Brrrr.... Cold!

Mr. Robin isn't too certain about all those starlings bathing in the bio-falls, but he finally decides to join them. Poor birdies... so cold that the pond is frozen over and there's no place to get a drink.

I don't understand why those starlings are bathing in this freezing weather.

But I'm really thirsty, so...

At least there's ice to stand on.

And then I decided I needed an overview picture of the frozen pond. But what the heck? Are those footprints?

Who's been walking on the pond?

I went outside to investigate...

Mya, walking on top of the net on the frozen pond.

:)

Meet Mya

Well, we've had her for a couple months already, but I like to document our household changes here. So meet Mya.

Molly adopted her in October from ACCT in Philly. She's 3 years old, but acts more like a puppy. She's full of energy and loves to pick on poor Porter and bark at the dogs next door.

Mya is also a bit of an escape artist. I think we've finally got her escape hatches all closed off, but we still keep a close eye on her.

She's nowhere near as smart as Porter, but she never had any kind of training. Molly's working with her and we sure hope she'll soon stop jumping on us and leaping over the gates in the house.

But in spite of her bad behavior, Mya is very affectionate and loves to cuddle and give kisses. So welcome, Mya. One more addition to our full household.

Catch of the Day

Harry: Waiter, what's the catch of the day? Koi? Hmmmm, don't mind if I ...

Portey, running like hell: birdbirdbirdbirdbirdbird gottagettabird gottagettabird gottagettabird ... oh, crap, where'd he go?

Harry: Hmm, nice view from up here.

Betsy: I'm going to get my good camera so we can get a better picture.

Harry: Damn paparazzi! I do believe I will patronize a more accommodating establishment.

flap flap flap

Grammar police on duty

I saw this picture on Facebook and it got me thinking.

I've been struggling a bit with all the grammar, punctuation, spelling and usage mistakes in my Kindle books. Even real published print books tend to have mistakes in them, books that have presumably been edited by a real editor.

What's up with that?

Why is it even book publishers are making errors now?

And what can I, one lonely grammar nazi, do about it?

Should I circle the errors in printed books and fax them to the publisher? Should I email the self-published authors and point out the multitude of errors in their e-books?

Or should I do what I've been doing, just shrug and sigh and move on?

I'm frustrated. How about you?

Top Five Romance Book Clichés

I love romance books. I've read about a thousand romance books over the past four or five years. My favorites are contemporary romances, but I've also read historical and paranormal.

I even started writing a contemporary romance story a few years ago, although I haven't come near finishing it.

One thing I wanted to do when writing was to avoid the most common clichés. Here's what I think are the top five romance book clichés.

5.  Marriage of convenience: For some reason other than love, the hero and heroine get married. Most common cause is for money—to inherit or fulfill the terms of a will, or to save a property. Less common cause is for the sake of a child or children, to gain custody or adopt.

4. Living together: For some reason—perhaps a misunderstanding or the terms of a will—the hero and heroine are forced to live together for a period of time. They don't like each other at the beginning, but of course true love overcomes all the obstacles.

3. Green eyes: Several different sources tell me that only 1-2% of people worldwide have green eyes, and it's less common in males than females. I haven't kept an actual record, but to the best of my recall, more like 20-30% of the heroes/heroines in romance books have green eyes.

2. Returning home: They knew each other way back when. Either the hero or heroine has been away for years and now returns home. Corollary: She had a huge crush on him when they were young, but he didn't notice her at all. Now that they're grown he discovers how appealing she is.

1. And the number one romance book cliché... Dead parents. Either hero, heroine or both have dead parents. Most likely cause of death: auto accident or plane crash. Cancer's another common one.

So what have I missed? What other clichés abound in romance books, or in literature in general?