Mary Davis' Blog: October 2020

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Tuesday Tidbits: NATIONAL BLACK CAT DAY!

Buffy

Today, October 27th, is National Black Cat Day! YAY!

I have had many cats over my lifetime. A good many of them were black. The first cat I remember my family having was black. His name was Spooky. I don’t recall much about him because I was so young. One day, Spooky disappeared. I hoped and waited for him to return. He didn’t. In amongst the number of other cats of various colors we’ve had, there were these black cats: Patty, Pirate, Robbie, Scooter, Midi, as well as many black baby kittens from our mama cats, and my current cat, Buffy. She’s a Norwegian Forest Cat. Each cat, black or not, had a unique personality.

My daughter many years ago with her cat Midi with a mouse on her head.

Though I love black cats, not everyone does. Black cats have gotten a bad rap. They have been long associated with witches and believed to be evil or be a bad omen, or something. Black cat being associated with witches goes back to the Middle Ages.

Side Note: I scratched my head about here and asked myself, “Exactly when were the Middle Ages?” Answer: 500-1453 A.D., with 500-1100 being the early Middle Ages (a.k.a. The Dark Ages) and 1100-1453 being the high or late Middles Ages, thought of as the Middle Ages proper.

Back to cats

In middle school, my middle child did a report on black cats. He found that there was a lot of good luck associated with black cats. In Scotland, Britain, Japan, and other places, the presence of a black cat indicates forthcoming good fortune and prosperity. British sailors believed that a black cat aboard brought good luck to the ship and a save trip home.

Pirates were a bit more complicated and believed, if a black cat walked onto a ship and then off, it was bad luck and the ship was going to sink. If a black cat walked toward you it was bad luck, but if it walked away from you it was good luck.

Buffy

In Japan, a woman with a black cat was said to attract more suitors. In Great Britain’s English Midlands, a black cat is said to bring a bride good luck and happiness, so it makes a perfect wedding gift.
A common belief in Scotland is a black cat arriving on your doorstep is good luck. In England and Ireland, a black cat crossing your path is good luck.

A genetic mutation, which gives these cats their black coat, also makes them more resistant to disease. But black cats are notoriously hard to photograph. Snap a picture of a black feline friend and you have to explain to people that the black blob is a cat.

In the early 17th century in America while the Pilgrams were establishing the colonies here, they were suspicious of anything remotely associated with witchcraft. People who were found harboring black cats would be punished severely or even put to death. I am so glad I don’t live in those times.

Midi

Back when I was in junior high school, my sister and I really tested the boundaries of bad luck superstitions. We went to get a black cat for our other sister. It was Friday the 13th. The people we were picking up the cat from were doing some house maintenance and had a ladder propped up against the front of their house that we had to walk under to get to the front door. Since we didn’t believe in all these things being bad luck, we laughed about it. That was Robbie, and he was a great cat.

God made all the many different colors of cats. I don’t believe black ones to be bad luck or good luck. But the ones I have owned over the years have brought me much happiness.

THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) #TheDamselsIntent #HistoricalRomance #FreeKU #KU #ChristianRomance
Can Nicole learn to be enough of a lady to snag the handsome rancher?
Nicole Waterby heads down the mountain to fetch herself a husband, not realizing women don’t wear trousers or carry a gun. She has a lot to learn. Rancher Shane Keegan has drifted from one location to another to find a place to belong. When Nicole crosses his path, he wonders if he can have love, but he soon realizes she’s destined for someone better than a saddle tramp. Will love stand a chance while both Nicole and Shane try to be people they’re not?

Free on Kindle Unlimited, or $2.99 to buy ebook.

Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Damsels-Intent-Quilting-Circle-Book-ebook/dp/B089DTXDCN/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=The+Damsel%27s+Intent&qid=1590863747&s=books&sr=1-2

Book 1 THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT ~NOW AVAILABLE IN AUDIO!

A single mother steps out of the shadows of abuse and into the sunshine. But will a secret clouding Lily’s past cost her the man she loves? #TheWidowsPlight
Listen to it on Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Widows-Plight-Audiobook/B088HJLH4J?qid=1592671960&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=KDZ2GD836E7CMPGYX21F
FREE Preview of eBook: http://a.co/1riJfrA

FREE Preview of the audio book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaUG-sN6Y_k
A single mother steps out of the shadows of abuse and into the sunshine. But will a secret clouding her past cost her the man she loves? Get it here for FREE on Kindle Unlimited or Kindle to buy for $4.99 or paperback for $12.99: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CV4XDLH/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_XaM.DbMKBGBG1

#TheWidowsPlight

Book 2 THE DAUGHTER’S PREDICAMENT

Listen to it on Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Daughters-Predicament-Audiobook/B08GD3DNRH?qid=1602517870&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=7G3NJC7HWP4YHK00FZGJ

FREE Preview of eBook: http://a.co/4UXlRN5

Can a patient love win her heart? Or will a forced marriage be the end of her romantic dreams? Get it here for FREE on Kindle Unlimited or Kindle to buy for $3.99 or paperback for $12.99: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NQZVNWY/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_WcM.DbRBRKVQ9

#TheDaughtersPredicament

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3). The Quilting Circle Book 4, The Dèbutante's Secret, will release August of 2021. Her 2018 titles include; "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, Courting Her Amish Heart, The Widow’s Plight, Courting Her Secret Heart , “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , and Courting Her Prodigal Heart . 2019 titles include The Daughter's Predicament and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-six years and one cat. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren with a third on the way. Find her online at:

Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Tuesday Tidbits: POPCORN!

Mmm! Popcorn! Can you smell it? Can you hear it?

October is National Popcorn month. Americans consume 17 billion quarts of popcorn a year and rising, with the average American eating forty-three quarts. We grow and consume more popcorn than other countries.

Several pieces of popped corn are called popcorn, but a single piece is called a kernel. When a kernel is popped it's called a flake. Popcorn bursts into two general styles of flakes, mushrooms (ball shaped) and butterflies (irregular with several protruding “wings”).

Mushroom Butterfly

But where did popcorn come from? When did people fall in love with this tasty treat?

I think of popcorn as more of a modern commodity. That man engineered it from regular corn. But not so. People have been popping corn for millennia. Popcorn could be the world’s oldest snack food.

Pre-Columbian indigenous people domesticated the popcorn variety of maize by 5,000 BC.

The oldest known popcorn is 4,000-5,600 years old. In 1948 and 1950, ears of popcorn were discovered in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico. In the coastal deserts of North Chile, popcorn found in burial grounds was so well preserved that it still popped after 1,000 years. So what is with our wimpy short expiration dates?

Over 2,500 years ago (or earlier according to the Bat Cave find), popcorn made its way to the American Southwest but wasn’t found growing east of the Mississippi until the early 1800s due to agricultural limitations.

In the 16th century, popcorn was integral in the Aztec culture. Besides a great food source, it was used in ceremonies, decorations for ceremonial headdresses, necklaces, and ornaments on the statues of their gods.

As colonists came to the New World, they adopted the indigenous people’s popular snack food. The natives likely brought it to the first Thanksgiving. Colonists also made popcorn with molasses creating something similar to kettle corn. Not only was popcorn made at home in the 1800s, but it was sold at general stores, at concession stands, at circuses, and at carnivals.

This one looks like a poodle!

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, popcorn was a popular breakfast food. Much like our cold cereals that we pour milk on, people used to pour milk or cream and sugar on their popcorn and eat it with a spoon. (I don’t think I would like this as I don’t care for soggy popcorn.) Also at this time, popcorn balls were a highly popular confection, given as gifts and used to decorate fireplace mantels, doorways, and Christmas trees. By the turn of the century, most cookbooks had at least one recipe.

With talking pictures solidifying the presence of movie theaters in the 1920s, a lot of theater owners refused to sell popcorn as it was too messy. But industrious popcorn vendors sold popcorn in nearby shops and on the street to movie goers as they went into the theater. Soon, some of the theaters installed popcorn popping machines. Theaters who didn’t went out of business.

They come in all shapes.

During the Great Depression, a bag of popcorn at five-to-ten-cents a bag was one of the few luxuries a down-and-out family could afford. While other businesses failed in the 1930s, popcorn boomed. Or should I say exploded?

With sugar being sent overseas during WWII, there wasn’t much of it left at home, and so three times more popcorn was eaten than before. When televisions became popular in the 1950s, people went to the theaters less and popcorn consumption dropped. A resurgence occurred when people started cooking popcorn at home and eating it in front of their TVs.

Early on in my research, I ran across popcorn on the cob! How cool! I had to get me some and try it.

Though it had minimal flavor, it did taste good. I did burn some of it. It seemed to have popped some of the kernels right away, then slowed down, and popped vigorously. I think those initial ones are the ones that burned. =0(

So I figured if the ear popped dry, why couldn’t I put regular popcorn in the bag and throw it in the microwave. It worked! I still burned some. =0(

Then I made some popcorn the tradition way in a pot on the stove.

And again, I burned a few. I think I try too hard to get every kernel to pop, that I don’t take it off or out of the heat soon enough.

I know the dry popcorn is probably better for me, but there is something about oil that adds to the flavor. The oil also helps to stick the salt to the flakes.

From the top clockwise: Stovetop, Popcorn on the Cob,
and Regular Popcorn in the Bag.

Remember the air poppers that popped the corn while dry and then we added butter. It always seemed silly to swap one oil for another. Then in the early 1980s came microwave popcorn.

Which do you prefer? Stovetop or microwave popcorn? Do you have a favorite specialty flavor? I loved Cracker Jacks as a kid.