The Dog Days of Summer, Birthdays, and Buttered Noses
July 13, 2023 by marianne h donley in category From a Cabin in the Woods by Members of Bethlehem Writers Group tagged as birthdays, buttered noses, dog days, Family, grandparents, hot, Summer
The Dog Days of Summer isn’t just an expression that indicates summer days so hot dogs are driven mad. It’s an actual astronomical event when, Sirius, the dog star rises in conjunction with the sun. The Dog Days are listed as starting on July 3rd and continuing through August 11th.
In my family, the Dog Days of Summer marked the beginning of birthday season. I have three brothers and three sisters. Then there are my children, nieces and nephews, in-laws (or as we insist out-laws) and now the grandchildren and grandnieces and grandnephews. A significant number of them have birthdays in July and August.
Birthdays
Birthdays around our place were always a bit different. With so many relatives we seldom had friends to our birthday celebrations. We rarely severed cake but rather baked from scratch (including the crust) birthday pie. There were favorites – quite a few apple pies, pumpkin (made three days ahead of the feast and refrigerated to the proper coldness), lemon meringue, peach, and rhubarb for my mother.
And when my mémère (French for grandma) was alive, if it was your birthday, you got your nose buttered. It was supposed to make you side through the year to your next birthday.
Now Mémère assured us this was an old French custom, but I never met any other family who practiced nose buttering–even the few friend of mine when we were growing up who also had a mémère and
Buttered Noses
So, a few years ago I googled it. Sure enough, other families butter noses, but the articles I read listed the custom is either Scottish or Irish. I suspect Mémère would be upset by these claims as she was very proud of her French ancestry even though the family arrived in the New World well before there was a United States. She and Pépère spoke French at home, and my dad and his siblings didn’t learn English until they went to school.
I must admit that she frequently got things wrong. For example, she was also very proud of being born on June 13th and every year would tell us that she just missed being born on Friday the 13th (it happened to be a Saturday that year because it was a leap year). But when she died my aunts found her birth certificate. She wasn’t born on June 13th, that was the day she was baptized. She was really born two days earlier and forever celebrated her birthday on the wrong day.
Wrong day
My aunts were upset, but I would like to think Mémère would not have cared if she had ever noticed. She was happy to have a pie baked by my mom, and she would laugh her head off when we would sneak up and butter her nose so she could slide through another year.
Does your family have different birthday customs? What are they?
Some of Marianne’s Short Stories are in the following books
Romance Awareness Month and why you need romance in your life by Jina Bacarr
August 11, 2018 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as August, books, hot, romance, Summer
Find romance in a romance novel and this hunky guy, too!
August is romance awareness month.
Not sure why someone picked this month when half the world is on holiday with the family or wishing they were. Not enough time for romance when you’re watching the kids in the pool or trying to wave down a taxi in London with a toddler in your arms.
To me, romance should be about cool breezes and fruity drinks on a sexy, tropical island with lots of down time, sarongs, and him shirtless. Ah, yes… (see below)
We all need romance.
The subtle flirting of a cocked eyebrow raised in your direction, a low growl from the back of his throat when he sees you in your bikini, cuddling together under a blanket and playing footsies. Mood changers, for sure. That certain connection that doesn’t come in a bottle. The “feel good” hormone. I talked to a woman in Starbucks recently waiting for her Internet date. When I asked her why she’d meet up with a guy she didn’t know, she said, “I wanted a little romance in my life.”
Wow.
I so understand. However, the good thing is, if you’re between boyfriends or dates, you can pick your romantic destination as easily as picking up a romance novel. As writers, we get to experience both creating and writing about our heroes.
Works for me….
=============
Here’s the shirtless guy I promised you…oh, yeah.
The Dog Days of Summer, Birthdays, and Buttered Noses
August 1, 2017 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley tagged as birthdays, buttered noses, dog days, Family, grandparents, hot, Summer
The Dog Days of Summer isn’t just an expression that indicates summer days so hot dogs are driven mad. It’s an actual astronomical event when, Sirius, the dog star rises in conjunction with the sun. The Dog Days are listed as starting on July 3rd and continuing through August 11th.
In my family, the Dog Days of Summer marked the beginning of birthday season. I have three brothers and three sisters. Then there are my children, nieces and nephews, in-laws (or as we insist out-laws) and now the grandchildren and grandnieces and grandnephews. A significant number of them have birthdays in July and August.
Birthdays
Birthdays around our place were always a bit different. With so many relatives we seldom had friends to our birthday celebrations. We rarely severed cake but rather baked from scratch (including the crust) birthday pie. There were favorites – quite a few apple pies, pumpkin (made three days ahead of the feast and refrigerated to the proper coldness), lemon meringue, peach, and rhubarb for my mother.
And when my mémère (French for grandma) was alive, if it was your birthday, you got your nose buttered. It was supposed to make you side through the year to your next birthday.
Mémère and Pépère Hebert 1973
Now Mémère assured us this was an old French custom, but I never met any other family who practiced nose buttering –even the few friend of mine when we were growing up who also had a mémère and pépère.
Buttered Noses
So, a few years ago I googled it. Sure enough, other families butter noses, but the articles I read listed the custom is either Scottish or Irish. I suspect Mémère would be upset by these claims as she was very proud of her French ancestry even though the family arrived in the New World well before there was a United States. She and Pépère spoke French at home, and my dad and his siblings didn’t learn English until they went to school.
I must admit that she frequently got things wrong. She was also very proud of being born on June 13th and every year would tell us that she just missed being born on Friday the 13th (it happened to be a Saturday that year). But when she died my aunts found her birth certificate. She wasn’t born on June 13th, that was the day she was baptized. She was really born two days earlier and forever celebrated her birthday on the wrong day.
Wrong day
My aunts were upset, but I would like to think Mémère would not have cared if she had ever noticed. She was happy to have a pie baked by my mom, and she would laugh her head off when we would sneak up and butter her nose so she could slide through another year.
Does your family have different birthday customs? What are they?
Marianne H. Donley makes her home in Tennessee with her husband and son. She is a member of Bethlehem Writers Group, Romance Writers of America, OCC/RWA, and Music City Romance Writers. When Marianne isn’t working on A Slice of Orange, she might be writing short stories, funny romances, or quirky murder mysteries, but this could be a rumor.
If you want to know more about the Dog Days of Summer here are some links:
http://www.refinery29.com/2017/07/162153/dog-days-of-summer-spiritual-meaning
https://www.almanac.com/content/what-are-dog-days-summer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_days
https://www.space.com/12624-dog-days-summer-sirius-star-skywatching-tips.html
0 0 Read moreNaked Sushi and RT Book Reviews by Jina Bacarr
May 11, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as books, buzz, chocolate, contemporary, Cosmo, Harlequin, hot, naked, read, red, romance, RT, RT Book Reviews, sushi
“I got goose bumps thinking about the icy cold fish wiggling between my thighs even if they were dead fish,” says Pepper O’Malley in Naked Sushi, my upcoming Harlequin/Cosmo Red Hot Read (Oct 2013),
Naked Sushi is about more than dead fish.
It’s the story of a smart working girl who is trapped by her own fear of rejection. Pepper is a computer whiz, adventurous, and has all the right moves, but she keeps sabotaging her efforts to get the job she really wants.
Does that sound familiar?
All of us fear rejection, which is why we put off finishing that manuscript or sending it in until we do one more polish that is never enough. I know. I’ve been there. I learned that writing may be a solitary job, but publishing is a team effort. No matter how good your manuscript is, it will remain a lonely .doc file on your computer unless you press that Send button.
Like Pepper, I started in the world of video games, playing with the boys, so to speak. No one wanted to hire women, but somehow I got the job. I learned how to write interactive games, which has since helped me in writing novels. Keeping all the balls, that is story points, in the air and tying up all the ends to give the player, and now the reader, a satisfying ending.
It’s not all dark chocolate truffle delights. You will get rejected.
I have. For lots of reasons. But I never stop trying. Never will. It’s in my DNA. That’s why writing Pepper was so important to me. I wanted to show that we have to get to the root of our fears, as Pepper does, and sometimes that means opening up and letting it all hang out. Talking about it with a good friend or the hero in your life helps…so does writing in a journal.
It’s good for your soul.
And your story.
You’d be surprised what you’ll find out about yourself.
——————
Naked Sushi Update: I was so excited to see my Cosmo Red Hot Read from Harlequin mentioned on the RT Book Reviews site:
“With our column, Forewords, we let readers know the latest book news about some of the web team\’s most-anticipated upcoming releases across the genres — just as the projects are announced!”
via Forewords – The Books Before The Buzz | RT Book Reviews.
—————–
This is so cool!! Click on the link above to go to RT Book Reviews, then scroll down to DOWNLOAD AND GO and you’ll see NAKED SUSHI mentioned under Contemporary Romance.
Thank you for the mention, RT!
Jina
0 0 Read moreNaked Sushi is a Cosmo Red Hot Read from Harlequin by Jina Bacarr
April 11, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Castle, contemporary, Cosmo, Covert Affairs, Harlequin, hot, naked, Person of Interest, read, red, romance, sexy, spy, sushi, Sylvia Day |
| “Naked Sushi” cover coming soon. I thought this illo had a “Bond Girl” feel to it. |
What girl doesn’t enjoy reading Cosmo? With its sexy articles and fun fashions, the magazine has evolved over the years. But one thing remains constant:
You know when you pick up Cosmo your libido is going to do a tap dance.
My libido is dancing overtime.
I’m thrilled that my novella, NAKED SUSHI, will be a Cosmo Red Hot Read from Harlequin.
I’m still pinching myself that my wise-cracking, computer-hacking, sex-starved heroine, Pepper O’Malley, will be a Cosmo Girl.
Pepper watches all the cop and spy shows on TV–Castle and Covert Affairs are her favorites–and she’s intrigued by Person of Interest.
And now she’s got her own story to tell:
Like Pepper, I also worked for a video game company, wrote code, and worked with audio/video. I also worked for Japanese companies and wrote a book called “The Japanese Art of Sex,” which was featured on Playboy TV.
I was thrilled when Harlequin added “Naked Sushi” to this exciting new series.
Sylvia Day is the launch author for the series with “Afterburn” in August 2013.
“Naked Sushi” is scheduled for October 2013.
More to come in the upcoming weeks!
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