The Ultimate Beach

RHYS BOWEN:  I have just returned from a vacation in Europe that included two weeks on a secluded bay in Corfu, a Greek island. Two weeks of doing very little except for sitting on my balcony reading, eating at bayside tavernas and lying in the warm waters of the Ionian sea. To make it more special our apartment belonged to the White House, which was where Laurence Durrell lived in the 1930s and where he wrote Prospero's Cell. Everything was perfect except the beach was stony, not sandy.

 So I realize I am being very picky but I started to wonder whether I had ever been to a perfect beach and what a perfect beach should look like.I once saw what I thought was a perfect beach near Darwin in northern Australia. But nobody was on it. I asked a park ranger whether it was okay to go swimming there. "Of course you can," she replied, "If you don't mind the sharks, the crocodiles or the jelly fish."
Okay, there are certain things the perfect beach shouldn't have. Sharks, crocodiles and jelly fish for starters.
But what should it have?
Clean water, for one thing. I went snorkeling on the island of Bali and was horrified to find so many plastic bags caught up on the coral.
It should be sandy. Have warm water. Some shade on hot days. A bar or cafe for moments of thirst. And not be crowded
.My contenders: the beach on Whitsunday Island, Queensland. Pure white sand. Tree lined. Only the occasional monitor lizard to make it scary.
Hanauma Bay on Oaha used to be a favorite until it became a national park and is now crowded with newby snorkelers.
The beach at Noosa on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland is another favorite. Unfortunately my brother moved away, so I don't go there any more.
In Europe a little beach outside Nice (which is stony). It's called the Baie des Fourmies and is pretty darned nice.But in the US? California ocean water is all too cold for me. Some Florida beaches are contenders. Naples was nice but no shade.
So I'm open to suggestions:
What does your perfect beach have to have and where is it?

HALLIE EPHRON: I'm a California girl and spent summers body surfing in Malibu and Manhattan Beach, so those are still my perfect beaches. Broad white sand and wave after perfect wave that you can swim in front of, get picked up by, and carried forward so just your head sticking out as you coast onto the shore. Hold onto your bathing suit top.

LUCY BURDETTE: I was imprinted on the beach near Hatteras, NC, which is the end part of the Outer Banks. We went every summer and spent hours roasting on the sand, and swimming--big rollers usually, and a perfect cool temperature. We'd be out there floating in the salt water and game would be to call out whether each wave was an "over" or an "under." The overs you could float over the top. The unders would grind you into the sand if you didn't dive through them. And the dunes are stunning too, planted with sea oats.
Several families would go at the same time and we'd have enormous games of kick the can and pounce at night. Wonderful memories, gorgeous beach.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, yeah. Out of the US? Easy. Easy! Nevis. It is..white sand. Turquoise water.  EMPTY. The beaches are so unpopulated, they don't even have names. We named the one we go to, though. (Cleverly.) Beautiful Beach.  Which says it all. There are palm trees, and we sit and read and watch the pelicans fly and soar and pounce, then shake their little tailfeathers when they catch a fish. My idea of a perfect beach is peaceful. This photo is Nevis--but it's very faded. Just up the chroma to intense blue and white..and that's it!

In the US? Truro on Cape Cod.  We go to the bay beach, and it is gorgeous. 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Rhys, so jealous I am green. Sigh. Especially since we haven't taken a beach vacation in longer than I even want to admit... I didn't grow up going to the beach. Dallas is a LONG way from beaches, and my parents were into golf courses, not beaches. (Sighs again...) But there have been beaches that stood out. We stayed at a lovely place at the tip of Cozumel. White sand, palms, little rush huts to protect you from the sun, clear blue water that was lovely for snorkling off the beach if you didn't mind the friendly barracuda that hung out occasionally. But my favorite was a beach in Puerto Rico. Empty (this was years ago, mind) with lovely sand and palms AND the best thing was the hammocks strung between the palm trees... Beach, hammock, book=heaven.

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Not a well-known place, but the Canadian shore of Lake Erie is fantastic and where I went during the summer with friends while growing up in Buffalo, New York. These days, the family and I love the beaches of Narragansett, Rhode Island — which seems to be overlooked by tourists who opt for the Hamptons or the Cape (shhhhhh....). A day at the beach, then a lobster roll at Aunt Carrie's (now in its 95th year and going strong) — can't be beat.

And outside of the US, the beaches of the west coast of Scotland are beautiful, especially near Arisaig. (Yes, beaches in Scotland! No, I'm not joking!) The water is warmer than you might expect, thanks to a Gulf current passing by and the beaches are fine white sand and gorgeous! You may spot a seal!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Rhys, if you think California water is too cold, the Atlantic Ocean off the Maine coast would kill you! I want to propose a different kind of perfect beach: Old Orchard Beach, located in its eponymous town in southern Maine. It's a throwback to the old vacation beaches of the east coast: a seven-mile-long golden-sand beach with a century-old Boardwalk extending out into the ocean; an inexpensive, small scale amusement park, candy stores and ice cream stores and t-shirt shops in between art galleries and Italian sausage stands. It's definitely not about lounging in the sands with a cocoanut-flavored drink, but if you want to sample an old-fashioned all-American summer, you have to try it.

I met Jessie Crockett, whom many of you know from Crimebake, and in 2016 she's going to have a mystery set in 19th century OOB coming out. So I know what will be in my beach bag when I go there next summer!

RHYS: So there you have it. Our favorite beaches. Which is yours?

Home is Where the Heart Is

RHYS BOWEN : 

For those of you who visit my Facebook page from time to time, you will notice that I have a photograph as my header now. It's the view from my balcony in California and I love it. I look out over hills and trees,with Mount Tamalpais peeking over the far ridge. In fact I love it so much that I pay the neighbor on the street below me to have her trees trimmed every year so that don't get in the way of my view.

I've decided there are certain things I need in the place where I live. I don't do well in cities with noise. I need to be close to nature. I need sunshine. I need beauty. I need hills. It's part of my Welsh heritage, I suppose, that there has to be a nearby mountain. I can remember the first time I saw a mountain. My Aunt Gwladys took me to relatives in Wales. We arrived at night. In the morning I opened the curtains and there was a mountain outside my window. I was only about seven at the time but I remember feeling "This is it. This is what things should look like."

We spent three years in Texas, flat as a pancake. Every day I'd drive down the freeway trying to invent hills on the horizon in my head.
So I think I've made the right choice about where to live. It's not perfect, of course. The traffic has become horrible. There are gangs and shootings in the  Bay Area. And I do get the occasional fantasy about buying a cottage in England and walking to the village with my basket over my arm to buy the eggs. But then I remember that it rains in UK and I escape to Arizona to have sunshine year round. And I read the English newspapers and see that life is no longer idyllic there.

So I think I'm pretty fortunate to have lived in a place that feels right for most of my life. I lived in Sydney once with its lovely harbor--oh, and I really appreciate water nearby which is one of the reasons I couldn't live in Arizona all year. But I love my stark mountains and cactus in the winter. And in both cases having a big city within reach for concerts, art galleries etc.

So how about you--why did you choose where you live? Would you live somewhere else if you could?

LUCY BURDETTE:  For me it's salt water. My mother was an utter nut about the ocean and it rubbed off! I can remember deciding to move to Boulder when I was just out of college. I was so excited to get away from New Jersey. But the mountains closed in around me as we drove into town and I panicked. Felt so claustrophobic that I simply kept driving until I reached the other coast...

I did enjoy four years in Knoxville, TN, but my preference is to be closer to the coast.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Someone asked me just the other day at a book event why I live where I live.  Good question.  We do have a few slightly rolling hills here north of Dallas, Rhys!  I grew up here, not in the town where I live now, but close enough that it is all home territory for me, and there must be some part of me that needs that grounding.  I have had fantasies of just pulling up stakes and going somewhere completely different, but... I have family here--my mother, still, and my daughter.  We love our old house, and our town (listed as one of most desirable places to live in the US, actually.)  And I don't think Rick and I could ever agree on a different place.  He likes big mountains--Colorado, the Rockies, which don't appeal to me at all.  I love the ocean.  I love green, soft rolling hills, lots of big trees.  And I LOVE cities.  In an ideal world I would probably choose a cottage somewhere in southern England, and a flat in London.  Dream on...

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:  I'll join you in the Suffolk cottage and the flat in London, Deb!  I love where we live - a very rural area just a half hour from Maine's largest city - but I've loved everywhere I've lived. I think growing up in the military and moving so frequently in my childhood and youth gave me a different perspective on "home." My mother always said there's something to like in anyplace you go, and her philosophy has shaped how I approach my habitats. Ross and I have been in southern Maine for almost twenty-five years now (!!!)and I love the ocean and the mountains, but if we had to pull up stakes and move to, say, the flatlands of Illinois, I'd look forward to seeing what was exciting and different about the new place.

JAN BROGAN - This question is especially relevant for me because we put our house on the market with the idea of moving out of the suburbs and into the city.  We loved a few condos we saw, but when we came home and looked out into our beautiful yard with the granite ledge and everything in bloom, we looked at each other and said: Can we really move?   We're not entirely sure.

HALLIE EPHRON: I grew up in LA, but when I went to NYC for college I found the east coast much more to my liking. (Nowadays, visiting LA makes me feel old, fat, and poor.)

We live just outside Boston, walking distance to the subway. It's the perfect combination of quiet suburban (LOVE my backyard -- it calms me to sit there and watch the grass grow; I also love it that I can throw a big party and everyone can park easily on the street) and quick access to the city.

Havin' my cake...

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I grew up in flat flat flat Indiana...moved in my twenties to fabulous glorious Washington DC--loved. Power, insiders, center of the universe, it felt like. Moved to beautiful Atlanta--and it was terrific, but a much slower pace. Now after 30 years in Boston--I can't imagine living anywhere else. (South of France etc, and such, aside..) Even after all this time, I see the ocean, and think--whoa. We don't have this in Indiana.

But yeah, our 100 year old house is just outside of the city--takes us 14 minutes to get into town. Now our gardens are FILLED with tulips and the ducks are back

So let's hear from YOU. Do you live where you do because you have to for work? Or is it the place of your choosing?

Kate Carlisle

Please welcome Kate Carlisle, author of the New York Times bestselling Bibliophile Mysteries, featuring book expert Brooklyn Wainwright. She's the winner of the Golden Heart and Daphne du Maurier awards, and she spent twenty years in television production as an assistant director in game and variety shows, including The Gong Show and Solid Gold. She also has sung, acted and spent a year in law school. Today she blogs for us today about Scotland and her roots.

Finding Family

From early childhood, I’ve had a deep fascination for Scotland. I think it started in elementary school when I worked on a genealogy project. Like most Americans, my DNA comes from many countries, but I chose my Scottish ancestors as the ones with whom I most identified. My mother’s last name was Campbell, and you can’t turn a corner in Scotland without running into a Campbell or two. (Especially true when you’re not used to driving on the left side of the road!)

What allure did Scotland hold for me? I grew up in California, where “new” was synonymous with “improved,” and the only castle I’d ever seen in real life was at Disneyland. In California, a fifty-year-old building was considered old. But my people live in a place where history has visceral meaning. The past is the present, as they walk the ground where our forebears fought fierce battles, raised children, fell in love, and cursed their enemies. Traditions are clung to fiercely in a land carved out of the rocky countryside with bare and bloodied hands.

I was in my mid-twenties the first time I visited Scotland, and my love for the country was cemented immedi

ately and forever. In my heart, Scotland is my homeland. With its brooding beauty, Scotland spoke to something inside of me right from the start.

The people spoke to me, too…not that I could understand what they said! They are the warmest and friendliest people ever, but I think they’re also a little suspicious. (And who wouldn’t be, after the wars they’ve been through?) I’m convinced they exaggerate their accents when meeting tourists, as a test of our fortitude. Scots are a hearty lot, and they have no patience for namby-pambies who aren’t even resourceful enough to figure out what the hell they’re saying. No, if you ever travel to Scotland, just know that you must face the lingual challenge with determination.

When I began to write the Bibliophile Mysteries series, I knew that at least one of the books would have to be set in Edinburgh, my favorite city in the world. In If Books Could Kill, which was released this month, antique book expert Brooklyn Wainwright is a guest of honor at the Edinburgh Book Fair. A former lover asks her to protect what could well be a never before seen book of poems by Robert Burns. If authentic, the secrets revealed in this book will ignite a scandal of international proportions, a scandal that someone is willing to stop at any cost, even murder.

Edinburgh is the best mix of old and new. (And by “old,” I don’t mean fifty years old!) The modern city is built right on top of the ancient city. I was able to walk down dark and narrow steps and touch the very walls that my ancestors built.

After my travels, I feel even more connected to my Scottish heritage. It’s no wonder, really. My maiden name is Beaver, so you can imagine the teasing I got all through school. My dad (who was a regular laugh riot, let me tell you) always claimed we were Native American, named after Chief Shooting Beaver – hence the appeal of my mother’s side of the family!

Carlisle is a Scottish name. (Some say English, but I’m sticking with Scottish. Carlisle, England is right on the border of Scotland, and I think the town fathers named it such in an effort to be annexed.) You can see my coat of arms at http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/carlisle-coat-arms.htm. The Carlisle motto is “with humility.” What they don’t tell you is that humility is a necessity for a clan who keeps tripping over our own feet!

What nationality is your last name? What does it mean? What do you wish it meant? (Go ahead, make up some fun alternate meanings for your name.) What do you think your family motto should be? Rather than “with humility,” I sometimes think mine should’ve been "with fries."

Jan: Thanks Kate!! And everyone please come back tomorrow when I take on the heavy topic of euthanasia. Poinsetta-euthanasia, that is.