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Another day safe and comfy in these mountains we call home

The Pat Conroy Center Writer's Residency

You might remember me being the lucky soul selected as Writer in Residence for this event in the Fall of 2023

Me with  Kathy Conroy Harvey (Pat Conroy's sister)
and
Cassandra King Conroy (Pat Conroy's wife)

Now could be your turn!

"coinciding with the annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival, the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will offer our Conroy Center Writer's Residency this coming fall, available to writers of all prose genres. Located on a salt marsh, the residency at MarshSong Cottage provides an inspirational, creative space in the heart of Pat Conroy’s beloved Lowcountry. The residency location is a guest cottage on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, approximately 15 minutes from downtown Beaufort and 15 minutes from the beach at Hunting Island State Park.

The residency dates will be October 20 to 27, 2026, overlapping with the 11th annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival on October 23, 24, and 25, which the selected writer will be invited to attend."

TO APPLY FOR THE WRITER'S RESIDENCY

Please submit the following by August 30, 2026, to writersresidency@patconroyliterarycenter.org with the subject line CONROY CENTER WRITER'S RESIDENCY OCTOBER 2026 

For complete info on how to apply, click right here - https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Conroy-Center-Writer-s-Residency--Oct-20-27-.html?soid=1124256585060&aid=nPYEM0yb0ls

Pat Conroy's Desk

Me at Pat Conroy's Desk

😥

 

A Beautiful Day in the Mountains

 

Annabelle and I are spending some time on the back deck today.

The past several days our temperatures have been in the 60s.  Perfect!!

I am not a fan of hot weather.  

Unlike a lot of people, I love a good snow day.

Thank Goodness, Donald and Annabelle are in agreement.

Don has taken off on his bike for a ride.

And, here we sit.

Me, my coffee, and a book

and Annabelle close by.

Life is good.

❤  ❤  ❤

Living My Life Through Memes and Good Books

 

Truth be told, Facebook is not my favorite place to be these days.

I miss the good ol' days when I didn't have that felon's ugly face looking back at me when I went to FB to check up on friends.

Howsomever, as my Dad used to say, there are some little pearls that speak to me . . .

And now, back to playing the NYT Scrabble type game, Crossplay, with my North Georgia mountain pal Vickie and reading my ARC of Wiley Cash's upcoming novel, SAME RIVER TWICE.

Hang In, dear ones . . . 

Hang In

❤❤❤

Latest Book Recommendation

 

The beginning of a new series by Samantha Sonnett

I predict good things for this book, the series, and the author (who I do not know, but will hopefully get to meet if she does a North Carolina signing).

The prologue was a little tough to read, but not in the least bit gratuitous, and is a perfect introduction to the book, imo.  Trust me. 

THE PROTECTORATE is available through NetGalley.  Publication date is September 1.

Description

Durham, North Carolina, 2012. When Detective Sofia Rodriguez is called in on her day off to find a plumber dead in his van—posed with Black-Eyed Susans and a Sylvia Plath verse cradled in his bloodied hands—she knows this is no ordinary murder. By the time the second body surfaces, then a third, Sofia and her partner Detective Jones are hunting a serial killer with a message, a method, and a symbol none of them can identify. That symbol belongs to The Protectorate—a century-old secret society of elite women that has quietly shaped American history from the shadows. When their emblem appears at a crime scene, the organization's leadership launches its own parallel investigation, desperate to contain the exposure before the FBI closes in. 

# # #

FTC Full Discosure – I received a galley from the publisher through a NetGalley request which I made with no expectation of a positive review.

 

A little Sunday musing

 To those of you who keep asking "are you still making bracelets?" Yes.

To those of you who keep asking "what in the world are you going to do with all those bracelets?"  Who knows.

What i do with them is not the point.

I might read something in the news that pisses me off, or breaks my heart, and I get up and go make a bracelet.  Or four.

Sometimes Donnie joins me and will offer up some word suggestions.

And we talk

        And talk

                    and talk

Just doing what we can, in our own little way, to protect our peace.

Other things that help me hold onto my peace  -

 fresh flowers

And a dog named Annabelle 

And remembering that, once upon a time, there was a good man living in our White House

Blessed with the best friends

 I am, truly, blessed with some of the best friends in the world.

Judy Greber surprised me with this amazing portrait she painted of me.

I adore it.

Some of you know Jude by her pen name, Gillian Roberts.

Gillian is an author, and wrote the much loved Amanda Pepper series, the Emma Howe series, numerous short stories, and YOU CAN WRITE A MYSTERY.

She is one of those incredibly talented, creative people that I so admire and am wondering how I got so lucky to have her in my life.

Me and Judith/Gillian
Bouchercon 2008

Me, Judith and Margaret Maron

Gad Frederik Clement - Two Friends in the Garden, 1867 - 1933.

Hold on to your friends

“We’re all just walking each other home.”

Ram Dass

❤ ❤ ❤ 

Getting through the hard days

I love having an adventure planned.  It's become a necessary part of my life.

It helps get me through some of the hard days.  

The days when this administration tries to strip away hard earned rights.  The days they flaunt their cruelty in a never ending grasp for more money and power.

I make plans and I try my ever-lovin' damndest to seek out and hold onto joy.

Holding onto our joy is, I believe, a form of resisting the bastards until they're gone.

Nobody ever said that resistance can't be fun.

I look for and find joy in many things - but an adventure tops the list.  

This one will be a biggie.  

We're not getting any younger. Who knows how many more trips we'll be lucky enough to have.  

We worked long and we worked hard for these adventures in our retirement.

We'll do it as long as we're able.

Trade Routes of the Middle Ages Viking Cruise

And, as most of you already know, I love scooting down rabbit holes of research about the places we visit on our excursions and adventures.

I'm going to ask you to join me in some of these rabbit holes.

Share with me, please, whatever you know about these stops on our itinerary.

For a place to start my research for this trip, I've bought

"Transportation and trade in the Middle Ages were more developed and varied than is commonly thought. This book examines why medieval Europeans traveled--from making pilgrimages to engaging in international trade--and surveys in detail how they traveled, both by land and water. Travel and trade were inextricably linked to transportation, and over time an infrastructure of roads, bridges, and accommodations grew across Europe, enabling people and goods to move around the continent and beyond. Also explored are the hardships faced by medieval travelers, including storms at sea, avalanches in the Alps, the presence of pirates and robbers, and the fundamental problems of finding a meal and shelter."

I'm seeking out books having to do with the spots we'll be visiting.

For our very first port of call, I got this beauty -

I have long had a fascination with Gaudi.

"The life of Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) was full of complexity and contradictions. As a young man he joined the Catalonian nationalist movement and was critical of the church; toward the end of his life he devoted himself completely to the construction of one single spectacular church, La Sagrada Família. In his youth, he courted a glamorous social life and the demeanor of a dandy. By the time of his death in a tram accident on the streets of Barcelona, his clothes were so shabby that passersby assumed he was a beggar.

Gaudí’s incomparable architecture channels much of this multifaceted intricacy. From the shimmering surface textures and skeletal forms of Casa Batlló to the Hispano-Arabic matrix of Casa Vicens, his work merged the influences of Orientalism, natural forms, new materials, and religious faith into a unique Modernista aesthetic. Today, his buildings enjoy global popularity and acclaim; his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Spain ahnd seven of his works are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Packed full of expert texts and hundreds of full-color illustrations, including new photography, this book presents Gaudí’s complete oeuvre. Like a personal tour through Barcelona, we explore his residential, religious, and public projects. We see how the “Dante of architecture” was a builder in the truest sense of the word, crafting extraordinary constructions out of minute and mesmerizing details, transforming fantastical visions into realities on the city streets."

Take a look at this list, please.

If you've visited any of these places, I'd love to hear from you.  What you loved, what you didn't love.  A favorite story or memory.

If you have books to recommend, please share them!

I've plugged in a few titles.  Some I've read, others I've just learned of.  I'll include a note with those I have read in case you're interested in escaping the real world by traveling through books.

Barcelona -

The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - Outstanding!

Origin by Dan Brown - There are many who don't care for Dan Brown's work.  I am not among them.  I loved this Robert Langdon entry.

Homage to Barcelona by Colm Toibin - Just received it and am looking forward to reading.

Cartagena - 

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Loved.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - Have not read.

Malaga -

Message from Malaga by Helen MacInnes - Read.  A very long time ago.  Being a fan of Macinnes, i may ave to read it again.

Porto -

Falmouth -

The Cornish House by Liz Fenwick - have not read.

Portsmouth -

Paris -

It just so happens, I do have a fairly lengthy list of Paris books -

Fiction - https://www.kayebarleymeanderingsandmuses.com/2018/01/my-paris-reading-list.html

And

Non-Fiction - https://www.kayebarleymeanderingsandmuses.com/2022/02/my-paris-reading-list-non-fiction.html

Bruges -

Amsterdam -

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton.  Have not read.

Bergen - 

Bergen Spring by Michael Cummings - Arrived in today's mail.  Looking forward to reading it.

Here's to Adventures!

Rabbit Holes!

And Bracelets!

Happy Travels!

❤

Elect a Clown

 

He's a pig

 I'm posting about this because it's a moment in time I will be wanting to revisit.  

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/12/politics/trump-kennedy-center-name-change-deadline?utm_source=cnn_Breaking+News&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=B%2FG%2Ba72%2BGNnN2SSh6MkfYBashzi5NrM2E9VjfJ4xOKZ6F0oog9sDMk790I9XPVpM&bt_ts=1781367196716

YAY!!!