I love hearing your side of the process, Sue! My copyeditors have saved me time and again, although occasionally they have gone a trifle overboard in their eagerness. I liked the one who tried to give my protags a better route into Charlotte. ;) But I've been blessed with good editors. Some people aren't as lucky.

Thank you for noticing that we're trying! I know, as I write, details change. (Do not ask how often I change character names! Or why) That cheat sheet I keep beside my WIP is a life saver, if only I'd remember to use it!

ARGHHH! My total and complete sympathy. I learned after my first series to keep track of descriptions of rooms, pets, and places, but when you're in the middle of writing, it's not easy to remember to go make a note elsewhere. We need plug-in brains.

Spain and Machu Pichu are on mine. We did Ephesus in Turkey and that really is worth a trip!

Their government isn't without its problems, like any other. But I sure wish we could distill whatever it took to turn them into a productive peaceful country and spray it everywhere!

Traveling with friends is the best way to go! We've not done Puerto Rico yet and we've never had much time for Oxford, so you're ahead of us there.

each trip takes one step at a time. Have a passport, decide on a date and a destination. The rest fills itself in. You are fortunate to know people in so many places!

Please do! I've never seen such beautiful variety.

People like you open the eyes of everyone around them. Travel is a blessing and I'm so glad you're ticking off your bucket list. We figure we'll spend all our money on travel now while we're healthy and worry about what happens when we're not later. ;)

take me with you!

If only more countries would learn that trick...

I wish it was possible to pack everything we saw into a blog, but even a book wouldn't cover it. And no matter where we go, it's never enough time to see all that's to be seen. But dipping our toes in the water is far better than never having seen anything besides our own front yard. I'm not sure a lifetime would be enough to explore the British Isles!

Chad Mitchell Trio turned James into a lovely song. For a long time I wasn't aware of the origin and hoped it was a folk song about some actual incident, until I went hunting for the history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axPaGP1UEqc

Hey Kathy! I’m at the airport now, not being anywhere near as constructive. Good luck on the paper clearing, shudder Pat

Oh, that's brilliant, thank you from all of us! Reading is so very important. I've been working with elementary kids and it's a joy watching them realize they can read.

I think they just don't make desks big enough!

Thank you for the recipe suggestion. Ill look it up! Ive about given up baking because so many of the ingredients have changed over the years. Butter doesnt have the fat we used to have. Crisco is totally different. And the results are disappointing! We probably dont need to be eating all that fat anyway. ;)

Fun! Although we always have fruit salad for Christmas dinner--it was a good use for the apples and oranges that landed in stockings. ;)

ahh, so I'm probably reading the wrong recipes, excellent! Cake should be moist! But I looooove rice pudding! Hmmm, maybe I should consider making that a New Year's Day tradition.

that's good to know because the recipes I read didn't sound much like cake at all!

Beautiful--and a gift to which we could all relate. Glad you had the time to share!