Sitting, reading, dreaming and gazing out at the world ...

Shoreline Park, a perfect place to gaze at the world.

Some days all I want to do is find the perfect place to sit, read, dream and gaze out at the world.

Lucky for me that I happen to live on the Florida Panhandle and close to the beautiful beaches of the the Gulf of Mexico. This is the land of water, water, everywhere. So almost anywhere that I can sit and look at the water is the perfect place to read, dream and gaze at the world.

Since I'm also a writer, it should be the perfect place to sit and write too. But some days it's best to leave the writing to those voices in my head. Some days it's best to just sit and maybe think about writing.

Shoreline Park is one of those places where I can sit in the shade of a gazebo and gaze out at the world. Hmm! Is that where the word "gazebo" came from? Just wondering.

Well, last night was a rip-roaring storm that brought an abundance of lightning, thunder and rain. The temp yesterday reached the mid-90s, but the much needed rain dropped it back down to the low 80s. Ahhh, a temporary reprieve from those hot, hot, HOT days of summer.

The air today is humid, thick, heavy, almost dripping. The rain could start again any minute. But then the sun breaks through the clouds for a moment or two. Then it's cloudy once again.

This is one of those days where I don't feel like doing much of anything.

Talking about the "Supermoon" and Books

A photo I took of the "Supermoon" last night, 6/22/2013.

Last night was the first I heard about the "Supermoon." It's been all over the news and the net for days, but it only just sank in when my husband pointed out to me last night that I needed to look at the moon.

Now this is uncharacteristic of me. I've always been fascinated with the moon ever since my dad bought my brother a telescope and we gazed at the moon, up-close, and saw all those mysterious shadows and craters. Simply awesome!

As the "Supermoon" rose over the treetops last night I snapped several photos. The best of the bunch is the one in this post. My camera is a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX20V. It's a great little camera (purse size and fits in the palm of my hand), but it isn't particularly designed to take moon photos. So I was pleased to get such a clear photo of the "Supermoon."

Now what's so great about this month's full moon? The moon is closer to the earth for this cycle, so the moon appears 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual. Well, after gazing at the moon last night I have to agree that it looked bigger and brighter and awesome.

Some links to check out:

Supermoon Sunday - NASA.com

Don't fear the Supermoon - Space.com

VIDEO: "It's a 'Supermoon'! - The Weather Channel

My dogs went out into the darkened front yard with me last night while I took photos of the moon. They gave me that funny look of "Why are you taking photos at night?" They didn't even bother to look at the moon. 

Now my dog, Dude, who knows how to howl, didn't even bother to howl at last night's "Supermoon." However, the actual full moon is tonight, so maybe he'll give it at least a little howl as the moon rises over the treetops?

Now all this talk about full moons brings to mind werewolves. Yeah, I have a fascination with werewolves too. In the wee hours last night, just before it started to rain, my dogs and I went out front again to look at the "Supermoon" one more time. The clouds were drifting around the moon, creating an eerie effect. I couldn't help but check over my shoulder for possible werewolves. Any rustle in the bushes caught my immediate attention. But my dogs, Dude and Shani, weren't the least bit alarmed. So I guess we didn't have any werewolves lurking around our house last night? Oh, but the full moon is actually tonight. Oh, my!

My very fav werewolf movie is the 1981 classic, "An American Werewolf in London." I've watched that movie so many times. Absolutely love it!

An American Werewolf in London - Blu-ray Edition

'Moon Over Madness' on my Kindle Fire.

Now it seems to me this is the perfect time to talk about MOON books and particularly those that pertain to werewolves. So in case y'all didn't know, I wrote a paranormal, romantic comedy about, yep, you guessed it, the moon and werewolves. I included witches, vampires, ghosts, dragons and a dog named Jake too.

My mom insists this is her favorite one of my books and thinks it should be made into a movie with actress Shirley MacLaine as one of the witches. What can I say? Thanks, Mom. I loved writing MOON OVER MADNESS and hope y'all will love reading it too.

MOON OVER MADNESS - Amazon/Kindle


MOON OVER MADNESS - Barnes&Noble/Nook


MOON OVER MADNESS - iTunes/iPad



Connie Flynn's 'Shadow on the Moon' on my Kindle.

I thought this would be the perfect time to list some of the MOON fiction reads on my Kindle. Note, some of these reads include werewolves too.

MOON Reads on my Kindle (in no particular order):

Shadow on the Moon (Werewolf Series #1) by Connie Flynn
Dark Moon by Rebecca York
Indian Moon by Carolyn McCray
Mocha, Moonlight and Murder by MaryAnn Kempher
Song of the Orange Moons by Lori Ann Stephens

Marsha Canham's 'Pale Moon Rider' on my Kindle.

Pale Moon Rider by Marsha Canham
Across a Moonlit Sea by Marsha Canham
Moonlight on the Nantahala by Michael Rivers
Irish Moon by Amber Scott
The Light of the Lovers Moon by Marcia Lynn McClure
Sailing Down the Moonbeam by Mary Gottschalk
Three Moons Over Sedona by Sherry Hartzler
Moonlight and Oranges by Elise Stephens

Anne Stuart's 'Moonrise' on my Kindle

Moonrise by Anne Stuart
Under the Desert Moon by Mary Tate Engels
Orchids in Moonlight by Patricia Hagan
Songbird Under a German Moon by Tricia Goyer
Moon in Leo by Kathleen Herbert
Sarah of the Moon by Randy Mixter
Fever Moon by Carolyn Haines
Rustler's Moon by Jim Jones
The Valley of the Moon by Jack London


I hope y'all find some great reads in the list above. Thanks again for stopping by. And don't forget to take a look at the "Supermoon" tonight. Oh, and don't forget to watch out for werewolves too.

A Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Kind of Day

A mixed dozen of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

The first day of summer and it was a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts kind of day.

Now and then I have a Girls Day Out and meet with one or more of my girlfriends at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Pensacola. This morning it was Betty and I and some very yummy donuts. Betty bought a couple dozen donuts to take home and for friends. She got a dozen still-warm original glazed and a dozen assorted. They looked so yummy that I had to take some photos.



My yummy Key Lime Cake donut.

I only ate one donut, a Key Lime Cake, which was fabulous. Believe me, it took a lot of willpower not to eat a dozen.

Imagine sitting there for a couple hours watching all those warm donuts coming off the conveyor belts. A couple hours of looking at the glass case filled with every kind of donut imaginable. A couple hours of watching one person after another downing one donut after another. Not to mention a couple hours with all those yummy donut smells.



My Key Lime Cake donut was as tasty as it looked.

Shouldn't I win some kind of award for sitting there all that time and only eating one donut?

So you ask, why did I only eat one donut? Thinking back on it, I'm asking myself the same question.

Well, at the moment I was thinking of summer and wearing a bathing suit at the beach and not wanting to look, well, you know, like I shouldn't be wearing a bathing suit. So I only ate one donut. And now I'm thinking I should have eaten two or three or four.


Tonight I'll be dreaming about those donuts I really should have eaten. I mean, how many calories are we talking about? In the overall scheme of things, would it have made that much difference to eat more than one? I swear, on our next Girls Day Out I'm eating at least two donuts. Or maybe three?

In case you want to go there: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts - Pensacola, Florida

Shades of Summer - Hot Summer Reads

Coffee and 'The Monmouth Summer' by Tim Vicary.

Tomorrow is the first day of summer. So this is the perfect time to start stocking up on great summer reads. For that reason, I decided to give you a list of some of the summer reads on my Kindle Fire.  I hope you find some you'll enjoy in the list below.

Barbara Freethy's 'Summer Secrets' on my Kindle.

Summer Reads (in no particular order):

Summer of Fire by Linda Jacobs
The Monmouth Summer by Tim Vicary
Summer Secrets by Barbara Freethy
One Summer in France by Bev Spicer
Summer's Storm by Denise Domning
That Summer in Cornwall by Ciji Ware
Summer Lovin' by Donna Cummings







Denise Domning's 'Summer's Storm' on my Kindle.

Last Summer by Teresa Weir
Summer with Fidel by R. G. Lawrence
The Days of Summer by Jill Barnett
Summer Storms by Rebekah Lyn
One Reckless Summer by Toni Blake
Summer Days by Susan Mallery
Endless Summer by Christopher David Petersen

Ciji Ware's 'That Summer in Cornwall' on my Kindle.

Summer Rose by Elizabeth Sinclair
The Summer I Learned to Swim by Shannon McCrimmon
Summer on the Mountain by Rosemarie Naramore
Secrets of the Lost Summer by Carla Neggers
Summer by Edith Wharton









Thanks for stopping by. I hope y'all have a wonderful summer filled with lots of great summer reads.

NOTE: Please feel free to add your own summer reads in the comments below.

Shades of Summer - It's all about the Sun

A metal art sun hanging on my patio.

Summer is only a few days away. Those hot, sultry days languishing in the sun. Feet in the sand and sipping a Tequila Sunrise. Doesn't that sound fabulous?

Well, here on the Florida Gulf Coast it has felt like summer for the last month or more. Hot sunny days, tropical breezes, sugar-white sand and warm Gulf waters. And yet we haven't even reached the official start of summer.

A copper sun on the weathered cedar fence.

This morning I got to thinking. What does summer mean to me? Yeah, that sounds just like some grade-school writing assignment. Hmm! I guess summer is all about the sun. A sun so intense you have to wear sunglasses when stepping outside. A sun so hot that shade is a welcome entity.

A sun hidden by vines.

I grew up in Southern California where the sun shines pretty much 365 days per year and where it feels like summer almost every single one of those days. I was always barefoot, except when I had to go to school. When the dismissal bell rang I'd slip off my shoes and run barefoot all the way home.

I had a year-around golden tan back in those sunshiny California days. I practically lived at the beach. I spent hours lazing on a beach towel and consuming one great read after another.







A painted pottery sun on the cedar fence.

Yes, summer for me has always been about the sun. So maybe that's why a variety of suns grace my yard? A metal art sun hangs from the lattice-covered patio. More suns hang on the weathered cedar fencing. I guess you could say I love the sun.

I hope you'll stop back from time to time to read more of my 'Shades of Summer' posts. You won't want to miss the next one about 'Hot Summer Reads.'

Dude and the Dog Park

Dude in action at the dog park.

My dog, Dude, is a sociable guy who loves going to the dog park. In fact, he's passionate about going to the dog park. So that's where we go most days for an hour or more of action-packed fun.

The meet and greet.

Fortunately, the dog park is only about a mile away from our house. So it's easy to make a trip over there once a day, when the weather is nice. Now and then, if Dude is insistent, we go to the dog park twice a day.

Two holes are better than one.

Twice a day? Believe me, some of Dude's dog buddies go to the dog park three times a day.






The goalie.

I've had dogs most of my life, but never one who loves the dog park. So this is a relatively new thing for me.

Dude is two and a half. Well, a few months ago I thought, Why not take Dude to the dog park? How was I to know this would become a big part of our daily lives?




Discussing the play.

Dude can be napping and suddenly he'll wake up and insist it's almost 3:30 and we need to make our afternoon foray to the dog park. I swear he can tell time and knows to the minute when he needs to let me know I have to get ready to head to the park.





Mixing it up.

If I take longer than a few minutes to gather up his dog collar, some bottled water, my wallet and car keys, well, Dude starts nudging me in the direction of the front door. If I dawdle too long he stomps his feet, barks and then starts spinning in circles at the door. At that point we absolutely have to walk out the door.




King of the Sand Hole?

At the dog park it's high-speed action interspersed with water breaks and a five minute rest period in the shade of the huge Magnolias and Naval Live Oak Trees.

Today I decided to take my camera to the dog park to get a few photos of Dude and his dog buddies in action. Today there were only eight dogs, but sometimes it's as many as fifteen dogs of all sizes and breeds.




After the game.



Lately, the big game is "King (or Queen) of the Sand Hole." Since we live close to the beach, our dog park has lots of sand and sand is perfect for digging. One or more dogs will dig a hole, or sometimes two. Then the game is on.

They confer with each other to plan their strategy. There's almost always a goalie or two. The winners change from one minute to the next.

To heck with chasing a Frisbee or tennis ball. This Sand Hole game is much more fun.




My older dog, Shani, would rather stay home.

I hope you've enjoyed the photos of Dude and his dog buddies.

A special thanks to the team: Harley the Australian Shepherd, Abby the Husky, Bella the Chocolate Poodle, Dice the Black and Tan, Abby the Golden and Dude. Watching from the sidelines: Morgan the Golden and Jumbo the Chihuahua.

Note: My older dog, Shani, doesn't care for the dog park. She'd rather stay home.