGHT in farting while they are on my lap. Oh, yeah -- they save it up for me. Mr. L laughs because they never fart on him.

Of course, we could change their diet. I know people who have fed their cats the same kibble every day, every meal of their lives. Uh-uh. I'd kill myself if I could only eat one thing for every meal.

Maybe I'm anthropomorphizing the girls, but our boys had definite ideas about what they'd eat. Fred was a tuna boy. Chester preferred shrimp (which Fred wouldn't touch). They preferred fishy food over the other canned foods. The girls gobble everything, which is why Emma has lost her kitten look--she's growing like a weed. (Poppy ... not so much, probably because her sister tries to steal her food. Emma is part piglet.) They do get kibble with their meals for their teeth and urinary tract health.

So ... do your pets pass gas?

(Look at that innocent face. "I didn't fart. I promise, Mum." Yeah, right.)

Smile for the camera?

After a lonely eleven months without cats, five weeks ago we got our new furbabies Emma and Poppy. They're adorable and they are a pain in the butt. We haven't given them the freedom of the whole house yet. During the day, they are with us in our offices, climbing up on our desks and walking over our keyboards. We're getting lots of work done. NOT.

They have beds they can sleep on or a cushion next to the heater in my office, but they prefer to sleep on our office chairs. (We both have two desks with chairs.) They are also what I call wiggle-worms.  They roll around a lot. They roll off the chairs sometimes.  Yesterday, Emma rolled off while sleeping.

Emma ... just after she rolled off the chair.

Emma (the silver tabby) will "sit pretty" for just about anything. When she's curious, when she's looking out the window, at dinnertime. But can I catch her doing it when I've got my camera or phone in my hands? Nope.  They are incredibly cute until I pull out the camera--either that, or they'll be doing something cute and before I can snap a picture or hit the video button, they stop and/or leave the area. They are definitely camera shy. From these pictures, you'd think they live very quiet lives.  Nope. They sound like a herd of thundering elephants.

They have toys everywhere and two are favorites.  First, their tunnel. Cozy Chick emeritus, Ellery Adams, sent the girls a bag of toys and the tunnel. They play in it every day, They race through it, have life-and-death wrestling matches in it. Good clean fun for a couple of hours a day.

Their other favorite toys are crinkle balls.  (That's what it said when I Googled it.) The bag Ellery sent had a few of them in it, and then (current Cozy Chick) Mary Kennedy sent them an entire bag of crinkle balls. Holy cow! When we need to work, another on gets tossed on the floor and we're guaranteed at least 20 minutes to sneak in some work.

Emma has been sneezing, so we're going to the vet this afternoon. She did not like the carrier when we took her for her shots, so this should be an adventure. Poppy hasn't been left alone. She'll either be freaked out, or yawn and take a nap.

Either way, my camera won't be far away. But I think I might need to buy another photo card. With these girls, I think I'm going to need it.

What are you pet's favorite toys?