AUGUST 2017 – Hello my friends! Let’s get this embarrassing detail out of the way first, no I haven’t started writing the new book yet. <Cough> Hey, who wants to talk politics?! No, you won’t let me change the subject? Fine, fine, fine, haha. This Summer has proven very active, I recently moved into a new place, and have done a teeny tiny bit of regional travel. Happily I had the good fortune of going from one great apartment to another, so life is pretty darn fantastic in that arena. The actual move itself involved the typical loading and unloading of cardboard boxes, figuring out where to hang prized pieces of art on the walls, and figuring out how heavy (and large) my book collection is, haha.That hasn’t left a lot of time for writing and creative projects sadly. So nothing exciting to speak of on that front, yet.
Snuck in a work of Fiction to my reading list and mixed things up from the Non-fiction heavy slate of books I’d been going through. A paperback copy of ‘Sabriel’ by Australian author Garth Nix found its way into my hands, and I’m very glad it did. Is a lively, fun, magical book about a girl who leaves school to search a magical land and brave death itself in search of her missing father. Wielding a sword, and undead banishing bells, she risks everything to save a world on the brink of destruction. I’m not doing the plot justice here, as it is a fantastic read and the beginning of a trilogy.
Which I didn’t know that it had two sequels when I started reading it. After several hundred pages, I started to wonder how it would be possibly to wrap-up the story in the short amount of time left in this one paperback book. There is a very rich foundation here and I will look into the sequels at some point in the future.
Have you ever explored the islands in the bay off Boston? I hadn’t until this month! Took a ferry out to Spectacle Island, which has been used for many different purposes over the years. Before ending up a nature preserve with native plants to entice local and migrating wildlife to stay on the island. Historically it had been used as a landfill among other less tourist friendly enterprises. Many wildflowers were in bloom and in spite of the rain it proved an excellent place to go hiking. There was a yoga class going on upon arrival and a small museum documenting the history of Spectacle Island. On a clear day it offers a spectacular view of the city of Boston, that is hinted at in the photo above from the soggy day I went, haha. The name for the island itself comes from the former aerial view of the islands, prior to being a landfill, as it looked like two connected circles.
That gives you a taste of my recent travels. The semester is soon to begin, which brings an excitement and anxiety all its own! Good luck to everyone preparing for the school year ahead, first days are always tough, so hang in there!
– CS
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