I am being featured today on Bernadette’s New Classic Recipe blog where I share a Christmas dinner disaster story and a favourite recipe. Enjoy! If you wish to share a Christmas dinner disaster in the comments below, that would be fun.
In case you haven’t seen this, I’m a guest on Teri Polen’s terrific Bad Moon Rising series. Check out the spookiest ghost story I’ve heard. Read some of the other guest’s interviews as well. Happy Halloween!!
I’m a big fan of this author’s Amanda series. I haven’t traveled to all the places Amanda has, but after reading the book I feel like I have. They’re so well-researched they could double as travel guides. I follow this author on social media and get to see adorable pics of her fur babies, but if you haven’t met them yet, today is your chance. Welcome Darlene Foster!
Would you rather visit a haunted house or a haunted graveyard?
A haunted graveyard. (Aren’t they all haunted? I mean, they are full of dead people, right?) I love graveyards and spend a lot of time in them. They are outside and easy to escape if things get tense. You can get locked inside a haunted house. Yikes!
What is the spookiest ghost story you’ve ever heard?
The story about a young couple who are making out in a car when they…
45 years ago in York, England, a girl from the Canadian prairies married her handsome Yorkshireman. And there has never been a dull moment since! We´ve taken risks, travelled much of the world and had lots of laughs. We´ve lived through happy and turbulent times, collected amazing friends and have some wonderful memories. Not willing to be conventional, we even had a Dougal the Dog wedding cake. A few snaps of our wild and crazy life.
Paris. France 2018Liverpool, England 2017Spain with Dot, 2017Spain, 2017Mediterranean Cruise 2015Orihuela Costa, Spain 2014Budapest, Hungary 2012Germany, 2012Cozumel, Mexico 2010Covent Garden, England 1998
Happy Halloween! Here is a great post about the origins of the jack-o’-lantern you will find interesting. Thanks to Aurora Alexander. Enjoy the occasion and stay safe.
Pumpkins with ghoulish faces and illuminated by candles are a sure sign of the Halloween season. The practice of decorating jack-o’-lanterns originated in Ireland, where large turnips and potatoes served as early canvasses. In fact, the name, jack-o’-lantern, comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack. Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America, home of the pumpkin, and it became an integral part of Halloween festivities.
The Legend of “Stingy Jack”
People have been making jack-o’-lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited theDevilto have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack…
I’m sure I’m not the only one who is happy to see this year over. Here´s what the crew of Starship Enterprise felt about 2020.
For someone who loves to set goals and make plans, this has been a tough year. So many plans were ruined and goals not met. But we are safe and healthy and as we speak, our family is OK as well. That is really all that matters at the end of the day.
So, as painful as it is, here is my report on the goals I set a year ago, never imagining a global pandemic!
2020 Goals
Edit Amanda in Malta:The Sleeping Lady, and send it to the publisher
Amanda in Malta: The Sleeping Lady has been edited, beta-read and with the publisher. It is scheduled for release in May 2021 and is available for preorder. I am so excited about this book as it takes place in a unique country, with tons of history, action and fun. Fans will be pleased to know that Caleb is back too.
2. Write Amanda in France
I am halfway through writing Amanda in France: Fire in the Cathedral. It is coming along slowly. Like many writers, I had trouble concentrating at the start of the lockdown. Amanda falls in love with Paris, Versailles and Giverny and gets to stay at a bookstore!
3. Decide if I should continue writing Amanda stories or venture into something else.
I haven’t made that decision yet. I’ll see how the next two books do.
4. Write more short stories
I did write new short stories and revisited and polished some old ones. Short stories were easier to focus on this year. My short story, Lockdown With Anne, was included in an anthology about the pandemic called, With Love, Comes Hope.
5. Write more travel articles
I didn’t write many travel articles. The fact that we couldn’t travel, didn’t inspire me to write travel articles.
6. Help others with their writing as many have helped me
This is something I did a lot of. I had the time, it could be done online and it made me feel useful. I did some editing as well which I enjoyed.
7. Work on my TBR list, read at least 40 books
Another thing I had time to do and it took my mind off the situation. I read 40 books, many I had wanted to read for a long long time. They are listed on my Goodreads Reading Challenge page
8. Visit Venice
We had planned to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday in Venice. All booked but sadly, cancelled due to a global pandemic.
9. Attend a family reunion in Alberta
Cancelled as well. I was very dissapointed as I love to see my aunts, uncles and many wonderful cousins.
10. Travel to the UK and visit friends
Also booked, plans set to meet up with a number of friends, but cancelled.
11. Organize my office
I did some organizing but more needs to be done.
12. Organize my computer files
Again, not as much as I should have. It´s not like I didn´t have the time!
13. Learn more about writing and publishing a picture book.
Lost interest in this for some reason.
14. Publish an anthology of short stories
I´m working on this.
What I did do was a lot of cooking and baking, walking the dog and connecting with friends and family through social media.
My three words for 2020 were:
support – Support others in whatever way I can, as so many have supported me over the years.
connect – Connect with people, stay in touch, facilitate connections.
motion – Keep moving, physically and mentally.
Little did I know how important these three words would become.
By supporting others, I was able to take my mind off of my concerns. Since I have learned a few things over the years of writing and publishing my books, it has been great to be able to share that knowledge. I enjoyed interviewing and featuring other authors on my blog and helping promote their books.
I connected with so many people, some I haven´t been in touch with for quite a while. These connections kept me sane. Connecting through social media has been a godsend. I Zoom with my writers’ groups here in Spain and in Canada, and video message and Skype with family members and friends near and far. Connecting through blogging has been my social life and I so appreciate those connections. So a huge thank you to all my blogging buddies!
Walking the dog three to four times a day has kept me moving and kept the baking off my hips. Walking has been good for my mental well being as well.
Although many of my goals were not met, it has still been an OK year.
I stole this from a writer/blogging friend, Janet Givens. I love it.
I wish you all a very Happy New Year!
Stay safe and well so that eventually we can all travel and meet up again soon.
I love Halloween. It was so much fun as a kid to dress up and collect goodies. I still remember some of the costumes mom made for me, Little Bo Peep was my favourite. No store-bought costumes! Later, I had fun making costumes for my kids. A snoopy costume for my son was a big hit, as was a cute Little Red Riding Hood for my daughter. As they got older I made Kiss outfits for my son and his three friends. And a Teddy Bear costume for my daughter which she still wears when she goes to schools to teach pottery.
Mom continued making costumes for her grandkids and great-grandkids. She made a clown costume for my daughter that has been handed down over the years and recently her great-great-granddaughter wore it.
Clown costume made by mom
Most of the offices I worked in encouraged us to dress up for Halloween and I always enjoyed that. Here are a couple of my favourite costumes.
Jane Austen
Would you like your fortune told?
A scary pirate
Even the fur babies get to dress up. Here’s my grandpuppy Lola in her Batman costume.
I don’t read scary books (sorry Stephen King) or watch horror movies, although some are probably very well done. The books I write are not too frightening, except for Amanda in Mexico: Ghosts in the Wind which has a few spooky parts. But nothing that would keep kids up at night.
Here is a short excerpt.
Amanda stood in front of a door the map showed as the Santos Display Room.
“What’s in here?”
Along with Caleb and a couple of other students, she entered the dimly-lit room containing glass cabinets filled with pictures and statues of various saints. A sign explained how the families in Spanish America always kept a shrine to a saint in their homes. The shrine often held Milagros, tiny silver shapes attached to statues of the saints. There were legs for people who couldn’t walk, eyes for those who had bad eyesight and animal figures to wish a farmer a productive year with his flock.
Amanda was fascinated as she peered through the glass at small objects stuck on the figures.
She looked up and gasped. At the end of the narrow room stood a life-sized skeleton of a woman riding in a wooden cart. Amanda, heart beating, crept closer to the scary figure wearing a scraggly white wig and a long dark robe. She carried a scythe in one hand and a globe in the other. On the wall beside the figure, a plaque told of Doña Sebastiana, the female saint of death, or Santa Muerte. During the Holy Week procession at Easter, this female Grim Reaper was rolled out in her death cart and transported through the town. Parents would point her out and tell the children if they did not behave, Doña Sebastiana would come for them.
Amanda gulped and peered more closely at the horrible figure. She couldn’t understand why parents would want to scare their children like that.
‘Imagine the nightmares!’ Amanda thought.
Just then, everything went black. Something brushed Amanda’s shoulder. She froze.
“Caleb,” she whispered. “Is that you?” There was no answer. A cold breeze passed over her.
If you are looking for something to read or to read with the young children in your life, you might want to check it out.
We have so much to be thankful for. What was I doing at this time last year? I was launching Amanda in Holland and visiting friends and family. I am so thankful I was able to do that. For now, I am thankful I have the pictures to look back on. Stay safe everyone. xo
I was missing in action for the last month as I went to Canada to promote the latest Amanda Travels book as well as visit friends and family. It was a very successful trip, although a bit tiring. Here’s a sample of what I was up to.
I visited four schools in Alberta and BC, consisting of a variety of class sizes and students. All delightful with many questions and comments. My favourite part of being a published author is visiting schools and reading to the children. When I walked into one class, a young boy shouted, “She´s here! She´s here! I can´t believe she´s here!” For a moment I felt like a rock star.
I launched my latest book, Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action, at Albany Books in Tsawwassen, BC, a community I lived in for fifteen years. I love this friendly, locally-owned, independant bookstore that has…
Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing mothers and mother figures out there. It will be different this year as we can’t get together, but the love will be just as strong. Recently I was guest on Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Friends and Family series where she featured a post I wrote about my dear mom. For those of you who haven’t seen it, enjoy.
Due to the worldwide pandemic, all Easter parades and celebrations for Semana Santa, (Holy Week) were cancelled in Spain. This is the most important week in the Spanish religious calendar and has been celebrated for centuries. Since we could not partake in a fiesta this year, I am sharing the parade I attended last year. It was so spectacular, it’s worth a revisit. Enjoy!
Semana Santa, Holy Week in Spain, is the annual tribute of the Passion of Jesus Christ celebrated by Catholic religious brotherhoods called cofradía and fraternities that perform penance processions on the streets of almost every Spanish city and town during the last week of Lent, the week immediately before Easter. Each place presents a different experience, from very sombre processions to lively spectacles.
On Maundy Thursday a friend and I went by bus to the city of Lorca, about one and a half hours away, to attend their Easter parade that I had heard was one of the best in Spain. Although rain threatened, it managed to stay away and we were able to watch the three-hour parade without getting wet.
It was an amazing parade, one I will never forget. As usual, the local citizens and brotherhoods went all out with magnificent costumes, fabulous floats and heart stopping entertainment.
Happy Easter wherever you are and however you celebrate. It will be a different Easter for most of us as we will be staying in and connecting by social media. Today I’m being featured on Sally Cronin’s site as she holds an Easter parade. See if you recognize teenage me. Some wonderful songs featured as well. Enjoy the post and eat all the chocolate you want. We deserve it!
Darlene Foster's Blog 