The dark history of an ancient faerie well is revealed in this short fantasy tale by Adele Cosgrove-Bray, read live on 7 Waves Radio in 2008.

    Ducklings are extraordinary characters.  Something about them makes just about everyone smile.  They're cute and fluffy,  so tiny and yet so brave. Imagine how big their pond looks to them, and how much courage it must take to waddle away from the only place they've ever known - the nest - then leap into water without even knowing what will happen next.  To a duckling, that pond and muddy bank is the whole world. Have you ever  considered what ducklings make of us, watching them?  What does a duck know of our lives - of vehicles, cookers, DVDs, Prada and all the other stuff with which will forever remain irrelevant to a duck's life.  Nothing, of course. Think about a ladybird, then, crawling along a rose.  If the ladybird sees you watching it, how does it react?  It might fly off or, more likely, ignore you completely.  You're not relevant to its sphere of life; and why should you be. We're surrounded by ani...

"Retailer HMV Group is selling its Waterstone’s bookshop business to A&NN Capital Fund Management for £53 million...  Waterstone’s sales had deteriorated due to weakness in the book market." Source:  http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/28459/hmv-sells-bookshop-chain-waterstones-to-tackle-debt-28459.html Personally, I suspect Waterstone's sales have dropped off because of poor choices in stock.  Browse the shop these-days and I rarely find anything that appeals amidst a growing mountain of junk - cookery books, 'celebrity' biogs and TV-related trivia.   The Mind, Body & Spirit shelves groan with sickly-sweet 'angels' and the kind of introductions to Wicca which begin with "This is a cauldron.  Mine has pink sparkles".  The Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror sections are ok if you want to read anything by someone you've already read most of the books by already.  Hmm, or maybe that's beca...

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"...People are working on exposing the pyramid walls every day... There are huge cement blocks underneath approximately a meter of soil everywhere they dig. Top, bottom, different sides of the pyramid… everywhere. They have found edges that connect two sides and even some entrances have been found.  The Archaeological Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation is saying that this is a step pyramid and the 90 degree walls are its steps. Experts from all over the world are joining the project and are actively involved." Source:  http://www.bosnianpyramids.org/index.php?lang=en   (View the source link for a photo gallery and more information).

For cryonicists and garden gnome enthusiasts everywhere...!

You'd think that planning a small family get-together would be easy.  Most of us don't live in the same areas and we all have busy schedules.  Some are available some days but not on others, and each person's timetable has little correspondence to anyone else's.  Consequently I'm still trying to get people to settle on a meeting date, even.  Our get-together celebrates two forthcoming birthdays - Mum's 83rd and Vikkey's 25th - and also the news that Vikkey and Peter are expecting their first child.  Just don't address me as Great-Aunt Adele.  I have no objection to being ancient, (or, more accurately, ageless), being the dyed-in-the-wool Immortalist that I am.  It's just that it doesn't seem too long ago since little Victoria was gurgling happily while daubing paints and obsessing about Roland Rat.   His name was her first words - though she said something more like 'Woland Wat', ...