We’ve decided to move our Lavender CottageCore here, and we’ll be posting the second and fourth Tuesday every month. Thank you for joining us!

Today’s Recipe

We have exciting news! Our Welcome to Lavender Cottage BookShop mug is now available at our store. You can also find all our ebooks there…and some stories are free today.

Since we have our new mug, we decided to share another recipe from our Burrows Bay series. While it’s sunny today, there’s also a cold breeze, so hot chocolate seems like the perfect choice this afternoon.

Gabbi & Moira’s Hot Chocolate

Also knows as cocoa with cinnamon…a family favorite!  Add marshmallows, cinnamon sticks, peppermint stick, or anything else to make it your own.

• ¼ cup cocoa
• ½ cup sugar
• Dash of salt
• ½ cup or hot water
• 4 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Ground cinnamon

Combine cocoa, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan.   Stir in hot water.  Bring to a boil over low to medium heat and boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. 

Stir in the milk and heat but do NOT boil.  When warm enough, take off heat and add vanilla extract.  Pour into mugs and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.  Enjoy!  Should serve 4 to 6.

Author Spotlight

Today, we want to share a book by Author Bill Hiatt. This is the first book in his Whispers from Olympus: Novels Based on Greek Mythology. It’s available in Kindle Unlimited, and we hope you’ll take a look.

Orpheus is not interested in inheriting his father’s throne. He wants nothing more than to use music to bring joy to his fellow mortals. Jason believes that nothing is more important than wresting his father’s throne from a usurper. He wants to perform heroic feats that will earn him as much glory as possible. Under ordinary circumstances, Orpheus and Jason would probably never have met. Certainly, they would never have been allies. But scheming gods plunge them into adventures greater than either of them has ever imagined. Both of them want to achieve their respective dreams. But facing hostile armies, monsters, and even conflicts among the gods will force them into horrible dilemmas. Will they sacrifice their dreams, or will they die trying to preserve them?

Find the rest of the story here!

Lavender CottageCore

Too much rain and cold this weekend to take photos, but I did get a good look at the garden…and it’s going to be a LOT of work. While some plants seemed to be recovering last summer from the hailstorm, they aren’t showing any signs of life yet. We’re going to wait a few more weeks before we decide what to do next with the big garden, but we do have some fun ideas for the smaller areas.

If the garden has to be completely redone, we’re going to move some of the arbors and arches, which will open up whole new design possibilities. An allee is not out of the question, but we’d probably use our purple climbing beans rather than roses. However, roses will be in the garden! With our cold winters, climbing roses are always a challenge, but some old fashioned roses do very well.

I was going to post a photo of garden arches, but this one popped up on Pixabay and looks like a dream. Very pretty and something to encourage our imagination. What would you like to include in your garden? I definitely want butterflies to visit!

Once Upon A Rose – Chapter 4

Finally, we want to include a chapter for everyone to read at the end of each newsletter. Here’s the next part of Once Upon A Rose, the first story in our Enchanted Fairytale Series. Action, adventure, romance…and maybe a little magic. (If you missed the first three chapters, we have a link at the bottom of the story.)

Celsiana had given this idea of hers a great deal of thought and the next evening, she decided it was time to talk to her parents.  However, it was also the evening her brothers returned home from their visit to a nearby kingdom.

As she walked into the main hall, she was very pleased to see Bryce and Trevor…but she was surprised they had two lovely young women with them.  No one had told her anything about this.  One of the women had long, light blonde hair, while the other had dark brown hair, which was done up in a mass of curls. 

“Celsiana, little sister,” Bryce said, picking her up in a hug.  “It’s very nice to see you!”  He glanced back at the blonde and added, “I’d like you to meet my fiancé, Princess Arabella.”

“I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance,” Celsiana replied with a curtsy. 

“And this is Princess Seraline,” Trevor said, walking up and hugging Celsiana.  “She is my fiancé.”

Celsiana curtsied to the other princess, saying, “I am very happy to welcome you to our home.”

The women both smiled and glanced at each other, seeming to share a secret between them.  They nodded slightly and walked over to the brothers, who escorted them into the dining room.  Celsiana was very happy to see her bothers, so she did her best to make the other princesses comfortable. 

When her parents joined them, the two women became quite animated, asking all about her mother’s interests and fawning over her father.  Celsiana realized she was probably being too judgmental.  She had gotten used to her friends and had forgotten what most royalty was like.  She smiled to herself and did her best to keep track of the conversations around her.  No one was really paying much attention to her, so she ate dinner and nodded at the appropriate times.

After they finished eating, Celsiana debated whether she should wait to talk to her parents about her idea.  After a moment, she decided they would only get busier with two visiting princesses.

“I have something I’d like to discuss,” she said to her parents as they started to leave.

“Very well,” replied the king smiling.  “Would you like to commission another bench?”

No, well…yes, that would be very nice,” Celsiana replied.  “But I wanted to ask you about the gardens.  I’d like to open them to the people of the village for tours.  Then, they can find out more about our plants and maybe even get some seeds or small starts of their own.  I’d like to do it with all the gardens, but especially the vegetable gardens.”

“Have peasants tromping through your royal gardens?” asked Arabella in shock.  “They would destroy them.”

“And sharing plants with commoners?”  Seraline winced.  “I do not think my father would understand such an outlandish idea.”

“Nor would mine,” agreed Arabella.

The king glanced from one princess to the other, then returned his gaze to Celsiana.  His own princess had such hope in her eyes, but he couldn’t see the point. 

“Having your friends visit is quite enough for now,” he replied.  As she started to object, he added, “I hope I will not come to regret that decision.”

Celsiana nodded and glanced at the two princesses, who both looked at her like she was out of her mind.  She curtsied to her parents and walked past the others on her way out.  When she got back to her room, she decided it was time to make a few changes.

Thank you for joining us today. If you miss a newsletter, please visit our Lavender Cottage Blog, where we’ll show every post. Have a wonderful Tuesday!