"I'm happy. Hope you're happy too."

Sunday, February 19, 2024

Work on Cold Comfort has progressed nicely over the past few days and I am firmly on track to getting the end of my final edit completed before the close of the week. We'll, kind of. As I have already noted, this is both my 8th and 1st novel, it's infant draft being completed over 25 years ago before being stuffed in a drawer and half forgotten about. Unfortunately, over that time, and enduring no less than 4 house moves, Chapters 1 and two of the book have vanished. Wanting to keep to my deadline of getting the beast published by the end of March, that will give me 5 or so weeks to search all my old files that have been aphazardly stored on recordable CDs over the years. My wife bought me CD drive last Christmas for the unenviable task. I only hope the search for the missing chapters will prove worthwhile as I REALLY do not look forward to rewriting them. Please, wish me luck.

The Thing From Another World

Saturday, February 17, 2024 

One of the problems with my health condition is never having a good night's sleep. (Yep, I'm still waiting on my home visit to kick-start my injections.) Still, last night, I found a late-night movie on BBCiplayer to watch. And it was a real classic! This would make a perfect theatrical play, if it hasn't been done already.

Time to Put Away the Toys, for a while at least

Thursday, February 15, 2024 

Okay, just completed photographing my Lego version of 'Whistle and I'll Come to You', the Ghost Story for Christmas, where the protagonist is literally haunted by a bed-cover. I am going to have to put the Lego away for a few weeks now as I really need to concentrate on completing my next novel, Cold Comfort! The break will do me good as I can't decide what the next ghost story I will be working on for my Lego Horror series - though it will probably be 'A Warning to the Curious'.

Anyway, here are the photos, with a brief outline of the M.R. James ghost story to make a little sense of them:.

Our protagonist arrives at his holiday B&B to find his single room has two beds:

That evening. He takes in the seaside air with a long walk along the beach, where he discovers a Curious old Whistle in the sand. He blows it to clear the sand from it and a strange sound fills the air. Feeling suddenly cold, He hurries back to his B&B for an early night.

Unfortunately, his sleep is a troubled one. Strange noises permeate his room, which he puts down to the wind flapping the curtains through an open window. The sound filters through into his Dreams, conjuring a nightmare vision. A malevolent force has been conjured by the sounding of the ancient whistle, and finding form in an old boat sail, billows across the beach towards him: 

He awakens, terrified as the sound of the flapping sail continues from the 'unnoccupied' bed in his room. It seems as though its bedsheets have come alive and flap as they tussle to find the form of the evil beneath them:

Panic-stricken, he grabs the whistle, and flings the cursed item into the flames of the room's open fire:

The sheets fall in a knotted heap to the floor, just an ordinary bed-cover once more. However, so terrified was the protagonist, that he never recovers his former sanity.

Make Room!

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Time for more 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You', if The Soosh Cat will allow!

Lego Signalman Pics Completed

Tuesday, February 13, 2024 

  

Another Lego 'Ghost Story for Christmas' Diorama

Monday, February 12, 2024

Working on my second Christmas Ghost Story. Can anyone guess the story or author, or both?

An Afternoon venture into the Garden

Sunday, February 11, 2024

It was mild enough for me to go out into the garden today and have a little fire in the chimenea. It was lovely to see that Spring is finally starting to claw its way into 2024 :)

Hagstone

My Yew Cutting, taken from this magnificent tree down the Gower Peninsula, was looking nice and healthy:

My Yew Cutting (pruned to be a bonsai)

Another bonsai in the making - this time a Cherry Tree

It was nice to see that the Sycamore, grown from a trio of seeds I collected a trio of Sycamore from the sacred Chalice Well Gardens, the sacred in Glastonbury:

An old pic of the three Sycamore Seeds collected from Glastonbury

These three seeds have now formed a rather cool 'single' entity whose contortions continue to amaze :)