Happy Thanksgiving

Karen McCullough Posted on by

To those of you who celebrate it today: Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s almost de rigeur to talk about the things you are thankful for today, and I’m not knocking that. It’s a good thing. A very good thing.

For the past few years, I’ve tried to cultivate gratitude in an active, conscious ways. It’s helped me cope with the ups and downs of life in general and the life of a writer, specifically.

I frequently remind myself of all the huge blessings I have: a wonderful husband, a great family, some very good friends, a warm, water-proof house, and food on the table. They’re the biggies and I never want to forget just how rich all of that makes me.

For a special day of gratitude, I thought I’d consider some of the less obvious things for which I’m grateful. In no particular order:

My Kindle: I love that I can carry literally hundreds of books with me when I travel or just go to the dentist’s office. I still love paper books, too, but I find it increasingly hard to read them as my vision deteriorates. For me, the biggest virtue of the Kindle is that it turns every book into instant large print.

My Garden: I’m not a fabulous gardener by any measure, but I love watching things grow and I enjoy my flowers. There’s something so satisfying about digging in the dirt and producing beautiful results.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Do I really need to explain?

Reto’s Kitchen – They’re a catering company right down the street from us. During the pandemic they began offering a twice-weekly meal you could order ahead and pick up from them. Sometimes the meals aren’t to my taste, but mostly they are – and they’re always delicious. I’m so happy they’ve continued to offer this service. We don’t get out as much as we used to, so it’s nice to have access to restaurant-quality food occasionally without having to get dressed up, etc.

The Greensboro Grasshoppers: They’re our local minor league baseball team, a class High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. My husband and I both love baseball, and we can see professional (though not Major League caliber) games live at a fraction of the cost of going to an MLB game (and that’s not including transportation and hotel stays for the nearest one in Atlanta). It takes us five minutes to get home after the game is over.

November is for Baking

Karen McCullough Posted on by

I like to have lots of baked goods on hand for the holidays, including a good supply of home-made cookies. With a houseful of visitors for Christmas, they go fast. And I give batches away as gifts, so I need plenty.

I generally figure 4 batches of chocolate chip cookies, 2 large batches each of sugar cookies, orange cookies, molasses cookies and cinnamon crisps. At my age, I generally only have enough energy for a couple of batches at one time. All totaled, I probably make 40-50 dozen cookies. To manage that many I have to get a head start, so once I’ve converted the Halloween pumpkin into delicious things, I get right to work building my cookie inventory. Fortunately they freeze well.

In fact, some of my children prefer the chocolates chip cookies frozen, harking back to the days when they were young, and I thought I could thwart the cookie thieves by hiding the loot in the freezer. As if! Turns out they learned to like them frozen.

The cookie baking goes back even farther in my life. My mother used to bake loads of cookies around the Christmas season (and we were all just as given to scarfing them behind her back). We often ‘helped’ her decorate the sugar cookies with colored sugar sprinkles. While I’m mixing and rolling and sprinkling, I often think back to warm memories of those days.

Which is why I always try to make it a point to let my grandchildren ‘help’ me bake some when they come to visit.

Gardening in Autumn

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Things got out of hand in the garden quickly when I was unable to get out and work on it for a couple of months. Some of the garden beds became overrun with weeds and dead flower heads.

Kudos go to my husband, who took the time to water my many outdoor potted flowers during some dry days in late August. As a result of his efforts, I didn’t lose any of those plants.

Now, however, all of the growing things are in retreat, from lack of care and cooling weather. We had the first frost of fall a few days ago, which brings most of the flowering plants to a sharp end. Before that happened, I went out and cut the last zinnias, marigolds, and roses to bring in and enjoy a few days longer.

There’s lots of clean-up to do, though I generally let the garden beds and dried flowers sit for most of the winter. The birds love the seeds. Goldfinches flock to the dead zinnia flowers. I’m told other critters appreciate the leaf and stalk litter for overwintering.

We do rake leaves off the lawn to keep the grass healthy, though we’ve been gradually reducing the amount of grass we have, extending natural areas and cultivated beds into what was formerly lawn. And it’s a heck of a challenge to discourage the grass and weeds from restaking their claim to that territory.

But…the camellias now have buds, showing they’re getting ready to put on their  late winter show. A few perennials have new growth near the ground, which will form the base for next years’ efforts. Amid the dying of most of the garden plants, there are signs of hope for things to come.

Malice, Matrimony & Murder Now Available

Karen McCullough Posted on by

It’s here!

Twenty-five cozy mystery and cozy crime fiction authors have teamed up to create Malice, Matrimony, and Murder, a collection of brand-new, wedding-themed short stories that will keep you wondering whodunit and what’s next from the first page to the last. Between bad bridesmaids, conniving caterers, greedy guests, ill-mannered in-laws, savvy sleuths, and vengeful villains, this anthology has it all! My story is titled “The Other Wedding Crasher.”

Amazon (paperback only) https://www.amazon.com/Malice-Matrimony-Murder-Limited-Collection/dp/B0CGT6T9BL
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940167329775
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/book/id6456454509
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/Search/Query?query=9798223878360
Books2Read universal link: https://books2read.com/malicebook

Assessing Goals for 2023 – 3rd Quarter Report

Karen McCullough Posted on by

I’m a month or so overdue with my report on where I am with the 2023 goals. Blame goes mostly to having broken my ankle back in August. I was incapacitated for the next six weeks or so, which should have been good writing time but wasn’t. I’ve found that the brain doesn’t really want to work when the body is busy healing itself.

So I’m not going to achieve my 2023 goals completely, but I have made good progress.

On the novel front, I’ve finished the first draft of Treadwell House, and I’m now in the editing process. I’ve also begun the next book in the Market Center Mysteries series. Just 2500 words written or 1/30 of the way to the goal of 75,000. More on that in a future post.

I have met my goal of 5 short stories written, though only one of them will see publication this year. My story, “The Other Wedding Crasher” is part of the Malice, Matrimony & Murder anthology, due out in November. It’s available for pre-order here. https://books2read.com/malicebook

Due to changes in the audiobooks market, I haven’t been able to do an audio version of A Vampire’s Christmas Carol ready for release as I’d hoped. But I will have a Christmas short story releasing at the end of November. The Ghosts of Christmas Present was part of an anthology of Christmas romances a couple of years ago. I’m giving it a new launch as a stand-alone. Pre-order will be available shortly.

Otherwise, I’ve done better with the blogging, though again I had a couple of long breaks this summer. My personal autobiography and family history project is in progress, but it won’t be finished this year.

And I’m still trying to get rid of stuff!

The Ghosts of Christmas Present

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Now Available for Pre-Order

This long-ish short story was part of the 2021 Home for the Holidays anthology. I’m now releasing it as a stand-alone.

Lyndsay Williams reluctantly returns home for Christmas only to find her brother has brought a friend to spend the holidays with them. He’s the last man she wanted to meet again.

Because her brother Josh asks her to come for Christmas, Lyndsay Williams returns to the house where she grew up. She has no happy memories of the place other than her relationship with Josh, but she’d do anything for him. Her goals for the holiday are to survive the visit, avoid most contact with her cold, mean foster mother, and return as quickly as possible to her budding career as an architect.

She’s not surprised Josh has brought his wife and father-in-law. She’s dismayed to find he also invited his best friend, Aaron. Lyndsey had a crush on Aaron growing up, but after a mortifying incident with him at Josh’s wedding, she’s avoided contact with him since. Having to deal with Aaron and her foster mother could turn this Christmas celebration into a nightmare.

Not everything is what it seems, though. Josh has reasons for bringing together this group of people he cares about. Change is in the holiday air, and it offers the possibility of healing and forgiveness.

If Lynsday can let love— the love of family, friends, and one special man—heal the wounds on her heart, there’s a happier future waiting for her.

Pre-order (ebook only):
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMDDXLNJ
Other Retailers: https://books2read.com/u/mdP5Gd

The members of my email list helped choose the cover and they will be getting a special Christmas gift from me in thanks. There’s still time to sign up and join the fun using the form to the right.

Recycling the Halloween Pumpkin

Karen McCullough Posted on by

It was a great Halloween despite the cold and the rain that cooperated by quitting just before four o’clock in the afternoon. We didn’t have quite as many trick-or-treaters as last year, when we had better weather, but still had enough to dispose of most of the candy I’d laid in.

After Halloween, I have another ritual. I call it recycling the pumpkin. No, not on the compost heap. I cut it up, cook it, mash it, and turn it into pumpkin bread and muffins.

It’s surprisingly easy to do. I wash the pumpkin, cut it into chunks, microwave them for 8 to 10 minutes (until you can poke a fork into it easily), strip off the hard outer skin, and use an immersion blender to mash the pulp until it’s smooth.

I usually get 5-6 cups of cooked pumpkin and I’ll freeze any of it I’m not going to use right away in one cup measures. You can use this in pretty much any recipe that calls for canned pumpkin.

This is my favorite pumpkin bread recipe:

Pumpkin Bread

3 cups self-rising flour (or 3 cup plain flour + 4-5 tsp. baking powder and 1 tsp. salt)
3 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin
1 cup melted butter

Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
Form a well in the center and eggs, pumpkin, and butter.
Stir until moistened.
Pour into 2 well-greased loaf pans
Bake at 350 degrees, 45 – 50 minutes.

Happy Halloween!

Karen McCullough Posted on by

 

I hope you have a great day! We usually get a lot of trick or treaters since we live in a densely populated suburban neighborhood with sidewalks. But I’m not sure we will today. It’s cold and raining. The rain is supposed to stop later this afternoon, but temperatures are supposed to continue to plummet. I’ll still be ready with carved pumpkin and baskets of candy. If you’re looking for some quick, spooky reading, why not try one of these?

Halloween Reading from Karen McCulloughUnmasking: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FBYRQOS
Guardian of the Grimoire: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G02VQLO

Healing

Karen McCullough Posted on by

It’s been a while since I posted an update on the broken ankle. I had a visit with the doc last Monday for X-rays and evaluation. The news was good–the bone is healing well. He told me I could go ahead and walk on it as much as I could tolerate. Turns out I can tolerate quite a bit. It aches some toward the end of the day, but mostly not too uncomfortable. I was using a walker last week because the boot made my balance wobbly. I’m now transitioned from the boot to a much less bulky ankle brace and walking with the help of a cane. I’ve lost a lot of muscle in the bad leg after not using it for six weeks and it’s noticeably weaker than the other leg. I go back second week in October to check on the healing, but as of right now, it’s progressing well. I just need to build up strength.

Testing My Patience

Karen McCullough Posted on by

I’ve been absent for a while, but I have an excuse. Here’s why:

I’m not known to family and friends as a particularly patient person. I’ve occasionally said that it would probably benefit me to learn more. You know, everyone says it. No one really means it. I didn’t.

Nonetheless, I’ve been given the opportunity to practice the virtue. I’m not happy about it.

On August 12, I slipped on the bottom steps of a staircase and broke my ankle. My left leg and foot are now in a heavy boot and I’m not supposed to put any weight on it. The docs initially said I’d likely be off it completely for 6 to 8 weeks. I’m now close to five weeks and it’s driving me crazy.

I have crutches and a knee scooter, which let me get around the house and take care of my basic needs, but it’s hard to do a lot of things. I’m fortunate to be married to a wonderful man who has been great about picking up all the tasks I can’t do. It doesn’t mitigate the frustration, though.

The doctor insists I sleep in the boot. A friend suggested putting a pillowcase over it to protect the sheets. That works, but it doesn’t mitigate the fact that this thing feels like an anchor on my foot and there are only two positions I can manage comfortably. Rolling over at night is incredibly hard. Making a middle-of-the-night trip to the bathroom is a major project.

In fact, doing almost anything is a major project. Everything takes twice or even three times as long as it would if I had two good ankles.

I’m learning patience and empathy for those who have any kind of disability. It’s hard for most of us to understand how difficult it is to do normal things with limitations.