A few weeks ago, I shared the fun of having Advanced Readers Copies of Clover Covered Corpse. We traipsed around Asheville, NC with the ARC. When I heard the paperback was released, I ordered a copy for myself and had it shipped to Texas. We just spent a week in Waco, and once again, we had fun taking pictures of the paperback.
The week we were there, the temperatures hovered around 100, BUT when you added the heat index it was closer to 106. Even so, we had fun visiting the golf course, Magnolia, Fabled, Spice Village, Heritage, Common Grounds, and many more places.
It was a great week. Texas has become a special place to me, and I always enjoy my time there. Here are a few pictures from our trip.
I would love for you to tag me on social media with one of my books. There might even be a prize involved. Thanks!
In the early 1900s, many German immigrants settled in the Hill Country of Texas. Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, Schulenburg, Boerne and more towns have a strong German heritage.
In A Texas Flower Farmer Cozy Mystery Series, one of the characters is from Germany and runs the town bakery, Sophie’s Bakery. You might also have noticed the fictional setting is Lutz, Texas. This small town has some connections to Germany.
At Sophie’s Bakery a customer can find healthy foods, but they can also buy German treats.
I’ve never baked a kuchen, but I have helped make Springerle cookies. We have antique molds there were brought to America from Germany many generations ago.
The molds are works of art themselves.
May 28 was the release of Clover Covered Corpse, and I’ll share more about it next week.
I think many people think of Monday as the least popular day of the week. So, let’s have some fun.
Have you heard the legend that Ethiopian shepherds were the first to discover coffee? The story goes the spotted goats dancing in the distance. The shepherds went to explore and discovered the goats had been eating coffee berries.
Today is National Apple Pie Day and National Hummus Day.
I enjoy hummus, but coffee and apple pie make a nice combination.
Texas is the setting for upcoming book, Clover Covered Corpse. Here are a couple of fun Texas facts.
In 1853, Captain Richard King bought some land near a creek and it became The King Ranch. It’s 825,000 acres and bigger than Rhode Island. It even has its own airport.
One thing Texas is known for is its size. Everything is bigger in Texas is probably true. It’s also known for horses, rodeos, barbecue, oil, the Alamo, sports, and so much more.
Tyler, Texas has a rose festival. This year the dates are October 17-20.  There’s a coronation for the Rose Queen, a ribbon cutting and rose presentation, the Queen’s Tea, and if that’s not enough, there’s the Rose Parade. It’s no wonder Tyler is the rose capital of the world.
I’d love for you to share a fun fact with us today. I hope you all have a blessed Monday!
I just returned from family vacation in Waco, Texas. What an adventure. We had flights scheduled and went to be packed and ready to fly early the next morning.
INSTEAD, we received a message at 2:15 AM that our flights were canceled AND they couldn’t rebook because they’d canceled over 300 flights touching down in Atlanta. . So, we began looking at other airlines. But, what if they were canceled? I was getting more nervous by the minute. I looked at my husband and said, “We need to drive.” He agreed and by 3:00 we were in the car driving to Texas. Thank goodness there was an open gas station in town, because we had less than 1/4 of a tank.
It was foggy and rainy the first three hours of the trip, and when you leave the coast you have to take backroads for the first couple hours. We questioned our sanity, but this vacation was with our sons, daughters-in-law and grandkids. I didn’t want to miss a minute. So, we drove 1200 miles in 19 hours. We only stopped for gas and food, and we ate meals in the car, because again, I didn’t want to miss a minute of family time.
The week was amazing, and the trip home was another adventure. We began our trip early Sunday morning. In Mississippi, we stopped for lunch/dinner. We heard thunder rumbling. We finished our sandwiches and walked to the door to leave, and it poured down rain.
This doesn’t do justice to the storm. Ninety minutes later, it let up, and we walked to the car. There were accidents in both directions on the interstate, and we took a detour. Guess what? There was an accident there too. So, we felt blessed to have been in a dry place to wait out the storm.
As we approached the Georgia line, the car began shaking. We made it to the hotel. The next morning, we went to a tire place and learned BOTH tires on the drivers’ side were separating.
This chicken greeted us when we pulled up to the tire place. Her name is Chick-chick. That’s another story, but the people were so nice and they had our tires in stock. So, with two new tires, we were back on the road.
We feel blessed to have made it home safely. Will I drive to Texas again? You bet, but there is definitely less drama flying.
Next time I’ll share more about our trip to Texas.
Jackie Layton 