Dede Sophie

Readers, please join me welcoming Susan Wilson, author of One Good Dog , who’s guest blogging here today. Susan Wilson is the author of Beauty – a modern retelling of Beauty And The Beast which was made into a CBS TV movie—as well as four other novels. One Good Dog is the story of a man who is down on his luck, and a dog who is all out of chances. Together they discover the true meaning of salvation, redemption, and unconditional love. Thank you so much for inviting me to guest blog on A BOOK BLOGGER’S DIARY. I love your site and hope that this is the start of a long association. As we learned from the election in 2008, grassroots are the strongest. We’re all brought up to believe that success is measured in the New York Times Review of Books, but the truth is, it’s here, among readers who love good books and love to talk about them. My latest novel, ONE GOOD DOG, appeals on several levels: it’s a dog story, it’s a redemption story, and, ultimately, it’s a love ...

Most of us are familiar with the rich, bright blooms of Bougainvillea cultivars, but on our recent visit to Madeira Botanical gardens we were surprised to come across this hugely long pagoda thickly covered in a selection of well-established Bougainvilleas. Not only was it impressive simple due its size and length, it provided welcome respite form the summer sun. So why not join myself and Lorna as we make our way through this gorgeous example of hard and soft landscaping and listen to our ramblings as we go. For context, size records for bougainvillea spectabilis are not really kept for this species  however one of the largest known girths for the Bougainvillea is in Madeira at 1.35m. Unfortunately that specimen can be found at the Passio Publico do Lido. Funchal and not here in the Botanical Gardens. Be that as it may this is still the largest stretch of specimens we have ever seen