Adult Pastimes for Leisure in 1880s Texas by Caroline Clemmons

 When we picture life in 1880s Texas, it’s easy to imagine endless days of chores, cattle work, and tending the homestead. It’s true that work was a defining feature of frontier life, but adults in those days eagerly carved out time for relaxation and fun. After all, even hardworking pioneers needed a way to unwind, make connections, and add a spark of joy to daily routines. 

Social Gatherings and Community Events 

For most adults, leisure time meant gathering with neighbors and friends. Community socials—held at church, the schoolhouse, or someone’s barn—were the highlight of many folks’ weeks. Dances (“frolics” or “hoedowns”) featured lively fiddle music and plenty of home-cooked food, with couples twirling under lanterns until late. Quilting bees or barn raisings doubled as work and fun, offering a chance for conversation and camaraderie. 

Music and Storytelling 

Music was woven into the fabric of leisure life. Many homes had a harmonica, banjo, or fiddle, and impromptu jams were as common as the Texas breeze. Storytelling, too, was a cherished pastime: both tall tales and true accounts of pioneer adventures were shared around the fire, passing wisdom, laughter, and local legends from generation to generation. 

Card Games, Board Games, and Parlor Entertainments 

When work was done, adults enjoyed simple games—playing cards like whist, euchre, or poker; dominoes; or homemade boards for checkers. For more formal occasions, parlor games (such as charades or “blind man’s bluff”) brought neighbors together. Reading aloud from favorite books or newspapers offered relaxation and, sometimes, lively discussion. 

The Great Outdoors: Hunting, Fishing, and Horseback Rides 

Texas adults embraced the outdoors—not just for work, but for pleasure. Hunting, fishing, and horseback rides let pioneers reconnect with nature, test their skills, and find peace in solitude or the company of close friends. Picnics by the creek or “going visiting” to a neighboring ranch often involved a basket of treats and an afternoon enjoying the countryside. 

Clubs, Societies, and Civic Life 

As towns and communities grew, so did opportunities for organized leisure. Men’s fraternal lodges, ladies’ sewing circles, temperance societies, and literary clubs provided intellectual stimulation and a strong sense of belonging. Membership offered adults a chance to contribute, learn, and celebrate together. 

Reflection and Restoration 

Finally, frontier folks were skilled at finding smaller moments of relaxation: sipping coffee on the porch, listening to birds, or simply pausing to admire a sunset. Faith and personal contemplation were important, and many journals from the period mention prayer, reading, or letter writing as restorative pastimes. 

Final Thoughts 

While daily life in 1880s Texas required grit and resilience, adults still made time for fun, friendship, and creativity—and their traditions continue to inspire. As you pause for Thanksgiving this week, remember to take a moment to contemplate your blessings.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. 

Christmas Cookies at the Cat Café A Furrever Friends Sweet Romance By Kris Bock

Christmas Cookies at the Cat Café

A Furrever Friends Sweet Romance 

By Kris Bock 

Buy Link

Book Blurb:

Christmas isn’t the same since Diane’s kids grew up and her husband died – so when her high school sweetheart comes back to town, maybe it’s time for some cozy new holiday traditions. 

Diane had a great marriage and a wonderful life. Now she’s a widow at 53, and her grown children are encouraging her to slow down and do less – but she wants more. She starts planning for a new career by arranging a photo shoot at the cat café her daughters run. Unfortunately, the cats won’t cooperate. 

Rick loved Diane in high school, but he chose to travel the world while she settled down with another man. Now he’s back for a visit, but he’s not planning to stay – even if Diane still tugs at him. He’ll help her get what she wants from life, and then he’ll say goodbye. 

Rick temps Diane to quit her job, sell her house, and travel. But she can’t leave the people she loves so dearly, the family that might still need her just a little bit. Diane tempts Rick to end his wandering ways, but he can’t simply step into the hole left by her husband’s death. As the weeks pass from Thanksgiving to Christmas, the holiday season brings out complicated emotions. 

Can Diane and Rick find a way to make a new life together while holding onto the best parts of the past? They'll need more than attraction and affection. They might even need a Christmas miracle. 

The Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the workers and customers at a small-town cat café, and the adorable cats and kittens looking for their forever homes. Each book is a complete story with a happy ending for one couple (and maybe more than one rescued cat). 

Excerpt:

The cat did not want to wear a hat. 

   “Come on, Miles, it’s for your own good,” Diane muttered. “I’m not trying to insult your feline dignity. I’m trying to find you a forever home. Wouldn’t that be nice?” 

   Once again, Diane got the cat settled on a table against the autumn backdrop. Miles seemed perfectly content to sit there and watch the proceedings. But as soon as Diane tried to put the sunflower hat on the cat’s head, he dropped and flailed as if touched by flaming thorns rather than soft felt. Miles wrestled with the hat as Diane rushed to wake up her cell phone. Maybe she could get something cute, with the cat chewing a sunflower petal. 

   Diane aimed the camera. The hat sailed to the floor. 

   Miles leapt off the table, streaked across the room, climbed one of the cat trees, and calmly perched on a platform staring out the window, pointedly ignoring her. 

   “That Cat in the Hat book is nonsense,” Diane said. “I used to get a diaper on a squirming baby in under a minute. You’d think I could get one cat to wear a lousy hat or at least pose nicely.” 

   Diane slumped into a chair and sighed. This had seemed like such a good idea. Many animal rescues reported higher adoption rates after professional photo shoots. Instead of posting pictures of the dirty, matted, cringing creatures they first brought in, they waited until the dog or cat had been groomed and any health issues addressed. They gave the animal time to relax and get used to being around people. Then they took a nice studio portrait of the calm cat or grinning dog.  

   It was basic psychology. It wasn’t that people didn’t care about the animals that suffered the most; they simply wanted to envision their future with a happy, loving pet. Great photos helped potential adopters see what was possible. 

   A series of holiday photo shoots should have been winners. Make the cats extra cute, and they might clear the shelter before New Year’s Day. 

   The cats didn’t seem to appreciate her brilliant idea. 

   She picked up her coffee, which was now lukewarm, and took a sip as she studied the room. She’d already attempted to take pictures of five of their residents, and the rest were getting skittish as they picked up on their companions’ nervousness. Maybe she should quit for the day. She still had to put the paintings back on the walls and clean up her supplies. 

   But getting three of the paintings propped up where she wanted to photograph the cats had been tricky. She hated to waste the morning entirely. She looked around for one more candidate.  

   A tapping came at the window. Diane turned toward it, but with the glare, she could only make out a bulky silhouette. She got the impression of a man with broad shoulders, but with the heavy winter coats everyone was wearing after the cold snap earlier in the week, she couldn’t say for sure. It didn’t look like either of her daughter’s husbands, and they both had keys anyway. 

   She crossed to the window. Would she be able to convey the message that the café didn’t open for another sixteen minutes? 

   As she neared the window, she caught the glare at a different angle. She still couldn’t see the person clearly, but a jolt of recognition hit her like a punch to the gut. 

   She did know this man. Had known him for a long time, or at least had known him well long ago. But she couldn’t yet name him, as her mind hadn’t caught up to what her gut knew. 

   The bright winter sunlight lit up a pom-pom on top of a jaunty knit cap in rainbow colors. It took a certain type of man to wear a hat like that in public, and the prickle of recognition deepened. 

   She shifted and bobbed her head, trying to get a clear view. He leaned closer to the window, grinned, and waved. 

   The breath left her lungs. Of course. Rick. How many years had it been since she’d last seen him? They’d been closest in high school, bonding in a photography class and dating for almost two years, until he graduated a year ahead of her. He’d been her first love. But that was thirty years ago – no, more like thirty-five. When he graduated, he left to see the world. He hadn’t asked her to wait for him. He probably knew then his journeys would take him years to complete, maybe a lifetime. Still, she had waited, optimistically, for six months. 

   Then she met Patrick. They fell in love. They shared the same dreams: family, a home, work in the small town where they’d grown up. They’d had two beautiful daughters and a good life until he died suddenly, far too young. They were coming up on the second anniversary of his death. 

   Memories crashed over her. The grief, the loss, the affection for both men. The dreams lived and the dreams never explored. 

   She gave herself a little shake and blinked to clear her eyes. Diane was good at holding back all the messy feelings and only showing the world what she wanted people to see. She could think about everything later. For now, one thought jumped to the front of her mind. 

   Rick was a professional photographer. He’d had photo essays in National Geographic – people, wildlife. If anyone could help her figure out how to corral a few playful house cats, it was Rick. 

   She smiled, waved back, and went to answer the door. 

Author Bio:

Kris Bock writes romance, mystery, and suspense. Her Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. Get a free 30-page story set in the world of the Furrever Friends cat café when you sign up for Kris Bock’s Romance and Mystery newsletter. You’ll also get a printable copy of “22 recipes from the cat café” and a free Accidental Detective mystery short story with bonus material. 

In the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys series, a Texas ranching family wins a billion-dollar lottery. Can they build new dreams and find love amidst the chaos? In the Reluctantly Psychic Mystery series, a quirky loner who can read the history of any object with her touch gets drawn into mysteries at the museum of oddities where she works. In the Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. Learn more at KrisBock.com.  

 Kris also writes a series with her brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama. The Felony Melanie series follows the crazy antics of Melanie, Jake, and their friends a decade before the events of the movie. Find the books on Amazon US or All E-book retailers. 

Website 
Universal Amazon link 
GoodReads Author Page 
BookBub 
Kris on BlueSky  

 

Murder at the Water Wheel by Ruben D. Gonzales

Murder at the Water Wheel

Book Four of the Black Mountain Mystery Series

by Ruben D. Gonzales

Amazon Link

Book Blurb:

When Liz’s latest fiancé turns up dead in the pond of Black Mountain’s new Historic Water Wheel tourist trap, it turns the town upside down. With a promising holiday season approaching and small businesses up and down Main Street depending on the sales, Mayor Franklyn Shaw asks Emma to look into the case of her ex-sister-in-law, so business, including the Shaw’s businesses, will get back to normal and people’s jobs will be saved. Although hesitant to add the task to her already busy photography business and publishing the biweekly Black Mountain Post, Emma decides to look into the case when Liz’s former boyfriend is arrested for the murder. Will Emma’s ancestral gift of aura reading be enough to solve the case or will an innocent man take the blame and a murderer go free? 

Excerpt:

Chapter One 

Saturday at Dawn

Like most people, I enjoy a good wedding. Especially when it is someone else’s. But when my big brother’s widow told me that she and Trent Cochran planned to get married in the fall, I thought it was a bit premature. I mean, Becky had only just started seeing the guy. Did she even know Trent? I mean, really know him. Can any of us say we really know a person? 

Now, I admit he was good looking, in a tall, dark, and lean way, but getting married? Wow! 

“So, what happened to Drew Carter,” I asked when I saw her after I heard her wedding plans, trying to remember if Becky had told me why she ended it with her former boyfriend. “I thought you and Drew were hot for each other. He’s such a nice guy.” 

“Drew’s nice, Emma,” she told me then, “but he doesn’t have ambition. He’s just happy to be working at the lumber mill for fifteen dollars an hour. I need someone with more ambition. You know, I have my boys to worry about. Trent has more ambition.” 

“What about Eddie Jordan,” I had asked about another nice guy she saw after my big brother, her husband, was murdered. We all grew up with Eddie and now he coached at the Black Mountain High School. 

“All Eddie wanted to do was play games. He wasn’t serious about anything if it didn’t involve sports.” 

Of course, all that ambition or seriousness doesn’t do you any good if you end up dead the morning of your wedding. 

Becky’s opinion aside, I always had mix feelings about Trent, especially his dark orange aura. The color of an aura I associate with people who can’t make commitments. 

I’ve always been able to see a person’s aura. When I was young I thought everyone could. It wasn’t until my grandmother, Louise Looking Bird, explained that my aura reading ability was handed down to me by my Cherokee ancestors. A special gift that not just everyone had. 

I use my aura reading gift in my portrait photography. I found I got the best results if I clicked the shutter at the moment of a subject’s aura’s rightest moment. My old editor praised my work saying, my shots captured the real essence of people, and their likeness was so real it was as if the subject was only caught between breaths. 

So, the wedding plan went forward and the morning after the big rehearsal dinner Trent Cochran threw at the Shaw Winery, I donned my heavy parka, grabbed my camera, and clenching my teeth, I went for a walk with my dog, Blue. The old pro photographers I used to work with always said never go anywhere without your camera because you never know what you might see. 

The first freeze of the season swooped down the mountain in the morning catching the small mountain town in a surprise early winter of ice and cold. The kind of cold you meet with strong hot coffee and double layers of clothes. Since I was out so early, I thought I’d take a few photos of the sunrise over the frozen town. 

My dog, Blue, never feels the cold like people, so pulled on her leash dragging me along, happy to be outside. I got Blue as a gift for solving a murder two years ago and we started a rough get acquainted period but came out the other end better for our trial. We’ve settled into kind of a mother - teenage daughter type of life together, in the little mountain town of Black Mountain I moved back to after swearing I never would. Except in this relationship, Blue was more the mother and me more the daughter. 

We walked along a tributary of the Swannanoa River, right before a wide bend that flows at the northern edge of town. In the old days, like a hundred and fifty years ago, before electricity, the river’s powerful flow turned a big water wheel at the mill. It drove the saw that cut the lumber and crushed the grain that made the Shaw family the richest in the Valley of the Three Forks. 

Although I’m part Shaw, I’ve tended to shy away from the recognition because they are a greedy bunch. The Shaw family owns just about everything in town including the bank, general store, real estate company, and the renovated historic water wheel where they sell tourist souvenirs, mountain crafts, wine from their vineyard, and baked goods from the community women who make the best pies in the state. 

In a major irony, it appeared that I inherited the same business genetic make-up that drove the founding fathers of the Shaw clan. I returned to my childhood home to open my own business, a photography studio. A good many people, mostly men, laughed at my choice of an enterprise since these days everyone carries a phone camera and thinks of themselves as the next Ansel Adams. But through a varied menu of services and products I’ve managed to survive in the business world, thank you very much. 

At the bend in the river, where Main Street straightens out, Blue and I approached a trio of County Sheriff cruisers, lights flashing in the early morning light, and several red trucks and a vehicle from the volunteer rescue squad. A big crowd started to form in front of the historic water wheel complex. Not one to miss an opportunity to capture a moment, I clicked off several shots of the flashing lights reflecting off the water, with the mill a dark shadow looming over the scene. 

“What’s going on?” I asked Shelby Shaw when I saw her in front of the mill. Shelby is the mayor’s wife and the manager of the mill. As she stood outside the yellow taped off area, I shot a profile of her with the mill in the background. Even in the morning her aura brimmed out in a dark gold, a sign of people having trouble.  

“I can’t believe it,” she moaned. 

“What?” 

“I found Trent Cochran, down in the water wheel pond,” she said. “Looks like he’s dead.” 

Author Bio:

I was born and raised in East LA. After college I spent two years with the Peace Corps teaching elementary school in a small African village by day and reading and writing by candlelight at night. Before I retired from full time work, I was Director of Development for the City of Winston-Salem, NC and spent many seasons traveling throughout the small towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Now I write full time and teach part-time with the local community college system.  

My first novel of historical fiction was, The Cottage on the Bay, published by Moonshine Cove Publishing and came out in 2018 and my second book, Murder on Black Mountain, the first in a mystery series, came out in 2020 from Fire Star Press. The second book in my Black Mountain Mystery series came out in 2022 by Indigo Sea Press, the third book in the series came out in June 2023, and the fourth book in the series released in August 2025. I have a recent mystery book, Cabana Bay, published with The Wild Rose Press released on May 14, 2025, and an action/adventure book released on September 22, 2025.