Shelley Munro, Author of Paranormal Romance

Thailand was one of our stops during our recent cruise. We’ve visited Bangkok before, and this time we elected to do a trip to see Bang Pa-In Palace, in Ayutthaya Province, which is where the Thai royal family always spent the summer. The current king and queen still hold receptions and banquets here and use part of the palace as a residence at times.

The gardens are gorgeous, full of flowers and mature trees. There are loads of pagodas and places to sit and rest with views of the garden and large bodies of water.

Peaceful bodies of water to stroll past and admire.

Pagodas to admire 

Gorgeous flowers everywhere

Topiary -  A herd of elephants. They had lots of different animals—a real menagerie, but the elephants were my favorites.

The locals checking us out as we strolled through the gardens.

A corner of the current royal residence. I loved the Wedgewood-like scroll work.

There were lots of other tourists present during our visit, yet the place seemed to absorb everyone and retain its peaceful air.

I enjoyed our visit very much, and immediately plot bunnies started jumping around inside my head. Travel does that to me. The grounds and buildings are now a part of a scene in Snared by Saber, my current WIP.

What do you think of the topiary? Have you seen other shapes?

This photo was taken during our river cruise from Central Sydney to Parramatta. We don’t have pelicans in New Zealand, so we always snap a photo when we see one. They’re such curious looking birds.

Today I’m visiting NJ Walters, and I’m getting back to basics. I became a writer because of my love of books and reading, so today I’m talking about reading and what books I’m reading at present.

I took a load of photos over Christmas, photos of the different Hawaiian islands we visited plus shipboard shots. Unfortunately disaster struck and hubby managed to delete every single photo on my digital card. There was much cursing and swearing on his part and I have to confess that a few mutters emerged from me too. Sigh. On the positive side we have visited Hawaii before and we still have hubby’s photos, but they weren’t as good as mine. I lost all the Christmas day photos, although I did visit Hilo Hatties in Lahaina and had my photo taken with Santa Claus. He was the most talkative Santa I’ve ever met. When he heard I was from New Zealand we had a discussion about the movie Once Were Warriors.

I love his Hawaiian shirt and the fact his beard was real. We had a lovely day in Lahaina. My highlight was getting up to watch the sunrise. We watched the pilot boat from the cruise ship and saw it stop suddenly. A humpback whale breached right in front of it and as we watched the whale breached three more times. It was a magical start to the day. This was the first time I’ve ever spent part of Christmas day on the beach. Unfortunately the photos to prove it are lost.

If you’d ever like a warm Christmas I highly recommend Hawaii as a destination.

With the approach of the Olympic games I thought I’d post a few photos from Britain. This week I’m all about villages. England has some gorgeous villages with pretty cottages and thatched roofs.

This is the seaside village of Mousehole in Cornwall. (pronounced Mowzel) I remember eating morning tea—a vegetable pastie and a cup of tea—in a small cafe in Mousehole. It was delicious.

The Cotswold area is full of pretty villages. They’re also over run with click happy tourists—a trade off for the locals, I guess. This is the village of Lower Slaughter.

This is a village in the Dartmoor area. The roads are narrow and you never know what you’ll find around the next corner. These ones all have thatched roofs. Very cute!

And finally Bourton on the Water is one of the prettiest Cotswolds villages in my opinion. There’s a river running through the center with tiny walking bridges so people can cross. One of the attractions in the town is this miniature village, which is an exact replica of the real one. It even has a model village within the model village.

I always think of cozy mysteries, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and Midsummer Murders when I think of English villages. The quaint buildings hide so much crime and passion! I have a real soft spot for these books and TV shows. Maybe I’ll even write a village set romance one day—with a few bodies strewn around, naturally.

What comes to your mind when you think of villages?

White Island is one of New Zealand’s volcanoes—the most active one. The island is privately owned and was once mined for sulfur. I’d never seen White Island before and was looking forward to our visit. We had perfect weather and the volcano puffed out a little steam for us. Part of the crater has collapsed, allowing views of the inside. The cruise ship sailed around the island several times allowing 360 views.

I took this photo last week at the Clevedon A & P show. He was sitting comfortably and snoozing while waiting for his event to commence.

Isn’t he a handsome fellow?

To see more animal photos visit Camera Critters

“Careful! Watch the knot. Do I have to go to work today?”

“Can’t we go faster?”

“Ah! Dinner time at last.”

“And maybe time for a snooze.”

These photos were taken at our local farmers’ market where they give pony rides to the children. To visit more animal photos follow the links at Camera Critters.

I’ve updated my photo album with fifteen photos from my recent trip to Samoa. Just click on the photos tab above and start exploring my album.