The Dawn of Misty Dreams by Adele Cosgrove-Bray; watercolour; 2018. I've been thinking about the internet and how it's changed over time, and how my use of it has changed too. Around 17 years ago, purely out of curiosity, I took a Learn Direct course which promised to be an 'Introduction to the Internet'. I quickly became hooked on this strange new world where the creativity of total strangers provided a seemingly infinite variety of entertainment. Intrigued, I set out on a journey of exploration which not only made research for my novels easy but also brought me into the world of RPGs. I won't reveal which characters I played, or on which boards our games were played out. That would spoil the mystery - and mystery was all part of the fun. As a talented co-player, Tristan, once told me, "If I wanted reality, I'd go to my parish." We used message boards and linked LiveJournal blogs to these; role-played in Yahoo! IM till dawn broke. We created l

Marsh Sentinel; watercolour; Adele Cosgrove-Bray 2015. This week saw me sailing down the Shropshire Union Canal in a narrowboat.  The weather was lovely,  warm with bright autumn sunlight which proved perfect for sitting on the prow of the Pot of Gold, eating egg and mayo sandwiches while ducking under towering weeping willow trees and dodging wasps which homed-in on the Victoria sponge cake. The narrowboat is owned by the Wirral Community Narrowboat Trust , a charitable organisation crewed by trained volunteers. We sailed past Waverton, and admired the houses whose gardens run right down to the water's edge.  Then we left suburbia behind and slid through open countryside, passing by a long, long line of narrowboats with permanent moorings.  It was like a floating village, some of the moorings being equipped with wind-power and solar-power systems.  Some narrowboats were cheerfully painted, others had more sombre colour schemes, a few looked rather rusty, while others'

Stolen from Heidi Ruby Miller's blog. Here are the rules:- 1. Go to page 77 of your current ms. 2. Go to sentence 7. 3. Copy and post the next 7 sentences as they’re written. No cheating. 4. Tag 7 other victims, er, authors. Heidi didn't tag me, but I'll join in anyway.  I'm that kinda gal. So, here's the prescribed extract from Fabian , which I'm currently writing the first draft of:- Rowan turned in his chair to face him.  "As sure as I can be.  The order's historical names were used in conjunction with the fact that we don't use any name at all right now.  Some of our personal first names were used, but no surnames.  A rough indication of this location was given.  It wasn't quite 'X marks the spot' but if a person knew this area well they could probably work it out." "Have you told the boss?" There, that's your lot.  I won't tag seven people specifically; you can decide for yourselves if you wis

For cryonicists and garden gnome enthusiasts everywhere...!

Even an innocuous boiled egg can contain surprises...

http://www.learn4good.com/games/kids/ufo.htm 'Tis silly, but deliciously so.