Blog - Susan Abel Sullivan, author

Meet Boo & Bunny Foo Foo

6/3/2016

Nature abhors a vacuum. When two elderly members of what I refer to as The Sullivan Zoo died earlier this year from old age, I vowed to not take in or bring home any more animals until the zoo was down to only a couple of critters.

But when I noticed the baby bunnies at the pet store, particularly the Lionhead rabbits with their fluffy manes, my heart went pitter pat and before you know it, the Sullivan Zoo was up two new members.

Meet Boo and Bunny Foo Foo: two male Lionhead bunnies who are about 5-6 months old. The hubs and I had a pet rabbit a long, long time ago, but rabbit care has really advanced since then. I had no idea that rabbits do best in bonded pairs or trios and that they like to climb and will toss toys and cardboard tubes.

I ordered the book Training Your Pet Rabbit from Amazon after stumbling upon rabbit agility competitions on YouTube. Who knew you could train a rabbit? Boo and Bunny already know the sound of a treat bag being opened. I have high hopes for their Rabbit-Olympics aspirations--ha!

Another advancement in the world of bunny keeping is the variety of treats, toys and accessories for rabbits. Bunnies can be litter box trained like cats and ferrets. And as with cats, experts recommend neutering for male rabbits. The boys will be saying good-bye to their "boys" in a couple of weeks when we drop them off at the vet to be altered.

So yes, I've delved into the world of buns (rabbit-owner lingo for bunnies) and now have two new somebunnies to love.

Dog Gone

4/12/2016

Moxie's last day: at the beach

It's been a sad month at Casa Sullivan. Our sweet dog Moxie--the inspiration for Luna in my novel The Weredog Whisperer--passed away on March 10.

An Amazon reviewer wrote: Why did the author choose a pit bull as the main character instead of another breed? If they'd read the author's note at the end of the book, they would have found out that I based Luna on my amazing dog, Moxie, who also happens to be a pit bull. Writers are advised to write what they know, and I knew how wonderful pit bulls were from owning one, as well as the bad reputation the breed suffers from a few a**hole people who are into dog fighting.

Our best estimates put Moxie at fourteen years of age. We adopted her from a shelter nine years ago almost to the month and she was maybe four to six-years old then. She developed cancer and we made the difficult decision to allow her to pass over peacefully with a veterinarian's assistance.

The day before her appointment we took her to Fernandina Beach in Florida where dogs are allowed. Even though the radiator on my hubby's car blew a gasket on the way and we were stranded at a mechanic's shop, we rented a car and continued on to the beach since his car wouldn't be ready for days. No way were we going to let anything keep us from making Moxie's last day on Earth special.

Her epitaph reads: Moxie--the BEST dog EVER!

Fun With Spiders

2/10/2016

Sheldon Cooper [Big Bang Theory] might have fun with flags, but I have Fun with Spiders.

The lump on the right in the photo above is my "pet" kitchen spider. If spiders ick you out, think of her as a science experiment. She and I co-exist amicably. I don't tear down her web or harass her, and she, in return, catches bugs and sucks out their juices, and then tosses the empty husks onto the counter beside the sink (much like a vampire!) In the words of Mr. Spock from Star Trek, I find her "fascinating."

I have no idea what kind of spider she is. I can tell what she isn't: she's not a black widow and I'm reasonably sure she's not a brown recluse since they're more, uh, reclusive. Her body is about the size of my pinkie nail. No interesting colors or distinguishing marks.

A few months ago, what I presumed was a male spider of her species showed up at her bachelorette web. They co-habitated for several days and then one morning, I noticed his lifeless husk of a body on the counter with the rest of Ms. Spider's dinner remains. They must've done the dirty, though, before she sucked the life out of him: she's been producing egg sacs like an automated assembly line. I had no idea spiders were so PROLIFIC!

Right now she has two egg sacs incubating at the top of her web. Last week there were four. Each time a sac reaches maturity, I'll see what looks like a mass of dirt specks in the web beside a broken-open sac. Since I don't have a magnifying glass to get a closer look, I'm thinking the specks are actually itty-bitty Ms. Spiders.

Where do they go after they hatch? I really don't know. It's not like we have hundreds of spiders taking over my kitchen. Does Ms. Spider eat her young? I don't know that, either. They seem too small to have enough life blood for her to drink.

What I do know is she is a baby-making machine. And if these egg sacs are the result of only one mating session, then all I can say is, "Cowabunga, man!"

Female spiders are the ultimate feminists: they need their males for only two things: copulation and dinner--literally. Once they've had their way with their mates, they kill 'em and drink 'em dry. And in the spider world, it's not only legal, but natural and expected. Just goes to show there are more things in this world than are dreamt of in our philosophies.

Check out the gallery below for more fuzzy pix of Ms. Spider and her egg sacs!

Tossed and Found: from Junk to Treasure

1/20/2016

The Steiff poodle that started it all

I love to treasure hunt in thrift stores. One man's junk can literally be another man's treasure and I have found my share of treasures at thrift stores and on eBay. For me, it's mostly about the hunt: what will I find that someone else has tossed or donated?

According to Steven W. Anderson, a neurologist who studies hoarding behavior, the need to collect stems from a basic drive to find and gather basic supplies such as food. Collecting can involve expensive items such as artwork, signed editions and rare antiques, or inexpensive or "free" objects such as bird feathers, sea shells or stamps.

Not only do I enjoy the thrill of finding valuable items for mere dollars at thrift stores, but I also love to beachcomb. Often as I hunt for sea shells, I'm struck by how primitive man probably did the same exact thing for survival, searching for edibles, usable materials and even pretty stones and shells to make trinkets and jewelry with.

One of my particular passions is soft sculpture, especially artist-made teddy bears hand-sewn from mohair and alpaca, as well as vintage Steiff stuffed animals (also made from mohair) that are toys, antiques and works of art. (Steiff is a German manufacturer of dolls and stuffed animals and has been in business since the early 1900s.)

Four years ago, much to my absolute delight, I discovered the Steiff poodle pictured above at Center of Hope thrift store in Oxford, Alabama. It was just one of many donated stuffed animals crammed onto a shelf. As soon as I touched it, I knew it was mohair. Mohair is made from the wool of the Angora goat and has a slightly oily feel to it that man-made plush doesn't have. A Google search quickly confirmed that what I had was a genuine Steiff made during the 1950s-1960s, and I later validated that by identifying the poodle in the Steiff Sortiment (a catalog of everything Steiff has ever made).

I paid a buck for the Steiff poodle. It's estimated value is over $250. Not a bad find.

The tigers in the photo above are also vintage Steiff from the 1950s and were found on eBay for a great price, too.

One of my goals this year is to write an eBook on the ins and out of thrift-store shopping and bargain hunting. Not only are these past-times green (recycling used possessions), but they're also fun and relatively inexpensive. Plus you never know just what you might find on an excursion to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

Check out the gallery below for more pix of some of my vintage Steiff finds!

Inspiration from Recreation

12/31/2015

The writing life is predominantly about putting your butt in your writing chair and doing the work.

However, taking some time to actually live life gives you something to write about. The word recreation comes from the root words of re and create meaning to re-create or to create again. So participating in recreational activities is not goofing off, but bolstering your creativity.

I took some time off yesterday to visit the Jax Zoo in Jacksonville, Florida with the hubs. The bright sunny day with a high of 85 degrees had me wondering if I'd slipped into a time warp and skipped ahead to May or June.

We admired the giant tortoise named Goober (a children's book title if I ever heard one) and discovered that some elephants are quite hairy--perhaps a throwback to their wooly mammoth ancestors?

But my "aha!" moment of inspiration arrived when we stopped by the vulture exhibit. One of these large birds was sunning himself beside the viewing area with his wings extended. And I realized that my fictional school for the supernaturally challenged didn't have any vultures. I snapped a photo to remind myself to work vultures into the novel, either as a pet, a school mascot or even a were-vulture.

But wait, my muse wasn't done yet. The next exhibit contained fruit bats. I'd never been able to find them during previous visits, but yesterday I finally noticed them hanging against the back wall of their area. One bat was awake and grooming itself like a cat! I didn't know bats did that! How cool, especially since my novel-in-progress has bats and vampires.

So going to the zoo gave me not one but two new bits of fun inspiration to weave into my novel.

And if you're still not sure if you should take a break from work to go do something fun, just remember Jack Torrance from Stephen King's The Shining typing pages and pages of: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Now go out there and recreate, after all, tomorrow's a holiday.

The Force Awakens

12/18/2015

With the anticipation of a giddy teen, I saw STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS this afternoon in 3D.

My review: LOVED IT!

I even felt chills near the end (I won't say which scene due to spoilers) which is a difficult emotional/physiological reaction for films to evoke in me. The only thing more significant than chills are tears and it just wasn't a tear jerker kind of movie.

I went into the movie theater with high hopes and was not disappointed in any way. THE FORCE AWAKENS lives up to all its hype. The special effects didn't smother the story like they did in the last three Star Wars movies. The plot harkened back to the very first Star Wars film: A NEW HOPE.

The wait for the next installment will be agonizing, but I have been inspired by THE FORCE AWAKENS to get my novel-in-progress finished and out into the world. Like George Lucas, Disney, and J.J. Abrams, I'd love to bring joy to millions of children and adults through my writing. For me, the act of writing isn't complete without an audience (or readership.)

And having a movie or movies made from my works wouldn't be half bad, either.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS--Go see it. :-)

Star Wars Anticipation

12/16/2015

Hello, my name is Susan and I'm a huge Star Wars fan.

I saw the original Star Wars movie the summer of 1977. I was only fourteen and had to beg my mom to take me to see it since I couldn't drive yet. Seventeen Magazine had featured the film in their movies column with a photo of C3PO. Horror movie lover that I was, I thought he was some sort of metallic skeleton and wanted to see the movie on the basis of that alone.

Boy, were my assumptions ever wrong.

Back in 1977, movie theaters were still huge. The "Big Screen" was literally a BIG screen. Gargantuan, actually. Most movie houses only had two large theaters that could probably seat a thousand people or more. Lines would often form outside the theater and worm down the sidewalk to wrap around the theater for the most popular movies. You couldn't buy tickets more than half an hour ahead of time and the internet wouldn't be reality for twenty more years, so if you wanted to guarantee yourself a seat in a popular movie, you had to show up ahead of time and wait in line to buy your ticket. The age of multiplex theaters with numerous small-screen theaters was still a few years away.

Seeing a movie on such a big screen was literally a larger-than-life experience. You felt totally immersed in the world of the film you were seeing and for me, I'd "fall" into the world I was watching, something that doesn't tend to happen with smaller theaters or when watching a movie on TV because I'm constantly aware that I'm watching a movie instead of feeling that I've fallen down a rabbit hole into a different world.

The original Star Wars absolutely blew me away in every respect: film making, story, special effects, music, costuming, and acting. I was totally gaga for Luke Skywalker and could relate to bossy Princess Leia.

Star Wars influenced the first novel I ever wrote when I was in college and made me a life-long fan of movie-music composer John Williams. I used to disco dance to Meco's Star Wars at school dances and Big John's Teen Disco in Pensacola, Florida. My high school marching band played the Star Wars theme in one of our half-time shows. I choreographed a baton-twirling solo to "The Throne Room/End Credits" music from the movie's soundtrack. I had a Star Wars movie poster on my bedroom wall, as well as a Star Wars calendar. Even now, at the age of 52, I have an official Star Wars light saber that looks and sounds pretty darn real when you turn it on.

So yeah, you could say that I'm ridiculously excited about seeing The Force Awakens this weekend at the movie theater. The early reviews are touting it for an Oscar nomination and the prediction is that it will be the biggest box office turnout of the 21st century. When I heard that the Disney company had bought the rights from George Lucas, I did a happy dance with high hopes that they'd do the next three films right. Based on the early reviews, it sounds like they have and will. All I can say is I can't wait for the weekend to arrive.

"May the Force be with you!"

Halloween Hangover: Not What You Think

11/14/2015

Halloween has come and gone once again, but my favorite holiday tends to hang over until Thanksgiving in the form of a miniature Halloween Village that seems to grow each year like the Blob.

I'm only 14 days behind...or 344 days ahead depending on how you look at it.
Check out the YouTube link below for a tour

American Horror Story: Jack-o-zombie!

10/26/2015

From the looks of this sad, pathetic pumpkin you'd think it had been sitting out on the front porch for more than a month.

Nope. This jack-o-lantern turned into a jack-o-zombie in only four days. Eeeeeee!

I grew up in the little town of Gulf Breeze on the humid Florida Gulf Coast and I don't ever recall a carved pumpkin rotting so damn quickly. But down here in the most southern part of coastal Georgia, jack-o-lanterns apparently become jack-o-zombies in mere days rather than weeks.
And we haven't even had the torrential rains in the past month that we had all summer.

Next year I'll know to hold off on putting out the jack-o-lantern until three days before Halloween.

But in the meantime, I've got another jack-o-lantern to carve. Fingers crossed that it doesn't become a zombie until the day afternoon Halloween: November 1, The Day of the Dead. Check out the slide show below.

The Halloween Countdown is On!

10/25/2015

What's Halloween without a cute pair of Count and Countess Dracula salt & pepper shakers to adorn your dining room table?

I found this adorable couple at an antique store in Yulee, Florida a few years ago. At a $5 price tag, they were way too awesome to pass up.

The Count reminds me of the character of Grandpa from the TV show The Munsters and the Countess reminds me of Grandpa's daughter, Lily Munster.

So what cool or novel Halloween decoration do you have and do you display it year round or only in October? Inquiring minds want to know.