February 14 -- Valentine's Day

February 14 is Valentine’s Day, the holiday when lovers express their affection with greetings and gifts. Are you ready to tell your sweetie just how you feel?

As is the case with many of our holidays, this one has origins in an ancient festival. Valentine’s day comes from the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February, which celebrated the coming of spring and included fertility rites and the pairing of women and men.

The day is also known as St. Valentine’s Day. Legend surrounds the identity of the original Valentine. Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day may have taken its name from a priest who signed a letter “from your Valentine” to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and, by some accounts, healed from blindness. Another common legend states that St. Valentine defied the orders of Emperor Claudius II and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war and that it is for this reason that his feast day is associated with love.

 

Formal messages, or valentines, appeared in the 1500s, and by the late 1700s commercially printed cards were being used. The first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid-1800s. With the introduction of penny postage and envelopes in England in 1840, the exchange of valentines increased, and the use of lace paper, delicately ornamented, became popular.

In the U.S., woodcut valentines were produced by Robert H. Elton and Thomas W. Strong of New York, but soon gave way to the lace paper delicacies imported from England. Less expensive creations by Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts, first appeared in 1850.

Hallmark Corporation was started by brothers Joyce Clyde (J.C.) and Rollie Hall in 1910, when they sold postcards door to door in Norfolk, Nebraska, where they lived. At age 18, JC moved to Kansas City, Missouri, with two card-filled shoeboxes.  He traveled by train and peddled his postcards in the surrounding small towns, until he was able to open up a storefront in downtown Kansas City with Rollie.

The Hall brothers were the first to put greeting cards in envelopes in 1915, which they felt was more discreet. With the start of World War 1, their greeting card business took off, as servicemen and their families looked to stay in closer contact. The brothers are also credited with the invention of decorative wrapping paper in 1917—when they ran out of plain paper—as well as the card display racks you still see in every store today.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Tracy

Fall In Missouri

I have company - a dear friend from Texas and his niece, whom I haven't seen in nearly 2 decades. So I don't have research time at the moment. So I thought I'd share one of my favorite things...

Two weeks ago, we had high temperatures in the upper 90s. Last week, in the upper 80s. This week--Fall has arrived! Lows dipping into the 40s, highs only reaching the 70s. To me, this is perfect weather. I love Fall!

And the added bonus? The leaves begin to turn those magnificent colors of autumn. Everywhere there will be reds, oranges and, because Missouri is the oak tree capital of the world, lots of yellows.

 

I live in a beautiful part of the country. Rolling hills covered in trees, limestone cliffs, lakes and streams for fishing and boating, and… Fall.

How about you? Is it Fall where you are?

Recipe Swap--Because it's cold outside!

As I sit writing this blog post, the snow has stopped, the wind is rising and the temperature is dropping. This weather makes me long for a fire, my fuzzy blanket and a big bowl of chili. So, in

acknowledgment of my cravings, let’s talk comfort food.

Complete this sentence:  A cold, snowy day is a perfect time to make—

We may all get some good ideas for dinner this week.

In “Her Christmas Wish” Katie makes Will’s favorite Irish Christmas Cake. In the anthology, “Wishing for a Cowboy,” I included a recipe for Old-Fashioned Pound Cake. And, trust me, it’s delicious! Hmm, maybe that’s what I should make…

Tracy

Available Now from Prairie Rose Publications--WILD TEXAS HEARTS

Pass the Ketchup, Please

With a need to eat more wisely as I age, I spend a lot of time in the grocery store reading labels. While I have eliminated some foods from my shopping list that used to be standards, one staple I still insist on having is ketchup. However, when I realized how much sugar and salt go into my favorite condiment, I wondered if I could make it at home. And because I love history—and the history of the American west in particular--the next thought was ‘where was ketchup created’ and did they have it in the old west?

The origins of ketchup are thought to be in a Chinese pickled fish sauce or brine made in the late 1600s. The British brought the table sauce back from their explorations of Malay states—present day Malaysia and Singapore—and by 1740 it was a staple in their cuisine. The Malay word for the sauce was kĕchap, which evolved into “ketchup” and became “catchup” and “catsup” in America.

Original versions of “ketchup” were made from lots of different savory items. One very popular one in America was mushrooms. Check out the picture of “Mushroom Ketchup.”  The 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary defines catchup as “a table sauce made from mushrooms, tomatoes, walnuts, etc.”

Tomatoes weren’t used in making the sauce until the early 1800s. A recipe published in 1801 seems

to be the first making what you and I would recognize as ketchup—although I doubt it would taste the same. Cooks didn’t begin adding sugar to the mixture until later in the century.

Most families made their own ketchup. In 1837, a man named Jonas Yerks is credited with making tomato ketchup a national food by producing and distributing his product across the U.S. It wasn’t long before other companies joined the rush, including H.J. Heinz, who launched their brand of ketchup in 1869.

Early versions were thin and watery, more like the fish sauce than the thick tomato product we’re accustomed to, but had less vinegar than the modern recipe. In fact, I doubt we’d recognize the jar of ketchup served by a Harvey Girl in a Harvey House Restaurant in the 1880s as the same product Americans have come to love--but it’s fun to know it was there.

Tracy

Check out the six novels that make up "Under a Western Sky" today!

Fun With Easter Eggs: Tapping, Shackling, Dancing

I had such fun Easter Sunday watching the kids running around our outdoor chapel area hunting for Easter eggs. So, of course, I had to begin hunting for what games my characters might have enjoyed on Easter Sunday—or any other Sunday in the 1800s, for that matter. Imagine my surprise when, besides the normal egg hunting, I discovered egg tapping, egg shackling and egg dancing. 

 

Egg Tapping

The rules are simple: pick an egg, face your opponent and tap eggs until one breaks. The person with the unbroken egg wins and moves to the next players. The egg still intact at the end is the winner. A single elimination tournament with no age limit and guaranteed laughs.

Egg Shackling

In the Victorian Era, egg shackling was a favorite game. It’s origins go back to medieval days. Children wrote their names on an egg and put it in a basket with all the others. The basket was shaken until all eggs cracked. The last egg to crack or remain intact was the winner.

The Egg Dance

The egg dance or the hop-egg, is a dance done in small, hopping steps through a minefield of boiled eggs. Blindfolded. If you manage to do the dance without breaking an egg, there will be chocolate! Since the Saxon word hoppe means “to dance,” hopping was probably brought to England from Germany by the Saxons as early as the 5th century.

In my latest release, WILD TEXAS HEARTS, the heroine, Lizzie, is caught teaching the hero’s young son poque, or poker.

From WILD TEXASHEARTS

“Remember, the ace can be a high card or a low card. Depends on where you need it.”

Calvin laid his two cards down, counted on his fingers, and picked them back up to be sure he saw them right. “If I have it as my high one, that counts eleven, right?” His lips moved as he recounted his hand. “That’s too many. I think.”

“Then count it as one point and ask for another card. You want to get close to twenty-one, but not go over. Remember, though.” She hesitated before dealing. “If you have more than fifteen points, another card will probably be too many.”

Calvin huffed in frustration. “I don’t understand.”

“Didn’t I tell you studying your figures in school was important?” Lizzie folded her own cards and set them aside. “Let’s have a look at what you have. We won’t count this hand.”

Calvin turned over a black jack, followed by an ace of hearts.

A shiver ran her spine at the reminder of her attacker. “That’s twenty-one. You would have won, boy.” Lizzie learned across the table and slapped his shoulder.

“Durn it!” Cal shoved his chin forward in a pout. “We didn’t count that one.”

“That’s all right. We’ll just deal again.” She gathered the cards and started to shuffle. “We’re just practicing anyway.”

“But if I win, you’re gathering the eggs tomorrow, right?”

Lizzie laughed at the hope in his eyes. “And if you lose, you wash and dry the dishes all day.”

Cal straightened in his seat. “I’m gonna win this time.”

“Don’t count on it, swabbie. I’m pretty good at this poque stuff, too.”

“What’s poque?” Cal picked up his cards, one at a time, and started adding, his lips forming the numbers so clearly Lizzie didn’t even have to see her hand to bet.

“It’s a fancy French term for poker. At least, that’s what the sailor told me when he taught me to play.” She laid the homemade deck of cards aside and glanced at the two she’d dealt herself.

“Those sailors sure taught you lots of stuff.”

“There wasn’t much else to do once my chores were done. Or when the wind quit blowing. What you gonna do?”

“I’ll take…uh…one more. I think.”

She bit back a chuckle and dealt Cal another card. “I’ll hold on these. Show your hand.”

Cal turned over a king, a ten, and seven.

“Twenty-seven is six too many.” She flipped over her hand. “Nineteen for the dealer. I win and you have to wash the supper dishes.”

WILD TEXAS HEARTS

A broken man…
Revenge has driven Wolf Richards since the brutal murders of his wife and young daughter. Returning home with his son, Cal, he faces memories and loss at every turn. Raising Cal alone seems to be more of a challenge than he can handle. He can never replace his perfect Emily—until a rough-edged female falls into his arms—and living becomes a new adventure.

An unlikely woman…
Lizzie Sutter is as rough as a cowboy and as compelling as a stormy sky. Dressing as a man allows her to hire on with a cattle drive, only to be discovered and set adrift near Civil, Texas. When she stumbles onto an abandoned cabin, she makes herself at home. Then the owner of her newfound home shows up and Lizzie discovers just what’s missing from her life—and her heart.

Two wild hearts tamed…
Lizzie hasn’t a feminine thing about her, yet she calls to something deep inside Wolf, something he can’t deny. Being a woman has always left her feeling lacking, until he shows her their WILD TEXAS HEARTS belong together…

#blogabookscene ~ ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!

Blog-a-Book-Scene is a monthly themed blogging endeavor from a group of authors who love to share excerpts from their stories. Find us on Twitter with the hashtag #blogabookscene and #PrairieRosePub.
 
Ah, love. A romance writer's favorite subject. It’s why I write romance—so I can get two hearts together and make a happy-ever-after for them.

In my recent release, WILD TEXAS HEARTS, we meet Lizzie Sutton, a less-than-feminine woman who finds her way to a deserted cabin seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Except the cabin belongs to Cain "Wolf" Richards (the good man working for the outlaws in TEXAS GOLD) and he’s not interested in sharing.  That is, until he gets to know the strong, intelligent woman beneath the rough language and dirty buckskins.

The oil-and-water mix of two strong willed survivors was a lot of fun to write. But they couldn’t stay apart for long. And while Wolf is figuring out he doesn’t want revenge, he wants a future with Lizzie, she’s trying to change herself into the ideal woman in order to attract his attention. All in the name of a marriage proposal.

WILD TEXAS HEARTS

After holstering his revolver, Wolf snagged Lizzie’s hands.

“Why, Lizzie?”

“You didn’t need to bring Black Jack to justice. It was time to let the sheriff do his job.”

Wolf tugged her closer, smoothed a hand the length of her braid. “I don’t care about that. Why would you offer to change for me?”

She looked away, studied the floor. “I…” She leaned into his touch for a moment before putting a little more space between them. “You want a perfect woman for your wife. I know I can never be as good as Emily, but I’ll try…”

“No.” He turned Lizzie to face him, framing her face with his hands. “I’m not looking for another Emily. I loved her and I suppose a part of me always will. She gave me my son. But she’s gone. And there’s this other woman I know.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “She dresses like a man, shoots better than I do, and her language would make a sailor blush. And she’s perfect for me, just the way she is.” He brushed a kiss on Lizzie’s forehead, her eyelids, her lips. “In fact, there’s only one thing I would change.”

Lizzie’s eyes drifted open, her gaze suspicious. “What would that be?”

“Your last name.” Wolf eased away to look her in the eyes so she never doubted that she was exactly who he wanted. “Will you marry me, Elizabeth Ann Sutter? Make us a family again. Build your tomorrows here, with me.”

Her eyes reflected her shock. “Did Millicent tell you my full name?”

Wolf’s shout of laughter echoed through the store. Lizzie didn’t join in.

“You really want to marry me?”

She sounded so unsure, he couldn’t tease her anymore. “I really do.” Wolf kissed her, a gentle caress.

“No more bird’s nest hats and fancy hair,” she warned.

He kissed her again, harder. “Agreed. Now and then, though, would you wear a corset under your union suit?” Wolf brushed a fingertip along her jaw and down her throat to where her buttons began and leaned close to her ear. “Just so I can take it off you?”

Lizzie grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged his lips to hers. “You’ve got yourself a bargain, Richards.”

The bell over the door tinkled cheerfully as some fool started inside. With a snarl, Lizzie drew Wolf’s revolver and shot the bell clean off the doorframe, without looking around. Carruthers’ scream of terror could be heard before the door slammed shut.

Wolf broke their kiss, laughing. “One thing’s for certain, life with you will never be boring.”

“Count on it,” she agreed, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders to pick up where they left off.

I love that proposal! My own was nowhere near as exciting, but it got the job done nearly 37 years ago.

HOW ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL? DO YOU HAVE A PROPOSAL STORY TO TELL? PLEASE SHARE!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Tracy 
www.tracygarrett.com
Facebook: TracyGarrett.author
Twitter:  @TGarrett_Author

WILD TEXAS HEARTS

UNDER A WESTERN SKY Boxed Set 

– includes my story, TEXAS GOLD & 5 other novels

The King of Texas

When researching locations for my second novel, TEXAS ROSE, I visited the famed King Ranch in south Texas, between Corpus Christi and Brownsville--and fell in love with the rugged terrain and equally hardy people. From the salt flats beside the Gulf of Mexico deep into a waterless desert, it’s an amazing place, especially considering its beginnings.

 “The story starts in the mid-1830s with an eleven-year-old boy indentured by his destitute family to a jeweler in New York City.”

Sounds like one of our novels, doesn’t it? But it’s the start of the amazing story of Richard King, the King of Texas. After stowing away on a ship bound of the south of the United States, he worked his way to captain and finally steam boat owner, moving goods and passengers along the lower Rio Grande River.

Sometime in the middle of the 1800s, Captain King crossed a region of Texas known as the Wild Horse Desert. When he came upon the sweet water of the Santa Gertrudis Creek, he’d found home. King and his business partner purchased 15, 500 acres of Mexican land, a land grant known as Rincon de Santa Gertrudis. This acreage was the start of what is now the legendary King Ranch.

Based on a melding of the Southern Plantation and Mexican Hacienda styles of management, King built a dynasty near what is now Kingsville, Texas. When a terrible drought struck South Texas and Northern Mexico, King bought all the cattle from the townspeople of Cruillas, Mexico. Realizing he’d also taken their livelihood, King offered to hire all those who would move to his ranch. These expert stockmen and horsemen became known as Los Kineños--King’s people. Descendants of Los Kineños still live and work on the ranch today.

By the end of the Civil War, King’s ranch had grown to more than 146,000 acres, supporting thousands of head of his domesticated longhorn cattle. When he ran into a problem, such as the lack of quality saddles and tack for his vaqueros, he simply hired the finest craftsmen and moved them onto the ranch. [The Saddle Shop is still in operation: http://www.king-ranch.com/saddle_shop.html]

“Richard King's sense of adventure was rivaled only by his vision and ability to seize on new business opportunities. In addition to tirelessly working to improve the ranch, he invested in building railroads, packinghouses, ice plants and harbor improvements for the port of Corpus Christi.”

And things didn’t stop after Captain King’s death in 1885. In 1899, King’s son-in-law, Robert J. Kleberg (he married King’s daughter, Alice) was drilling for water when he discovered a huge underground river, bringing an end to the decade long drought known as “the great die-up.”

“During this era, Robert J. Kleberg and King’s widow continued to improve and diversify the assets of King Ranch with agricultural development, land sales, and town building projects. In 1904, their efforts were instrumental in helping to build the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway -- as well as several towns along the newly laid track, including Kingsville. Before her death in 1925, Henrietta King had donated land and funds toward the construction of churches, libraries, and school projects (creating an oasis of community development) in this previously untamed land.”

The ranch’s innovations didn’t stop there. The number one registration in the American Quarter Horse Association Stud Book was from the King Ranch Quarter Horse program. They also produced the youngest horse ever to be inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame, Mr. San Peppy. Assault, the 1946 winner of the Triple Crown, and Middleground, the 1950 winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes, both came from King stock.

Today, the King Ranch is a huge operation, with more than 825,000 acres in multiple states and countries, and the Running W brand appears on tens of thousands of the King Ranch’s Santa Gertrudis cattle, recognizable by their distinctive black-cherry colored hide.

If you want to know more, visit www.King-Ranch.com. Or better yet, plan a trip to the ranch. You’ll be very glad you did.

Tracy

www.facebook.com/TracyGarrett.author

Pick up TEXAS ROSE and my latest, WILD TEXAS HEARTS from Amazon. 

New Release -- WILD TEXAS HEARTS by Tracy Garrett

A broken man…

Revenge has driven Wolf Richards since the brutal murders of his wife and young daughter. Returning home with his son, Cal, he faces memories and loss at every turn. Raising Cal alone seems to be more of a challenge than he can handle. He can never replace his perfect Emily—until a rough-edged female falls into his arms—and living becomes a new adventure.

An unlikely woman…

Lizzie Sutter is as rough as a cowboy and as compelling as a stormy sky. Dressing as a man allows her to hire on with a cattle drive, only to be discovered and set adrift near Civil, Texas. When she stumbles onto an abandoned cabin, she makes herself at home. Then the owner of her newfound home shows up and Lizzie discovers just what’s missing from her life—and her heart.

Two wild hearts tamed…

Lizzie hasn’t a feminine thing about her, yet she calls to something deep inside Wolf, something he can’t deny.  Being a woman has always left her feeling lacking, until he shows her their WILD TEXAS HEARTS belong together…

EXCERPT:

    Nothing moved. Not even the chickens were pecking in the grass for feed they might have missed. And the wash was still hanging on the line beside the house. Emily never left it out past noon. A wave of foreboding scratched down the length of his spine and stabbed into his gut. He took two steps forward, studying the little house.
     No smoke. There was no fire burning in the hearth, no smoke staining the brilliant blue sky behind the house.
     Something was wrong.
     Wolf picked up his pace. “Emily?” He called for his wife, then his two children. “Calvin? Amanda!” The corral was empty. The barn door stood open. Feathers were strewn around the coop.
     He took the last two hundred yards at a run. Vaulting over the stairs, he slammed through the half-open door, then skidded to a halt. Chairs were overturned, dishes were smashed, clothes were strewn in a trail leading from the children’s bedroom. Dark puddles of jam dripped from the kitchen table to the floor. Where the hell was his family?