Murder mystery marathon

Bloody Twist - Carolina Garcia Aguilera

Two For The Dough - Janet Evanovich

I had to read these two murder mysteries back-to-back to compare the two authors.  I read Janet Evanovich's first Stephanie Plum mystery (One For The Money) a few weeks ago and it really reminded me of another series that I had read years ago.  Couldn't remember the name of the first author though, only that it had a Latina investigator in it...  Carl to the rescue!  Thank you, Carl.   I should've known to just ask you in the first place.

So, Lupe Solano is a private investigator living in Miami, Florida and Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter living in Trenton, New Jersey.  Other than that they're pretty much interchangeable.  If you like one, you'll like the other one.  Lucky for me, I like them.  Lucky because between the two there are about a hundred titles to read.  (Yes, I'm prone to exaggeration.)

Bloody Twist got on my nerves a little at first.  I'm okay with the concept of repetition-for-emphasis, but I found myself talking back to the book. "Yes, your client is a high-priced call girl in South Beach and she's a virgin.  Yes, that's unusual.  We get it -   can we move on now please?"   Not sure if she quit doing it, or if I just got used to it, but it didn't bother me once I got past the first few pages.

Kinda weird that I'm enjoying these because I'm definitely NOT a murder mystery lover.  Also not a big fan of formula type novels, but what the Hell, they're kind of fun.  I like knowing that there are so many titles available that I can pick one up every once in awhile just for a change of pace.

P.S.  Relax.  I'm done reading for awhile.

The Ocean Inside

The Ocean Inside - Janna McMahan

Sure it's chick lit.  So what?!  This is a perfect read-at-the-beach kind of book.  A well-written story about a family in crisis.  It takes place in a small island beach community on the coast of South Carolina, which just happens to be high on my list of places to see, so I quite enjoyed the "scenery" as well as the story. 

Books

I've decided that I don't really like the way the BOOKS tab at the top of the page is working out, so I'm going to try something different.  Bear with me while I test it out.

Raising Jake - Charlie Carillo

This was a Kindle freebie and I enjoyed it.  A double bonus.  Just a nice, warm & fuzzy story about 3 generations of men connecting.

Early morning walk

Headed up to Tom Campbell's hill early enough this morning to catch the sunrise.

 Perfect spot to contemplate a new day

Everything was all pink and glowy

So pretty when the sun hits the buildings

 Taz being a show-off up on the wall

 ♫♫The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age,

but that don't worry me none, in my eyes you're everything♫♫

 

 The pathway isn't quite as colourful as it was last week, most of the leaves have fallen from the trees now.



(Same path, last week)

Gracie & Taz love to run in the tall grass

Showing off again.

Just goofing around with some processing toys

This one would make a pretty cool watercolour, maybe I should dig out my paints & brushes

Or, maybe just let the computer do it for me!

Autumn colours

This has been the most beautiful Autumn evah!!

Ta Daaa!

So, I cut some cardboard pieces and wrapped foam around them, using double-sided tape to stick, and I cut some fabric into more or less the right sizes.  Then I had a minor anxiety attack because I didn't know what to do next, but I knew it was going to involve sewing.  If you know me, you know that the sewing machine and I are not on good terms.  There's usually a fair amount of swearing, ripping out and more swearing involved in any project.  I break into a cold sweat just thinking about sewing.

Once I recovered, I made little pillow cases for the pieces and stuffed them like sausages.

The inevitable ripping out...Did you know that Velcro doesn't work if you use just the hooky side for everything? 

Okay, finally got the Velcro on the right way to keep the pieces together

The box is ready, the bottom is a separate piece. Just have to insert it into the purse now.

  

The finished product. Nice & bright so if I drop a lens cap I'll be able to see it.

 My camera seems quite happy in its snug new home.
 (Used a flash on this one, so it's a different colour.  The other photos are closer to the true colour)

I should probably make a top cover piece too, but I've had enough fun for now. 

So there you have it.  It wouldn't stand up to close inspection and I'd be embarrassed to have someone that actually knows how to sew look at it, but considering I made it, it's okay.  Epiphan!e certainly isn't in danger of me puting them out of business, and I'd still love to eventually own one of their creations, but for now, I'm happy with my home-made camera bag.  I love that it doesn't look like a normal camera bag and there's lots of room for it to do double-duty as a purse.

Dos regalos para mi

What's in the box, Mom?  Cookies?

Nope.   It's a present.  For me!  This is the Tamron 18-270 (!) lens.  Ooh, ahh.

Just look at the zoom on this baby!

Lens hood, included.

I can't wait to test drive it.

I spent the morning on-line checking out a couple of gorgeous girly camera bags because I knew that my new lens wouldn't fit into my old bag.  I didn't really like it anyway, so I didn't much care, but I didn't want another regular camera bag.  Found these by a relatively new company called  Epiphan!e   Started up by a female photographer who wanted a camera bag that looked like a purse and didn't scream CAMERA.  She couldn't find anything, so she made her own.  Word got out, orders started pouring in and boom! she was in business!  I couldn't decide which of these I love the most. This turquoise beauty is called Belle

Love that green interior

 and this is Lola, in red

and she has a pretty lavender interior.

A moot point really, because at 165.00 USD plus 50.00 for shipping, I can't afford either one of them, but as soon as I win the lottery....

Or, maybe not.  As I was leaving the camera store with my shiny new lens, I noticed that the Boutique of Leathers, right across the corridor, had a giant SALE sign on their handbag table so I wandered over to check them out.   Look what I found for 39.00!!  Super soft leather, 6 (!) outside pockets for batteries, cards and stuff, regular handles and a shoulder strap.  And in my favourite colour to boot!!!

 My camera, even with the big honkin' lens attached, fits quite nicely. 

I think with a bit of padding added for protection, this will be perfect!   I'm not quite sure how to go about that yet, but I'm thinking some cardboard, some foam, some nice bright fabric and some velcro oughta do it.  It won't be as professionally finished as the beautiful Belle, perhaps, but it's considerably cheaper!

Later: 

Taz & I went over to the the local park to play with my new toy.  Just to give you an idea of the range of this new lens - these shots were taken from the park bench.

This is at 18mm  (same as the kit lens that I've been using)

 This is at 55mm.  As good as it got with my old lens.

 And THIS is at the top of the range - 270mm!!  I love it!

Later still:

Wow!  What a sunset tonight!  It started out fantastic...

...and it just kept getting better...

...and better!!!