Me 'n Tiny Tim

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There we are....my mom in the center and all 49 of us together. That doesn't happen very often.

I did a little reminiscing about my childhood Christmas today on Petticoats and Pistols.

Stop by and see what inspired my soon-to-be-released novel Gingham Mountain.

GINGHAM MOUNTAIN

Coming in February 2009

A rancher runs head-on into the new school marm, who believes he's made slave labor out of six orphaned children.

Grant Cooper crowds too many orphans into his rickety house, just like Hannah Cartwright's cruel father.

Grant's family of orphans have been mistreated too many times by judgmental school teachers.

Now the new schoolmarm is the same except she's so pretty and she isn't really bad to his children..............

.............................................

.............it's Grant she can't stand.

BOOKSIGING IN MISSION, TEXAS

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I'm at Viva Life in McAllen on Saturday (read previous post for details)
Family Christian Stores
Monday, Dec. 29
The Monday after Christmas
from 11:30am to 1:30pm

Sharyland Towne Center
2505 E. Expressway 83-Suite 500
Mission, TX 78572-6697
956-631-6024

I'll be signing all my books and talking about the next one coming in February. Stop by if you're in the area.

Second best Christmas Candy recipe ever

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Baby Ruth Bars
½ C. white sugar
½ C. brown sugar
1 C. white syrup
Mix together in sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Boil one minute. Add:
1 C. peanut butter
Mix thoroughly. Pour over:
6 C. cornflakes
1 C. peanuts
Press into 9 x 13 pan.

Frosting:
1 C. chocolate chips
1 C. butterscotch chips
Melt in microwave. 1 ½ minutes, then stir. 1 minute then stir. Should be enough.
Spread over cornflake mixture.

READ CHAPTER TWO TODAY-SHOWDOWN

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SHOWDOWN is unfolding in ten chapter through the Christmas holiday

on

Petticoats and Pistols.

If you missed yesterday go back and start at the beginning

because you don't want to miss a single word.

USA Today bestselling author Patricia Potter

is sharing her novella SHOWDOWN with us

and she is really, REALLY talented.

After two days I'm completely hooked.

FIRST CHAPTER OF 'THE BOSSY BRIDEGROOM'

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READ THE FIRST CHAPTER HERE

Michael Davidson was a tyrant for a husband,

and Jeanie was born to be a doormat.

They got along great.

Then Michael abandoned his submissive wife--just another way to be a jerk.

Michael returns a Christian and wants to heal their relationship.

Jeanie is in possession of the first bit of hard won self esteem of her life, and she doesn't believe for a minute her cranky husband can change his ways.

They commit to building a healthy marriage but his new job as her boss slips them back into old habits.

This book will be available very soon here.

DAY ONE-DON'T MISS IT

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We've got something very special for Christmas on

Petticoats and Pistols

Best selling author Patricia Potter has written a short story

and for the next ten days

we're publishing a chapter a day

as our Christmas gift to you.

So hurry over to Petticoats and Pistols today for Chapter One of

Showdown

By

Patricia Potter

BOOKSIGNING IN MCALLEN, TEXAS

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Viva Life Bookstore
Saturday, December 27, 2008
The Saturday After Christmas
11:30 - 1:30
2708 N. 10th St
McAllen, TX 78501
956-631-2291

I'll be signing copies of all my books and I'll have information about my February release. Stop by if you're from the McAllen area.

Connealy Crunch-Candy Recipe

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This is the fastest, yummiest, easiest, hugest Christmas Candy recipe on earth

Connealy Crunch
2 pound package white Almond Bark (melted)
Melt in microwave 1 ½ minutes. Stir. Melt 1 ½ minutes. That should be enough. You might need slightly longer. Almond bark doesn’t lose its shape when it melts so you have to stir it to see if its enough. Add:
3 C. Captain Crunch Peanut Butter Cereal
3 C. miniature marshmallows
3 C. Rice Krispies
3 C. mixed nuts
Spread out on waxed paper. Let cool. Break into bite sized pieces.

PICOMETER

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Writertopia Meter

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I got this cute little guy at Writertopia.
I believe the good folks at writertopia would love it if you'd come on over and steal it for yourself.
the only problem is my books are 100,000 not 50,000. So I couldn't figure that out so I went for proportion of the book done.

My Niece Anna Invited Me to Her School

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ALL KINDS OF WRITING

AUTHOR VISIT

On November 19 sixth grade was lucky enough to have a guest speaker. I call that guest speaker my Aunt Mary. She has at least seven books out. One of them is called Buffalo Gal and she just so happens to have put my name in it. Sorry I forgot to mention that she is an author. She grew up in Lyons, Nebraska and now lives in Decatur, Nebraska both towns are very small. She has four daughters. Two of her daughters are married and one of the two is going to have a baby. She is married to a man named Ivan I call him Uncle Ivan. She is one of eight kids, five girls and three boys. My Aunt Mary's books can be found at: Barns and Nobles, Borders, and Walmart. Oh yes of course My Aunt the guest speaker came on my birthday November 19, 2008.

Anna Crinklaw 6B

Comedy is Serious Business~On Seekerville

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DRAWING FOR A SIGNED COPY

OF MICE. . .AND MURDER

I’ve been trying to write a blog giving advice about how to write comedy for a while.

And you know what?

It’s a hard, serious business.

Or maybe not.

Maybe that's just me

trying to make a joke!!!

So I’ll try.

I write comedy myself

but heaven only knows if I can explain how I do it (or even why).

BEFORE WE START HOWEVER-- To liven up an otherwise dreary blog about me trying to analyze comedy to death, I'm having a drawing today.
I'm giving away one signed copy of
Of Mice. . .and Murder. But you've got to go to

Seekerville

and leave a comment.

See you there.

Burt County Museum

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Burt County Museum Christmas Tour

Here's some info I swiped from their website.
The E.C. Houston House is the home of the Burt County Museum. Listed on the National and State Registry of Historic places, this 1904 fourteen room home incorporates Neo-Classical Revival details in its porches, door and window openings, leaded glass windows and cornices. Adding to the beautiful woodwork and grand stature are artifacts that have been gathered from the Burt County area. Among the many relics you will find are an early 1700's painting of the Last Supper, Civil War memorabilia, and a sodbusting plow.
The lower level displays many of the professional tools and farming equipment used in the area long ago. The third floor ballroom allows the visitors a first hand view of the social atmosphere of the early 1900's time period.

Christmas Stockings on the beautiful stairway

A table set with such a flair. Look closely at this and the picture below. Raffia, sprigs of berries, a cinnamon stick. The china is decorated with pine cones and holly berries.

The water glasses have evergreen and forks with wooden handles. Everything is natural beauty. Some of it FAKE natural beauty, maybe, but still........ the pine cones in the bowl. The wicker place mat. All just beautiful.

Antique toys

This clock has the right dates on it.

This could have been in a house of my characters in my 1880's era westerns.

The floors are refinished and absolutely spectacular.
Gloria Breckenridge, a friend who is involved with the museum, gave me a private tour with lots of behind the scenes info.

The museum is decorated for Christmas

There's a whole story surrounding the Folson Park foot bridge.
Relocated to its present location in 1997, this area landmark adds a historic transition between the Houston brothers homes. Also in this area a visitor will be able to enjoy the goldfish pond, tumbling waterfall, and a wide variety of plants and shrubbery.

The bridge was in Tekamah for years, then it was moved elsewhere, Oklahoma I think, then someone found it and brought it back to Tekamah.

A wedding dress

And a beautiful black dress

Find out more about the Burt County Museum here.

BURN IN YUMA

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Today is my day on Petticoats and Pistols.

I'm talking about prisons in the old west, Specifically YUMA.

Notorious

And the most notorious part of all,

The haunted DARK CELL.

Come on by.

Master's Hand Candles

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I had a booksigning Saturday in Tekamah This is my table. Notice Gingham Mountain!!! I just got a copy of the ARC in the mail the day before the signing, so this is the first public viewing.

I had several requests to buy it, but no way! It's not finished enough and besides it's MINE ALL MINE!!!

I signed books at a store that was having it's grand opening.

Master's Hand Candles.

Very classy sign out front.

I took some pictures of the candles and,

the building has stalls in it,

with area artists and craftsmen, selling their wares.

I saw this sign and it drew me in because the lady who runs

Masters Hand Candles

sells them in the grocery store of my hometown and I've been buying them for years.

They must have had a hundred different scents

and they're really top quality candles.
I could have taken a hundred pictures but this is the idea.
She, Susie, had pretty touches all over like this Christmas mailbox by her tart burners and the mini-melt wax chips.Click on this to make it bigger. Very beautiful.When I first got there all was quiet and the shelves were overflowing with candles.Someone made words and letters with wood, very sharp and classy

Kristy's Kitchen had these gluten and wheat-free mixes,

and also other mixes that sounded delicious.

Someone was selling doll clothes

this is a booth run by my friend Debbie Sears. She is an artist and no matter what she does, from making cookies to sewing to painting her kitchen, it turns into art. She has a real gift.

She made aprons....

Frames and pretty woodworked trays, benches and a Time Out chair.

And she turned these gourds that she and her husband grew, into bird houses and vases. Look at the wooden trays under the gourds, she made those

They threw the doors open at 2 p.m. and the crowds started flooding in.

It was wonderful.

Clueless Cowboy Available Now

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Click here to purchase - Clueless Cowboy

Available now from Heartsong Presents

These books are hard to find if you're not in the Heartsong Presents Book Club

Not on Amazon until later and hard to find in bookstores.

But you can buy them from the Barbour website if you're interested.

Emily Johannson discovers a cranky man living in a derelict house in the woodland behind her ranch. When she orders him off, Jake Hanson tells her he bought this wreck and is planning to live there. He's filthy, starving, and furious that Emily found him. He wants to be left alone. And she would if she didn't keep needing to save his worthless life.

BOOKSIGNING TODAY IN TEKAMAH NEBRASKA

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A really nice lady is opening a candle and gift shop in Tekamah. I've been buying her candles for years, in other stores, but this is the first time she's run a store of her own. The candles are absolutely the best, such a great, beautifully scented creation she has. You can find out more at Master's Hand Candles.

And, if you'd happen to be the area, today is the Grand Opening of Master's Hand Candles, I'll be signing books from 2 - 3 p.m. but there's something going on all day. Susan has a lot of great stuff going on to kick off her opening.

Lewis & Clark in Nebraska City

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I spent an afternoon in the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Nebraska city.

I'm a big Lewis & Clark freak. Particularly enamored of Sacagewea-and I've written about her before HERE. So I won't focus on her today.

Today, what struck me was all the work the expedition did beyond just making the trip.

The scientific research, the new animals, the surveying, the journals they kept.

All very interesting and impressive.

I took a bunch of pictures.

In a message to Congress, Jefferson wrote:
"The river Missouri, and Indians inhabiting it, are not as well known as rendered desirable by their connection with the Mississippi, and consequently with us. ... An intelligent officer, with ten or twelve chosen men ... might explore the whole line, even to the Western Ocean

Pointing the Way-Sculpture at the entrance

The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and such principal stream of it as by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce.[-Thomas Jefferson

Full sized replica of the keel boat. The keelboat, is 55 feet long and 8 feet wide

A model of it-inside


The Interpretive Center
Inside you'll also find a full-sized replica of a pirogue-the boat that went the farthest.
the White Pirogue is 32’ long and 8’ wide.
The second summer, traveling above Fort Mandan,
the white pirogue, considered the safer, more stable craft,
became the "queen of the fleet" on the upper Missouri.

You could read more about the pirogue...the Queen of the Fleet.


Enough medicine for two years!!!


Thomas Jefferson-who wanted the Louisiana Purchase explored and mapped,
but asked for so much more.





The famous map of Lewis and Clark's expedition. It changed mapping of northwest America by providing the first accurate depiction of the relationship of the sources of the Columbia and Missouri rivers, and the Rocky Mountains.

the Lewis and Clark expedition discovered 178 new plants and 122 new species of animals.

Including the grizzly bear--here's a bear claw necklace

Wolves

Elk - I don't think these were a new species to Lewis & Clark.

This was a big one

Among the animal species and subspecies previously unknown to science were the grizzly bear, the California condor, the coyote, the black-footed ferret, the black-billed magpie, the black-tailed prairie dog, the pronghorn, and the gray wolf. The two explorers left their names imprinted on two bird species, Lewis’s woodpecker and Clark’s nutcracker, and the scientific name for the westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi). Among the plant species they described for science for the first time were the western red cedar, eastern cottonwood, red flowering currant, the mountain hemlock, the whitebark pine, Sitka spruce, Oregon grape, and the Pacific yew.

A trained naturalist, Lewis was especially noted for his meticulous observations and exacting measurements of new species. Perhaps more important for the future settlement of the West, Lewis and Clark returned with stories of the rich abundance of wildlife.

The