Tracy S. Morris

The sun hit the trees at the pond outside my house just right last evening. The reds and golds are really popping this week.

Foodbuiling for fun and profit (but mostly fun) What do Sugar Skulls In The Halloween Tree tell us about Día de los Muertos?

Anyway, I wrote a substack based around The Halloween Tree that got me thinking about that.

open.substack.com/pub/foodbuil...

I feel like Americans have forgotten the art of processing death. We used to go to decoration services every year. They put flowers on graves, visited neighbors and had picnics. It looked a lot like Dia De Los Muertos. Different time of year, different trappings. Same point. When did we lose that?

Worldbuilding And Food - Harry Potter How does use of food contribute to the story in the Harry Potter Series?

In time for spooky season.

open.substack.com/pub/foodbuil...

More rain, but still a good day to drive in the Ozarks and have dinner on the train.

Making a special treat for the kids since their Halloween campout was canceled due to bad weather.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. 😂

Foodbuilding for fun and profit (but mostly fun). How does food tell the story in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow?

I’ve joined Substack to try a thing. If you like writing and you like food, you might like to read my thoughts on using food as a tool for world building. #writing #writercraft

open.substack.com/pub/foodbuil...

Gateau invisible aux pommes (invisible apple cake). Not sure what’s invisible about it. Unless we’re making it invisible one bite at a time. 🍽️

New experiment: air fryer oly koek.

These type of beads went around the world. When they say that Manhattan Island in New York was purchased for a handful of beads, I imagine these were what they were speaking of. #mudlark

Folklore has it’s own sort of charm. Where I am from, they say that you can fortell the severity of winter by looking inside a persimmon seed. If you can see what looks like a soon, then you’ll be shoveling a lot of snow that year. #mudlark #amreading

Maybe the water washes away sorrow and grief, leaving the item cleansed for the #mudlark to find? #amreading

Me (texting my dad): good morning! I love you!

Dad: when’s the next part of your story coming out?

#amwriting

She gave most of her fees to charities. And yeah, plates and paper dolls and lots more. There’s a style of bed called a Jenny Lind bed. They still sell them under that name today.

By Lind’s time, PT Barnum knew a lot about marketing. That’ probably why she was so noteworthy.

Ben Franklin (several decades earlier) saw how people there were using fans with his face on them and decided to support his stay by selling his own stuff. But he hadn’t gone to France with the intention of doing that, so he had to write his daughter for his family soap recipe.

I think maybe the biggest difference was marketing. With Liszt, I feel like the composer was annoyed that these crazy people were following him hoping to get his dirty hankies. With Lafayette people were selling commerative plates, but they were doing that on their own.

I think there was more of a 1:1 equivalent with the fans of Franz Liszt. Historians called it Lisztomainia. The articles I read stated that his fans would fight over his handkerchiefs. Doctors were worried that his fans had a genuine medical malady.

You would think that. Then her name pops up in cities like Fort Smith Arkansas. I know Barnum was her promoter, but her name must have really been everywhere. Like Beatlemania.

It’s so strange to me that there are random streets all over the country named after Jenny Lind. That would be like going to Bulgaria a hundred years from now and seeing a Taylor Swift avenue.

Peach season is the best time of year. 🍽️

Hubby surprised me with dessert. 🍽️

Having a bit of a mezze platter tonight. 🍽️

I introduced my 13-year-old daughter to Pride and Prejudice. Now she’s sending me memes. #P&P #JaneAusten #myworkhereisdone #cackling

Creamy chicken soup with orange carrots, green celery pieces and red paprika flecks floating in the broth.

The cold has me craving chicken soup, so I made a big batch tonight. Any recipe that calls for boiling a whole chicken is going to be a good recipe. 😋🍽️

I’m moderating a panel on #PhineasandFerb at #fencon this weekend. (And before you ask, Yes, yes I am). If you could ask any question on a P&F discussion panel, what would it be? (Besides Hey, Where’s Perry?)

a man with long hair is standing with two other men Alt: A slow zoom on three fancy vampires looking down from a balcony with an air of superiority.

We get that not watching makes you feel like this. But that halftime show was a murder.

Two murders in one night #superbowl2025

Just watched fans from a team in Kansas City and a team in Philadelphia that are playing in New Orleans sing a song about West Virginia by a guy named after Denver who was born in Roswell. That’s got to be the most American thing at the Super Bowl.