By Caroline Clemmons
Hello Summer! Like
many of you I’ve heard from, we skipped right into hot weather. I know many of
you love hot weather and the activities that go with it. While I prefer air
conditioning, I enjoy looking outside at our lawn. Hero and I watch the
squirrels, birds, and critters that wander through our back yard.
Part of our pleasure looking at our back yard is because we
grew up in West Texas at a time when trees were not that common in our part of
town. FHA loans required five shrubs and one tree per home. That’s what my family home had until my folks
added a few plants that included
roses, a couple of crepe myrtles, a cherry laurel, and a pyracantha. Mother added petunias and zinnias from seeds. Oh, and the first year there we had cotton
come up in our front flower bed. Before our subdivision was built, the land was
part of a cotton farm.
Petunias
Our neighbor gave Mom seeds for a plant she called Snow on
the Mountain. Daddy and I were warned not to harm those seeds. She and I waited
eagerly for them to grow. When they did, my dad laughed. He said, “That’s
milkweed.” Poor Mom! For a few weeks, when we’d go for a Sunday afternoon drive,
Daddy would slow by a field and say, “Look at the snow on the mountain.”
Hero’s dad built their house and I don’t remember any shrubs,
just a few flowers. His family had a large vegetable garden and a few fruit
trees. Hero’s mom had a gift for growing plants. I’m sure she could have stuck
a popsickle stick in the ground and it would have sprouted. She loved flowers
outside, and she had a collection of houseplants as well.
When out eldest daughter was born, she was three weeks late.
Our mother’s had worked out a schedule and Hero’s mom was coming for the birth
and then my mom—who had to arrange her vacation from work—would come two weeks later. Hero's mom came on schedule to be there for the birth--but our daughter didn't show up. I
had a sad looking African violet in the kitchen. For one thing, there was no
window in that kitchen. Made no difference for Hero’s mom's care. That violet perked
up and bloomed happily while she was there. Sadly, when she went home, the poor
violet succumbed under my care.
I got better
at growing flowers, but now I spend most of my time at the computer. (You see
what I’m doing here, don’t you?) One of the fruits of my computer labor is my
current release, A BRIDE FOR CODY. This is book 9 for the Mistaken Identity
Mail Order Bride Series conceived by Cheryl Wright with a cover designed by V. McKevitt of Black Widow Designs. It’s a sweet western
historical romance that I hope you’ll try. I loved writing about Orlena, a
strong woman who has to work around her absent-minded professor uncle’s mistakes.
For once, his goof saves the life of a child they're babysitting. This time, it
means he and Orlena are also in grave danger. Well… you’ll have to read what
happened. Find it here: https://www.amzn.com/B093FYY4FZ
I hope you’ll read all of the Mistaken Identity Mail Order Bride series:
Book 1 – A BRIDE FOR JAKE,
by Cheryl Wright
Book 2 – A BRIDE FOR
NOLAN, by Margaret Tanner
Book 3 – A BRIDE FOR WES,
by Patricia PacJac Carroll
Book 4 – A BRIDE FOR
RILEY, by Kathleen Lawless
Book 5 – A BRIDE FOR
WILSON, by Elissa Strati
Book 6 – A BRIDE FOR ADAM,
by Marisa Masterson
Book 7 – A BRIDE FOR LANE,
by Lisa Prysock
Book 8 – A BRIDE FOR
QUENTIN, by Zina Abbott
Book 9 – A BRIDE FOR CODY,
by Caroline Clemmons
Until next month, happy reading!
