Ghostly Research

 

Photo by Eugene Golovesov on Unsplash

Fog shrouds early mornings this month, hiding even the houses right across the street. It’s a perfect month for the Gothic class I’m taking. In addition, Halloween brings us ghosts, goblins, and all manner of frightening things. The perfect time for me to embark on a new story. In a first for me, I’m delving into a paranormal book.

Setting and mood are key for a paranormal story. For some on-the-ground research, this summer we visited the lovely small town of Roslyn, WA. Viewers of the television show Northern Exposure may know this town as the actual setting for the show. We visited  the main sites from the show: the Brick, the general store, and KBHR. 

 

Roslyn’s small-town atmosphere and its history of attracting immigrants from all across Europe to work in the coal mines make
for great story ideas. The different ethnic groups each had their own cemeteries, sixteen in all. A significant historical event occurred in 1892 when a coal mine explosion killed 45 miners. Plenty of fodder for a haunting story.

Photo from Unsplash

I’m also taking a Gothic course this month to give me background into how earlier authors and artists sent a chill down readers’ backs. While I don’t plan to have mythical beasts in the story, I am thinking of a heroine who can see and/or talk to ghosts. To understand the effects of fear on the body, I listened to a webinar on the physiology of fear last week.

Photo by Ksenia Yakovleva on Unsplas

Finally, research has included reading a lot of paranormal fiction featuring witchcraft and heroines who see, sense, or talk to ghosts. Lots of fun reading! Next month gets even more chilling when I attend a nearby paranormal conference to experience ghost hunting and its community.

Photo by Stefano Pollio on Unsplash

  

La Pasta!

 

This month brought more delightful neighborhood finds! I enjoyed my recent purchase of carrot cake granola from a nearby farmers’ market, but couldn’t get to the market to pick up more the following week. Happily, I discovered that not only is it available at a store just 1.5 miles from my home, but the store also carries many other locally made products I enjoy. 

That store, a tiny little place called La Pasta, makes various pastas (it’s in the name 😀) from scratch right there on site. My husband brought home smoked salmon ravioli, and it cooked up beautifully. A lot of ravioli will split open on the sides as it boils, but not La Pasta’s!

Back to the granola that I love, I picked up some locally made cherry apricot along with hazelnut espresso and peanut butter chocolate chip from the Camano Crunch Company. All of them are so delicious with Greek yogurt. The current seasonal special is winter spiced apple, which I'll be sure to try.

I was also delighted to find the elderberry tea that I’ve been looking for since I got it at another farmers’ market several months ago. Shrub vinegars are another beverage that I enjoy, and at La Pasta I found some new shrub flavors that are made locally.

 

How wonderful to have locally made and grown nutritious food so close to home!

Can breakfast get any better? Yes, those are full-size chocolate chips in the peanut butter chocolate chip granola!

Farmers' Market

 

Seattle has a great number of neighborhood farmers’ markets, and I’m fortunate to have one just a mile from my house. I'd never been to this  one, so one sunny afternoon I walked over to see what was available that week.

My favorite purchase was carrot cake granola, made locally in a nearby city. It is absolutely delicious and true to a carrot cake flavor with a light crunch. I’m enjoying it with yogurt in the morning and afternoon.

 

 

There were also plenty of fruit and vegetable stands, and a couple vendors offering pastries. The French Guys had many delicious breads and dessert rolls. My husband wasn’t able to go with me, but I brought home a blueberry cheesecake roll that he enjoyed for breakfast the next morning.

Farmers’ markets often feature various mushrooms either harvested or grown on farms. This stand even offered mushroom-growing kits to produce your own at home. 

 

Jams, vinegars, and flavored oils are also common at farmers’ markets and were in supply here. I love flavored vinegars, especially balsamics, for salads.

 

 

 

I always enjoy the fresh produce and locally made treasures I find at farmers’ markets and are glad there are so many markets available to us.

Tourist in My Own City

https://visitseattle.org/

Early this month my niece visited Seattle from the other Washington for the first time. Though she only had two full days in Seattle, my husband and I gave her a whirlwind tour of the popular sights in Seattle—some that I had never seen despite living here for 48 years.

Red Hall Link

The first day she was here gave us just a few hours to see the “red hall” at the downtown Seattle Public Library. I’d never heard of this floor of the library. A librarian told us it contained no books but housed library meeting rooms. Despite FIFA, we were able to get a dinner table right away, then it was time for her to get some rest before her first full day here.

 

 

 

Friday morning we had breakfast crumpets at the Crumpet Shop and then explored Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market. My husband and I make an annual trip here to shop for treats and Christmas gifts.
 

 

 

After an hour or so at the market, we headed to the Nordic Museum, which was the first time I’ve been there. Seattle has a significant Nordic population in the part of Seattle known as Ballard, named for Captain William Rankin Ballard.

Following that, we toured the Ballard Locks and fish ladder. The locks raise and lower water levels between Puget Sound and Lake Union and Lake Washington to allow ships and boats access each way.

The Falls

The final day of her visit was July 4th and we started off with a trip to Snoqualmie Falls and a stop in the historic town of Snoqualmie. Arriving back in Seattle, we then took an underground tour with Beneath the Streets. Seattle was originally built on tide flats, but following an historic fire that destroyed the entire town, it was rebuilt above the original stores and sidewalks. Many blocks of the old city still exist underground.



 

It was a busy two days of sightseeing that found aunt and uncle happy to skip fireworks and fall asleep on the couch shortly after 9pm. 😀

Romance Reader Event

 

 

For the past three years, a writing group I belong to has organized an event for romance readers and writers. Every year I’ve volunteered as a table runner, making sure authors have what they need at their tables.

The creativity that goes into not only the authors’ writing but also their tables is amazing. I love wandering through the event hall admiring the tables and swag as much as getting signed copies of books and talking with the authors.

Leah's table

Romance books I look for are known as sweet romances—nothing beyond hand-holding and kissing. I also enjoy cozy mysteries, stories that feature amateur sleuths, and I even picked up a cozy paranormal. It’s not just romance at this fair, though this author, Leah R Cutter, writes romance and many other genres. 
 

 

Lynne's table

I was able to pick up a sweet romance from a local author I know, Lynne Hancock Pearson. Like most of Lynne’s books, Grand Gestures takes place in the Pacific Northwest.

 

 

Image from FB

Among the 57 vendors were authors and other creatives selling jewelry, candles, bookmarks, stickers, and even a tattoo shop at the reader event. To my surprise, Sailor Moon Tattoo was completely booked for the day. Maybe it shouldn’t have been such a surprise since they were featuring book-related designs.

 

The event was a huge success this year with all 250 tickets sold out. I'm enjoying my new books and looking forward to next year!