New-Yorker-blog-karenrobbins

Lately I've been trying to find authors new to me. While I know Marybeth Whalen by name and association with some of the writers groups I belong to, I don't recall having read any of her books before. If The Guest Book is a good sample of her writing, I will have to devour a few more.

The story is intriguing. Macy Dillon returns to her family's favorite beach house with her mother and brother. It evokes pleasant memories but also feelings of loss as this had been her father's favorite place to bring the family and he has been gone now for ten years. In her youth, Macy had drawn pictures in a guest book at the vacation house and her pictures had been replied to with other pictures drawn by a boy her own age. After a tumultuous relationship with the father of her daughter, Macy wonders if returning to the beach house will answer her question of who the boy, now a man, was who drew the pictures in the guest book and will there still be a connection between them?

As I read it, I kept thinking of the Nicholas Sparks books I've read and loved. While this is a romance, it's not a formula romance and there is a wonderful sense of mystery to it. Whalen's characters are believable and invite you into the story. It's a great book for the road or just a good mind escape from the winter cold.

The majority of folks on St. Lucia whose historical roots are French and British are Roman Catholic and celebrate Christmas in a big way. There is midnight mass, singing of carols, great parties and of course, lots of food.

One of the more unusual practices is called "bursting the bamboo." From November 30 and continuing until Christmas, you can hear the sound of exploding bamboo during the night. Men use kerosene, rags, and sticks as fuses to make cannons out of large pieces of hollowed out bamboo. Apparently this activity is not confine to just men as I found a posted video of boys bursting the bamboo on the playground. It never does go off in the video but can you imagine this activity on a playground near you?

Know someone who loves to travel? Looking for a good gift? Here are some great ideas:

1. A multiplug adaptor to use in several different countries. One plug serves all works best. I've found that we tend to lose the ones that come with several different plugs.
2. Know a cruiser? Find out when their next cruise is and on what ship and you can give an onboard credit for them to use on an excursion, in specialty dining, gift shop, etc.
3. Find a novel or a great travel story that takes place in a country where they've visited or plan to visit.
4. Noise canceling headphones. These are now coming in smaller sizes so they aren't as bulky to carry or wear.
5. A small travel umbrella. Pick the lightest one in weight. You don't want to add too much weight to a suitcase.
6. A small flashlight. We were caught in the dark one night at a resort when power went out and the only light we had was the computer screen. I now try to remember a flashlight on our trips.
7. For the traveler who needs to take meds but doesn't want to carry the medicine chest with him, get a couple of pill organizers. It also helps them remember to take them when the brain goes on vacation too.
8. Good baggage tags. Some of the online photo sites make them with pictures. Grandparents can easily ID their luggage with those smiling faces.
9. A 3-1-1 bag. This is a quart size ziploc bag. Buy several sample sized toiletries that are 3 ounces or less like shampoos, conditioners, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. and put them in the bag for your traveler's convenience in getting through TSA.
10. And last but not least, the one we have over and over again used and been thankful to have--a luggage scale. It's a little hand held scale that hooks to the handle of your suitcase. You lift it and in about three seconds or so it beeps telling you exactly how much your luggage weighs. It saves those embarrassing moments at the check-in area where you need to open suitcases and redistribute the weight because one suitcase is too heavy.

So happy to welcome Susan Muira again to guest post on my blog. Susan has a great blog called Taste The World where she shares places and recipes as well as writing news. She is a contributor to Falling In Love With You, a collection of real-life love stories from around the globe.

Just in time for the snow birds to travel south and others to wonder where to escape to for a few warm days, Susan shares a bit of Key West, FL, with us.

Sun and sand, aquamarine water, sea turtles, watercolor sunsets and food to die for. The Florida Keys has it all…and so much more. I returned to Marathon this past July for a week-long family vacation, and left wishing we had at least another week to do more of our wish-list activities. Such a place! The kind where sunshine dances on the water, colorful creatures glide below, and the palms gently swish in the island breeze.

 

Key West is always a fun destination, and we went twice. The first day we visited the aquarium, built in the early 1930s. Noticing an ocean theme here? It’s a beautiful little aquarium that only takes about 45 minutes to peruse. Open tanks with stingrays, sharks, starfish and horseshoe crabs seemed to be the big draw for the younger crowd. There’s a variety of stores in Key West, but most of them have touristy prices, so we didn’t buy anything. Great restaurants, though. One of our favorites was Amigo’s Tortilla Bar – Home of the Square Taco! Really fresh ingredients; excellent Mexican cuisine. Also loved Red Fish Blue Fish. Fresh, fantastic seafood. Imagine a shrimp and bacon club, loaded with huge Gulf shrimp. Or a shrimp po boy jam-packed with, you guessed it, huge Gulf shrimp.