Richard took this photo of me yesterday. It was taken in our garden; you can see part of the thick curtain of glossy ivy which climbs up the wooden fence by the contorted hazel tree, right by the entrance to the Grove or "circular lawn" as I obliquely describe it in my latest Hubpage: http://hubpages.com/hub/Adeles-Garden

The photo was taken for use with my author's bio for a horror/dark fantasy anthology to be edited by Raven Digitalis, who started this project two years ago. Raven intends to submit the MS to an interested prospective publisher on October 1st. My contribution was Spanish Jones, part one of which was broadcast live on 7 Waves Radio in October last year. It's a tale of pirates, selkies and witches fighting to the death on Hilbre Island and Middle Eye. Anyway, here's hoping that the MS will be accepted.

Meanwhile, Riverside Writers have now received one quote for printing our anthology. Obviously we're waiting for other quotes to come in, but already it looks like being a choice between two local companies. I sent emails to members this morning to tell them Gary Smailes from Bubblecow http://www.bubblecow.co.uk/ will be joining us at the next meeting.

Yesterday Richard arrived home clutching Cajun chicken and two wonderfully dreadful films: one had Godzilla and Rodan battling with a three-headed chicken-ish winged thingy, and the other film featured a giant shark (which ate San Francisco bridge and leapt skywards to chomp a plane) battling to the death with a giant octopus, which ate a few ships and an oil rig or two. Both films deserve a place beside Shark in Venice! and King Kong Lives - the one where Kong has a heart transplant and takes a fancy to a Lady Kong with a ginger rinse. Awful but hilarious, all. The Cajun chicken was good, too - peppery spicey, just as it should be.

Richard's not feeling too perky today, due to having one of his migraines. He took the dogs for a long walk on Caldy Hill this morning to try and clear his head, and now he's in his den listening to another Dr Who audio play--he has oodles of them.

My right shoulder is aching badly. I suspect I've developed a strain of some kind due to spending too long in a fixed position at the computer. Any ideas, anyone?

Meanwhile, I've been working on a short Fantasy story set on Hilbre Island in 61 AD., when a small community of Druids lived on there (according to my story, anyway.) The currently untitled tale is partially about the annihilation of the Druids in Ynys Mon/Anglesey on the orders of the Roman Emperor Nero, and carried out by Suetonius Paulinus. So far I've written 2,500 words of it, and the finished story will probably be 3,000.

A much larger range of merchandise for Richie Tattoo Artist has now been added to our range. There are t-shirts of many styles, plus baseball caps, mousemats, aprons, bags and so on. Take a look at the whole gallery at http://www.zazzle.com/AdeleCB

http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/blogs/booksblog/adelecosgrovebray/display.var.1587938.0.haunted_hilbre.php

The above link will carry you off to my latest post on the Wirral Globe, which talks about Hilbre Island, site of several of my stories including Seagull Inn and Spanish Jones.

I thought I'd offer you some photos to give you a better idea of the site, which is arrived at by waiting for the Irish Sea to turn tide and leave an expanse of wide, flat sand exposed. Leaving the mainland at West Kirby behind, visitors walk first to Little Eye, which is a grassy tussock clinging to rock (usually) above sea level. Then walkers turn right and move parallel to the mainland as they trek over a vast area of wide sand to Middle Eye, a bigger island surrounded by umpteen rock pools festooned with seaweed and barnacles. Hilbre Island itself is beyond Middle Eye.


This first photo shows the journey from West Kirby out to Little Eye, which can seen on the horizon just above the four people. In the centre of the horizon is Middle Eye and Hilbre. In this photo it looks like they're joined. They're not; there's quite a long walk between them.

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Yesterday afternoon found us sitting in a solicitor’s office, drawing up details to be included in our updated Will, such as our desire for a Living Will and for certain specific funeral arrangements. We’ve been meaning to update these documents for ages. Enough of procrastination! There’s no point in waiting for one of us to drop dead and then go, “Oops, we really needed to update our legal stuff! Quick, reanimate him/her and wheel us off to the lawyer’s office!”

And today we have glorious sunshine! That’s a rarity this summer. Mostly we’ve had non-stop rain. Maybe you’ve been watching the news, and are aware of the extensive flooding which has swamped large areas of southern England, particularly around the Gloucestershire area. (I used to date a lovely fellow from Stroud in Gloucester….)

Anyway, two little doggies saw the sunshine and came bounding up to me with leads in their mouths. I think we can safely take that as a hint. So off we went, through Ashton Park and onto the promenade, where some brave folk were crunching through their picnics. Sand and chicken sandwich, anyone?

Despite the sun, there was a lively breeze coming in off the sea. The breakers beyond Hilbre could easily be seen even from the mainland. Conditions looked pretty rough out there.

For reasons known only to him, Richard bought a boxed set of Jaws films. So I suspect tonight will see another round of people going “Arrrrrgh!” whilst being attacked by a rubber fish. Hmm, methinks I’ll be reading more of my book pile.

And Rome has finished now. Have you been watching that on TV? It’s unusual for me to be interested in a TV program, but this one was fun. My only minor gripe was with the way Cleopatra was portrayed, as according to recorded history she was a highly educated, multi-lingual woman.

I finished writing Spanish Jones - or at least I’ve finished the 1,300-word section which will be used for the ghost tours at Hallowe’en. Watching the breakers crash behind Hilbre, I realised that I’d only written the first part of a much bigger story. Don’t you love it when stories insist on you adding stuff to them? They acquire a life of their own, I’m sure of it.

Anyway – back to work….

boardwalk
Originally uploaded by __Adele__.

Between undulating sand dunes gowned in tall yellow grass and gold-flowering gorse shrubs, and the vast expanse of ocean which flows smoothly in and out of the Dee Estuary, is a narrow boardwalk whose planks are burnished silver-grey from salt water and the abrasive action of dry sand.

Beyond the dunes is the golf course where the Open will be held in a few months. No doubt this boardwalk, which passes through a carefully-maintained wetland, will then be crammed with jostling photographers and binocular-wielding enthusiasts. Rumour has it that some of the local houses (mansions, to most people!) are planning to charge upwards of £500 per day for permission for visitors to park cars on their private driveways.

Here’s hoping these same visitors have some regard for what they’re trampling on, for this chain of ponds, thick with tall reeds, are home to some of the rarest little creatures in Britain. This is one of the last bastions of the Natterjack toad, and tiny, fragile sand lizards bask in the sunshine, looking almost like discarded jewels until they dart across the planks.

So, with one exuberant dog in tow, off we went, enjoying yesterday's warm spring sunshine bouncing off the clean water speared by dense thickets of waxy pale yellow reeds. How many birds live among those reeds, I wonder? Certainly the air was full of soaring birdsong. This estuary is a site of major international importance for migrating flocks. A pair of mallards padded leisurely towards us, using one of the many twisting waterways which wind between the reeds.


The tiny people on the right-hand edge of the final photo give some indication of scale. The two islands you can see on the horizon are Middle Eye on the left then Hilbre Island to the right. These are cut-off by in ocean twice each day, for up to eight hours at a time, but they are wonderful to visit - the effort in walking out there is easily rewarded, especially if the Grey Atlantic Seals are lounging around the back of Hilbre.


Left-click on the photos for a closer look, or to visit my on-line photo gallery.