Something new for breakfast!

Get your TASTE-BUDS ready!

Posted by SandySays’ Weblog on August 25, 2018

Posted in: authors, books, Cook Books, Cooking, Family Values, fiction, Fishing, Florida, literary, publishing, reading, Recipes, Uncategorized, writing. Tagged: authors, books, breakfast, Cooking, editors, florida, Fort Myers, humor, Life, Pine Island, publishing, reading, writing. 1 Comment

With the corona virus confining us in our ‘quarters,” it gives us more time to try new things – like recipes. This a great breakfast that uses common ingredients and provides a new taste experience!  This is a post worth repeating!

My beautiful and beneficent wife mentioned that we have fewer guests to fish the peaceful bays and backwaters of Bokeelia. I have to agree. We wondered why. The Misses suggested if I cooked Eggs Bokeelia more often they might turn up. I told her it was worth a try.

What are Eggs Bokeelia? They’re something that gives you a real taste difference at the breakfast table! I’ve given the recipe in my Sandy Says1 blog, but not in this one. They are a little work, but they taste a lot special!

Shall we begin? To make breakfast for two (four eggs), chop 1/8 plus a little cup of sweet onions, 1 large mushroom, and 4 green olives (w/pimento)- fine please.

A picture is worth a lot of words so see above. Keep the toasted muffins warm as you prepare the rest of the dish.

Place two generous tablespoons of your favorite butter sub (Can’t Believe/Country Crock) and put in a microwave for 30 seconds. Beat it with a spoon or with a fork if you’re a fork kind of gal or guy. Place diced onions, mushrooms, and olives in the sauce, stir, and place in the microwave and let ‘r’ rip for another 45 seconds. Keep the mixture warm. See Below.

It’s time to get egging. Preheat your skillet and place two greased egg rings inside. Fry up two at a time – eggs that is. Sunny-side up or over easy, your choice. (I like mine over easy)

While you’re sizzling up the eggs, it’s time to start our construction project. Remember the English Muffins? Place a slice of cheese on each one – like so. See below. I like American, but Swiss, Cheddar, Provolone all work. TYC—-

It’s time to put some meat on our “bones.” Cut a slice of processed ham (like DAK) in two pieces and toss in with your eggs just to warm them. Pick them from the skillet and top the cheese.

Now we’re close. Place the fried eggs on top of the ham. Chef’s note: If you are big on keeping things in order (Alphabetic or otherwise) the cheese may top the ham. It’s not a bigee!

With the eggs riding high, it’s time for the finale – Here comes the Sauce! Here comes the Sauce! Here comes the Sauce!

Walla you have Eggs Bokeelia! Please, Please, don’t crowd in too close. You can thank me anytime taste buds.

Enjoy!

PS – See how complicated you can make a simple thing? Welcome to my web – site that is.

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Some Good News! …… And, getting ready for “the season.”

DL at a book-signing in the Sarasota B&N

When you have a lot news, most of it good, there is the temptation to want to spit it out at one time and inundate those around you and those who read your blog. I hope to fight and win that battle. I’ll spread it out over several posts.

The first great news is that I’ve signed with one of the leading literary agencies in the US and the world. I’m now represented by The Seymour Agency. This is particularly pleasing to me because its founder, Mary Sue Seymour, was one of the people I credit as significantly encouraging me to keep writing. There is a link to The Seymour Agency on this post and one on my web site. I’m really looking forward to working with Nicole, Julie, Lesley, and all of the Seymour team.

My latest mystery/suspense novel featuring Archaeologist Chessie Partin

The second is that my latest released novel has been greeted with some great five star reviews. Escaping Skeletons, a mystery/suspense, is a story revolving around Operation Paperclip, the military program that was used to locate, extricate, and immigrate German/Nazi scientists to the US (and peripherally to South America). The book is the second of the Chessie Partin, archaeologist series. Chessie was introduced in The Bait Man and has developed quite a fan base. The history portion of this book is intriguing. It deals with a part of the OSS project that many have forgotten and many more would like to forget. Does the end justify the means? Are the unintended consequences of a “mistake” erasable? The novel offers some thoughts on these issues and some really suspenseful reading moments.

A link to one of the 5-star reviews is included with this post. It will also be on the first page of my web site. — For you Chessie Partin fans, she’s already involved in another investigation. When an Indian midden is discovered on a property to be developed, she and her boss are asked to investigate to see if artifacts exist there. They find some. But, the real interest is in the seventeen sets of remains that are probably the result of a serial killers activities.

DL at Master the Possibilities earlier this year. His schedule is being doubled this fall/winter.

This will be my busiest fall & winter season yet! My PR person is scheduling me at almost twice the number of venues when compared to last year. I love the contact with my readers…and just readers in general. Readers are thinkers. I firmly believe that, and my writing keeps those folks in mind. I’ll have much more on my historical presentations, seminar classes, and book-signings in later posts as the schedule is completed. If you wish to get me as a speaker, contact:  prlady2016@gmail.com —- quickly. My schedule is filling fast.

One more thing — I’ll be reviving my Newsletter beginning in the 4th quarter of this year. It will contain news about my books, appearances, what’s new, what’s coming and I’ll share some personal happenings that I think will interest you. Visit my website to sign up.

Links:

Review of Escaping Skeletons       https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/escaping-skeletons

Website for The Seymour Agency        www.theseymouragency.com

Website for  DL Havlin                           www.dlhavlin.com

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Eating Ourselves – the crime of censorship …

Censorship is a little like eating yourself.

This post has been in my mind for well over a year. I see sprigs of this…poison ivy…sprouting everywhere. It’s coming from some of the most surprising and discouraging areas. What is this dangerous and malevolent thing that is creeping into our lives and importantly into our writing? Censorship.

It’s sometime disguised. Sometimes, it’s blatantly advocated. We see it in social media. We see it on TV and radio. Worst of all, we see it in our writing. It comes from all sectors of social, economic, academic, and literary life. It’s now acceptable, even fashionable, to believe only one viewpoint is shareable. In fact, if one disagrees with a diverse point of view, it is professed to be acceptable to suppress that viewpoint—violently if necessary. What a perverse intelligence…one which allows us to correctly and importantly embrace diversity of human interaction, yet condemns diversity of thought.

One example. It is fashionable for only a member of a societal group to speak for its values, issues, history, etc. The disguise is that this will afford that group the best representation. Comments are made like, “brown voices who descent are unwelcome.” Really? We ignore history. Abraham Lincoln said, “This is the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war possible.” He was addressing Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1862. Her book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is one of the most important and formative pieces of literature ever written. That book spurred the public’s level of aversion to the sickening institution of slavery. And, that produced enough public support for a war to end it. Look at the pictures below. Harriet was not black. She was an impassioned advocate for black freedom.

Young Harriet

Harriet Beecher Stowe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diversity of thought is the food progress requires to exist. We, as literary people, must understand and defend this vital part of human progress. Totalitarianism, requires singularity of thought to control…which it must have to dominate. It destroys.

It is up to the person who disagrees on an issue to counter an opponents argument, not shout it down or suppress it. If you can’t, ask yourself…Is my position correct? If you can’t, maybe you should reconsider what you are advocating.

All of us must have one thing clearly in mind. No matter how repugnant you and I believe something someone else says, believes, espouses…et al, we must form as one to insist that someone has his free and unfettered ability to present it.

 

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Hi, Ho, A-Dario to FAPA I will go

Getting the opportunity is two fold at conferences of this nature: From the faculty, from your fellow authors!

I’ll be in Orlando this weekend to attend FAPA’s (Florida Authors & Publishers Association) annual conference. If you don’t attend conferences like this one, you’re missing an opportunity to really advance your craft and career. The obvious benefits to the attendee are the presentations made by faculty on all manner of trade related subjects. In this area one of the most obvious benefits is keeping current with what’s happening in publishing. Either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint, the rate of change is ever increasing. If you let your knowledge of “What’s Happenin'” degrade, you could find yourself in a hole that takes some climbing to get out of! Picking talks about areas you need help or that keep you current really are a short cut to improvement.

The networking and interchange of ideas is another benefit that can be as important as the formal classes. Depending on your publishing path, info like the name of a particularly good editor of books in your genre, an agent looking for clients, name of a new publisher, etc. are tidbits that fly at these meetings. (And at the bar.) Getting to know fellow authors is a great plus. Many, NOT ALL, are willing to share tips and help. It gives you the opportunity to discuss your “product” in an interested venue.

I don’t know if an space is available to attend the FAPA conference, but if you live in Florida I’d highly recommend you make that last minute decision to check it out and come. Do a search on FAPA to get the info.

i

This is one of my “products” I’ll be talking about.

Hope to see you there!

 

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Writers Conferences – go to one if you’re serious about your work!

Dr. Mary Custureri – President of Taylor & Seale Publishing – 2019 key note speaker at SW Florida Writers Conference

If you are serious about writing, if you want to publish your work, one of the very best contributors to your success will be to attend a writers conference. After being a chairman of one I feel stronger than ever that these events are a catapult to gaining writing skills and the network to use them.

I’ve attend many of these and have learned loads at all but one or two. (These were book fairs disguised as a conference.) Literally, it eliminates a lot of the trial and error that goes into gaining the needed experience to turn out novels and articles you can take pride in. Ours was a real success. Not because we had 70 class sessions to choose from. Not because we had over 200 attend. Not because there were thirteen TRUE professional agents and editors there. I know it was successful because of the many folks who told me they learned so much in such a short time.

The Southwest Florida Writers Conference will be held again next year – April 18th, 2020. You can get information on the website http://www.southwestfloridawritersconference.com .

I’ll be there, and will be teaching a class. No, I won’t be towing the barge and lifting the bail, someone else is doing that this year. I’ll get to enjoy this one a lot more.

The networking dinner at Luigi’s

Jesse Samuel Owens – the cowboy poet – entertained us with some verse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

audience at a panel discussion

Welcoming attendees

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner time

Agents & editors tour Randell Research Center.

listening to a speaker

 

 

 

 

 

 

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America Revisited – return to a town and story 20 years later

Otway Burns, Revolutionary War hero, still stands guard on the village square of the town named for him. Other than preparing for a new walkway – Old Otway is exactly the same after 20 years.

Want to be revitalized? This is not an ad for Centrum Silver, Geritol, Alive!, or Nugenix. It’s a suggestion: If you want to refresh your attitude and want your faith restored in America, visit a small town in “fly over” country. I recently had the opportunity to do this. What a tonic and antidote for the toxic times we live in.

The occasion for my visit to the wonderful North Carolina town of Burnsville was my dear and best friends eightieth birthday. It’s a relationship that I’ve treasured for 50 years. His birthday celebration and the wonderful people who made it successful is an inspirational story and I’ll save that for a future post.

It is my relationship with CTC that exposed me to Burnsville and the North Carolina mountain country. Only 35 miles from Asheville, the town is the Yancey County seat. Its cool air and crystal waters are a summer oasis for flat-landers like myself and that’s what attracted my Floridian friend to its environs. Burnsville was/is the setting for one of my novels, September on Echo Creek.

Main Street in the mountains – Sunday morning & peace are still one.

Some of Burnsville’s stores have changed since I wrote September on Echo Creek. New businesses have replaced old ones in some cases. I miss the general store that was an institution for years. The library has moved a few hundred yards to new digs. But, the town’s flavor and charm haven’t changed. I recognized many of the business names that were around when my novel was published. Most importantly, the friendly nature of the establishments is a reassuring constant. A great example of this is the inn where we stayed. The Nuwray is living history. Built in the 1830’s, it is a can’t miss stop for people who are antique lovers, history buffs, and observers of Americana … a place so warm and wonderful its effect is far more invigorating than a shot of B-12. Great small town restaurants surround the Nuwray. Find a place to park your car and forget it.

The Nuwray Inn – America at its best, yesterday and today.

However, the most encouraging and soothing thing I discovered was that the Burnsville people were as I remembered. Stable, friendly, and helpful, they remain the same as when I wrote about them in my novel September on Echo Creek … published 20 years ago. The heroine, Gaylynn, escaped poisonous relationships by fleeing an environment that threatened to destroy her. Her life was controlled by guilt strings. The Burnsville people  rescue her and help her cut her bonds. The fabric of these wonderful people hasn’t changed. The Brendas, Ferrells, Bos, Annettes, Kens, Micheals, Micheles, Randys and Christinas are the same as the ever-lasting earth. The earth grows the bread to nurture our bodies. These small town people grow relationships that satisfy our souls.

You can sit and relax on Main Street here

People still rock and talk in small town USA. Shouting is reserved for mountain to mountain communication.

Try this if you want some solace for your psyche. Find a map of a rural location 100 miles from a big city. It can be in your area … or not. Extend your index finger and point to a small town. Look for a spot with a past like the Nuwray. Visit and stay there. Don’t try to rush around and see the sights. Toss your car keys on the dresser and forget them. Believe me, if you’re not certain about a place, the Nuwray and Burnsville are a marvelous choice. Go. Then just enjoy breathing. Enjoy people. Life in America is still great if we’ll take the time to live it.

 

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Why readers and history are SO important!

I’ll be at Sandman Books today, where this picture was taken on a previous visit.

One of the most enjoyable tasks involved with my writing (it isn’t really a task) is to share some of the information I uncover when doing research for my books. Today, the Sandman Book Company in the Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, and Cape Coral area opens its doors to people who want to learn more about Florida’s turbulent beginnings. These people are readers. They are the thinkers and reasoners in our society. They understand that truth is harder to color in the written word than in the spoken (or televised) word.

So often the content, or lack of it, is disguised by skillful presentation. It appeals to our emotions, to our greed, to our self-righteous over simplifications, and to the deliverer’s desire to stifle decent. A reader can study the matter before him because it does not disappear when the TV remote off button is pushed or the speaker leaves the podium. Is it possible to make lies believable in print? Oh, yes! Is it more probable that they will be unmasked? Absolutely, YES!

That is why history and its integrity is so important. It’s the past preserved in writing. It gives us a stake in the ground to measure the present. It is also the reason why many wish to rewrite it to their advantage. Or, eliminate it completely if it furthers their single-minded agenda.

I would leave you with this thought:

History is important

If we must face our past looking through separate windows, we will never see the same thing or see it together.

You may quote me.

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I’ll be speaking at the Sandman Book Company at 2:00 PM this afternoon (Saturday, 7/21) located at Turtle Crossing on Burnt Store Road south of Punta Gorda. There is already a large group signed to attend, but I’m sure our gracious host Heidi can accommodate all who wish a visit me. It is a great store!

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The reaction to the writer’s conference is been fantastic! Check out ABC-ArtisansOfBooks.com for more info.

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A Hidden Gem in Southwest Florida – The Crowley Museum!

That’s where I’ll be this weekend. The #Crowley Museum is one of those places that few folks know about and that lots of people should. It’s a living photo of history within a two-and-a-half hour drive for those living in communities from Marco Island to Clearwater and into the center of south Florida.

 

One of the structures at the Crowley Museum

The Crowley is a late 1800’s frontier town that’s been restored to preserve the area’s heritage. It even has some of the cattle breed the Spanish brought with them in the 1500s that was the foundation for Florida’s first important industry, “ranch herding.”

The event for this weekend is the Southwest Florida Heritage Festival. There will be all kinds of demonstrations like squeezing sugar cane and making syrup from the juice just like Florida Crackers did using draft animals and wood fires. Other exhibitions include spinning, whip making, bee keeping, noodle making, pioneer cooking and more! Here are a few pictures.

 

Museum Exhibit – Whip that gave birth to the term “Cracker.”

Transportation – 1880’s Florida style. One of a multitude of exhibits (as they were) at the Crowley Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sugar Cane Press

A place to think and stink back in the day.

Irma was rough on this wonderful example of Florida history. It has just recently been reopened after the extensive work done to put it back as it was! I highly recommend you stop by and see this fascinating bit of Americana. I’ll be presenting two historical talks at the Crowley Learning Center. “The Loyal 14th Colony: Florida in the Revolutionary War” will presented Saturday (2/24) at 11:00 AM. I’ll talk about “Florida: The Forgotten Years – 1865 to 1920” on Sunday (2/25) also at 11:00 AM. Both presentations have power point programs with them and I’ll stick around to answer questions and chat afterwards. In fact, I’ll be there both days open to close. Instructions to get to the Learning Center are available on line and will be at the event.

The Crowley Museum is located very near Sarasota. Exit I-75 on to Fruitville Road East. Fruitville dead ends into Myakka Road. Turn right.  The road twists and turns for a few miles to 16405 Myakka. That’s about 13 miles from the #210 exit off I-75. It’s on the left side of the road traveling east. There is a website with more info. It’s http://www.crowleyfl.org .  GPS should get you there. Come see me this weekend!

 

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A full plate!

It isn’t often that you have one of the descendants of a historical figure you’re discussing in one of your presentations. I had two!

Just when you think you have control … control has you! A few days before Christmas I believed, erroneously, I had the next four months hog-tied, caged, and on the truck. January through April are a very busy time for me. Florida’s winter residents make it the time for all types of organizations to hold events. That means it gives me lots of opportunities to meet a lot of you, do my impersonation of a car salesman and sell books, and it makes my historical presentations, book readings, and writing classes a lot more frequent.

Wham! My publisher was ready with one of my books earlier than I anticipated and there were galleys to peruse. Bam! A writer’s club, one which I’m on the board of directors, decided to start work on a great project, but one that gobbles time. Allikizam! PR Lady (my publicist) received a lot of new opportunities for me speak, crowding my schedule. Yes, I still have to finish a book in February! Finally … Double WHAM! The damage caused to my seawall isn’t resolved. Insurance companies believe you pay them so they have money for their executive payrolls. What a mess!

My crumbled seawall

Neither Home owners, Hurricane or Flood Insurance covers this damage! Insurance insures one thing … it insures the insurance companies stay rich!

All this has turned my smoothly oiled machine into rusted junk. At least as far as my time is concerned.

I’ve been speaking a lot at libraries, historical societies, book clubs and civic organizations and have been to a number of book festivals and signings. The most recent one (last Tuesday) was at the Englewood – Charlotte County Library as part of the city’s week-long historical celebration. My topic was about one of Florida’s most important figures from the 1800’s, Jake Summerlin. We had a “full house” of enthusiastic listeners. Two of them were descendants of old Jake himself. Both were embarrassingly complimentary of the talk. That’s quite an honor. Those two gentlemen’s pictures are highlighted at the beginning of this post. Below is a photo of the participants. Charlotte County’s library system and their Cultural Center are among the best we visit in the state. If you’re interested in having me speak to your group, go to my web page at http://www.dlhavlin.com and click on the presentation list on the right side.

SRO at the Englewood – Charlotte Public Library. Thanks Lynda C. for such a well run program!

If you are in the Englewood area tomorrow (2/10), I’ll be at Pioneer Park 10 to 4, meeting, greeting and yakking. The park is located at 301 Dearborn, Englewood, Florida. Come on out, I’d love to meet you!

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One priceless gift……….

Special meanings are sometimes received in unusual gifts.

One football helmet. Used. Scared. Priceless!

Yesterday, my wife found a package that had been delivered by UPS. We evidently weren’t home when it was delivered for the delivery man placed it in a place where it would be safe from the weather. It was in plain sight, nestled in a group of boxes of similar size and shape. Obviously, it went undetected for a few days. In the box were Christmas presents sent from my daughter and her family.

My daughter is a busy sales executive (V.P.), but she manages to take the time each Christmas to find a gift that transcends the obligatory … her gifts are personal. I’ve come to expect and look forward to their arrival. But this year … this year, I received a priceless gift in that plain brown corrugated box. However, it was not from her.

You see it pictured above. It is a football helmet, one worn by my Grandson Brad. With it was a note, a note I choose to selfishly keep as one of those objects that is of the “heart,” private. It is for me to savor and for me alone. That’s one of the things that makes it so special. As we age we appreciate life landmarks more; we know life’s important issues because we have lived it.

As a grandparent of four marvelous young adults, I have been blessed. Like all grandparents, I want to do what I can to make each one successful and, most importantly, happy. When I looked at my inventory of items I might share with Brad, my experience coaching football was something I believed would help him. He was an eager learner. He never lost the flex in his knees, kept his toes in so he could start quickly in any direction, kept his power line low, and never let a blocker get to his outside leg when he played outside linebacker. He was a very good player.

As satisfying as seeing him play successfully was, receiving the helmet is an indication that he learned things that transcend the physical skills he was taught. The greater values a sport teaches us are values that are retained and used as we go through our lives. Brad values our relationship on a deep level; it is one of those lessons. The value of team work, personal sacrifices required to attain a goal, embracing hard work, learning that we are a victim if we choose to remain one, and the concept of loyalty to ideas, to organizations, and to people are notches on a person’s character belt. Thanks for a priceless gift, Brad. I’ll sleep well tonight.

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