Today I have a place that figures into Death in a Dacron Sail, so no challenge to provide me with a picture! Crystal Bog is located in Maine’s Aroostook County. It is a 1400 acre wetland and is one of the state’s best example of a domed bog ecosystem. It is also one of Main’s most diverse bogs and contains a large number of rare plants and animals. A typical bog is formed from an accumulation of peat (dead plant material) and mosses, mainly sphagnum moss. Raised or domed bogs are discreet, raised, mound-shaped masses of peat occupying former lakes or shallow depressions in the landscape. Their principal supply of water and nutrients is from rainfall and the substrate is acid peat soil, which can be up to 12m deep. Raised bogs are characterized by low-growing, open vegetation dominated by mosses, sedges and heathers, all of which are adapted to waterlogged, acidic and exposed conditions. In the center there can be an expanse of water in the form of a shallow pond. A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Some of them have been dated to between 8000 BCE and the Second World War, the levels of preservation varying widely from perfectly preserved to mere skeletons. A body is discovered in Crystal bog in Death in a Dacron Sail, and Crystal Bog is the wetland that Rhe, wearing shackles and weak from a concussion, has to slog through in the middle of winter, following an escape from her kidnapper. 0 0
Bob Morgan Challenge: Send me a picture of what you think Bob Morgan looks like! Bob is the Editor in Chief of the Post & Sentinel, Pequod’s daily newspaper. He went to high school with Rhe and they were a couple for a brief time. Bob wanted a physical relationship, but Rhe had her sights set on college and a career; as a result, she broke it off. Bob married and divorced, and even though Rhe is now married with a child, he still carries a flame for her. When Bob returned to Pequod to take on the reins of Editor, he borrowed money from Bitsy Wellington to upgrade the newspaper. Along with the money came Bitsy herself, in a short term relationship. Rhe and Bob’s relationship is contentious, with Bob alternately making passes at her and harassing her for information on the investigations she is running. 0 0
To all my followers, fellow bloggers and friends (you are all of them): I am working on the cover for my third book. This one is more difficult because of its focus. Could you take some time out of your busy day and go to: http://99designs.com/book-cover-design/vote-cip49o and vote on a design? The print on each with be the same type as on my previous two covers and the title is Death by Pumpkin (some of the selections got it wrong). Thanks a million! Noelle 0 0
Challenge: Send me a picture of what you think Marsh Adams looks like! Marsh Adams was originally an emergency room physician and has been a friend of Rhe Brewster’s for many years. Before the time of Death in a Red Canvas Chair, he’d decided to leave the ER for pathology, telling Rhe he had seen too much pain and suffering in the living and preferred the peace of the already dead. After some catch-up time reviewing pathology, he’d spent a year in the Maine Medical Examiner’s office, returning to Pequod with the title of Assistant to the State ME. Marsh works out with weights almost every day and is built like a fireplug, of medium height, bulky with muscles, and sporting a crew cut. His gym is directly across the street from the Hole-in-One, a doughnut shop which makes the lemon-filled doughnuts to which he is addicted. He actually likes almost anything lemon, but by the time of Death by Pumpkin, he has discovered the benefits of chocolate. Rhe visits Marsh after almost every shift when she is deep in a mystery, since he is usually responsible for the autopsy of any body, along with the help of his assistant. In Death in a Red Canvas Chair, his assistant is Oliver, who is revealed as inextricably wound into the mystery. By the time of Death in a Dacron Sail, he has hired a new assistant, Midori Ishikawa, who is gradually becoming an excellent forensic technologist. In Death by Pumpkin, Marsh meets Belledonna Dzundic, a tall, imposing agent with the Maine Major Crimes unit, and it is love at first sight for both of them. 0 0
Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day, the one time of year when both Hubs and my daughter team up to make my life miserable. Their best get was on the April 1st just before Cameron graduated from college, when she called to tell me she was pregnant. I have to admit, she’s a good actress. Hubs played along, and I was completely snookered. She didn’t even have a steady boyfriend! Scenarios of what to do ran amok in my mind, and I started to talk with her about options. Then of course came the “April Fool!” I won’t tell you what I said to the two of them… Anyway, the A-Z challenge starts tomorrow. This year, because my third book comes out next month, I am doing characters and places from the book. Each post will be mercifully short. Here’s the kicker: I’d like you, if you choose to comment, to include a picture of what you think the character looks like! At the end of the month, I can post those that I think are most closely aligned with what’s in my head. Should be fun! And thanks for stopping by… 0 0
I am back from my sojourn in Germany, where I didn’t learn the language (other than bitte, danke shön, and guten tag) but had a great time visiting places I hadn’t been before. I’ll post some pictures soon. Elijah Moon gave a huge sigh of relief when he saw me. He told me he needs a break from blogging – it took a lot out of him. I’ve acquired a few new followers in the past month. Visiting their sites impressed me all over again with the variety of people, views, and talents in the world! You might want to check some of them out! ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Susan Edgerton who posts as msbooknerd at https://willwriteforcoffeeandbooks.wordpress.com is a writer, mother, wife, student, future librarian, and she loves to read. She blogs about things she is passionate about – writing, books, feminism, equality, literacy, and surviving polycystic ovary syndrome, to name a few. 2. 神人 Nerdy Asian Alice at http://xdrink.org who writes for escape, choice and freedom 3. Holly at https://bloggityramblings.wordpress.com Holly grew up as super shy and is a mother now, having survived marriage, divorce, depression, and is still a responsible adult who gets joy from reading, looking at art and doodling. From time to time, she steals her son’s rock and roll t- shirts. 4. Manpreet, a scientist, who blogs at https://mysyntheticscientificworld.wordpress.com. I read her blog on what is a mole (no, not the burrowing creature) and gravitational wave detection. Pretty interesting stuff, especially if you have any science in your background. 5. Linus K. Letting at https://lettinglk.wordpress.com. He just started blogging and writes on anything – social, economic, emotional – but likes sarcasm. Looking forward to what he posts. 6. Gary Matthews or garym6059 at http://skipahsrealm.com/. He posts on cooking, dating, humor, life along the Eastern Seaboard and recently on a Key West Kind of Weekend, which covered a lot of ground – a walk, food, drink, all fun. 7. Plotless 1 who posts at http://plotlessone.com Check out his ‘About’: Somewhere amongst all that nothingness I roam and wander. I live this plotless life. This will be the haven of my thoughts and actions as I stroll through all this (shit). Feel free to journey with me through my plotless life. He posts advice, blog promotions, what people are reading. He recently promoted Porter Girl (if you haven’t acquainted yourself with Lucy, you are missing a LOT). 8. A Musing Teen at https://musinguponmylife.wordpress.com. She’s thirteen and has the cutest dog for a gravatar. She likes books, music and random musings – plus she’s a good writer. 9. Martina Ramseur who posts at Rivella49’s Blog – https://rivella49.wordpress.com. Martina is originally from Switzerland and has been living in Ticino for 30 years and has become a linguist. She believes knowledge of languages is important so we can get to know each other’s cultures. She is an official translator and is available to translate your work for you. 10. Karen at http://donotgetsickinthesinkplease.com She lives in Philadelphia with a patient husband and a lovesick cat and writes about humor and sex! She recently rates mattresses for sex – now there’s a unique post! 11. Steve Tanham at https://stevetanham.wordpress.com/. Steve is one of the three directors of the Silent Eye School of Consciousness, along with Stuart France and Sue Vincent, a couple of people I have followed with delight for several years. He lives with his wife, a cat and a dog in a restored bungalow on the edge of the English Lake District (oh, beautiful!) where it rains a lot and is thus VERY green. He is driven by a love of good teaching. He enjoys humor and is learning to live with an opened heart in a less-controlled world. 12. Emily Sama at Fantage Chatter – https://fantagechatter.wordpress.com, where she welcomes you to her upside down, crappy blog with recycled inspirations and cardboard dreams with delightful cartoons. She does a variety of posts and pages – advertises blogs, an anime sharing site, guides, a shop for exclusive drawing and headers. This is a one stop shop for help with your blog’s visual, plus she has her own illustrated stuff. 0 0
By now you know a lot about me, Elijah Moon, a cat nonpareil. I am looking forward to having my humans home again, but figured I could sneak in one last post. There are lots of things I like to do, if only to get Hubs to say, “Look! See what the cat’s doing now!” I’m very clever. For example, when Noelle is working at editing on the dining room table, I hold her papers down in case there’s a breeze, and I like to play with her pen. As you know, I’m a major napper, usually in the sun, but occasionally in the dryer, right after the clothes have come out and it’s still nice and warm. My humans’ coats are especially nice on a cold winter night. I also have a shoe fetish. Any shoe will do. Christmas is my favorite time of year. One time, I decided to climb the Christmas tree. It’s always a big tree, usually about 11 feet tall and set in the living room. I actually wanted to play with the baubles on the tree, but a visiting cat challenged me to climb it. Noelle caught it just as it started to fall and screamed for Hubs to come help her. Later, he wired it to the wall so it didn’t fall over when I tried it again. Hubs walloped me with a newspaper, so my climbing days are over. Nevertheless, I did give them a huge scare last Christmas when they couldn’t find me anywhere and called and called for an hour. I don’t know what they were worried about — I was sleeping in the wrapping paper under the tree. I still don’t understand why my humans call me Mr. Waddles, Fur Butt, and the Beef Master. I’m a very a very handsome, if elderly, fur-coated gentleman. My life. It’s not bad, and it’s been nice talking to you. 0 0
I’m Elijah Moon, and I’m back to post while my humans are otherwise occupied. I do have some trouble with the computer keys have been told I have very expressive paws. Today I’m going to give you an idea of my schedule. Noelle manages to adhere to it fairly well, Hubs not so much. I sleep with my humans, but usually get up the minute Hubs goes downstairs. Since this can be any time between 1 and 6 AM, and sometimes more than once, I have a busy night. Hubs is usually back in bed by 6:30, and Angel (did I mention there’s an animal in this house?) gets Noelle up around 7. Angel thinks she’s the boss, but in reality she’s an impertinent, butt-snuffing terrier (I heard she’s a mixed breed – part rat terrier and part Jack Russell). That’s probably why she is not normal. I allow her to share the couch with me at night, though. She’s learned to keep her distance. Anyway, when Angel gets Noelle up, I come downstairs and have to remind her to let me out immediately. She’s gotten better understanding at cat-speak. After I go out, and she takes Angel out, I come back inside with them and have my morning whipped cream cheese. Not much, just a taste. And maybe some crunchy treats. And maybe some tuna fish if there’s any in the fridge. Then I got to the door and this time, I don’t have to ask. I love wandering around the yard. Sometimes I just sit on the deck and ponder the bushes. After a while I come in, and my breakfast is always there waiting for me. Then I nap, usually all morning. Did you know that cats sleep from 16-18 hours a day? Why do you think we’re so beautiful? In the afternoon, I go out again. If it’s cold, not for long, but in the summer I like to go to the pool with Noelle and ride on a mat in the water. If it’s really hot, I take a swim. Honestly, it feels good and if I lick fast enough, I’m dry by the time we have to go in. I always have to be inside by dusk. There are coyotes in the neighborhood (so I’ve been told) and they do have a taste for cat flesh. My two leggeds saw a pair of them walking in broad daylight through the neighbor’s yard. I do know there aren’t cat visitors at our door any more. Or dogs. Or raccoons. Or possums. They look mean! One night, we did have a visitor at the glass door to the porch. He was rather large and was banging on the door at me. Noelle came down to see what the noise was. When she put on the porch light, he ran away, but I heard her say it was a wildcat. He was rather handsome, but his growl was very, very loud. Next time I have a chance to post, I’ll tell you what I do for fun. 0 0
My name is Elijah Moon. This is the first time I’ve posted myself, but I know one of my humans has written about some of my past adventures.They are out of the country for a few days, so I told them I would post on Noelle’s blog once or twice, just to keep things interesting. My two humans are Noelle and Hubs (at least that’s what she calls him), and I must say I do have a rather good life. It didn’t start out very well, though. My brother Ezekiel and I were sent to an animal shelter when we were little because no one wanted us. A student at Brown University adopted us though, and we lived with her for a while. It was a long time ago, and my recollection of that time is a little fuzzy. At some point she brought us her mother’s home in what I heard is called North Carolina. Then she left. The mother was a nice woman, but let’s face it, Zeke and I had long claws and we did like her furniture – isn’t that what it’s there for? – so she put us outside to live. We had food and water left out for us, but we’d never lived outside before, and it was really scary at night. We could hear animals in the woods. Then Zeke had a bright idea; he was always the leader and the explorer. I just like to hang around. He had been battling through the glass door with some cats living inside a nearby house and he found the door to the crawl space of the house was left open. So we moved in there at night. The son of Noelle and Hubs discovered us, and he fed us. Eventually we were sort of adopted. We’d grown since being left outside and our plastic flea collars hardened and tightened around our necks! Our humans didn’t know where we’d come from, so they cut off the flea collars and took us to a place where we were prodded and poked and stuck with needles. After that, we came back to what is now home, and our humans put out houses and a cat tree for us on their deck. We still had to stay outside. Those inside cats really didn’t like us, and I heard Noelle talk about a third cat that lived in their bedroom. Time passed and we got used to our humans. I never wandered far from my forever home, but Zeke was a hunter and he would roam far into the forest. I heard friends of our humans tell them about running into him on the trails. I know the inside cats went somewhere, one by one, and then one day they took Zeke away and I didn’t see him again. Noelle cried a lot with each disappearance, but especially Zeke. I’m still not sure if I miss him. Finally, I was allowed inside. I’d been inside before with Zeke on really cold nights or horribly hot days, but always in the garage. Now I have the run of the house, and I’ve trained my humans to keep to my schedule. In my next post, I will tell you all about my schedule. Right now I need a nap (yawn!). 0 0
This review is for Rosie’s #Bookreview team. The book was purchased by the reviewer. This is the third in the historical series Britannia, which explores the time of Roman rule in what is now Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). Authored by Richard Denham and M.J. Trow, The Warlords is a fitting conclusion to a compelling trilogy. I have read the previous two books, and while I recommend them all, I strongly suggest they be read in sequence. The series is built around four so-called Heroes of the Wall, who are young men in the first volume (see my reviews of both the first and second books on this blog site). Only two now survive and they are well past their prime, their weakening with age mirroring that of Roman Britannia. The time frame of the series is compressed somewhat in order to follow them into the waning era of Roman rule in its far-flung province. Elsewhere in Europe, Rome is also in its death throes, following the bloody end of Magnus Maximus, the Roman Emperor who began his reign in Britannia. One of two remaining Heroes, Justinus Coelius, is now the General of the Roman forces in Britannia, and he and the depleted and increasingly seditious Roman army face a myriad of threats from the wild tribes of the north and others from across the German Sea. The other Hero is Vitalis Celatius, who has become a Christian convert and a weaver of baskets with reeds from the Thames. His goal is to live a quiet life away from conflict, but his religion and reputation draw him back into political events. In addition to Justinus and Vitalis, this book is richly populated by an array of conniving and greedy characters, some real and some fictional, better drawn and even more interesting than those in the previous two volumes. Stilicho, a historical figure, is a ruthless and loyal toady of the Emperor Theodosius and is tasked with taking the head of Magnus Maximus to Londinium (London) to teach the barbarians a lesson in Roman strength and superiority. Stilicho runs into two immoveable objects on his arrival: the unscrupulous but competent Vicarius, who oversees Rome’s business in the city, and Scipio of the Black Knives, a gang of thieves and murderers. His mother Honoria is Vicarius’ mistress. Another historical character is Pelagius, a roving Christian evangelist, whose religion is tolerant of traditional gods and emphasizes free will. He has an enemy in the Bishop Londinium and a reluctant follower in Vitalis. When Stilicho is recalled upon Theodosius’ death, a sequence of men declare themselves Caesar and rally various of the Army’s legions to rule the province and beyond, only to be overthrown one by one. In the meantime, Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Tara, is raising and plundering the western and southwestern coasts of the province. To the north, the Voltadini, a barbarian tribe and allies of the Romans who have for centuries repelled attacks from the Picts, the Scots, the Irish and the Saxons, face a deathly threat. The son of their Queen, who is the lover of Justinus, seeks to overthrow both her and the Romans by secret pacts with these same tribes. Who can contain Niall? Can the Queen rally the Voltadini to maintain the northern regions from invasion? Who will ultimately control the legions? The book’s characters are wound within these gradually unravelling story threads and despite my knowledge of what really happened historically, the complex story kept me reading with enthusiasm. The authors have clearly taken some liberties with the history of Britannia in spinning this saga, but then again, there is much of that history that is unknown. I recommend this third book and indeed, the whole series, and hope to visit some of the sites mentioned in the book when I next travel to England. About the authors: Richard Denham was born in the military town of Aldershot, the son of a sergeant in the British Army. He is a self-taught Roman historian with an exhaustive knowledge of this period. Ever since studying the Romans at school, he has taken a keen interest in them, specifically Romans in Britain. As a boy growing up with swords, knights, tanks and all things military he also developed an interest in the legends of King Arthur. He then discovered that Roman Britain was much more interesting. The inspiration for the Britannia series was the cold, impassive footnote Richard would constantly come across “Romans leave Britain”. This would have been, for those who lived it, an apocalyptic time never known before; with the Romans having lived, fought, laughed, married and raised children on our island, “leaving” could never be as simple as that. He has a young son named Tristan, and struggles to deny that he is named after one of King Arthur’s knights. Richard has also co-authored ‘The Citizen Survivor’s Handbook’ with Steve Hart, who is one of Britain’s top survivalists. M.J. Trow was born in Wales and attended King’s College in London, where he read history. He has worked at Ryde High School as a well-known teacher of history and politics and is known in some circles for his work in theater and dramas. He is the prolific writer of three mystery series: 16 Inspector Lastrade books, 17 Peter Maxwell books, and six in the Kit Marlowe series. 0 0
