K.D. Dowdall's Blog, page 15

POISED #WritePrompt Sue Vincent

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https://scvincent.com/2019/09/07

POISED

The huge black spider waited,

Looking up with its large shiny black eyes.

Its furry feathered black back, eight legs

and one head joined,

its Body,

No segmentation needed.

It was waiting, just waiting until the desired

Afternoon afterschool kids

Would walk his way.

Carelessly.

They would be his for the choosing.

Then the rain came pouring down

upon all the streets,

Rain,

like a river deluge,

In the cracks in the rocks that were large enough

he would hide,

Tomorrow would be another day.

 The End

 

A personal note: I wrote this in rememberance of the almost 3 inch x 3 inch hairy black Aussie spider that chased me down my sidewalk 2 years ago this October, leaving me ill for weeks with it’s poison, and scared me for life on my ankle.

Crisps and cold rice pudding

This beautiful memory story, by Sue Vincent, brought back memories of my own grandmother and how she always made special food and desserts for all of us.Your story about your grandmother is so charming, winsome, and heartfelt. Your grandmother had a beautiful smile and her eyes just sparkled in the photo you shared. This, your childhood memory of your grandmother is so charming, winsome, and heartfelt. Thank you so much for sharing.

Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

Appalling isn’t it? I can cook from here to Bombay, but do I? No. At least, not for me. I cook daily for my son at his home, but here, the dog eats better than I do… she, at least, reminds me twice a day without fail to fill her bowls with something decent.

I live mainly on coffee unless I have visitors, with the odd foray into the larder every now and then in search of something I can nibble while I work. Which is where the packet of crisps materialised… and the rice pudding.

I was going to write about that.. then I remembered that I already had done so, some time ago.. so, as I am up-to- the- eyeballs busy and none too well either, I thought I might share the memories again… cold rice pudding takes me back a very long way…

When I was a…

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Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore – New Book on the Shelves – The Captain’s Witch by Karen DeMers Dowdall.

I cannot thank Sally enough for giving me this opportunity to showcase, The Captain’s Witch. This historical fiction novel that I absolutely loved writing is based in part on real events in 1690 and is based in part also on real people who did live in that time period. Thank you so much, Sally. You are an incredibly kind, giving, and supportive writer, author and blogger for so many writers and authors, like me. I am blessed to know you and to learn from you as well. Thank you! Karen Anna

The Nethergate by Robbie Cheadle -reblogged via Sue Vincent’ Blog.

Guest author: Robbie Cheadle ~ Dick Turpin
Posted on September 2, 2019 by Sue Vincent

The myth of Dick Turpin

Fiction writer, Harrison Ainsworth, glamourised thief and highway man, Dick Turpin, in his 1834 novel, Rookwood. The novel is set in England in 1737 at a manor house called Rookwood Place and the plot revolves around the mysterious death of the owner, Piers Rookwood, and the subsequent rivalry for inheritance of the property between his two sons.

During the course of the story, Dick Turpin, a highway man, is introduced at the manor under the pseudonym Palmer. During his stay, Palmer makes a bet with one of the other house guests that he can capture Dick Turpin. He is eventually forced to escape upon his horse, Black Bess. The horse, although fast enough to stay ahead of all the other horses, eventually collapses and dies from the stress of the escape.

In the novel, Ainsworth describes Turpin as galloping north in the dark: “His blood spins through his veins; winds round his heart; mounts to his brain. Away! Away! He is wind with joy.” Ainsworth’s depiction of Turpin, together with the local narratives, poems and ballads that resulted from it, gave Turpin a notorious posthumous status.

Picture taken at the York Castle Museum by Robbie Cheadle

The truth about Dick Turpin

Dick Turpin was born in Essex in 1705, the son of a butcher. He initially became an apprentice butcher but soon started stealing and then joined a gang in Essex. During his membership of the Gregory Gang in Essex, the gang began to strike terror into areas of the country and Turpin progressed to some horrific criminal acts. With the leader of the gang, Gregory, he robbed a farmhouse and poured boiling water of the elderly owner. He also raped a woman during this attack. He developed a reputation as a brutal and ruthless criminal. His first murder was of a servant named Tom Morris who recognised him as a robber.

When most of the gang was arrested in 1735, Turpin became a highwayman and joined forced with another notorious highwayman, Tom King, whom Turpin is believed to have accidently killed during a botched robbery. Soon afterwards, he shot and killed a man who attempted to capture him and fled to Yorkshire. He settled in the town of Brough, where he assumed the name John Palmer and claimed to be a horse dealer.

John Palmer was charged for shooting a chicken in the street and threatening to also shoot its owner. When evidence of his horse stealing was discovered, he was transferred to York Castle Prison. On 23 February 1737, Palmer was identified as outlaw Dick Turpin at York Castle by his former teacher James Smith, who had recognised Turpin’s handwriting on a letter sent from his cell to his brother asking for help. After his real identity was revealed, Turpin was sentenced to death on charges of horse-stealing.

In prison, Turpin remained a showman and entertained visitors in his cell by recounting stories of his criminal deeds. The day before his execution a new frock coat and shoes were delivered to Turpin in his cell. At his hanging, he paid five professional mourners to follow him to the gallows.

Picture taken in York Castle Museum dungeons by Robbie Cheadle

The link between Dick Turpin and Through the Nethergate

Through the Nethergate is set in a historic pub which is haunted by a number of ghosts, one of which is Tom Hardy. Tom Hardy is also an infamous highwayman who is said to have ridden with Dick Turpin.

An extract from Through the Nethergate describing Tom Hardy follows:

“In the dim light from the streetlamp outside, Margaret saw a man wearing an old-fashioned three-cornered hat, white shirt and frock coat. His mouth was twisted into a leer and his sun-baked skin looked rough and deeply lined. There was a deep imprint in the skin of his neck in the shape of a “V”.

This being was not a ghost. He was very real.

“No noise, pretty one,” said Tom. “If you call for help I shall have to kill whoever comes. You don’t want that, do you?”

Margaret attempted to nod beneath the weight of his hand over her mouth. He withdrew his hand slowly and reached downwards. When his hands came back into her sight, they each held a pistol. His figures were bruised and bleeding and the nails were half torn off.

“I’ll shoot them with these babies if you scream.” He stroked the pair lovingly.

They can’t hurt you, Margaret thought. Grandfather said they can’t hurt you. They are like pictures. She couldn’t help feeling scared. What if this one can hurt me? What if this one is real?

“Ah, Margaret,” the roguish figure croaked. “You have been causing turmoil in my Master’s Inn, my old headquarters, the place where I plotted my crimes. A bad idea, Margaret, a very bad idea to cross Tom Hardy and Dick Turpin.”

Margaret continued to stare at him, transfixed, her hands laying limply on the top of the bedcovers.

“My Master is unhappy, Margaret,” said Tom. “Your powers are unsettling his servants, making them go against his wishes.”

“What have I done? I haven’t seen any servants. I don’t have any powers.”

“Ah, but you do. Your psychic abilities are attracting his servants to the Inn. They are gathering and making plans to use you to escape their fate of eternal servitude. I know they have made contact with you. I have seen them speaking to you.”

Tom gave her a vicious smile that froze her blood.”

Through the Nethergate

Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Margaret, a girl born with second sight, has the unique ability to bring ghosts trapped between Heaven and Hell back to life. When her parents die suddenly, she goes to live with her beloved grandfather, but the cellar of her grandfather’s ancient inn is haunted by an evil spirit of its own. In the town of Bungay, a black dog wanders the streets, enslaving the ghosts of those who have died unnatural deaths. When Margaret arrives, these phantoms congregate at the inn, hoping she can free them from the clutches of Hugh Bigod, the 12th century ghost who has drawn them away from Heaven’s White Light in his canine guise. With the help of her grandfather and the spirits she has befriended, Margaret sets out to defeat Hugh Bigod, only to discover he wants to use her for his own ends – to take over Hell itself.

Purchase links

It is available from Lulu.com here: Lulu.com

It is also available from TSL Publications as a soft copy book here: TSL Publications

It will be available on Amazon in a few weeks’ time.

About the author

Robbie, short for Roberta, is an author with five published children’s picture books in the Sir Chocolate books series for children aged 2 to 9 years old (co-authored with her son, Michael Cheadle), one published middle grade book in the Silly Willy series and one published preteen/young adult fictionalised biography about her mother’s life as a young girl growing up in an English town in Suffolk during World War II called While the Bombs Fell (co-authored with her mother, Elsie Hancy Eaton).

All of Robbie’s children’s book are written under Robbie Cheadle and are published by TSL Publications. Robbie has recently branched into adult horror and supernatural writing and, in order to clearly differentiate her children’s books from her adult writing, these will be published under Roberta Eaton Cheadle. Robbie has two short stories in the horror/supernatural genre included in Dark Visions, a collection of 34 short stories by 27 different authors and edited by award winning author, Dan Alatorre. These short stories are published under Robbie Cheadle.

Roberta Writes Blog   Amazon Author Page    Twitter    Facebook

The Captain’s Witch – A New Historical Fiction

[image error] Lost in the Annals of Time: A Story of Love and War

The Captain’s Witch is a hauntingly beautiful story of love that transcends time. Sara Windsor Knightly was born into a family with generations of witches. She inherits Windsor Manor a colonial era manor built in 1680. She had no idea that the Manor is haunted by Jacobite ghosts, and a ghost named Christian Windsor. Christian Windsor is a gentleman farmer who is also a Captain in the British Brigade in the year 1690 in Colonial Connecticut during King William’s war with the French and the Abenaki Native Indians.

To complicate matters, a White Oak Tree on the property of Windsor Manor is haunted by the ghost of Alice Windsor Hall. The White Oak Tree was once a sapling on the grave of Alice Windsor Hall, one of Sara’s distant relatives who was falsely accused of witchcraft in 1690 and burned at the stake. Alice has haunted the White Oak for more than 300 years and she has plans of her own that sets everything in motion.

Alice spins a spell that sends Sara and Christian to the year 1690 to save her little girl, Clara, from the hands of Reverend Baron Warwick, a Puritan Zealot who has diabolical plans for the child. Alice promises to return Sara and Christian back home as soon as Clara is safe from harm. Alice’s promise sends Christian back to war and certain death. A brokenhearted Sara is sent back to the present day to Windsor Manor. Sara is, quite by accident, sent once more back in time to revisit a very different Christian, who has no memory of Sara, putting her in great danger of being accused of witchcraft.

*** Now Available on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle)

 

 

Her Frozen Heart #writeprompt

Thursday photo prompt: Frozen #writephoto

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hER FROZEN heart

Her frozen heart,

Struggles to beat,

Her secrets are carried there.

Grasping at straws,

She struggle to breath,

A heart is so tender,

So easily broken.

Her heartache she veils,

So no one will know,

The grief that she feels,

Within her frozen heart.

                          by Karen DeMers Dowdall

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Tales From The Irish Garden by Sally Cronin and Illustrated by Donata Zawadzla

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Sally Cronin writes a delightful fairytale that children and adults will love. Beginning with the fact, if you don’t know anything about fairies, that fairies are very small beings that have a strong society of their own. They have all the same problems that humans have, but how they deal with their problems are quite different than humans. Their communities are quite diverse and that diversity brings them great strength in dealing with a few outliers that cause problems; like the Winter Fairy whose jealousy, insecurity, and mean spirit fail to give him any kind of reward in the end.

It is the kindness and love from the royal family, headed by Queen Filigree, that save the day when problems arise in her magic Kingdom of Magia. It is quite amazing that so many different beings like honeybees, spiders, voles, rabbits, messenger birds, Fluffy the Dragon, and many other kinds of beings, including stone guardians, manage to live in harmony together.

In Queen Filigree’s magical kingdom, where even Oaks and Elms help keep the Kingdom safe. with their pollen that helps to prevent mean outliers from harming the Kingdom of Magia. However, one very difficult problem was that no amount of help would save the Kingdom in its present location of 700 years.

Humans had decided to clear the entire area where the Palace of the Queen and all of her subjects abide. For 700 years the ancient Magnolia tree with deep roots had keep the fairies and beings safe, until now. Including, all the honey bees whose honey was a key part of their income as well as a drink that was very important for health if not imbued too much or too often.

As luck would have it hope was insight. Messenger birds where sent to find a place to live for everyone in the Kingdom of Magia. The story that unfolds, in the Tales From The Irish Garden, includes the gracious help of the Storyteller who tells the tale like no other. The Storyteller is a gentleman farmer, who loves special roses in his garden, and who has magical skills of his own.

He begins to unfold the story that brings alive each creature within their own families, their own problems that become so real to the reader that you may never look at a Badger, a Fox, a Donkey, Mice, and so many other delightful beings that all help each other in the most amazing ways when great danger is afoot, again. Queen Filigree is forever grateful to the storyteller for saving her Kingdom and she also improves the life of the Storyteller with an entirely new community to help keep safe. They solve their problems together in unity.

The Tales From The Irish Garden is a mythology that brings to light what kindness, sharing, caring for others, and love can bring to any society that abhors greed, selfishness, and meanness. It is a great society where every being, no matter their poor beginnings, large or small, can thrive. I give this delightful magical fairytale, with a grand and beautiful message of unity, 5 stars.

Find Sally Cronin’s Books on the following:

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Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sally-Cronin/e/B0096REZM2

AmazonUK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sally-Georgina-Cronin/e/B003B7O0T6

smashwords for Epub: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/SallyGCronin

Smorgasbord Health Column – The major Organs and systems of the body – The Immune System and how it works by Sally Cronin

Sally, once again a fabulous presentation about the immune system in a way that people can understand how important it is to be aware of their dietary lifestyle. Staying hydrated enough is my problem, but I am working on it. Thanks again for a great post on our Immune system – awesome.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

Like most things in life there are two sides to every story, which means there are the good guys and the bad guys. When it comes to our health this involves healthy bacteria and dangerous bacteria.

All creatures, including of course humans, have an amazingly complex but effective system to distinguish between the two, and to ensure that we don’t come to harm. It is our Immune System.

This system has been evolving over hundreds of thousands of years and developing strategies to protect us every time it met with a new threat. This is often; as germs mutate when they meet resistance and our software needs frequent updating.

The majority of the bacteria in our body is designed to be there. These are the friendlies and our home defence team. Without a gut teeming with them many of our systems would grind to a halt, our brains would not…

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The Light and Dark of Sarah Brentyn: Guest Post

Hinting At Shadows is a must read for me. It sounds really great. Diane, great post and thank you for sharing.

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives – #PotLuck – Wellness Wednesday: Take a Two-Minute Walk Before You Read This (2015) by Jim Borden

Jim Borden reminds us that it is so important to consider our health and to get up and walk even for just 2 minutes (I just did) before reading this great post that Sally has shared with us. We have legs for a reason – let’s use them – go for a walk every day and if writing – get up and take a 2 – 5 minute walk every 2 hours, easy way to lose weight too.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

This is the first post from the archives of Jim Borden who blogs on ‘Borden’s Blather’across a variety of topics.  I only need to walk passed a mirror to see that emotional contentment and mental stimulation resulting from nearly 7 years of blogging are not reflected in the spreading of my derriere.. I do get up at regular intervals during the day to get some exercise but it is not nearly enough… so this post struck a chord.. and I am sure it will with you too.

Wellness Wednesday: Take a Two-Minute Walk Before You Read This (2015) by Jim Borden

The New York Times had a story today, “Sitting is Bad for Children Too”  by Gretchen Reynolds.

The story reports on a new study of healthy young girls that found that after a single session of prolonged inactivity, the children developed changes in their blood flow and…

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