It was a gorgeous day in St. Pete when we floated out onto Tampa Bay.
The water was calm and inviting, as was the sun as it shimmered down on us. With our bait of pin fish, shrimp, and squid, we took to the poles.
After a few hours of nothingness, the tide shifted, causing the water to airate, which means more fishies! That's when we started pulling them in. A couple of gray snappers, a few salt water catfish, but most of all, I caught an 18-in Spanish mackerel!
And, my sweetie and co-author of THE OTHER SIDE: A TEEN'S GUIDE TO GHOST HUNTING AND THE PARANORMAL, Patrick Burns, caught a two-foot long shark! Check out the video we did!
I cooked up the mackerel in flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and did a quick fry in veggie oil. I whipped up a mango coulis from fresh mangos from my friend's tree and voila! A meal fit for a king.
So, that's pretty much it for summer. Time to get back to the grind. There are book proposals to write, books to edit, and promotions to do. And speaking of, soon, we'll have a huge week of giveaways for my newest book in the GHOST HUNTRESS series - THE COUNSELING.
To get things started, let's have a little contest. Did someone say CONTEST?
Tell me about your summer adventures and your highlight of the season. I will pick three winners to announce next Wednesday. Two winners will get a packet of Silly Bandz and one winner will get an advanced copy of THE COUNSELING.
Hugs,
Marley = )
http://www.marleygibson.com/
Get spooked this Halloween!
GHOST HUNTRESS: THE COUNSELING - available September 1st!
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10 comments:
I spent most of my summer reading, hanging out with my friends, and watching whole seasons of TV shows in one day. The highlight of my summer would probably be a tie between graduating from high school (Class of 2010! Woohoo) and being reintroduced to half of my family. We had a falling out last summer, but we've patched things up and I get to see my neice, nephew, and soon-to-be nephew (my sister got engaged right after we reconciled) all the time again.
Sounds like you had a fantastic time.
I pretty much did nothing this summer.When I wasn't working I was reading and lazying around the pool.
I know I am exempt from winning, but I'd like to say that I had a terrific time in Orlando this summer, first with my romance writing buds (including you, of course, Marley), and then with some friends from my school daze...a mini-reunion of sorts.
And as birthday present, my husband gave me first class upgrades, so my travel from LA to Orlando and back in real style. (Honey, I could get use to that... ;))
Wow!!! I don't know if I've had mackerel before, but that looks GOOD!!!!
Glad you had such a fun summer!!!!
Mine seemed to fly by!!! I think the most exciting thing I did was start my own blog...and win a bunch of books from other people's contests ;) I've also really enjoyed "meeting" so many other bloggers and readers and even authors!!!!
Despite having to work a lot this summer I managed to get in a few good trips. A couple of weeks ago I went to the Outer Banks to camp with my parents. The first night I stayed on Ocracoke Island without them and the trip there was interesting, I had to get on two ferries including one I thought should have just been pulled by mules and one that I was on for over two and a half hours. The next day I got on another ferry and crossed over to Cape Hatteras to spend some nights in Rodanthe. We had a lot of fun, ate lots of seafood, did lots of exploring, grilled out, and lounged on the beach and played in the waves. Considering it was maybe the second time I've vacationed with my parents in over 16 years it was amazing!
I spent a lot of my summer finding a list of books to read. I have a total of about 109. My friend and I started this little contest to see who could finish the list of books faster, but that never amounted to anything. we'll probably just wait until the school year to begin. I did tap into the list, and I'm still going to continue reading until I finish this ever-growing list.
I went to Lake George this past weekend and got burnt waiting in line to go on the AWESOME roller coaster, called the Boomerang, at the Great Escape As I was waiting in line, I could only think of how I was going to die while on this ride. But, as long as I kept my eyes closed the ENTIRE time, I knew I would survive. And that's exactly what I did. I knew it was a good plan when I peeked a little bit as we went backwards up the ride before they let us out and saw how high we were. I felt so proud that I did this because it was outside and I was with my little sister, who needs me to be there for her, rather than her be there for me. I've been on Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror in Disney, but I had my uncle or dad there. I just had this sense of pride and accomplishment as I was walking off that ride. Well... I was dizzy, too, but that's beside the point.
Before we left for Lake George, we had started this project in my kitchen. there was a bubble in the floor, underneath the existing flooring, that was telling is to change the floor. And soon. So, my dad, brother, sister, and I started ripping up the floor. As we got to the bubble part, we found that there was a HUGE puddle of water underneath the fridge. Come to find out, a pipe had burst from underneath the sink. We got that fixed, but it couldn't take away the nauseating smell the water left behind. We have no idea how long it's been leaking, and went through about 4 layers of flooring. If that isn't enough, we find out that there is asbestos in one of the layers of tile that we started ripping up. Long story short, this has become a longer, messier, and more expensive project than we had intended. We need to get new cabinets (because the water leaked underneath some) and we've been needing a new fridge, so instead of allowing the fridge to mess up all the work we just did to fix our last problem, we'll be getting a new one of those, as well. This has all been kind of like the roller coaster in Lake George (the Boomerang).
(There's more below.)
(continued)
The last very memorable thing I would like to share is that my aunt is pregnant again. She had a miscarriage two years ago (I believe), and she was still recovering from that, emotionally. She had been complaining of stomach pains, and after countless tests, they couldn't figure out what was going on. (And yes, they did take a pregnancy test, and it came back negative.) They decided to take a CAT scan, and found a baby in her stomach. At that point, she was about 4 or 5 months along. She is due Christmas Eve, and the baby is healthy right now. (I say right now because I don't want to jinx anything. Even though is in the safe zone, it doesn't mean she will be perfect along the way. We have also learned this from experience.) She already has an eight year old son, so there are many years in between. On my mom's side, we also have a three year old girl, a one year old boy, a sixteen year old boy (my brother), an eleven year old girl (my sister), and a fourteen year old girl (me), along with the eight year old boy, who I mentioned earlier. So, we will be having our seventh cousin.
On top of all of this, I am transitioning from eighth grade to high school. I'm very nervous and very excited, at the same time. I'm going to a different school than my friends, so I'm worried about that, as well.
Nothing is every boring in my family, and I don't know which is the most memorable moment in my summer. So, I decided to just tell you all of this. I hope it isn't too lengthy, but they were all pretty major highlights for me throughout the summer. I guess my highlight is the whole kitchen mess because it's still going on.
I spent most of the summer working. And most of the rest staying cool inside with a good book.
I spent a week at Lake Powell where I gave into peer pressure and launched my decade too old and 30 lb too heavy body off the side of a houseboat to the lake 34 feet below. I am still not quite recovered,....and my family is still hysterical over my screams of fright!
bchild5@aol.com
Going to the Celestial Seasonings Factory!
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