Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

Christmas is only two days away? How did that happen? I still have presents to wrap and goodies to bake. And I still have lots more great Christmas books to read.

Yes, we finally did get a Christmas tree. My husband and I always get a live potted tree of one sort or another so we can plant them in our yard afterwards. So this year's tree is a Leyland Cypress, about three feet tall and only big enough for one string of blinking lights and a handful of blown-glass ornaments. It pretty much looks like a cute little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. I love it!

My husband put Christmas lights out front. We have a big old date palm tree which he strings with lights like in the Corona Beer commercial. You gotta love a guy's touch when it comes to decorating  for Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Shani.

My dogs, Shani and Dude, have been sniffing around the wrapped presents, hoping to find one that smells like a dog goodie. Only their presents (rawhide chews) are wrapped and in the pantry closet so they won't open them before Christmas.

I didn't finish up my Christmas shopping until yesterday, a quick trip to town where I made my way among the crowds and bought the last few presents. The mall was so packed, not a single parking space available, that I didn't even venture there. Yesterday was Walmart and ToysRUs. Both were crowded with people were buying cartloads of Christmas presents. I was relieved to make my way through the heavy traffic and get back home to semblance of peace and tranquility.




Dude howling about his Christmas bow.

This morning I put a Christmas bow collar on Dude. He wasn't all that pleased and lifted his head to howl an "Ahhhh-rooooo" in protest. Then he posed sweetly for some cute pics.

Dude is actually a ham when it comes to posing for pics, so I took quite a few of them. Once he got used to his Christmas bow collar he didn't seem to mind it a bit.

Shani was a cute as ever in her red Christmas bow. Shani absolutely refuses to have anything around her neck. She doesn't much care for her leopard print dog collar either. When we go for a walk she much prefers a harness, though she'd walk just fine without a harness and leash. In fact, Shani is totally against Leash Laws, just sayin'...

Merry Christmas from Dude.

We have family from California here for the holidays. So I probably won't be blogging much between Christmas and New Year's. I'll be spending a lot of time with the grandkids too.  Christmas is really for kids, so it'll be lots of fun.

In my spare time, and I don't have much of that this time of year, I've been reading an assortment of holiday books. I've enjoyed them all. I can definitely recommend reading Candis Terry's Any Given Christmas, Linda Lael Miller's A Creed Country Christmas and Christmas of the Red Chiefs, in addition to Talli Rolland's Mistletoe in Manhattan and Miracle at the Museum of Broken Hearts.

I have way more Christmas books on my two Kindles (my old Kindle Keyboard and my newer Kindle Fire) than I have time to read before the holiday. So I'll probably be reading Christmas books well into the new year. I just started reading Barbara Witek's Santa Wore Combat Boots and Linda Lael Miller's Holiday in Stone Creek (I'm almost always reading more than one book at any given time).

Christmas/Holiday Reads on my Kindles (in no particular order):

A Cowboy for Christmas by Kristen James
A Spy for Christmas by Kristen James
Cold Comfort by Ellis Vidler
The Gift of Gray (Christmas) by Jan Romes
Three Wise Men by Nancy Ricker, Jan Romes & Laura Ricker
White as Snow (A Christmas Story) by Donna Westover Gallup
Xmas Affair (A Sensual Short Story) by Ruth D. Kerce
A Wee Christmas Homicide by Kaitlyn Dunnett
One imPerfect Christmas by Myra Johnson
A Simple Amish Christmas by Vanetta Chapman
It Really IS a Wonderful Life by Linda Rondeau
A Home for Christmas by Deborah Grace Staley
Kiss of the Christmas Wind by Janelle Taylor
One Snowy Night Before Christmas by Pamela Fryer
Harlequin Holiday Collection by Debra Webb, et. al.
All I Want for Christmas is You by Lisa Mondello
A Christmas in Two Egg, Florida by Dale Cox
O Little Town by Don Reid
Must Love Santa by Nina Bruhns
A Cowboy for Christmas by Lori Wilde
Mistletoe Christmas by Stacey Joy Netzel
A Very Holly Christmas by Sheila Roberts
Jingle This! by Stephanie Rowe
Catch That Santa by Karen Doctor
A Victorian Christmas by Catherine Palmer
The Bite Before Christmas by Heidi Betts
Blue Christmas by Diane Moody
A Dixie Christmas by Sandra Hill

Hmm! So many great Christmas books. I think I have enough to get me through the next several Christmas seasons. Well, what can I say? Yes, I'm definitely addicted to books.

From my family to yours, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hippo Encounter at the Zoo

A hungry hippo.

I spent yesterday at the zoo with my grandkids and other family members. It was a fun family day. My grandkids were full of energy. By the way, where do they get all that energy? Was I that energized way-back-when? Anyway, the highlight of this zoo trip was a hippo encounter where we got to see the two hippos up close and fed them big chunks of carrots. All I can say is "Awesome!"

Gulf Breeze Zoo

Isn't he a handsome boy?

The zoo I'm talking about is the Gulf Breeze Zoo. It's small in comparison to other zoos, but it also provides an intimacy with the animals which isn't always found in big zoos. The animals there are almost like family. In fact, my grandkids often remind of the little monkeys in the zoo and I've told them that more than once.

Cleopatra, the mama-to-be hippo.

There are two hippos at the Gulf Breeze Zoo. Cleopatra is the expectant mama hippo who is due any day. The papa hippo is the handsome guy in the two pics above. I'll definitely go back to the zoo for pics of the new baby hippo.

It was a beautiful day at the zoo with temps in the high-60s. That's one of the things I love about Florida, great temps all year long. Gee, it was hard to believe that winter and Christmas are only days away.





One of the peacocks strutting his stuff.

Even the peacocks seemed to think it was spring rather than almost winter. This gorgeous male peacock was in full display and put on quite a show. If I were a female peacock, well, I would have been impressed.






Rwanda and baby Kigali.

This visit to the zoo I was able to get pics of the mama gorilla, Rwanda, with her baby, Kigali. Last time we were there the baby was sleeping. This time he was showing off, but sticking close to his mama. These two are Western Lowland Gorillas.

Zion the lion cub.

Zion, the four and a half month old lion cub, has been moved to a big outdoor pen next to the pair of Siberian Tigers. Zion seemed to be quite happy and was romping around playing with a big ball. Then he climbed up into his tree for some time to relax out.

As one of my granddaughters pointed out, "Zion needs a friend." I assured her that the zoo is going to get a female lion cub to keep Zion company. And yes, the zoo is currently looking for just the right cub.






The two chimps on Chimp Island

I took quite a number of pics of the two chimps. Some of the pics were taken from the Zoo Train which circles Chimp Island, the hippos and Gorilla Island. The other pics were taken from the long wood walkway that overlooks Chimp Island.

This is the chimp who was blowing kisses.

One  chimp in particular seemed to love the camera and his audience. He blew kisses, played peek-a-boo, smiled, waved and seemed just as happy to see us as we were to see him.

All in all it was a really fun day at the zoo. Four whole hours and I was exhausted. My grandkids, on the other hand, were still energized. Ahhh, to be young.

For those who follow my blog, I usually add a list of books at the end of my posts. However, in this case, I haven't come across any additional zoo related reads. So please check out my previous November post, "Zoo Tails," for some fun/interesting zoo reads and some cool zoo pics.

Thanks again for visiting my blog. I hope you all will stop by from time to time.

Jingle Bell Rock

Some of my daughter's collection of snow globes.

Christmas is just around the corner. The malls are crowded with shoppers. The radio stations are playing just about every Christmas song ever recorded. So Christmas must be just days away?

We have family coming into town for the holidays. So the holiday chaos is about to begin. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing family that I haven't seen in ages, but it's still stressful. Our regular calm world will be turned topsy-turvy through Christmas and New Year's. Am I ready for this? To be honest, I'm not really sure.

Do we have a Christmas tree yet? Nope! Do we have Christmas lights on our house? Nope! Are we ready for Christmas? Yes and no. I've pretty much done my Christmas shopping, mostly for the grandkids, but I haven't yet wrapped the presents. As for the rest of the holiday preparations, well, I'm way behind the curve.

I'm trying to ward off the impending holiday stress by reading some light-hearted Christmas books. There are so many fun ones out there. So far I've read and thoroughly enjoyed Linda Lael Miller's Christmas of the Red Chiefs and two by Talli Roland, Mistletoe in Manhattan and Miracle at the Museum of Broken Hearts. All three of these books are fun reads that are sure to make you smile. What Christmas book am I reading next? Hmm! So many to chose from. I think Must Love Santa by Nina Bruhns.

I've recently added the following Christmas reads to my Kindle Fire:

Three Wise Men by Nancy Ricker, Jan Romes & Laura Ricker
It Really IS a Wonderful Life! by Linda Rondeau
Jingle This! by Stephanie Rowe
Catch That Santa by Karen Docter
A Cowboy for Christmas by Lori Wilde
Santa Wore Cowboy Boots by Barbara Witek
Any Given Christmas by Candis Terry

Well, that ought to be enough Christmas reads to get me through the season. On the other hand, there's no such thing as too many books. So I may very well be adding more holiday reads to my Kindle.

Here's a list of more Christmas reads that caught my eye (in no particular order):

A Snowglobe Christmas by Linda Goodnight & Lissa Manley
Christmas in Wine Country by Addison Westlake
Be Mine for Christmas (Cont. Romance Short) by Alicia Street
Save Me, Santa (5 Holiday Stories of Romance) by Nina Bruhns
Christmas Brides (3 Regency Novellas) by Cheryl Bolen
A Cowboy for Christmas by Kristen James
The Holly and the Thistle by Regan Walker
Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley
A Fool's Gold Christmas by Susan Mallery
Enchanted (A Merry Nicholas Christmas Tale) by Patti Berg
Small Town Christmas by Jill Shalvis, Hope Ramsay & Katie Lane
Wanted: One Scoundrel (A Steampunk Christmas) by Jenny Schwartz
Lancaster County Christmas by Suzanne Woods Fisher
A Cowboy Under My Christmas Tree by Janet Dailey
'Twas the Night After Christmas by Sabrina Jeffries

Trust me, there are about a zillion more Christmas books out there, way more than I could ever read in my lifetime. So between now and Christmas check back for more lists of  Christmas reads. Also, in case you missed my two previous holiday posts, you'll find more lists of great/fun holiday books. This is definitely the time of year to "jingle bell rock" and read.

A Tale of Trees and Crazy Storms

My mom's White Oak Tree downed by a tornado last night.

Last night one of those crazy storm cells went through the Atlanta area of Stone Mountain. My mom and brother witnessed the storm first hand when a "small" tornado pogo-sticked down into their cul-de-sac and wrecked havoc in seconds time.

My brother said he was sitting in a chair next to the window in their door. A perfect spot to sit and watch the lightning striking Stone Mountain. He said all of a sudden a black swirling mass dropped down and the next thing he knew their giant White Oak Tree (a good hundred feet in height) was torn apart and catapulted directly at the front door. He said it happened so fast that all he could do was sit there and watch as the tree flew sideways through the air and then was jerked backwards like on a bungee-cord and then dropped across the whole front yard. The top of the tree was wedged up onto the front porch, but didn't damage a thing.

I've always told my brother that he must be part cat. Once again this holds true as he just lost another of his nine lives. He came a hairsbreadth away from destruction.

My mom had just taken their two Basset Hounds down to the basement to ride out the storm. Their three cats, Chester included, were probably upstairs hiding under a bed.

The tornado did a pogo-stick thing through their neighborhood, taking out trees and downing power lines along its way. The power lines are underground at my mom's house, so they were lucky in that respect. However, the area was without power for a few hours while Georgia Power reconnected downed lines.

I talked to my mom and brother close to midnight last night as they wanted me to know what had happened. They'd tried to call me earlier, but our house phone (a Magic Jack number via our PC) and cell phone were both turned off. How we ended up with both phones accidentally turned off is beyond me. So I didn't get the story until a few hours after it happened.

Wisteria Vine wrapped around the tree.

This morning I talked to my mom and brother again. They already had a tree service there to cut and chop up the downed tree. They reported that the tree was over 100 feet tall. The tree was twisted off at about ten feet up from the ground. It turns out the old tree was hollow inside, which made it easy to take down. But the amazing thing is the Wisteria Vine that was wrapped around the base of the tree and which wound its way to the top. The vine is what tethered the tree to the ground and kept it from catapulting through the front door and into the house. So the vine pretty much acted as a bungee-cord and saved the day.

The old White Oak tree was filled with squirrel nests. Where did the squirrels go when the tornado struck? My husband tells me the little critters probably landed miles down the road. I hope they made safe landings, but I have my doubts about that. Very sad.

The old oak was hollowed out.

This brings to mind the fact that our country is being plagued with an assortment of crazy storms lately. Hundreds of thousands, or maybe it's millions now, of trees have been felled by these storms.  Power lines have been downed across the country, houses and cars crushed, lives lost. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

My mom says God is angry about the way we're physically destroying our country, our earth. That could be. Who am I to question the way of things? I do know we strip mine, frack, raze and pollute our land from one end to another. It's a very sad state of affairs. I hope we all wake up and do something about it before it's too late.

This brings to mind Shel Silverstein's book, The Giving Tree, where the boy/man uses the tree until there's nothing left but the stump. One of my twin granddaughters, only three years old, loves that book. She says, "And the tree was happy." I'm not so sure. How can the tree be happy about being destroyed?

For me,  this is a day of introspection. The day is cloudy with intermittent lightning, booming thunder and rain. A good time to sit inside and think. Where do we go from here? What is my direction in life? It's a time to be thankful for family and friends and staying safe. It is a time to think about God.

Happy 4th of July from Pensacola Beach!

Happy 4th of July from Pensacola Beach!

The 4th of July along the Gulf Coast is all about the beach, in my case, Pensacola Beach. Since this is a tourist destination the beach is packed. So here are a few pics of a very crowded beach.

Those not on the beach are most likely having a family gathering somewhere. Perhaps at a park, a campground, or just at home. This is a big day for barbecues, which is what we have planned. My husband is the chef at our house. The menu: Texas style barbecued ribs, to-die-for potato salad, corn on the cob and ranch style beans. Yum!

For many this is a day of family gatherings and nighttime fireworks. For others it's a quiet day at home, at least it's quiet until the neighborhood fireworks get started.

Looking west on Pensacola Beach.

My dogs, Shani and Dude, aren't all that crazy about fireworks, but they don't freak out. Shani will go off to the most soundproof part of the house, a bathroom. Dude will stomp around, huff and puff, and "Ahh-rooooo!" his complaints now and then.

When I was a kid growing up in a small southern California town, the 4th of July was a big deal. The whole town turned out for a parade followed by a family oriented gathering at the park. It was a day of baseball games, cotton candy and a carnival atmosphere. At night we'd spread out big blankets, stretch out and watch the fireworks directly overhead. "Oooos and ahhhhs" would be voiced by all.

Looking east on Pensacola Beach.

One year, when I was nine, I got to ride on a float.  I was a 4th runner-up for writing an essay "What the American Flag Means to Me." That essay won me a spot on the float. Alas, the essay is nowhere to be found, but the memories are still there.

As I sat there on the float, looking out at the crowds, I dreamed of someday becoming a real writer. Some dreams are slow to fruition, but heck, I'm getting there. I'm an author and people are reading my books. I guess it doesn't get much better than that.

The holiday beach crowds.

As for me, I'm not all that keen on crowds these days. So I'll be watching my fireworks on the TV.

Best wishes to all of you for a great, fun, happy 4th of July!

To Family and Friends

To my family and friends, if you happen to discover your likeness in one of my books, please forgive me. Your character strong-armed me and insisted on being a part of the story. Believe me, I have no control over this. And remember, only you and I know who you are.

In the meantime, the latest one to push his way into a story is my ten month old, 100 plus pound, liver-red puppy, Dude. Part retriever, part setter, part hound and 100% love. He's a big, goofy pup who loves everyone he meets. Just be careful, because he's been known to knock people down in his exuberance. So far, two and counting. Dude doesn't bite, but as my grandson asked, "Nana, what about those teeth?"

Dude rarely barks, but he is a talker, with a "Roo-roo" here and an "Ah-roooo" there. Well, Dude wriggled his way into my latest book, "Murder on Sunday Beach." In the doggie character by the name of "Roo," he takes center stage from the moment the story opens.

"Murder on Sunday Beach" is a mystery/romance set in the quaint beach community of Sunday Beach off Scenic Highway 30A. Sunday Beach is my creation, but 30A is a very real, beautiful part of the Florida Panhandle.

Now as I was saying, some of you may have cameo appearances in my books, while others, like Dude, may hold center stage. Enjoy reading about your alter egos and please forgive me for any parts you don't like. Remember, these stories are fiction and I have a very vivid imagination.