Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Finishing the Tanzania Safari today, so we can move on to a couple of amazing hikes. So far we have Arusha , Tarangire National Park , South Serengeti Part 1 , South Serengeti Part 2 , and the rest of the Serengeti tour . Today we move on to Ngorogoro Crater, the world's largest caldera* and an area dense with wildlife, including the endangered black rhino (spoiler alert: we only saw these from such a distance that the photos are useless, as you shall see). With the goal of seeing sunrise from the crater rim, we were up and out very early. Our first distraction was the well-chewed carcass of a cape buffalo which something had dragged into the road during the night. Despite that and other excitements, we made it to the perfect viewpoint at just the right time. After all the dirt roads, it was a bit odd to find the road down into the caldera (it's generally called Ngorogoro Crater, but is in fact a caldera**) paved, even with paving stones. It's really too steep to be left as

  It's the first Wednesday of the month--time for the IWSG post.       Why? The IWSG is here to share and encourage, to offer a place for authors to admit their insecurities and offer help and support to each other. How? The official IWSG posting day is the first Wednesday of every month. Hop around the list and see who has worries, triumphs, and news to share.  Every month we have an optional question to spark discussion.  Our motto:  Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.   The awesome co-hosts for the April 3 posting of the IWSG are Victoria Marie Lees,   Kim Lajevardi,   Nancy Gideon,  and  Cathrina Constantine! Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.  May 1 que

When I reviewed The Scry's the Limit by this author (#2 in the series), I said I'd be doubling back to start the series at the beginning. So here's #1! In the interests of full disclosure, I am in an author's group with Ada Bell and we have beta-read for each other. That doesn't change my opinion of the book. Title: Mystic Pieces: A Shady Grove Mystery Author: Ada Bell Publication Info: 2021, Empress Books. 256 pages. Source: I bought the book Publisher's Blurb: Future scientists don't have visions. Aly's got enough on her plate, with finishing her degree and taking care of her nephew and starting her new job at the antique store while drooling over the owner's gorgeous son. No visions. Alas, the universe doesn't care what Aly believes. When she turns 21, she starts to feel psychic impressions left on objects. A disorienting power for someone surrounded by antiques. Then cranky customer Earl is killed, and Aly's new boss Olive is t

 Relevant reading as a response to my Africa trip (including hike around Mt. Kenya). This book was originally published in Italian in, I think, 1947, and soon after translated into English. It has been reissued many times.     Title: No Picnic on Mount Kenya: The Story of Three P.o.W.s' Escape to Adventure Author: Felice Benuzzi. I can't find info about the translation. Publication Info: See note above. My Kindle edition was put out by Quercus in 2017, and has an unknown number of pages, though the paperback appears to have 320. Source : Library Publisher's Blurb (from Overdrive web site): In the shadow of Mount Kenya, surrounded by the forests and creatures of the savannah, life drags interminably for the inmates of POW Camp 354, captured in Africa during World War II. Confined to an endless cycle of boredom and frustration, one prisoner realizes he can bear it no longer. When the clouds covering Mount Kenya part one morning to reveal its towering peaks for the firs

Hoping to finish up our Tanzania Safari today, but we shall see. The final two days were as jam-packed as all the rest, and photos were manageable only because I had some technical difficulties that greatly reduced the number of acceptable shots. You know it's been an amazing trip when you are actually glad to find horrible pictures that can be deleted without hesitation. Also: I'll respond to comments eventually, but this is posting automatically while I'm out backpacking. So far we have Arusha , Tarangire National Park , South Serengeti Part 1 , and South Serengeti Part 2 . In that report we actually moved north and into Serengeti National Park, and we resume the trip in the park, where we stayed at the Embalakai Camp, another tent camp but permanent, and very luxurious. As usual, we were up before dawn and ready to leave as soon as there was enough light to see the animals. Dawn on the Serengeti The lodge. The animals are perhaps most active in the morning, and the light

For some reason I have long resisted reading Kerry Greenwood's non-Phryne Fisher mysteries. I finally changed that, and can't for the life of me figure out what my problem was. I suppose I was afraid that nothing could measure up to that series. The whole thing does at least offer insights into book marketing--I don't think my new series is doing as well as the old, though I think it is better (okay, until later this year it's also only one book, so hardly a series. I'm working on that!).     Title: Earthly Delights: A Corinna Chapman Mystery Author: K erry Greenwood Publication Info: Poison Pen Press, 2012 (US Kindle edition. Originally published 2004 by Allen and Unwin). 250 pages.  Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: One day, Corinna Chapman, high profile accountant and banker, walked out on the money market and her dismissive and unpleasant husband James, threw aside her briefcase, and doffed her kitten heels forever. Now she is a baker with her own busi

At last, I have finished editing the photos from my Tanzania safari (which accounts for nearly half of the photos from the whole trip), so I can get on with my trip report!  So far we have Arusha , Tarangire National Park , and South Serengeti Part 1 .  Today, we get some really special wildlife moments as we continue our drive through the Serengeti--out of the Ngorogoro Conservation Area and into Serengeti National Park. Misty dawn. Almost immediately we headed for a mother lion and three cubs, who were hard at work on a wildebeest she'd clearly killed just that morning. Just kittens having fun with their chew toy. The carcass was still steaming. Very young cubs--after a while, they headed for the milk bar. Eventually we left the poor lions in peace (to wander off and take a nap), and headed on. Not too far off we encountered a lone male lion, and then a trio of bat-eared foxes. Definitely one of the cuties, and not something we saw anywhere else. More giraffes! This pair of young