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WATCH OUT FOR THAT QUICKSAND!

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Best Selling Western Romance Writer

Caroline Clemmons 

 Most of us have read stories in which the villain or the protagonist is trapped in quicksand. My first encounter was in a Nancy Drew book, where she sank to her thighs or waist. Then, one of the villains in a Sherlock Holmes story died in quicksand. Since then, I’ve read other accounts—fictitious and authentic—in which someone became victim to the engulfing, suffocating medium.

 I live in North Central Texas near the Brazos River and not that far from the Red River. As a chile, we visited my grandmother just over the Red River into Oklahoma. I always wanted to stop and play on the river’s red sand and water. My parents talked of people, animals, even wagons being lost in the river’s sands. I had doubts, for I knew they didn’t want to take time away from our visit.

 When my husband and I moved to North Central Texas, I heard the same tales of quicksand in the Brazos River engulfing the unsuspecting. The water appears tranquil and the banks firm. I have to admit I was a skeptic. However, now I’m a believer. I have a friend who is almost 105 years old whose mind is still sharp even though her body is betraying her. Let me share her parents’ story with you.

 Her Dalton parents were married in Weatherford and lived there for a year with her grandparents. They decided to move to Mineral Wells, which meant crossing numerous creeks and the Brazos River. By this time, Mrs. Dalton was six months pregnant with their first child.

 They loaded their belongings into a wagon and set out for their future home. When they reached the Brazos, Mr. Dalton drove the team across a low area. Suddenly, the horses started squealing and sinking. So did the wagon. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton were able to leap from the back of the wagon onto firm ground.

 Unfortunately, the horses, wagon, and belongings sank into quicksand and out of view. All they salvaged were the clothes on their backs and a tiny bundle Mrs. Dalton grabbed as she jumped. The couple had to walk the fifteen miles back to Weatherford and the parents/in-laws. What a blow, but at least they survived and lived to raise a family of nine. Most of their children lived at least into their nineties and a couple passed the century mark.

 Since my friend told me this story, I’ve heard of other families who had the same or a similar misfortune involving quicksand at the Brazos. One family cut the harness so the horses escaped, but lost the wagon. Another involved the wagon driver sinking into the quicksand while trying to free the animals. Being a pioneer was tough!

 These stories caused me to speculate, as writers always do with any new kernel of information. Because I am somewhat claustrophobic, the mention of quicksand terrifies me. Even writing about the sucking, suffocating goo that swallows up indiscriminately creates shivers and a knot in my abdomen.

 Since it terrifies me, I decided to use it in my latest series, Men of Stone Mountain. So far, two of the books mention or involve quicksand. If I have to be frightened, why shouldn’t my characters, right? (cue fiendish laugh) All three books also involve poison, but that’s another article.

The three Stone brothers are Micah, Zach, and Joel. These men are heroic, loyal, handsome, and want to settle near one another. They live in or near the fictitious city of Radford Springs near the Brazos River and in the real Palo Pinto County and Palo Pinto Mountains of Texas.

To order books click on covers

 In the first of the series, BRAZOS BRIDE, Micah’s cattle are dying of thirst from the drought that has dried up all the natural springs and his tanks. Hope Montoya’s huge ranch borders the river, but she is being poisoned and fears she won’t survive without help. She and Micah make a deal that gives him land between his and the river in exchange for entering a paper marriage with Hope. While their union frees her of a guardianship, the wedding makes them both targets of the murderer’s escalating attacks. BRAZOS BRIDE is available from Kindle, Smashwords,Nook, etc.

 

 www.carolineclemmons.com
 http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

Caroline is offering one set of the Men of Stone Mountain trilogy as a giveaway–print for the US or ebook for International.

So don”t be shy. Hop on board and  give her a big howdy–and you could be the winner!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We have a winner for a free ebook (or mass market if you don”t have an ereader).

First I want to thank you all for coming to

the blog today and for leaving a message to this unusual little bit of history.  Interesting stuff…

Anyway, the winner of the free book is Melody Druant.  Melody, if you could contact me personally at karenkay(dot)author(at)earthlink(dot)net — that would be great!  And we”ll take it from there.

Again, my thanks to you all!

The Corn Flake — Another Weird Bit of History

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Good Morning!

I loved Winnie”s blog yesterday!  I love little bits of history that make the past come alive , and I read her blog with great interest.  Interesting to me is that Kellogg knew that the grain he was using was stale, but he went ahead and used it anyway — feeding it to others — not eating it himself.  Hmmm…

Anyway, I hope you”ll allow me to break away from my usual Native American blog to add to Winnie”s blog from yesterday.  And I will be giving away a free ebook today, so come on in and leave a message.

Now this is really, really an odd bit of history that I don”t think any of us know.  I only know it because I have my nose in a history book — or something relating to history — much of the time.

I”m going to post this quote from a book called the LIBERATION DIET by Kevin Brown and Annette Presley.  He opens up the beginning of a chapter called, Carbohydrate Craze with this paragraph:

“Weird is not too strong a word to describe the evolution of the high carbohydrate diet, as it has more to do with sex than science. Believe it or not, carbohydrate foods were foisted on the American public to prevent sexual sins and excesses, and this is the origin of the term “moral fiber.””

This is a picture of J. Harvy Kellogg off to the left here.  Now the tale really begins with the Reverend Sylvester Graham who went around the country advocating a vegetarian diet because he believed that eating meat caused one to become sexually stimulated (I”m not making this up).  He lectured so  hard against sex and kept telling people over and over how evil sex was that he eventually gave up lecturing because he created such an uproar in his audience.

He was the inventor of the Graham cracker, which he fed to people in his sanitarium — he disallowed sex of any kind except to married couples and then only once a month, and his cracker was supposed to take away the sexual urge.  (Truly I”m not making this up.)  Off to the left here is a picture of Reverend Graham.

Ellen G. White, who was the founder of the Seventh Day Adventists, visited Graham”s sanitarium on the advice of an angel and set up her own sanitarium in Battle Creek Michigan, but her sanitarium didn”t do well until J. Harvy Kellogg took over the running of it.

Now here”s a bit that most don”t know.  Kellogg was so against sex that he never consumated his marriage and he and his wife had separate bedrooms for their entire marriage and adopted all of their children.  He was also an ardent

vegetarian.

Now, Kellogg was a disciple of Graham”s and he was always experimenting with grains.  And Post was a patient at the sanitarium.  Interestingly most of the people at the sanitarium were not sick of any disease.  They were mostly there for rest and relaxation.  Now, John Harvy Kellogg lived long enough to see his ideas on sex as the basis of all disease disputed by the medical profession.  But it made no difference to him, because apparently he was one of those men who must never be wrong.

So now there you have “the rest of the story,” which I think is an extremely weird and rather extreme story — that I am not making up.  For any of you who are interesting in learning more, I would highly recommend the book, THE LIBERATION DIET by Kevin Brown and Annette Presley.  There”s another story in that book, another odd story about an extremely obese man, named William Banting.  In a short letter called LETTER ON CORPULENCE ADDRESSED TO THE PUBLIC, he tells about this man who was so obese, he could not walk up and down stairs and goes on to tell about the diet that got him back to a normal weight and one that kept his weight down for the rest of his life.  Interesting stuff…

Well, I hope you will forgive me for getting off topic for this blog, but Winnie”s post yesterday so inspired me to tell you the rest of the story.  I”d love to hear your opinions on diet, also.

 

 

Lisa Richardson's Winner!

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Sounds like everyone enjoyed talking about hoop skirts, crinoline, and various and sundry other things this weekend.

The winner of Miss Lisa”s DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH is…………..

MAXIE ANDERSON

Yay for Maxie!! Someone will contact you

for your mailing particulars so there”s nothing for you to do except watch for the email.

Johnnycakes

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My latest heroine has just taken on a job as a cook in a boarding house in the Old West. One problem. She’s a society girl who doesn’t know the first thing about cooking. She barely knows how to set a table. In that, we’re a lot alike. I can kinda, sorta, not really find my way around a kitchen. Then again, when I’m invited to a potluck dinner I tend to rush to the nearest grocery store, hit the deli counter and beg for a pretty

veggie tray STAT.

So what’s a writer to do when her heroine has to learn a skill she’s not exactly an expert in either. She buys an Old West cookbook and gets to work. That’s right. I found a cookbook from the 1800s. YAY me!

My heroine’s first attempt at cooking will be an Old West favorite. A Johnnycake. That’s cornbread to you and me. There’s some controversy over where the name came from originally. Most sources agree that the name came from the Narraganset word for corn, “jaunny.”

Virtually every recipe book of the nineteenth century includes a recipe for Johnnycakes. Most are simple, straightforward mixes. As cookbook writers became more creative, so did the recipes for Johnnycakes. Some include ingredients such as buttermilk and eggs, but the simplest mix contained cornmeal, salt and water. The recipe below is a basic, authentic recipe for Johnnycakes. It make be dry and lack the sweetness of today’s version, but this is what was served on western tables in the nineteenth century.

BAKING TIME:

OVEN TEMPERATURE: 400 degrees

INGREDIENTS: 3 cups cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 cups boiling water

Add all ingredients together and stir, stir, stir. It may take up to 15 minutes to get the mix frothy. The mixture should be pliable. Shape into cakes about 4 inches in diameter. Place on a well-greased cookie sheet. If the mixture is not pliable, pour into a baking pan. Place in oven. It is done when the edges turn brown the middle is bouncy.

Personally, I’m thinking…yuck.

Here is TODAY’S VARIATION~~To bring to modern taste and texture, add ½ cup buttermilk, 1 beaten egg, 1 cup flour, and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar; mix together. Place in oven, cook until an inserted toothpick comes out dry.

I’ll be sharing more recipes in the coming weeks, but today I wanted to start slow and easy. My poor heroine is already overwhelmed.

Leave a comment and I”ll put you in a drawing for the first book my Charity House series (a great place to start if you haven”t read any of my books).

We Have a Winner!

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We have a winner from my blog of yesterday!  Sorry I”m late in announcing it.  I”m now on the East coast and so wanted to wait until today so as to allow others to post a comment, if they wanted.

Anyway, we do have a winner.  I drew the names at random and the winner is Becky Ward.  Becky if you could please contact me at karenkay(dot)author(at)earthlink(dot)net — we”ll arrange to get a book to you.

Please know that I appreciate each and every one of your posts.  I blog

every other Tuesday and often — very often — give away books.  So please check back. 

Thanks and have a wonderful evening!

Come, Let’s Learn a Little Lakota

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Good

Day!

Hope your day is bright and shiny.   I”ll be giving away a free ebook today to a blogger, so please do leave a comment.  Which reminds me, I am waiting to hear from my winner from two weeks ago — I”ll have to go back in the archives and post her name again.

The newest book I”m working on involves the Lakota Tribe — and so in the writing of it, I seem to have my nose in either a Lakota Grammar book or Lakota Dictionary.  And so words and phrases of the Lakota (at the turn of the century) are filling my head and I thought it might be nice to share some words and phrases.  Wanna try?

Here”s a good phrase for all of us romantics:

Cicanniga — which means “I choose thee.”

ci means I…thee…you — I hope you”ll forgive me but I don”t know very much about how one pronounces these words and phrases, so please forgive me on some of these.  So perhaps we can learn that together

“Yes,”  by the way is said differently by men than by women.  Men say “Hau” which we”ve heard over and over again in 50″s Westerns — pronounced how.  Women say “Han.”

If you”ve ever seen the movie Stolen Women, Captured Hearts — a TV movie, you”ll hear one of the Indian women say, “han.”  The picture here is of the star of that TV movie, Michael Grayeyes.

By the way, here”s a bit of trivia — did you know that the reason that the American Indian raised his hand flat in the air and said, “Hau,” was to show he had no weapon in his hand and was thus, friendly.

No is said “Eaaaa” by both men and women.  Another picture of Michael Greyeyes off to the left here.  Here are some interjections, which are always nice, I think:  “taku,” means “what;” “tukte” means which; and “toha” mean “how many.”

But for all of us romantics, this is one of my favorite phrases:  “waste kicilakapi,” which means they love one another or mutual love.

But here”s some everyday words that one might hear in a movie about the Lakota:

waste — good ;  wakan — mysterious, sacred ;  watuka — tired ;  aica — bad;  sapa — black ; was” aka — strong  canlwaste — good-hearted.

Of course off to the right here is a picture of Adam Beach in…gee, I forget the name of the movie — I believe it was a TV movie.  If you know the name of it, please do let me know.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this little brief blog into the language of the Lakota — back in Los Angeles I have a book of common phrases used in movies (given to me by Grandfather George, from a movie that he was in).  So perhaps in the future we can learn a bit more of the language.

Until then, “hau (han) kola”

SOARING EAGLE”S EMBRACE, on sale now at online bookstores everywhere or get it here:

http://store.samhainpublishing.com/karen-kay-pa-1676.html?PHPSESSID=561f88e051c5c137112217bdfc952179