Weather We Like It or Not

The shovel is still by the door. We just might need it again. The way this winter is going, we might be shoveling out a place to put the grill for Memorial Day. 

Several more inches of snow are possible before this ends over the weekend. We already have about 18 inches on the ground. And on the car, the porch, the roof. And that's in addition to the foot that was already there. Our back yard looks like a mogul ski course. Or, being a writer, like a place where lots of bodies are buried.

But I have power, heat, food, drink. 

And an insane streak.

During the worst of the monster storm that bore down on the Eastern seaboard Thursday, David and I decided to go out for a walk. We bundled up, spent a few minutes trying to recall where the front steps were, and slid on out into our neighborhood. Yes, visibility was almost zero (ours and the cars'), the streets had been only narrowly plowed, and our township is out of salt. Did that deter us?

"Look at the big flakes," I sighed. 

David: "You mean the snow, right? Not the two idiots in the middle of the street."

But the snowplows kindly declined to use us for hood ornaments, and we walked the neighborhood. 

We're not going to be driving anytime soon anyway.

View from the porch. Note the bird bath. 

A few views of the neighborhood. That's our park, below. Snow up to the seat of the bench. 

Okay, this might be my favorite picture.

Last evening, after I finished work, I was texting with my friend Linda about what time we'd be getting up to shovel in the morning, and she said that her husband -- upon learning who she was texting -- remarked, "I wish I had some chocolate chip cookies." He is rather fond of the ones I make. I said I had everything but the chips .... and three minutes after I hit 'send', her husband -- having bounded over three-foot-drifts -- appeared at our front door with a container of them.

I must admit cookies go very well with hot buttered rum when the snow is falling. 

Sheila York
Copyright 2014

My Favorite Part of Writing

This will be a very quick blog today. I’ve been working on the copyedited version of the manuscript for my next book (No Broken Hearts), which comes out in the fall. 

Promised her first screen credit in years, my 1940s heroine, script doctor Lauren Atwill, is promptly loaned out by Marathon Studios to second-tier Epic Pictures. And she's not one bit happy about it. She's sure that her boss is so superstitious he wants to test the grapevine rumor that when she shows up, dead bodies do too. And he wants to test it on somebody else's studio lot. When she's offered the chance to turn a famous, scandalous novel into a film, things start to look up. Till she finds another body. 

The copyediting is my favorite part of being a writer. The book is done; any gaping holes in the plot, rambling prose, or characters who've outstayed their welcome have been addressed in the 15 (or 100) rounds of self-review and the review by my editor, who finds the umpteen things I didn’t notice. 

Gentle reader, in the copyediting phase, you get gentle notes about possible contradictions, redundancies, and the fact that three days have gone by in your story, and it’s still Sunday. 

I just have to make gentle fixes. It’s the most stress-free time in writing.

Of course, now that I’m not preoccupied with writing the book after this one, I’ve noticed it’s *@^#% COLD! 

We’ve rarely been above 20 degrees this month, and that’s without wind chill. The nights are below zero. Okay, I know, Minnesota, that’s a balmy day for you, but we ain’t used to it here in New Jersey. Just what my face needs, windburn.

But in New Jersey, we do have our ways of dealing with cold. If it’s cold where you are — and if you’re just about anywhere in the US, it is — this might be what you need.

This is a terrific recipe I found years ago, and I wish I could recall where. I often make batches at the holidays and give them to friends.

Hot Buttered Rum 

You can cut the recipe in half, or give half the roll to a friend

1 pound brown sugar

½ lb butter slightly softened (not margarine)

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp vanilla

Blend all ingredients in a food processor or mixer (the butter needs to be softer if you use a hand mixer). Make a long roll of the batter, like those freezer cookies that you slice and bake. Place the roll into a freezer bag, then put it into another freezer bag. Store in the freezer.

To make a drink, slice off 2-3 TBS of the batter (or more if you like sweeter drinks) with a sharp knife and place into a tall mug. Add a shot of good dark rum. Then add very hot water and stir. Top with a small dollop of butter, if desired.

This batter will last you at least through the winter. Or if you're a writer, through the rest of the week. 

Enjoy.

Sheila York