Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

My followers will know that I was out in Arizona and Utah in April, and that the trip ended somewhat abruptly when I broke my foot. Even so, since I was several days' drive from home, I didn't completely stop seeing cool stuff. On the 3rd day after the injury we drove over to Capitol Reef National Park, in hopes that at least my hiking buddy could do some good stuff and maybe we could find a campsite out of the wind, which had gotten seriously nasty. The drive between Escalante and Torrey remains one of my favorite drives. It presented a few new challenges this time, as the winding road meant I had to use my injured foot more than was comfortable.  Because of the wind (which carried an awful lot of dust and sand), we didn't even try to have breakfast before starting out. We found enough shelter, just over the edge into the Escalante/Calf Creek drainage, to enjoy the meal without grit. Views from the overlook showed a lot of dust in the air. Farther along the drive, with foo

I finally got a bit of inspiration again, and more or less on the right schedule, so we have another WritePhoto entry! It's been a long time since I last posted in this rambling on-going story of a few fierce defenders of human liberty in a ruined castle in Scotland. You can read the whole thing: Parts I to III , Part IV, Part V , Part VI , and Part VII Or you can go with the simple summary: the castle's defenders have defeated and driven off the aliens with a combination of water balloons and dungball bombs, which required a lot of clean-up. Now they are faced with the necessity of moving on to find others equally unwilling to serve the alien masters. The #WritePhoto challenge is a weekly bloghop challenge where KL Caley posts a photo on Thursday and you have until Tuesday to write and post a story. I got started on this one and can't seem to let go! Visit the challenge page to join in or to see what others  do with the prompt.  I took inspiration from the #WriteP

After my trip to the Grand Canyon in mid-April, I met up with my friend Zeke and we headed to Utah, with plans for about 10 days of explorations in the canyon country and the Bears Ears National Monument. The best-laid plans and all that, but I did get some good photos. The Grand Canyon photos: Part 1 of this series was up on the South Rim . Part 2 took us down the Bright Angel trail and out the Tonto West Trail to Horn Creek . Part 3 is Monument Canyon and Granite Rapids . Part 4 took us to Hermit Creek and Hermit Rapids, where we finally saw some decent wildflowers. Part 5 was the trip up the Hermit Trail and a few extra bits.   Grand Staircase-Escalante The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is in the south central part of Utah, and abuts both the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Capitol Reef National Park. With minimal development and a maze of canyons (accessed by gravel/dirt roads/jeep trails) it's a favorite haunt of mine. In camp along the Hole In the Rock

It's time for my twice-a-month writer's update (which is sort of roughly kind of every other Wednesday?) Selling books at a local arts fair: On Sunday I had a table at the Phinneywood Art Sale & Stroll. I set my expectations as low as possible, especially since the weather forecast was for rain, thunder-storms, and generally poor conditions for a street fair. I should have had more faith in Seattlites. Not only did they come out in spite of the periodic showers, but they were in a buying mood. Huge thanks to those who bought, especially my first customer who took me up on the bulk price for all 5 Pismawallops PTA mysteries. Made my day. A Coastal Corpse: The first novel in my new "Seffi Wardwell Mysteries" series is getting really close to ready. A combination of inertia and something a bit like superstition has me running way behind on all the things that should be happening as we approach the release of a new novel, from cover art to writing blurbs and beginning

  Paint Me a Crime (A Rose Shore Mystery) by Holly Yew About Paint Me A Crime Paint Me a Crime (A Rose Shore Mystery) Cozy Mystery 1st in Series Setting – Okanagan Valley in BC, Canada Touchpoint Press (June 13, 2023) Paperback ‏ : ‎ 252 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1956851623 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1956851625 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BWPVHLSB Art curator Jessamine Rhodes has left behind her gig at a prominent gallery in the city to open her own community art center in the small town of Rose Shore. She’s all set to host an extravagant opening watercolors class and has even booked a famous artist to teach it. Gabriella Everhart brings along her priceless painting Tranquil to showcase as the centerpiece of the event. The opening class is just wrapping up when suddenly Tranquil disappears before Jessamine’s eyes. Next, the lights of the art center flicker out and leave the crowd in complete darkness as a scream pierces the air. To her horror, Jessamine’s flashlight reveals that pres

Part 1 of this series was up on the South Rim . Part 2 took us down the Bright Angel trail and out the Tonto West Trail to Horn Creek . Part 3 is Monument Canyon and Granite Rapids . Part 4 took us to Hermit Creek and Hermit Rapids, where we finally saw some decent wildflowers. Today we'll finish the backpack trip with the scenic hike up the Hermit Trail (much less strenuous to look at than to hike) and some bonus photos from the drive out of the Park to the east. Day 6: Up and out After a couple of very hot days down in the Canyon, we figured we'd better hit the trail early to beat both the heat and some very high winds forecast to pick up during the day. We'd be hiking fairly light: down to a single small lunch (to be continued on arrival at the rim if necessary) and knowing we would be able to refill water at Santa Maria Springs before beginning the final climb. We did our best to crash early, with alarms set for 4:30 a.m. In the event, we were up at 4:20, really at the