Cathy Perkins's Blog, page 146

Cougar!

Winter seemed to last forever this year.

In the mountains, the snow hung on so long the elk showed up for breakfast…

And stayed.

What does this have to do with cougars?

Well, we have a cougar on our land in the mountains—yep, a cougar, the four-legged predator kind. Cougars are nocturnal hunters so we haven’t seen the animal, simply found amazing 5-inch plus prints in the snow near the river.

The cougar might’ve been after our resident deer herd (The Puppy, akaThe Mighty Hunter, found part of a de...

May Day

Brueghel_St.-George’s-Kermis

MAY DAY! – MAY DAY!

I always wanted to say that, but only in stories. It’s the last thing you ever want to hear a pilot say (besides the universal cuss phrase just before the plane crashes – “Oh S***”). According to Wikipedia, the call is always given three times in a row to prevent mistaking it for similar phrases under noisy conditions (like the copilot cussing Oh S***), and to distinguish an actual distress call.

For most of us, May Day is a rite of spring. I have...

Community

It’s Thoughtful Thursday at Blame it on the Muse, and I’ve been thinking a lot about community and how important it is for human beings to belong. Real belonging comes from our relationships with people and places, but it goes deeper than that. When we belong, we have responsibilities to the people we care about. And when bad things happen, our communities close around us and hold us up.

Photo by Adam Pieniazek

You have only to watch the scene at Fenway Park last week, where Bostonians sang the...

A Totally Sappy Spring

Many years ago my husband had what he thought was a pipe dream—to live somewhere he could tap maple trees and see what it would be like to boil up his own maple syrup. Syrup making seemed a wonderful and exotic endeavor, something that conjured mental pictures of snowy woods, draft horses pulling flat-bed sleds loaded with huge collection vats, and stands of trees all hung with metal pails collecting precious sap. It also seemed as likely to us suburban folk as visiting the moon.

Sap bags hang...

How do you like your romance? With giveaway!

This is an interesting question for me as I found myself trying to research the question of what defines romance and sex in a romance novel. As much as the research was fun it wasn’t all that easy to come to a clear idea of what makes a novel romance, sexy romance, erotic romance, erotic or even porn.

Most of us can easily separate off the first and the last. But what about the middle three? See, it only became an issue when I decided to rewrite and publish books that have…shall we say…a litt...

Christy Reece/Ella Grace Interview by M.V. Freeman

Ella Grace aka Christy Reece lives in Alabama with her husband and a menagerie of pets.

I have known Ella Grace (Christy Reece) for awhile and she has always been gracious, kind, with a fabulous imagination and a wonderful writer. She’s put up with me asking dozens of questions and now, I can reverse the process. Initially she started writing suspense, but now she is changing her genre-slightly. Today I am here to talk about her alter-ego and her new book.

You have changed your genre and name,...

Jammin’ in Jamaica

Three weeks ago my family and I had the pleasure of going to Jamaica for spring break. I know, I know, cue the tomatoes of jealousy. But hear me out.

Yes, it was warmer and sunnier than back home in New Jersey. Much warmer. Like 80’s every day.

Yes, it was relaxing. Very relaxing. Like smell the coconut suntan oil and melt into the lounge chair relaxing.

You can get all that from any old tropical island.

What I love most about Jamaicais the people. This was our second trip to this beautiful islan...

Monday

Sorry. I sat down to draft this post on Monday. I wasn’t feeling particularly “wacky” when I started. Then, Boston happened.

My first impulse was to ignore what was happening and come up with a true “Wacky Wednesday” post. That lasted for about five minutes. I decided not only couldn’t I pretend I wasn’t affected by the horror, but there was no need to pretend.

Not that I have anything profound to say about Monday’s bombings. Like most other citizens I was angered, saddened, depressed and proud...

Audio books – love them or hate them?

I know I’m in the minority, but I am NOT a big fan of audio books. Yes, I’m ducking as I write this. I can’t even get through most videos unless they are VERY short. Why?

I’m not sure but I’ve put it down to my attention span can’t stand still that long. With articles and news videos my focus locks on, listens, realizes I’m not getting or have gotten what I need and it’s on the run to the next thing. Yes, that makes me sound like I have ADD or ADHD – and I don’t.

But audio books take forever to...

Paging Fred Flinstone

Bizarro 03-30-10

Have you ever been accused by someone that you’re such a Neanderthal? You know, those brutish, grunting giants with lots of hair, that never got past spear wielding before homo-sapiens arrived on the scene, all smart-alecky with their developed frontal lobes. Now, a scientist wants to knock us back to the caveman days by cloning a Neanderthal with extracted DNA, and he’s actively on the hunt for a surrogate to help him out.

On my reading list is a book by Chip Walter, Last Ape...