The Dog Days of Summer, Birthdays, and Buttered Noses
July 13, 2023 by marianne h donley in category From a Cabin in the Woods by Members of Bethlehem Writers Group tagged as birthdays, buttered noses, dog days, Family, grandparents, hot, Summer
The Dog Days of Summer isn’t just an expression that indicates summer days so hot dogs are driven mad. It’s an actual astronomical event when, Sirius, the dog star rises in conjunction with the sun. The Dog Days are listed as starting on July 3rd and continuing through August 11th.
In my family, the Dog Days of Summer marked the beginning of birthday season. I have three brothers and three sisters. Then there are my children, nieces and nephews, in-laws (or as we insist out-laws) and now the grandchildren and grandnieces and grandnephews. A significant number of them have birthdays in July and August.
Birthdays
Birthdays around our place were always a bit different. With so many relatives we seldom had friends to our birthday celebrations. We rarely severed cake but rather baked from scratch (including the crust) birthday pie. There were favorites – quite a few apple pies, pumpkin (made three days ahead of the feast and refrigerated to the proper coldness), lemon meringue, peach, and rhubarb for my mother.
And when my mémère (French for grandma) was alive, if it was your birthday, you got your nose buttered. It was supposed to make you side through the year to your next birthday.
Now Mémère assured us this was an old French custom, but I never met any other family who practiced nose buttering–even the few friend of mine when we were growing up who also had a mémère and
Buttered Noses
So, a few years ago I googled it. Sure enough, other families butter noses, but the articles I read listed the custom is either Scottish or Irish. I suspect Mémère would be upset by these claims as she was very proud of her French ancestry even though the family arrived in the New World well before there was a United States. She and Pépère spoke French at home, and my dad and his siblings didn’t learn English until they went to school.
I must admit that she frequently got things wrong. For example, she was also very proud of being born on June 13th and every year would tell us that she just missed being born on Friday the 13th (it happened to be a Saturday that year because it was a leap year). But when she died my aunts found her birth certificate. She wasn’t born on June 13th, that was the day she was baptized. She was really born two days earlier and forever celebrated her birthday on the wrong day.
Wrong day
My aunts were upset, but I would like to think Mémère would not have cared if she had ever noticed. She was happy to have a pie baked by my mom, and she would laugh her head off when we would sneak up and butter her nose so she could slide through another year.
Does your family have different birthday customs? What are they?
Some of Marianne’s Short Stories are in the following books
Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger Featured Authors
July 7, 2023 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month, Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as 1950s Crime novels, Author Interviews, Chatting with Authors, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, The Skylar Drake Murder Mystery Series, Will Zeilinger
July Featured Authors
Janet Elizabeth Lynn was born in Queens and raised in Long Island, New York. She is the author of murder mysteries, cozy mysteries and with her husband Will Zeilinger, 1950s hard-boiled detective mysteries.
Will Zeilinger has lived and traveled the world and has been writing for over ten years. His novels range from mystery to romantic comedy and those 1950s hard-boiled detective mysteries with his wife Janet.
Partners in Crime
Together Janet and Will write the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood in 1955. They have an E-book How it Began: The Skylar Drake Mysteries available from Smashwords.
Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. In their next adventure, they will team up using the penname E.J. Williams for a new mystery series set in the 1960s. Their first novel in the International Crime Files, Stone Pub is in the works.
Chatting With Authors
In addition to writing novels, Janet and Will have a YouTube Channel, Chatting with Authors featuring informal Zoom interviews with authors of various genres. We encourage readers to check out all their videos.
This creative couple lives in Southern California . . . and yes, they are still married, and they even blog together at The Married Authors.
The Skylar Drake Mystery Series
Spotlight on A Sour Note by Jill Piscitello
June 24, 2023 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Spotlight tagged as A Music Box Mystery, A Sour Note, Cozy mystery, Jill Piscitello, new release, Wild Rose Press
About the Book:
On the heels of a public, broken engagement, Maeve Cleary returns to her childhood home in Hampton Beach, NH. When a dead body turns up behind her mother’s music school, three old friends land on the suspect list. Licking her wounds soon takes a back seat to outrunning the paparazzi who spin into a frenzy, casting her in a cloud of suspicion. Maeve juggles her high school sweetheart, a cousin with a touch of clairvoyance, a no-nonsense detective, and an apologetic, two-timing ex-fiancé. Will the negative publicity impact business at the Music Box— the very place she’d hoped to make a fresh start?
EXCERPT:
With his mouth set in a grim line, he waited.
If anyone else had enough nerve to presume she owed them an explanation, she would respond with a solid mind your own business. Instead, the seventeen-year-old still inside her refused to tell him to get lost. “He was hiding money in his office.” This was one of those times when learning how to wait a few beats before blurting out inflammatory information would come in handy. Each second of passing silence decreased her ability to breathe in the confined space. She turned the ignition and switched on the air conditioner.
“How do you know?” His volume just above a whisper, each dragged-out word hung in the air.
“I found it.”
“When were you in his office?” He swiped at a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face, then positioned a vent toward him.
“Last night.” When would she learn to bite her tongue? Finn’s switch from rapid-fire scolding to slow, deliberate questioning left her unable to swallow over the sandpaper lump in her throat.
“Where was Vic?”
She stared at the back of the building, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. “He’d left for the night.” If she averted her gaze, she could pretend his eyeballs weren’t bugging out of his head, and his jaw didn’t need a crane to haul it off his chest.
“You were at the town hall after hours? Did anyone see you?”
“A custodian opened his door for me.” She snuck a glance. Sure enough, features contorted in shock and horror replaced his boy-next-door good looks.
About the Author:
Jill Piscitello is a teacher, author, and an avid fan of multiple literary genres. Although she divides her reading hours among several books at a time, a lighthearted story offering an escape from the real world can always be found on her nightstand.
A native of New England, Jill lives with her family and three well-loved cats. When not planning lessons or reading and writing, she can be found spending time with her family, trying out new restaurants, traveling, and going on light hikes.
Purchase Links:
Social Media Links
Website ~ Twitter~ Facebook~ Instagram~ Amazon ~ GoodReads~ BookBub
2 1 Read moreDiscovering the Seasoned Romance
June 20, 2023 by marianne h donley in category Ages 2 Perfection Online Class, Online Classes tagged as Aged to Perfection Online Class, Brooke Wills, July Online Class, Two Week Workshop
Discovering the Seasoned Romance
Presented by: Brooke Wills
Date: July 24 – August 4, 2023
A Two Week Class
Registration Closes: August 1, 2023
Pricing: A2P Member fee: $15
Non-A2P Member fee: $25
About the Workshop:
Whether you call it seasoned, later in life or mature romance, this new category of romance stories is here to stay. And there’s more to writing one than just upping the ages of your characters.
In this two-week workshop, we’ll look at:
– what exactly is the seasoned romance category
– characterization, settings and tropes
– how to market your story whether you plan on indie or traditionally publishing
There will also be time for Q&A, FAQ’s and general discussion about this exciting category of romance.
About the Presenter:
Being a seasoned person herself, Brooke Wills is a retired CFO, controller and consultant who now spends her days storytelling as a copywriting specialist, creating seasoned characters like herself and enjoying living on an island in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her mostly Maine Coon kitty, Tuxie. She is actively involved with the Aged to Perfection Seasoned Romance Writers as well as serving as treasurer on the RWA board.
0 0 Read morePlotting Hacks for Pansters
June 19, 2023 by marianne h donley in category Ages 2 Perfection Online Class, Online Classes tagged as Aged to Perfection Online Class, Jessie Cal, July Online Class, One-day Workshop
Plotting Hacks for Pansters
Presented by: Jessie Cal
Date: July 8, 2023
9 AM PT/ 10 AM MT/ 11 AM CT/ 12 Noon ET
Registration Closes: July 9, 2023
Pricing: A2P Member fee: $5
Non-A2P Member fee: $10
About the Workshop:
Are you tired of pantsing into dead ends and having to delete thousands of words? Or do you find yourself overwhelmed with over-plotting? In this course, you’ll learn how to plot a novel in one page using 4 writing hacks called the “Catalyst Method.” With minimal plotting, you can write faster and create deeper stories that will have readers recommending your book to others.
About the Presenter:
Jessie Cal is a USA Today bestselling author with over eighteen romance and suspense novels. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching courses on writing, plotting, and much more. She works with both independent and traditionally published authors, helping them to make their books as best as they can be.
0 0 Read moreFeatured Books
MCBRIDE’S GEM
Hawk McBride and Randi Ronin could never have expected their chance encounter would be the beginning of the rest of their lives.
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70 THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU TURN 70
70 Things to Do When You Turn 70 celebrates the opportunities to have meaningful and fulfilling lives at 70 and beyond.
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