Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Last week we visited Tarangire National Park in Tanzania. This week, I'm making a start on our time in Ngorogoro Conservation Area, specifically the South Serengeti. It ought to be one post, also, but true confession time: this is as far as I've gotten in editing photos, so the next chunk will have to wait. This also means I get to post more photos :D The drive between the two parks/reserves was pretty long, and involved a change of plans. We broke the trip by spending the night in the Marera Valley Lodge, a short way outside the south entrance of the reserve. It was a beautiful hotel (also much higher and cooler!) and a gorgeous morning.  Petey Possum does like a bit of luxury. Sunrise from the balcony. We hit the road early, with the intention of going for a hike in Embakaai Caldera in the Ngorogoro reserve--the high part, where it would be cooler. However, something somewhere didn't happen, and we couldn't get our walking permit (I am pretty sure you have to have an

  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 Janet Alcorn, T. Powell Coltrin, Natalie Aguirre, and Pat Garcia! 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.  April 3 que

I've been reading Ellen Jacobson's hilarious cozy mysteries for years now, and we are (full disclosure time) fellow members of a cozy-mystery-writers' group and share beta reads, etc. Despite all that, it took me a long time to come around to read  Smitten With Ravioli , mostly because I kind of have an unfair attitude about romance. I should have had more faith in Ellen's sense of humor.  Oh, and yes, I noticed that I'm rather late with this post. It was a busy weekend. Title: Smitten with Ravioli Author: Ellen Jacobson Publication Info: Published 2020. 237 pages (paperback edition) Source: Honestly, I'm not sure. The author may have given me a review copy when it came out, or I may have picked it up on a free day or as a 99-cent ebook. In any case, the review is purely my own take on the book. Publisher's blurb: Love is on the menu in this sweet romantic comedy set in Italy. Ginny's Italian cooking course was supposed to be a peaceful escape from

Continuing the saga of my mind-blowing trip to Africa. Given the hundreds of photos I took in Tarangire, and how amazing the animals there were, this might get long, even though we only spent about 30 hours in the park. At this point I'm totally fishing for sympathy for having to choose a couple dozen photos out of maybe 400 (after editing) from the park! We left Arusha first thing in the morning, piling happily into the Toyota Landcruiser (special safari version, and the successor to the traditional Land Rover) with all our luggage. Naturally, on the drive to the park (3 hours?) we got very excited about pretty much everything we saw. Our driver, Said, pointed out some herds of wildebeest and zebra, noting that at their foaling season they tend to migrate out of the park onto the Masai lands, where the Masai herders keep the predators away. He was correct when he told us we wouldn't see any in Tarangire NP (but we saw plenty more later on the Serengeti). Petey Possom, and our