Photography is an enjoyable pastime, one that refills my muse. On my walks, I see such a huge variety of animals and birds, but it’s always wonderful when I see deer.
I usually come across does with their young. So, it’s a treat when I spot a buck; on rare occasions, I’ll see more than one.
Deer are beautiful animals. Seeing them always takes my breath away. They have such a calm and majestic presence.
As spring arrives, I keep watch for fawns. They’re usually hidden deep in the woods or when alone, laying down in tall grass, so it’s always special to see them.
As the year passes, the spots fade from the fawn’s coat as they grow. By winter, they’re so big, it’s hard to tell the yearlings from the adult deer.
What do you like best about deer? If you’ve seen deer, what’s your favorite memory?
About the Author
A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothersseries have been translated into five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.
After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. After the release of the bestselling MacGruder Brothersseries and The Oath Trilogy, she released the bestselling The Forbidden Series.
Diana looks forward to the years of writing ahead and meeting the amazing people who will share this journey.
Contest
***ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on my guest blog post about, ‘Inspiration From Nature – Deer,’ on Delilah’s blog between 20 November 2020 – 29 November 2020. The winner will receive a signed copy of Forbidden Realm.
I am a product of the “Disney” generation and grew up on stories about Davey Crockett, Wild Bill Hickock, and Pecos Bill. One of my favorite poems, “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” is by Robert W. Service. This is a poem about one ordinary man’s herculean attempt to fulfill a promise to his dying friend. It’s a little bit creepy but very funny. I have always hoped to write a series of books about legendary characters. Some believe that legendary means ‘larger than life.’ I am not in that group. For me, a legendary character is an ordinary person achieving extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances. Daniel Boone, for all his fame and legends, was really an ordinary man for his time who did extraordinary things.
Here’s the blurb for the first book in my Legends Series…
The Legend of Skinner Robelard: Pampered and privileged then betrayed and disowned, Elise Van Demer hides in plain sight and plots her revenge on the men who destroyed her life. With her goal in sight, she encounters a lawman from her past. Boyd Alvarez could ruin everything, and the last thing she needs is wanting some man who only wants to protect her.
His family dead and without a home, Boyd Alvarez rides the range and hunts bounties for a living. When he stumbles on Elise Van Demer his only thought is to keep her safe. He can outgun just about every man, but can he protect her from her own plans of revenge? Can he teach her that loving a man is a better dream than destroying her enemies?
And a little bit about Rue Allyn (that’s me): Award-winning author, Rue Allyn, learned storytelling at her grandfather’s knee. (Well it was really more like on his knee—I was two.) She’s been weaving her own tales ever since. She has worked as an instructor, mother, sailor, clerk, sales associate, and painter, along with a variety of other types of employment. She has lived and traveled in places all over the globe from Keflavik Iceland (I did not care much for the long nights of winter.) and Fairbanks Alaska to Panama City and the streets of London England to a large number of places in between. Now that her two sons have left the nest, Rue and her husband of more than four decades (Try living with the same person for more than forty years—that’s a true adventure.) have retired and moved south. When not writing, enjoying the nearby beach, or working jigsaw puzzles, Rue travels the world and surfs the internet in search of background material and inspiration for her next heart melting romance. She loves to hear from readers, and you may contact her at Rue@RueAllyn.com. She can’t wait to hear from you.
I love photography, and taking photos of what I see in nature while walking through the woods, around the pond, or at the marsh is more than relaxing, but also refills my muse. One of my favorite things to see is foxes.
There’s something magical about foxes. They’re more than beautiful; they’re majestic and there’s an amazing presence about them.
Springtime, as I walk through the woods, I keep a lookout for kits. If I’m lucky, I’ll catch sight of the young foxes.
Watching kits play is amazing, but the tenderness of the foxes with their kits is incredible. The love they have for their young warms the heart.
Over the summer, if I’m fortunate, I catch glimpses of the kits growing and soon to be off to begin their own family.
What do you like best about foxes? If you’ve seen a fox and/or kits, what’s your favorite memory?
Contest
ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on my guest blog post about, ‘Inspiration From Nature – Foxes,’ on Delilah’s blog between 16 October 2020 – 25 October 2020. The winner will receive a mug and tote.
About the Author
A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothersseries have been translated into five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.
After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. After the release of the bestselling MacGruder Brothersseries and The Oath Trilogy, she released the bestselling The Forbidden Series.
Diana looks forward to the years of writing ahead and meeting the amazing people who will share this journey.
The phrase “return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear” was made famous by announcer Fred Foy, introducing the adventures of the old Lone Ranger and Tonto on radio and television. But for me, it’s a clarion call to lose myself in that wonderful time machine called history.
Twenty-seven years ago, I pastored a small church in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Nazarene United Church of Christ sits on the corners of Patchen Avenue and MacDonough Street. Often as I walked to do pastoral visits on the other side of Atlantic Avenue, I passed several wooden houses and wondered what they were, who had lived there. I learned they were the remnants of Weeksville, a community founded by free-Blacks in the 1830s. In the three years I served Nazarene, I never once got to visit them.
On my last trip back to New York, I visited the Brooklyn Historical Society and discovered Judith Wellman’s wonderful book, Brooklyn’s Promised Land: The Free Black Community of Weeksville, New York. She transported me back to the thrilling days of yesteryear on streets inhabited by the residents of a thriving Black community of ministers, doctors, landowners and entrepreneurs, streets I’d walked and intersections I’d crossed. The community’s residents strove to develop pride in self and place. It served not just as enclave for themselves but a refuge for many from the Southern violence of slavery in the South or Northern violence like the Manhattan draft riots of 1863. In 1968, a workshop sponsored by Pratt Institute led to the rediscovery of this historical safe haven.
How odd that I, who grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, chose to write historical romance about Blacks in the far West when Blacks west of East New York were much closer at hand. From my research done at the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Schomburg, and through Wellman’s book I wrote the novella Light The Fire Again for the Fireworks: A Passionate Ink Romance Anthology. Fred Foy’s call to return now to those thrilling days of yesteryear in the West, draws me west to Weeksville and to the thrilling stories Weeksville inspires me to write. A reimagined Gilded Age Weeksville is now the setting of my women’s fiction series of novels that I’m adapting from Wagner’s Ring cycle operas.
I didn’t get to visit the Weeksville Heritage Center last October. There’s always next year, I thought. I’ll be glad when I can tour Weeksville in the flesh, not just on the Heritage Center’s website: https://www.weeksvillesociety.org/.
I hope you will tour the original Weeksville houses and listen to one man reminisce about his childhood home there on the videos listed below:
Thanks for letting me share. Now, how about you share in the comments what you’ve learned about the history of your people or your neighborhood or your family. Everyone who does will be entered into a drawing for a $10 Amazon gift card.
Light the Fire Again
One night in 1896 between delicious rounds of oral sex, Adelaide Hanson and Hero Williams shared their hopes and dreams. She to be an artist like Edmonia Lewis. He to amass great wealth. Hero went off to start a fireworks business. Adelaide remained in Weeksville hampered by a ruined reputation until a doctor’s examination proved her still a virgin.
Two years later, Hero, now a self-made millionaire, returns to share his wealth with the community that sheltered his family from the violence of the Post-Reconstruction South. He has also returned hoping to ask Adelaide for her hand. She, however, is anticipating a marriage proposal from the son of one of the Black community’s most prominent families, despite his mother’s disapproval. Hero begs for a chance to change Adelaide’s mind. Although still in love with him, she is unwilling to risk her heart and societal opprobrium again. Then Hero makes an offer he hopes she won’t refuse: a chance to revive what they shared two years ago by viewing a private fireworks display designed especially to light the fire between them again.
Light the Fire Again is one of seven steamy fireworks-featuring romances in the Fireworks anthology, proceeds from which will go to ProLiteracy, an adult literacy organization. So enjoy some great sex while supporting a great cause.
Red and white checkered tablecloths fluttered gently in the warm July breeze. Summer sunlight glinted off glass pitchers brimming with iced tea, lemonade and water. The event attendees had filtered out of the hall and were lining up at the collation tables. Everyone grinned and smacked their lips as the delicious scents of collards, cornbread and fresh-baked biscuits, sweet potatoes, and chicken, both baked and fried, filled the air.
Adelaide’s stomach growled. She pressed a fist against her gut to quiet it. She hadn’t had breakfast and regretted offering to help serve.
“Hurry up Adelaide,” Emmaline Thompson barked. “Set those platters beside the others, go back for the last tray then be ready to serve.”
Adelaide bristled, tempted to deliver a tongue lashing of her own but kept silent and complied.
Reverend Johnson, Hero and several clergy and civic leaders headed for a white linen-covered table decked with red, white and blue ribbons set aside for the guest of honor.
Hero glanced her way, catching her eye. He smiled. Not a broad enjoy-your-day smile, but a narrow I-remember-you grin.
She remembered him too.
Her stomach growled again, this time from a different hunger.
She speared chicken on to plate after plate, forcing a smile with every “You’re welcome” she said to each guest served. The letter in her pocket gave her no reason to smile.
Reverend Johnson had given her the envelope in his office. She recognized Hero’s handwriting immediately. If Reverend Johnson hadn’t been present she’d have ripped it up. She’d shoved it in her pocket, planning to do just that when the minister asked her to please open it then and there.
The envelope contained two pieces of paper: one an article from the Brooklyn Eagle announcing the reason for Hero’s return to Weeksville. His family, known for their generosity to causes dedicated to uplifting the Negro race, had several monetary gifts for their former neighborhood. The reporter recounted the family’s harrowing escape from the South then chronicled their rise to wealth. Their most recent success was attributed to the series of fireworks Hero had designed over the last two years. The article ended by quoting Hero.
“Yes, God has blessed us with success, but I’ll be forever grateful to a muse who inspired me late one August night.”
Adelaide re-read the quote several times. Just seeing the words “August night” set her sex pulsing. She laid the article aside and read the second piece of paper. A hot fist of awakening curled low in her belly as she mouthed its simple words.
My sincere thanks to Delilah for allowing me to return to her wonderful blog and share an update of Diana Cosby’s Romance Readers Build A Habitat For Humanity Home.
A bit of background. Romance readers are AMAZING, and SO is Habitat For Humanity, a charity that I love supporting and volunteering for. Several years ago I thought, why not pair the two and help a deserving family receive a home? And, the Diana Cosby’s Romance Reader’s Build A Habitat For Humanity House fundraiser was born.
I contacted the Habitat For Humanity office in Grayson County, Texas, where I’ve had the honor of helping with several builds and spoke with Laurie Mealy, Executive Director. She embraced the project and was thrilled at the thought of pairing romance readers, who love stories where heroes and heroines overcome challenges to make their dreams come true, with making the dream of homeownership for a deserving family a reality.
Goal: Fund an entire home – $55,000.
I kicked off the challenge by donating $200. As I write this, we’ve raised $22,135, which includes donations from several countries. Romance readers are amazing, and I have complete faith that as the stories they love, they will continue to join together to raise the amount necessary to give a deserving family a home.
How it works:
As readers send donations to Habitat for Humanity of Grayson County for the ‘Diana Cosby’s Readers Build A Habitat For Humanity House of Love,’ the total contributions are updated below the house graphic on the upper right side of their homepage. Donations can be sent via PayPal by ‘clicking’ on the house, which takes you to the donation page, or by mailing a check or money order to:
Habitat for Humanity of Grayson County
901 N. Grand Avenue
P.O. Box 2725
Sherman, TX 75091
*Please note on your donation: ‘For Diana Cosby’s Romance Readers Build A Habitat For Humanity House.’
Again, my sincere thanks to Delilah for allowing me to return to her blog, and another huge thanks to everyone for helping make an incredible difference in a deserving family’s life. For when they walk into a Habitat For Humanity house, it’s more thank mortar and wood, but a place where they can call home.
*Photos used with permission of Habitat For Humanity Grayson County, TX.
Contest
***ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on my Habitat For Humanity post on Delilah’s blog between 18 September 2020 – 27 September 2020. The winner will receive a Mug & Tote.
About the Author
About the Author
A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothersseries have been translated into five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.
After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. After the release of the bestselling MacGruder Brothersseries and The Oath Trilogy, she released the bestselling The Forbidden Series.
Diana looks forward to the years of writing ahead and meeting the amazing people who will share this journey.
In addition to writing, I enjoy photography. A creative outlet for me is to see what photographs of nature I can take. This summer, I was thrilled to catch this photo of a kit.
The juvenile red-tailed hawks are out, and I’m fortunate to have a pair that lives near me. It’s fun watching the hawks learn to fly.
The yellow-crowned night heron chicks have hatched, grown, and flown from their nests, allowing adults to linger in the marsh.
On rare occasions, I see phoebes. They’re gorgeous birds, and I was thrilled to catch a photo of this bird.
One of my favorite birds is the song sparrow. They have a beautiful song and tend to be very friendly. What is your creative outlet?
Contest
ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on my guest blog post about, ‘Nature Through The Lens – A Creative Outlet,’ on Delilah’s blog between 14 August 2020 – 23 August 2020. The winner will receive a signed copy of His Woman.
About the Author
A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothersseries have been translated into five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.
After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. After the release of the bestselling MacGruder Brothersseries and The Oath Trilogy, she released the bestselling The Forbidden Series.
Diana looks forward to the years of writing ahead and meeting the amazing people who will share this journey.
One neat thing about writing under pen names is being able to live out different personalities. I decided to take advantage of two of mine and treat myself to two “Christmas in July” parties. As a host of each, I chose my inspirational romance persona, Revannable, and my erotic one, Michal Scott. Then I invited colleagues to send me links to their books that occurred during any winter holiday so I could share them with my social media followers. Each day I paired the books with a seasonal song.
The Preston Sturges film Christmas In July inspired me to do this. The comedy tells the story of a poor schnook who thinks he has won a slogan contest. He shares his good fortune by treating his whole neighborhood to “Christmas in July.” It stars a young non-singing Dick Powell and the entire Preston Sturges ensemble. I love picking out familiar stalwarts like William Demarest and the lesser-known, but just as recognizable, Jimmy Conlin.
Planning a party is half the fun. I delighted in choosing Christmas music for Revannable’s squeaky clean party. The joy of Christmas was heard in carols like “On the Way to Bethlehem,” “Il Est Né Le Divine Enfant (The Infant Child is Born),” and “Mi Burrito Sabanero (My Desert Donkey).” “It’s Christmas Time All Over the World” featured Sammy Davis Jr. with a chorus of kids reciting Merry Christmas in various languages.
For my friends whose stories dealt with Hanukah, I found a video of the “Dreidel Song” that brought back memories of my childhood learning to play with a dreidel in kindergarten. For those whose stories focused more on winter than a holiday, I shared Leroy Anderson’s lovely “Horse and Buggy” instead of the overplayed “Sleigh Ride.” But lest I give the impression that classic Christmas tunes weren’t welcome, I included Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra singing “White Christmas” together.
While Ole Blue Eyes and Der Bingle did the Irving Berlin classic justice at Revannable’s, things were merry and bright over at Michal Scott’s, too. Of course, the hot holiday hop had to start with Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby.” In the days that followed, a slew of sultry and/or double entendre-laden music sent the party from hot to sizzling. “Back Door Santa” by Clarence Carter, “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'” by Albert King, “Dirty Christmas” by Junksista and “Holly the Holiday Whore.” Even Ella Fitzgerald in a naughty holiday mood belted out “Santa Claus Got Stuck in My Chimney.” I shook my head more than once at some of the album covers that accompanied such titles as “I’ve Got Some Presents for Santa” and “I Know Just What You Want For Christmas.” Did record stores like Virgin Atlantic and Sam Goody have adult-only sections? The fun ends on July 31st. Which party would you attend? Better watch out. Even in July Santa knows who’s more naughty than nice.
“Light the Fire Again” inside Fireworks
In 1896 Adelaide Hanson spent an August night beneath the Coney Island boardwalk with Hero Williams then lived with a ruined reputation while he went off to conquer the world. Two years later he returns on July 4th, a wealthy fireworks manufacturer, determined to win her back before she marries another. Will a personalized fireworks display light her fire again? And even if it does, will she let it?
Excerpt from Light the Fire Again…
Finally worn down by the rumors and the slander, Adelaide went to Reverend Johnson to arrange for a doctor to examine her to provide proof of her virginity. She’d been saving to go to an art college and hated to see her funds depleted, but her vindication would be worth it.
The examination put pay to her detractors’ misconceptions, but instead of apologizing, they showered her with condescension, especially since she still refused to say who she’d been with. Adelaide ignored the slights. She was free, Black, twenty-five and, if not virginal because of her experience with oral sex, still a virgin.
But at the end of each day alone in her rented room that fact brought her little comfort. She cried herself to sleep, unable to heal her spirit, so battered and bruised and betrayed.
Then one Sunday after church, Oscar Thompson, a member of one of Weeksville’s most prosperous and civic-minded families, asked to escort her home. Their walk turned into several months of friendship from which arose an understanding that they would become engaged.
An understanding welcomed neither by the Eligibles or Oscar’s mother.
Now the hateful reminder of why she’d lived reviled and abused had returned and was being feted like some conquering hero. They wouldn’t be so welcoming if they knew Hero had been her partner. And precisely because they wouldn’t, she’d never expose him. She wouldn’t wish what she’d endured these past two years on her worst enemy.
“Yes, folks,” Hero said, startling Adelaide from her thoughts.
She focused and found his gaze settled on her.
“Two years’ absence has been more painful than I can say,” he said.
She blenched. Holy God. Two years’ absence truly had been more than painful. For her, they’d been hell.
“It’s good to have you back home, my boy,” Reverend Johnson said, clapping a glad hand on Hero’s shoulder. “May this year’s Fourth of July celebration bring you healing to ease all that pain away.”
Adelaide bit her lip to stifle her horror. Forgiving with seventy-times-seven mercy was what Christ expected. But watching Hero receive the same forgiveness and forbearance bestowed upon her made her sick.
