Best of killerhobbies

It's Camille/Margaret Grace posting for Linda today.

I thought I'd do a Best of … blog, looking back on the words of inspiration, fun, and wisdom from my sister bloggers.

From our blogger emeritus, DEB BAKER, some Barbie facts:

• Barbie was introduced in 1953. Among her 80 careers, she went to college when she was 11 years old and joined the Army at 39.• In 2000, she developed a belly button.
• She has seen over 150 nations and every second THREE Barbies are sold.
• An original in mint condition has sold for $10,000.00

From LINDA O. JOHNSTON, remember this description of unusual guests at a party:

One of the really fun things was the attendance by Christiana, a delightful lady from the West Valley Bird Society, an organization I visited while researching my third Kendra book, Fine-Feathered Death. She brought along a variety of beautiful and personable birds, including a blue and gold macaw, the type featured in FFD. There was also a hyacinth macaw, a white cockatoo, an adorably charming toucan, and a unique-looking black bird whose type I never did learn. Party guests could pose with the birds and have their photos taken. I had great fun with the toucan, who observed me cheekily even as he pulled petals off the pretty lei I had around my neck. The cockatoo perched on Fred’s arm for our picture. I learned later that the hyacinth macaw took great pleasure in pecking at the kukui nuts, and the men who wore the necklaces were soon told to take them off while posing for pictures.


I found this wonderful story from MONICA FERRIS, posted February '07:

One Sunday after church, a mom asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about. The daughter answered, "Don't be scared, you'll get your quilt." Needless to say, the mom was perplexed. Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the mom asked him what that morning's Sunday school lesson was about. He said "Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming."


JOANNA CAMPBELL SLAN visits her spiritual home:
There are the places we live because we must, and the places we would live if we could. For me, the coast of South Carolina has always been my spiritual home—the place of my dreams and wishes. It is where I return to find strength and solace. I love everything about the area called “the Low Country.”
The moment I step outside the Charleston airport, I stand and sniff the air like a lost dog searching for home.
"Everyone has a holy place, a refuge, where their heart is purer, their mind clearer, where they feel closer to God or love or truth or whatever it is they happen to worship," writes J.R. Moehringer in "The Tender Bar."


KATHRYN LILLEY, whose graphics surely take the "Best Of .." prize, confessed in October '07:
When I started writing DYING TO BE THIN, the first installment in the Fat City Mystery series, I was not fully aware that the mystery sub-genre known as “cozies” had to follow certain restrictive guidelines.
And so…ahem. In the interest of full disclosure, I should let you know that even though DYING TO BE THIN often gets lumped in with cozy mysteries, readers will encounter a few “uncozy” passages:
• Murder victims are presented splat on the page, complete with a discussion of the deceased-one’s physical appearance (including, in the case of one victim, the impact of weaponized fondue forks).
• There are frequent and colorful references to a fictional S&M scene in the story’s locale, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
• The plot line is neither kind, nor particularly gentle. But it is often humorous.

Do you have any fond memories of early KilleryHobbies?


[Next week: More Best of, from our newer members.]