A Journey Through Books

Books have always been a major part of my life. I read in happy times and sad, and all those times in between. Sometimes I read to escape, other times for knowledge, most often for just the pure pleasure of reading.

I confess, I've not written a new blog post in simply ages. Sometimes life and writing get in the way. But in spite of numerous distractions I always find time to read. So I thought I'd share with you a list of those wonderful, exciting, interesting, awesome and great reads since my last blog post. These are books I've read, loved and hope you'll enjoy. The books are in the order in which I read them. All of them were great reads.



Broken Ferns (Lei Crime #4) by Toby Neal
Island Fire by Toby Neal
Fortune's Rocks by Anita Shreve
Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
Body Surfing by Anita Shreve
A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve
Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
The Linen Queen by Patricia Falvey
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth
The Visitors by Sally Beauman
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The English Spy (Gabriel Allon, #15) by Daniel Silva
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Empty Throne (Saxon Tales, #8) by Bernard Cornwell
Mila 18 by Leon Uris
The Shell Keeper (Lei Crime KW) by Christine Nolfi
Twisted Vine (Lei Crime, #5) by Toby Neal
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
The Beekeeper's Daughter by Santa Montefiore
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
Circling the Son by Paula McLain
The Storm of the Century by Al Roker*
Breaking Sky by Cort McCarthy
Shadow (Blue-Link, #1) by Maureen A. Miller
Dry Bones (Longmire, #11) by Craig Johnson
13 Hours in Benghazi by Mitchell Zuckoff*
Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall

(* = Non-Fiction)

Note - Please forgive me if I left off any. There were so many books, I might have missed a few.

Whew! That was a lot of books read from April through December in 2015. Since the books were so numerous, I decided to list my 2016 reads in another post.

Keep reading, my bookish friends. And please feel free to list any of your favorite reads in the comments below.

In Love With Books

I've been in love with books since I was a little kid. Some of my happiest memories are all those times I spent at the library perusing the bookshelves and then carrying home an armload of books. Then I'd curl up on the couch, stretch out on my bed, or sit on the patio and read, read, read. To this day I read every chance I can get.

In my last blog post I promised to list the books I've been reading lately. I loved and can recommend every single book I've listed below. Most are fiction, but those marked with (*) are non-fiction. I like to read a variety of books, so you'll find historical fiction, history, contemporary fiction, romance and everything in between. I've listed the books by the month I finished reading them, from January of this year to the present month.

January:

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer

The Queen of Lost Hopes by Susan Higginbotham

February:

The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham

1215 - The Year of Magna Carta by Danny Danziger & John Gillingham *

Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham

1066 - The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth *

Death of Kings (Saxon Tales #6) by Bernard Cornwell

March:

The Pagan Lord (Saxon Tales #7) by Bernard Cornwell

The White Princess by Philippa Gregory

The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory

Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen

April:

The High Sheriff of Huntingdon by Anne Stuart

Now Face to Face by Karleen Koen

Before Versailles by Karleen Koen

Under an Enchantment by Anne Stuart

May:

How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill *

Dark Angels by Karleen Koen

The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart

Supercell by H.W. "Buzz" Bernard

Divergent (Divergent Trilogy #1) by Veronica Roth

June:

The Unforgiven by Alan LeMay

Insurgent (Divergent Trilogy #2) by Veronica Roth

The Light Horseman's Daughter by David Crookes

I'm almost always reading more than one book, usually something from the library and the rest are usually eBooks on my Kindles (my old Kindle Keyboard and my newer Kindle Fire).

Currently Reading:

The Black Count ... The Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss *

Outback by Aaron Fletcher

Do or Die by Suzanne Brockmann

Summer of the Loon by Deanna L. Sletten

If you're at a loss of what to read next, you can't go wrong with any of the books I've listed above. All of them are great reads.

I hope you all love books as much as I do.

Outrageously Orange

Some of the orange flowers in my flowerpots.

Orange is one of those bold, in-your-face colors. There is very little orange inside my house, as I tend toward earth tones, but outside is another matter. I love flowers. So bright and bold, outrageously orange flowers are just my thing. My flowerpots are always filled with bright colored flowers. I love Gerbera Daisies, Marigolds, Sunflowers, wildflowers. I could go on and on.

Lucky for me that I live in Florida where flowers are everywhere. Some days my dog, Dude, and I drive through the neighborhood just to look at all the flowers. Well, I look at the flowers and Dude looks for dogs, cats and kids. I don't think Dude is all that interested in flowers, though as a pup he ate some of my flowers from time to time. Thankfully he's outgrown his flower-eating days.

Dude, my reddish-orange dog.

Lately I've been writing blog posts about colors. So if you have a fascination with colors you might want to check out those other posts: Seeing Red, Passionate About Purple, Think Pink, Yodeling for Yellow and Shades of White.

Some days I love to get out my oil paints or acrylics, a fresh canvas, my assortment of brushes and just start painting. Some days I paint landscapes or seascapes, while other days I prefer florals. I love painting flowers, as that's when I can use all those bold colors. Trust me in this, orange is a fun color to paint.

For those who follow my blog, I almost always include a list of books in my posts. So I couldn't resist adding a list of Orange Books, which is fiction and non-fiction that has something to do with the color orange (in no particular order):

Moonlight and Oranges by Elise Stephens*
Bright Orange for the Shroud (Travis McGee #6) by John D. MacDonald**
Cat in an Orange Twist (A Midnight Louie Mystery) by Carole Nelson Douglas
The Orange Blossom Express by Marlena Evangeline*
Oranges by John McPhee
Five Quarters of an Orange by Joanne Harris
Orange Crush (Serge Storms) by Tim Dorsey
The River Runs Orange (A Meg Harris Mystery) by R. J. Harlick
Song of the Orange Moons by Lori Ann Stephens*
The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin
Orange as Marmalade by Fran Stewart
The Orange Trees of Baghdad: In Search of My Lost Family by Leilah Nadir
The Burnt Orange Sunrise (A Berger & Mitry Mystery) by David Handler
Orange Blossom Trails: Walks in the Natural Areas of Florida by Phillip Manning

*TBR on my Kindle
**Read (I love the whole Travis McGee Series)

Please feel free to add some orange reads in the comments below. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope you have an outrageously orange day.

A Happy Easter to Y'all

Beautiful Easter Lilies.

Here in the South "y'all" is a common form of speech. So I hope you don't mind my southern greeting of "A Happy Easter to Y'all."

I know that Easter means different things for different people. There's Passover, Easter Sunday at church, pretty Easter dresses and bonnets, Easter baskets, coloring Easter Eggs, hunting for eggs left by the Easter Bunny, Easter candy (chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies, yum!), Easter Lilies, memories of loved ones from Easters past, Spring Break, family, kids and grandkids.




Last year's Easter Lilies.

For many it's also memories of the Easter Rebellion in 1916 Ireland: 1916 Easter Rebellion - on Wikipedia

A little Easter history: The Easter Bunny - on Wikipedia

My favorite Easter character: Peter Rabbit - on Wikipedia

Easter is a time that's both happy and sad. I hope for y'all that this Easter is a happy one.

This spring the Easter Lilies in my yard have yet to bloom. They're running behind schedule. Go figure. But last year my Easter Lilies bloomed just in time for a beautiful Easter morning. The photo above was taken of hot-house Easter Lilies. So beautiful and with a heavy sweet fragrance.

When possible, I try to gather a list of fiction that has something to do with the post I'm writing. So I was surprised to find an assortment of reads, some happy and some sad, but all of them have something to do with Easter in one way or another. I haven't read any of these books, but they all managed to catch my eye, so I thought I'd list them for y'all.


Fiction that has something to do with Easter (in no particular order & all available as eBooks):

No Bunny But You (Holiday Series) by Carol Rose
Easter Bunny Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery) by Leslie Meier
Death of a Dumb Bunny (A Chloe Boston Mystery) by Melanie Jackson
Easter Lili by Margaret Knight
Spring Comes to Barncastle Inn by Lynette Sowell
Easter's Lily by Judy Serrano
A Baby for Easter (Love Inspired) by Lois Richer
Easter Promises (Love Inspired) by Lois Richer
Easter Blessings (Love Inspired) by Gayle Gaymer Martin & Lenora Worth
1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion by Morgan Llywelyn*
The Young Rebels by Morgan Llywelyn*
Easter at Tobruk by Michael O'Sullivan
The Rising Moon by William Martin
Martyrs and Traitors (A Tale of 1916) by Marina Julia Neary
An Excess of Love (Easter Rebellion) by Cathy Cash Spellman
Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes
Like a Lily by Victoria Pitts-Caine

*By one of my favorite historical fiction authors and on my TBR list.

On Easter Sunday I'll be taking photos of my grandkids hunting for Easter Eggs in their backyard. It'll be a family day - a time to visit and to munch on yummy food and Chocolate Easter Eggs.

A Happy Easter to Y'all.

Shades of White

White Azaleas are blooming all over my neighborhood.

Lately I have been reading a lot of historical fiction, particularly during the time of the Wars of the Roses. From 1455 to 1485 the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster were fighting to put their king on the throne of England.

Eventually, after much bloodshed, the two factions united under the Tudor King Henry VII and his White Queen, Elizabeth of York. The symbol of their rule, the Tudor Rose, was Red and White.

If you want a quick overview of that tumultuous era, check out Wars of the Roses - on Wikipedia


Reading about the Wars of the Roses gave me a new sense of color, with Red and White representing two sides of wars that seemed to go on forever. This inspired me to write today's post on Shades of White.

Flowers in assorted shades of white.

Colors have varying shades, even the color white. Here on the Florida Panhandle the flowers are in bloom. Each day brings a new display of color, but lately it's the white blooms that stand out: White Azaleas, Dogwood and other white flowers I couldn't even begin to name. So many lovely blooms in every shade of white.

In my search for historical fiction set during the Wars of the Roses, I discovered the awesome author, Philippa Gregory. Now many of you have probably been reading her wonderful books for years, but she's new to me. Believe me, I now fully intend to read every one of her books.



It just so happens that the first Philippa Gregory book I read was The White Queen. I followed that up with The Kingmaker's Daughter.  Both were awesome reads. Now I'm looking forward to reading The White Princess when it's released this July. These books are all part of Philippa Gregory's series, The Cousins' War, which is set during the Wars of the Roses.

Delicate pinkish-white flowers.

If you check out my Goodreads page you'll see the other wonderful historical fiction novels I've been reading lately. This includes historical fiction by Sharon Kay Penman, Bernard Cornwell, Morgan Llywelyn and Elizabeth Chadwick, to name just a few.

I love compiling lists of books to read, so here is my latest one of books in Shades of White (fiction and non-fiction that has something to do with the color white).



Reads in Shades of White (historical fiction, contemporary romances, paranormals and more). All of these are available in eBook format. In no particular order:

Lady in White by Denise Domning*
A White So Red by K. D. Jones
White Lion's Lady by Lara Adrian
The White Dragons by Charley Ray
White Heat by Jill Shalvis*
The White Lord of Wellesbourne by Kathryn Le Veque
White Horses by Alice Hoffman**
Snow White (Enchanted Fairytales) by Cindy C. Bennett
The White Swan (Enchanted Fairytales) by Cindy C. Bennett
White Apache's Woman (Santa Fe Trilogy) by Shirl Henke
White Eagle's Touch (Blackfoot Warriors) by Karen Kay
She Only Wore White by Dorthe Binkert
White Hot by Carla Neggars
White Owl by Veronica Blake
Black and White (Life and Love in the City) by Olivia Hugo
The White Garden (A Novel of Virginia Woolf) by Stephanie Barron
White as Snow by Maleah Layne
Spirits White as Lightning (Urban Elves) by Mercedes Lackey
The White Gryphon (Mage Wars) by Mercedes Lackey
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Silver-White (The Great North Woods Pack #1) by Shawn Underhill
White as Snow (Truly Yours) by Janice Thompson
White Pearls (Truly Yours) by Shannon Taylor Vannatter
White Heart by Sherry Jones
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
White Lies (Arcane Society) by Jayne Ann Krentz
A Corner of White (The Colors of Madeleine #1) by Jaclyn Moriarty
White Lace and Promises (Carte Blanche) by Natasha Blackthorne
The White Flower (Love Endures) by Grace Livingston Hill
White Satin by Iris Johansen
White Hot (Men in Uniform) by Nina Bruhns
The White Dragon (Dragonriders of Pern) by Anne McCaffrey
The Whites of their Eyes (Bunker Hill) by Paul Lockhart
White Witch by Trish Milburn
The White by Deborah Larsen**
In the Land of the White Cloud by Sarah Lark
White as Snow (Mysterious Ways #1) by Donna Westover Gallup*
The White Horse King (Alfred the Great) by Benjamin Merkle
White Thunder (Ella Clah) by Aimee & David Thurlo
The White Cuckoo by Annie Ireson
White Hot by Sandra Brown
White Seed by Paul Clayton*
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
The White Album (Essays) by Joan Didion
White Heat by Brenda Novak
Little White Lies by Erin Lawless
Somewhere Between Black and White by Shelly Hickman
The White Rose Murders (Tudor Mystery #1) by Paul Doherty
A White Rose by Bekah Ferguson
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins*



White Azaleas in my yard.

*TBR on my Kindle
**Read and Recommend

I had no idea there were so many reads in Shades of White.  If I missed some of your favorites, please feel free to list them in the comments below.

When you have the time, I hope you'll check out my other color posts: Seeing Red, Passionate About Purple, Think Pink, Lovely Lavender and Yodeling for Yellow. I'll be writing more color posts from time to time.

Once again, thanks so much for stopping by.

Seeing Red

Red Poinsettias.

As a redhead, the color red has always been a part of my life. I learned early on that my red hair set me apart. I was one of the very few kids, in my neighborhood and school, to have red hair. The cute, popular girls were blonds and I was, well, just a redhead.

When I was a child I remember wanting a red dress, but I was told over and over that "Redheads can't wear red." What? Is that true? So I never did get that red dress. Even as an adult I've yet to own or wear a red dress.

Power suits are supposed to be red, but I never had one of those either. My suits were always black, brown, gray or tan, never power-red.

Once upon a time I had a pair of red slacks which I wore with a red and white striped blouse. I loved that outfit, but no one ever said, "Gee, you look great in red."

I once owned a candy-apple red Opal GT. It was an older sports car with faded red paint when I got it, but spiffed up with that candy-apple red paint job it looked great. I only had it for a couple years, because the engine had problems and it kept breaking down. That was during my college years and I couldn't afford to keep paying for repairs.

In my late thirties I had a fire-engine red, 4-wheel-drive, Isuzu Trooper. Well, it wasn't just mine, I had to share it with my husband. One vehicle for two adults. We couldn't afford a second vehicle at the time. Suffice to say I loved that red Trooper and drove it for well over 100,000 miles. When we finally sold it the paint was a faded red.

Talking about faded red, well, my red hair is now quite faded too. I may be older and wiser, but I'm also faded. Oh well, it's better than the alternative. These days I have a gray vehicle. To match the gray in my hair?

Now as I was saying, the color red has always been a part of my life. Besides being a writer, I'm also an artist. So I love colors. Alizarin Crimson, an awesome shade of red, is one of my favorites.  I once did a series of paintings in black, gray, white and lots of red. I really enjoyed painting them, but never sold a one. They're now buried somewhere out in my garage. Gee, some people just don't appreciate the color red.

I happen to love flowers, particularly those in shades of red, roses especially, but during the holidays I enjoy poinsettias too. That's why I decided on the poinsettias photo above for this post.

My husband has his eye on a bright red Chevy Corvette. Personally, I'd rather have a red Chevy Silverado 4x4 with a crew-cab. But we're not likely to ever get either one since money doesn't happen to grow on trees. If we ever do get rich, well, you know where I'm going with this train of thought.

In honor of the color red, I've listed some Red Fiction below:

Real Women Wear Red by Kathy Holmes**
The Red Queen by Phillipa Gregory
Red Mojo Mama by Kathy Lynn Hall**
Red is an Attitude by Kathy Lynn Hall**
Black Oil, Red Blood by Diane Castle**
Red Magic by Juliette Waldron
The Red Heart by James Alexander Thom
A White So Red by K. D. Jones
The Quick Red Fox (Travis McGee) by John D. MacDonald*
Red Mist (A Scarpetta Novel) by Patricia Cornwell
The Girl from Red Lion Square (Regency) by Lizzie Church
Christmas at the Red Chiefs by Linda Lael Miller*
Red Hot Deadly Peppers by Paige Shelton
The Red Rooster by Michael Wallace**
Red Leaves by Paulina Simons
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Beneath a Blood Red Moon by Heather Graham
Red's Hot Cowboy (Spikes & Spurs) by Carolyn Brown
A Dead Red Cadillac (Lalla Bains #1) by R. P. Dahlke**
A Dead Red Heart (Lalla Bains #2) by R. P. Dahlke**
A Dead Red Oleander (Lalla Bains #3) by R. P. Dahlke*
His to Protect (Red Stone Security) by Katie Reus
Forged in Fire (Red Hot SEALs) by Trish McCallan
Forged in Ash (Red Hot SEALs) by Trish McCallan
The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Shattered Valor (Red Team) by Elaine Levine
Red by Kate Nolan
A Bright Red Ribbon by Fern Michaels
Redfield Farm by Judith Redline Coopey
Red by Erica Spindler
Red and the Wolf (Enchanted Fairytales) by Cindy C. Bennett
Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen) by Joanne Fluke
Red Right Return (Buck Reilly) by John H. Cunningham** 
Dirty Red (Love Me With Lies #2) by Tarryn Fisher
Red Rose Moon (Cain Chronicles #4) by S. M. Reine
Red Velvet Revenge (Cupcake Bakery) by Jena McKinlay
Redcoats by David Crookes
Red Sky Night by Martin Quadroy
Red Cell (Rogue Warrior) by Richard Marcinko
Roses Are Red by James Patterson*
NYPD Red by James Patterson & Marshall Karp
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy*
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy*
Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane*
Red Sky at Night (Thorn Series #6) by James W. Hall
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammet
Red Jungle by Kent Harrington**
The Red Rover by James Fenimore Cooper**
Red Lands Outlaw (Ballad of Henry Starr) by Phil Truman**
Red, Green or Murder (Posadas County #10) by Steven F. Havill
Dead in Red (Jeff Resnick Mystery) by L. L. Bartlett
Red Flags by C. C. Brown
Red Alert (Dr. Strange-Love) by Peter Bryant**
The Red Horseman (Jake Grafton) by Stephen Coonts
Red Phoenix by Larry Bond
The Red Door (Ian Rutledge) by Charles Todd
Red Light by T. Jefferson Parker
Red Winter by Grant James Turner
Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell
The Trustworthy Redhead by Iris Johansen

*Books I've read and enjoyed/loved.
**Books TBR on my Kindles.

How could I possibly miss the Red Hat books? So here are a few of them.

The Red Hat Society: Fun and Friendship After Fifty by Sue Ellen Cooper
The Red Hat Society's Laugh Lines by Sue Ellen Cooper
The Red Hat Society's Queens of Woodlawn Avenue by Regina Hale Sutherland
The Red Hat Society's Domestic Goddess by Regina Hale Sutherland
The Red Hat Society's Acting Their Age by Regina Hale Sutherland
The Red Hat Club by Haywood Smith
Red Hats & Renegades by Barbara Falkenrath

Well, after putting together the above lists of books, I'm seeing a lot of red. I hope you all find some red books you'd like to read. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hmm! What color should I write about next?

My Childhood Love of Books

Favorite books from my childhood.

Today I added one of my favorite childhood books, Johnny Tremain, to my Kindle Fire. I remember that as an awesome story and couldn't pass up the opportunity to reread this wonderful book.

That's what I love about having a Kindle and which I'm sure is the same for a Nook, iPad or any other eReader. I love the immediacy of downloading a book which catches my eye. And yes, I do add way too many books to my Kindles (my old Kindle Keyboard and my new Kindle Fire).

I'm writing this post tonight due to my childhood love of books. If I hadn't fallen in love with books all those many years ago, well, I probably wouldn't be in love with books today. I got to thinking about all those wonderful books I read as a child and promptly started making a list of them. For those of you who follow my blog, you know that I love making lists of books. Well, this particular list is one that's dear to my heart.

I have to admit that reading all those extraordinary, magical, exciting, adventurous, heartwarming books are what brought about my dream to someday be an author. So if you want to know what authors influenced me through the years, well, just take a look at my list. Talk about inspiration ...

My Favorite Childhood Reads (in no particular order):

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
Savage Sam by Fred Gipson
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth
Hitty Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder*
Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne*
Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry*
King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott*
Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge
Silver for General Washington by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
The Borrowers by Mary Norton*
Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene*
All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor*
Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace*
Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
Five Little Peppers by Margaret Sidney*
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild*
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lundgren*
Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers*
A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes
Polyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevensen
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
Thomasina by Paul Gallico
That Darn Cat by The Gordons
The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West
The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart
Hailstones and Halibut Bones (Poetry) by Mary O'Neill
Greyfriars Bobby by Eleanor Atkinson
Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight
Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara

*Note - These are books where I read and loved the whole series.

It seems to me that all these books would make wonderful Christmas presents for young and old alike. Many of these are also available in eBook format.

Let it be known that I owe my love of books to my mom who started reading to me when I was just a baby. Through the years we spent countless hours together in the library. Every Christmas and birthday she gave me wonderful books. The three books in the photo above were all given to me by my mom. To this day, my mom and I still share books.

I'll add other books to this list as I remember them. Please feel free to add some of your own childhood favorites in the comments below.

The Graffiti Bridge in Pensacola

The Graffiti Bridge (photos taken today, 10/2/12)

The Graffiti Bridge, aka the 17th Avenue Railroad Trestle, is one of my favorite Pensacola landmarks. I always enjoy visiting the bridge to see the latest graffiti. This is a work of pop art that changes day to day, night to night.

There is a great deal of controversy over this bridge. Some locals are horrified over the concept of graffiti in general and even more so in having it grace a railroad bridge in their city.





Periodically they create an uproar over the graffiti and then go out as a group to cover all the graffiti under a fresh coat of  white paint.

No sooner is the bridge painted and the local and visiting "artists" repaint it with colorful graffiti. Then another group comes along and paints out all the graffiti with a coat of purple paint, or green paint, or as seen in today's photos, striped pink and yellow paint. Then the graffiti is started all over again.






I love the changing nature of the graffiti on this bridge. Sometimes there are small murals, other times profound statements, other times someone is declaring their love for someone else.


People come from far and wide, me included, to see and photograph Pensacola's Graffiti Bridge.

A search on the Internet will turn up link after link with photos taken through the years. The oldest photo I found online is one taken in 1935. You can see that photo in the link below.

The Graffiti Bridge - 1935 Photo

Other Internet images of the Graffiti Bridge:

Images for Pensacola Graffiti Bridge







For anyone wanting to see the Graffiti Bridge, it's located on 17th Avenue, along Bayou Texar, near Bayfront Parkway in SE Pensacola. You can pinpoint the location with Google Map.

When I first moved to Florida over thirty years ago, I fell in love with the Graffiti Bridge. I've taken quite a number of photos of it through the years. The photos in this post are all ones I took today.

I've always had a special fascination, interest, in graffiti. Maybe it goes back to growing up in southern California where graffiti art covers a wide range, from tagging to beautiful murals and everything in between.

Through the years I've taken photographs of graffiti in major cities across the country. I think my favorite cities for graffiti are Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Orleans. Yes, I'm one of those people who even admires graffiti on railroad boxcars.


I have to admit that I've never painted graffiti anywhere in my lifetime. However, it is one of the item's on my Bucket List. Maybe someday my "art" will appear on the Graffiti Bridge?

For those of you who know I love to put together lists of interesting books, please check below for some graffiti fiction and non-fiction. I haven't read any of these books, but if you have a fascination for graffiti you might find these books of interest. (Books listed in no particular order. All are available in eBook format.)

Graffiti Fiction:

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Graffiti Girl by Kelly Parra
The Graffiti Sculptor by Latham Shinder
Graffiti Grandma by Jo Barney
Hollywood Graffiti by Arelo Sederberg
Night Artist by Geoff Sutton
The Graffiti Genius by D. S. Carrell
The Walls by Jay Fox
Tagger by Mary A. Monroe (YA)
Graffiti Heaven by Marita A. Hansen (YA)
Tag by Michael Coleman (YA)

Graffiti Non-Fiction:

The Golden Age of Graffiti by Nigel Rees
Graffiti by Lou Savelli, Robert Cekada & Anthony Mottola
Street Scene - How to Draw Graffiti Style by John Lee
Graff2: Next Level Graffiti Techniques by Scape Martinez
The Mammoth Book of Street Art by JAKe
Graffiti Art Styles by Lisa Gottlieb
Seven Year With Bansky by Robert Clarke
Bansky: The Man Behind the Wall by Will Ellsworth-Jones

I have to add a disclaimer here. Although I have a fondness for graffiti, there is a time and a place where it can be admired. On the other hand, I don't agree with tagging people's houses, cars, walls, fences, signs, where it becomes an eyesore instead of art.

As always, please feel free to add comments below.

A Sandcastle on Navarre Beach

A Sandcastle on Navarre Beach.

I have always been in love with sandcastles. Growing up in southern California, my family went to the beach most every weekend all summer long. Laguna Beach was my favorite, because of the rocky shoreline that revealed starfish, sea urchins and other sea creatures when the tide was out. I also loved Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, because of all that sand which was great for building sandcastles.

At an early age my parents taught me how to build a sandcastle using my hands to form the walls, then digging the moat and forming the outer walls. Fingers worked just fine to create windows and doors. No, we didn't have plastic forms to build sandcastles back then, just our hands and a lot of imagination. When the castle was complete, my dad showed me how to drip sand onto the structure to create the roof, spires and other decorative elements. Then it was all topped off with an assortment of seashells and colorful sea glass.

These days people use plastic forms and a variety of plastic shovels and rakes to build a sandcastle. It's still a fun thing to do, but not quite as unique and artistic as the ones I built as a child.

Yesterday my husband and I attended the Navarre Beach Sand Sculpture Festival. I expected to see an assortment of sandcastles, but such was not the case. Instead, there were the following sand creatures: a crocodile, a sea turtle, a gorilla head, horse heads, a snake, Humpty Dumpty, a giant eye and a giant face. Oh, there was also a race car, but only one sandcastle. Go figure. You can see the lone sandcastle in the photo above.

I'd love a beach festival of just sandcastles, but maybe sandcastles aren't popular these days? Oh well, I guess I'll have to go down to the beach and build my very own sandcastle, just to see if I still know how to do it the old fashioned way. On the other hand, when Hurricane Isaac battered the Gulf Coast several weeks back, I walked along the beach collecting plastic forms, rakes and shovels for building sandcastles. I wondered how all those brightly colored plastic forms ended up abandoned and half buried in the sand. Anyway, I now have enough plastic tools to build a modern day sandcastle.

I'm sorry to say that I don't have any photos of those sandcastles I built all those many years ago, when I was just a kid. Well, at least I have the memories. One of the things I remember from those long ago days, was watching the rising tide wash away the sandcastle at the end of the day. There was something special about creating a momentary work of art, a sandcastle here for a few hours and then gone.

For those who might be interested in the Navarre Beach Sand Sculpture Festival which continues through Sunday, here's the link with all the info.

Navarre Beach Sand Sculpture Festival

If you want to see more photos of the sand sculptures I mentioned above, and some enticing photos of Navarre Beach, check out the two blog posts I did yesterday.

For those of you who know I love to make lists of great books to read, well, here's a list of sandcastle fiction. (Listed in no particular order.)

Sandcastle Fiction:

Sandcastles by Luanne Rice*
Sandcastle and Other Stories by Justin Bog**
Sand Castles by Antoinette Stockinberg**
The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
Sandcastles by April Hill
The Sand Castle by Rita Mae Brown
Sandcastles of Love by Sydell I. Voeller
Castles on the Sand by E. M. Tippetts
Sandcastles by H. H. Campbell
Sand Castles and Seashores by S. C. Harvey

All of the above books are available in eBook format.

*A book I've read and very much enjoyed by one of my favorite authors, Luanne Rice. I actually have a hardback copy of this keeper book.

**To-Be-Read Books on my Kindles (Two, my old Kindle Keyboard and new Kindle Fire).

Note: My book list above would have been longer, but there aren't that many sandcastle books. So maybe I need to write one? Just sayin'...

Please feel free to comment below and add any sandcastle books that I might have missed.

Before I forget, I came across a how-to book about building sandcastles. So in case anyone is interested, here it is:

Sandcastles Made Simple by Lucinda Wierenga

Crazy About Books

My living room bookshelves.

I have been crazy about books ever since I was a small child, years before I could read a book on my own. Why? Because my mom read to me from the very beginning. She read more than just nursery rhymes and fairy tales. She read short stories from magazines and anthologies to my brother and I. But best of all, she read us the wonderful stories by O'Henry and Terhune.

My earliest memories include O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Ransom of Redchief." How could I not fall in love with books? How could I not become crazy about books?

I fell in love with the library when I was just a toddler. Mom would take me there and we'd sit on the rug on the library floor and go through one book after another. She'd read bunches of books to me before we selected the ones to take home. Honestly, I think my mom should get a medal for reading a record number of books to my brother and I.

When I could finally read on my own, a whole new world was opened up to me. I still remember the first day I read a book that didn't have any illustrations. How would I know what the characters and the scenery looked like? Mom's response, "You create the pictures in your head." Of course! I'd already been creating my own stories in my head, so it only made sense that I could do that with the books I read.

I raced through the Betsy Tacy books, Little House on the Prairie books, Little Women, Nancy Drew, and every book I could find about horses. Favorites were Savage Sam, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Enormous Egg, The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle in Time, Silver for General Washington, Johnny Tremaine, The Bronze Bow, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, Heidi, The Little Princess, Misty of Chincoteague,  I could go on and I. Suffice to say, you could name a book and I probably read it way back then.

So now we get to the fact that as an adult I'm still crazy about books. When my husband and I moved from the Texas Hill Country back to the Florida Gulf Coast a few years ago, I had twenty-seven very heavy boxes of books. That was after I took bags of books, mostly paperbacks, to the library. The packed boxes were so heavy they required a dolly to cart them onto the U-Haul.

Now that we're contemplating a future move, my husband has already said, "I'm not moving all those books again." I just smile sweetly. I'll give away a few books and pack the rest in smaller boxes. And next time, maybe I won't number the book boxes?

The books on my living room bookshelves are my most treasured tomes, many of them hardbacks. Most have been moved across country and back, from Florida to Las Vegas to St. Simons Island to Florida to the Texas Hill Country back to Florida once again. Mind you, that's thirty years of moving back and forth across the country. Thirty years of collecting more and more books.

What books have I been carting around and collecting for years? Well, there's a heck of a lot of them.  I'm not about to list them all, at least not on this post, but you'll find lists below of some of the books on my living room bookshelves shown in the picture above.

I decided the best way to do this is to give you a guided tour of my living room bookshelves, which is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. I love reading history, so there are a lot of really great books on those shelves. Also, some great fiction and short story anthologies. So here goes. I hope you find something that you'll want to add to your own book collections.

Left bookshelf (a selection of books from the top shelf down):

1848, Year of Revolution by Mike Rapport
Worlds at War by Anthony Pagden
The Third Reich at War by Richard J. Evans
Postwar, A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt
Gellhorn, A Twentieth Century Life by Caroline Moorehead
A History of the Jews of the Modern World by Howard M. Sachar
A World Undone, The Story of the Great War 1914 to 1918 by C. J. Meyer
Cobra II by Michael R. Gordon & General Bernard E. Trainor
Ghost Wars by Steve Coll
Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden

On Call in Hell, A Doctor's Iraq War Story by CDR. Richard Jadwick
Fiasco,  The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks
Germs by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg & William Broad
Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile
The Holocaust by Martin Gilbert
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Vietnam, A History by Stanley Karnow
O Jerusalem! by Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre

Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson
1776 by David McCullough
Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
Washington by James Thomas Flexner
John Adams by David McCullough
Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose
Plymouth Colony by Eugene Aubrey Stratton
A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman
The Crucible of War by Fred Anderson
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
A History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones

The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England Ed. by Nigel Saul
The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis
Scotland, A Concise History by Fitzroy MacLean
Scottish Battles, From Mons Graupius to Culloden by John Sadler
Victoria's Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard
Born to Rule, Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria by Julia P. Gelardi
The Hollow Crown by Miri Rubin
The Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe
Robert the Bruce, King of Scots by Ronald McNair Scott
Castles and Keeps of Scotland by Frank Roy Fraprie
Mirage, Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt by Nina Burleigh
An Illustrated History of the Crusades and the Crusader Nights Ed. by Charles Phillips

The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain Ed. by Kenneth O. Morgan
History of Art (Fifth Ed. Revised) by H. W. Janson & Anthony F. Janson
The Book of 1,000 Poems by Wings Books
An assortment of art books on Gauguin, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Salvador Dali, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frida Kahlo and many others.

Right bookshelf (a selection of books from the top shelf down):

Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo
Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
Anthem by Ayn Rand
The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
Sons of Liberty by Marie Jakober
Only Call Us Faithful by Marie Jakober
Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller
The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice
The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners by Luanne Rice
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Unlikely Soldier by Gerald Seymour
Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva
The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough

Wild and Wooly, An Encyclopedia of the Old West by Denis McLaughlin
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides
The Lance and the Shield, The Life and Times of Sitting Bull by Robert M. Utley
Lone Star Justice, The First Century of the Texas Rangers by Robert M. Utley
Commanches, The History of a People by T. R. Fehrenbach
Black Elk Speaks by John G Neihardt
Crazy Horse by Mari Sandoz
Three Roads to the Alamo by William O. Davis
The Trail of Tears by Gloria Jahoda
Frontier Texas, History of a Borderland to 1880 by Robert F. Pace & Donald S. Frazer
Indian Wars by Robert M. Utley & Wilcomb E. Washburn
The Captured by Scott Zesch
The Chisholm Trail by Wayne Gard
The Longhorns by Frank J. Dobie
The Mustangs by Frank J. Dobie

The Oxford Book of American Poetry Chosen & Ed. by David Lehman
Contemporary Fiction, 50 Short Stories Since 1970 Ed. by Lex Williford & Michael Martone
The World of the Short Story, A 20th Century Collection Selected & Ed. by Clifton Fadiman
The Wordsworth Collection of Classic Short Stories Selected by Rosemary Gray
Lone Star Rising, The Texas Rangers Trilogy by Elmer Kelton
Ranger's Law, A Lone Star Saga by Elmer Kelton
The Pushcart Book of Short Stories Ed. by Bill Henderson
The Art of the Story Ed. by Daniel Halpern
The Art of the Tale Ed. by Daniel Halpern
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (The Finca Vigia Ed.) by Ernest Hemingway
The New Granta Book of the American Short Story Ed. by Richard Ford
A Century of Great Western Stories, An Anthology of Western Fiction Ed. by John Jakes

Nothing But Victory, The Army of the Tennessee 1861-1865 by Steven E. Woodworth
Personal Memoirs Ulysses S. Grant Ed. by Caleb Carr
The Sword of Lincoln by Jeffrey D. Wert
The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton
Terrible Swift Sword by Bruce Catton
Never Call Retreat by Bruce Catton
Sherman's March by Burke Davis
Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears
Gray Fox, Robert E. Lee and The Civil War by Burke Davis
The New Annals of The Civil War Ed. by Peter Cozzens & Robert I. Girardi

The West, An Illustrated History by Geoffrey C. Ward
The Time-Life Series on The Civil War
Plus books on art, history, guns, birds, wildlife and more.

This is only about half the books on these two bookshelves. Remember, this is a collection gathered over a period of thirty years. By now you're saying, "She really is crazy about books." You're also most likely sympathizing with my husband about carting all those books around every time we move. And no, I'm not about to get rid of any of the books on these two bookshelves.

I'd love to hear from others who are crazy about books too. So please add your comments below.

Note: For those who might be interested, the art on the bookshelves were all painted by me with the exception of the watercolor of potted flowers which was painted by my mom. By the way, she's an incredible artist, but I'll save that for another post. The wood carvings and other paraphernalia were collected through the years.

Fiction vs. Reality

It has come to my attention recently that some people who read fiction are expecting reality. Now I have to ponder that a moment. I have never considered reality as a definition of fiction. So maybe it's time to check with Webster's.

Webster's says of fiction: "to shape, fashion, feign," "something invented by the imagination or feigned," "an invented story," "fictitious literature (as novels or short stories)," "an assumption of a possibility as a fact irrespective of the question of its truth," "a useful illusion or pretense," "the action of feigning or of creating with the imagination."

Well, I think that pretty much covers the definition of fiction. Now what about reality?

Webster's says of reality: "the quality or state of being real," "a real event, entity, or state of affairs," "the totality of real things and events."

So this is what I think/believe. Fiction is not meant to be reality. Fiction may be close to reality, a kind of embellishment of reality, it may even mimic some of reality. Some fiction touches on the darker side of reality, or the sadness and turmoil of reality. Other fiction is imagination, make-believe, fantasy, escapism, romanticism, I could go on and on. Basically, fiction is a story. It may contain bits and pieces that are close to reality, but it is still a story.

For those readers who demand that fiction be reality, perhaps they should read non-fiction instead? Or perhaps they should be more selective of what they read? Some fiction is closer to reality than others. Mainsteam and literary fiction is definitely closer to reality than say, paranormal fiction, sci-fi or fantasy.

I write fiction, because that's what I enjoy writing. I don't claim that my stories are "true stories," though you may find some truths in what I write. That is true of most authors of fiction.

When I sit down to read a piece of fiction, I'm looking for a story I enjoy reading. I want to hear an interesting voice telling an interesting story. It may be contemporary, historical, fantasy, suspense, but I want it to be a story that catches me.

I read a lot of books of all kinds. I don't stick to one genre or another. I like to be surprised when I read. I'm not talking about a bunch of action or surprise endings. I'm talking about a new way of viewing things in general, or a new view of an old story, or just a darn good read.

I'm usually reading because I want to escape. If I want reality, all I have to do is turn on the TV and listen to the news. That's about as much reality as I care to deal with, thank you very much. In reality, the ordinary girl doesn't always get to marry the prince. In reality, the prince doesn't always win the girl.

I like feel-good stories when I want to feel good.  I like scary stories when I want to be scared, which I have to say isn't all that often. I like to read about the good guys winning over the bad guys. I like my characters to find the love of their life and to have a fairytale ending. This is just me. Others read for other reasons.

It's just, as far as I'm concerned, if you're wanting to read reality, you probably won't find what you're looking for in fiction.

Since all of us have a different definition of fiction, I'd love to hear yours.

A Sneak Peek at "Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows"

Here is a sneak peek at the cover for my latest ebook, "Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows." I love how it turned out. My husband, Ben Heyer, did another great job in designing this cover. There is a big advantage having such a talented husband.

"Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows" is a collection of short stories and poems about life, love and other important issues. It should be available on Amazaon by mid-November.

I was originally aiming for a November 1st ePub of my book, only I was sick for all of last week, which delayed the launch. I'm really excited about this collection. It's more mainstream fiction with only a touch of romance.

Some of the short stories in this collection are: "Harry's Garden," "Checking Out," "A Kiss is Just a Kiss"  and "The Night of the UFO." I hope that gives you a tiny hint at what's inside.

Some of the poems in the collection are: "Bayou Blues," "Cartwheels," "Sweet Lips of Time" and "In a Cafe."

I'll let you know the minute "Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows" is available online at Amazon.com.