Spending Time in the Tropics #MondayMusings #OpenBookBlogHop #Poetry

Welcome to another edition of Open Book Blog Hop. This week’s question is: “What are your favorite vacation spots and do they ever show up in your books?” You can click here to participate in this week’s hop and read other responses.

My favorite vacation spot is Jupiter, Florida. My brother and his family live there. For years, I enjoyed visiting them there, where we spent plenty of time on the beach and taking in other attractions. I haven’t gone there since COVID started. Now, it’s too expensive, and flying has gotten to be a real hassle. I know these are just excuses. Maybe one of these days…

In my books, Florida has only been mentioned in passing.  I’ve written many poems about it, though. Here’s one of them, published in The Avocet 2020 summer quarterly issue. You can click the title to hear me read it.

***

I Dream of Florida

by Abbie Johnson Taylor

 

 

When the world caves in around me,

I retreat in my mind

to a beach in Jupiter.

On a mid-March afternoon,

I feel the sand between my toes,

delight in the cool spray of waves that wash my feet,

enjoy a picnic lunch

while a refreshing ocean breeze

caresses amid cries of seagulls,

watch the tide carry troubles away.

Then, my heart will bloom again

in the reality of my Wyoming world.

***

How about you? Do you have any favorite vacation spots? If you’re a writer, have your vacation spots been mentioned in any of your books?

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description by

Two Pentacles Publishing.

 

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New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Copyright 2021 by Abbie Johnson Taylor.

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Two Pentacles Publishing.

 

Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.

After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?

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