FUN, FUN HOLIDAYS

July 28, 2020July 22, 2020 / Susan A. Royal / Leave a comment

About books, movies, cooking, and advice
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Life, love and raising kids
Along with do-hickeys, what-cha-ma-call-its, and thing-a-ma-jigs
We’re just two Texas girls
Straight from the sticks
The only thing we won’t gab about
Is religion and politics!

Today, on Gabbin’ Gals, we’re discussing some upcoming fun holidays.

Tomorrow, July 29^th is Lasagna Day! I don’t like lasagna much, but I found this slow cooker recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. It’s really delicious and super easy because—well, it’s a slow cooker recipe. I won’t print the directions here. Instead, go to the site responsible for this yumminess, at the URL below. While there, you can sign up to receive two weeks’ worth of easy recipes and view some 30-minute meals as well. I signed up!

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/slow-cooker-lasagna/

Susan: When I had a house full of growing kids who could eat like field hands and liked to ask their friends over for supper, I was always looking for easy recipes that fed a crowd. A coworker gave me one for lasagna that could be prepared the day before. And what kid doesn’t like Italian food? So, I made it often. Years later, you can imagine my surprise when all three of my kids admitted they never really cared for it. I couldn’t believe my ears! These days, I try a lot of things I never got to try then. All I have to do is make sure it makes a small batch, so I won’t be eating leftovers for a week!

July 30^th is Paperback Book Day! You know the Gabbin’ Gals will celebrate it. Here’s a bit of history.

In England, paperbacks were published as early as 1935, but they were poor quality. It wasn’t until Sir Allen Lane started a publishing company, that would later become Penguin Books, creating a paperback revolution. They published books by Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie, and a few other notable authors. As a result, the company sold 3 million books in the first year.

The US followed suit a few years later when Robert Fair de Graff decided books should be inexpensive and small enough to fit in a pocket. Simon & Schuster agreed and backed his venture. Sized at 4 X 6 inches, and costing 25 cents, the Pocket Books debuted in May 1939.

So, do you still enjoy reading a paperback, or, have you succumbed to digital books?

Susan: When someone asks me that question, I always tell them if it’s a good story, I’ll read it any way I can. One thing about physical books, though. If they’re yours, you can highlight passages, make notes or flip back to check on something that happened three chapters earlier. Can’t do that with an eBook. I’ve attached jpgs of three paperback books I’ve had since the 70s. I’ve read them dozens of times through the years. (You can tell by the covers)

Also, on July 30^th, we celebrate International Day of Friendship. With social media, it’s easier than ever to stay in touch with friends—even those who live thousands of miles away. So, celebrate friendship by reaching out to someone you’ve lost touch with. It just might make their day!

Susan: I still send cards in the mail. Especially to my grandkids. And I have friends who still send them. There is something special about going to the mailbox and getting a card or a letter from someone I know. It makes my day!

Ann: I can vouch for Susan sending cards. I’m always surprised and delighted when I get one from her…and feel terrible that I’m not as thoughtful.

Do you have a loveable mutt? Well, July 30^th is also Mutt’s Day. In just about all of my novels, I give at least one character a pet—be it a cat or dog. Do you want to know why authors do that? It isn’t just their love for animals. It’s a way for characters to reveal part of themselves by having conversations with pets who can’t talk back!

Susan: I write about animals in all my books too. And you’re right. They show us things about our characters we can’t see anywhere else. I like giving them human characteristics as well. In Not Long Ago, the protagonist, Erin, bonded with Griffin’s horse. It worked out so well, Bayard had an even bigger part in the second book.

And we’d be considered terrible authors if we failed to mention July 31^st is Harry Potter Day. After all, Pottermore, the official fan site, reports more than 500 million HP books have been sold worldwide. Can you believe it? That’s one in fifteen people in the world who owns at least one Harry Potter book!!

Susan: I don’t own any Harry Potter books, but I’ve read just about all of them. I loved the characters, the settings, the stories. I’ve bought copies of them for two of my grandkids who enjoyed reading them too. And if there’s a Harry Potter marathon showing on TV, you can bet I’ll have it on.

Find out more about Ann Everett/Emma Ames: https://www.anneverett.com

July 20, 1969

July 20, 2020June 17, 2020 / Susan A. Royal / 2 Comments

I’ll never forget that summer. After a whirlwind romance, my boyfriend had asked me to marry him and we were busy planning our October wedding. And of course, we spent every moment together. Otherwise I might missed it altogether. He was in the Air National Guard and was fascinated with anything to do with flying and/or space travel. So when he found out they were going to broadcast the landing on the moon on television, we had to watch.

So there we were, sitting in my parents family room, watching their black and white twenty-something inch television that didn’t get very good reception. To be honest, the whole space thing didn’t mean that much to me. But I knew it did to him. And, I was just happy that we were spending time together. So we watched.

On 10:56 p.m. ET on July 20, 1969, the American astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off that ladder and planted his left foot on the moon. Then, he said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Suddenly, I understood. Mankind had taken a giant step toward the future. We’d gone where no man had gone before. And I cried.

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

July 14, 2020July 9, 2020 / Susan A. Royal / 2 Comments

Susan: I’m what my grandmother used to call a clothes horse. I love colors, styles, and different fabrics. I come by it honest. My grandmother once spent a whole month’s salary on a skirt from France when she worked as a telephone operator in 1918.

I remember the dress Mama bought for me when I started school. A plaid shirtwaist with a white lace-trimmed collar. Maybe because it came from Sears. Most of my clothes were homemade. My grandparents had chickens, and the feed came in sacks with print material on one side that Grandma and Mama used for everything from dresses to kitchen towels to underwear.

When I got older, bobby socks were all the rage. And Poodle skirts. So were petticoats and full skirts. A few years later, I took a seam ripper to them and used the material to make fitted skirts and A-line dresses.

It’s incredible how the styles have changed over the years. But one thing I have learned. What goes around eventually comes around again. I never thought I’d see the day when girls wore bellbottoms, or tie-dye, or madras plaid again. But guess what? Never say never. You should see the look on my daughter’s face when she finds out her new outfit is just like one I wore years ago.

Ann: When I think of fashion, what stands out in mind are the three inch heels I talked my mother into buying me for my 8th grade graduation, the sacks of hand-me-downs I’d get twice a year from older cousins, and the borrowed formal I used when I was a homecoming princess my sophomore year. It had a boned strapless bodice with a full skirt of layered netting and a bustle-like tiered satin accent on the back. Talk about making your butt look big!

Well, three-inch heels are all the rage, and now we have all sorts of re-sale shops where you actually pay for hand-me-downs. I no longer wear high heels, but I’m a frequent shopper of thrift/used clothing stores. As for the formal wear, I’m not sure if and when the big, big, skirted formals will make a comeback, but since big behinds are now in vogue, the bustle just might reemerge.

Susan mentioned wearing clothes made from feed sacks. I have a similar fashion history. My mom worked for Olive & Myers Manufacturing Company where she made mattresses. Yep, you guessed it. I had clothes made from mattress material. Talk about making your bed and lying in…I wore mine.

Do you have a fashion memory you want to share? OR, maybe a photo of you wearing one of your faves? If so, post it in the comments. We’d love to see it!

Find out more about Ann Everett/Emma Ames: https://www.anneverett.com

It’s About Time Series

July 6, 2020July 5, 2020 / Susan A. Royal / Leave a comment

2nd edition now available on Amazon – on KINDLE and IN PRINT for the first time ever!

https://amzn.to/notlongago

I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of traveling through time. Visiting another time. Getting up close and personal with characters and places in history. Seeing things the way they were or the way they will be someday. Just think of the possibilities. And what if you could decide whether you wanted to stay or go back home? What would you do?

Erin has met the man of her dreams, but it’s complicated. She’s in one of those long-distance relationships, and the man she loves is a little behind the times–somewhere around 600 years.

Along with her employer, March, Erin is transported to a time where chivalry and religion exist alongside brutality and superstition. Something is not quite right at the castle, and they are certain mysterious Lady Isobeil is involved. But Erin must cope with crop circles, ghosts, a kidnapping, and death while searching for the way home.

Posing as March’s nephew, she finds employment as handsome Sir Griffin’s squire. From the start, she’s attracted to him and grows to admire his courage, quiet nobility, and devotion to duty. Yet, she must deny her feelings. Erin misses her home that’s in a world centuries away, but she can’t stop thinking about her knight in shining armor.

From there, the story could have gone anywhere. Turns out, it did. I never planned for Not Long Ago to become a series, but when my daughter insisted there was more to the story, I realized she was right.

Coming Soon!

From Now On takes up where Not Long Ago left off. Some of my favorite characters are back. Arvo, the tall, gangly young man with a disreputable shock of red hair who becomes Erin’s good friend and confidant. Sir Edevane, Griffin’s fellow knight and friend, and Kateryn, Griffin’s feisty little sister.

Griffin travels to Erin’s world and brings her back to his, but before they can begin their new life together, Isobeil sends him on a mission to a strange island. When he doesn’t return, Erin assembles a group of his friends to search for him. Followed by his strong-willed sister, Kateryn, they travel to Swansea and secure passage with the notorious Captain Akin.

Erin discovers firsthand how the island has earned its dark reputation when she battles freakish weather, encounters a race of little people known as “Prowlies,” and experiences ghosts of the long departed. She discovers there are “ley lines” crossing the island’s mountain peak, creating all sorts of strange phenomena. And Erin uncovers a secret while trying to rescue the man she loves.

Coming Soon!

If you love a time travel adventure with a twist (and a love story) and haven’t read Not Long Ago, please do. You can continue Erin and Griffin’s story in From Now On. The third book in the series is To The Past. As the relationship between the two love birds grows, they encounter even more obstacles to overcome while they’re dealing with the caves in Wales, blood moons, and more ghosts.

The It’s About Time series is available on Amazon and Goodreads. If you read it and like it, tell your friends. please post a review. You’ll make this writer happy! Visit my blog at susanaroyal.com and feel free to comment. Email me anytime at ssn_royal@hotmail.com I love hearing from my readers, and promise to answer my emails.

4th of July

July 4, 2020July 4, 2021 / Susan A. Royal / 1 Comment

However you chose to celebrate this day, whether it be out at the lake, at a cookout with family, or enjoying fireworks with friends, I hope it’s a safe and happy holiday. Sometime during the day, please stop and take a moment to remember what this day should mean to all of us.

Red Skelton was always a favorite of mine. Never failed to make me laugh, and sometimes brought me to tears. This was one of those times.

Susan A. Royal

If you could read my mind…fantasy, fairy tales and romance

Month: July 2020