Summer is here and that means spending a good amount of time in the gardens. The gardens this year are the most lush and beautiful than ever. It’s going on 30 years since we moved here from Philadelphia and the gardens and trees are maturing and have become established.

We bought two new weathervanes: Sperm Whale and Great White Shark. We spend a good amount of time on Cape Cod and in Provincetown. The new weathervanes remind of us of our most wonderful times on the Cape.

Henwoodie at dusk.

I have been hard at work in the studio finishing book deadlines and working on the Vampyre Room Boxes. The large Room Box (that houses both Indiana Jones and a few of the vampyres is coming along nicely.

I took a couple quick photos with my iPhone this evening and John tweaked them in PhotoShop.

My original iPhone photo.

John’s tweaked photo.

My original photo.

John’s tweaked version.

Here is the Room Box as I’m working on it:

I recently found the antique miniature globe that is made in Italy and it’s perfect for the Indiana Jones scene.

Here are a few of the leather tubes that I made.

This is the mummy that I made to chase after Indiana Jones.

Pearl and Pearl’s Lost Pearls will be published next year! Pearl will be published 13 February 2024 and Pearl’s Lost Pearls will be published in mid-June 2024.

Here is the first review for Pearl in Kirkus:

Last year HarperCollins bought Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Pearl and Pearl’s Lost Pearls will be published under HC’s Clarion Books imprint, as will all future Gossie & Friends books.

It’s been a busy year! We have been doing a lot of traveling and spending time on Cape Cod. We love our two new Jeeps: Phineas (Jeep Wrangler Sahara) and Sharky (Jeep Gladiator).  We bought Sharky so that we can tow our new Scamp (The Sea Mouse) without any worry.

On the beach in Provincetown with Phineas.

At Race Point with Sharky.

Camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains, NC with Sharky and The Sea Mouse.

PEARL and PEARL’S LOST PEARLS

PEARL is finally finished! I’m pleased with the finished art and changes to a few of the layouts that I made at the 11th hour. I am now hard at work finishing the art for PEARL’S LOST PEARLS. Both books will be published in Fall 2023 as a pair.

We moved the second mahogany bookcase into our bedroom while John scrapes and preps the Iceland Room for painting. I decided to see how it would look if we kept both bookcases in the bedroom. And I am thrilled with the result. Now I have all my most favorite books and the books that I use most for research (archaeology, prehistory, folklore, vampyres, Cape Cod, Mayflower, etc.) close at hand.

The pups are spoiled every Christmas!