Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Still coming along weeks if not months behind on my photo posts from our fall excursions, so while Maine is getting covered in snow and we are all thinking of snowflakes and Christmas trees, I have some pictures of the fantastic fall colors to share! (And yes, I realize that my Friday post is posting on Sunday evening). Way back at the start of October we took a trip into the Maine woods (see the post on the Gulf Hagas trail) , including Baxter State Park. Baxter is one of the larger state parks around, and has an interesting history. Most of the park was the gift of Percival Baxter, when was governor of Maine in the 1920s. He bought up 6000 acres of land including Mt. Katahdin (now the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail), and in 1931 donated it to the state as a land trust. Baxter had some very specific rules and regs for the land he donated. Most importantly, it was to remain wild, with wilderness the first priority, and recreation second. As a result, the park has a very lim

I have fallen far behind in my photo reports (and then I forgot to make this live, so it's late, too), so this week we are going way back to the end of September to give you all a blast of fall color from what I gather is an iconic Maine hike (okay, we'd never heard of it before, but it really is spectacular, if a bit remote). The roads to the area are private, and the trails are maintained by the Maine Appalachian Mountain Club. We accessed the gorge from the AMC's lodge at Little Lyford Pond (which was lovely). Although we thought that calling the gorge the "Grand Canyon of the East" was a bit over the top, there is no denying that the 3 miles of gorge, with walls up to about 130' high and a series of non-trivial waterfalls was worth the price of admission. (Note: there is a literal price of admission, as the roads that lead to the trails are privately owned and maintained. Our entrance was covered in the cost of our stay at the lodge. The figurative "p

    Title: Thread Herrings Author: Lea Wait Cozy Mystery , 7th in Series   Kensington (October 30, 2018) Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages   ISBN-10: 149671671X   ISBN-13: 978-1496716712   Digital ASIN: B079KSZ92D   Publisher's Blurb:   Angie's first auction may turn out to be her last—when she bids on a coat of arms that someone would literally kill to possess . . . Tagging along to an estate sale with her fellow Needlepointer, antiques shop owner Sarah Byrne, Angie Curtis impulsively bids on a tattered embroidery of a coat of arms. When she gets her prize back home to Haven Harbor, she discovers a document from 1757 behind the framed needlework—a claim for a child from a foundling hospital. Intrigued, Angie is determined to find the common thread between the child and the coat of arms. Accepting her reporter friend Clem Walker's invitation to talk about her find on the local TV news, Angie makes an appeal to anyone who might have information. Instead, both women receive

The Ninja Librarian is back in civilization! Well, more or less. We have arrived in Maine, and I have a reliable internet connection, so I’m expecting to get back to regular posting soon. I haven’t been reading or writing much the last few weeks. That’s no surprise, since we were driving across the country, with various stops for hikes and bike rides. We did listen to a couple of good audio books (those are a life-saver when you are driving across eastern Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota, though there are parts of all of those that are gorgeous). During that time, of course, there wasn’t any writing going on, but I have been thinking about the new Pismawallops PTA book, which at this point has a title ( Death By Library ), a corpse, and a list of suspects. I’m ready to get serious about the plot and outline, and intend to do a draft during the NaNo frenzy in November. Meanwhile, I’ll have more photos soon, with highlights from Teddy Roosevelt National Park, places along Lake Superi

  Title: Moo: a Novel Author: Sharon Creech Publisher: Joanna Cotler Books (HarperCollins), 2016. 278 pages Source: Library Publisher's Summary: This uplifting tale reminds us that if we’re open to new experiences, life is full of surprises. Following one family’s momentous move from the city to rural Maine, an unexpected bond develops between twelve-year-old Reena and one very ornery cow. When Reena, her little brother, Luke, and their parents first move to Maine, Reena doesn’t know what to expect. She’s ready for beaches, blueberries, and all the lobster she can eat. Instead, her parents “volunteer” Reena and Luke to work for an eccentric neighbor named Mrs. Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna—and that stubborn cow, Zora. This heartwarming story, told in a blend of poetry and prose, reveals the bonds that emerge when we let others into our lives.   My Review:  I hadn't actually expected this to be in verse. I grabbed it from the

This is a book I picked up because my Maine friend mentioned it (see last week's photos) . I think the author's a friend of a friend or some such. Close enough to make me pick it up (especially since we just visited a lake in Maine) and far enough not to affect my review in the least :)   Title: The Island of Beyond Author: Elizabeth Atkinson Publisher: Carolrhoda Books, 2016, 288 pages Source: Library Publisher's Summary:  Eleven-year-old Martin can hardly imagine a worse summer. His dad is sending him to his great-aunt Lenore, who lives on a tiny island called Beyond. Martin's dad wants him to like "normal" boy things--playing sports and exploring the outdoors. Martin's afraid he'll never be the son his dad wants him to be. Being stuck in the middle of nowhere won't change that. But nothing about Beyond is what Martin expects. Not peculiar Aunt Lenore, not mysterious Uncle Nedâ-and certainly not the strange, local boy who unexpectedly bef

We are into the summer travel and hiking season, and that means less time to read and review books. But it means more photos to share! We recently spent a week in Maine, so here are a few highlights. Among other things (like visiting colleges with our about-to-be-Senior), we spent three days camping at Flagstaff lake, a large man-made lake about 25 miles from the border with Quebec. This gave us a chance to get up very, very early and see the sunrise (do you know how early the sun rises in Maine a few days after the summer solstice??). Given how warm the days were, it was something of a surprise to find it was only 43 degrees when we crawled out at 4:45 a.m. Mist rising on the water before the sun hits. We thought this pond looked like moose habitat, but the moose didn't cooperate. We went on to climb peaks in the Bigelow Range, some of the highest in Maine (not very high by western standards, but the trails start low and climb rather directly). This was the sucker part, the easy w