Activity

  • Jill posted an update 6 years, 4 months ago

    Pleased to report that I have actually got around to researching agents and publishers again in order to try my luck once more. I am reminded, though, what a difficult game it is … but, never say never!

  • Raine posted an update in the group Group logo of CoronaMoCoronaMo 6 years, 4 months ago

    Anyone got swallows back yet? Was looking for them today but no luck yet. Walk along the beach did turn up a white sea brick though (now called Beatrice, mini lugged it home), a bit of sea tile with the letter E on, and a perfect conch shell. Along with the usual sea glass & good painting stones. A moderately good haul which will all end up in one…[Read more]

    • None at the palace yet. I checked yesterday.

    • “sea glass” – such wonderful connotations.

      • No swallows as yet but in the evening the beach (forbidden to humans) is full of birds congregating along the water line. It is getting light enough after supper to slip past the ‘interdit’ signs and watch them dart in and out of the little frothy waves or stand still on the sand and watch the sun set behind the islands.

        • What a delightful picture you paint, Raine. No, I have not seen any swallows yet, but many other birds visit our garden, as we have countryside all around our home. We are a long way from the sea and beaches, but we do have terracotta bowls of such items as you describe in our home – many dating as far back as when we lived in Cyprus! Have a…[Read more]

          • Looking out for swallows here. We only moved in in January, so not sure what the avian fauna are like, except there a rooks/ravens plucking twigs from trees and then flying off to build nests, and seagulls doing their squawking thing, and since we started putting food out the sparrows, tits and similar have been very enthusiastic, also the rats…[Read more]

            • Yes @raine, What is a sea brick?

            • 😂 It’s a brick that’s been washed up by the sea so it’s all eroded and smooth. We get a fair few normal ones but a white one was special! Sea tiles are my fav – bits of broken and smoothed ceramic from all sorts of things. Old decorated plates are the best.

    • Sounds lovely. I’ve never seen them though. Is there a reason why they wash up? Our beach, although lovely in every way, doesn’t get much washed up apart from bits of fishermen’s nets.

  • Jill posted an update 6 years, 4 months ago

    There is going to be a celestial treat tonight. Moonrise in this area will be 18.53 hours and the best time to see a beautiful Pink Supermoon. I think we can all do with a treat such as this in present circumstances. Enjoy!

    From an online site:

    ‘Are you ready for 2020’s great big perigee-syzygy moon?

    That’s the astronomical term for…[Read more]

  • Squidge posted an update in the group Group logo of CoronaMoCoronaMo 6 years, 4 months ago

    Hi all. Been having problems logging in again, but Jules has worked her magic and got me into the Den.

    How are you all doing? I’m a bit like Kaz – head space not into writing much, so editing Tilda 3 is very slow going. I mean, how hard can it be to describe an underground (ie in a cavern) market? We’ve taken to cooking and baking with the kids…[Read more]

    • Hi Squidge. Much the same as you, my head space is not into writing. I’m doing what I can and have forgiven myself for the fact it’s so slow. Apart from that we’re pottering on, enjoying the glorious weather from the safety of our own garden and surrounding countryside during the permitted hour a day we’re allowed out.Nature is slowly expanding to…[Read more]

      • Hello, Squidge and Jane. I was interested to read how present circumstances are affecting your writing. Like you two, I am keeping busy (and maybe distracted) with the simple things of life and enjoying the slower pace, actually. Not to say there isn’t the general underlying anxiety, but trying to keep hopeful and positive despite all the…[Read more]

  • Not the best poetry, but hey ho…

    It has no chain, though once it might,
    It’s on a shelf, mainly out of sight.
    I wound it up and heard it tick
    Then set the hands with a firmer click.
    Triangles mark the quarter hours
    and rectangles? The intervals and other hours.
    It’s made by Smiths, a British firm
    Not Timex, Rolex or another well known.
    It’s…[Read more]

  • A Victorian Writing Box

    Crafted in walnut with brass trimmings and lined with deep blue leather, the box is labelled discreetly as being made by Cawston, a portable case maker of 27 Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly. I can only imagine its complete history and wonder whether it might have journeyed with its original owner in fine carriages from…[Read more]

  • KazG posted an update in the group Group logo of CoronaMoCoronaMo 6 years, 4 months ago

    Popping in to say hello – I’ve been in a most peculiar head space and sure it’s do to with It That Shall Not Be Named, but slowly getting some focus and clarity back. I’ve felt like a cabbage moth, flitting from here to there and never really settling, when I need to channel the caterpillar, with her steady devouring progress.

    Also, I had some…[Read more]

    • Thanks for the catch-up Kaz – and brilliant (and not undeserved) news about the residency. Fingers crossed all will come to pass … whenever.

      • Fingers crossed from me too @kazg. A lovely boost though.

        • Retreat sounds amazing Kaz – and I am totally not surprised they were won over by the Needlies!! Love them so much. On the + side, by the time this is all calmed down a bit, you will be in SERIOUS need of a bit of time away, so it’s nice to know there is that waiting for you. How is Book2 going atm?

  • Congratulations Raine. And thanks to everyone for their stories and the pleasure they gave me as well as John for the competition.

  • Bit different this time in an attempt to find beauty in our (confined) surroundings – look around the room you are in & find the oldest item (not counting people!). Now tell us something about it. Why is it precious, why have you kept it so long, who owned it before you… whatever.
    400 words. Hope it brings a little light. πŸ™‚

  • Thank-you so much John and everyone! I am delighted to have worried you all! I love how utterly different all our stories were, so well dones are due to the rest of you as well – each one was great. πŸ™‚

  • Jill changed their profile picture 6 years, 4 months ago

  • Congratulations, Raine, and thanks, John. Glad poor Henry lightened your day. I have absolutely no idea where he came from, but he was a timely visitor πŸ™‚

  • Congratulations, Raine. Your story has made me shiver with anxiety! Well done – fabulous writing.

    Thank you John for setting the competition. I’m sorry March passed me by in a blur, what with one thing and another, and I didn’t manage an entry.

  • Well done, Raine! Thanks for the comp, John.

  • Jill posted an update 6 years, 4 months ago

    Creating weekly stories for Facetime sessions with grandsons, I am also learning or relearning historical facts as we go often go back in time and to different countries. An unexpected bonus helping to keep the old brain functioning well!

  • Thank you, John for setting this competition and for your kind comments. Raine is, indeed, a worthy winner – we all need ‘all that energy and power’ especially now to keep us going! Loved the other two entries too. When I joined I said I probably would not be entering competitions as I needed to concentrate on my own writing at the moment, but…[Read more]

  • So, four very different entries this month. Eenie, meanie, minie, mo.

    Seagreen made me laugh, Jill made me smile, Raine worried the hell out of me and Athelstone made me melancholy.Can’t separate you, all excellent.

    But I’m going to give this months prize to Raine for all that energy and power.

    Well done all of you!

  • UNTITLED (395 WORDS)

    Rheology: the study of the deformation and flow of matter.

    Henry considered himself an expert in such matters. Lying on his back on the grass, unable to move, he was suitably impressed by whoever had applied the sky for this particular assessment. It was, he knew, the most perfect finish he’d ever seen. A solid block of c…[Read more]

  • Last day to get your entries in!

  • RichardB posted an update 6 years, 4 months ago

    My elder son – 40 this November – is a bit of a free spirit and so is his missus. Just before Christmas they announced that they were going to give up their jobs, sell up (not that they actually owned a house) and go off globetrotting. They weren’t to know, but they didn’t exactly pick the best time for that, with the result that they are now…[Read more]

    • I hope they are managing to make the most of it. My sister and brother in law were stranded in the Galapagos and it was no fun at all. They got flown to mainland Ecuador last week and should be on their way back to Canada today, all being well.

      • His verdict on the situation was, ‘It could be worse.’ Knowing his attitude to life, not to mention his fondness for sardonic humour in e-mails, I rather doubt that they’re suffering unduly.

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