I'm staying at the family farm until April so I can be of assistance—hopefully not a nuisance—to my sister-in-law who recently had another major surgery.

(The nuisance part is constantly asking, "Can I get you anything? Are you okay? How's your pain level?" If it were only me who asked, it would be okay, but everyone who visits and calls asks!) 

As I washed dishes this morning, I looked out the kitchen window at the ancient elms that once marched along a fence line. These giant, vine-covered trees are probably far older than I.

They are a testament to endurance, withstanding dry seasons and rainy ones, scorching summer heat and bitter winter ice storms. Still they live, leafing out again when spring comes.

I guess they're a good example of hanging in there during the good seasons and the bad—something we mere humans should emulate.

Rainy Season Over

From October to the first of March, this region of Louisiana had more than the usual amount of rainfall.

Farmers anxiously scanned the skies and listened to weather forecasts because planting of just about everything should already have already been done.

The soil has been too wet to drop seed into the wet earth. The seed would just rot.

This week, all the farmers broke ground. Yesterday, the 500 acres across the road from my brother's home had one of the big John Deere tractors plowing and planting from morning until late last night.

These monster tractors have lights that could illuminate a runway so modern farmers often work until 10 or 11 at night if they're behind on getting the crops into the ground.

Small section of the planted field.

Aviation Agriculture

A few days ago, the ag planes started flying promptly at 7:30 every morning. They sprayed fields near here all day long.

If one wants to sleep past 7:30, there better be noise-cancelling headphones on hand.

The ag planes were flying even after dark which surprised me because I thought they were all VFR rated only. (visual flight)

When grasslands grow back, farmers stop buying hay

I could be wrong. Maybe they have instrument-rating for night flying.

Bulls and Heifers

For those who don't know much about livestock, a heifer is a female.

They come into "season" in the spring and send out oceans of female pheromones that wafts their way into the noses of bulls (males).

These cow pheromones send the bulls into a mating frenzy.

Old magnolia setting blooms

On the farm there are a couple of bulls. One that is already penned with 4 or 5 heifers has taken a fancy to a heifer in a different pasture.

That bull bellows through most of the day, sending a call to the heifer with whom he's infatuated. About every couple of hours, he starts the mournful bellowing and doesn't stop until about 8 in the evening. He starts again about 8 the next morning.

I guess in cattle language, he's saying, "I love you. I want you. I need you. Come to me."

Obviously, the heifer in question couldn't care less because she's contentedly munching on hay rather than stampeding to the cattle pen where he's already surrounded by admiring females. (I'll try to get some pictures of the lovesick bull when the barnyard dries out a little.)

Takeaway Truth

What does all this mean? Spring has come to the farm.

If you're fascinated by small town life and love to read about it--or write about it--Small Town Saturday is for you.

Today on Small Town Saturday, my guest is Constance Bretes, author of Blue As Sapphires.

In Her Own Words: Constance Bretes

I started writing contemporary romance and contemporary romantic suspense 15 years ago. After multiple rejections, I got my first contract for Delayed Justice, which was released in 2014. I live in the small town of Basin, Montana, with a population of 250 people, and a lot of pets.

Three feline furballs own me and my husband, and a dog that lives next door named Sara thinks she also lives part-time with the Bretes family.

I love the mountains that surround my home, I love basket weaving, jewelry making, and just visiting all the folks in the small community we live in.

Visit Constance Bretes Online

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads * Email Constance: bretesc at gmail.com

Why A Small Town Setting In Blue As Sapphires
 by Constance Bretes

I have a love for sapphires and gold digging. We’ve gone to Philipsburg, Montana, on many occasions to do hunt for sapphires and dig for gold.

Philipsburg is a real small town just a little bigger--population of 970--than my town of Basin.

In Blue As Sapphires, I used a stand-in for the real town and called the town I created Frankenburg.

In larger towns or cities, it seems harder and more unlikely that old friends could reunite. The heroine in this story came back to the town she grew up in to hide and escape. However, no matter how hard she tried to be isolated and be by herself, the Sheriff and her old friends refuse to let her be by isolated.

Typical Small Town in U.S.A.

Almost all my books are located in small towns, some are real, some I’ve used a stand-in name for a town.

I’ve got several works in progress where I use the town I live in--Basin--which I've changed to Mason for my purposes, and Boulder, where I changed the town name to Rocky River.

One of the best things about small town life is the closeness everyone feels for others, the protectiveness, and always the willingness to help your neighbor.

I also like positive gossip. I hate negative gossip. In other words, I love to hear about good things in people or good things that happen to people, but I walk away when someone starts badmouthing.

If you’re a visitor to Montana, make Philipsburg one of your stopovers. They have a huge candy store, an opera house, and lots of activities in the summer which I’ve included in my book, Blue As Sapphires.

There’s a mountain nearby, called Gem Mountain, where the owners go into the mountain and dig up dirt and bring it to a base, where visitors can shift through for sapphires, or buy a bucket or two and take with them.

What's next for me? I’ve got 6 + books in various stages of edits, and critiques. I am currently working on a story called Roadside Love, situated in another small town in Wyoming. I hope to be able to have at least 2 more books released by the end of 2018.

Blue As Sapphires by Constance Bretes

Marissa's home was her haven--until Riley invaded her space.

Escaping from her abusive ex-husband, Marissa Simpson returns to her hometown to start over. She spends her days working at the local jewelry store, and the rest of her time is dedicated to mining along Red Rock River, searching for precious gems.

Marissa has no intention of getting involved with another man, or with the community she left behind all those years ago. That is until Riley McCade shows up.

Riley is the Sheriff of Quartz County. He loves his community and goes out of his way to protect and serve. When he meets Marissa, he's bound and determined to get to know her even though she insists she's not interested.

The more Riley learns about Marissa's past, the more he concludes that she may be in danger. When her ex-husband shows up, can Riley protect her? And can he earn her love in the process?

Add Blue As Sapphires to Your Library

Amazon * B&N * Kobo *

Takeaway Truth

I don't know about you, but I'd love to visit Montana and try my luck at Gem Mountain. If you can't take off for Big Sky Country, grab Connie's book and take a vacation between the book covers. Grab a copy of Blue As Sapphires today.

When you read a novel, do you sometimes wonder why the author set the book in a certain locale? Stephen King sets just about everything he writes in Maine. I never knew there were so many creepy things happening in small New England towns!

I write small town settings because small towns are intrinsically interesting. I love to read books with that same small town atmosphere. Today's guest on Small Town Saturday is Giulietta M. Spudich. Her novel Painting Pretoria is set in a small town, and she's going to tell us why she chose that setting.

Meet Giulietta M. Spudich

Giulietta is an Italo-American living in the United Kingdom, but her hometown is Berkeley, California, which she gets to visit frequently. When in Cali, she puts down her tea-drinking for awhile and picks up exciting brews like Blue Bottle coffee and Philz.

Two wonderful housemates and the spirit of her loyal cat Smokey share her home in England. Giulietta says, "I have always written stories, and currently publish fiction with Books To Go Now, and kids adventure with Handersen Publishing."

Visit Giulietta online: Twitter * Facebook * Amazon Author Page * Goodreads. You can find her some of her short stories at Page & Spine, and you can read her poetry at Inky Cat Blog.


Painting Pretoria by Giulietta Spudich

Paint what you love, says Mrs. Rosa. But what does Anna love?

Is it her long-term boyfriend, Justin, who suddenly dumped her to spend the summer in England? Or her uninspiring thesis work in biochemistry?

To bring her out of a listless depression, her mom convinces her to go to beautiful Pretoria, Maine, the place of her birth.

Through an art summer school, the nourishing Aunt Pat and the support of her two best friends, she begins to find her voice and meets Fernando ... but is that really who she loves?

Add Painting Pretoria to Your Library

You'll find Giulietta's novel available on Amazon in an ebook edition for Kindle. It's free on Kindle Unlimited for subscribers; only $2.99 to purchase. It's also available in a paperback edition.

Small Town Saturday
by Giulietta Spudich

Painting Pretoria, published by Books To Go Now, focuses on the themes of healing, friendship, and finding one’s voice through art. Anna Bankson is a young graduate student in science who has a life crisis when her long term boyfriend leaves her. She goes to a quiet, coastal town in Maine to regroup. Under the care of her nourishing Aunt Pat and her close friendships, she finds her voice through painting the ocean. A Brazilian exchange student turns up at an unlikely time in her life, and she faces making a choice for love, or following her own road. Or could she have both?

I set Painting Pretoria in a fictional small town on the coast of Maine for a few reasons. I find the coast such a lovely place - quiet, magical, and picturesque. I also love the ocean, and I wanted to spend a whole book writing in that setting. The small town aspect is definitely crucial for the story.
Anna starts the book in a busy life in a busy city – she’s a graduate student in Houston. When she suffers a personal crisis due to a relationship ending, she really needs to slow down and regroup. When she gets back to nature, in a quiet town, her healing process begins.

The slow pace, the fresh air, and the beauty of the ocean get her experiencing her life more day-by-day, without worrying too much about what direction she will go in. Her art summer school classes open her up, not just creatively - they help her reflect on who she is and what she wants. The colorful art teacher, Mrs. Rosa, has them do out-of-the-box art exercises to experience painting with all of their senses. This helps inspire Anna.

She also meets Fernando, who’s from Brazil, and the small town aspect charges this. Their relationship has more intensity than it would in a big city with lots of social engagements going on.

Fernando has culture shock, coming from a big city in Brazil. He finds Pretoria, Maine too quiet, and is lonely, missing having lots of friends and things to do. When he meets Anna, he wants to hang out with her all the time - partly that is because his life is too isolated. So that might be a negative side of the small town life. While for Anna, the quiet is just what she needs, for Fernando, it’s oppressive.

There is another spin in the story, and that’s Anna’s mother’s past. Anna doesn’t know it, but her
mother was an artist and had a love affair in Pretoria. Her mom also went through a crisis when she was young, like Anna, and her mom left Pretoria for the very different Houston scene. I felt the physical act of Anna returning to her mom’s town allowed Anna to see her mom in a different light.

I loved writing Painting Pretoria – it allowed me to reflect on art, creativity, the ocean and love. A friend said she was inspired to take painting lessons after reading the book, and I hope it does inspire readers to be more creative, or to take time out to connect with their own voices, if they need. Or at the least, visit the beautiful, sweet Maine coast!

As for what I’m doing next...I write short stories for adults, but have moved into children’s fiction with Handersen Publishing.

I think Painting Pretoria might be my last book for adults in awhile, but you never know! I love the creativity of children’s books, and writing more adventure-driven stories in the realm of fantasy and magic. I just published The Amber Giant for middle-grade readers, this year, and I have another middle-grade adventure in the pipeline.

Takeaway Truth

Readers, take an armchair trip to the setting in Painting Pretoria with the ebook edition for Kindle. Remember, it's free on Kindle Unlimited for subscribers; only $2.99 to purchase. It's also available in a paperback edition.

The way it looked before. Now it's a weed patch.

I spent the day working on Phase 1 of Yard Renovation at our house in the country.

I Hate Armadillos

The reno was necessitated by an armadillo in 2013 that completely destroyed the yard that summer by digging  under the house in every shrub and flower bed we had worked so hard to create.

You see, in the country there aren't a lot of landscape crews to do the hard work for you. In fact, it's hard to find anyone who wants to do landscaping work.

The end result? Dead plants, mulch that ended up everywhere but in the beds where it was to keep the weeds from growing, and massive holes all around the house. In the morning, I would fill the holes, only to have darn animal make new ones each night.

Backstory

The yard never got repaired. By the time the armadillo probably ended up as roadkill, we had started renovating the townhouse in Houston we'd bought and moving. The next year was taken up by reno, moving, and going through treatment for the trapezius muscle I had damaged doing all of the above.

Then in 2015, too many life challenges landed in our lap. We rarely came to our little house in the country. When we did, it was only to mow and go back to Houston.

Another Armadillo

I thought last year I'd finally have the time to devote to what was an overgrown weed patch--everywhere.

You couldn't even see the landscape rocks that had once edged the shrubbery. But Life had other plans--and another armadillo.

Eventually it must have met its fate on a country road. According to research I did, there's really no way to deter an armadillo. The only thing that makes it go away is death.

Fields of wildflowers

2017: I Have A Plan

I think I can be here every weekend for a few months. So I  decided to work on 1 area each weekend. Make it a blank slate by removing all landscape rock, pull all the weeds, put down new weed block cloth, dump a ton of mulch over that, and place the rock borders back.

I'm inspired. I'm pumped. I'm...tired!

I worked all morning on the lantana bed at the corner where the driveway and sidewalk meet. It's a blank slate now.

I finished that shortly after noon. Now I'm waiting for the sun to start going down so I can finish that one area with the weed block, mulch, and rock.

One thing about gardening in Texas in the summer. You must pace yourself and work before noon and after the sun starts going down. The heat is just too great otherwise.

Takeaway Truth

Phase 1 is almost completed. Now, I have only--gulp--14 more phases to go. Oh, dear. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

One of our favorite places to grab a good burger is Texas Burger in Madisonville.

Texas Burger is a chain that you'll find only in small towns it seems. They advertise their burgers as being Nolan Ryan's Grass Fed Angus Beef. They're really good.

To the left of the main entrance doors, there is what appears to be a historical plaque.

If you stop to read it and notice the words in the circle around the image of the state, you'll see it's not an actual Texas Historical Marker because those words say: State of Mind Histerical Committee. (Guess that's a mashup of historical and hysterical.)

Read the rest of the sign for a chuckle.

I wonder how many people--like me--actually pause in their quest for food to read this funny marker. I liked it so much I took a photo of it to share with you.

About Texas Historical Markers--The Real Ones

There are more than 16,000 of the real Historical Markers scattered on the highways and byways of the state commemorating the history of the Lone Star State. These markers are manufactured by the Southwell Company in San Antonio. Southwell has been in business since 1866, and they make the real historical markers plus any other plaque an individual or a company might want.

Real TX Historical Marker, Ft. Bend County Courthouse

In 1856, the first Texas historical site was to mark graves at the San Jacinto battleground, but the first official State of Texas Historical Monument was Dawson's Men and Mier Prisoners, placed in 1884 at the Fayette County Courthouse to honor the men of the Dawson Massacre and the infamous Black Bean Lottery of the Texas Revolution.

Takeaway Truth

I've always wanted to stop at these markers on the highways, but I rarely do. That's my loss.

A year ago, I published Heat Lightning, a romantic suspense novella.

Giveaway Alert: Ebook copy by random draw to a commentator who leaves his/her email with comment.

I guess you could say the phrase heat lightning inspired thise story. It's an evocative phrase and means lightning, unaccompanied by thunder. It's a silent display usually seen on a hot summer night.

I can remember sitting outside and seeing the distant lightning on a quiet, hot summer night.

The habit of enjoying the quiet calm of evening still lives in small towns and rural America. I see it whenever I visit my brother on his farm or talk with friends who live in the small towns near our country house.

Setting Informs My Fiction

That small town environment is what I often write about in my romance novels. In Heat Lightning, Tessa and David are secluded at a lake house in rural West Texas. When their WiFi goes out, a neighboring rancher offers his mobile device for David to use.

That’s what people in ranch country do. If a neighbor has a need, they’re willing to help. Later when there’s trouble at the lake house, not only does the county Sheriff show up, but also the neighboring ranchers. Farm and ranch folk are used to helping each other out. That event kicks off the climax of this romantic suspense.

Giveaway

Do you like small town settings in books? Answer that and leave your email to be entered to win an ebook copy of Heat Lightning.

Giveaway open until August 5. Winner chosen by random draw and contacted on or before August 8.

Takeaway Truth

Next time you witness heat lightning, think of Tessa and David in Heat Lightning--in love but lost to each other unless they can reconnect.

My guest for Small town Saturday is best selling historical romance author Tracey Lyons. You can find Tracey Online at: Website * Facebook * Pinterest * Amazon Author Page * Twitter.

To the delight of historical romance readers, Tracey has a new release. A Changed Agent, a sweet historical romance with a Small Town setting, was published last month by Waterfall Press.

A Changed Agent by Tracey Lyons

When schoolteacher Elsie Mitchell meets rugged William Benton on a train platform in Albany, it appears they have nothing in common. He isn’t the sort of fellow a proper young woman of the 1890s would ever speak to, much less become involved with. But when she arrives at her small town in the Adirondack Mountains, Elsie is offered a job as caregiver for this mysterious out-of-towner’s niece and nephew, who’ve been tragically orphaned. Heartbroken for them, she accepts.

Unknown to her, William is an undercover Pinkerton agent posing as a lumber-company foreman. He’s never wanted family—his work is too dangerous. Yet as Elsie transforms his house into a home and he spends time with the children, he feels drawn to family life—and to Elsie.

As a good Christian, Elsie is troubled by William’s secrets…though she does find him intriguing. And when a sinister figure from her past arrives, Elsie and William will have to trust in faith and newfound love to protect their unlikely family from danger.

Tracey Lyons and Small Town Setting for A Changed Agent

Reeves: Why did you use a small town as the setting for A Changed Agent?

Lyons: This book was a perfect fit for the fictional town of Heartston, New York. I love the Adirondacks and the small town local feel you get no matter where you go.

Reeves: What was the inspiration for A Changed Agent?

Lyons: I knew that I wanted to write a book with a Pinkerton hero. The inspiration came from a lot of reading historical romances with a suspense element.

Reeves: Do you have an ideal small town in mind when you write?

Lyons: I do. It clearly is one that has a close knit community. There is always a main street where you know everyone that passes by. And there is always a place be it a church or something like a bake shop where my characters all meet up to talk about their lives or discuss the day’s events.

Reeves: What in your opinion are the best and worst aspects of small town life?

Lyons: The best part is you know most people. I adore the sense of community and friendship. I grew up in a small town in upstate New York and most of my family was from the area. I knew a lot of people. But my kids used to tell me they couldn’t get into any trouble without my finding out! So the worst part of small town life is you know most people and there are few secrets! LOL!

Reeves: What's next up for you, i.e. new book, special promotion, box set, audiobook, etc.?

Lyons: Right now I’m preparing for the release of A Changed Agent. My first book with my new publisher Waterfall Press. I’m busy doing a lot of promotion both with social media and appearing a reader events and conferences.

I’ll be at the American Christian Fiction writers conference in Nashville in August. And I’ll be signing at the first Christian Fiction Readers Retreat on August 14th. Scarritt Bennett Center, 1008 19th Avenue South, Nashville, TN.

Takeaway Truth

A Changed Agent promises to be something special. It's available at Amazon so grab a copy today for your weekend reading.