Standing Into Danger: 2024

Friday, September 13, 2024

A Place of Beauty

When I'm in Las Vegas, I jump at a chance to visit the Bellagio on the Strip.

From its famous dancing fountains,

to its spectacular lobby with its magnificent Chihuly glass installation,

to its breathtaking Cirque du Soleil production of "O,"

to its 27-foot-tall fountain of of flowing chocolate,

the Bellagio is a feast for all your senses, a must visit on the Strip.

What I especially love is visiting the Bellagio Conservatory

and running amok with my iPhone camera.

The Bellagio Conservatory

Terry (middle right) has already left me in the dust.

Las Vegas, Nevada USA

September 5, 2024

Vibrant Mums and Kalanchoe

Visitors Enjoying the Conservatory

The conservatory is a 14,000-square-foot botanical garden created and cared for

by 120 gardeners and teams of designers, engineers, and electricians.

Throughout the year the conservatory features displays for Spring, Summer,

Fall, and Winter, as well as one for the Lunar New Year. Source

I was fortunate to catch this year's summer display with its Higher Love theme.

15,000 to 18,000 visitors ramble through the gardens each day,

walking under its 50-foot-high skylight and

past its four flower beds, fountains, and koi pond.

Higher Love uses over 22,000 potted plants and live trees.

The balloons in the north and south beds

contain 75,000 preserved flowers and floral pieces,

and the mimosa tree sports 35,000 blooming orchids and yellow mimosas. Source

A frog sits under the mimosa tree and by a pool of water.

One of the Flower-covered Balloons

The Koi Pond

Visitors Enjoying the Sights

Including Me!

I love flowers, and I drank in the beauty of flowers large and small, real and crafted.

Yellow Calla Lilies

A Giant Rose

Kalanchoe Flowers Cascading Down Rocks

Butterflies and Flowers

Beautifully Crafted Roses on a Balloon

Musical Cherubs Adorning a Fountain

Two texts interrupt me as I continue to wander.

"I'm at a table just beyond chocolate fountain.

Let's get a sandwich here where it's comfortable.

I'm saving you a seat," quickly followed by,

"I'm hungry! Can you move it along, please. 🙏🏼"

Okay! Time to say goodbye to the Bellagio Conservatory,

reluctantly, guiltily.

My Patient Husband

The Base of the Chocolate Fountain

I'm linking to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date,

Tom's Aloha Friday, and Nicole's Friday Face Off.

For Rain: Bugs Bunny ~ A Friz Freleng Original

Public Nuisance No. 1

In a Store at the Venetian

Las Vegas, Nevada USA

September 5, 202

For Tom: The Spirit of Aloha

Waiting in the Shade Behind a Bus Stand, 110º F or 43º C

An amazingly kind woman brought me cold, wet paper towels to cool down with.

Outside the Cosmo, Las Vegas

September 5, 2024

For Nicole: Patient Face

A Service Dog in Training

The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas

September 5, 2024

Have a great weekend!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be

Friday, September 20th 🤞

On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Friday, September 6, 2024

Back to Cloud Land!

Yes, Terry and I are flying this week, to and from Las Vegas.

As I write this post, I'm anticipating lots of fun.

Terry surprised me with an anniversary gift of a massage

and a full day pass at Encore's spa while we're there.

He knows me so well! 😄

Back in Cloud Land ~ One of My Favorite Places

Over Littlefield, Arizona, USA

August 8, 2024

So I thought I'd share a little airplane, flying, and cloud humor today.

Did I Say I Love Planes and Flying?

I'm linking to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date, Tom's Aloha Friday,

Gillena's Lunch Break, and Nicole's Friday Face Off.

For Rain: Wings

For Tom: The Spirit of Aloha

Landing in Maui for Some Much-Needed Aloha!

Hawaii USA

January 18, 2023

For Gillena: Lunch Date!

For Nicole: Happy Faces

Happy in Cloud Land

Over Toronto and Lake Ontario

Ontario, Canada

July 24, 2024

Have a great weekend!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be

Friday, September 13th 😱🤞

On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

IWSG: Wednesday, September 4, 2024 ~ Scrambled!

It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.

To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are Beth Camp,

Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and P J Colando!

I hope you have a chance to visit today's hosts and thank them for co-hosting.

I'm sure they would appreciate a visit and an encouraging comment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.

This month's featured question is:

Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy September, Everyone!

This always seems like the true beginning of the year,

because it's back to school time.

English class?

It's not a rule that I learned in school that has messed me up.

It's emigrating from Canada to the USA.

Everything about writing is scrambled for me,

from spelling, to grammar, to vocabulary,

to any aspect of writing you can think of.

Writing In American English in My Journal

Aurora, Colorado, USA

June 29, 2024

Writing in America is different from writing in Canada.

Throw into that scramble working in both countries

in the humanities, science, and education

and publishing in both countries

in nonfiction and fiction in a variety of genres

and my brain is addled. 😵‍💫

Then throw in my perfectionism and ADHD and I'm a mess!

So much so that some days I slam cupboard doors,

stomp around, or dissolve into tears.

Sometimes all three. 😵‍💫

My brain reminds me of my brother Roy's favorite scrambled eggs,

a mess of ingredients that he stirs around in a big frying pan

and affectionately calls "Yuck." 😵‍💫

My brother Roy enjoys one of my sister Bertie's lattes.

In Bertie and Peter's Home

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

July 30, 2024

Working on my memoir makes me want to tear my hair out.

One of my primary sources is my father's Lansdowne House letters.

My father was a natural raconteur, but his handwriting was atrocious,

his punctuation inventive, and his spelling questionable.

When I'm quoting him, I use Canadian English.

When I write as me, I use American English.

I don't know which country I'll get published in,

but, I'm going to need an excellent editor! 😵‍💫

A Pile of Dad's Lansdowne House Letters

Aurora, Colorado, USA

March 13, 2016

I've gone through a sea change since Terry and I returned from

our Nova Scotian and Vegas trip a few weeks ago.

For the first time in my life, I feel deep down inside that I am a writer.

I no longer feel like a fraud faking it till I make it.

I'm spending hours a day working on my manuscript and other writing.

My calendar is filled with scheduled blocks of time for writing.

I'm daily negotiating a steep learning curve as a new IWSG Admin.

I've just taken Joyce Maynard's "Writing Your Story" course

on memoir with the Great Courses,

and I'm working through Brooks Landon's course

"Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer's Craft," also with the Great Courses.

My desk drawers contain expense and tax files for writing.

And I have a business card in my name for expenses connected to writing.

I am bona fide writer; actually I'm a bona fide author!

And every Sunday evening when Terry takes me out to Las Fajitas for dinner,

I celebrate my progress with a large margarita,

like fellow writer Jack Kerouac who loved margaritas, Mexico, and its culture. kitchn

Okay, maybe I'm pushing real a little far ~ lol!

Cheers, Jack!

Las Fajitas, Aurora, Colorado, USA

March 13, 2016

When I flew to Nova Scotia in late July, I had two books

by fellow writer and IWSG Admin Pat Hatt in my carryon bag:

Skunked and The Witch's Curse and Skunked on Zombie Island.

I knew we would meet up, and he would sign them for me.

I had read the first, but not the second,

something I rectified during my trip home.

Both were hilarious!

Pat's imagination has no limits,

and, these didn't disappoint with their nonstop escapades.

The first book was inspired by Pat's twin nephews

who begged him to write an adventure story about them

featuring a witch, a skunk, zombies, pirates, and more.

It ended with a cliffhanger, the adventure obviously continuing.

And the second book ended with a cliffhanger as well,

the wild adventure still continuing.

I asked Pat if he had written the next book yet.

"No," he said. "I'm working on it."

"Better get busy, Bud, because I'm waiting to read it!"

Pat is my good buddy, and next summer we hope to go out on

the Bay of Fundy and see some whales on Chad & Sisters Too.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the Skunked books, I know they are not for everyone.

They have lots of young boy potty humor and colorful Nova Scotian language.

They remind me of the Captain Underpants series of graphic comics

written by by American author and illustrator "Dav" Pilkey,

books my third grade boys read avidly.

Pat and I ~Two of Your IWSG Admins

Barb and Her Pat's Home

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

July 27, 2024

Heading Out of Westport to the Bay of Fundy

Grand Passage, Nova Scotia, Canada

July 26, 2024

Wishing each of you a fun IWSG Day.

A big thank you to our awesome co-hosts today.

Have a healthy, happy, and creative September!

Oh, guess who's traveling today?

I'll visit around as quickly as I can. 😵‍💫

Terry and I on the Bay of Fundy

On Mariner Cruises' Chad & Sisters Two

Out of Westport, Brier Island, Nova Scotia, Canada

July 26, 2024

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be September 6th!🤞

Books Read in 2024

"5 Languages of Love: The Secret to Love That Lasts" by Gary Chapman
"Eruption" by Michael Crichton and James Patterson
"In Darkness" by L. Diane Wolfe
"In My Time of Dying" by Sebastian Junger
"The Bat" by Jo Nesbo
"The Dark Forest" by Cixin Liu
"The Last to Vanish" by Megan Miranda
"The Montauk Monster" by Hunter Shea
"The Road to Character" by David Brooks
"The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller
"The Twist of a Knife" by Anthony Horowitz
"The Uninhabital Earth: Life After Warming" by David Wallace-Wells
"Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens
"Writing the Shadow" by Joanna Penn

Pages

Friday, September 13, 2024

A Place of Beauty

Friday, September 6, 2024

Back to Cloud Land!

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

IWSG: Wednesday, September 4, 2024 ~ Scrambled!