K. Van Kramer

Because of hurricanes like Helene, and Hurricane Milton, I think back to a storm we had in Florida a few years ago called Storm Debby. Known as Cape Verde storms, they form in the far eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands, off the coast of West Africa. T here wasn't much warning in the news. It was just a tropical depression. A storm. At the time I had a home on Shore Acres. A beautiful area but only 4 ft above sea level prone to flooding. We had debated this before purchasing the home but this was a stilt home design with most of the living space upstairs. It was a rookie mistake that we didn't prepare for Debby. We figured the garage might get flooded but never bothered to get sandbags or lift up a stair area in the back to keep water from getting in through the patio. I'm usually a forward thinker and a planner, but I didn't have my head wrapped around flooding or storms quite yet. We began to notice very quickly that Debby was a small, compact storm with a ba

Here comes adventure in K. Van Kramer's new book, 'Six And A Half Days To Cairo.' When a body is found wrapped like a mummy in Interwar London, Scottish journalist Caitlynn Quinn realizes an ancient artifact may hold the key to solving the murder. By: Silver Leaf Books HOLLISTON, Mass. - Nov. 7, 2023 - PRLog -- Silver Leaf Books announces the availability of the new cozy mystery by author K. Van Kramer, enabling interested cozy mystery fans to purchase the upcoming hardcover, or Kindle version which is currently available. Set in 1937 London, 'Six And A Half Days To Cairo,' combines mystery, high drama, and romance when Scottish journalist and aviatrix, Caitlynn Fox Quinn, becomes embroiled in a mystery and decides to help solve the crime of a murdered neighbor and Egyptologist. Haunted by strange dreams of a mummy, a suspicious attack, and finding a clue in her neighbor's flat, she's convinced that a legendary artifact could be connected to the case. This

Fascist movements are seizing power in leading nations, and England waits nervously.  Caitlynn Quinn, half Scottish and half British, lives in the heart of London, during a dark hour, on the verge of war. Squashed between the stock market crash and the rise of the Nazis, couples drink champagne, and women wear backless silk evening gowns, held up by only a yoke or spaghetti straps. Slinky and moving about, Caitlynn endures inequality with style. Caitlyn works at a newspaper but she has more leisure time than we do today and embraces social pursuits as a part of her routine life. She doesn't have the same technology we do, but Cailynn gets around using the Tube and catches the bus. She has a personal phone and her own automobile. She also likes to fly, working on her pilots-A license. She's educated and well-read and loves to see a film. Caitlynn lives in an era of uncertainty, and poverty,  juxtaposed against luxury, brocade, fringes, and ornamental brass. Just a part of the my

While it's commonly believed that our genes account for 60% of how we behave and think, I believe the actual number may be closer to 80%.  I'm an identical twin, and let's just say, because of that, I've experienced some weird DNA stuff.  For instance, walking into a store, picking out a shirt, coming home, and finding out my sister picked out the same exact one. Her likes and her dislikes, her traits and her preferences, are almost identical to mine, and that's why they say DNA serves as the blueprint for our lives. It's also a code that is unique, but MBTI tries to determine what a few of these distinctive traits are and see who else might share the same types of characteristics.  I will begin with my past when my teachers considered me a good student. While some may have thought of me as average, others believed I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. But it wasn't until I took the WISC-V Test (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children), similar to an

Also known as the Antikthyera device, The Dial Of Destiny has always fascinated me,  so I'm reposting my archived blog from 2017. (Especially since the latest movie  Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny has brought it to light again.) The story begins with a famous Greek mathematician named  Archimedes - the Eureka man as many people know him. The word "Eureka" has to do with a famous legend when Archimedes yelled out "Eureka!" as he ran naked in a street after he watched his own tub water overflow. He calculated that the water that overflowed could be measured equating his mass in the tub.  Therefor being able to solve the problem of mass.  With an instructive script carved into it that places it around 200 B.C.,  The Antikythera mechanism is his just one of his inventions, and extremely unusual because it has the first known set of scientific dials or scales.  The Antikthyera is actually an ancient clock, and something more like an analogue computer.  The dev

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I made the mistake of taking lunch at 1 p.m. and returned to work late at 2:30. The server was late with the bill, and traffic didn't go my way, so I returned late at 2:30. No one needed me all morning. No one needed anything from me at 11 or 12, or even 1. But everyone definitely noticed I was out until 2:30.  "Sorry late from lunch," I muttered.   "Doctors appointment?"  "No, really just late from lunch, you know, slow service." "Where were you? Did you hear my message?"  "Respond to my email?"  I'm here to warn you, if you are unfamiliar with 'proper" lunch etiquette your happy lunch hour can  make it seem like you're some kind of slacker.  Feeling annoyed, I called a close friend  and and she set me straight right away.  "Oh dear. Don't you know the rule? You ALWAYS take lunch at 11 a.m" she said firmly.  "What do you mean?" I asked.  "The thing is,