Tim Hulme


Peter Hurd


Peter Caton


Carol Falaki


Andy Siddle


Adele Cosgrove-Bray

More photos from this event can be viewed on my Flickr site. Either click on the images above or go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/__Adele__

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.

Photos from Parallel Dimensions, the Fantasy and Science-Fiction event which took place at West Kirby Library, Wirral, on 11th July, 2009.

Adrienne Odasso


David Tallerman


Hazel Dixon


David Clements


Adele Cosgrove-Bray


More photos will be uploaded on my website shortly.

Creating a new home for my non-fiction has kept me busy. At the time of writing this blog post, there’re only seven articles available for the public to read but this will change soon. The most time-consuming part of preparation has been in choosing photos.

I’m particularly pleased with the photo of the ladies’ bowling tournament which I took last week in Ashton Park. If you go to that page and click on the photo, you can see it full-size. I think the image captures the atmosphere of their day.

If you fancy a look, visit: http://hubpages.com/profile/AdeleCosgroveBray

It’s a gorgeous spring day here. I’ve got the French doors open, and Emily has dragged her blanket onto the patio step to stretch out on it while she’s sunbathing. The forsythia is a blaze of yellow, and cherry blossom is drifting like snowflakes on the warm breeze. Daffodils and crocus are in bloom everywhere, and there’s a pair of blackbirds rummaging for nesting material underneath the shrubby St John’s wort.

Yesterday I was in Liverpool as Kevin Holt, a photographer from The Daily Mail, had arranged to visit Richard’s studio so he could take a few shots of us both. These will be used as part of an article about cryonics which will published in that newspaper, probably next week sometime.

Afterwards I had a meander round the city centre, and bought a new pair of trousers--plain black, but the material is lovely and soft. I want a black top to go with it, something very dressy to off-set the plain black, but found nothing I wanted.

I had a peek at several shoe shops, too, which was amusing. What’s with all these stack shoes with 10” heels? Being 5’ 2” tall, 10” heels would make me look as if I was teetering on stilts.

Ruins of the Norman church around St John the Baptist's Church, Chester.


Masonic stained glass window in St John the Baptist's Church, Chester. If you've read The Hiram Key... Other Masonic symbols can also be seen around the building.


Trapezoidal dais for a small alter in St John the Baptist's Church, Chester. A powerful ley line runs through this ancient site, which sits on the banks of the River Dee.

If you wish to view more photos of the same place, simply click on any of the above images, and look through the 'Local Travels' file on my Flickr site.

Chester was lovely on Monday. We lunched at The Coach House then meandered round the shops, stopping to watch a man playing the violin whilst balancing on one leg on a trapeze wire.

I replenished my supply of frankincense and myrrh, and then—several hours later—we enjoyed tea and cake at The Blue Moon Café, which has become something of a traditional stop-off point for us whenever we go to Chester. What can I say; they do excellent cake! And the café sits at the perfect point for a cuppa before heading back in the general direction of home.

We called into St John the Baptist’s Church, partially as Richard wanted to photograph the Norman ruins. Two exceptionally chubby squirrels came to inspect his efforts. Clearly they are used to tourists… These cuties positively wobbled with podge as they scampered over autumnal leaves and mosses—adorable little creatures, with cheeky faces and alert black eyes.

Richard took a few shots inside the church too, while I wandered around and soaked up the energy. This church stands on probably the oldest religious site in Chester. Before there was ever a Christian church built the site was in use for religious purposes. It stands directly on top of a ley line.

Richard bought himself a copy of The Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup, which completes his collection of their films, and while I wasn’t looking he bought me two dark faeries—long, slender, ragged-winged porcelain figurines some 10” and 8” tall, which are now on top of my puuter desk.

Writing
I’ve just completed a 5,000 Sci-Fi story—albeit for a tweak and a polish—which I'll probably call School. The deadline to submit this is coming up fast. I’ve also got another story, Fantasy again this time, to complete (or start, even) for a deadline in just over two weeks time. This reminds me of something Tim Hulme said at last month’s Riverside Writers meeting, when a new lady had asked about our writing projects. He said we have an entire month to work on each project, which means we usually leave writing anything until two days before the meeting!

The dogs took us for a two-and-a-half hour walk through the old woodland on Thurstaston Common. This time of the year is one of our favourites for outdoor photography; the skies have character, and the light is sharper than in the height of summer.

The woods were full of colour; yellow, gold, rust, emerald and sage green lichens and mosses covered the gnarled, pitted bark of the trees, whose foliage is just starting to show their gradual turn towards autumn. Glossy ivy smothered old farmers' stiles. Mushrooms like ivory-yellow tabletops grew in crabbed tangles of tree roots. Jays and squirrels chattered overhead.

And as we walked from the Common onto a public footpath by open farmland around Frankby, we watched the Red Arrows zooming around, drawing red and blue doodles in the sky high above the freshly-ploughed fields.

That's not a bad way to spend the August Bank Holiday, if you ask me!

Emily's Siesta!


Saffron: "Did I hear the can-opener?"


Jazzy: "I really am asleep. Honest."


Emily and Ygraine, right after bathtime.

The house is filled with strange sounds – squeaking, thumping, rumbling, bashing and crashing thunks. Our immediate neighbours are having a new roof installed. I’ve turned in Victor Meldrew, having already photographed our own roof (with the builders’ scaffolding in the frame) to prove that we had no missing tiles before they began work.

And I am injured. Not mortally, but try telling my finger that. I painted the hall wall yesterday, and now I’ve got a blister. One tiny, dinky blister. And my finger feels like it’s on fire! Silly old thing….

Riverside Writers

Our meeting on Monday, July 28th went well, with another lively turn-out – and three new faces, too! Since the start of this year we’ve seen a big increase in membership, as if interest in creative writing is growing. Perhaps it is! Several of our members are new to writing, and some others write purely for fun. Several of us are more serious about writing, and have had work published and are developing writing careers. Between us all, we cover just about every genre, too.

Bethany Rose

The re-write continues: so far I've done 12,000 words, which is on target. The main changes I've made have been to move the plot along. The first half of the re-write is mostly a case of editing. The second half will require more creativity, so I'm looking forward to that part.

Photography

Richard's treated himself to a new digi camera, a Finepix S1000fd which is made by FujiFilm. He's bought himself a photodock too, as he doesn't use the computer at all. This way, he can crop and print to suit himself, (and I can't give him earache for using all my printing ink! *chuckles*)

He had been planning, at some future point, to convert our attic to a dark room. We already have darkroom equipment, including a rather nice b&w enlarger. However, digi photography is more convenient for various reasons. Now he fancies installing a home cinema up there, instead. Here's hoping he uses lots of sound-proofing!

He was interested in photography long before we even met. In fact, we met because of this mutual interest. He's been looking for something to do at weekends other than watch old films and listening to music - which he loves to do, too. Now he's got no excuse!

Photo courtesy of Julie Bell.
Front row, left to right: Joanna McIlhatton, Mary Cary, Peter Hurd, Adele Cosgrove-Bray, Peter Caton,(audience member), and Tim Hulme. In the second row, between Mary and Peter Hurd, you can just about see Carol Falaki and Dave Hughes.

All these Riverside Writers members took part in Words from Wordsmiths at West Kirby Library on April 7th, 2008.


Photo courtesy of Julie Bell.
Here's me, reading Seagull Inn from the Ruins Terra anthology.

To view more images from this event, click on the photo and you'll be whisked away to my Flickr site. They are in the "Writing" set of photos.

my beloved swing!
Originally uploaded by __Adele__.

Here's an old photo of me as a child. I spent hours on end on this swing, loving the feeling of nearly flying! I wanted wings of my own, so I could let go of the ropes and zoom up to the cloudy sky and beyond....

This morning I emailed a copy of Shell Boy as a submission to a competition called Oceans of Stories currently being run by Liverpool John Moore's Uni and Edge Hill College. Winning pieces are to be read at Hemmingway's Cafe in Liverpool on May 9th.

I've just pegged out a huge pile of laundry. Was that wise? I'm already having second thoughts, as the sky has rapidly turned an ominous charcoal shade. It rained non-stop all yesterday. Here's hoping the weather will be better on Monday, as Sylvia (gelertandbess) will be here with the intention of visiting Hilbre Island. (See edit)

Tamsin has just been returned from a prospective literary agent, with a standard thanks-but-no-thanks letter. So I've taken another look at the opening chapters of the novel and, with the phrase "Murder your darlings!" ringing in my ears, have decided to edit down two chapters into one. This will tighten the pace. If I can find fault with it, you can bet someone else certainly will. Honestly, I've totally lost count of how many times I've re-written the start of this novel.

Last night we watched Beowulf, the version which Neil Gaiman co-wrote. At first the animated reminded me of Shrek, which is not complimentary, but then the story caught my interest - and certainly I loved the symbolism woven throughout the plot and imagery.

Edit:- We now have torrential rain and hail stones! *chuckles*

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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Ah, 'tis that time of the year once more, when an evening journey over the patio demands tip-toeing around a vast army of crawlies....

Emily has just drenched the living room. She dipped her little head for a drink, and for the first time noticed the "other doggy" reflected in the metal bowl. Knowing that puppies are not supposed to be down there, she determinedly tried to dig a way out for it. Oh well, the rug will dry eventually.

Here she is, sound asleep on The Dog's Chair.



Are you fond of ghost stories? I feel inclined to write one for this lane. It's an old drover's track, apparently, which runs through the oldest part of West Kirby Village. There's got to be a story here somewhere, don't you think?

Say hello to the horses...


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Let’s begin with a little quiz lifted from gingerspark who declared, “Ask me 3 questions: no more, no less. Ask me anything you want. Anything! Then go to your journal, copy and paste this, allowing your friends (including me) to ask you anything. C'mon I dare you... I double dog dare ya!”

Ok, so I dare you. Keep in mind that pithy retorts may well prove mandatory.

Tuesday afternoon saw me grubbing around in the attic, brushing aside inches of dusty cobwebs in the search for old magazines which have featured my writing. You can now see some of these on my updated profile page.

Tuesday also saw us in Birkenhead, when we bought a digital camera for him. He’d turned his nose up at the prospect of using a digi initially, but when he saw the results from mine he changed his mind. Plus the digi will easily fit into his pocket, whereas our old SLRs are bulky by comparison. He wants to take photos of his art work, partly to put on his MySpace site (ok, for me to put on his MySpace site!!!) but partially simply for his own pleasure, as a visual record of his creations.

So, he enjoyed his thirty-ninth birthday – with much teasing about hurtling towards the Big Four-Oh. Time flies, hmm? Oh, and he extends his thanks to all those who sent birthday wishes for him.

On DVD we enjoyed Rudolf Nureyev’s production of The Sleeping Beauty with Ballet de L’Opera de Paris. The costumes by Franca Squarciapino were gorgeous – lavish and highly detailed without distracting attention from the dancing. Princess Aurore was beautifully danced by Aurelie Dupont, and Manuel Legris as Prince Desire performed several excellently choreographed solos. He has his own website here:- http://www.manuel-legris.com/ and there’s an interesting interview with Aurelie Dupont here:- http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_03/nov03/interview_aurelie_dupont.htm

It seems we chose the best day to attend the annual Southport Flower Show, as the rain has been torrential since. Still, there are plenty of marquees for people to shelter within, and each of these are filled to capacity with diverse displays of horticulture and rural crafts. The photograph above depicts one of the competition gardens. You didn’t think I’d pass-by such a cute dragon without taking her photo, did you?



This gorilla seems quite content to munch his bananas within a tropical paradise. If he'd stood up and wandered over to this next display, we'd have had a re-entactment of King Kong...



Horticulture was not the only skill on display. Clowns and medieval lords strolled through the crowds. There was even one poor bloke dressed-up as a giant tap. There was an exhibition by dog handlers, and a programme of musicians – a steel calypso band when we (very hurriedly!) walked past. There was also a large marquee devoted to rural crafts including bee keeping, wood turning and textiles. I also invested in two pieces of art on slate. I like to collect original art. It makes the home interesting but also it’s something of an investment for the future, as art rarely depreciates. And yes, someone found her way to a dolls’ house miniatures stall… *grins*



More photos from Southport Flower Show can be seen if you click onto any of the above images, which will take you to my Flickr site and the "photography" folder.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people. (Actually, I won’t tag anyone; just help yourselves if you wish to join in.)

Oh dear, is this quiz doing the rounds again? Ah, well, here we go:- ( Read more... )

I’ve been rather distracted in the evenings by our methodical viewing of Survivors, which was a BBC production filmed at the height of the Cold War. The three series cover events following a virus outbreak which kills most of the world’s population. Everything which Western people take for granted – fuel, fresh food, hospitals, law, relative safety, running water – has all been swept aside. Survivors poses many very pertinent questions which are just as valid today. After all, how many of us have put a splint on a broken leg, grown our own crops (and I don’t mean just a few herbs or tomatoes!), made our own soap, smelted ore to repair farm tools, fought to the death to protect food and property and your loved ones? It’s a fascinating, intelligent and well-written series, and I recommend it. Certainly it will get you thinking about “what if…” scenarios.

The photos which I’d hoped would provide something suitable for the forthcoming Dark Moon Press anthology turned out to be a total disaster. Surely I can do better myself! In fact, if I get time over the next few days this is exactly what I intend to try.