 Fans and readers have asked dozens of questions about Lottie, who in hindsight took over the novel. So, I've returned to The House on Persimmon Road in late Spring, not as a writer, but as a guest. Wearing an apron, the bib straight-pinned to her cotton house dress, and a pleasant expression, Lottie welcomed me into the house. The grand hall seemed larger than I recalled. The old floors gleamed, the walls painted a rich cream. I asked what changes Tucker and Justine had made. Lottie opened a door on the south wall. "This was my linen room. Now it's an indoor bathroom. Can't even hang my herbs to dry in season. Used to have lavender, mint, sage, marigold, and such." The dining room was still converted into an office. I glanced in as we passed the open door. The room was modernized with state-of-the-art computers and all sorts of electronic gadgets. In the kitchen the old farm sink was filled with green tomatoes. A hand-turned grinder stood on the counter along with dozens of canning jars, a gallon of vinegar, and a bowl of salt. Lottie poured me a huge glass of sweetened iced tea. "You can sit, but I got to keep at it. I'm canning pickle relish." "It's quiet," I noted. "Where is everybody?" "Justine and Agnes are at a Girl Scout camp with Judy Ann. An overnight. Tucker, Wheeler, and Pip are fishing up on Dog River. Pauline is off with her high-falutin' friends on ghost tours in Savannah and Charleston. As if there is any such thing. What questions do you have? I already explained all I know about being betwixt and between." "You may not believe it, but most of your fans don’t know what it means to dobe a roast." "Law! You're trickin' me, Jackie. Every woman ever lifted a fork knows how to dobe a roast." "Not in the twenty-first century, they don't. Or how to make pickle relish out of green tomatoes, either." Lottie put the first batch of ground tomatoes in a huge bowl, stirred in two tablespoons of mustard seeds, sprinkled the lot with a half-cup of salt, then wiped her hands on her apron. "I best have a glass of tea myself," she said and sat across from me, her brow wrinkled in angst. "You puttin' how to dobe a roast in another book?" "No, I'm just going to write an article about it." "Well...back in the early days, we didn't have store bought beef or pork. We butchered those animals ourselves. Or a neighbor did and you traded for a haunch. You wash that roast good and dry it. If it was wild game like a turkey hen, wild boar, or venison, you ground up mustard seeds and rubbed it all over. I allus poked a few cloves in my wild game. Next you take a good quality lard and rub it all over the meat and let it set for an hour. Then you dobe it with flour. That means you roll the roast in it. Wheat flour is best, but a fine ground corn meal will do. Next you brown the roast all over in a good hot pan of lard. I allus baked my roasts in a clay baking brick. Henry Watson made the best brick oven dish. I don't know where mine got to. Probab'ly stolen during The war, right along with my pigs. That's how you dobe a roast. Nowadays, you can use mustard right out of a jar, and Justine swears by olive oil. But when I put up a fuss, she'll buy a pound of lard at Publix. Hog lard makes the best biscuits. Anything else? I got to get my canning done." "One more question, if you don't mind. How did you keep up with war news?" "Why the Mobile Register, 'course. Came up on the mail boat. Listed all our men folks kilt. That's how I found out Elmer was gone over to the Red River Campaign in Louisiana. We didn't have roads or mail delivery like today. Mail boat brought the newspaper, ice blocks in sawdust, spices, and sometimes the scissors and notion man. Elmer kept our knives sharp, but he was a fair mess when it came to my scissors. The captain would sound the horn when he was coming up river, and folks just go down to our docks up and down the river. 'Course after the Union blew up Fort Morgan, that was the end of any fair-sized boat slipping up river." Lottie moved back to the sink and started grinding more green tomatoes. I took the hint. "Thank you for having me. I appreciate it." I still had a bevy of questions, but thought it best not to push my luck. "If I get any more questions from your fans and readers, would you mind if I came back?" "I might. How nosy are those folks?" "They're just curious. But mostly they're eager to learn how people lived in those early days. What they wore for everyday clothes, how they shopped and what was essential for everyday living. Maybe you could talk about a day in the life of Lottie Mae Roberts. Or how you and Elmer spent time in the days before the war." "I best give it some thought and talk to Justine, too. " "I'll email her in a few days." Lottie saw me to the front door and, once I was on the porch, latched the screen. "Don't knock over the mailbox backing out," she called. Oh, that poor mailbox. Both Agnes and Pauline had run over the thing while learning to drive. I hope on my next visit I will see the rest of the family and learn how each is doing. Today was a good start. Hope y’all enjoyed this visit with Lottie! If you want to see Lottie in action, The House on Persimmon Road is on sale for $0.99 this week only! All my best, Jackie XoXo Love, Laughter, and Ghosts in this Sweet Contemporary Romance!
Here's what readers are saying about The House on Persimmon Road! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I loved the characters and the premise of a haunted house and the family that lives there, the romance and all the things that Lottie comes up with. Such a really good read for any romance reader" – Vine Voice (PureTextuality.com) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Wonderful And Fun!" – Vine Voice ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "This book was so entertaining, heart-warming, and very hysterical. I enjoyed every single minute..." – Top #1000 Vine Voice  Connect with Jackie to stay up-to-date on New Releases and Specials!
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It's just a perfect Texas afternoon... It's seventy-something, and the sun is peeking in and out behind wispy clouds here in my corner of Texas. The weather is just right, no humidity, just cool enough to keep mosquitoes huggin’ the undersides of leaves and not makin’ pests of themselves.  Tiny titmouse chicks hatched yesterday in the nest mama titmouse built atop the anchor bolt in the satellite dish. They’re not feathered up yet and their necks are wobbly. Neighbors on two sides of me have their outdoor grills fired up and the good cooking smells are wafting in the air. I can tell by the aroma of spices comin’ across my back yard that one is grilling fajitas, the other is barbecuing chicken.
No salt while the beans are boiling to soft because salt toughens every dang thing it touches, except laundry water. I use plain old table salt to soften the hot water for whites. Works as fine as Calgon, if you add the salt to the washer before you add soap and bleach. Oops, got off topic. I was talking about butterbeans. If you have a hamhock or bacon drippin’s handy, add it to the bean water. If not, add one packet of Goya Ham flavored concentrate. Works just as fine. I put a lid on the bean pot for the first twenty minutes. By that time the beans have got up a good rolling boil. Then I take the lid off, and turn the fire down because I want that water to simmer on a soft burble until the butter beans are tender as all get out. Once done, move that pot off the fire, sprinkle salt over the top--not, too much--then put the lid on and let them rest while you bake the cornbread.
Foods up! You’re ready to eat. Now, in the South, we season our beans in the bowl with Tabasco sauce. My Uncle Frank, bless is departed soul, loved his butterbeans topped with ketchup and Tabasco. I forgot to mention sweet iced tea. I have fallen in favor of peach flavored iced tea. I make a pitcher of that separate. Everybody else in the family likes plain old Lipton. You can use any fake sweetening for tea that you like. I use pure cane sugar. When I tell you a pinch of real sugar, I mean it. Because sugar breaks down fibers. Fake sweetening won’t do the job. Bet you didn’t know that. FACT, you can take the toughest cut of beef, score it, dampen it with water, and rub granulated sugar on it, put it in a paper bag in the fridge overnight. Before you cook it, bring it to room temperature, next, rinse the sugar off, season to taste, cook it any old way you prefer…it will be fork tender. Movin’ on to dessert... It is not shameful to use store-bought mixin’s, especially if it cooks up better than you can do it from scratch. We’re having hot peach cobbler and Blue Bell vanilla ice cream. The very best cobbler mix is Louisiana brand Cobbler mix and any brand of canned pie fruit, with the syrup. Soon as you take the cornbread out of the oven, pop in the cobbler. Long about the time you’ve cleared the table and got coffee perking, cobbler’s ready. Enjoy. Now that you know what's for dinner... May I suggest a way to read three of my favorite books for one low price? And hundreds of thousands of more books, too! For a limited time, the Almost Perfect Series is available to read free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription! Don't have Kindle Unlimited? Learn more and/or sign up for a Free Trial Here! Three men, seductive as sin and living single, meet three strong women passionate about life, loving, and family, who will change their lives forever…  Follow Jackie to stay up-to-date on New Releases, Specials, and just plain ol' chattin'!
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