Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

 ... I thought I'd share a few extra photos each week, just for fun.  Today, a few more of the amazing Golden Cathedral .  ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2021  As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated. Enjoyed this post? Avoid missing out on future posts by  following us .

I'm not participating this month, because I'm somewhere in the air at this moment, winging my way to Nepal. But I encourage all of you to click on the badge below and check out what other members of the IWSG are up to! If you leave a comment here, it could be a month before I get back to you. BTW, my one-word answer to the question below is "depends." Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new peopl

  This isn't actually a review of Sue Barton, or any of Helen Dore Boylston's other books. Instead, I wanted to talk about the author, and what I discovered when I read her bio in the new Kindle editions of the classic Sue Barton nursing books. For many of us of a certain age (and in the case of these books, a fair bit older, as the first was written in the 1930s), these books were a childhood delight. For some, I'm sure, it influenced their decisions to become nurses (my own desire to emulate the main character, who is as red-headed as I am, lasted only until I thought about it for five minutes). But a part of me had always assumed that a) Boylston might be as much of a fiction as Caroline Keene (Nancy Drew) and/or b) this was totally made up. Imagine my surprise on discovering that Helen Dore Boylston was actually a nurse, that she served as a nurse in WWI (I told you these dated way back), and that she wrote books besides this series and her Carol Page, Actress series.  

I know I reported on Zebra last year, but this time I managed to get a phone, at least, up into the good stuff. And before anyone asks: we checked forecasts and did some serious visual scans of the drainage area for the slot before going in. Here's the scoop: We are still in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and in fact only a few miles from the Golden Cathedral , which I reported on last week. The full Zebra-Tunnel loop is somewhere in the 6-mile range, but there's not much climbing, as Harris Wash at that point hasn't dropped much below the level of the road. Zebra is a very tight slot, not for the claustrophobic! Tunnel slot is easy, though accessing the top end involved a little scrambling. As usual, an early start to beat the heat. Zooming in to admire the cross-bedding in the sandstone The mouth of the slot, and the first hint that the rains that left a lot of mud down along the Escalante might not have all drained off here. We sent the tallest guy in f

I have a few more photos for you while I'm away. I really can't get enough of that lovely Utah rock. This batch is some more from Zebra Slot. [This post was intended for my absence next month. Instead, it's a preview of tomorrow's post!].  ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2021  As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated. Enjoyed this post? Avoid missing out on future posts by  following us .

    That photo is from New Zealand a couple of years ago, but it will do as a stand-in for what I'm up to next. The blog, and the writing, will be on hold for the month of November while I'm trekking in Nepal! I'm super excited to be doing this, and will try to throw a photo or two your way while I'm there, but no promises, other than a weekly photo from the archives for you to enjoy. I'll be traveling with Second Son and a couple of friends, as part of an organized group of 7. Meanwhile, it's been a while since I reported on my writing. It hasn't been going all that well, in part because of travel past and future (after a trip, I have to edit the photos, and before a trip I'm all about futzing with my gear over and over!). I did finish the total re-write of the story that was rejected from the IWSG collection last year--and I mean total. All I kept were the characters and most of the plot. That's out on submissions, but that's the only writing s

  Title: Maud and Addie Author: Maureen Buchanan Jones Publication Info: May 2021 Fitzroy Books. Paperback is 240 pages. Source: Library digital resources Publisher’s Blurb: In 1910, the two sisters, eleven- and twelve-year-old Maud and Addie, are eagerly anticipating their Summer Social in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. However, the event does not quite go according to plan, and the two girls are swept out to sea as they are rowing home at the day’s end. They find themselves adrift in the unforgiving North Atlantic with only the contents of a picnic hamper to sustain them and a carriage blanket to keep them warm. Finding their way through stormy seas, the girls finally make landfall on a deserted island. With string and a jackknife recovered from Maud’s pockets and a parasol and novel contributed by Addie, the girls create a world for themselves among the island dunes, keeping company with sea birds and other sea creatures. Their ensuing adventures test their wits and, in the pr

In late September I did an overnight backpack trip in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to an amazing spot near the Escalante River. The Golden Cathedral is doable as a dayhike, but at 11+ miles, my companions (my son and a friend) and I decided we'd rather camp and have time to enjoy the spot. It was a great decision. I kind of wish I'd gotten some photos of the "Egypt Road" on the way in, because it tested the limits of Prius ground-clearance. Imagine our surprise when we got to the trailhead and the only other car there was... yet another Prius.  Our two Prii. The 3rd was parked on the other side of the trees. In some ways, getting to the TH was the hardest part. Once there, we filled out a permit in the box provided, and headed out--down to the Escalante River. You can kind of tell where the land changes. The river runs through a shallow canyon in front of the more rounded bits. The river had flooded recently, leaving a lot of drying mud. Datura blossom