Gallery Mosaic (with a tale of two)

 

On Friday, Nov. 28, my daughter Susie kicked off the Christmas season with a program of favorite pop holiday songs at the family's Capital Room Bar in Sanford (FL). It was fun, as well as a musical treat for the ears. Below, my few pictures. (I was too busy listening. And enjoying my "Jinglebird"!)

To keep posted on all the many special events at The Capital Room Bar, go to Facebook, type in "Capital Room Bar," choose "Follow." 

 

 

Continuing our long tradition of drink selfies

 

A few of MANY trees

 

A few weeks ago Susie asked me to create a "flag" cat hat. Not an easy task. Version 1 was just okay. I think Version 2 came out pretty well. 

 

This pot of aloe dates from when my grandgirls were little. We planted three small aloe, a couple of other succulents, and added a dragon and a small fairy. All survived the move from East Orlando. In the past couple of years we lost one aloe—it simply broke off & fell out of the pot. Also, the other succulents. Yet somehow two aloe continue to thrive, though I often find both dragon and fairy knocked over, likely due to more to Squeak than to high wind.

A couple of Christmases ago, Susie & Mike gave me a plant stand for Christmas. Mike promptly laid out all the pieces on the living room floor and constructed it there and then. It sits a few feet from the aloe pot, and both geranium and begonia (almost as old as the aloe) are doing their best to brighten the holiday season.

 

 

I lived a quarter century in Venice, FL, where one of the best-known traditions was watching the sunset from Venice Beach (the gulf end of Venice's Main Street). As I recall, cars would begin lining up in the parking lot as much as an hour early to get the best viewing spots. Day in and day out (weather permitting). And yes, the sunsets were truly impressive. The one below, taken by Lonnie Leary, popped up on Facebook this past week.

 

To add to the glory of Sarasota County, a roseate spoonbill . . .

 

And now, a hop across the pond . . . who can resist yet another Stonehenge pic, this one of what's called a "cosmic moment" at the height of an eclipse.

 

Last-minute addition:  11:30 pm Saturday, 12/6/25:

 

  

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This week's Featured Book, one of my Christmas novellas—and a story goes with this one too. Way, way back in Ages Dark—well, maybe somewhere around 2010, Erotica suddenly surged into the Romance market, readers' tastes supposedly changing from the purity of Traditional Regency novels to Double-Blush. Long-time Regency authors, even Regency editors lost their jobs; whole lines were shut down. After a bunch of books, I was out of a job. Huh?

At which point, incredibly, Ellora's Cave, an e-publisher known for its steamy novels, announced it would open a Regency line that was NOT aimed at the erotica market. Which is how I found myself writing for a company that had helped put me out of business. Ellora's Cave even created a Christmas Anthology, inviting its Trad Regency authors to write holiday novellas to fill it up. And Mistletoe Moment was born, a novella by an author whose first novel was 140,000 words! 

I enjoyed the experiment. It's a gentle tale, a tear-jerker appropriate to the season. I hope you'll take a peek.

After suffering social disaster at her very first ball—severely aggravated by the horror of an unfeeling family—Miss Pamela Ashburton hides herself in the country, expecting to live out her life as a spinster. Major Will Forsythe, injured in body and spirit at Waterloo, comes to the country to escape the concern of well-meaning relatives. Privacy, peace and quiet—that's all he wants. Until he meets a holiday sprite in search of mistletoe. And the Christmas spirit, in the form of a cluster of white berries, gives them both a second chance.

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