Home Again…

Hello everyone!

I’m back from my adventure. The jetlag has worn off, the laundry is (mostly) done, and the holiday seems almost like a dream.

Yet it was real, and it was fantastic – I saw so much and have so much to write about I hardly know where to begin (there will be many blog posts!). New York was everything I’d imagined. I felt immediately at home there, perhaps because it’s a city that’s so pervasive in popular culture – yet it felt as though I knew it, as though I’d been before and was just being reminded of where everything was.

We wandered as much as we could in four days, including a walk through Central Park, where we took in the amazing skyline and I found the obelisk, partner to London’s Cleopatra’s Needle. We saw sights large and small, and didn’t let the weather, which included torrential rain and a snowstorm, stop us from getting outside and experiencing as much as we could.

The weather followed us, snow falling in Toronto on our first day there, Niagara Falls creating ice sculptures, the sun peering out from behind shifting clouds. Yet I basked in the warmth of family and old friends (and by old I mean fabulous), reforging connections and visiting familiar haunts, sad to leave when the time came.

But Boston, and the New England coast beckoned. We walked the Freedom trail, spent time in Salem, then followed the coast southwest through Plymouth, Newport, Mystic and Milford, finally ending up back in New York on a hot and sunny afternoon, ready to catch our overnight flight home.

And now it’s back to reality. The recent warm weather was a wonderful welcome home, and I’m away again this weekend, on a long-planned writing retreat with friends. Stories beckon….

It’s nice to be home x


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Wednesday Wander – Breakfast on the Beach

It’s been a busy week. Lots of different things going on at home, at work and in the dojo. All good things, just things that took preparation and focus and time. So I haven’t really done much writing at all these past few days, other than a few blog comments here and there. Today is the first time in a while I’ve sat down with the express purpose of writing.

And I need to write. Because I, in a moment of masochism, signed up once more to do Camp NaNoWriMo. I’m back in the world of Silver and Black, working on fleshing out more of my vampire novel. And it’s turning out to be an interesting world. Set very slightly in the future, and quite different than the one we have now. Different for humans, that is. So I’m keen to head back there and get some more words on the page.

But, as I say, it’s been a busy week. So, for my Wednesday Wander, I’m going to take a very short vacation, and invite you all to join me for breakfast on the beach in Bali. I took this photo the last time I was there, while sitting on our hotel terrace eating breakfast. To me, it seems to sum up all that is wonderful about a holiday. I can hear the ocean and feel the warm breeze every time I look at it. So please, won’t you join me? Pull up a chair, place your order, and relax.

Breakfast in Bali

What more is there to say, really?

Thank you for joining me on a slightly different Wednesday Wander this week – see you next time!