Tuesday Tidbits: GARDEN NEWS & REMINDER

Once again, I’m going to try to grow a vegetable/fruit garden. I think I’m a glutton for punishment, but I was excited that my feeble attempt last year yielded me a couple of handfuls of edible veggies and a strawberry.

I have started my seedlings inside.

I’m tickled they started growing so fast--just two days!

Under2Weeks

Look at these little guys go!

3 Weeks

They are really growing! That green bean in the front left corner as well as the other beans, peas, zucchini, and summer squash may cause me trouble because of how tall they are growing already. I have another 3 weeks—AT LEAST—before I can transplant them outside. It could be 5 weeks. I hope they don’t get too big for their little starter pods. I have some skewers I’m going to need to tie them to.

I, also, got a berry kit and started blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries. These ones are slow to start sprouting, but I’ll be patient.

Besides my seedlings, I bought a sweet cherry tomato, a pear tomato, and a mint plant. The couple of tomato plants I bought last year did better than the ones I started from seeds. I may or may not transplant the tomatoes into the raised garden beds. I’ll see how much room I have. The mint, on the other hand, is staying put in the pot, lest it take over the garden, yard, and neighborhood. I love the smell of mint.

In addition to those, we bought a pair of raspberry bushes and a pair of blueberry bushes. I love raspberries. They always take me back to my grandparents’ garden. Mm-mm good!

Last year, I tried to find rhubarb plants because I LOVE rhubarb pie. But I could never find them locally. Well, I started looking earlier this year, and I found some at Walmart, so I bought four. I also got some seed potatoes. I’ve never grown potatoes, but I love to eat them. I also have a few potatoes in my pantry that are growing that I’ll try planting as well.

I’m moving my garden from one side yard of my house to the opposite one, which meant moving a ton of rocks with a shovel and a rake. I did it over a couple of days. Then I laid down cardboard as a weed barrier.

The columbine is blooming again this year. So pretty!

I’m going to attempt to plant a few butterfly-and-hummingbird-attracting flower seeds in the landscape cloth holes in my flower garden rather than buy already started flowers. They may or may not grow. I hope they do, because one of the flowers that came up on its own attracted butterflies, and it was so fun to see them enjoying the blooms.

The flowering tree we planted last fall is blooming! It makes me so happy.

I’m excited to see how everything grows and to eat the fruits and veggies of my labor.

Will you be doing doing any gardening this summer?

***Don’t forget to enter in the multi-author giveaway.

You could win one of 17 Mountain Brook Ink books in a variety of genres. Giveaway runs from April 17, 2024, 12:15 am MST to April 27, 2024, 11:45 pm MST. Hurry! You don’t want to miss out.
Go to the link for contest details
https://kingsumo.com/g/zqujwr/mountain-brook-ink-and-mountain-brook-fire-multi-genre-author-giveaway
I hope you win one of the books!
Happy Reading! 

MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR (Heroines of WWII series)
2023 SELAH Award 3rd Place in Historical Romance

A WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) flies a secret mission to rescue three soldiers held captive in Cuba.

Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon is a thirty-four-year-old widow, mother of two daughters, an excellent pilot, and very patriotic. She joins the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). As she performs various tasks like ferry aircraft, transporting cargo, and being an airplane mechanic, she meets and develops feelings for her supervisor Army Air Corp Major Howie Berg. When Peggy learns of U.S. soldiers being held captive in Cuba, she, Major Berg, and two fellow WASPs devise an unsanctioned mission to rescue them. With Cuba being an ally in the war, they must be careful not to ignite an international incident. Order HERE!

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET

(Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a Selah Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; The Widow’s Plight, The Daughter's Predicament, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, 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 thirty-seven years and one cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:


Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub

 

Tuesday Tidbits: MULTI-AUTHOR MULTI-GENRE GIVEAWAY

I am involved in a multi-author giveaway. You could win one of 17 Mountain Brook Ink books in a variety of genres being given away.

CONTEST DETAILS:
If you enjoy reading various genres of fiction and non-fiction, you’ll want to enter this giveaway! You’ll have at least seventeen (17) chances to win a free book or audio from one of these great authors. PLUS most of these authors will give a FREE BOOK TO EACH PERSON who subscribes to their newsletter.

There will be at least seventeen winners randomly selected by King Sumo. First winner will get first choice among the prizes. Other winners will be offered choices among the remaining prizes.

You can increase your odds of winning by sharing the contest link and graphic on social media and by signing up for each author’s newsletter. As mentioned above, added incentives for subscribing to each newsletter are 1) extra points giving you more giveaway entries for each sign-up, 2) learning about new-to-you authors, and 3) a free book or other freebie to each subscriber from many of these authors.

Contest is open to U.S. and International winners, however not all books are available in every region.

Giveaway runs from April 17, 2024, 12:15 am MST to April 27, 2024, 11:45 pm MST.

~~ Link to the contest ~~
https://kingsumo.com/g/zqujwr/mountain-brook-ink-and-mountain-brook-fire-multi-genre-author-giveaway

Books to be given away
TITLE - AUTHOR - GENRE - FORMAT
I will be giving away a copy of my THE DAMSEL’S INTENT - Mary Davis - Historical Romance - Paperback
The other books being given away are:
SIDES - Bradley Caffee - YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian - eBook
RAHAB’S COURAGE - Naomi Craig - Biblical Fiction - Paperback US, eBook Intl
THE SECRET OF STARDUST - Heather L.L. FitzGerald - YA Fantasy - Paperback
IN SEARCH OF FOREVER - Patricia Lee - Contemporary Romance - Paperback
RAIN - Dana McNeely - Biblical Fiction - Paperback or Audiobook
COURTSHIP OF HARRY’S WIFE - Jeanie Marie Mirach - Christian Mystery/Suspense - Paperback
HOLD YOUR BREATH - Kristen Hogrefe Parnell - Romantic Suspense - eBook
MADE LIKE MARTHA - Katie M. Reid - Women's Non-fiction - Paperback
THE PROMISE OF DECEPTION - Jessica Sly - Speculative/Historical Fantasy - Paperback
APRIL’S PROMISE - Terrie Todd - Historical Fiction - Paperback
EMMA’S HERO - Carrie Walker - Contemporary Romance - Paperback
ONE WOMAN FALLING - Melanie Campbell - Women's Fiction - Paperback
THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT - Laura Thomas - Romantic Suspense - Paperback
HILLS OF NEVERMORE - Janalyn Voight - Historical Romance - Paperback
MBF book of your choice - Mountain Brook Fire - Speculative Fiction - Paperback
Choice from WOMEN OF THE WEST series - Miralee Ferrell - Western Historical Fiction - Paperback

I hope you win one of the books!

Happy Reading!

Tuesday Tidbits: HISTORICAL DISCONNECT, CABINET CARDS, & PHOTOSHOP

French Actress Mlle. Nostier, circa 1905

 

 

In school, I didn’t like history class. It was presented in a dry, boring fashion. I couldn’t keep all those dates and names straight. I also felt I had nothing in common with those long dead people.

So, why in the world do I write historical fiction?

I have discovered the joy and beauty of history and the characters who lived it. They are not who I thought they were. The more historical tidbits I learn, the more I realize not much has changed. Oh, sure we have more technology but people are basically the same. Same fears, same issues, same hopes and dreams.

A writing friend found little snippets in old newspapers that read a lot like current day social media posts about kittens and pranks. Who would have thought? Apparently, things haven’t changed so much.

One of the things with all our modern technology is how anyone can change how they appear in a picture with things like photoshop, face-tuning, and filters. A person can change the colors, put any background behind them, erase skin blemishes, modify facial and body features, and so much more, like special effects. It’s hard to know what’s real anymore. I don’t think this modern trend is doing us any favors. We’ll look back a hundred years from now and not know how people really looked.

Back in the good ol’ days, a picture spoke a thousand words. Or did they? Even back at the beginning of photography, some of those “words” were altered. Changing what we look like didn’t start with the computer age or even the invention of photography. Back when portraits were painted, people wanted their likeness to not be too accurate. Even before photography, the subject/s of a portrait requested that the artist “adjust” certain features to improve them.

But I figured before the advent of computers and photo-manipulating type software, altering a photograph was rarely if ever done. Today, there are so many apps that allow the casual user to change anything about an image to where it hardly resembles the original. Some of these are fun and hilarious.

 

Camille_Clifford_as_Marquise_de_Pompadour,_1907

 

This waist looks suspicious.

 

It seems since the beginning of photography, the subject of the image wanted to appear different than they were in reality. Photographs were first printed on paper in 1847. When photography was beginning to gain popularity, cartes-de-visite (visting cards) were created in France in the 1850s, a smaller (2.5 x 4 inches) precursor to cabinet cards. Cabinet cards consisted of a thin-paper photograph (roughly 4 x 5.5 inches) mounted on a light-to-heavy-weight cardstock (roughly 3.5 x 6.5 inches). Where the cartes-de-visite were small and designed to give as calling cards or to give to a friend, cabinet cards by design were meant to sit upon a cabinet and could be viewed from across the room.

Not everyone wanted others to see them as the truly looked. A skilled photographer could alter the negative before printing a photograph, anything from smoothing out a person’s complexion to slimming down the waist to achieve that perfect S-shaped figure. There were whole manuals on how to retouch negatives. Let’s take another look at that cabinet card from the beginning of this article.

Close-Up of the Waist--French Actress Mlle. Nostier, circa 1905

Notice the white space between the small of her back and her arm. That’s where the photographer scraped away her waist for the desired look. This one is quite obvious, but others were more cleverly disguised. Another technique was penciling in part of the background over the waist. The majority of the photo-altering was done to remove freckles, wrinkles, and other facial blemishes. (For more examples of historical photo-altering visit Bernadette Banner’s video on this topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYGUfg_NJzg)

I guess I assumed the old photographs were accurate, but where there is vanity, there is retouching. The more I think modern people have little in common with people of bygone eras, the more I find out they aren’t much different.

In The Damsel’s Intent (Quilting Circle 3), a stranger watching Aunt Henny has a cabinet card he is often looking at. In The Débutante’s Secret (Quilting Circle 4), Aunt Henny learns who that stranger is and why that cabinet card is so fascinating.

THE QUILTING CIRCLE SERIES Box Set

Historical Romance Series

By Mary Davis

THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT (Book1) – Will a secret clouding a single mother’s past cost Lily her loved ones?

THE DAUGHTER’S PREDICAMENT (Book2) *SELAH & WRMA Finalist* – As Isabelle’s romance prospects turn in her favor, a family scandal derails her dreams.

THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Book3) *SELAH Winner* – Nicole heads down the mountain to fetch herself a husband. Can she learn to be enough of a lady to snag the handsome rancher?

THE DÉBUTANTE’S SECRET (Book4) – Complications arise when a fancy French lady steps off the train and into Deputy Montana’s arms.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNZPRRS2/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3NJNTQ5SD1WGB&keywords=the+quilting+circle+by+mary+davis&qid=1700957455&s=digital-text&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C155&sr=1-7

 

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a SELAH Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT, THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection, Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, 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 thirty-seven years and one cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub