Kanab UT

Brigham Tea Magazine!

by Julie Worthington
May 4, 2019

Brigham Tea Magazine is finally available in digital form on amazon.com! (Print copies are not available yet).

It’ll be free this weekend! May 4-5^th only. The Brigham Tea Magazine website is still in the works and will offer lots more (soon), but till then you can enjoy the magazine on amazon.com.

Inside the magazine you’ll find some old and new western history, culture, places, and a short story (fiction) that gives a peek into Sarah’s life in New Parish. So if you want to know what she’s been up to while you’re waiting for Return to New Parish, here’s your chance to find out.

Get your digital copy here:

https://www.amazon.com/Brigham-Tea-Magazine-Julie-Worthington-ebook/dp/B07R92QJT1/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=brigham+tea+magazine&qid=1556905020&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

New Parish – Coming Soon! Summer of 2018! Brigham Tea Magazine – Heroes of the Past

by Julie Worthington
December 2, 2017

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you chose to do something completely different? Sarah did…

In New Parish she finds a life that’s so different than she’d ever imagined she’d have.

Excerpt from New Parish:

“The cool air and busy sidewalks were almost enough to distract her mind from the pervading thoughts of how much this plural marriage thing could go wrong. She wanted to believe that things could be as wonderful as Mary said they were, but she knew how people could be, especially men… her thoughts went to, “Maybe I should just drop the whole thing,” then the idea of dating again entered her thoughts which almost made her nauseous. Then the thought of giving up on her dream of having kids and a family came to her mind. A tear rolled down her face, which she quickly brushed away, that thought was the saddest one she’d ever had…

Sarah looked up at the sky and saw a plane flying west, she knew she would be on one soon… flying west. She breathed out a sigh and with a new resolve walked back to her apartment.”

Brigham Tea Magazine:

The next section of Brigham Tea Magazine I want to share with you is Heroes of the Past… enjoy the slideshow.

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Brigham Tea Magazine – Tea Time

by Julie Worthington
November 18, 2017

For the next few weeks a section of Brigham Tea Magazine will be spotlighted… We’re starting with Tea Time.

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Families Are All Unique

by Julie Worthington
July 15, 2017

There are many different types of families. The “traditional” family with a dad and mom raising a kid or two, the large family with a dad and mom and four or more kids, single moms with a few kids, or single dads with a few kids. There’s also grandparents raising grandchildren, two dads raising children, or two moms raising children, even a dad and several moms raising children. There are probably many more types of families than I’ve mentioned here, my point is that, all families are different. There’s nothing wrong with being different, America was founded on principles of being different, in many ways. Freedom to choose who we live our lives with is, (should be), an American right.

In New Parish Sarah finds very large families, these families are full of love, kindness, and caring. She sees women being happy, fulfilled, safe, and secure. She sees happy children who are nurtured, well taken care of, and bright with life. The dads might be a bit busy and tired on occasion but they seem very happy to her too.

Sarah makes lots of new friends and falls in love with the absolute beauty of the area. She thinks it could be perfect, except for that darn cowboy….

Excerpt from New Parish:

“Sarah coughed to cover an escaped giggle, her mom’s expression was completely humorous. First she looked taken aback, then she looked like she might have understood what Mary had said, then she simply looked confused.

As they emerged from the park, Sarah saw something that made her blush with excitement and a weird frustrated awkwardness that she didn’t know quite how to deal with. She didn’t want to see him, not him…

“Howdy,” Max drawled, “How’re you?” he asked as his beautiful blue eyes pierced into the depths of her soul.

Sarah found herself without the capacity to speak, it was like when she’d seen him the first time… then the rush of memory of what had happened that time came to her mind. She felt sick…

Mary came to her rescue, “Hi, Max. We’re all doing good. These are Sarah’s parents, David and Samantha Nichols.”

“Howdy,” Max smiled at them and tipped his somewhat dingy cowboy hat.”

I can’t wait to share the whole book with everyone!

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Writing, Research, and Louis L’Amour

by Julie Worthington
July 8, 2017

I’ve been revisiting the Sacketts stories, written by Louis L’Amour. I admire his writing style and think we have a lot in common in that area. He did in depth research and experienced as much of what he was writing about as possible. He wrote from a place that was real in a fictional way. He brought his stories and characters alive with his knowledge of what things were like and how people would react in certain situations. He wrote realistic fiction, that had loads of realisms woven into the tapestry of the story. This isn’t a book review of Louis L’Amour’s work, its simply my admiration of his skill and ability to do what I strive to do with my writing.

There are so many stories to tell, and so much rich history to draw from on the Utah Arizona strip. They have a wide range of culture, myth, and legend that needs exploring in it’s whole. Not just the bits and pieces others have written about without any experience in the area. As Loius L’Amour wrote the Sackett story he went back to when the first Sackett came over to America and then followed them through several generations, that’s what I want to eventually do with New Parish. There’s so many stories to tell, stories of bravery, courage, challenge, and downright hardship that it’ll take some time to tell them, but I’m on a great adventure to get the job done.

Excerpt from New Parish:

“Sarah decided to get an email out to Hannah, before things got too far out of control for her. Writing to Hannah sometimes helped her calm down and see things in a clearer perspective.

Hi Hann

So, I went out to New Parish and had a really good visit, I asked so many questions you wouldn’t believe! They were very open and honest with me about everything. I met a lot of people who were very nice. I got to know Brother Michael’s wives a bit and they’re great. I tried to sort out which kid belonged to which mom and I’m still not sure on most of them…

I met a guy that was so incredibly handsome I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him. Too bad he’s one of those macho jerks we both avoid like the plague. He’s a full on cowboy, yeah I know you’d like his horse. LOL

It’s weird now to be back in Atlanta, I feel sort of out of sync like here or there, one, is surreal. I have to decide what I’m going to do, I can’t focus on work or anything really, so I have to figure this out soon. I’m going to check with mom and see if the condo is available soonish…

How’s school? How’s work? Any cute guys?

Love ya

Sarah”

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New Parish

by Julie Worthington
June 10, 2017

New Parish is the name of my new book, which isn’t published yet, but it’s also a place in the book. The place is fictionally created in and around the place where I live, and the surrounding areas. I love exploring the wonders of Arizona and Utah, I also love learning the history, culture, and adventures that have happened here.

The ruggedly beautiful land, the uniquely different people, and the intriguing history are all fascinating to me. I have a long list of re-visits to do soonish… I want to go back to Pine Valley, Pipe Springs, Kanab and many other places when time and weather permits. It’s been so hot here lately, I’ve spent most of my time indoors. I guess that’s what you get when you live in the desert. Any who, back to my revisit list – Pine Valley is a great place to set some awesome scenes for the book I’m writing now. I think there will be at least one fun picnic in my story that’ll be set there. There are tall trees and there’s even water, which makes it an unusual oasis out here.

I want to revisit Pipe Springs for several reasons, 1, it’s beautiful, 2, it’s loaded with history, and 3, I get the feeling of walking where a lot of other very brave women walked. I can imagine how they longed to be with their husbands and family, and how exiled they must have felt… it’s a sort of solemn, almost a reverent place.

I also have several reasons for wanting to revisit Kanab, the cowboy lore that still lives there, the museum that has old cowboy movies sets, and I found out about a special section in their library that has some local history I really need to dig into.

Research, research, research…

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Kanab UT – The Cowboy Town

by Julie Worthington
April 8, 2017

Kanab UT, ever since the first time I visited this awesome place I’ve called it The Cowboy Town. There have been some amazing real and fictional cowboys roaming the streets of Kanab and the surrounding areas throughout its history. They filmed loads of old western movies there, and around there, there’s even a museum with some of the old movie sets out back to show off the history of that era. The local restaurants have signed photos of the actors who frequented their establishments hanging on the walls, well, Nedra’s does anyways. If you go to Kanab you have to go to Nedra’s and the museum, they’ll both give you some necessary history and culture of the Cowboy Town.

Kanab is also another stop along the Honeymoon trail, which I’ve been writing about lately. The fella I mentioned in my last post, Jim Emett, (that was a guide to Zane Grey), was the marshal of Kanab for a while before he went to Lees Ferry to work there. I’m learning more and more about Jim Emett, he was quite an amazing person, the kind of person legends are made of.

Because of my interest in the area, its history and Jim Emett, I’m reading Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey, (I usually stick with Louis L’Amour) I found out that Zane Grey wrote about the areas I’ve been living in and visiting and described them in some detail in this book and a couple of other books. It’s been an interesting read so far, it’s fiction of course, and he doesn’t have too many good things to say about the Mormons and their system of plural marriage but the descriptions of the area are good. He did make at least two visits out to this area, but only met a few Mormons and never lived the religion, or as far as I know experienced it except from an outside looking in with a prejudice perspective, so his point of view on that is spurious. (I think the rest of the story needs to be told on the plural marriage issue, lots has been told on one side, it’s time for the other side to emerge.) I do love his descriptors of Pipe Springs, Lees Ferry, the Grand Canyon, and the surrounding areas, though. He used the experiences he had in this wondrous place to create an amazing setting for his book.

In my books I try to infuse my characters with the real life experiences that have been so inspiring to me, both out here and back home in Georgia and Tennessee. I think a writer should write about what they know or have experienced, it fills the story with life. It also gives the writer some pretty great adventures…

Every year in Kanab they have what the locals call Cowboy Days. I’ve watched as the wagon train came in from the long ride. It was wonderful to watch and experience, actually going out on the trail and doing that must be so incredible, I can only imagine… The link below will show you what things are like during those Cowboy Days.

https://www.westernlegendsroundup.com/

The trail ride:

https://www.westernlegendsroundup.com/events/wagon-train-2017-4-day-3-night/

A few pictures from my adventures…