​Is your perfect day at the beach one where you are lying on a chaise lounge, sipping a pina colada under an umbrella made of palm tree fronds? Eighty-degree trade winds whispering sweet nothings in your ears, a good book in your hands that pushes away every worry, an afternoon nap so deep that you wake up wondering where you are as you wipe away the drool that leaked down the side of your face?  Me too. But, that’s not always possible.  Alas, the beach can be great, even off-season. Here are 6 reasons why:

​​One: You get it all to yourself! Well, almost. You may have to share it with a solitary jogger or some old guy sweeping the sand with a metal detector hoping to find treasure. You probably won’t be hit in the head with a beach ball, however, or have to listen to a boom box playing your least favorite song.

​Two: No Bathing Suit required. Phew! Tired of trying to squish those extra pounds into a bathing suit that feels more like sausage casing?  Hit the beach off-season in some warm, cozy wear. You don’t even have to do your hair, throw on a warm hat or a worn baseball cap; you’ll be in style.

​Three: You can bring Rover. Many beaches allow dogs off-season.  Dogs love to romp on the sand and toy with the waves.

Four: Wildlife watching.  Wildlife behaves wild in the off-season when us humans around invading their turf.  If you're lucky you'll see dolphins teaching their young how to surf the waves close to the beach, whales migrating to and from the south to mate and bear their young, and seagulls fetching their own dinner when they don’t have your potato chip bag to raid. Why we even spotted a pig one winter on the beach hanging with his volleyball playing beach friends.

​Five: Save money.  Waterfront hotels offer low rates. No beach pass required.

Six: Good night sleep. The beach offers that salty taste and the lulling rhythm of the waves to tune down your internal chatter all year.
​

Susan's novels feature escapes to the Caribbean. Learn more on her website www.susanallisondean.com 

​#beach #relax #books #reading 

#Nursing #Healthcare 

For those of us who love animals and understand the immense threat facing wildlife today, it has been a difficult few days. Trying to wrap our heads around why an American dentist would travel to Africa to kill an African lion is mindboggling and emotionally draining.  Below I share a few articles that have stood out about this tragic event.  Have you read any that you would like to add? Please feel free to add them in the comments and any thoughts you would like to share.

A message from Jane Goodall 
Link

Cecil the lion's death wakes up the planet! (Video)
Link

What makes rich men want to hunt beautiful animals? 
Link

Of Lions and Men: Mourning Samuel DuBose and Cecil the Lion  
Link

Why Cecil the Lion Was So Popular With People
Link

Here's why Walter Palmer keeps saying he "took" Cecil the Lion 
Link

Photo note: The image above was displayed last night on the Empire State Building honoring Cecil.  Multiple images were displayed by the Oceanic Preservation Society. Search #RacingExtinction to learn more or visit their website: www.racingextinction.com

Once again, a lone animal has taken center stage in the global arena.  This time it is a lion.  By now you have most likely heard that a beloved lion named Cecil, who lived in a protected national park in Zimbabwe, was lured off his safety zone and killed by an American trophy hunter.  The story has gone beyond viral-instantly trending on social media and continuing to do so as I write this.   He is not the first to reach international fame.

Pre-social media, there was Keiko, an orca who lived in a decrepit, cramped pool in Mexico City.  His story became the hit movie, Free Willy.  As the public became aware of Keiko’s plight, global momentum built until he was finally freed.  Years later, the documentary, Blackfish, highlighted the plight of a collection of orcas who live, and continue to live, at Seaworld.  Does the trauma of capitivty lead these orcas to live enslaved, anxiety-ridden lives to the point that they will kill humans?  Watch the documentary and judge for yourself.  Millions across the world have already voted ‘yes’ with their dollars by banning visits to Seaworld and other captive animal entertainment venues.

The ‘Blackfish Effect’ as this global movement is now called, went into overdrive when another animal freedom ambassador, Angel, was captured.  Angel, was part of a dolphin super pod brutally trapped in the cove of Taiji, Japan in 2014.  The juvenile dolphin was plucked from the pod immediately because of her all white skin.  Albino dolphins are rare.  The Japanese fisherman saw dollar signs.  The world watched as activist organizations; The Dolphin Project and Sea Shepard’s Cove Guardians, reported live with images of the abductions and slaughter of the rest of the pod.

Just a month later in 2014 the dark side of zoos came to light as video and images from a zoo in Copenhagen, Denmark shot a young giraffe, Marius, in the head then carved it into pieces for the zoo lions to eat.   All of this happened in front of a live audience including children.  Yes, lions may prey on giraffes in the wild, but to slaughter a healthy giraffe because it doesn’t fit into the zoos breeding program is another manmade dilemma.  Zoos lost their innocence that day for many who thought bringing their family there for the day was a delightful thing to do.  Once again, campaigns, petitions, calls to lawmakers ensued.

The global outrage at inhumane treatment of animals clearly shows that despite the gut wrenching, atrocious acts some humans are capable of, there are millions of humans with kind, compassionate hearts.  The synergy this latter group creates with the aid of social media now allows them to roar louder, and potentially create change faster. Within hours of Cecils death, a campaign for the White House reached over 100,000 signatures triggering a response from the White House.  Within days, Botswana banned sports hunting and   U.S. Senators introduced the “Cecil Act” to prevent the import of hunting trophies. 

Nearly half of the world’s wildlife has been eliminated in the last forty years. If we are going to halt this decent, we will need more active wildlife advocates, leaders who act proactively and humans who will let them be wild.

Hey, it’s Shark Week, that time of year everyone gathers around their TVs to watch great white sharks fly through the air!  So then it’s probably a good time to read IN DEEP, my contemporary romance novel which champions sharks, isn’t it? “No,” I can hear you say, “they’re horrible man-eaters.”

Not so fast, shark-hater. These ancient predators, which predate dinosaurs, are essential to ocean health, keeping coral reefs clean as well as balancing populations of other marine animals.  If they go extinct (a possibility with certain species!), there will be ripples throughout the food chain that will affect every single one of us.

Surprised?  Yup, it’s true.  These are the facts you learn when you’re fascinated with sharks, as I have been since I was a young girl.  I cannot explain why exactly other than I find them transfixing. What I can tell you is that my passion to protect them is fueled by the “who cares” attitude of the general public when the world has slaughtered 90% of shark populations.  Think about that.  Ninety percent! It’s staggering.  That this ever occurred and that the media/entertainment industries still insist on demonizing them and sensationalizing each encounter with humans is crazy.

With that, I ask you to please enjoy Shark Week with a newfound respect and appreciation for sharks.

As a writer, I feel I get to know my story’s characters intimately.  They begin to fill my every thought: what they look like, what they want to say, the conflicts in their lives, and the emotions they feel.  Conveying all this to paper, however, so a reader will know them as well as I do, is the challenging part. Unlike a story told in a conversation, a reader cannot stop me mid-sentence when something doesn’t make sense to them or they need further clarification.  Writers only have one chance to draw these characters.  It’s especially important that they connect with the story’s protagonist, the main character.

Think back to your favorite story character.  A character you were sorry to see go when you turned the last page of the book.  Who was it? Why did you connect with them so deeply?  What about them resonates with you to this day? I’m hoping to perfect my story writing by creating protagonists so engaging you won’t be able to put the book down.   I would love to hear your answers to these questions.

If historical fiction helps us learn about history in the form of an entertaining story, environmental fiction offers to do the same about the environment.  And, gosh, there is a lot for us to learn: factors influencing climate change, threats to wildlife, recycling options, renewable energy. Need I go on?  It seems we can’t escape the changes; they are the front page of nearly every media source.  Even the Pope is making it an international priority.

The difference between historical and environmental fiction, however, is environmental offers the opportunity to educate us on ways to prevent or change our behaviors before things get worse.  Heroic protagonists take us to the extremes of these issues-makes us aware and invite us to join them in making this planet a better place.  The reader is given a superhero cape to wear at the end of the last page.  The choice to don it is ours.   But as film director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, says about her award-winning documentary, Blackfish, “Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.” The same is true for reading.

Environmental Fiction offers a wide canvas for writers today and new stories for readers.  Have you read a book that you’ve enjoyed in this genre? 

Susan Allison-Dean’s novels include issues affecting dolphins and whales. Order them today at your favorite online bookstore.

#environment #AmReading #books 

If a local restaurant were giving away your favorite meal, for free, would you go?  Yup, me too.  And so would quite a few of your family, friends and neighbors.  The restaurant would be packed.  People might start getting cranky waiting online.  Your mouth would start to water in anticipation.  Maybe so many people would come that the restaurant ran out.  Then what?

The recent shark bites in North Carolina is indeed tragic.  My prayers go out to the two teenagers who both lost limbs just hours apart while enjoying the ocean.  But before we go on a shark hunt, lets take a deeper look at that day.

I have been to several beaches along the North Carolina shore.  They are exquisite-warm, not too rough, on a calm day they can almost mimic the Caribbean waters. People of all ages take surfing lessons, couples stand up paddle a mile out, thousands of people cool off from the sweltering heat. I’ve seen sharks swim right along the shore.  Last summer, in fact, while watching dolphins fish out in the distance, a large shark about 7 feet long swam in the crest of a wave right in between people bobbing in the water.  
           
“Did you see that?” my friend sitting next to me exclaimed as a middle-age woman fled the water and silently mouthed, “Shark!” to her husband.

“Yeah,” I replied as the shark meandered on, the other swimmers completely oblivious.

Truth is, that those of us who love the ocean may have had a shark pass by at some point.  If you watch the tagged sharks on Ocearch, you may very well see large great whites coming near your favorite beach.  I know I have, several times. Twitter sensation @MaryLeeShark is a frequent visitor to the North Carolina waters where I go.

So what went wrong on June  off of Oak Island?  A perfect storm.  According to local ABC11 EyewitnessNews,  fisherman were shark fishing off a local pier, inviting sharks to feed with bloody chum.  It was late in the afternoon.  Perhaps the water was a bit murky.  Those sharks were most likely pumped up to eat and they feasted on what was in the water. 

The Raleigh, North Carolina area is booming.  Forbes and other magazines have rated it the number one city to find a job.  And guess where those relocated people go to relax-the North Carolina shores.  Once again, man versus nature and it’s complications is in front of us.

Knowing North Carolina, there are probably local residents who have been shark fishing on those piers for generations.  It’s not easy to just end a common practice.  Hopefully, the local leaders and residents can work something out with shark scientists.  Luckily, there are some really good ones now.

In the meanwhile, we can take the advice of shark researchers this summer.  A brochure is available from @SeaGrantNC and @NOAAFish_SERO put together these tips.

What are your thoughts? Will you be swimming in the ocean this summer?

Update: A seventh victim of multiple shark bites In North Carolina was reported yesterday, July 1st.  Here is the latest from shark experts via Ocearch: link.


Susan Allison-Dean is a writer and dolphin/whale advocate. Her women's fiction novels include issues affecting marine life.
#sharks #NorthCarolina 

     Ahhh….summer.  The smell of fresh cut grass, tomato sandwiches followed by cantaloupe so sweet and juicy it drips down your chin.  As the temperatures go higher, we all seem to go slower.  The perfect time to chillax in our favorite spot-an Adirondack chair on the back deck, poolside in a chaise lounge or a towel sprawled across the sand.  The sound of chirping birds, kids screaming with delight or waves thrusting themselves onshore serenading us.
     Having this uninterrupted time to indulge in a good book, undisturbed, in no hurry seems a luxury these days for many of us.  This coveted pause in life is treat, my favorite time to read. For me, a good beach read is one that I feel I get to know the characters intimately.  Perhaps they take me to a time, a place or situation I’ve never experienced.  It’s a book that makes me not want to leave the beach even though the sun is starting to set.  It’s a book that makes me feel an emotion, be it laugh, cry or occasionally fear. 
     The hallmark sign of a great beach read is, of course, when we share it with a friend after we’ve finished it.

 What makes a great beach read for you?

 Love Women’s Fiction?  Fill your summer bag with signed copies from 6 authors this season.   Enter to win here: Contest

#BeachRead #BeachBook