Spring Fling Blog hop

I live on the East Coast and after 68 inches of snow I am ready for some spring fling. Mind you we are supposed to get more weather this week.

  Everyone is stir crazy and there are piles of snow everywhere. It is hard to get through the day and come home with energy to write but in the middle of this a friend and I decided to write together. We have different styles of working and since she is much more the planer than I am, I thought it would feel more like work. Sure, fun work. Work that I would learn a lot from but still work.

  I have to say it has been much more like play with a good friend. Sure, adult play. Play that I am learning from but still play. I don’t know if it is the weather or not but my new character is an herbalist. I’ve spent the past few weeks thinking about plants and greenhouses. Anything is better than thinking about the constant snow and ice. Her boyfriend is a hockey player, so I still have ice in my life but still there are more plants.

  Comment with your e-mail address and you will be entered for my give away of a $10 gift certificate for Amazon or B+N a hockey charm bracelet and a copy of one of my stories. I’ll be giving away three prize packs. You will also be entered for the Books to go now prizes!
 

It’s all about the Zamboni

Not that long ago I finished my first historical short story, Accrocher Ses Patins, set in 1927 Nova Scotia.  The story deals with an original six era ice hockey team, that is made up of immortal hyena shape shifters.  I spent a huge amount of time researching.  I work at a historic site, but had never tried my hand at writing anything set before my date of birth and I was nervous about it.

There is a lot of good information out there about that period of hockey; rules and equipment changes, not to mention the spread of the league into the US, caused upheavals in the game.  

 But I was left with a question.  How was ice resurfaced before 1953, when the Zamboni was patented?   The only thing I could find was that it was a three man job. 

I finished the story before I found the answer, but I did find the answer.  One man scraped the ice with a shovel, one man rolled something like a giant bucket on wheels that sprinkled water and the last man evened the ice surface with a broom.  The process could take up to ninety minutes.  I haven’t used that piece of information in my fiction.  I probably won’t but I know that my characters would know.

I am very thankful for the Zamboni.  And I bet my characters are to.

One lucky commenter will win a PDF of, Accrocher Ses Patins (hanging ‘em up) and a hockey or wolf themed charm bracelet.