A Rose Between Two Thistles

The thistle is the floral symbol for Scotland.  While doing research for my books, I am learning so much more about this lovely country.  Immediately charmed by it, I became more intrigued each time I visited.  I don't get there much anymore, but continue to live vicariously through my books and research.  I am hoping to get there for a few days this fall when I am taking a trip to Europe.  But I am definitely planning a longer trip next year.  In the meantime, I thought it would be nice to share some of the symbolic history of this lovely country and perhaps you can understand why I choose to make it the center stage of most of my books.

Thistle grows abundantly at Coyote Creek Golf Course in San Jose

The symbolism of the thistle stands for nobility and in Celtic folk lore, damaging a thistle was cause for punishment.  Although the details of the punishment were not explicit in the tale, try grabbing one around the neck and believe me, your hand will be punished!!

The thistle has been the flower symbol of Scotland since the reign of Alexander III (1249-1286) and the symbol for the Scottish police force for many years.  One of the legends about this beautiful plant is that when the Vikings tried to invade Scotland, they crept close to the villages at night to overcome them while they slept.  They crept quietly, on bare feet. Unfortunately, they did not see the thistles surrounding the village and some of them let out cries of pain, waking the Scots and bringing them to battle, victoriously.

Thistles are biennials, which means they flower in the second year and then die. They do reseed easily and each year, it seems they get more abundant and beautiful along the cart path at Coyote Creek's Tournament Course.  They are a beautiful sight here, in the dry hills, seemingly unaffected by the drought.

Plum Crazy

I started canning last year.  I'm no expert and I don't can a lot.  But I do like taking advantage of preserving some of the fresh foods of summer, and now that I am growing some of them myself, it's especially rewarding.  Last summer I canned tomatoes, put up lots of different kinds of jams and preserves, chutneys and sauces.  

My sister's neighbor has a plum tree that works in overdrive this time of year.  She calls my sister to tell us that the plums are dropping and we go over with a big box and pick up the undamaged ones on the ground and then start picking the ones off the tree.  Here's one big bowl that were not quite ready for prime time.  This was what was leftover after we made a plum crisp for dessert.  More about that in a minute, because as you can see, the first order of business, before we got started cooking, by the way, was the plumtini.

As you can see, I almost forgot to take the picture before I had the thing polished off, but well, here was the second half of it.  We made a simple syrup with sugar and water and added a few meaty plum pits to the concoction and let it steep.  That's what made that beautiful color.  To mix the plumtini, we used one part vodka, one part marshmallow vodka, one part simple syrup.  It was pretty sweet, so we tried it without the marshmallow vodka but it didn't taste nearly as good.  So we added ginger ale to it to cut the sweetness.  Much better.  Still a bit on the sweet side, but very refreshing!  Next time, we're going to make the simple syrup with one part sugar to two parts water to cut the sweetness, instead of one to one.  If you try it and build on it, let me know.

Here's the plum crisp, which was delicious, but a bit runny.  We made the recipe up.  Plums, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon covered with a standard crisp topping of oats, brown sugar and butter.  The ripe plums were pretty juicy and I think we should have drained them longer.  But still, very good. 

I haven't had a chance to do it this year yet, but last year, with the overabundance of the plums, I made plum sauce and it is out of this world.  This recipe makes about 4 pint jars.
 2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 T. finely chopped chili pepper (I used a jalapeno which I seeded)
2 T. mustard seeds
1 T. salt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T. grated ginger root
10 cups finely chopped pitted plums

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.  Continue to boil gently for 1.5-2 hours until it is thick.  Fill sterilized canning jars with the hot sauce, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.  Remove bubbles and clean the jar rims if necessary.  Screw tops on finger-tip tight.  Process in your canner for 20 minutes.  Remove canner lid, let rest 5 minute.  Remove cans from bath and let cool.
This makes a great sauce for any kind of grilled meat and can be used as a barbecue sauce as well.  

Fetteresso Castle

I always knew I was meant to live in a castle.  This intriguing place is Fetteresso Castle.  It just so happens that my maiden name is Fetter.  This castle is in Scotland, outside of a town called Stonehaven, south of Aberdeen.  The castle is steeped in history, with the original structure having been built in the 13th century.  The area around the castle is covered with Bronze age cairns (thought to be burial grounds) and stone circles.  Sounds like just the place to set the next Mick Malone Mystery, doesn't it?  I've already started!

I would like to thank so many of my readers for their wonderful encouragement and kind words.  In the last book I took an idea sent to me by one of my readers and wove it into the story.  So if you have an idea, speak up.  And if you haven't read it yet, you can get it at the link to my Author's Page.

All four books are now available at Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon.  And the third book, The Mystery of Loch Duny, is now available at Smashwords and will be available soon on all major e-readers.

I recently did an interview with Smashwords, a large e-publisher.  Here is an excerpt from that interview:

Who are your favorite authors?

I love to read all kinds of books. Not surprising, though, mystery series are my favorite. Martha Grimes, Caroline Graham and Elizabeth George are among my very favorite authors. I also like Dorothy Cannell and of course the classics like Agatha Christie and Dashiel Hammett and many more. But I also love Stephen King and most recently have become quite a fan of David Rhodes.

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?

I feel very grateful for all the things I have been given in life. But there is so much I still want to do that I am anxious to get as much of it done as possible before the runway runs out. I have a sign in my office: "What are you waiting for?" I look at that every day and it inspires me to keep doing new things. 

What is your writing process?

I am a very visual person, so I draw a line similar to a graph on a piece of paper and fill in the major ideas for the story from beginning through to building suspense, then the climax and conclusion. Since I write a series, I also write down the big things that are going on with my characters. Once I have a good visual outline, I start writing and usually the story details unfolds pretty readily as I go. The most important thing for me is to sit down and start writing. Even if I think I have writer's block, if I just sit at my computer and start to type, the story usually comes.

If you're interested in reading more, here's the link:Interview with Smashwords