8000 Miles + 7 months = One well traveled package

So for those of you that don't know about Bookmooch Barter, we once had a Google group where you could trade BM points for non-book items. The group eventually had to be shut down due to members abusing it and Bookmooch, though there is supposedly a forum in the works where such trades are now back online. I myself received several music CDs and other items in trade for points and other items on my barter list (I figured it would be a good way to get rid of some of my pre-yard sale items). One such trade I made for about thirty scratched CDs (for a project) from South Africa in February. I knew they had been sent surface mail and I wasn't worried about waiting and then I lost the rolls of nylon twine I used to bind them together for my project. For a couple weeks I was worried that I would get the CDs and then have to go buy more twine to use them, but as the weeks and then months went by with no twine and no CDs I stopped worrying and started thinking that maybe the package had gotten lost or held up in customs (hey, a large amount of CDs coming into the country? you never know). Imagine my surprise when not two weeks after coming across my twine while attempting to control the clutter I receive the CDs in the mail. Seven. Months. After. They. Were. Sent. *sigh* Serendipity strikes again.
CD Snowflakes here I come... and right in time for the Holidays too *grin*

Bulow, Princess Place & Crazy Critters

I had me some fun the other day. I traveled over to Bulow Creek State Park (once Bulow Plantation, where the once thriving sugarcane plantation and mill stood until the Second Seminole War) & The Princess Place Preserve (once Estate) which had an interesting changing of hands from husband to wife to new husband who happened to be an exiled Russian Prince and later after his death from the 'Princess' to new owners and then Flager County and the State of Florida bought it and turned it into a Preserve. The ruins of the sugar mill were interesting, the 'Palace' a beautiful elaboration of traditional cracker house design, the first in-ground concrete pool looked quite tempting ever though not open to the public, but over all it was the Crazy Critters that I had fun with. First the appearance of the not native breed, but definitely Florida born armadillo. Then this little crab followed by a rather shy gopher turtle, then three deer (all does)that were surprisingly still while it took me eight frames to remember that, yes, I have a digital zoom as well as manual and they waited till I had exactly one shot closer up before they bolted. After that I saw another rather more intrepid gopher turtle who decided to not only let me take his photo (totally guessing on that, I have no idea how to tell gender with turtles) before deciding the car was rather too big a turtle to take on as we left. Samples of my favorite pictures from the day are below, I had some fun with shadows and angles at Bulow. (btw, the wood building you see in several of these photos is the Stables at Princess Place and the first few were taken on the drive out)

A Little Something About Me

Right, so I've had this blog for awhile and have yet to actually post anything (I know, I'm terrible) and I figure it's high time for me to write something since otherwise I'll just waste time on other virtually useless endeavors. I'm a amateur photographer (as I haven't even attempted to sell any of my stuff yet) and a reviewer for Bitten By Books a site for anyone interested in urban fantasy, horror, and paranormal books =) I'm also an acknowledged book addict with my Mt. TBR numbering at 364 as of yesterday (this number changes frequently)

I have an addiction (As if isn't painfully obvious from the pictures) and it is absolutely not helped by Bookmooch, my favorite book swap site, though I hear a twelve step program is in the works ;) One of my favorite projects that I do on the site (well besides swapping books) is creating maps of all the places I've sent and received books to and from. I have two sets of maps for both (i.e. one country map & state map for both sent and received), but for point of reference I'll show you the countries I've sent books to and the states I received books from since they are definitely the most impressive =)
I have sent books to or within 21 Countries:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, the U.S., and Venezuela
I have mooched books from 48 States:
I have not mooched books from Alaska & Wyoming. (Wyoming remains the one state I've neither sent nor received a book from, but I hope to change that soon.)
So, that being said, does anyone else out there have a TBR pile bigger then mine? I figure if I keep collecting books at this rate I will be swallowed alive by them in approximately 10.7 years. That is, of course, assuming I don't find time to read and get rid of a bunch of them before that occurs ;)