19th Century Astoria, Oregon--home to my series

 Over the past five years, I’ve built a multi-ethnic cast of characters (Swedish, Danish, German, Irish, Finnish, Russian, and Scottish) with my contributions to the Old-Timey Holiday Kitchen series. I set all five novellas in Astoria, Oregon, between 1876 and 1879. I like to think the hub of the community is the Riverside Bakery, where the first three heroines served as managers. The most recent addition is Kringla by Kelci, in which I gave cameos to as many past characters as I could fit into the story.

Kelci Odell yearns to be a newspaper reporter and is caught upstairs at a saloon, dressed as a man. Her wish was to interview the ladies and expose their plight in an article that would land her a job…instead of making cheese on the family dairy farm. But her conservative Norwegian family is scandalized. The solution: send Kelci to her cousin Ritter’s Astoria, Oregon hotel until the gossip dies down. Being in a new location doesn’t quash her curiosity.

Even though Hauk Stefanssen spends his days on a fishing trawler, he hears about the schemes of a new arrival in town from his chatty younger sisters. The woman’s spoken with Peder at the fire safety council and Eryk at the family’s cannery. Feeling ignored, he seeks her out and is bowled over by her assertive personality. After reading her articles, he sees through the brashness to the compassionate woman inside and vows to become better acquainted.  But what does an easy-going fisherman have to offer this dynamo?

Amazon link and in KU

The other titles are:

Ginger Cake by Glynna

Aebleskiver by Annika

Butter Pound Cake by Berdina

Escalope by Emma

Written as standalones, they are enjoyed read in the above order because subsequent stories include mentions of previous characters.

I have thoroughly enjoyed diving into the research to make the city come alive and have loved the tidbits I learned about ethnic customs.

If you had to pick one most important thing you want to see included in historical stories, what would it be?

Visiting Sequoia National Park

As a native California, I’m sad to admit that I have visited Sequoia National Park only twice. Once as a teen on a family outing with a friend I was staying with after her boyfriend and his friend stayed later than our established curfew. Her parents were not too happy with us, and we were dead-dog tired. The second time was about four years ago after the forest fire. So I feel like I haven’t had a stellar view of the park. But I received a fresh look while doing my research.

We all know that parks are created to protect certain natural geographic and landscape features and/or the resident animals. I was surprised to learn that Sequoia was created to protect from logging and animal grazing and hunting. Trees growing within the park include blue oak woodlands, foothill chaparral, and yucca plants at the lower elevations and Ponderosa, Jeffrey, sugar, and lodgepole pine trees at the higher elevations. By preventing logging, birds and their habitats were protected. My research turned up thirteen species residing in the park, including mountain chickadee, black-beaked woodpecker, mountain quail, and hermit warbler, to name a few.

Unknown photographer. From monovisions.com

Current visitors probably proclaim the General Sherman tree to be the stand-out feature. I certainly remember it for its huge size—the world’s largest tree by volume. The tree is impressive from above, but when you reach the bottom of the multiple tiered path and stand near it, you are in awe. It is set with a grove of giant trees that include five of the largest ten in the world. Three of the ten oldest species on earth are found in Sequoia.

I did my best to include many of these facts when I developed my story, Floree, and look forward to researching more facts for my other two stories, Pinna and Isleen coming in 2026.

BLURB

Artist Floree Percival goes to stay with the Sprague family in Sequoia National Park. Captain Hank Sprague serves as park manager and agrees to chaperon her. A student in the natural science department of University of Southern California, she’s also the illustrator for her university mentor’s book on the birds and wildlife of California. But her heart’s desire is to write and illustrate children’s stories.

Corporal Kent Mercher is in Sequoia National Park in its second summer with his cavalry unit from the Presidio in San Francisco. Their assignment is to prevent wildlife poaching, sheep grazing, and illegal logging. What he doesn’t expect is to be assigned to a two-man guard duty unit to protect an artist, who has no business being there when the cavalry has serious business to attend to.

Coming from different backgrounds, the two have almost nothing in common until one afternoon when they are forced to seek shelter in a cave, escaping a pack of wild boars. Camaraderie develops from that day forward until illegal logging is discovered in the park and Floree is shocked to recognize her cousins are the culprits. Caught in the middle between family and a new love, what will Floree choose?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F92RZDX2 

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Magic City of the Plains

The reason behind the nickname for Cheyenne, Wyoming, has to do with its origin. Before mid-1865, no permanent structures existed in the valley to the east of the Laramie Mountains. But US Major Grenville Dodge had the task of locating and surveying the best route over the mountains for the Union Pacific portion of the transcontinental railroad, and he established a tent camp for him and his workers. His misspelling and mispronunciation of the native tribe’s word “shai-en-na” into a two-syllable word gained popularity by usage.

courtesy of ResearchGate.com

Dodge suggested the town site at a Fourth of July party. Once the route was accepted, a terminal town was established from which to base the railroad’s construction. In fall 1867, construction of Fort D. A. Russell was built where a cavalry encampment had existed to protect the construction workers from the local tribes who (rightly so) resisted the invasion of their lands. As happened in all railroad boom towns, real estate speculators arrived first in hopes of snapping up land they would turn around and sell to the arriving gamblers, tradesmen, merchants, and saloon owners who followed the railroad. In August, 1867, the town charter was accepted by the Dakota Territorial Legislature (this happened before Wyoming became a territory), and the population soared to 4,000 inhabitants by the end of the year. Three hundred businesses operated. A school opened to handle more than 100 students. Churches of several denominations were built. As if the city appeared by magic from the plains.

As for the railroad construction, the workers were laying an average of 6 to 7 miles of track a day. (One day’s record was 8 miles.) The track reached Cheyenne on November 13th, and the first train arrived the following day. Then the workers moved on toward Sherman Pass—come and gone n the blink of an eye. Much of the lawless element moved with the railroad crews. But as with many railroad towns, not everyone picked up stakes and moved to the next terminus town. Many liked the organization of the town and the location well enough to put down roots, but the population dropped to 1,450 in 1870. Once the transcontinental railroad was in operation, the town was established and ready to provide services to travelers.

Cattle raising on outlying ranches provided the town with business. Then in mid-1875, the Black Hills gold fields were opened, and miners and prospectors came to Cheyenne for supplies. A stagecoach line was established to relay passengers and supplies to the gold mines. Electric lights were built in 1882 at a time when Cheyenne was the wealthiest city per capita in the world. By 1890, the population grew to over 11,000.

My upcoming story, Amata, Cupids & Cowboys book 5, is set in 1892 Cheyenne. My previous book in the connecting series, Grayson, Bachelors and Babies book 8, is set in 1871.

BLURB: Rancher Harlan Thorpe has his hands full and needs no more distractions. He’s establishing a breeding program on his ranch, keeping an eye on his stubborn son who keeps ditching school, and riding herd on his younger brother who would rather drink and gamble than put in an honest day’s work. What he doesn’t need is a nosy woman telling him how she can help his son with his learning disability--even if she’s the first woman to spark an interest in years.

Two mischievous young boys contrive situations to get Dario’s sister and Liam’s dad together. Each time, the adults don’t know what has hit them, but the growing feelings are definitely not in either one’s plans. 

Amata preorder link

Grayson buy link or FREE in Kindle Unlimited