Alone In The Dark Mountains

I’m taking a few days away from my writing to do some reading and have a mini-break to recharge the batteries. So I wasn’t going to post today at all. But you know me…once my mind starts going as morning gets going…

Down the spiral staircase we go… [Photo by me, 2016.]

Fire went low during the night, but just top it up and it’s blazing again. It’s barely above freezing outside. [Photo by me, 2016.]

Outside, looking towards Windham Mountain, just before dawn this morning. [Photo by me, 2016.]

As I sat with my first coffee alone here in the dark in the Catskills, I thought a “round up” of sorts might not be a bad idea.

First, Instagram. You may recall I had written that “happy Instagram” post yesterday morning. Well, hours later I found that entirely separately travel writer Louise Brady in Australia – as the world turns – had gone on a fake followers! teenage girls posing for photos they shouldn’t in public! Insta-fame! anti-Instagram blog “rant”! here: “Dear Instagram, I’m calling bullsh-t.”

Screen capture of Instagram.

It is one worth reading. I couldn’t resist, so I left a comment. And she replied.

And we now follow each other on Instagram. 😉

* * *

I should shortly finish Adele Archer’s American Cousins. English Dee is the center of it all. The beset woman clearly needs a genuine holiday. Or to do yoga or something. But she’s wildly realistic, entertaining (although mostly she doesn’t plan to be that), and unpredictable:

Screen capture of Amazon.co.uk. (It is available worldwide, of course.)

And that Milo guy? A rich, handsome American.

Ahem. Of course.

* * *

Next up on the “to read” list, Laura Rahme. She’s written a novel set in Venice in the 1400s: The Mascherari: A Novel of Venice. Yes, really. I just got it yesterday, but have already found in only the first few pages that her writing style grabs you, and her adherence to historical detail practically drops you into that 15th century:

Screen capture of Amazon.co.uk. (It is available worldwide, of course.)

Laura’s blog is entitled “Teranga and Sun.” (She’s not on WordPress, but I suppose we can forgive her for that. 😉 ) Oh, and if you are on, uh, err, Instagram…she is on Instagram, too.

Have a good Sunday, wherever you are in the world. 🙂