Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

I managed to fool most of you with my lie last week. Without further ado, let the truth unfold…

1. A mountain gorilla almost sat on me in Rwanda.

TRUE! Visiting a family group of gorillas in Rwanda is my number one travel experience. We walked for miles through thick bush and hilly terrain before we found the gorillas. The silverback did a mock charge and came to a halt almost on top of me and this other guy from our group. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. I managed to sit on top of some ants, and when I had a shower back at camp they’d bitten my backside. At the time I didn’t feel a thing. Here’s a link to a few photos and my memories of the day.

2. A tiger growled and scared me half to death in India.

FALSE! I’ve visited India twice and loved it. In fact India is my favorite travel destination. I’ve never seen a tiger in the wild, but I’d dearly love to. Maybe next visit.

3. A stingray played with me during a helmet dive in Bora Bora.

TRUE! Hubby and I did a helmet dive during our recent cruise and had a close encounter with a stingray. I’m glad I did the helmet dive but was a little nervous beforehand. (I intend to do a post on Sunday about our dive and the stingray.)

4. Our hot air balloon crash landed and my glasses broke in Australia.

TRUE! We did a balloon ride over the vineyards in the Barossa. The wind had picked up while we were aloft and getting down proved a problem. The basket hit the ground hard, bounced and toppled over on its side, dragging on the ground for a hundred meters. We, and the rest of the basket occupants fell in a heap. The lenses popped out of my glasses and rattled around the bottom of the basket. Amazingly, I retrieved them in one piece and was able to get them put back into the frames.

5. A baby camel tried to lick me in Egypt.

TRUE! He was a curious wee chap and got up close and personal with me. He was a cutie and it was the best camel ride we’ve ever done.

6. Elephants milled around my tent during the middle of the night in Kenya.

TRUE! Our guides had to chase the elephants away in the middle of the night. Hubby and I didn’t hear a thing, but the proof was indisputable–big footprints and poop all around our tent.

7. Some pygmies took me hunting for dik-dik in Zaire.

TRUE! We visited a pygmy village and went hunting with them. We didn’t catch anything during our hunt. They were very fit and thought it was funny when we couldn’t keep up with them. The ants also attacked (they have horrid big ants that bite) and they laughed themselves silly while they helped to pick the ants off us. We were the sideshow for the day!

And the contest winner is…. Gayle O!

Congratulations, Gayle. I’ll email you privately about your prize.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~ Grab your current read
~ Open to a random page
~ Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
~BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
~ Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today’s teaser is Forbidden Love, a sci-fi romance by Kaye Manro

He was an alien; she knew it, though she didn‟t know how he came to be here or why. A sexy alien from who knew where, right here, right now, lying on her exam table.

page 13, Forbidden Love by Kaye Manro.

Blurb:

They are Galaxies apart so different yet so much alike…

Dr. Maya Belle knows reptiles. While she is in the desert researching habitats, a sudden burst of sand engulfs her. She can’t believe what stumbles out of a massive dune.

While on a survey mission over the planet Terrain, T’Kon crashes his spacecraft near Maya’s desert home. He cannot remain on this primitive warring planet for long. He must repair his craft and leave as quickly as he came.

When lust stirs between them a sultry unbidden passion hotter than the desert sands seizes them, and changes everything. Will Maya abandon her world for her alien lover? Or will T’Kon set forth without her forsaking their powerful forbidden love?

I love receiving mail, not that I receive much these days because email has taken over, but I troop out to our mailbox each day with great anticipation to discover what treasures we’ve received. I’m usually disappointed because most of my mail is nasty bills.

It made me think about mailboxes. They can be freestanding or wall mounted. Some people inset them into brick walls while other people have a door slot instead.

When purchasing a mailbox you need to think about all sorts of things. Do you want them to match your house? How much maintenance will it require? Stainless ones last for ages while powder coated or wooden ones won’t last quite as long. The mail slot should fit an A4 letter folded over. They should have a spot for a newspaper, preferably one that will keep a paper dry. Think about having a lockable one for security.

When you’re installing a mailbox make sure it’s at a height that will save the poor postie’s back and prune back surrounding bushes so he or she won’t have to struggle past prickly undergrowth to deliver your mail. They should bear a clear number to avoid confusion.

Our mailbox is green and everyone who lives in our street has the same style. In the old part of our area, there’s a real mishmash of boxes. Some are decorated while others are plain wooden ones.

When we came back from our recent holiday all our mail had holes in it. There was a snail lurking in our box, busy eating all the envelopes. I made hubby deal with the hungry critter. He mentioned that some mail boxes house cockroaches. I’m praying none decide to move into ours!

Do you have a mailbox? What does it look like?