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Catherine Castle

~ Romance for the Ages

Catherine Castle

Category Archives: Catherine’s Comments

Catherine’s Comments—HAPPY DANCING!

01 Friday Oct 2021

Posted by Catherine Castle in Blog, Catherine's Comments, Uncategorized

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

broken bones, broken shoulder, Catherine Castle, Catherine's Comments, Happy Dancing, Physical therapy rehab

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I’m doing the happy dance at my house. Want to know why?

I have new bone growing in my broken shoulder and my broken foot. I’m healing!

I still have a way to go before those cracks are completely filled in, but after five weeks of being immobilized in a sling, I’ve finally been released from my cloth prison. I’m allowed to move my left arm, which means I can now reach the computer keyboard.  Now the real work to regain full mobility in my shoulder begins as PT moves from gentle hanging pendulums, to keep my shoulder from freezing up, to those lovely cane movements, pulley lifts, and overhead exercises that all recovering shoulder injury patients love…NOT! I may not love those exercises but, having shattered my right shoulder two years ago, I know the value of rehab.

It amazing how much one forgets in five weeks. I had to look up passwords that I’d previously typed in from memory. I couldn’t remember where I’d downloaded things people had sent me on my phone. After five weeks of playing the piano with only my right hand, the left hand got very rusty.  And my touch typing looks something like this—owhelkjng kioethin. Doejtgo. Iwljt.. But, all those skills should return as I continue to practice them.

I’d like to thank all my readers and followers who sent me well wishes and included me in their prayers. That means so much to me. And thanks to all the guests who so graciously agreed to have their posts moved to later dates. I’ll be in contact with you all very soon.

Beginning Monday October 4, all the blog series will resume. So, if you have a post coming up please send your information to me and we’ll get the blog rolls going again.

Thanks for your support!

Catherine

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Catherine’s Comments–Date Night Dinners Italian Style from Sloane Taylor

18 Friday Jun 2021

Posted by Catherine Castle in books, Catherine's Comments, food, Recipes

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Catherine's Comments, cookbook, Date Night Dinners Italian Style, Italian food, Recipes, Sloane Taylor

Today I’m introducing my author friend Sloane Taylor’s new cookbook Date Night Dinners Italian Style. I’ve cooked recipes from this author’s other cookbooks and learned a new favorite way to cook an old favorite recipe from my childhood. I’ve also sat at the author/cook’s dinner table for a scrumptious meal. You won’t be disappointed with her easy-to-follow, delicious recipes. So, here’s a quick peek at Author and Cook Sloane Taylor’s newest cookbook. Enjoy!

NEW RELEASE

Date Night Dinners Italian Style

The perfect date night at home—course by course.

From antipasti to dolci, everything you need to create a unique dining experience for an intimate date night in!

  • All recipes are proportioned for two.
  • No exotic or hard-to-find ingredients.
  • Easy recipes, from prep to presentation.
  • Mix-and-match courses to create a unique dining experience.
  • Wine pairing suggestions to complement each dish.
  • Cooking tips to effortlessly move your date-night agenda from the kitchen to…wherever you’ll most enjoy dessert!

Get your copy today on Amazon.

Sloane Taylor is an Award-Winning romance author with a passion that consumes her day and night. She is an avid cook and posts new recipes on her blog every Wednesday. The recipes are user friendly, meaning easy.

Learn more about Taylor’s cookbooks, Date Night Dinners, Date Night Dinners Sizzling Summer,Recipes to Create Holidays Extraordinaire, and Date Night Dinners Italian Style on Amazon.
Connect with Taylor on Facebook and Twitter.

Catherine’s Comments–Five stars for Sally Brandle’s new book Sapphire Promises.

11 Friday Jun 2021

Posted by Catherine Castle in Book Reviews, books, Catherine's Comments, clean romance, Romance, Sweet romance

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

5 star book review, Catherine's Comments, enhanced memoir of a POW survivor, Japanese POW, Sally Brandle, Sapphire Promise, WWII romance

I recently had the pleasure of reading author Sally Brandle’s new book Sapphire Promise. I must admit I’m a fan of Sally’s writing and have read a couple of her Romantic Suspense books from her Love Thrives in Emma Springs series books. So when I got the chance to read her newest book, which is an enhanced memoir based on the true story of a coming-of-age Dutch girl whose homeland was taken over by the Japanese during WWII, I was all in, and, once  again,  Sally did not disappoint. She deftly switched from her Romantic Suspense based books to a memoir-based book that kept me engaged in the story and devouring the pages when I should have been doing other things. A job well done on a book you don’t want to miss!

Sapphire Promise is a sweet WWII romance set in exotic Batavia, Java, in the Dutch East Indies colonial era. The heroine Annika Wolter is a young woman from a well-to-do family with dreams of becoming a nurse—dreams that will serve her well when the war comes right to her doorstep and turns her life upside down. Most of the stories I’ve read and films I’ve seen about WWII focus around the European war arena and the atrocities of Hitler. I found Annika’s story of loyalty, love and courage in the WWII Pacific war arena to be unique and informative. The author Sally Brandle weaves a love story that transcends the years and is suitable for a young adult or a more mature reader. You will not want to miss this beautifully crafted, inspiring and uplifting enhanced memoir of the romance, courage, loyalty of WWII  Japanese POW survivor Annika Wolter.

Sapphire Promise

By Sally Brandle

Sapphire Promise: Based on a true story of loyalty, trust, and unfailing love by [Sally Brandle]

Loyalty to family. Trusting instincts. The will to survive. These virtues are deeply embedded in a mature Dutch teenager, Annika Wolter. Her attributes prove useful as she navigates typical coming-of-age insecurities and a blossoming romance with a handsome lieutenant in 1939 Batavia, Java.

Nothing prepares her for the distress of Hitler’s attacks on European countries followed by Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor, toppling her idyllic life in the Dutch East Indies colonial society and separating her from the man she loves. Uplifting events from a true story showcase how determination, nursing basics, and language skills keep a young woman and her mother alive in the worst Japanese internment camp in the Pacific. If you admire clever women and unfailing love in a tropical wartime setting, you will be captivated by Sapphire Promise.

You can find Sally Brandle’s book Sapphire Promise on Amazon

About the author/reviewer Catherine Castle:

Multi-award-winning author Catherine Castle loves writing, reading, traveling, singing, theatre, and quilting. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances and both of her books have won awards. You can find her award-winning books The Nun and the Narc and  A Groom for Mama on Amazon. Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Catherine’s Comment–Letters from Home by Catherine Castle

09 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by Catherine Castle in A Groom for Mama, Catherine's Comments, essay, Holidays, writing

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

A Groom for Mama, Catherine Castle, Catherine's Comments, Contemporary Romantic comedy, essay on letter writing, Letters from Home, Natiional Letter Writing Month, Sweet romance

National Letter Writing Month

Letters From Home

I ran across an old letter from my mother the other day. There was  no envelope to tell me who’d written the letter, but the moment I saw the wiggly script and rough grammar, I knew instantly who’d penned the words—or rather who’d penciled them. Mom’s words of congratulations on the birth of my daughter and the regret she felt at her inability to traverse the distance between us to be there to help me at the birth sent me hurtling back 42 years to a time when our main mode of communication was letters. I didn’t realize at the time I’d be writing a post about letters or I’d have kept the missive from Mom. Instead, I slipped it between the pages of my daughter’s baby book and gave it to her to keep. After all, the letter was about her.

Back in the 70s, when the letter was written, cell phones didn’t exist, at least not for common folk.  Long distance land-line phone calls cost by the minute and could get pricey real quick when you wanted to chat up the family and tell them what was happening in your life across the continent. So, we wrote letters. Lots of letters.

I lived for those weekly letters from home, because even though I’d made friends in a faraway state, I still missed my family. Seeing the familiar scrawl of my mother’s handwriting and the precise, loopy script of my mother-in-law’s hand took me back every week to my hometown, to a place that was comforting.

My mother-in-law, who was a talker in person, was no less gabby in her letters to me. Her letters tended to run at least two pages and sometimes four. Every week I knew what she’d had for their Sunday eat-out dinner after church service, and whether it was better or worse that last week’s meal. I knew what her daily activities had been for the week (sometimes she even included the chores she’d finished), whom she’d seen at church (even if it was someone I didn’t personally know), the songs the vocal groups she directed had practiced or sung at a performance. I knew what new or interesting things my sister-in-law, who was still in high school, had done and where she and her boyfriend had gone on their dates. If something was a part of my mother-in-law’s daily life, she wrote about it. When she began to run out of space, being the frugal person she was, she’d write in the margins going around the page so I had to rotate the letter to read the rest of the note.

My mother, who was less of a talker in person, tended to write about her garden, what was going on with the people I knew at church, and my two sisters’ activities.  Mom’s letters were shorter, but enjoyed just as much as my gabby mother-in-law’s dissertations.

These two women kept me connected to home for the four years my husband and I were away and unable to come home regularly.

Recently I ran across an old family letter that I hadn’t read before. In it my husband’s Grandma talks about her daily routine. Here are a couple of clips from the letter, which I believe was one of the last she wrote before her death.

In other parts of the letter she talks about how many tomatoes her garden yielded compared to my father-in-law’s garden, the weather that morning (it snowed and froze the last of the garden), who was sick in the town, and upcoming Christmas visit to her home.

Although technology like telephones, cell phones, texting, and zoom calls and emails are a nice way to connect with our loved ones in the here and now, they disappear when the call is over or we get a new cell phone, or our email server crashes or says we have no more storage room on the server. All those words and conversations can never be reread or shared in their entirety. We can’t see the hand of the person in the email, only typed letters, or, in the case of text messages, a I  ♥ U in the signature line. Handwriting is unique to each person and often displays some of a personality, something a typed page will never reveal to the reader.

I feel sorry for those who have no written letters from home. Discovering the letter my mother sent me at the birth of my daughter brought back a flood of memories about that time frame as well as a mental picture of my mother. Rereading Grandma’s words took me back to the time when she was alive and reconnected me to her. And rereading the letters from my husband while we were dating and when he was on business in another city floods my heart with emotions.

April is National Letter Writing Month. Let’s all take some time this month and create new memories with the old-fashioned activity of letter writing. Choose a family member or friend who doesn’t live near you and surprise them with a letter from home, filled with newsy bits of information they might like to tuck away for a future re-read.

Tell them you love them. Tell them you miss them. Tell them about the work-a-day stuff of your life and anything you think might entertain them. You might be surprised at the pleasure putting words to paper gives you. And, you might inspire them to answer with their own letter of reply.

Happy Writing!

Catherine

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing and was writing letters long before she began writing fiction. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Check out her award winning book A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

Catherine’s Comment–A Winter Wonderland Table Setting from Catherine Castle

08 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by Catherine Castle in books, Catherine's Comments, Catherine's Crafts, clean romance, Holidays

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Catherine Castle, Catherine's Comments, clean romance, essay, Holiday table settings, inspirational romantic suspense, The Nun and the Narc, Winter wonderland

.

Christmas is over, but don’t put your Christmas village away just yet or those special winter themed dishes you may have lying around, like these adorable Norman Rockwell tumblers pictured below.

Instead, use these selected pieces to create a winter wonderland table setting and this charming centerpiece.

For this table setting you’ll need

  • Your winter village accessories. I used my skating rink, the snow covered trees and bushes, and as many village figurines I could find that showed people playing in the snow. If you don’t have a skating rink, don’t worry. Just add some more of your snow covered village buildings to make up for the lack.  The point is to create a winter scene. And who doesn’t think a Christmas village isn’t wintery?
  • Some cotton batting for the snow
  •  A white tablecloth.
  • 4 blue plates. I had 4 turquoise blue plates that looked great on the table. If you don’t have 4 colored plates, mix with white, or use all white plates against a blue tablecloth. The point is to make a striking contrast between the dishes and the tablecloth.
  • Cute wintery napkins. I pulled some darling snowmen out of my stash.
  • Clear bowls. I had some with snowflakes on them.
  • 2 white candle in glass holders
Snowman napkin and snowflake bowl

Since I was using a smaller 48” diameter table, I set my skating rink at an angle to give more room for the village pieces.  If you have longer table you could spread the figurines out along the length of the table.

Honestly, the pictures I took did not do the table setting justice. It was so darned cute I wanted to leave it up all winter. But since that’s the table we eat at all the time, hubby would not have been happy.

snowman salt and pepper shakers

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Winter Wonderland table setting. If you don’t have a village, look at your Christmas decorations and see what you do have that represents winter. Some other options could include crocheted or plastic snowflakes, set on angles, in a snow bank of white cotton. Or maybe you have some snow-flocked small evergreen trees you could place in a cotton snowbank. Do you have a snowman collection? Use them. Let this setting inspire you.

Have a Happy New Year!

How about starting off your new year with a new read? Check out Catherine’s multi-award winning book The Nun and the Narc.

The Nun and the Narc

by Catherine Castle

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Catherine’s Comments–iPhone Misadventures by Catherine Castle

04 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by Catherine Castle in A Groom for Mama, books, Catherine Castle author, Catherine's Comments, clean romance, essay, Humor, Musings from a Writer's Brain, Sweet romance

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

A Groom for Mama, Catherine’s Comments, essay, humor, iPhone, romantic comedy, Sweet romance, Techy misadventures

I got a new iPhone after Thanksgiving and, quite frankly, I’m ready to throw the thing across the room. Or maybe even in the nearest river!

To start off, I didn’t get the last of my five email boxes cleaned out. As soon as we transferred the email addresses over, the last email box began filling. And filling. And filling. Every time I read and deleted a new email, 100 more would come over.

When it reached 900+ I said to Hubby, “I’m shutting this phone down before it loads all 5,000 + unread emails.”

I spent the next five hours hunched over the computer keyboard deleting the unread emails down to about 84. Then I deleted the 15,000+ deleted emails left on the server just to be sure they didn’t come back. Better to be safe than sorry, as Hubby as seen a few of his deleted emails return to unread status and pop up on the iPhone. Yes, I know, I can’t blame the iPhone because I didn’t clean out my online mail inboxes and trash. But this was just the beginning of the iPhone misadventures.

Unlike my beloved Blackberry, there’s nothing intuitive about this iPhone. Swipe right, swipe left, touch right, touch left. Swipe from the upper corner, tap on the bottom, touch here, touch there. Push partway up and to the right to see where you’ve been on the internet. Swipe up to trash something, or click right, or left depending what app you’re in. Yikes! Who can remember all that?

Stupid iPhone!

Additionally, my finger either doesn’t work or I don’t even touch something and stuff flies off or onto the screen. Once, while merely holding the phone, a box popped up with the message, “To reverse this action, tap the screen with three fingers.” What action? What had I done? What had I erased? Fortunately, the screen told me which fingers to tap with, so I tapped. And tapped. And tapped. The screen didn’t move. It didn’t tell me the unknown action was reversed. I couldn’t even see a back button.

“Honey,” I yelled. “Think I did something wrong!” By the time Hubby came to the rescue I’d punched enough things that the screen was back to what I recognized. Only heaven knows what I might have screwed up!

For every action I did on the Blackberry with one touch, it takes two, or maybe three or more on the iPhone. I’ve read some of the instructions, and tried to search things out on the iPhone book, but apparently I don’t know the new lingo well enough to find things. And I’m usually pretty good with searching. However, nothing seems to have the same names as the Blackberry did.

My texts to my daughter are filled with strange words that I didn’t type, courtesy of predictive typing. I tried to type PTL (Praise the Lord) and it came over on the text as “Pyle.” The words But I came across as “Bilirubin.” And the text screen, filled with facial icons, bubbles holding your text message, and sometimes giant emojis, takes up so much screen space that I can’t easily see the text thread. When my daughter retyped “Bilirubin” I thought SHE had typed the word, not me. I had no idea she was rolling on the floor laughing until the next day when I scrolled up the text stream and saw what I’d done.

And if you think that’s wild, wait until you hear these next items.

The other day, using my iPhone, I tried to call my hubby, who was driving my car. I knew he wouldn’t try to answer his new iPhone, so I called my car phone.  At the same time the car phone was ringing, I heard another call beep in. I ignored it, thinking it was a phishing call. Hubby never answered, so I hung up and called him again. The same thing happened. So, I hung up again. As I pulled the phone away from my ear, the second time, my daughter’s name scrolled across the banner on the top of the phone, indicating she was calling.

When I answered, she said in a concerned voice, “Mom, is everything okay. Why are you calling me so much?” (I never call her during work hours.)

“I wasn’t calling you. I was trying to call your dad in my car,” I said.

As she hung up I heard her say to someone, whom I later learned was her boss, “It’s okay. There’s nothing wrong. My mom has a new phone.”

When my hubby got to his destination, he called on his cell to see what I needed. He  couldn’t remember how to answer my car phone. It doesn’t have Bluetooth pairing like his car. He received my cell phone call on the car phone and, at the same time, my daughter also received a call from my cell phone.

The stupid iPhone called my car phone, while husband was driving it, and called my daughter at the same time.

Here’s the kicker—I did NOT call my daughter’s cell. No way. No how. Not even possible. I swear I never touched her number. I clearly, and positively, know I called my car phone. Yet the iPhone showed it made both calls.

The phone somehow dialed both numbers at the same time! How is that even possible?

Stupid iPhone!

Later in the day I was having a conversation on our home land line when my cell rang. It was my daughter.  I knew it was her because I’d attached an ‘Oogah Oogah’ old car horn sound to her calls. An unmistakable and very loud sound. I answered and quickly said, “I can’t talk now. I’ll call back in a few minutes.” Then I hung up. A few minutes later I got another call from her on my cell—the same “Oogha-Oogah ring, but it was my son-in-law on the other end. “Can I call back?” I asked. “I’m in the middle of another call.”

Son-in-law said, “She can’t talk. She’s on the house phone with her mother-in-law.”

 “Then why did she call me just a minute ago?” I asked.

Son-in-law calls out to my daughter, “Why are we calling your mother?”

In the background I hear her say, “I didn’t call her. She called me! Twice!”

I know I didn’t call her. The iPhone log showed she called me. She still swears she didn’t call but that I called her.

Stupid iPhone!

Earlier that same morning I was trying to comment on a blog I’ve always had access to on the Blackberry. I’d reached the site via clicking on the title of the blog I’d received in my Catherine Castle mail inbox. The site kept kicking me off. I couldn’t like, share, or comment. So, I went back to the original email, which was still open on my email inbox, and scrolled down to the like button. Click—and I was over to the page instantly, all nicely opened. While complaining to my husband about the wretched phone’s behavior, I slid my finger down the screen to check for my author icon. I wasn’t there, but our joint author icon was.

“Did you just comment on her page?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “I was just headed over there right now.”

I rotated my phone screen so he could see it. “You’ve already commented.”

He squinted at me. “Did you open our author email and like the post? Because I did not like that post.”

“I didn’t!” I protested. Although, in all honesty, I sometimes have a problem and click the wrong email box on my phone. I did it with the Blackberry quite often by mistake. So much so that hubby’s threatened to take our joint author email off my phone.  He leveled a glary squint at me, not at all convinced I knew what I was talking about.

I switched back to my Catherine Castle email box. The email in question was on the top. I scanned it again. In the To: line it didn’t say Catherine Castle. Instead it had my husband’s name. Somehow the email addressed to his personal email box (which is another glitch I’ll not go into), got scrambled and put in my author email box and linked our joint author photo to it.

Stupid iPhone!

I could go on with my misadventures with the stupid iPhone, which I’m sure will continue until my weary blonde brain figures it all out or I end up in the funny farm. However, I’ve already exceeded a thousand words on this rant.

On the bright side, there are a couple of things I do like on the iPhone. I did discover one useful tool. I accidently deleted an email one evening and moaned in distress over my actions.

“Shake it!” Hubby said.

“What?” I replied.

“Shake it! Shake the phone!” he yelled urgently.

Bemused and befuddled, I did as he commanded, although I hadn’t the foggest idea why. An icon popped up on the screen.

“Now, tell it to untrash,” he said. “Hurry before the icon disappears.”

I did, and, Lo and Behold, my trashed email reappeared like magic.

Pretty cool for such a. . . Stupid iPhone!

I can also draw pictures in my emails. A feature that I’m sure will be a giant time suck. I’ve already drawn and sent pictures to my daughter, and I’m considering how I can use this tool for Christmas email cards.

Twitter works again and so does Pinterest. So I can waste endless hours surfing instead writing, cleaning and practicing the piano. Although piano is never a waste of time. It’s more of a joy.

Hopefully, as time passes, I’ll find more to like and less to complain about. One thing is for sure—as I learn this new device I’m giving my family and friends lots to laugh about.

Do you have an iPhone? Have you any tips for me?

Catherine loves to laugh at herself and loves to write comedy. Check out her award-winning romantic comedy, with a touch of drama,A Groom for Mama.

Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Tags: Catherine’s Comments, iPhone, essay, humor, A Groom for Mama, Techy misadventures, romantic comedy, sweet romance

Catherine’s Comments—An Elegant Poinsettia Themed Table Setting from Catherine Castle

11 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by Catherine Castle in books, Catherine Castle author, Catherine's Comments, clean romance, Crafting Posts, essay, Holidays, Romance, suspsense, The Nun and the Narc

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

candles, Catherine’s Comments, Centerpieces, Christmas Table Décor, dishes, Holiday table settings, Mismatched Dinnerware, Poinsettias

Image from Pixabay

The table decorating elves have been busy at my house with a new place setting for your holiday meals.  Unlike the playful setting of last week, the elves and I decided to go for an elegant, poinsettia theme this Friday. Since red is the classic poinsettia color and gold makes for an elegant contrast to red, the elves and I chose the colors red, gold, and white.

Layering has been the part of Christmas theme so I started with a white table cloth. Searching through my placemats I added red and gold plastic poinsettia placemats topped with either a red or white contrasting plate. Don’t be afraid to use plastic items if they look elegant. A poinsettia napkin, placed so the flower shows, carries the flower theme onto the plain plates.

I dug through my candleholders and found a pair of heavy, square gold glass candle holders and then I paired them with tall red candles. I didn’t like the effect of the gold against the white table cloth, so to make the gold pop, I opened up a paper poinsettia coaster and placed the candles on top. If you don’t have a paper poinsettia coaster you could use a red napkin or, if you’re crafty, cut a poinsettia from construction paper.

If you don’t have gold candle holders search through your Christmas decorations for any gold items you might have. A strand of gold, or gold and red, beads artfully laid or looped around the base of glass candleholders would carry the gold theme onto the centerpiece. Or place your candle and holder in a white bowl or saucer and surround the candle with red and gold ornaments. To keep wax from dripping on the ornaments you might want to place a wax catcher, known as a bobeche, at the base of the candle.  

Clear glasses to mimic the effect of crystal completes the setting.

Well, that’s the table setting for this week. Be sure to come back next week for a new setting.

Happy Holidays!

After you’re done searching for your table setting items, take a break and check out Catherine’ multi-award-winning Inspirational Romantic Suspense book The Nun and the Narc. Available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The Nun and the Narc

By Catherine Castle

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Catherine’s Comments—A Festive Candy Cane Table Setting from Catherine Castle

04 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by Catherine Castle in Catherine's Comments, Catherine's Crafts, clean romance, Crafting Posts, essay, Holidays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

A Groom for Mama, Catherine Castle author, Catherine's Comments, Christmas table settings, clean romance, Holiday table settings, romantic comedy, Sweet romance

Christmas is fast approaching!

Only 21 days!

This holiday has always been a big deal at my house. When I was younger I’d change out all the knickknacks, take pictures off the wall and exchange them for more Christmassy themes, and deck the house out to the hilt.

I don’t quite go to those extremes anymore, as arthritic knees and a bad back have slowed me down. But, every year I put up a different themed Christmas tree. either special ornaments from our childhood and family and friends, Southwest themed, crocheted stars and tiny metal candle holders with little red candles, the simplicity of poinsettias in the branches, gold travel ornaments from places we’ve visited, all white, all red, and whatever else I can think up. Or, I might put up my fiber optic tree, or the vintage aluminum tree my husband inherited from his grandmother, complete with color wheel. On occasion I’ve had them all up at the same time.

My sideboard can groan under the weight of my Christmas village, my Nativity collection, My Southwest Christmas figurines, or I could just have a rustic collection of candles and Christmas décor.  I fill every available pot and vase I can with silk Poinsettias and holly.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have lots and lots of tree and Christmas decorations. My Christmas décor obsession is as bad as or worse than my dish fetish.

My table is no different. Most of the time I use my Corelle holly plates, but recently I’ve been venturing out into different table settings. I think it has something to do with the ease of setting a holiday table. Unlike the Christmas village which takes a couple of days to set just right, my dinner table goes up in a much shorter time—once I decide what I’ll do, that is.

Some of my blog readers have requested more table settings. So, I’m going to show off my new combinations in the coming weeks. In the upcoming posts I’ll be featuring tablecloths, placemats, napkin rings and Christmas decorations I’ve pulled from my decoration stash—and of course the mix and match dishes that started this whole blog series.

First up is a Festive Candy Cane Table. This would be a cute table setting for the kids’ table, or as a more casual adult setting. You could also surprise the family on a December night with this cheerful table setting. After all, the Christmas season lasts for a month. Why wait until Christmas Day or Eve to celebrate the season?

Here’s how I made this table setting: I started with an inexpensive plastic striped tablecloth I picked up a few years ago from our local Big Lots discount store. Then I added red and white plates and white salad bowls—some of the same dishes I’ve used in previous table settings.

I kept the centerpiece festive and kid friendly with a metal spiral tree decoration. The candle at the base of the tree is a faux battery lit candle, a safer choice for the children’s table, and it won’t destroy the charming ornaments suspended from the spiral branches. To make the centerpiece pop and pick up the green in the table cloth, I centered the tree on a round woven placemat. If you don’t have a plethora of placemats, like I do—another obsession of mine—you could use a green napkin, or two napkins set at 45 degree angles to each other to form an eight-point star. For a little more festive flair I created contrasting red and white bows from pipe cleaners and scattered them on the place mat.

To continue the candy cane theme I made candy canes from red and white pipe cleaners.

To make the pipe cleaner candy canes, twist a red and white pipe cleaner together from top to bottom the form the cane. To form the loop that holds the napkin, gently bend the pipe cleaner in half. Align about 1/4th of the bent section with the bottom of the cane, then fold the straight remaining section at a 90 degree angle to the cane. Wrap it around your finger to form a circle. Loop the end of the circle around the cane to secure the circle and form the napkin holder section. Curve the top of the cane into a loop so it looks like a candy cane. Roll up your napkin to fit in the circle and arrange the cane so the top is level with the napkin edge.

If you don’t have any pipe cleaners, you could tie a ribbon around a real candy cane and then loosely wrap and tie the napkin in the ribbon. I didn’t have any candy canes, but I did have pipe cleaners so I improvised. Have I mentioned that I’m a crafter, too? I have lots of interesting things in my basement. 🙂

Lay your candy cane napkin in the center of your plate to finish off the table setting, and invite the family and friends to dinner!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Festive Candy Cane Table Setting, and I hope I’ve inspired you to set a fun and festive table at one of your Christmas holiday meals. Come back next week for another Christmas Table Setting.

Happy Holidays,

Catherine

If you enjoyed Catherine’s creative holiday table settings, why not check out one of her creative books. Her award-winning sweet, romantic comedy, with a touch of drama A Groom for Mama is a fun read and would make a great gift for the romance novel lover in your family. Here’s a peek at the blurb.

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

A Groom for Mama is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing, reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

.

Catherine’s Comments—Two Thanksgiving Table Settings from Catherine Castle

22 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by Catherine Castle in A Groom for Mama, Catherine Castle author, Catherine's Comments, Catherine's Crafts, Crafting Posts, Sweet romance

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

A Groom for Mama, Catherine Castle, Catherine's Comments, Holiday essay, Holiday table settings, Table decor, Thanksgiving decor, Turkey Table Decoration

A couple of weeks ago I posted four holiday table place settings using twenty mismatched dishes. Readers loved them and I received requests for more. So, just in time for Thanksgiving, I’m posting three place settings using the same dishes, but with some seasonal dishes, napkin rings, and different centerpieces. These items are another way to add pizazz to the table if you don’t have a whole set of seasonal dinnerware.

This time I chose white dishes because I wanted the centerpieces to shine. I added a tiny turkey dish to the mix, just big enough to hold some butter or a small roll.  When I found these in the grocery store a few years back, I couldn’t resist them. (Remember I said I had a dish fetish.) Even though they are a one-season item, they take up very little storage space. In my opinion they were well worth the cost for the seasonal zing they add to the table. If you have any Thanksgiving themed dishes you can add them to a single color palate and allow the seasonal dishes to shine in the place setting.

I also added my leaf napkin rings to the mix. And a fall colored tablecloth, since I didn’t have four fall placemats.

When looking for fabric tablecloths check both sides of the cloth. Sometimes, they are reversible, like the one I used. One side is a deeper, more vibrant colors the other side muted. By just flipping the tablecloth you can change the whole look of the table.

I’m calling the first two place settings below “It’s all about the Turkey” because the place setting and the centerpieces focus on the turkey.

The next place setting uses the same dishes, but I changed the turkey centerpiece. I filled a smaller turkey basket with buckeyes and placed a battery-operated candle on top of the buckeye nuts. . I like to use battery operated candles because they are safer and less messy than a wax candle. You could use acorns or marbles or any other material to raise your candle to the proper height, or just use a taller pillar candle. The important part here though is the turkey basket.  If you don’t have a turkey basket, but have other turkey décor, go ahead and use that in the centerpiece. Remember the theme is “It’s all about the Turkey.”  

The last setting, using the same dishes, has a pilgrim theme. In this setting I placed the buckeyes into a clear cylinder vase and placed a short battery operated votive candle on top of the nuts. I had this quirky set of pilgrim figurines I bought at a dollar store, so I set them on either side of the vase, back to back to both sides of the table could see them.  

If you don’t have pilgrim figurines, buckeyes or a clear cylinder vase, you, and the kiddos, could construct a pilgrim hat from black poster board. Make a hatband and buckle from colored construction paper and glue it to the hat. Leave the top of the hat open and fill with silk, fall leaves or short branches from brightly colored bushes from the yard. A piece of floral inside the hat will help hold the stems in place. Place battery-operated votive candles around the brim of the hat.

And there you have it. Three different table themes using the same dishes and different centerpieces.  If you liked these ideas, please sign up to follow the blog. I’ll be posting some Christmas table settings in December and other holiday settings throughout 2021.

Here’s wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

If you need a break from your holiday preparations, take a look at Catherine’s award-winning romantic comedy with a touch of drama, A Groom for Mama.

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

Available from Amazon.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Catherine’s Comments–Cute, Easy Turkey Table Decoration from Catherine Castle

13 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by Catherine Castle in A Groom for Mama, Catherine's Comments, Crafting Posts, Sweet romance

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

A Groom for Mama, Catherine Castle, Catherine's Comments, Craft, Turkey Table Decoration

Pear-Turkey table decoration/place card

Thanksgiving is on its way, and although you might not have the large family gathering of past, thanks to recent COVD spikes, there is no reason to neglect your table for two or just for your immediate family. I love the holidays, and I love to set a pretty table filled with special touches. I guess I’m a Martha Stewart wanna be at heart.

I also love to make things from greeting cards I’ve saved. So, I came up with this darling turkey to grace the Thanksgiving table. You can use several as centerpieces, set in a length of silk leaves, or add an extra feather to the turkey’s fan and make a place card holder. Either way, it’s an easy craft to enjoy with the kiddos, or by yourself, that will make your Thanksgiving table a little special.

MATERIALS:

  • Greeting cards with a buy print on them on one side, and a solid color on the back. Or, two sets of greeting cards: one with a busy print and the other with a mostly solid color. If you don’t have a stash of old greeting cards on hand you can use colored , heavy stock craft paper o white cardboard stock and color in the feathers and turkey head.
  • A small pear. I used a red Anjou pear because it fit inside the bowl I wanted to use as a base, but you could use a brown Barlett pear as well. Your feathers might have to be cut larger than the directions, though, if you use a larger pear.
  • Flat-sided toothpicks. Round will work, but they tend to roll around and are harder to place in the center of the feather.
  • Scissors
  • Glue (I like rubber cement, but the paper crafters glue tape would work too or hot glue)
  • Small bowl to use for the base to hold the turkey. If you don’t have a bowl, you can also cut a slice from the bottom of the pear so it will sit on a plate.

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Select a greeting card with a busy pattern on one side and a color on the back side (if possible). If you don’t have a card with a colored back side, use a second card with a mostly solid color for the back side.
  • Place the insides of the two greeting cards together. Mark the front of the greeting card into 1-inch wide strips and then mark each strip in half. Keeping the whole card together (If you are using both sides of the same card) cut the strips out. If you are using two fronts, then stack them printed sides out and cut into strips. Holding each set of strips together, cut out a feather shape from the bottom of the strip, then cut a second set of feathers from the top of the strip. Keep a firm grip on the cards as it’s important to make sure the paper doesn’t slide, so when you glue the feather halves together they will match evenly on the edges. Set the feathers aside, keeping each set together.
  • Holding each set of feathers together, cut a shallow curve in the flat end of the feather.  This will allow the feather to seat nicely on the curve of the pear.
  • Glue a toothpick onto the plain side of on the the feathers in your feather set, leaving ½ of the sharp end of the toothpick exposed. If your toothpick is too large for your feather size, break the toothpick in half. Spread glue on the remaining inside surface of the feather. Match the edges of the paper and press the edges of the feather together tightly.  Set the feathers aside until they are dry.
  • From another card with a solid printed side, preferably a tan or light brown. If you don’t have the right color, you can use a white greeting card and color in the head A quick internet search will net you a turkey head graphic that you can easily copy. The easiest way to cut the head out is to fold the card or paper and place the top of the turkey’s head on the fold. Draw or trace your turkey head, and then cut it out. When you cut the head, keep it connected at the top for easier gluing. Color in the gobbler’s neck and beak and give him an eye. Don’t forget to color both sides of the head. Glue sides together in the same manner as the feathers, with a whole toothpick sandwiched between the sides. Set aside to dry.
  •  When the feathers and head are dried, stick the exposed toothpick into the pear, arranging feathers on the pear in a fan shape, using as many feathers as you wish.
  • Cut off the stem of the pear and insert the turkey head into the small end of the pear.
  • To make the turkey into a place card, cut two feathers from a solid colored or white section of a greeting card. Write your guest’s name on the feather and glue together using a whole toothpick as instructed above.  Insert the feather in the center of the turkey’s fan. Set the turkey on a plate and watch your guests ooh and ahh.

What do you do with your old greeting cards? I’m always looking for new ideas.

While you’re waiting for your turkey feathers to dry check out Catherine’s award-winning romantic comedy A Groom for Mama.

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

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