I Love the USA by Barbara Edwards

With everyone talking about romantic love this month, I had a hard time deciding on a love topic. I was going to do a travel post about this beautiful country but need to find the right pictures... So....  

Being the grand-daughter of immigrants is the most powerful reason why I love this country. I remember my Grand-mother at the age of sixty decided to become a citizen. She had to learn to read and write English to take the exam although she was already fluent in Polish. She was always a stay-at-home wife although she arrived here with the promise of a job as a second story maid for the Parsons Estate. My Grand-father was the head gardener there.

My other Grandmother emigrated with a Jewish family who needed a child-care worker to help the nanny.  My Grand-father and his brothers were sent to the Americas by their father when the Russian Army conscripted all the young men from Poland. They were go to Brazil, but my Grand-father was so sea-sick he refused to continue after they reached New York.

They prized this country. It gave them the opportunity to find jobs, buy homes and raise their children without fear of the government.

Maybe the fact my uncles fought in WWII in France, Italy, North Africa and the Pacific Theater for the Army, Navy and Marines adds to my belief this country is worth my love. PS my aunt riveted airplane wings and my Father worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yards on the ships.

Don’t let me forget my husband is a retired policeman, another way to serve and love your country. My grandson is going to college to take up law enforcement.  

This country enabled me to be the first in my family to get a college degree. I worked as a waitress to pay my tuition and for my books until I got a scholarship. Then I worked at the school to pay part of my costs.

I try to write that love into my historical romances. I know my children love this country. My daughter Theresa and her husband Donald Spahr were in the Army. My oldest son and his wife retired from the Navy. My youngest son was in the Navy on a submarine. Another grandson and a granddaughter are in the Navy.

To this day I hear the National Anthem and choke up. I can’t sing God Bless America without crying.

 I love the United States of America. I hope you take the time to remember why you do, too.

 Visit www.barbaraedwards.net for free reads and excerpts from my books.

  

COOKING MEMORIES

We are suppose to share our recipes this month—a great time for it with Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner. There is just one little issue with me writing about cooking...I don't cook. No, really. I don't. I cook one time a year...Christmas. My hubby cooks most of the time.

It's our little agreement when I began writing in earnest. I still have a regular forty hour a week job besides my writing. So, hubby agreed to take over the cooking. Never was my forte...cooking that is. Goes back to my youth.

When I was growing up, Momma went back to school to finish her degree in teaching. My sister and I took turns cooking supper while she was at class. Now, my sister-she can cook! I mean she makes anything melt in your mouth. Great cook. Me...not so much. My cooking is legendary in my family with my brothers bouncing my biscuits off the patio, my scrambled salmon patties (don't ask)... the list could go on and on until it was decided I would be better cleaning up after supper.

It's not that I can't cook, I just don't enjoy it except on special occasions. I do love to bake. So I thought I would share my recipe for chocolate pie.

Chocolate Pie

1 c. of milk                     1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs yolks                   1 baked pie shell
2 Tbsp. cornstarch         2 egg whites
1 Tbsp. vanilla               1/8 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar                      4 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa               1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine sugar, cornstarch and cocoa. Beat egg yolks and combine with milk. Mix together and cook over low heat until thickened. Pour into cool pie shell. Make meringue by beating egg whites until stiff. add salt, sugar and vanilla to pie with meringue and bake at 300 degrees until brown.

Now would be a great time to promote one of my books where one of my characters was cooking...don't have one of those scenes. What I do have is a great new release...one of my favorite books I've written
Another Night Falls, the third book in the Tides of Charleston Series...it has it all, intrigues, adventure and romance...

A love to die for...

AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE, WCP

Sumner Meador walked in a world of wealth and privilege as part of Charles Town’s elite, but that was years ago. Now he fights in the Southern backwoods driven by the passion he holds for the Patriot cause, shadowed by his past. Reeling from a devastating defeat at the hands of the British, Sumner seeks haven at his farm, only to find an interloper—an unwelcome and unwanted distraction. He has no time for the young woman or the complications she brings with her, but soon discovers he has no option but to give aid to the stubborn, courageous beauty whether she wants it or not.

A widower, Sumner has been haunted by the death of his wife and is consumed with a desire for revenge.
Jane Kilmer has been violently thrust into the midst of the civil war ensuing in the backwoods. Hiding from one of the most dangerous vigilantes, Jane trusts no one. Suddenly, she has no choice but to put her life in Sumner’s hands. Both desire revenge, but neither wants what happens—to fall completely, undeniably in love with each other—so much so, that both are willing to die for the other. And they might have to.