Read Any Good Books Lately?

Posted on May 5, 2013May 5, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Anyone read any good books lately? I just finished

Knock Out…….Catherine Coulter
Delusion in Death……J.D. Robb
Queen of the Night….J.A. Jance
The Whisperer……Carla Neggers

There seems to be a trend in my choice of novels. Some folks like Romance, some like Thrillers, some like Horror(you’ll never catch me with a Stephen King Novel…way too scary), some like biographies and so on.

I think you can call my choices Mystery with maybe a touch of paranormal tossed in.

Knock Out is one of Catherine Coulters FBI “Thrillers” but this one has more than a little paranormal/psychic thread to the plot. Fiction yes, but it does get you thinking about the so called “Power of the mind”. Its plot moves fast as 2 story lines keep our FBI heroes racing between bad guys in a desperate attempt to save everyone.

Delusion in Death by J. D. Robb is part of a series featuring a female homicide detective (Eve Dallas) for the NY City Police department and her super rich husband (Rourke) set in and around 2058. Each book in the series is a murder mystery as well as moving you through Dallas’s growth as a person. So far there are 34 books in this series.( J. D. Robb is a pen name for Nora Roberts.)

Queen of the Night a novel by J.A. Jance brings back some of her earlier characters. Located in Arizona there is the underlying theme of the Indian Reservations and Spiritual Beliefs. The novel is often sad when man’s inhumanity to man spills over to the youngest and most innocent of our society. But unlike “real life” there is someone there to rise to the challenge…good over comes evil but not without hardship and loss.

The Whisperer by Carla Neggers also brings back characters and plot themes from earlier novels but each story can stand alone if necessary. What I like about Carla Neggers is so many of her stories are set in New England…the Maine Coast, New Hampshire, Southie, Jamaica Plain, Beacon St, Boston…all real places to me. Her stories, including this one always have a heavy does of Ireland and Irish Folklore along with Boston PD, FBI and spies. So I recommend her to anyone who likes a bit of fairies and leprechauns thrown in with their murder investigations.

I don’t have the chance to read as much as I used to and stealing the time for these 4 novels has been a rare treat. Since some of my stolen time was time I would normally spend writing, it seems only fitting that I share these books with you. What have you been reading?

The Flume Gorge, A Tale of Misadventure

Posted on April 13, 2013April 13, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Bad weather and bureaucracy have stolen my blogging time this week. I thought I’d Share one of my most popular posts from the past . This was once “Freshly Pressed” I hope you enjoy the repeat.

All Aboard!

Posted on January 12, 2012January 12, 2012 by Dusty Roads

The White Flags on the Engine indicate this is a “special train”.

Final Thoughts on Steam in the Snow

Posted on January 11, 2012January 11, 2012 by Dusty Roads

This was a great experience and now that I’ve done it once and learned what it’s about, I am putting it on my calendar for next year too. Maybe then I’ll get my “Money Shot”.

Some people choose to follow the train in their own cars. These folks are called “chasers”. With the mild weather we had there were a lot of them.

The Snow Train crossing a vintage trestle bridge.

North Conway is a pretty town. We headed to dinner at sunset. Although with the heavy cloud cover there was no “sunset” the lighted ski trails on the mountain made up for it.

Steam in the Snow 2012

Posted on January 10, 2012January 10, 2012 by Dusty Roads

The “Steam in the Snow” is a special Charter by the Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts (Mass Bay RRE). This special train is chartered from the Conway Scenic Railroad. According to the handouts this continues a tradition that was begun in 1934! This is called a Fantrip which is a trip made just to observe and photograph the railroad operations.

The route for this trip was from North Conway to Notchland by diesel and back to North Conway pulled by the steam engine. The return trip includes the photo stops, the main reason I was on this trip.

At a photo stop the passengers who are interested in taking pictures get off the train. A photo line is set up that we aren’t supposed to cross. Then the train is backed up out of sight so that it can be run back by us for photos. After the “run by” everyone climbs back onto the train until the next stop.

There were 300 passengers on this trip which according to the “Car host” was a lot. The photo stops were crowded because a photo club brough 35 members for a class of which photographing the train was the subject. You could spot the class members. Most of them were using tripods. I had been warned not to take a tripod as it would be too crowded.

The organizers tried to split the photographers into 2 groups and do 2 run-bys each stop but it was taking too long to get everyone on and off the train. I was getting a lot of heads in the pictures until about the third stop when I decided to get aggressive. I started asking people to let me get in the front row and then I got on my knees so they could “Shoot” over my head.

My “picture of the day” was actually taken after the train left a tunnel. Everyone was crowded right at the tunnel entrance. I gave up trying to get a position in that mob so I went on down the tracks and knelt down on the berm that sloped down from the tracks. I was pretty close to the tracks but no one yelled at me to move so I stayed. What an adrenaline rush! I could feel the ground shake and the wind as the train rushed by almost knocked me over…but I got the shot! I think If I’d have been standing it would have been instinctive to back away as the train approached. But by being on my knees I was committed! No time to move.

Although I got that picture and few others, none reached the standard I was trying for. That just means that I will have to go back again next year.

We had dinner at Rafferty’s in North Conway before we all piled back into the bus for the ride home. A long but satisfying day was wrapping up. The sun hadn’t cooperated but it had been pretty warm for January. The overcast made for nice even lighting for the pictures.