Linda Ford

Sometimes I feel like Bambi in the children’s movie when his mother said it won’t last forever. Sometimes it seems forever.

Nevertheless, there are things I like about winter.

1. Christmas

2. Christmas music (I know others complain but in my office I like it to start Dec. 1–today–and last the entire month).

3. Savory bubbling pots of stew and soup.

4. Oven meals.

5. The view from my window. I gathered up a bunch of the fall sunflowers on their long, thick stems and leaned them against the window. It provided me an instant bird feeder. Even without the birds, the old sunflowers, wearing a fluffy cap of snow, are pretty.

6. A warm house.

7. Cozy sweaters and blankets.

8. Hot coffee.

9. Children playing in the snow.

10. Hoar frost.

11. Walking in the snow.

12. Snow on mountains.

13. It’s nice to sit inside and write.

That’s my baker’s dozen of reasons to enjoy winter. Can you add to it?

 Remembrance Day is Sunday. There will be special services in every city and town across the country. Our freedom has come at a great price.

I’ve done research for novels written following WWI and was overwhelmed by the suffering of the soldiers–wet trenches led to rotting feet, lungs burned by mustard gas, days of wet and cold and fear. These men were heroic. It was so horrible that it was called the war to end wars.

We all know how that went. Twenty one short years later came WW2. That means one family could have and likely did, lose loved ones to both wars.

My Grandparents lost a son in that war. I never met him. I wasn’t even born. I’ve read some of his letters home. Cheerful and upbeat. Did he want to comfort and reassure his family?

(This is the only picture I have of him.)

He joined the R.C.A.F. In July 1944. His plane

was shot down over enemy lines and for years no one knew where he was buried. Research later discovered his burial site.

I can’t imagine the grief my grandparents, my mother and my aunts and uncle experienced. They were among thousands of people who wept. Their sons and husbands died. They mourned. And we live in democracy, freedom and without persecution because of race, religion or handicaps.

May we never forget what our freedom cost.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

I’ve never given nails much thought. I can find one or a hundred almost anywhere–in the garage, in the junk drawer, in the shop. They lay about. We toss them in the garbage. Or we go to the hardware store and select a bag from bins of various sizes and styles.

But this summer I visited a museum and saw nails in a totally different light as I watched a blacksmith craft a nail such as would have been used probably until late in the 1700s or into the 1800s.

The end of a length of iron ore is heated and shaped.

Then it is cut and the end pounded to give it a head.

Nails were so labor intensive that old buildings were burned to the ground and the nails salvaged.

My how times have changed. It seems we now live in a throw-away society. Life is easier in many ways but wasteful in others.

What part of our throw-away society gives you the most reason to pause? For me, I think it’s all the packaging we get on everything from food to toys.

For more history on nails check out this site. http://www.glasgowsteelnail.com/nailmaking.htm

Oh by the way. Making nails wasn’t the only thing they did in ancient blacksmith shops.

I want to sing the song, ‘On the cover of the Rolling Stone,’ but seeing as I’m not rock and roll, I’m on the cover of RT (Romantic Times).

That’s my book front and center on the seat of the sleigh. I think the picture is stunning, by the way. I haven’t read the article inside to know what it says about me. Unfortunately I don’t know where I can buy a copy but I hope someone will forward me a copy of the article.

This story is MERRY CHRISTMAS, COWBOY, a novella.

It’s the prequel of my new series the THE COWBOYS OF EDEN VALLEY. I’m really looking forward to the release of these stories as it’s a series I’ve long thought of writing.

Don’t you just love the Internet? I do. With the help of the Internet I have learned a better way to caulk the edges of my tub. I have followed step-by-step instructions on how to take the filter apart in my dishwasher and clean it. I have comparison shopped for new appliances. I have ordered videos and books not locally available.

My latest on-line buy was the first season of Heartland. My eight year old granddaughter and I have begun watching it together. 

What do I like about Heartland?

1. It’s filmed in Alberta.

2. It’s filmed with the Rockies in many of the scenes.  It is very much like the historical series I am working on–the first story is the Christmas novella MERRY CHRISTMAS, COWBOY

in A GIFT OF FAMILY.  There are more stories to follow in the series beginning in Jan. 2013 with THE COWBOY’S SURPRISE BRIDE.

3. The scenery is beautiful.

4. It’s about a family.

5. It has hurting people and hurting horses in it and they are helped.

6. It has romance.

7. It has a crusty old man.

8. It has family conflict.

9. It is a clean show suitable to watch with a grandchild.

10. I can learn lessons on plot structure, developing conflict, working with horses…lots of valuable things.

I’d be the first to admit the Internet isn’t everything. I like to do on-site research. I take lots of pictures and I collect all sorts of books. But I am appreciative of how much easier it is to do research and check facts on the Internet.