It's a pain. I like to see the stuff first, but alas, there are no Western tack shops around here. (I should open one… I wonder how I'd do.)
Finding decent gear can be a total nightmare. There are a ton of saddles on Ebay, most of them around the £99 – £150 mark. Anyone tempted to buy one… don't.
Even on the photographs they look less than secure. Frankly, any western saddle where you can see rivets — don't go there. The stirrup should be attached to the tree, not the leather.
Bridles are not quite as terrible, but still bad. I saw one which looked fine in the photograph and when it arrived, the leather was shoddy, brittle and nasty. I'd use it… for decoration. Not on a horse.
The second one I got was okay, a bit dry because it had been hanging up a long time, but the leather was okay, it just needed a good clean and oil. Still took a few sessions of saddlesoap and cleaning to get the leather supple again.
It's fine now, but I had to spend time and elbow grease to get it to this point.
It's a minefield. I'm used to judging leather and knowing whether or not it's fit for use. My Granddad was a saddler and I grew up fixing my own tack (after being taught how.), so I know the difference between good, but neglected leather, and just plain bad leather, which no amount of oil and care can fix.
I look at stitching and how a piece is put together. I can tell good from bad, but how many people have my upbringing?
I'm afraid a lot of the gear on Ebay isn't worth the money, and even more of it is downright dangerous.
It truly is a case of Buyer Beware.

Okay, I haven't added anything lately, so here is an update.
So what have I been up to? (Like you want to know!)
Well, for starters, I've been looking for a horse share for ages. Nothing worked out — until last week.
I now share a lovely, chubby Cob mare named Poppy. She's 14.2 hands (142cm), 11 years old, and has a lovely character.
I'm really pleased with her, and we're having fun hacking out, getting fit together. (We both can stand to lose a few pounds!)
I gotta say, every muscle on me aches, and I've renewed my dislike of English saddles.
I used to ride western, so my seat is totally off for an english saddle, plus my muscles aren't strong enough yet. Sitting correctly (Which I can do) results in pain right now, and the leg strength just isn't there yet.
I'm also used to riding with a very loose rein, and I'm always afraid I'm too heavy handed when the reins are tight.
So I'm looking for a nice saddle right now — no mean feat when you ride a chubby cob — and some nice long split reins. Luckily her owner is game and will let me use it, which is nice.
I'm also practicing my braiding again, and as luck would have it, some genius dropped a 100ft rope in our carpark.
Naturally I liberated it. It made for a great braiding practice rope.
I also have one story out with the Bent Agency at the moment, and one story is out to Lyrical Press as well. Waiting to hear on both of them.
So that's pretty much it from me at the moment.

There has been a report about nine month old twins being attacked in their cribs by a fox.

I heard about it, read a few news articles about it. Most people did, I'm sure. Now a lot of those very people call for a cull on foxes.

Reading those articles, and the accounts by the mother, I got to thinking. (Never a good thing.)
Allegedly the fox came in through open patio doors, attracted by food smells, then went up the stairs, into the twins bedroom, jumped into the cots and mauled them. When the parents came in, it took several attempts to frighten the fox away.

I have a very hard time believing that's what happened.
For one thing, why would a wild animal bypass the kitchen and go upstairs, if it was attracted into the house by the food smell?
What's more, foxes aren't exactly the bravest animals on the planet. They are timid, shy and if you encounter them, they generally run before you get close.
So why would a fox go upstairs in a house that smells of humans, when the stuff it came in for is in the downstairs kitchen?
And then there is the report that it took several attempts to frighten the animal away. I have an even harder time believing that. Make a move toward a fox and it will run.

I'm sorry for the hurt babies, it shouldn't have happened to them, no matter what did it. I just have trouble believing it was a fox, because the facts just make no sense.

I'm melting.
Well. I would, if I went outside.
For once the sun is shining and it's hot.
Unfortunately, it's too hot for me.
I'd love to sunbathe, but I don't do heat well. (Sunbathe in a spot where no one would be shocked at seeing this white elephant lying in the grass, that is!)
I used to be able to cope with it, but not anymore. Heat makes me miserable. I prefer cold.
I mean, I can always add layers — but it's kinda hard taking off more than you got lol.
I think they'd object if I came to work in a bikini. That's if I'd wear bikinis. Which I don't. Ever.
It's funny really. You know on your passport application they ask for "Distinguishing Marks". Well, I lie. Every time. I put "None".
Which really isn't true.
The trouble is, I've always put none, and never really thought about it. But I have them. Marks completely unique to me. If I listed all of them, I'd need new pages in my passport.
I mean… I have two birthmarks on the side of my nose. A scar on my forehead. A scar at the top of my forehead. A scar at the back of my head. A scar in the crook of my left arm. A scar on the ball of my right hand. A scar on my left hip. A scar at the top of my left thigh (several, actually). A scar on my right hip. Another birthmark on my right hip. And a minefield of scars on my belly. (And all but a few of those scars are from one bout of appendicitis…)
There are more, less visible scars, but dang… I'm not listing all that! I hide them. (Hence no bikini.) I'm severely self-conscious about them to the point that I will never ever wear anything that shows my belly.
I truly don't like summer, when all those beautiful bods come out and show off their unscarred smoothness. Hate it.
I once asked my doctor if there is anything they could do about those belly scars (Trust me, we aren't talking about some piddly 1 inch scar here.) and I was told "Well… there's no guarantee they can make it look any better."
Frankly?
I've lived with it for 40 years. Better looking is relative. To me, being able to get rid of the dent in my belly is "better". To me, lifting up those holes I got everywhere, is "better".
This stuff isn't just deep, it's wide.

I know it's vanity, but knowing those scars are there is depressing, especially in summer. I don't like being stared at, which would happen the second I wore a bikini.
So I don't.

*sigh*
 

I've been busy on my writing blog (http://www.evilauthor.com), and neglected this one a bit.
Bad bad me.

I've now updated some of the lists (Silhouette Nocturnes are up to date now), and will update the others soon, too.

I've stopped reading Christine Feehan's "Dark" series though and won't be adding to that one. Sorry, I just got bored with it.

Still reading Sherrilyn Kenyon, and adding a few new authors to my  list. G.A. Aiken being one of them, I totally adore the Dragon series.

Anyway… will update more soon!

Part 1 – Rhode Island

Let me extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to my fellow critters and to Karen, who looked after me wonderfully through my 18 day trip.
I loved every minute of it.
Even those minutes where I blew my nose, swallowed Benadryl and DayQuil, and sneezed my head off.
Apparently I gave it to everyone I met, so at least I left… something.

The trip started on a damp, cold October morning.
The 29th had me crawl out of bed at 5am, and on the road by 6am, to make my flight from London Heathrow to Boston.
Lucky I got there early, the check-in line was endless!
Uneventful flight, edible food, nice crew. Thanks AA, it was a pleasure, but damn… that approach to Logan was scary.

I get to Boston (omg, I thought we'll land in the water!), and after the immigration mayhem (I think I filled out that green sheet 5 times, at least it felt that way.) I trundle through the Baggage claim and got my suitcase (they didn't lose it!!) and headed to arrivals… realizing I have no idea what Cyn looks like.
Well, duh.
So I look around and there is this nice lady sitting on a bench, holding up a sign with "NEPH KEEPER" on it lol.
I kinda sorta felt that was me – so this blond lady had to be Cyn. She didn't know what I looked like either.
We said hi and all, and hurtled ourselves out of Boston toward Rhode Island — with me sneezing every 2 minutes.
I'd started to sneeze about 5 minutes after landing, so I figured it is pollution related. Off we pulled somewhere on the way so I could get some Benadryl.
So finally we get to Cyn's house and I have to admit, I was pretty zonked. I don't remember much of the afternoon to be fair lol. Carted my luggage downstairs, where Billy had vacated his "Man Room" for my stay. Picked up the hire car.
However, I do remember Cyn's face when I handed her some very nice slippers with heating pads lol. I'm just glad they fit!
Hope you get lots of warmth out of them, Cyn.
In the evening, we went to Marchetti's in Cranston, RI, and I ordered the Tortellini.
(Check out the menu!)
It was the biggest plate of Tortellini I have EVER seen lol! I think Billy, Cyn's husband, is still laughing about my shocked face.
I can heartily recommend the restaurant, if you're looking for first class Italian food in Rhode Island. Seriously. I know what I'm talking about, I practically spent my childhood in Italy — and the food at this restaurant is well worth the trip.

I woke up at 3 am, and after a quick trip to the bathroom, stretched out on my sofa again, when my bleary eyes settled on… a huge spider. 
I was not amused. I'm terrified of spiders, and this thing was massive. So I sat there, terrified, staring at the beastie. What to do? I could hardly scream the house down at three in the morning, hoping someone will rescue me from this monster. I waited for it to move. It was right next to the sofa and there was no way I would sleep with this beast roaming the unfamiliar room.
Ergo, it had to be trapped somehow. I spotted a little woven basket, edged my way over to it, grabbed the thing and tossed it over the top of the offending insect.
A breath of relief, I waited to see if the spider would run off with the basket. (Hey, I said it was big, and it was 3am, I wasn't exactly lucid. At that time, spiders can run off with loads weighing easily 100 times their own weight.)
Finally it was just too late and I was too tired, and I fell asleep again.
At about 7am I crawled off my sofa and headed upstairs (Not staying in a room with a spider in it, thank you very much.) reporting the spider trapping, hoping one of the kids or Cyn will squish the blighter.
Faces scrunched up. They all looked at me as if I'd just reported an elephant in the basement. Finally they laugh.
Well.
It turns out yes, there was a spider. I didn't imagine that part.
A PLASTIC spider.
Man… I'm never gonna live down trapping plastic spiders at three in the morning lol.

Later I was faced with a muffin the size of a cake for breakfast. It was… huge. Big pot of coffee, while Cyn sips on PG Tips tea heheeh. I got everyone converted to tea with milk.
Then we were off to Plymouth, MA. It was an interesting day, beautiful weather, too.
Cyn took me to Plimouth Plantation, which is a recreation of a Pilgrim village.
The actors were great, staying in character the entire time, trying to recruit Cyn's entire family "We could do with more families." and me "Oooh… single? We could use some more women here, we have a lot of fellers who could use a wife and–"
*Blink* Maybe I should have told him I've been living in sin with the same man for the past 25 years, before he got his hopes up lol.
Brady had a whale of a time, and so did we.
Afterward we decided to have some lunch, and — since I'd tried to distract Brady by saying "But Brady! I thought you were going to show me the beach!" — were out looking for the beach. Easier said than done, since the Brady-GPS was clearly broken. No matter which road we took, he would invariably point somewhere and yell "Beach!" Cars don't go through buildings, and you have to go in a certain direction when on a one-way street… which isn't a concept a 2 1/2 year old has any grasp of.
You guessed it. We got lost. LOL.
Eventually we found the harbor, and the Mayflower II.
Plymouth is beautiful, I have to say.
We headed down there and looked at Plymouth Rock, where the settlers apparently first set foot on US shores, but alas… it was in a cage. Met some funky pirate– pardon, privateers. All in all, it was fun, and for me it was great to see all the scenery and stuff. We came across a beautiful church somewhere on our way down to the harbor, too. It was a case of "Stop the car!!!" and me jumping out, running across the road to take pictures hehe.
It had to be done.  

Then, of course… it was Halloween!
And I'm struggling to remember what we did during the day lol. Figures.
We went to see Cyn's parents after dropping Thomas off at school. (Which was kinda fun for me, since I've never seen the inside of an American school…)
But Halloween was a blast. Halloween was… magic. I was going out there accompanied by Curious George and The Angel of Doom. Thomas was a bit grumpy at times, keeping with the Angel of Doom scenario.
The weather was fantastic, warm, with a light wind and a full moon above. Everyone and their dog was out having a great time — and so was I.
I took pictures of pumpkins and kids (and some adults) in their costumes, had the merits of "100 Grand" explained to me (Yummy stuff! Thomas shared some of his candy with me. Thanks pal!)
In fact, the kids were great, all of them. It took some getting used to, since I'm really not a kid person and have zero maternal instincts, but all in all, I really enjoyed having them around.
We shared some homemade wine after we got back and de-leafed Thomas's costume lol.

The next day, we went out early to go horse riding. It was slightly miserable and damp, but the horses and the people at the stables (barn) made up for that.
Great stuff and I really enjoyed being back in a western saddle. Being back on a horse, period!
Once we got back and dismounted, finished the rest of our coffee, we headed home. Cyn wanted me to see a Victorian Mansion nearby, so we headed there.
As we stand outside Clouds Hill, a man comes out and we got talking. And ended up being shown around this fantastic house.
I recommend visiting, it's a lovely place and the volunteers are very knowledgable. (And entertaining!)
So after that, being late as all hell, we get back.
Then, late afternoon, it was time for my lesson in NFL rules. Billy is a New England Patriots fan, but they weren't playing that day.

I got to throw a football, and we went to the bar to watch the Greenbay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings. Well now. That was interesting, and even more so when you have a bar full of guys you can ask "What did he just do?".
The only problem was… my glass of beer never got empty. Ever. Eek. By 7pm, when Cyn came to pick me up to go see the Pumpkin show at umm… some zoo, I was well and truly slaughtered lol. God, I was seriously sozzled. No amount of coffee worked — other than me needing to head for the bathroom every 5 minutes lol. Damn it was bad.
Cyn was in charge of taking photos, because frankly, if I'd took them… we'd have had an orange blur on every image.
Even so, the pumpkins were stunning. Totally amazing. I just wish I'd have been a little more sober lol.

The next day it was time to head to Long Island, to see Debora and her family. Cyn took me down to Connetticut (after lending me a diaper bag lol. I could hardly show up with the big ole suitcase!) and dropped me at the ferry (when we finally found it! And the cops we asked were no help either!) and I suddenly realized… the battery in my camera was dead. :/
Oh well. No piccies of the ferry port in CT, or my arrival at Ocean Point. The image is actually from when I left again.
I had woken up in the morning with a throat ache, but didn't think much of it.

Well, by the time I got to Long Island, I had a stinking, rotten cold. It was a wet day, and cold too. But alas… I got there. And didn't see anyone who might be Debora.
Yup. You've guessed it.
Once again I had no idea what the person I was meeting actually looked like. (I'm getting really good at this!) I didn't have to wait long though.
So once the hugs and hellos were out of the way… on the road we were. Talking, laughing and more talking. We looked for a place to eat and could we find one?
Well. We did, finally, after a stop at the bank, and a pharmacy to get me some throat lozenges and cold meds. Now… what Deb didn't realize… there were some shenanigans going on behind her back. So we were finally sitting down to eat, and I slid a bunch of dollar bills across to her. "That's from your critters."
Deb stares at me as if I'd lost my mind. I explained that we'd all chipped in and that's the result. (She had some awful car troubles previously) Now, the silly woman wasn't going to take it, and I wasn't going to take it back. Stalemate.
She took it, eventually, after I told her I had no idea who to return it to, so she'd have to take it. End of debate.
HA!
Shortly after a lovely lunch we were on the road again. Long Island is very pretty, indeed. Tons of Vineyards everywhere. Unfortunately I was wrestling a serious cold by then, my throat was trying to kill me, throat lozenges or not. Well, we got to Deb's house, which — according to her — is a miracle, because allegedly she keeps getting lost. There we were met by Alyssa and Paul, her husband.
I've had a ton of fun, got introduced to Reese's Peanut Cups (Or is that Chocolate cups??? LOL) and ended up with a ton of them in my bag, thanks to Deb's sons. (Thanks guys! I had chocolate/peanut overload!) This was after a great dinner cooked by Paul, who was a real sweetie and just left Deb and me to our own devices — probably knowing we'll talk writing until everyone's ears fall off.
Josh showed me his Eve Online, which looks darn impressive, I'm gonna have to try it. (I haven't had a chance yet.) And I have to say, Josh draws really well. He drew a bomber while we sat at the dining room table, and it was darn impressive.
Alyssa, the sweetheart, gave up her room for me and I had a great night's sleep — which I probably needed, thanks to the rotten cold I had. In the morning we had a nice breakfast, took Josh to College.
Paul escaped my camera though! Grr!
 
Too soon it was time to leave, but not after trying to track down some fountain pens — which proved futile. (There's a little something winging its way to you guys. )
Alas… I was sad to leave, but I had a ferry to catch. This time my camera wasn't out of batteries, so I took a lot of pictures from the ferry — especially of the Blood Moon over Ocean Point! Spectacular!
My sneezing and runny nose weren't as spectacular, let me tell you. Thank God Deb handed me a box of tissues to take with me, lol!
Back in Connetticut, Cyn picked me up and we went back to her house, for the last hurray. I was off the next day, back to Boston, to catch a flight to Atlanta, and then to Huntsville.
Morning came too soon, and we headed to Boston in the rental car, which had served us brilliantly. What didn't go so smoothly was the traffic…
We got stuck in a traffic jam, which wouldn't have been so bad, but oh my God, I needed a bathroom! Badly!
I think I gave Cyn a few giggles on the way lol. I was practically wrapping my legs around my ears, trying to stay sane.
We made it, with minutes to spare. I dashed off, took care of umm… yeah, and rushed back to get my luggage.
I left the tissues with Cyn… because… her nose was running. My last parting gift was… a rotten cold. Oops.
Lots and LOTS of hugs later, I'm in the terminal… ready to embark on the next stage of the grand adventure: Huntsville, Alabama!

Okay, time I posted this!

(Are you tired yet?)

Wordles are… images made with words.
A.K.A. A great way to procrastinate.

So I made one. Or two. Or uh… yeah. Never mind.

Click to see the big version

I’ve decided to jig things around some.
Since I want to blog about writing, and "stuff" keeps creeping in, I’ve added a second blog to my list of things to do.
The "Other" blog is here: http://www.evilauthor.com.
That’s the writing blog from now on, although I will still blog here about it too. I just won’t blog other foolishness over there.
And while I was at it, I’m rearranging my gallery as well.
It also has changed into a blog. You can find it here: http://www.digitalmagic.tv (Contains artistic nudity.)

Oh yeah. I’m not evil.
Honest!

Yeah, yeah… I know… I’m boring everyone to tears.

I ordered some new pens from the US, and they are (nearly) here.

Arriving tomorrow, in fact.

And I ended up paying £18 tax on the dang things! (More than the postage, and more than one of the pens in the package!)

Let’s just say I hope they will be worth it, and it’s been the last time I ordered new pens from the US. Not going to drop $100 on pens, only to get hit with £18 tax on them. I can buy some damn nice pens in the UK for that.

*sigh*

UPDATE!

That’s the Bookworm with the Chinese Calligraphy Nib.

This is the Jinhao "Evening Stripes"

Definitely not a waste of money. Both are gorgeous pens, both write incredibly well, and have a weighty feel which is both comfortable and reassuring.

I’m sorry.

I’m not into babies and stuff… but this photograph is just… totally awesome.
I don’t know where it came from, someone sent it to me, but… wow.
Even if it isn’t real (I have no way to verify if it is), it is still awesome.