Hello once more, Darlings,

Miss Karen Templeton will arrive here Saturday and the Fillies are delighted to have her.

Miss Karen plans to talk about the beauty and magic of New Mexico…the little town of Pecos and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. There’s a reason why the state is called The Land of Enchantment.

Miss Karen is an award-winning author with her A MOTHER’S WISH taking the Romance Writer’s of America’s RITA award. Woo-Hoo! Ah bet it’s a real good story.

Drop by and leave a comment for a chance to win an autographed copy.

You’ll have more fun than a tick on a dog’s back!

Bestselling author of the Heart of the West series…

Maggie Brendan

Everyone talks about love. They want to be in love, have been in love, struggles with love or have sworn off love altogether. Most of us know the only true and perfect love is the love we receive from God and we can never hope to match his perfect, unconditional love, because we’re mere mortals. But it’s “shore nuf” worth trying, as Wes Owen might say in A Love of Her Own, the final book of my Heart of the West series.

When Wes meets the lovely, sophisticated, but spoiled and self-centered April McBride, he is smitten, but he knows they are from different worlds. That doesn’t stop him from trying to get her attention. I wrote this book with one thing on my mind—to convey how love, based on grace, plays no favorites. In truth, the more flawed a person is, the greater that person’s need and potential for love. April has a beautiful exterior, but on in the inside has a flawed inner character. Wes Owen carries his own set of flaws. Although April has relied on her father’s money, her beauty and intelligence, she has never tapped into the true source of love and grace. Here’s the back copy of the book. I hope my readers will enjoy the fast-paced, exciting ride on a trail of love with April McBride. Leave a comment on the blog and we’ll draw a name for a gift copy.

In A Love of Her Own, April has everything her heart desires—except the one thing money can’t buy—true love. She’s not interested in love or finding a man. Still cautious after a broken engagement, April McBride fully intends to guard her heart when she travels to Lewistown, Montana, to attend her brother’s wedding. One look around the small mining town convinces April that doing so won’t be difficult—just a bunch of dusty shops, bad service, and ill-bred cowboys. But a run-in with horse trainer Wes Owen opens up vast possibilities for frustration, embarrassment, friendship, and . . . love?

Can April and Wes see past their differences in order to envision a future together? Or are they destined to live the rest of their lives alone?

Book three in the Heart of the West series, A Love of Her Own is an adventurous, spark-filled ride through love in turn-of-the-century Montana.

Maggie Brendan is the author of the Heart of the West series. Book #1 No Place For a Lady. Book #2 The Jewel of His Heart. The third book in that series, A Love of Her Own releases this month.
Maggie Brendan is a member of the American Christian Writers (ACW), American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA). She was a recipient of the 2004 ACW Persistence Award in Atlanta, GA.     Find her online here: http://southernbellewriter.blogspot.com/

Happy Trails,

Maggie

Maggie’s new heartwarming book is available now!

Love of Her Own, A: A Novel

 She has everything her heart desires . . . except the one thing money can’t buy.

Praise for Maggie Brendan:

“Brendan’s gentle style of prairie romance is reminiscent of Janette Oke, capturing the heart of the old West with romance that will make you sigh.”—Julie Lessman, author of the Daughters of Boston series

“Brendan blends colorful characters, lively dialogue, and intriguing historical details.”—Amanda Cabot, author of Paper Roses and Scattered Petals

“Maggie Brendan is adept at weaving a sweet love story.”—Tamera Alexander, author of Beyond This Moment

Hello again Darlings,

The second guest this week is Lena Nelson Dooley. She’s returning for a visit. The Fillies are dusting and sprucing up the place and baking up a storm. Ah’ve never seen them so busy. It’s good for ‘em to work a bit. Hee-hee!

Miss Lena will share some tidbits about ghost towns and what was once the wild and wooly town of Golden, New Mexico. Ah can’t wait to hear what she has to say.

Miss Lena has a brand spanking new book out too. The title of it is LOVE FINDS YOU IN GOLDEN, NEW MEXICO. That’s quite a mouthful!

Ah know you’re chomping at the bit to chat with the dear lady.

So, don’t be a stranger. Get over to the Junction on Friday.

“Kill and scalp all, little and big…nits make lice.”—Colonel John M. Chivington

Before the Battle of Fort Washita came the Battle of Sand Creek—also known as The Sand Springs Massacre. (Colorado)
 
Chief Black Kettle’s Cheyenne camp, and that of another Cheyenne chief, White Antelope, were attacked and destroyed on a cold November dawn, 1864.  Although the camps flew an American flag alongside a white flag of truce, Colonel John Chivington, determined to further himself in the political arena of the day, ordered the Cheyennes annihilated.  “Take no prisoners,” he ordered, adding his own personal slogan, “…nits make lice.”

The encampment at Sand Creek consisted of about six hundred Indians—most of them, women and children.  As the first shots were fired by Chivington’s men, only about one hundred Cheyenne warriors ran out, up the creek bed from the ravine where they were camped, to defend the women and children.

Still, these warriors were able to hold Chivington’s troops at bay for over eight hours, allowing nearly five hundred Indians to escape—including Black Kettle.

Chivington boasted of killing six hundred; eye-witness testimony estimated the umber at less than two hundred.  Two-thirds of the dead were women and children.  White Antelope was one of the first killed, as he left his lodge, arms extended to show peace.

Black Kettle’s wife was shot.  As troopers neared, they shot her eight more times.  Black Kettle threw her over his shoulder and ran.  He later removed all nine bullets, and his wife lived.

A three-year-old toddler was not so lucky.  As he walked out to the dry creek bed, three troopers some seventy yards away took turns shooting at him.  The third one finally hit him, dropping the child where he stood.

Chivington received a hero’s welcome in Denver.  He and his men exhibited the corpses of the dead Cheyennes they had sexually mutilated and scalped to the cheering citizens of Denver.  It is believed that there has never been another battle in North America where more Indians have been slain.

Three years  later, a Congressional inquest labeled Chivington’s “battle” a massacre.

In 1867, Black Kettle was one of the signers of the Treaty of Medicine Lodge (Kansas) in which the Cheyenne gave up their holdings along the Arkansas River for land on a reservation in what is now Oklahoma.

By the fall of 1868, Black Kettle and two thousand warriors settled near the Washita River in the southeastern part of Indian Territory.  Though the Treaty of Medicine Lodge promised specific supplies, the provisions never came.  Many of the Cheyenne joined a young warrior, Roman Nose, who had been leading a series of raids on farms and homesteads of white settlers.

Under General Philip Sheridan, three columns of troops launched a winter campaign against Cheyenne encampments.  The Seventh Cavalry, commanded by George Armstrong Custer, was selected to take the lead.

For four days, in a foot of fresh snowfall, Custer and his 800 men followed the tracks of a small raiding party through the continuing snowstorm.  The tracks led to the encampment on the Washita River.  Custer ordered the attack at dawn.

On November 27, 1868, nearly four years to the day after the Sand Creek Massacre, Custer’s troops charged.  Chief Black Kettle and his wife, Maiyuna, were shot dead on the banks of the Washita River, (Indian Territory), their bodies riddled with bullets.

“Both the chief and his wife fell at the riverbank, riddled with bullets,” one witness reported.  “The soldiers rode right over Black Kettle and his wife and their horse as they lay dead on the ground, and their bodies were all splashed with mud by the charging soldiers.”

Custer ordered the slaughter of the Indian pony and mule herd—over 800 animals.  The lodges of the encampment were burned along with the winter food supply.  At the threat of reinforcements from other Indian camps only a few miles away, Custer quickly retreated to Camp Supply with his hostages.

In the Battle of the Washita, though Custer claimed 100 Cheyenne fatalities, Indian accounts claim 11 warriors, and 19 women and children were killed.  More than 50 Cheyennes were captured—mainly women and children.

After this battle, most of the Cheyenne were convinced to accept reservation life.  On the Washita River, Chief Black Kettle’s vision of peace was crushed, along with the Cheyenne way of life.

Oops!  I forgot to include in my blog today that I’m giving away another free book to one of the bloggers.  I did announce it on my Facebook site and so it behooves me to pick a winner.

Surprise!  The winner today is Patricia B.  So Patricia, email so we can determine which of my books you have and which you might like. 

My thanks go out to all who left comments for me today!  Thanks to you all.

Hello Darlings,

I swear to goodness! We have a whole slew of guests lined up at the Junction. The first one up is Maggie Brendan. She’ll be here bright and early on Thursday.

Miss Maggie will talk about a subject that’s near and dear to our hearts…love. We all know love makes the world go ’round and we all want to find our special portion of it. Ah know I do.

Get ready to yak up a storm about all the whys and wherefores of the matters of the heart because Miss Maggie is giving away a copy of her new book called A LOVE OF HER OWN. It looks like a humdinger if you ask me.

So, hitch up your buggy and mosey over to the Junction on Thursday.

You’ll be right glad you did!

Good Morning, Afternoon or Evening (depending on when you’re joining me today).

Well, I’ve posted often in the past on readiness.  In today’s economy, which is struggling to remain afloat,  I’m beginning to think that it might just be a good idea to be prepared — with food and water and anything else you can think of that you might need in case of an emergency.

Not that I’m predicting one, mind you.  But a very wise man once said “Prepare for the worst and it seldom comes.”  So along with that note, I thought I might talk today about signs in Nature.  As you might or might not know, Nature often gives us signs as to what is to be expected in the future.  This isn’t fortune telling.  This is simply reading the signs that are there and knowing what follows. 

In the past, the American Indian (the word Indian, by the way comes from the Spanish word, Indio, which means one with God — so I’ve decided that I like that word) was very attuned to his environment.  Whether he liked it or not or thought it was beautiful or dangerous, might or might not be.  It was  matter of survival that he be able to foretell what might be in his future.

Now I won’t even pretend to tell you that I’ve discovered these things for myself or from observation.  This is from research.  So here are a few of the things one might look for: 

From the book, INDIAN WHY STORIES by Frank B. Linderman,

“Tomorrow will be a fine day,” said Other-person, “for grandfather says that a red sky is always the sun’s promise of fine weather, and the sun cannot lie.”

     “Yes,” said Bluebird, “and he said that when this moon was new it travelled well south for this time of year and its points were up.  that mean fine, warm weather.”

Here’s another one, that I bet you all know.  A harsh winter can be judged by the heaviness of the animal’s fur.  Nature seems to have made it that way.  Here’s a few more — but these signs were helped along by man:  A bunch of grass tied together will give you the date of when the person left it passed that way — seen by its freshness.  Two or three stones that were deliberately piled on top of each other is giving a warning and the way in which they are placed indicates the direction.

Now one could also leave messages — and they were easy to read for a man or woman who knew how to look.  Depending on what you had to hand, rocks could show the direction in which the tribe went — or grass could be tied to show direction, too, by pointing.  Trees could be marked to show when one should turn and in which direction.  Important notices could be left by the inclusion of different signs.  Cutting the bark all around a tree meant “I am starving.”

  Even a pony could be used to tell a story.  Riding in circles, or backwards or forwards denoted danger or indicated the presence of an enemy or game.  The rapidity of riding in a circle or backwards or forwards indicated that immediate attention was needed.  If an Indian in the lead of a party road back and forth wildly and with great speed, and then hid himself, it meant that the others in his party were to do the same — the enemy was close to hand and too numerous to win the fight.

Here’s a few more signs in nature — these I don’t know how true they are — you’ll have to determine that for yourself.  It was told to me when I was growing up that a circle around the moon meant rain was in the forecast.   Now interestingly, in sign language the phrase of winning a woman’s affection was the same sign that was used for “kill,” meaning (according to the author of the book, THE INDIAN SIGN LANUAGE — W. P. Clark) that one killed all opposition.  Interesting…

Well, that’s all for today’s blog.  I’d love to hear if you know of any of these signs in Nature that foretell of things to come.  Or any other signals, also.  If I remember correctly, one of the badges of an Eagle Scout is to know many of these different trail signs.

So come on in and let’s talk.  And remember, if you haven’t done so already, pick up your copy of SENECA SURRENDER today.

Here’s the Amazon link for the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Seneca-Surrender-Berkley-Sensation-Bailey/dp/0425233847/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277169262&sr=1-1 or Rhapsody Book Club if you’d like a hard cover copy:

http://www.rhapsodybookclub.com/Historical-Romance-books/Cowboys-&-Indians.html

I often get ideas for this blog from my ‘It happened on this day in history’ calendar.  When I turned to today’s entry I saw it noted that today was the birthday of Martha Washington and I thought it would be interesting to look up fun facts on her for this blog.  Once I started my research, though, I discovered my calendar had it wrong.  Other sources I checked all agreed that her birthday was, in fact, June 2nd.   Be that as it may, however, I’m going to list the information I dug up, much of it news to me.

Personal Stats

• Full name:  Martha Dandridge Custis Washington
• Born: June 2, 1731
• Place of Birth: Williamsburg, Virginia
• Father: John Dandridge
• Mother: Frances Dandridge
• Husbands (2)
  (1) Daniel Parke Curtis (died 8 years into the marriage) Children: 1 daughter and 1 son
  (2) George Washington  Children (none)
• Education: No formal education
• Religion: Episcopalian
• Died: May 22, 1802
• Place of Death: Mount Vernon, Virginia

Interesting/Fun Facts

• She married her first husband when she was 18 – he was twenty years her senior.  Their home was called the White House Plantation.
• The death of her first husband left her wealthy in her own right.
• Martha did NOT enjoy role of First Lady – she felt trapped by it
• She had a ship, a row galley, named in her honor – The USS Lady Washington. 
  It was the first U.S. Military ship to be named in honor of a woman. 
  It was also the first U.S. military ship to be named for a person who was still alive.
• She is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on a U.S. currency note.  Hers was the face on the front of the $1 Silver Certificates of 1886 and 1891 and on the back of the one issued in 1896.
• She was the first American woman to be commemorated by a postage stamp – the 1902 eight cent stamp.  In subsequent years she had two other stamps issued in her honor – a 1923 four cent stamp and a 1938 one and a half cent stamp.
• She often followed her husband into the battlefield when he served as commander in chief of the Continental army.  In fact, she spent the infamous winter at Valley Forge at his side, and was instrumental in maintaining some level of morale among officers and enlisted troops.
• She was opposed to her husband’s election as President of the U.S and refused to attend his inauguration.
• The title ‘First Lady’ was not coined until after Martha’s death.  She was known as ‘Lady Washington’.
• She was jealous of her privacy and destroyed most of the letters she wrote to her husband as well as the letters he wrote to her.

Quotations attributed to Martha Washington

• “I am fond of only what comes from the heart.”
• “I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go.”
• “Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It’s a miracle, and the dance…is a celebration of that miracle.”
• “I live a very dull life here… indeed I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything else, there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from… “

All in all, it sounds like Martha Washington was an interesting, intelligent, strong-willed woman – one I would have enjoyed meeting.

Hurrah! Ah put all the names in a big Stetson and here are the results……

ROBYN L

PAT COCHRAN

Congratulations, Ladies!! Yippee! We’ll contact you for your mailing addresses.

Miss Carolyn thanks everyone who put aside a few minutes to chat with her. She’s quite a lady.

Yippee-ki-yay it’s that honky tonk gal… 

Carolyn Brown

 Happy ever after … a story at a time!

Hi y’all and thank you for inviting me to stop by your site for a visit today! I Love This Bar (Sourcebooks, Inc.) came out the first of the month and is now on the book shelves. It’s definitely modern day petticoats and pistols with a sassy bar owner and a rancher who falls in love with her.

 I Love This Bar is the first in the Honky Tonk series with three more to follow before the end of the year: Hell, Yeah (August), My Give a Damn’s Busted (October) and Honky Tonk Christmas (November).

 The Honky Tonk is an old weathered-wood saloon in Mingus, Texas. If the walls could talk they could tell tales that would put a whole new slant on the history in Palo Pinto County. It’s been there the better part of half a century and like Toby Keith says in his song, “I Love This Bar,” its has a quirky cast of losers, boozers, yuppies, blue collar boys, rednecks, dancing girls and hookers, a big bouncer man and dumb-asses.

 When I Love This Bar begins Daisy has been the bartender/bar owner/vet-tech enough years to have seen all of the folks mentioned in the song and her love for the bar runs deeper than just liking her job. She has absolutely no notions of changing one bit of her life until Jarod swaggers into the Honky Tonk in his tight fittin’ jeans, ten gallon hat, boots and enough sex appeal to give her a case of acute hot flashes.

 It doesn’t help that they collide in the middle of the dance floor and the fall puts him right on top of Daisy:

All the air escaped Daisy’s lungs in a whoosh and when the cowboy collapsed on top of her body. She sucked in air and pushed at the weight but her arms were pinned. She opened her eyes to see a head full of dark hair and felt the sharp bone of his nose pressing into her left breast.

 He moaned or mumbled something. Her breast muted whatever it was.

 Thank God he’s not dead; she thought when he rolled to one side.

 He raised his head and looked over at her, his face only inches from hers, his eyes zeroing in on her lips.

 Hot damn! That’s one sexy face, they both thought at the same time.

© Carolyn Brown, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2010

I’m not sure any woman could look up and find a sexy fellow like that (Go take a look at the front of the book) stretched out on top of her and not have an acute case of hot flashes. And so begins a ride on an emotional roller coaster that has them both panting and dizzy. The regulars at the Honky Tonk, plus Jarod’s Uncle Emmett with his smart mouth and manipulating ways, fuel the fire that keeps the roller coaster going at break neck speed. Daisy has to learn to trust; Jarod has to convince her he’s trustworthy.

Grab your boot scootin’ britches, pick up I Love This Bar and visit the Honky Tonk. And when you finish the book go on and read the first pages of Hell, Yeah at the end because it’ll be on the shelves in a few weeks!  Tell me, if you could meet Daisy or Jarod in person, what would you like to ask them?  (Quick! Think of something; Carolyn’s giving away two copies of her exciting new book to two lucky responders!)

About the Author

Carolyn Brown is an award-winning author who has published 36 historical and western romance novels for the library market, many of them bestsellers in that market. Born in Texas and raised in southern Oklahoma, Carolyn and her husband now make their home in the town of Davis, Oklahoma. For more information, please visit http://carolynlbrown.com/

                      IN STORES NOW!

                      I Love This Bar

She doesn’t need anything but her bar…

Daisy O’Dell has her hands full with hotheads and thirsty ranchers until the day one damn fine cowboy walks in and throws her whole life into turmoil…

 He’s looking for a cold drink and a moment’s peace…

Instead, Jarod McElroy, finds one red hot woman. She’s just what he needs, if only he can convince her to come out from behind that bar, and come home with him…