Quotes from Quotable Folks

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             “Some might say we lose ourselves in a good book. In truth, we find ourselves."         — Cassandra King

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“There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer: no disease that love will not heal: no door that enough love will not open...It makes no difference how deep set the trouble: how hopeless the outlook: how muddled the tangle: how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world...” 
— Dr. Emmet Fox

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“We all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls.” - Robert McCammon

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“If you'd ever had a grown-up daughter you'd know that by comparison a bucking steer is easy to manage. And as to knowing what goes on inside her - well, it's much better to pretend you're the simple, innocent old fool she almost certainly takes you for.”                        - W. Somerset Maugham

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— Nora Ephron

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"You can never be wise and be in love at the same time." — Bob Dylan

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"Childhood is the one story that stands by itself in every soul." —  Ivan Doig

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"I've found that a song can be more effective than a 400-page textbook."
- Buffy Sainte-Marie

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"Mystery is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend." —  Dennis Covington 

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To share your favorite quotable quote, leave a comment below.

Happy Thanksgiving from Moonlight Ridge

Thanksgiving Day came, cold and bright. Our little kitchen was crowded and cozy, everything smelled right spicy, and everybody was in a holiday mood, talking and laughing over the delicious feast.

Recipes from
"The Witches of Moonlight Ridge"

Hoppin’ John

½ pound bacon, diced

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp chopped parsley

Black-eyed peas, cooked and drained

Salt to taste (1 tsp salt for 2 cups dried black-eyed peas)

Cooked white rice

Sauté diced bacon, chopped onion, and chopped celery until onion and celery look translucent. Drain grease. Add garlic, parsley, and cooked black-eyed peas, simmer until peas are tender but not mushy.

In a large pot or bowl, gently combine peas and cooked rice, or serve peas separately over mounds of cooked rice.

Note: Before cooking dried black-eyed peas, sort through them thoroughly for tiny pebbles or other debris, then rinse and drain.

Note: Cooked ham, chopped, can be used in place of bacon. 

Raisin Biscuits

2 ½ cups unbleached self-rising flour

1 egg (optional)

Small pinch of salt

1/3 cup butter

¾ cup milk

1 tbsp unbleached sugar

1 ½ cups raisins

Preheat oven to 450°.

Sift together flour, pinch of salt, sugar. Cut butter into the flour mixture. Beat egg and add to the milk, stir into flour/sugar mixture. Add raisins. Turn onto well floured board, knead gently, using more flour if necessary for a smooth dough. Cut with small biscuit cutter and bake at 450° for approximately 15 minutes.

Persimmon Pudding

3 cups persimmons

2 cups buttermilk

1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 ½ cups unbleached sugar

3 eggs

1 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg ½ tsp ginger

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 4 x 8 x 12 inch pan with 1 tbsp butter.

Puree 3 cups persimmons, which will yield 2 cups puree. Combine puree with buttermilk. Beat stick of butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. In a large mixing bowl, stir the puree into the butter/sugar/eggs.

Sift all dry ingredients together and fold them into the persimmon mixture. Fill baking pan with mixture, place the pan into a larger pan and fill the larger pan halfway with warm water.

Bake uncovered for 1 ¼ hours or until the pudding is firm in the center and has pulled away from the sides of the pan, and a knife inserted into the center of the pudding comes out clean.

Serve hot with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

How to puree persimmons: Remove skins from ripe persimmons. Persimmons can be mashed through a colander, and seeds will be removed and left in colander. If using a food processor, remove seeds before processing.

Moonlighting With Marsupials

I recently had the pleasure of attending the first annual Local Authors' Book Signing Extravaganza at Bessemer Public Library in Bessemer, Alabama. What an enjoyable day it was!

Couldn't take a live marsupial into the library, so here I am with Pascal the Possum, from my extensive collection of possumables.

I'm looking forward to an exciting autumn season and all the fun holidays ahead of us. Now is a perfect time to get your copy of the newly issued edition of Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge, and get ready for the sequel, The Witches of Moonlight Ridge, full of surprises and coming soon!

Woni's Wonderful Bookshelf

Saturday November 20th was a fun day in Sumiton, Alabama. I signed copies of Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge at Woni's Bookshelf, met some very interesting and friendly book lovers, and just enjoyed the beautiful day.

Here, pictured left to right: Rick Watson, Woni Lawrence, Grace Smith and Jilda Watson. I'm seated in the middle. Dale Short made the photo and we're all looking at him!

Woni's Bookshelf is owned by Woni Lawrence and located at 140 Hull Road, Suite 2 in Sumiton, Alabama. There's always something going on at Woni's: writing classes, book talks, visits from door-to-door veggie salesmen, etc. And the book selection is awesome, along with intriguing and irresistable gifts of all kinds. New books, old books, gift items galore!