A Flicker of Doubt - Tim Myers [76]
John shut Cyrus’s door and walked around the car to open Ruth’s. She said, “He’s getting fussy, so that’s how I know he’s finally on the mend.”
“What did the doctors say?”
She scowled. “The drugs he was given are out of his system, but it’s going to take some time for him to recover fully. By the way, the sheriff stopped by the house this morning. They found the charlatan who drugged him. It sounds as though he’s going to jail for a very long time. Sheriff Morton also asked me to tell you that Runion and Jeanie are turning on each other. Evidently she played a more active role in this than anyone realized, so we have you to thank for her incarceration as well. I was gratified to hear that you turned her bribe down, but Cyrus said he would have been shocked if you’d done otherwise.” She leaned forward, kissed my uninjured cheek gently, then got into the car.
I waved good-bye, but instead of going back to the candleshop, I decided it was high time I went back out onto the water by myself. It felt good the second my kayak hit the Gunpowder, and as I coasted by what would soon be a park, I saw a team of men in white suits working to remove the last of the barrels Runion had dumped there.
Becka would be pleased, I knew, but there was one more thing I could do to honor her memory. Since she didn’t have any living relatives, there was no one to give the thousand dollars to that Markum and I had found in her apartment.
I decided to buy the nicest bench I could find, place it along the path, and have a plaque installed that would say:
“There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle.”
—Robert Alden
I knew in my heart that Becka would have appreciated that.
Dorothea Hurley’s Orange Slice Muffins
This is another recipe from my late mother-in-law, a blessed woman who believed that no meal was complete without a slice of pie or a baked treat, and that included breakfast.
Ingredients
3/4 cup margarine or butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups applesauce
1 box raisins (16 oz.)
1 bag orange slice candies (16 oz.)
(Optional 1 cup chopped nuts)
Directions
Cream the margarine or butter and sugar, then add eggs and beat Alternately, add the sifted mixture of flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt; add the applesauce to the mixture. Add raisins and orange slice candies (nuts, too, if you want them), and place the mixture in greased muffin or loaf pans.
The dough will make two large loaves or 30 muffins. Bake at 325 degrees for 90 minutes (loaf) or 20 to 25 minutes (muffins), testing with a toothpick in the center. When it comes out clean, it’s ready.
These are great hot out of the oven or frozen, then defrosted in the microwave as needed. We especially like this recipe during the holidays.
Candlemaking Tips: Poured Candles
Once you’ve mastered the basic pouring techniques, it’s great fun to use different, creative mold forms you can scavenge on your own. For example, egg shells make fascinating candles on their own. Any shape that can handle the hot wax can be converted into a candle. A teapot makes a particularly nice candle as well.
Chunk candles of preset wax can make a beautiful candle.
For a more ethereal look, trying adding ice to the mold just before the pour.
If your candle sticks to the mold, try putting it in the refrigerator to cool it.
If your candle looks frosty or has White horizontal lines, the wax was probably too cool when you poured.
If there are tiny pinpricks all over the candle, the wax was probably too hot when you poured.
If there are cracks in your candle, it probably cooled too quickly.
Bubbles in the base of the candle could mean the water bath level wasn’t high enough.
Have fun, and don’t be afraid to experiment with dyes and scents as well as unique shapes.
And now a peek at
INVITATION TO MURDER,
Book 1 in the Cardmaking Mysteries,
written by Tim Myers
under the name Elizabeth Bright