Snow Cream -- A Slightly Wistful Repost

We haven't had snow like this this winter and, while I'm not complaining, I'd sure like to make some snow cream ... this was originally posted on February 5, 2009.

 

Yesterday was a beautiful snowy day and at some point in the afternoon I remembered that Bo Parker had mentioned snow cream in one of his emails to me. I haven't made it it years, not since my boys were young, and, as I grew up in Florida, snow cream was definitely not a family tradition. But I still remember reading about the Bobbsey Twins making it and how magical it sounded.

And yesterday's snow was especially lovely, supremely dry and fluffy. I went out around four and scooped up a bowlful then rushed back to the kitchen and sprinkled a little sugar on it along with a dollop or so of vanilla . . .

. . . then stirred in half and half till it began to seem like ice cream. John and I shared the bowl and it was amazing! Pure and simple and very, very cold. So good, in fact, that after supper I made more.

Thanks, Bo! And thanks to the Bobbsey twins.

Blog Friends

Last night, as preliminary to today's Blue Ridge Book and Author Showcase, there was a reception at the Cedars in Hendersonville and I got to meet two of my blog buddies -- Carol Murdoch (The Writers Porch) and Bo Parker (Cobbledstones.) What fun to spend time with folks I already feel I know via their blogs and comments !

The reception honored Louise Howe Bailey, a much-loved historian of Hendersonville and Henderson County, with a charming dramatic presentation of some of her writing. (Carol took pictures -- I'm hoping they'll show up on her blog.)

When the reception was over, I walked back to The Waverly Inn where I am staying and enjoyed chatting with Gary Carden (Holler Notes). We sat on the beautiful front porch till the mosquitoes became troublesome and I made notes of ideas to pursue. Gary's a story teller and a playwright and I came away with ideas for at least six books, somewhere down the road. . . Melungeons and Lumbees and Lost Colony survivors and fool killers, oh my!

Literary Discussion Continued

A few days ago we were talking about what people look for in a protagonist and there were lots of interesting thoughts posted in the comments. One comment, however, came to me via email, from Bo Parker aka The Old Word Cobbler. And since it kind of ties in with an on-going question of my own, I'm posting it (with his permission) here.

Bo says: "As I chewed my way into the craft of writing a mystery novel, creating a main character out of figments of my imagination, I had to stop and ask. Who is this guy? What does he stand for? What makes him tick? Once my mind was fixed on the guy's core values and if I were to keep him true to his core values, I had to consider the scenes into which he would be placed, how he would react to different situations, different people, his actions, reactions, and even dialogue, how he would talk, what he would say."

Bo continues:"I recently read a novel in Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles series that in my opinion demonstrates how this works, or I should say, did not work, at least for me, and was part of the reason I asked the question via DorothyL about characters staying at home. Over the course of seventeen books, I had come to form an opinion about the character China Bayles, based on her interactions with family and friends in and around the fictional town of Pecan Springs.

However, in the latest book, WORMWOOD, China is pulled out of Pecan Springs, removed from all family, all close personal friends, and put on the road with a person who is more business than personal friend. For the rest of the story, China is in a totally foreign environment, a Shaker Settlement in Kentucky.

"The story is well presented as to how a character would conduct themselves as an outsider. However, in my opinion, she is a totally different in this setting. For me, it created an impression of a character that I did not find as compelling, enjoyable, unique, or as strong as the China Bayles I'd come to know in Pecan Springs. If this book and one of the earlier ones in the series were given to separate groups; each asked to read their book and write an analysis of China Bayles, my bet is that there would be two totally different reactions as to China Bayles' character."

That was what Bo asked. And it got me thinking. As some of you may remember, my first attempt at a novel (never published) featured Elizabeth on vacation at the coast of NC. I think that she stayed pretty true to herself -- after all, she's a bit of an outsider back in Marshall County, being a transplant from Florida - and she's an outsider at the coast. But the question under discussion over on Dorothy L was whether you want your series to stay put or whether you're okay with excursions.

It's just idle curiosity that make me ask. I have, at present, no plans to take Elizabeth out of the mountains. But I'm interested to know what others think. Would you like to read about our girl off some where else -- pony trekking in Paraguay . . . sightseeing in Samoa . . . visiting in Vermont . . . or doing anything, anywhere away from the mountains?