After the break of the Blog-Hop

Good Morning everybody.

The Blog-hop gave me the chance to take a short break, from this blog, and the reason why I didn't post anything during this two weeks, was to make sure that whoever participated to the competition could find the blog right away without going to search through the directory.
Now that the blog-hop has concluded I would like once again to thank all those who participated and joined the fun.
I really hope you also found some great read between those offered.

So what’s new here? Well, as a wandering writer, I can feel now the time for the big trip to Africa arrive. This journey that will bring me to the core of the voodoo practices will not just be inspiring for the topic I can show you on this blog, but also for a novel idea I had in my mind.
The genre will be a paranormal thriller and will bring you in the heart of black Africa searching for its mysteries and cults.
As a traveler, this is going to be an incredible chance to return to places I love and to meet new people, discovering new places and cultures to enrich myself, so the countdown is now set for about a couple of months.
One thing I have started to get excited about is aerial photography, and for this purpose, I have got myself a drone.

Now, I have never ever had a drone in my hand, and I had no idea about what to expect or whether it would have been easy to learn using it or not. For this reason, I decided to start with something that would have been cost-effective, suitable for a beginner but enough developed to get started with aerial photography.
The first thing I had to do was orienting myself in the jungle of the offers and see what actually would have been the best budget drone. Millions were the offers ranging from a few bucks to thousands of bucks. Now, as a first experience, I kept my budget low, but I wanted to have something that could fly for longer than just five minutes. I also wanted it to have a decent camera.
With these requests, it started to be obvious that I had to invest a minimum something like 300 $, which was already out of my “beginner’s budget.”
Like I always say, never stow at the first offers, search and get as many information as possible, particularly when you are approaching something new. The best is always giving yourself the time to study and gather as many information as possible, so to be able to get better oriented on your choices and the offers.
That said, after a few months of search, I have finally found something that could suit my needs. The drone costs 52 $ has a 21 minutes flight time, voice control, HD camera. Practically something I could definitely start with and eventually also fall in love.
Here is the little fellow:

Let’s say that the first approach with it was a bit dramatic but the drone is revealing itself is resistant even to the clumsy user like me, and despite the initial crashes, it still works like a charm.
I would like to spend some more time about the adventures of a clumsy beginner drone operator, but it might require a longer blog. Therefore, to avoid getting you bored reading an endless blog, I will break this topic into, at least a couple of blogs, describing my first experience from zero to excitement.
Stay tuned!

OAG 6 Days Blog-Hop #10 Stop

Welcome to the #10 stop 5 of the 6 days OAG blog-hop

Visit every blog that participates in this fun blog-hop and collect 12 words (hidden in the text of the posts between 6 asterisks).

If you visit every blog on the list at the end of this post and collect the 12 words, you'll have a quote about writing.

At the last stop enter the correct quote in the CONTEST ENTRY form.

The # 10 secret word is hidden on this page, in the text, between 6 asterisks.

Find the secret word below

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Something keeps Laura Jefferson up at night. Maybe it’s the Boston traffic, maybe the sounds of the city outside her apartment window, maybe the stresses of day to day life. Whatever it is, when she’s offered a radical treatment at a secluded hotel, she doesn’t even hesitate.

But while the hotel is perfect, the grounds idyllic, ***hardest***  and Dr. Wright and his staff friendly and eager to help, it isn’t long before Laura’s fellow patients begin acting strangely, some even dropping out of the program altogether, disappearing into the night. As Laura loses chunks of time, a detective arrives, and the questions at the heart of the hotel begin to unravel.
Continuing the trilogy, Deadly Deception -Insomniac- draws closer to the mystery of Dr. Wright’s research, and the lies behind Laura’s perfect night of sleep.
Find out more following the LINK TO DEADLY DECEPTION - INSOMNIAC

LINK TO THE FIRST BOOK OF THE TRILOGY

LINK TO OTHER BOOKS FOR SALE

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ME

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The list of the participating blogs

#1 stop May 12

https://www.authorerikamszabo.com/my-thinking-board

#2 stop May 12

http://www.weigandchris.com/blog

#3 stop May 13

https://www.goldenboxbooks.com/blog

#4 stop May 13

https://rtranbooks.net/

#5 stop May 14

http://sonnetodelldustypages.blogspot.com

#6 stop May 14

https://www.hrhobbsbooks.com/blog

#7 stop May 15

https://www.rmgarino.com/blog

#8 stop May 15

https://cindysvoices.blogspot.com/

#9 stop May 16

http://pattymacfarlane.weebly.com/blog

#10 stop May 16

http://paperpenandinkwell.blogspot.com/index.html

#11 stop May 17

https://urbanhype101.wordpress.com/

#12 stop May 17

https://www.authorerikamszabo.com/my-thinking-board

Thank you for playing with us!

Hop on to the next blog to find the next hidden word

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Under the Tuscany's sky - part 2

As promised you last week, here I am back talking about the beauties of the smiling town of Fiesole in the Florence province. Last time I lingered talking about the beauties of the archaeological site. Today we will conclude the tour of the city with a couple of other sights, which anyway do not make the whole of the attraction in the town at all.
What is interesting is that in most of the places I have ever visited, there is always a certain degree of little details which are going eventually to escape the attention of the traveler. This is not necessarily due to the lack of time one has at his availability to discover new places, but also to the richness of every single town, city or village.
Moreover, we also need to consider that nothing ever remains the same and the changes result in new sightseeings.
That said, let’s start with another oasis of peace, the monastery of St. Francis. The church was historically an old hermitage which was built in 1399, which was enlarged at the end if 1400 and restored in 1905.

The complex includes a church and a convent.
The church is rather small but absolutely beautiful reflecting a simple Gothic style of the period.
Inside, like all the monasteries have a small garden with a well for the water, which harmony will invite the visitor to linger and contemplate about the beauties of life and nature. Particularly enjoyable in the complete silence that surrounds the site.

On the upper floor is it still possible to visit the places where once upon a time the monks had their cells, which nowadays are transferred on a backside of the monastery and that is not possible to visit (unless you decide to join the monastic life).

The cells were once upon a time occupied by important names like that of St Bernardino of Siena.
He was an Italian priest and Franciscan missionary. Nowadays we would not consider his preaching as an example of tolerance because it was frequently directed, among the others, against sodomy (homosexuality) and Jews. Nevertheless, we also need to consider the times when he was living.
Despite that, Bernardino was later canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint, where he is also referred to as “the Apostle of Italy” for his efforts to revive the country's Catholic faith during the 15th century.
The cells of the monks reflect the frugality of their life dedicated mostly to the prayers and contemplation rather than to the materiality of the existence.

The scenery that can be enjoyed from the yard of the church is absolutely amazing giving a full panoramic view of the city of Florence and the surrounding mountains, which completes the beauty and peace of the monastic life. There you really find yourself far from the noises of the busy city life, to make you believe to be transported to another dimension from where is possible to look at our modern life from a different perspective.

Indeed Fiesole is a lovely spot, a must visit, when traveling to Florence, together with all the surrounding beauties, so wherever you go on holiday, don’t limit your wanderings to the main city, take the time to visit the surroundings to find real gems to fall in love with.