Short Trips of Fancy

Hi, all.
I don't know what it's like in your part of the country, but St. Louis has a reputation for changeable weather. It wouldn't surprise me to hear this is where the famous saying, "Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes" originated. This winter and spring have lived up to that rep. We've had "winter" days so warm, windows were open and shirt sleeves were short. On Monday, we were in the 90s; now I'm in my winter pjs and fuzzy slippers.


So we treasure those brief glimpses of pleasant weather, and tend to run after them, as joyful as children catching bubbles. I dragged my mom to the Missouri Botanical Garden for the orchid show. It was a lovely day, in the high 70s, and windy enough to whisk us off our feet. Fortunately, the show itself was inside. There are more pix on my FaceBook page if you're interested.


My next mission is to meet my critique partner at the St. Louis Zoo and walk around all day, brainstorming and soaking in the sun. Of course, that'll have to wait until the good weather returns.

And you know I have to say it -- can't wait to catch a game in person!

One of my recent "mad adventure" days saw my husband and I at Crown Candy Kitchen. We've always wanted to go there, the sun came out, and off we went. It made perfect sense at the time. This place is a landmark for good reason. A small candy store from 1913, it became a soda shoppe in the 1950s. The booths are intimate and the food is to die for. Almost literally.
I had to try the Heart Stopping BLT, with roughly a pound of bacon, plus tomato, lettuce and Miracle Whip on toast. No kidding: see the bacon? Then the lettuce, tomato, and atop bread slice. And that pic is only half the sandwich. I had to take out a bunch of bacon just to pick it up! And yes, I teamed it with a chocolate shake. The shakes come with a challenge--can you drink five in thirty minutes? The answer is no. Trust me. They are huge.

Now that we've been talking raving about CCK, several friends have mentioned wanting to go for their first time or return again. I'm game, although I may try some other temptation. And of course, there's the candy...

So, is there someplace you've been wanting to go "someday?" Do you have a "mad adventure" day and jump in the car? Where do you wind up on those luscious sunny spring days?

Megan

www.megankellybooks.com

Lasting Impressions

I'm happy we have an extra day in February this year because, so far, it has been one fun, exciting, and busy month!

I'm on tour. A virtual tour around the Internet to celebrate my current release, THE RODEO MAN'S DAUGHTER. In this book, my hero takes a trip—back to his own hometown. It's a trip he'll never forget, as the visit brings him smack up against a number of memories, some good and some terrible.

Today, I'd like to talk about good memories.

I once took a trip—a real-life tour—that made a lasting impression: ten days in Europe with a large group of students. And with a smaller number of teacher-chaperones, all of whom actually survived to return home and teach again. LOL

Our adventure began in Spain, where we stood in hushed awe inside churches in Barcelona, felt our blood pulse to the rhythms of the Flamenco in Seville, and—for those who chose to do so—held our breath during a bullfight in Madrid.

We spent two beautiful, sunny days walking the beach and chasing the surf on Palma de Mallorca.

And before the trip ended, we took a ferry to Morocco, where we rode camels and ate exotic food and spent an afternoon at the Kasbah.

I sound like an ad for a travel agency, don't I? (smile) Sorry. But I can't help it.

In those ten days, we probably saw more breathtaking sites and came smack up against more history than I ever had in my life. The photos we took faded, but the memories have stayed bright.

Have you ever visited a place that's made such a lasting impression?


All my best to you,

Barbara

~~~~~~

Barbara White Daille
http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com
http://www.facebook.com/barbarawhitedaille
https://twitter.com/BarbaraWDaille

When Am I??

I know--I'm only experiencing the end of daylight's saving time, not time travel. No big deal, right? However, I have been traveling, although just from the Midwest to the Eastern time zone. Still, it threw me off. For a week, I waited for my TV shows to come on...and waited. It's an hour later there and I have no problem staying up. It's just that I know Hawaii 5-0 starts at nine on Monday. When it wasn't on, I got a little panicky, until I realized the program on the TV wasn't replacing my show. I hadn't missed Steve McGarrett going swimming. :)

After six days, you would think I'd have adjusted, right? But my sister, convinced despite my arguments that daylight savings was last weekend, had changed the clocks without telling me. What a mess. Now I'm back home, but I returned on a Tuesday. All week, I've been asking what day it was. I'm just getting oriented, and guess what?: now it really is daylight savings. Sheesh. So fall back, everyone.

How long does it take for y'all to reorient yourselves after a trip or after a time change? Am I the only one crazily spinning?

By the way, it's three a.m. as I write this, and even the crickets aren't chirping this time of year. I feel very much like "the only one" awake.

Megan Kelly

THE MARRIAGE SOLUTION, May 2011

www.megankellybooks.com

East, West, Home's Best

I’m an inveterate traveller. I’ll put it down to growing up in the middle of the Australian desert. From the age of six weeks I was carted from coast to coast to visit and be shown off to distant relatives. As a child, I felt confined by the wide open spaces around me, so those twice yearly flights to civilization, must’ve given me a thirst to explore new horizons. Since there was no television service, I buried myself in National Geographic magazines, dreaming of travelling to places with exotic names like Mystic and Nantucket, Middlesex (where I seriously thought hermaphrodites lived) and Moosejaw, Kathmandu and Kabul.
I’m so desperate to see new places that if there’s an alternative route to return from that destination, I’ll take it!
However, an insidious realization has been nagging at me lately, and that is, that in spite of the beauty or benefits of travelling, I really miss my own bed, my own loo, my own shower.
Recently, I travelled around the south of England researching Jane Austen, where we stayed in the filthiest B&B you could imagine. The beauty of Winchester, where Jane died and was honored by being buried in Winchester Cathedral was tainted considerably by this experience and I’m annoyed with myself for letting this be so. It’s happened in other places too. Perhaps I need to consult a travel psychologist who’ll prepare me for the worst, so that I’ll be pleasantly surprised when it turns out to be better.
Now I’m on Corfu, an idyllic Greek Island, but again the accommodation is lacking. If we were paying half what we are, I’d put up with the less than clean bathroom, the un-mopped floors, the miniscule shower (18x24 inches!) the rock-hard bed and the dodgy electrical connections.
But what’s really upset me are the stray cats and dogs roaming the island. We’re presently feeding three kittens who’ve adopted us, bleating plaintively for food morning and evening. But what will happen to them when winter sets in and the tourists dry up? There’s no government run animal shelter on the island and the council controls dogs in some areas by baiting them! How inhumane is this? How sad that a civilized country’s answer to animal control is to allow them to roam free begging for food, or poisoning them? No doubt the female kittens will be pregnant as soon as they’re in season – provided they survive the winter. Although two of “our” kittens are quite wild, the smallest is friendly and sweet natured and would make a lovely pet, but there’s no such thing as animal adoption here.
However, I’ve discovered there’s a wonderful group of people who do their best trying to raise money to de-sex as many of the females as possible and set up feeding stations in various areas to try and tide the animals over the winter months. It’s a pity every visitor to Corfu and the other Greek Islands isn’t asked to donate five euros towards a non-profit fund for animals. I’m donating to have a female cat neutered and placing the Agni Animal fund website as my homepage, for which they’ll receive two British pounds per month (at no cost to me) for each of our family’s pc’s that has their site as our homepage.
So although this started as a whinge about how great travel is, but how much greater it is to get home to my own creature comforts, it’s ended as a plea to help those four-legged creatures who sleep on the streets and beg for food because there’s nowhere else for them to go. No warm lap to sleep on, no leg to rub up against, no human to call their own.
If you’d like to help, here’s the link to their website where you can read about the good work they do – http://www.agni-animal-welfare-fund.com/Index.asp
And here to make them your homepage - http://google.agni-animal-welfare-fund.com/
Meantime, I’m dreaming of getting home to my own comfy bed and a loo and a shower that I know are clean. But most of all I’m looking forward to getting home to my own four-legged friends and giving them an extra big hug.
Til next time…
CC

Love to Travel

I just returned from attending the RWA conference in San Francisco, before which I spent the weekend in Wisconsin, and now I'm heading off to Colorado for some relaxation and research on a book idea. I LOVE to travel. Maybe because we didn't do much when I was growing up. Maybe because it's more interesting than cleaning my house (is that my husband laughing in the background?). Maybe because I'm meeting new people and seeing new places.
In Wisconsin, I met family I didn't know existed and toured a beautiful hospice facility outside Milwaukee. I had a wonderful time at the RWA conference, meeting old friends and new, even though I didn't see anything of the city or my family there. :( Fortunately, I'd been there four years ago and toured some of it with them then. Now I'm heading to the mountains, where I've heard the wildflowers are stunning. We'll see some family too.
So, do you have a travel preference? Like to visit where there's family? Prefer to go totally new places? And do you make hotel reservations or wing it?

Megan Kelly
megankellybooks.com

Summer Vacation

When I was a child, summer vacation consisted of piling into the car for a long, hot drive to Mississippi or North Carolina to visit relatives. I always looked forward to those trips, not only because I'd get to see my grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, but because I'd get to see new scenery and places along the way.

This summer, with high gas prices and the increased hassles of flying, we're sticking closer to home. (Except for a trip to San Francisco at the end of the month for the Romance Writers of American conference -- we're getting there by train.)

If I can't physically travel somewhere, the next best thing for me is to read a book that will transport me to that place. My question for you today is -- if you could go anywhere on vacation this summer -- where would it be?

Since this is Harlequin American, let's keep the locales in America. Bonus points if you can match your destination with an American book. I'll go first:

Alaska. -- I've always wanted to visit our largest state.

Montana -- I love the west and can't wait to visit Big Sky Country. American has had a lot of great stories set in Montana. I loved Charlotte Maclay's Montana-set books.

Vermont -- The northeast is gorgeous, especially in the fall. I have fond memories of Anne Stuart's American romances set in Crescent Cove, Vermont. Right now, I'm really looking forward to new American author Liz Daly's trilogy set in Vermont, out (we hope) next year.

Boston -- a great, historic city -- Penny McCusker's Emmy and the Boss is a fun story set in Boston.

Washington State -- another beautiful place in a country filled with beautiful places. Ann Roth's The Pilot's Woman is a terrific way to visit this fascinating locale.

North Carolina -- I haven't been back to visit since I was 14. I'd love to go again. Lynette Kent's Smoky Mountain Reunion, out this month, is at the top of my TBR list for my vicarious visit back to my mom's home state.

Now it's your turn? Where do you want to visit -- and what books will take you there?