Celebrity Constellation, Day 6, Thursday, December 3, 2015 We docked at Frederiksted, which at a quick glance, had nothing much for tourists except for a few native market stands and uninviting streets. Rather than take one of Celebrity’s island tours for $80 or more, we opted to hire a cab on the pier. We … Read more
St. Maarten Day 5, Wednesday, December 2, 2015 I needed to fortify myself with a good breakfast in preparation for shopping, so I ate another omelet with roasted potatoes, bacon, rye bread, and fresh pineapple. St. Maarten is my favorite island to visit. I went out on deck to watch our approach. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYqAMzP6BKY] … Read more
Gustavia, St. Barth (Saint Barthelemy) Day 4, Tuesday, December 1, 2015 St. Barthelemy is a tiny French island in the Caribbean. All prices are in Euros and the language is French. Here we are on the tender ride from the Celebrity Constellation: We strode along the main street lined with shops, which are mostly expensive … Read more
Celebrity Constellation: The Food, Part 2 Eating while someone else cooks and does the dishes is the best part of a cruise. We are continuing with Day 3, when we dined at the Ocean Liners specialty restaurant, courtesy of our travel agent (Adam Wolf at The Cruise Web). The three of us (I traveled with … Read more
Celebrity Constellation: The Food, Part 1 The coffee on this cruise was the best I’ve ever had on a ship. It was hot and strong with flavor and body. Since I’m a Starbucks fan, this is how I like it. The initial creamer cups they put out were skimpy little things that were hard to … Read more
Celebrity Constellation 9 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise Although the Celebrity Constellation is a smaller ship than most of our recent cruises, we enjoyed our experience very much. Everything was super clean and well maintained. Our ocean view cabin seemed smaller than most, with a bed, nightstand, desk, and loveseat taking up the space. However, … Read more
Day 1, Saturday, on the Celebrity Constellation There’s nothing like the exhilaration you feel when sailing away from land and knowing you are escaping reality for a week or more. We set sail from Fort Lauderdale for a ten day cruise on the Celebrity Constellation. Here is my shaky video of the sail-away: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w59F9y5T97s] … Read more
Happy Thanksgiving to all my online friends. I am thankful for your follows and comments throughout the year. Your feedback and support are immensely important to me, and I just want to take this time to let you know how very much I appreciate each one of you. Here is wishing you and yours a … Read more
Maryglenn McCombs, book publicist, spoke at the recent Florida Chapter of MWA meeting. These are my notes from her speech. “Publishers are looking for authors who have platforms.” How do you get one? Join professional writers’ groups and get involved. Besides the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, Maryglenn mentioned Crime Writers Association … Read more
You can’t complete a full-length novel without a strict code of self-discipline. Imagine all the distractions we have throughout the day. How can a writer put these aside to focus intently on a book? How can we face a blank page each day, knowing we have to fill in the words? How can we concentrate … Read more