Author: sandramervillehart

The Trouble in Willow Falls by Pat Nichols

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Willow Falls Series Book 2

Willow Falls is a quaint town in North Georgia. Unfortunately, that town is dying.

Emily Hayes, mother of twin baby girls, has difficulty finding time to rewrite her recently rejected novel. Her husband doesn’t know how long he can keep their store open with dwindling numbers of customers.

Rachel Streetman, Emily’s twin, pursues an acting career in nearby Atlanta.

Emily and Rachel both agree to put aside their careers to write and direct a play that just might bring tourists back to Willow Falls.

This story is filled with twists and turns that I didn’t anticipate, bringing constant challenges to the townspeople. Minor characters add depth and dimension in a refreshing way. So much effort is spent to save the dying town that the town itself almost seems like another character.

I am a fan of small towns, especially those that feel their heyday is in the past. Sometimes all it takes is a few people to believe in the possibilities and that is what this book demonstrates. I was pulling for the characters and the town throughout the novel.

I enjoyed this novel by Pat Nichols and am wondering what may happen in Book 3.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

A Manual of Etiquette With Hints on Politeness and Good Breeding

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Sophia Orne Johnson (1826-1899) wrote under the pen name of Daisy Eyebright. Her book, A Manual of Etiquette With Hints on Politeness and Good Breeding, originally published in 1868.

This book is a wonderful look at society in the United States shortly after the Civil War. It covers etiquette for the home with advice for children’s behavior and learning polite manners.

Social visits, behavior in traveling, table etiquette, dinner parties, letter-writing, the art of conversation, evening entertaining, and weddings are some of the topics covered.

Even marriage advice is given and, may I say, times have certainly changed!

I enjoyed reading this book as a lens into society and the way people lived 150 years ago. This is also the time period of my next Civil War series. This book offered many gems and even a few plot ideas for my research.

Lovers of history will enjoy this glimpse into the past.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

Ways to Keep Eggs Fresh without Refrigeration

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Have you ever wondered how pioneers kept food fresh in the days before refrigeration? I have. I’m sure that part of my curiosity stems from writing historical novels, but that’s not the only reason. I love history!

These methods are from an 1877 cookbook.

Mrs. H.S. Huntington suggests several methods—yet they all start with the using fresh eggs.

  • Place 2 inches of salt in a stone jar. Add a layer of eggs with the small end pointed down. Then another layer of salt and then eggs until the jar is almost full. The final layer is salt. Cover and store in a cool place not cold enough to freeze the eggs.
  • Dip the eggs in melted wax.
  • Dip the eggs in a weak solution of gum.
  • Dip the eggs in flaxseed oil. (Wax, gum, and flaxseed oil make the shell air-resistant.) Using flaxseed oil was the best method, in Mrs. Huntington’s opinion, yet it discolors the eggs.
  • To prepare eggs for winter: Boil water in a large pot. Arrange eggs in a wire basket and lower them slowly into the water for a count of ten. Then remove the basket from the water slowly to avoid crackage. After this, pack them in salt as described above.

Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher (yes, this is likely the wife of the famous minister) shared another method of preserving eggs.

Slake (combine) a pound of stone lime in 2 gallons of water. Allow it to chill. Then stir in a pint of salt and let it settle until clear.

Select a keg, half-barrel, or stone pot for storage. Pack eggs carefully inside with the small end down. Remove any eggs that crack because even one cracked egg will ruin the whole batch.

Once eggs are packed close together, pour lime water gently over them “without disturbing the sediment” and cover completely. Wait a few minutes and add more water so the eggs are thoroughly covered.

Close the jar. Don’t open until the eggs are needed.

Have you learned of other methods?

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 1877.

 

The Battle of the Alamo

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The Alamo, originally Mission San Antonio de Valero, was built as a Spanish mission in the 1700s and later was used by the Spanish as a fort. They called it the “Alamo,” a word for a poplar tree, especially the cottonwood trees growing in the area.

In 1835, the area which is now Texas was under Mexican rule. American pioneers were allowed to own land there if they were Catholic. Some converted to purchase the land yet remained Protestant in practice.

Leading up to this time, Mexico had gained independence from Spain and then changed Presidents several times. President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was the current leader. There was a lot of unrest and Texans wanted their freedom.

Two hundred Texas volunteers attacked Mexican troops in San Antonio de Bexar under General Martin Perfecto de Cos and at the Alamo a quarter mile away on December 5, 1835. Cos surrendered, signing documents that gave all the arms, public property, and money in San Antonio de Bexar to the Texans and left. Some of the Texas volunteers moved into the fort while others went home.

Santa Anna marched his army (historical accounts vary on whether he had 1,500 or 8,000 soldiers) toward the Alamo in retaliation.

Anticipating the coming attack, Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis and Colonel James Bowie took command of the Alamo by February. Though there was friction between the two leaders, Bowie led the volunteers and Travis commanded the regular army.

Travis sent repeated letters requesting men and supplies. The well-known David Crockett and 14 Tennessee Mounted Volunteers were among the few men who arrived at the Alamo in advance of the battle. By the time  Santa Anna’s army began cannon and rifle fire on February 23, 1836, about 180 – 190 men protected the Alamo.

Texans bravely held their ground for 13 days. At dawn on March 6th, they held off the first two charges by Santa Anna’s army. On the third charge, they went over the walls. Santa Anna’s orders were to take no prisoners. It was hand-to-hand combat but the Texan soldiers, being outnumbered, were killed. There were only a few survivors—a few family members of the soldiers.

There were casualties in the Mexican army. Many historians estimate this number at about 600.

While this was a great tragedy, the battle bought time for Sam Houston’s 800 men to be ready to fight Santa Anna at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, where they captured Santa Anna and defeated his army. That battle guaranteed the independence of Texas.

As they fought, Houston’s men shouted, “Remember the Alamo!”

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

“Battle of the Alamo,” Wikipedia, 2020/01/03 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Alamo.

History.com Editors. “The Alamo,” A&E Television Networks, 2020/01/03 https://www.history.com/topics/Mexico/alamo.

Nelson, Ken. “US History: The Battle of the Alamo for Kids.” Ducksters, Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI), http://www.ducksters.com/history/us_1800s/battle_of_the_alamo.php. Accessed 3 January 2020.

Paul, Lee. “The Alamo: 13 Days of Glory,” HistoryNet, 2020/01/03 https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-the-alamo.

 

Hope’s Highest Mountain by Misty M. Beller

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Hearts of Montana Series, Book One

Ingrid Chastain shares the urgency of her father, a doctor, to deliver life-saving vaccines to a town in the Montana Territory but she is the sole survivor of a terrible wagon accident.

Dr. Micah Bradley has been living in the remote mountains for years … since his inadequacies cost his wife and daughter their lives. Yet when he stumbles on Ingrid after the accident, he must call on his skills again to set and heal her broken leg.

Before long, Ingrid insists on taking the vaccines to Settler’s Fort without further delay. Lives depend upon the medicine. Micah realizes she’s right. She can’t walk and he can’t leave her in the mountains to die. He’ll have to figure out a way to carry her to town, a journey of weeks by foot.

I fell in love with characters early in the story. There were several surprising turns, challenges, and dangers that kept my interest. This is a well-written story that makes me want to read the next book in the series.

Recommend! I will look for more books by this author.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com

Meant to Be Mine by Becky Wade

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Celia Park meets her former high school crush, Ty Porter, after one of his bull riding events in Las Vegas. Sparks fly in a whirlwind vacation romance that ends with a wedding at one of the city’s chapels. Celia is devastated to learn the next morning that Ty loves someone else he’s dated for two years.

Five and half years later, Ty hasn’t contacted Celia—about a divorce or anything else. She has a good reason to contact him but can’t trust the man who broke her heart. How can she trust him not to break the heart of his daughter, a little girl he doesn’t know exists?

A trip to Las Vegas with friends for a bachelor party takes him by the old chapel where he married Celia. He hates the way things ended. Despises himself for the way he treated her. They are still married. He needs to contact her.

But when he does, sparks fly—the angry kind … especially when he meets Addie, the daughter he never knew he had. Celia should have told him.

The story has several surprising turns that kept my interest. I loved Addie and Ty. After a while, I was frustrated with Celia’s continued lack of trust despite Ty proving himself as dependable and trustworthy over and over again. I felt that part dragged on a bit.

Interesting secondary characters added to the plot. Forgiveness is the underlying theme. I enjoyed the story.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com

Boiled Eggs

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From deviled eggs to coloring eggs, I’ve boiled hundreds of eggs in my lifetime and I suspect you’ve made your share as well. However, I learned a couple of useful tips from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Perhaps these will also be helpful to you.

Firstly, for any boiled egg, piercing the large end of the egg before cooking releases the pressure that can crack the shell. You can pierce this with an egg piercer or use a needle. I don’t own an egg piercer so I used a needle.

Unfortunately, the hard-boiled egg still cracked a little.

Secondly, adding the egg to the water varies between soft-boiled, medium-boiled, and hard-boiled eggs. I had always placed the eggs in cold water and then turned on the burner.

Thirdly, fill the kettle with enough water to cover the egg.

 

For soft-boiled eggs—Wait until the water is gently simmering to add the egg on a tablespoon. The recipe calls for cooking the egg 3 – 4 minutes for softly-set whites and runny yolks. I cooked mine for 3½ minutes and then submerged it in cold water to halt the cooking process. It was very hard to peel against the very soft egg whites and the yolk quickly ran over the plate.

For coddled or medium-boiled eggs—Wait until the water is gently boiling to add the egg on a tablespoon. The recipe calls for cooking the egg 4 – 5 minutes for firm opaque whites and soft yolks. I cooked mine for 4½ minutes and then submerged it in cold water to halt the cooking process. It was still hard to peel against the soft egg whites and the yolk was runny not soft.

For hard-boiled eggs—Place the egg in enough water to cover it and then bring it to a boil. Simmer for 12 minutes. Immediately submerge it in cold water. Overcooked eggs, though fine to eat, develop an unappetizing dark ring that diners will see instead of a pretty yellow yolk. As noted above, piercing the shell didn’t prevent small cracks on this one yet it peeled easily. It gave the firm yolks and whites that signify a hard-boiled egg.

For my taste and preference, I’d cook the medium-boiled eggs about a minute longer and it’d be just about perfect.

Enjoy!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

Milton Hershey

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Milton Hershey was born in Derry Township, Pennsylvania, in 1857. A few years later, the Civil War started. He heard cannons from miles away at the Battle of Gettysburg.

His parents separated when he was ten. Five years later he became an apprentice for Joseph Royer, a candy maker in Lancaster. He learned to make fudge, peppermint, and caramels and loved being a confectioner.

At nineteen, he borrowed $150 from his aunt and opened a candy business. Though he worked hard, the business failed.

He moved to Denver where he worked for candy maker who used fresh milk to make caramel, furthering his skills. Milton then opened a business in Chicago. It failed. A new business he started in New York failed. He returned to Lancaster in 1883 and launched the Lancaster Caramel Company. This one was a success.

Ten years later, The World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago educated him about making chocolate. He then established Hershey Chocolate Company and focused on a recipe for milk chocolate that was delicious and affordable. In 1900, he sold Lancaster Caramel Company for $1,000,000 to focus on the chocolate.

Hershey built a new candy factory in Derry Church, Pennsylvania, that opened in 1905. There were plenty of dairy farms in the area to supply milk for the chocolate. Yet his factory workers needed a place to live so he built houses, churches, schools, parks, and a post office to establish a new town—Hershey.

Learning from past failures, Hershey focused on one product—a milk chocolate candy bar. His factory made many of them and sold them at prices everyone could afford.

Unable to have children, Milton and his wife, Catherine, established the Hershey Industrial School for orphaned boys. Catherine died in 1915. Three years later, long before his death in 1945, Milton transferred his ownership in Hershey Chocolate Company to Hershey Trust, which funded the school.

When the Great Depression settled over the country, Hershey put his fellow townsmen to work by constructing new offices for his company, a hotel, and a community building. While the rest of the country struggled to make ends meet, the town of Hershey thrived.

World War II started a few years later. Hershey sent chocolate bars (Ration D Bars and Tropical Chocolate Bars) to our military.

Hershey’s giving spirit still lives on. Today Hershey Industrial School, now known as Milton Hershey School, also includes girls. Around 1,900 girls and boys attend annually.

Milton and Catherine Hershey left a lasting legacy in the town that bears their name. Had he given up after those many early failures, jobs for countless people wouldn’t have been available, a town wouldn’t exist, and a school for orphaned boys wouldn’t have opened.

What an inspiration to persevere in the face of difficulties … and perhaps help a neighbor along the way.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Biography.com Editors. “Milton Hershey Biography,” The Biography.com, 2020/01/02 https://www.biography.com/business-figure/milton-hershey.

Nelson, Ken. “Biography for Kids: Milton Hershey.” Ducksters, Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI), www.ducksters.com/biography/entrepreneurs/milton_hershey.php. Accessed 2 January 2020.

“Who was Milton Hershey?” The Hershey Story, 2020/01/02 https://hersheystory.org/milton-hershey-history/

 

My Boyfriends’ Dogs by Dandi Daley Mackall

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Bailey Daley, a sophomore in high school, is desperate for a boyfriend. She also loves dogs. The dogs seem to find her—boyfriends have alluded her so far.

Her best friend, Amber, doesn’t have a boyfriend either and her single mom is too busy stopping at every garage sale to look for a husband.

Bailey’s desperation blinds her to red flags in her dating relationships yet each one brings a new dog into her life. She figures that a guy with a dog must be the right boyfriend for her.

Wrong. A series of relationships each leave her with a new dog. When will she find Mr. Right?

This YA novel is engaging with lovable characters. The main character makes bad choices at times as the reader spots the red flags long before she does. An entertaining read with a surprise ending.

-Sandra Merville Hart

 

Between Us Girls by Sally John

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Book 1 of Family of the Heart Series

There are a lot of characters in this book. The story is told in the viewpoint of several of them, making it initially difficult to bond with them or understand how they all fit together.

A tornado destroys Jasmyn Allbright’s Illinois home and everything she owns. She makes some big decisions too soon that turn folks in her home town against her.

She takes a vacation in sunny California where her rental car is stolen with everything she owns inside the car.

Little does she know how fortunate she is to have her possessions stolen outside the Casa de Vida Cottages. The owner, Liv McAlister, gives her a temporary home and takes her under her wing.

As Jasmyn’s heart becomes entangled with the residents, Illinois still keeps calling her back. Should she stay or should she go?

Once my interest was snagged, I couldn’t put the book down for long. So many of the characters tugged at my heart that I had to know what happened next.

So happy to learn that this book is a series! I want to see what happens next. Well-written book by a new-to-me author.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com