Quick Vacation

Sometimes, we need a break. I stepped away from the computer last week and wrote very little. Instead, we took a quick vacation down to Charleston South Carolina for a few nights of camping at James Island County Park.

For those of you who RV, I highly recommend checking out the park. The campground is very clean and well run and sits in the midst of the sprawling park. Interconnecting paved paths create excellent walking or bicycling trails (a huge plus for our family of dogs). Lots of activities are available for all ages of kids.

For us, we expand our normal twice a day walks with the dogs to thrice, a necessity when you sharing a camper with canines. And since we were close to both Folly Beach and Charleston, we had a wide assortment of eating choices, all with comfortable open-air outdoor space.

After a terrific break of a few days, I’ve settled back behind the keyboard and am back to the writing life.


Books I’m Reading

A family living and working a small tobacco farm in the Western North Carolina mountains struggles to deal with their hard life, made more difficult by the wife’s involvement with a fundamentalist church and its domineering minister. What the younger brother witnesses peering through a small hole in the wall of the church rends at the heart and soul of the family. A complex tale told from the points-of-view of the young boy, an elderly midwife who shepherds the children of the church, and the sheriff with his own dark past.

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Interesting Links

Why Does Will Not Become Won’t—Most contractions work in a logical manner by dropping part of the word and replacing it with an apostrophe. Is not becomes isn’t. Did not becomes didn’t. But have you ever wondered why will not becomes won’t rather than willn’t? Another great etymology lesson.

Toshiba Typewriter for Japanese—With only 26 letters in the English alphabet, typewriters are reasonably sized even if we debated the proper order of the letters (QWERTY being the most common, but not universal). This video shows a compact but complex typewriter for the Japanese language.


Gratuitous Dog Picture

Roscoe’s face shows the excitement of the walk—a place we haven’t been in a while. We took off last week on a camping vacation to James Island County Park near Charleston SC. And if you’re going to share a camper with four Siberian Huskies, we highly recommend three long walks a day so everyone sleeps soundly through the night—human and canine.


Background title image courtesy Jonathan Zeman via Unsplash

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3 Comments

  1. Debbie and Ruby on January 11, 2021 at 8:44 am

    Looks like real nice park to camp in with Chez Herd. Nice weather and sunshine in January, can’t go wrong.

  2. Jean Burkhardt on January 11, 2021 at 8:51 am

    Roscoe’s face looks like he was having FABULOUS time camping and doing the THREE walks a day. So happy Hu-Dad that are feeling refreshed after your vacation with Chex Herd!!!

  3. Laura Yager on January 12, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    Roscoe looks so joyful…something we should all feel at least once a day. May we all find the joy in the simple things. Like a four legged companion, with a fluffy bottom, boundless energy, and a heart of gold. Happy new year Herd! ❤????

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Monthly Reader Survey

Each month, I ask my readers a question or two. Sometimes, my questions are random fun things that have nothing to do with books. Other queries are about reading and writing. Join in the fun and answer this month's survey. The results (and a new survey) will be shared later in the month.

Monthly Reader Survey

Each month, I ask my readers a question or two. Sometimes, my questions are random fun things that have nothing to do with books. Other queries are about reading and writing. Join in the fun and answer this month's survey. The results (and a new survey) will be shared later in the month.

Survey - April 2025 - Hardcover - With or without dust jacket

Creepy Crawlies

I was walking my dogs along the neighborhood greenway, minding my own business, when I felt a sudden, stabbing pain.

For no discernible reason, a wasp stung my ankle. My best guess is he was just letting his best waspy attitude rule the day (and ruin mine).

Thanks to a mild allergy to insect venom, I got the full treatment: swelling, throbbing pain, and an itch so insatiable I could’ve sanded my skin off. That last one—the tingling need to scratch—lasts for days.

Just two weeks earlier, I’d felt something crawling up my leg and discovered a tick had hitchhiked home with us. And if I found one? I became convinced a dozen more were slinking unseen across my skin.

These two charming encounters inspired this month’s survey question. Apologies in advance for the phantom crawling sensation you now feel.

As we enter the summer months (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), the creepy crawlies are out in full force. If you had the power to banish one from ever bothering you again, which would it be?