Ye Olde Rubber Band Trick

You are probably looking twice at the picture above. This is the inside of my purse.  You see some gum and a tube of lipstick within a zippered pocket.  And the only blue in the photo is a rubber band wound tightly around the gathered pocket fabric, closing off the hole in the corner.  While this may be less than sightly, it certainly is functional, until I either sew the hole shut or buy a new purse.  

I have my father to thank for this easy repair tip.  I remember him showing me the rubber band at the tip of the pocket in his trousers.  When the rip occurred as he was teaching school, he quickly solved the problem like this.  Thank you, Daddy.  Good one!

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Goodbye Lie Diaries
Fernandina, Florida 
late 1800s

Peeper

Grandmother Peeper writes:  I pronounce yur trick ta be Peeper approved, Jane Marie.  I been a-doin' the same thing with string once er twice myself, especially durin' the war.  My bonnet's off ta your pa.  Glad ta see you a-carryin' on his tradition.

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Note:  Peeper is the ever-thrifty grandmother who walked into Dunnigan Manor on Amelia Island, Florida in the 1860s, home of the beloved Irish family in The Goodbye Lie Trilogy, and never left! 

Vivien Leigh, a Star

My sister, Peggy Brown, vacationed in Hollywood.  Knowing I'm a big Windie, meaning Gone With The Wind fan, she searched the Hollywood Walk of Fame and snapped this photo of one of the most delicately beautiful women from the past, Vivien Leigh, star of that film.  How sweet of Peggy.  She knows her sister well.  Thank you, Peggy.

There are over 2,500 stars, all five pointed, on the Walk!  

Click on the link below for lots of pretty pics of Vivien and more. (Thank you Google Search.) -->Vivien Leigh Pics and Quotes   

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Read my Goodbye Lie series set on Amelia Island, where Little House on the Prairie meets Gone With The Wind ... info at http://www.amazon.com/Jane-Marie-Malcolm/e/B002ZFSBKE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1439924592&sr=1-2 

Gone With The Wind Anniversary

Scarlett and Pa on the hill overlooking Tara

Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, one of the best-selling novels of all time and the basis for a blockbuster 1939 movie, is published on this day in 1936. (June 30th). This quote was taken from the following website: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gone-with-the-wind-published 

Many years ago, before there was make your own cross stitch pattern complex software like we have today, I somehow created and stitched two Gone With The Wind themed pictures. 

* see info about the above quote

 
I actually came up with the idea of Gone With The Wind cross stitch kits, complete with cloth, pattern and floss.  My intention was to make my fortune by selling the kits. I was certain there were millions of cross-stitching Windies out there.  So, I sent a sample kit to Ted Turner in Atlanta, Georgia, the owner of Gone With The Wind rights.  Happily, his people loved it.  Unhappily, they required I ship them a particular quantity of kits, oh, something like 10,000, that they might distribute them worldwide.  So much for that particular dream.  

Well, I can still share the results with you.  Sharing is the best part of anything anyway.  

* “There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind...” - written by Ben Hecht.  Mr. Hecht was paid $10,000 by producer David O Selznick for a fast doctoring of the Gone With The Wind (1939) script, for which he received no credit and for which  Sidney Howard won an Oscar, beating out Hecht and MacArthur's Wuthering Heights (1939) script.- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372942/bio

Advice to Aspiring Authors-Author's Digest Interview cont.

Posted May 18, 2015 by M Burns
This time, Jane Marie tells us about the inspiration for her book, as well as her advice for other aspiring writers.



Jane Marie, what inspired you to write your book? How long did it take you to finish it? 

My husband lost his job due to company downsizing, and we were forced to move from our small town of Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida. How might I remember this place we had come to love and would miss so very much? I’ll just write a book, I thought. You should write what you like to read, right? I love historical fiction. Since I had taken docent training at our wonderful Amelia Island Museum of History, I had those basics down. The rest came from my imagination. My intention was to write one book and put it in my daughter’s hope chest for posterity.

We moved back to Amelia Island after two years. Little by little, family, friends, acquaintances and strangers read The Goodbye Lie and provided encouragement; the result was a confidence which filled me. When a woman I very much respected emailed me with: “GBL (Goodbye Lie) is a real world to me,” I felt validated. It was a sort of permission to continue to find out what happened to the other grown children in the fictional Dunnigan family. As a result, I ended up with a completed trilogy, each book taking about two years to finish… with a wonderful life, weddings, a grandchild, and politics slowing the process between novels.

What’s the one message you’d like to convey to readers about your book?

It’s simple. The key to happiness and love is forgiveness.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Someone told me once to make a wall hanging or pillow before I tackled the sewing of an entire quilt. It’s the same with writing a book. Complete a short story first, then another, then move onto longer pieces. If you don’t mind the hours falling away as you write, or the sun yielding to the moon without you realizing it, or not talking aloud to anyone for extended periods while you silently converse only with the characters in your head, then writing is for you. Let go and enjoy!

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For more information about Jane Marie and her books, check out her blog [here] at www.GraciousJaneMarie.blogspot.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Amelia Island’s Goodbye Lie Trilogy is available at Jane Marie’s blog or at the following links:

The Goodbye Lie

Amelia Island’s Velvet Undertow

Amelia Island’s Mark of a Man

Author's Digest Interview-Fave Authors

Suspicion and Betrayal – Jane Marie Malcolm’s Amelia Island

Posted May 15, 2015 M Burns

Welcome ... to Author’s Digest and the ... interview with Jane Marie Malcolm, ... author of the Amelia Island’s Goodbye Lie Trilogy : The Goodbye Lie, Amelia Island’s Velvet Undertow, and Amelia Island’s Mark of a Man.

Jane Marie talked about her (rather colorful) life and background. Today, she discusses her literary influences… and introduces us to her trilogy.

Jane Marie, were there any books or authors that influenced your style?

Little did I realize how watching the movie Gone With The Wind at age nine, and then reading Margaret Mitchell’s novel of the same name as a teen, would influence my future writing of historical romance. The strong hero, Rhett Butler, set the standard (in my mind and millions of others) of what tasteful-yet-thrilling romance should be. As I wrote my historical trilogy, my thoughts stayed within the limits of that kind of good taste. Having dedicated my first novel, The Goodbye Lie, to my father, I often tell readers, “I didn’t want to be embarrassed when Daddy read it,” and they understand what I mean.

Jan Karon (author of the Mitford series), Jane Austen, and Laura Ingalls Wilder are at the top of my list of favorite writers, too.

Tell us about your Amelia Island’s Goodbye Lie Trilogy.

While some call Florida’s Amelia Island a romantic Victorian paradise, suspicion and betrayal are part of the seductive setting of the Amelia Island’s Goodbye Lie Trilogy as well. Exploring the captivating mysteries deep within the Dunnigan family, the novels focus on the lives of each of their grown children. Discover where Little House on the Prairie meets Gone With The Wind on Amelia Island.

The Goodbye Lie – It is 1882. Men will die for Breelan Dunnigan. Her foolish vault into folly alters the lives of many… too many. Honor is relentlessly tempted by jealousy. Will it hold against the attack? The lure, the love, the legend …

Amelia Island’s Velvet Undertow – It is 1889. Carolena Dunnigan is judgmental and dismissive. Lured by a world-famous conductor to Charleston, South Carolina, she finds deceit creeping all around, which drives her into the horrific Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood.  His want, his will, his way …

Amelia Island’s Mark of a Man – It is 1898. Amidst the Spanish American War and a great hurricane hitting their enchanting island, Pat Dunnigan (hero or heel) lives hard and loves wild. His sister Marie is an innocent magnet for trouble. Their days and nights are laden with jarring conflicts and assaulted by haunting mysteries. The rains, the rage, the romance …

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For more information about Jane Marie and her books, check out her blog at www.GraciousJaneMarie.blogspot.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.

The Amelia Island’s Goodbye Lie Trilogy is available at Jane Marie’s blog (above) or at the following links:

The Goodbye Lie

Amelia Island’s Velvet Undertow

Amelia Island’s Mark of a Man

A Tasteful Treat for Mother

This month, we honor all mothers and women who are like mothers to us.  With that honor comes respect and with respect comes good taste.  In that vein, I proudly declare that my historical Goodbye Lie mystery/romance trilogy has been compared to Little House on the Prairie and Gone With The Wind.  I deduced my fictional Dunnigan clan is similar in family devotion to the Ingalls family.  The beautifully passionate romance from the thoughts of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With The Wind , is similar in style to that of my heroes and heroines, or so I've been told.

I humbly invite you to read a more gracious style of story-telling from the past, a classic style that, for many of us, is lacking in the present time.  Get to know each of the grown Dunnigan children in the series and witness their deeds and misdeeds in the late 1800s in Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida. May they, and so many of the other characters, become your lifelong friends, the same as they are mine.    

THE GOODBYE LIE - It is 1882. Men will die for Breelan Dunnigan. Her foolish vault into folly alters the lives of many, too many. Honor is relentlessly tempted by jealousy. Will it hold against the attack? The lure, the love, the legend …

Amelia Island's VELVET UNDERTOW - It is 1889.  Carolena Dunnigan is judgmental and dismissive. Lured by a world famous conductor to Charleston, South Carolina, she finds deceit creeping all around, which drives her into the horrific Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood.  His want, his will, his way … 

Amelia Island's MARK OF A MAN - It is 1898.  Amidst the Spanish American War and a great hurricane hitting their enchanting island, hero or heel, Pat Dunnigan lives hard and loves wild.  His sister, Marie, is an innocent magnet for trouble.  Their days and nights are laden with jarring conflicts and assaulted by haunting mysteries. The rains, the rage, the romance …

 

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely A Must Read Book ! 

 [The Goodbye Lie] from Blue Sparrow

Format:Paperback

WOW! I didn't see ANY of that coming! The characters have depth. No one is ALL good or ALL bad. They are likable, lovable, and detestable.
I thought only real life could have so many unexpected twists and turns.
Jane Marie is a master with words. She really brought me into the story and made me feel a part of the action.

Available in paperback and eBook at book sources everywhere.

Gracious Decorating Ideas

If you love the beauty of antiques, as I do, little touches will add color and bring the pretty past into your home.  In this case, I have framed floral wrapping paper and centered sheet music from 191l on top. Covered with glass for protection, I chose this particular image because it is romantic and delicate and simply lovely.  I had the frame, the wrapping paper and sheet music from my husband's grandmother's gramophone, so it cost me nothing to assemble.  Any sheet music, old or contemporary will work, of course.  It's all about what you like since it will be hanging in your home.