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Where would Rhe be without her Garmin Persephone, who leads her all over the place? The map industry is changing dramatically with all of the GPS apps available, and globes that used to decorate so many classrooms and libraries have gone out of style. Maybe because it’s hard to keep up with all the changes in names and numbers of the world’s countries? So it’s nice to see that the World’s Largest Rotating Globe (so designated by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999) still spinning after ten years, in the lobby of a Maine-based family-owned mapping company. The company is DeLorme, and it has evolved into a software company. Creating Eartha, a 41 foot diameter globe has made this company a sight-seeing stop.   Eartha is a 3-dimensional scale model of our earth with mountains and landforms in full 3D, which rotates and revolves simulating the earth’s real movements. Unveiled July 23, 1998 Eartha took two years to build and represents earth as it is seen from space. Every aspect of Earth was developed using computer technology. It was designed by founder David DeLorme and constructed by DeLorme staff members. The mapping database took over a year to compile and is equivalent to about 140 gigabytes(for all you techies). It was derived from satellite imagery, shaded relief, colored bathymetry (ocean depth data) and information from terrestrial sources, such as road networks and urban areas. Every continent is beautifully detailed, with vivid colors illustrating all levels of vegetation, major roadways and cities, and ocean depths. Its scale is 1:1,000,000, which works out to be one inch equaling nearly 16 miles. Eartha’s “skeleton” is a structure made of 6,000 pieces of lightweight aluminum tubing, with “skin” constructed of over 792 map sections, printed on special materials and mounted on lightweight panels. The panels were then affixed to the structure with a unique bolt system. She took two years to build and would have been completed more quickly, but halfway through her assembly DeLorme noticed a slight flaw. Eartha was torn down and reconstructed properly. The fabulous Eartha is housed in a three-story glass atrium at the company’s headquarters in Yarmouth, Maine. 0 0

Maine has a desert – bet you never knew that! This is another place that Rhe and Will would likely have taken Jack, just for its sheer uniqueness. The Desert of Maine is a 40-acre tract of exposed glacial silt (a sand-like substance, but finer-grained than sand) located near the town of Freeport. It’s not a desert in the truest sense of the word, since it receives a lot of precipitation and the surrounding vegetation, largely a pine forest, encroaches on the barren dunes. It was deposited by continental glaciers (like the ice sheet now covering Antarctica) which probably extended across Maine several times during the Pleistocene Epoch, 1.5 million to 10,000 years ago. The slow-moving glacial ice changed the landscape as it scraped over previously existing mountains and valleys, transporting rock debris for miles. The sand, gravel, and other sediments that cover much of Maine are largely the product of glaciation. The Desert of Maine originated when the Tuttle family purchased and began farming the site beginning in 1797. Failure to rotate their potato crops, combined with land clearance and followed by overgrazing by sheep, led to erosion of the soil and exposed the dune of glacial silt. The initial small patch of sand gradually spread and overtook the entire farm. The Tuttles abandoned the land in 1919; it was then purchased for $300 by Henry Goldrup, who converted it to a tourist attraction in 1925. The desert contains hundreds of shades of sand, running through the many colored veins in the floor of the desert. The site is has been preserved as a natural curiosity, with a gift shop, a sand museum, and a farm museum. 0 0

I’ll bet you thought I would choose Campobello Island for C. But I can’t, because it’s a Canadian Island located in the mouth of the Bay of Fundy (see F). Instead, I have something fun for the whole family, a place where Rhe might have taken Jack on a weekend, maybe with Sam in tow, since he likes old cars. The Cole Land Transportation Museum is located in Bangor, ME, and is open seven days a week from May to November. This museum was created to collect, preserve, and display (before they disappear forever) a cross section of Maine’s land transportation equipment as well as U.S. military memorabilia to remind this and future generations of the high price some Americans have paid to protect our freedom. There is always a back story to every museum, and this one is no exception. Charlie Flanagan and Galen Cole, best friends from Bangor High School, served their country together during World War II. Cole was 19 when he was wounded by a German shell that killed five fellow soldiers when it hit the half-track they were riding in during the Battle of the Rhineland in April 1945. Flanagan had been killed in action five months earlier on the Siegfried Line. Here is what Galen Cole has said about Charlie Flanagan to more than 30,000 youngsters who’ve visited the museum over two decades: “Your freedom meant more to him than did his life.” After his discharge in 1946, he and his wife raised five children and grew the Cole transportation companies. His creations included a tank van that allowed the company to transport petroleum and freight in separate compartments. But the man who kept an eye out for what was new and innovative never lost his love for those things that served well in the past. Hence, the museum. The museum contains the former Maine Central Railroad Company’s station house, a Maine Central Railroad car and the front car of the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad engine, which one may board. It also features vintage automobiles, including a Stanley Steamer, early horse-drawn wagons and a prairie schooner, which is a scaled-down covered wagon. The museum also includes farm tractors, a potato harvester (potatoes have historically been a primary export of Maine), a horse-drawn hearse, and delivery trucks of dairy products and ice. A special room includes a command car used in World War II,and there are also outdoor military vehicle exhibits of both World War II and the Vietnam War. Happy A-Zing! World War II tank (Tikiko) 0 0

This is short one – Boon Island is tiny! Before I start, I’d like to give a shout out to the blogs of other authors in my area who are doing the A-Z Challenge: Bob Byrd: Bob is working on his second book, a noirish mystery with an big dog, set on the post-world War II coast of North Carolina. An avid sailor, Bob is writing about things nautical. https://byrdwords.wordpress.com Stephenie Houghtlin: Stepheny is about to release her second book, set in Chicago, so she has chosen to give us a tour of Chicago. http://stephenyhoughtlin.com/ Elizabeth Hein: Elizabeth is the author of two books and is A-Zing on the Galapagos Islands, the site for her next book.  https://scribblinginthestorageroom.wordpress.com   Without further ado, so here is my post for today: Boon Island Light is located on the 300-by-700-foot Boon Island, off the southern coast of Maine, nine miles from the beach at York. It’s most certainly a place that Rhe would have explored in her boat, the Glass Trinket, since it is not open to the public. From land, it can be seen from Cape Neddick. It is the tallest lighthouse in New England at 133 feet, and has a beacon which flashes white every 5 seconds. The idea of building a lighthouse on this tiny bit of land began in 1710, when the ship Nottingham Galley ran aground there, stranding the crew. The crew had to resort to cannibalism before they were found. A station and a day marker were established on the island in 1799, but granite tower with its light were not constructed until 1811, authorized by President James Madison. One of the most isolated stations off the Maine coast, Boon Island Light is also one of the most dangerous. Strong storms in the area washed away both the first tower and its replacement, and the current tower was constructed in 1811. A second order Fresnel lens was installed. This lens lacks the bulk and heaviness of the former lens and can capture more oblique light from a light source, thus allowing the light to be visible over greater distances. A blizzard in 1978 washed some of the tower, the keeper’s dwelling and other outbuildings into the sea, and a result the station was automated and a solar powered beacon installed by the US Coast Guard. Because of the isolation and the danger, at first Boon Island was barely able to attract and retain a keeper. A raise in salary helped, almost too well: it led to unscrupulous competition. In 1932, a newspaper printed a letter about the life of a keeper at Boon Island. “One has to have a varied knowledge of things to be a light keeper. As one keeper here recently said, ‘I thought all one had to know how to do out here was to clean, paint, and polish brass, but I have found out that one has to be doctor, painter, steeplejack, glazier, boatman, gasoline engineer, electrician, stone cutter and even a cook when the women folks leave us in the fall.’.” Legends about the station abound. There is a story that the keepers were once marooned on the island for several weeks because of storms and rough weather, resulting in a depletion of their food supplies. At the point of starvation, the keeper sent a message in a bottle, which was picked up by a passing schooner. The schooner’s crew packed some food in a mackerel barrel, setting it afloat, and drifted into a little cove on the island where it was bounced out of the sea by the surf. The legend persists that during the 19th century, one of the light keepers died, leaving his wife alone to tend the station and the light. Eventually, she descending into insanity and was found wandering the island by members of a rescue ship. Sad to say, Boon Island Light is not open to the public, but landing there could be problematic! 0 0

Welcome to my tour of Maine. If these posts don’t make you want to visit, then I’m not doing a great job… Be sure to click on the pictures to see the gorgeous vistas. Acadia National Park, one of the most beautiful of our national parks, is a place Rhe and Will, two of the main characters in my Rhe Brewster series, would definitely have camped and hiked. Created in 1919, Acadia National Park was originally named Lafayette National Park I honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, but the name was changed in 1929 to honor the former French colony of Acadia, which once included Maine. The park attained federal status during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson and came under the aegis of the National Park Service on February 26, 1919, when the name was changed. It covers most of the Mount Desert Island and smaller islands around it off the Atlantic coast of Maine, and is the oldest national park east of the Mississippi. It is also one of the most beautiful. The area was originally inhabited by the Wabanaki people (this will be my W!), who lived in the area now called Maine for many thousands of years. The island was discovered by the explorer Samuel de Champlain during a voyage down the coast in the fall of 1604. The landscape architect Charles Eliot, an apprentice of Frederick Olmsted who played a central role in shaping the Boston Metropolis Park System, is credited with the idea for the park. From 1915 to 1933, the wealthy philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., financed, designed, and directed the construction of a network of carriage trails throughout the park. The network encompassed over 50 miles of gravel carriage trails, 17 granite bridges, and two gate lodges, almost all of which are still maintained and in use today. Cut granite stones placed along the edges of the carriage roads act as guard rails and today are fondly called “Rockefeller’s teeth”. The park includes mountains, ocean shoreline, woodlands and lakes, 47, 000 acres in all. The pink granite summit of Cadillac Mountain, named after the French explorer Antoine de Cadillac, dominates the eastern side of Mt. Desert Island; it is one of the first places in the United States to see sunrise. The park is home to some 40 different species of mammalian wildlife: red and gray squirrels, chipmunks, white-tailed deer, moose, beaver, porcupine, muskrats, foxes, coyotes, bobcats and black bears. Some trails in the park are closed in the summer to protect nesting peregrine falcons. Whether you are hiking, biking or traveling by car, the vistas and environment of Acadia National Park is a feast for the psyche. 0 0

Sing this to the tune of “Are You Ready for Some Football?” that’s played before the NFL season opens on TV! I’m sure you’ve been working hard.  I’ve had to schedule around my two critique groups, multiple dentist visits (oh ouch and ugh), plain old writing, and some other, largely non-writing commitments. So today I’m celebrating having arrived at “T.” I hope all y’all (that’s Southern plural for y’all) are having fun and I look forward to reading what you’ve created.   0 0

I met fellow blogger Trisha Surgarek on line. Trisha is one talented lady: she writes cozy mysteries which I enjoy inordinately, writes and directs plays, including some for children, is a poet, and writes journals of self help books for writers. She is indeed deep into the creative life. Which is why getting a five quill review from Trisha for Death in a Dacron Sail was a huge honor. See: http://www.writeratplay.com/2015/03/28/death-in-a-dacron-sail-by-n-a-granger-a-review/ I hope you will go visit Trisha’s blog Writer at Play at A Writer’s World It’s very entertaining and well worth a good look! 0 0

My friend, Elizabeth Hein, interviewed me for a post today on her blog, Scribbling in the Storage Room:  https://scribblinginthestorageroom.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/interview-with-n-a-granger/ I met this talented writer through one of my critique groups five years ago. She has published two books: Overlook and How to Climb the Eiffel Tower and writes wonderful short stories. You might want to pop over and learn more about her. Thank you, Elizabeth! 0 0

I was introduced to Terry Tyler when I reviewed her previous book, Kings and Queens. This is the sequel, and if I liked the first book, which I definitely did, I like this one even better. Kings and Queens is a modern day parallel to the sixteenth century saga of Henry VIII and his six wives, with property developer Harry Lanchester as the central character; it tells the story of his six wives through the eyes of various characters in the book. Last Child begins after the death of Harry, and mirrors what happened after Henry the VIII’s death. Then a Regency Council represented the interests of young boy king, Edward VI. Here, until Jasper, Harry’s only son, reaches maturity, his company and its holdings are being directed by Jasper’s uncle, Ned Seymour, with the help of various directors including a very ambitious Jim Dudley, and a childhood friend of Harry’s, Will Brandon. Harry had two other children, Isabella (Henry’s Mary) and Erin (Elizabeth), and this book is divided into three parts to tell the story of each of the Lanchester offspring. Ms. Tyler has cleverly interwoven many characters with similar names and positions to those in the court during the reigns of Edward, Mary and Elizabeth. Hannah is one character who provides a grounding to each part; she is the former nanny/housekeeper, who had a brief affair with Harry, between wives; she has continued as a friend and confidant to the children, despite now having her own successful career running a nanny agency. Isabella lives alone, off the Lanchester estate, still harboring anger and bitterness toward the other children for her father’s divorce of her mother. Erin, a beautiful, fiery, outspoken, and eminently sexy teenager lives with her brother Jasper, or Jaz as he wished to be called, on the estate. Jaz, a young teen, is considered to be a sweet kid by Hannah, but with his penchant for girls, drinking, smoking, swearing, and anything but studying, it’s hard to believe. He is spoiled rotten, unhappy with his guardians, Ned and Angie Seymour, and not enthusiastic at the thought of taking over the company when he reaches 18. We get to hear from him personally through his keeping of a diary on a Dictaphone. Almost everyone knows the story of Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, but Ms. Tyler has thrown us some curve balls. For example, Jim Dudley meets an attractive, much younger woman named Raine, who has a real talent for marketing. Their relationship provides an emotional touchstone for the book. Isabella finally finds her man …you just have to read the book to see what happens. Erin’s love is Jim Dudley’s son Robert, just as Robert Dudley was the love of Elizabeth I’s life. Erin is the child most like her father, determined to run and expand his company, while seeming to have no use for a husband. And, yes, there’s a twist here, too. I devoured this book, loving the characters that Ms. Tyler has brought to life, enjoying the twists and turns, the jealousy, greed, love, and lust. This is definitely more than worthy of the history of the Tudor court, and except for a slowing in the pace at the very end, it is a barnburner of a book.   Terry Tyler has published nine books on Amazon. She offers a rather unique genre in her writing, what Amazon says readers describe as lying somewhere in the area of contemporary drama and romantic suspense, with the occasional bit of rock fiction thrown in.   You can find Last Child on Amazon: and it is available on Kindle. You can find Terry at: http://terrytyler59.blogspot.com 0 0

This is my third year doing the A-Z Challenge. The first year I posted on odors, which is something every writer needs to think about. You can paint a picture of movement and taste and feel, but an odor can really cement a scene. Plus they are the oldest of all of our senses, evolutionarily speaking. Last year I did something just for fun – Renaissance artists. I took two courses on these artists in college enjoyed them so much, I wanted to revisit the subject. It was a massive undertaking,and my posts were too long, I now realize. My apologies to all those who really tried to read them! This year my subject is….wait for it….ta-dah………. Maine! You know that my Rhe Brewster mysteries are set in Pequod, Maine, and I’ve just released my second book in the series, Death in a Dacron Sail. I’ve tried to pull places from Maine into both books and am doing the same with the third, which is underway.  So this year, I’ll take you on a tour of sites in Maine: old houses, ships, lighthouses and more- places that Rhe or Jack or Sam might visit. I hope you’ll like touring Maine with me! PS And I’ll try to keep them short! 0 0