This article was originally pulished on Hubpages in July 2009. Standing on Hilbre Island, looking across the mouth of the River Dee and into the Irish Sea Hilbre Island in the Dee Estuary The islands of Little Eye, Middle Eye and Hilbre are located at the mouth of the Dee Estuary on the border between England and Wales. Hilbre is a designated nature reserve and Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area, a Ramsar site, (a wetland of international importance), and a candidate for designation as a European Union Special Area of Conservation. The islands and the estuary provide a vital feeding and resting place for thousands of migrating birds, such as Greenland Wheatear, Redshank, Dunlin, Cormorant, Skylark, Bluethroat, Dark-bellied Brent, Shag and Common Scoter. A large mixed colony of Harbour or Common seals and Atlantic Grey seals live in the estuary and often swim up to the islands. They usually sunbathe on West Hoyle Sandbank. The journey from little...

 This article was originally published on Hubpages, in March 2010. Caldy Hill (260ft high) sits on the west coast of Britain, on the Wirral peninsula, between the villages of West Kirby and Caldy. The following photographs were all taken on 17th March, 2010, during a walk around Stapledon Woods on Caldy Hill, often mistakenly named Caldy Woods. Spring was only just beginning to re-awaken in the woods, which are home to a wide variety of wildlife, deciduous and evergreen trees, gorse and heather. This woodland was given to the people of West Kirby by science-fiction writer, William Olaf Stapledon, who lived in Caldy and who re-named the woods after himself. Prior to this, they were named Thor's Wood. The whole area covers 250 acres, 13 of these being owned by the National Trust, and includes Newton Common and Stapledon Woods. Woodland paths snake over leaves and rock. Winding Paths of Stapledon Woods Walking around Caldy Hill can be tricky, and stout footwear is advisable. If you wa...

 

Progress on The Sorcerer is being made - and yes, the 5th novel in the series now has a title. The title is breathtakingly simple, true, but when you finally get to read it you'll probably understand its choice. It's a story about facing changes, the need to adapt to change, and about taking control. This is as big a hint as I'll be giving. The book already has a cover, in the style of the recently revealed new covers for the previous four books, but I won't share that until nearer the publication date. Anyway, it feels good to have reached the 69,000 word-count length, even though there is a lot of work to be done yet. This book has been slow-going; in fact it's easily been the most challenging of the series to write. I stopped writing it for quite some time, then re-read it and threw away around 25,000 words as I just wasn't happy with the direction it was going in. Was that 25,000 reduction hard to make? Well, yes and no. While it seemed like a huge chunk o...

  New covers for the four published Artisan-Sorcerer novels can now be shared.  A new cover for Intimations is planned, too, which is a collection of short stories from the series. I'm thinking of expanding this ebook and releasing it as in paperback form, too. There's also a cover for the fifth novel in the series, already designed to ensure that all five covers will look cohesive as a set. I'm going to wait to share this one, though, until nearer its publication time, which is planned to be in 2026. Let me know what you think of the four new covers.

   I hope you enjoy listening to my reading of the opening section of Bethany Rose, from my Artisan-Sorcerer series of short stories and novels. I recorded it using a Fifine microphone, which simply plugs into a port in my desktop computer. This gives a noticeably better sound than the in-built mic, and has proved its worth already. The camera used is the PC's own. I have an Asus all-in-one desktop, and the camera has been placed underneath the screen. It would have been much better if it had been placed at the top of the screen, as this low angle gives an unfortunate view of my chin, even after I've raised the whole thing up considerably by stacking books underneath it. Oh well, that's just one more design flaw to look out for next time I'm buying a PC, whenever that might be.

 You're invited to read this interview with me:- https://www.robbwallace.co.uk/fantasy-author-interviews/adele-cosgrove-bray-interview/

  Today I discovered that the timer on my effectively prehistoric Kodak has died. When this tragedy happened I do not know. It passed away peacefully in the back of a drawer, its fate only coming to light when, of course, it was needed in a hurry. Now, a normal person would simply wait for a passing buddy to take aim with a camera so the required shot could be taken. This would have been much easier. Instead, as I needed to get the image emailed off sharpish, I had to improvise with the camera on my PC. First there was too much light coming in from the window beside me. Then, with curtains closed, there wasn't enough light so I created something of a homage to Heath Robinson with an assortment of spotlights and tinfoil reflectors. I had been asked to pose holding my books. That's easier said than done when one hand is needed to operate a computer mouse. And smile - but not so you end up looking as ridiculous as you feel while posing like this. Well, here's the result. Pleas...

  A corner of my art studio, May 2021. It has been a while... Yes, you've had some new videos to look at, but not much in the way of words to read. Okay; I'll endeavour to fix that with a quick round-up of  recent events. Just before Xmas, I was made redundant. I'd worked part-time for the same company as an Activity Co-ordinator  for five years with no complaints at all. The most recent CQC evaluation had been full of praise for the lively and diverse activity programme. Then COVID 19 hit, and the company looked around for ways to cut overheads now the resident population had been reduced in size. So, it was bye-bye Adele. Colleagues made my last day there lovely, with flowers and gifts, including a large case of art materials. Two of the elderly residents walked across to investigate the fuss, and when they learned I'd be leaving, one told me she'd really miss me and the other said, "It's you who keeps me going!" Twang went the heart-strings. Ouch. B...

Watercolour study by Adele Cosgrove-Bray on A5 Khadi paper; 2018. I've been studying the fabulous maritime paintings of Montague Dawson , not for his old-fashioned sailing ships but for his highly skilled methods of painting the ocean. He mostly painted in oils, whereas I find myself reaching for watercolours more and more, but when I spied a book filled with large colour plates of his work in my favourite labyrinthine bookshop in Southport, I couldn't resist buy it solely because of his depiction of waves. Getting water to look wet can be a challenge, I find - but then I always did like a challenge.... Watercolour study by Adele Cosgrove-Bray, on unknown paper; 2018. The study above was done in a small sketchpad without any manufacturer's brand name on it. It has a pale blue satin-like cover decorated with appliqued shells and beads, and its cream-toned paper has tiny gold flecks threaded through it - far too pretty to leave languishing in a scruffy basket cramme...

Sailing Into the Light; Adele Cosgrove-Bray; watercolour, 2018 I do like a good, old-fashioned ghost story, with a solid plot and a strong atmosphere, and this week I've enjoyed two. The first was Pay the Ghost , a film starring Nicolas Cage, Sarah Wayne Callies and child actor Jack Fulton, who already has an impressive filmography despite his tender age. A quick scan of online reviews show this film earned lukewarm responses at best, but both Richard and I really enjoyed it - which only demonstrates, once again, how totally subjective reviews are anyway. With Pay the Ghost  you get the story of a father doggedly searching for his missing child. His research takes him into the realms of folklore and fictional magic. My other ghostly encounter this week came in the form of Cass Green 's novel, In A Cottage In A Wood. A tale set in a remote Cornish cottage in dense woodland, and a London party girl spooked by strange happenings - sure ingredients for an entertaining pag...

Gentle Waves and Tranquil Days; watercolour,2018. Eagle-eyed regulars have already noticed that I've changed the name of my online merchandise store from Spooky Cute Designs to something more direct.  There was nothing wrong with the old name, as such, but had become rather misleading.  The store's earliest designs tended to be teddy bears wearing a witch's hat, or the ever-popular Beelzebear designs or similar, and while many of these items are still available, (printed onto T-shirts, bags, household furnishings, posters and more), the majority of the store's merchandise now derives from my art and photography, plus the range of items for writers which remains popular.  Therefore the old store name was misleading to new clients.  I only changed its name recently but sales are already improving. One of my nieces recently posted on Facebook that she was thinking of combining her two YouTube channels into one.  As I said to her, a hazard of having any kind o...

 Since 2012, I've created a list of annual goals which I aim to achieve during the next twelve months.  This is one way to keep track of the progress of various projects, and it's a bit of self-entertainment.   These were my goals for 2017:- Write a minimum of one short story per month;  Write a minimum of one poem per month;  Write the 1st draft of Morgan , the 5th of the Artisan-Sorcerer series;  Paint, draw & photograph;  Take up swimming again. Well, the first two goals weren't met at all!   I wrote only three short stories and four poems, which is a spectacularly lousy output.  However, the reason for this is my focus on #3, ( and #4), and progress with Morgan is doing very well.  Will it be finished in 2018?  Here's hoping, as I've been playing around with an idea for another novel for some time already, which explores the subject of reincarnation, karma and soul growth.  It will be a stand-alone novel;...