Bernie and My May Birthday

Memoirs and More, the fourth Wednesday of the month

Hello and welcome to the kick-off of the new series, Memoirs and More. 

When spring arrived and COVID seemed to be waning on the horizon, I wanted to shake off the darkness and sadness I felt during the shutdown caused by the pandemic. 

I was ready for something new in my writing world, so I transformed my blog with a new layout and new plans. One of the changes is to offer a monthly schedule of posts. Below is the monthly schedule I plan to follow through the summer, then re-evaluate this fall.

I am lining up guest memoirists and planning articles on memoir writing and book reviews and....wait for it...giveaways on the fourth Wednesday of the month. 

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My Birthday Cake!
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

The image of the birthday cake is probably all of a birthday cake I'll receive this week. My birthday week began with GT taking me out for breakfast at the Overboard Inn in Twin Lake, Michigan. I love their 8" cake-pan-sized, delicious cinnamon rolls, but I was good and shared mine with him. The only thing missing was a birthday candle on top of the cinnamon roll. One candle is sufficient. There is no cake with space enough to accomodate all the candles representing my age! I hate to be cliche about it, but I live by the old adage "you're only as old as you feel." I am thankful that I have had the joy of growing old enough to see my 5 grandbabies grow up. They range in age from 12 to 20.  

Enough about my birthday 2021. Today I am being very bold and reading an excerpt from Arranging a Dream: A Memoir about my 30th birthday. Of all the "milestone" birthdays #30 was the hardest for me. And let me tell you, I've had many birthdays to compare with this one. 

My friend, mentor and colleague, Bernie, tried to ease me into accepting my 30th birthday, but instead, she shocked me into it. Take a peek.

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YOUTUBE VIDEO: Bernie and My Birthday--excerpt from near the end of Chapter 24

Bernie and My May Birthday

Click here to find more readings from this memoir on my Youtube channel.

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The Rose Courier from JQ Rose

One of the best gifts you can give me, besides leaving a review for my books, is to sign up for the Rose Courier. The Courier will be delivered to your inbox once a month filled with articles, updates, freebies and fun. 

Click here to sign up for the June 2021 edition. Thank you.

Arranging a Dream: A Memoir is available at major online booksellers.
Paperback available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

Celebrate My Birthday Week with Gifts for YOU, Giveaways

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend if you celebrated Memorial Weekend. Wherever you were in your corner of the world, I hope you had a great weekend. The weather was gorgeous here in Michigan. I noticed the first sunburns showing up on people's winter white skins today. Ouch!

The Seeds of Inspiration Spring Event held every Thursday since March ended last Thursday for the season. But that doesn't mean the fun and giveaways stop here on the J.Q. Rose blog. 

This Week:
Thursday, May 29--You're invited to my birthday party here on the blog. Bring your friends. There will be plenty of cake and ice cream and punch. Texas sheet cake is my cake of choice as a birthday cake. It's a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and walnuts baked in a cookie sheet. So rich and luscious. Excuse me while I drool about that. Balloons and bands will be here too. And Givaways! You can win an e-book, short story, or chocolate. THREE WINNERS!

On Saturday night, my DH took me out for my birthday dinner at the Driftwood Inn. It's a biker bar and you can imagine how many bikes were there during this holiday weekend that featured picture perfect days. This popular destination is located in beautiful country where the Muskegon River flows through the woods and hills to carve out breathtaking scenery. The restaurant sits right on the mighty Muskegon with a huge deck for enjoying the panoramic view of the river, fishermen, and recreational boaters. No skiers or jet skis because the water is still really really cold.

The Driftwood has killer hamburgers and they had a country band on the deck. Not only talented guitarists and drummer, but also musicians playing a sweet trumpet, sexy sax, trilling flute, and down home harmonica. The band had the diners rockin'! The afternoon and evening time is now a lovely memory of being together with my special guy to celebrate yet another birthday. The years sure click by quickly, don't they?

Recipe: My Birthday Treat for You--Texas Sheet Cake

Peach rose bush--a birthday gift from my hubby.

Roses on the table.

My birthday is this week and I am celebrating all week long it seems, almost a month long since my husband surprised me with this beautiful rose bush for my gift early in May. Last night a dinner out with friends at a restaurant on a small inland lake (gorgeous evening), tomorrow shopping trip, and Sunday the whole family comes over for a cookout.

Since the family is bringing the food, I volunteered to make my birthday cake, so of course, I get to make my favorite, Texas Sheet Cake. A delicious chocolate cake with chocolate icing (or do you say frosting?) poured over the top of the cake while it is still warm. Mmmmm....good. The cake is baked in a cookie sheet (with sides), so it is a Texas-sized cake for sure. 


Do you want a piece of this delicious cake? Okay, cyberly speaking, you can, but virtually you really can because I am including the recipe for you. My neighbor, Trude, made one of these for us about 38 years ago and gave me the recipe. It has become one of our family's favorites. Thanks, Trude!

Trude's Texas Sheet Cake

Heat oven  to 400 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet by spraying with cooking oil.

2 c. flour

2 c. sugar

1 cup margarine

1/2 c. cocoa

1/2 c. oil

1 c. water

1/2 c. buttermilk (I make my own buttermilk-- Put 1/2 T. vinegar or lemon juice in measuring cup and add milk to measure 1/2 cup.) You can also use sour cream or plain yogurt. 

2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda

 a pinch to 1 tsp. of salt

Mix flour and sugar in bowl.

In saucepan, heat the butter, cocoa, oil , and water till melted. Pour over the flour and sugar in the bowl, then  stir well. Add remaining ingredients and beat together. Pour into prepared cookie sheet. 

Bake 20 minutes.

Frosting: Begin making this five minutes before cake is done.

1 stick margarine

4 T. cocoa

6 T. milk

1 lb. box powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla 
1 c. nuts (optional)

Bring butter, cocoa, and milk to a boil in saucepan. Remove from heat and immediately stir in powdered sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat smooth, fold in nuts, and pour frosting over cake.

Mmmmm...making my mouth water now! Serve it warm with ice cream or let it cool and serve with ice cream. It's good just plain too!!! Enjoy....

And no I won't tell you how many candles there are on my birthday cake!! 

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