The hands of the clock and the sun in the sky moved slowly during those long, warm days of summer holidays. Other than limited household chores, Cath and I had little to do other than visit the nearby beach, splashing about in the waves and getting sunburned. All summer long our noses and shoulders blistered and peeled. There was no respect for the might of the sun in those days and sun screens were still a twinkle in the inventors eyes. I remember the stinging pain.
Our skin itched from the salt and our feet and toes roughened and sometimes bled from the abrasive sand. As we jumped over, and dived through, the frothy seahorses, the sand collected in the gussets of our swimming costumes. We would leave the water with our costumes hanging down to our mid thighs from the weight of the sandy collection.
We had no thoughts of the future or of the past. We lived in the moment. Sea shells were gathered in plastic buckets and carted home. I would scrambled up onto the roof of the garden shed, dragging Cath behind me. We would sit together with our buckets of shells and home made glue, creating shell people. Hours were passed in this pleasant task with the gentle wind ruffling our hair and the floury smell of the glue in the air. Our childish eyes saw these artworks as masterpieces. They remained on the roof until the rain dissolved the glue. Then, we started again.
It is also a response to Melissa‘s d’Verse prompt as follows:
Today’s Poetics prompt, if you choose to accept it, is to write a poem including one example of zeugma. You may come up with more if the muse strikes, but only one is required. My seugma is included in the first line of my prose piece.
Laura is the host of the Friday d’Verse prompt, Write an Actameter for August (no theme required) as follows:
“And for today’s MTB prompt we are going to write an Octameter – designed by Shelley A. Cephas in 2007
Poetry Style:
16 lines
2 stanzas of 8 lines each
5 syllables per line
rhyme scheme a/b/c/d/e/d/f/d; g/h/c/g/i/g/d/d. (N.B. watch out for those repeat rhymes and where they fall; 2 in the first stanza and 3 in the second stanza)”
Monday’s d’Verse challenge is hosted by De Jackson here, aka WhimsyGizmo
Let your muse out of the jar, and scribble us a poem of precisely 44 words, not counting the title, and using some form of the word jar. Then head out into the blogosphere to visit some of the finest poets on the ’net. And don’t forget: the Quadrille door is ajar all week, and multiple poems are welcome!
My sincere thanks to talented author, Joan Hall, for hosting a guest post about castles with secret tunnels and chambers as part of my And the Grave Awaits blog tour.
Picture caption: Promotional book banner for The Mystery of Folly’s End featuring the book cover against a back ground of a mysterious house
Today, I am delighted to welcome talented author, Jaye Marie, to Roberta Writes to celebrate the launch of her new book, The Mystery of Folly’s End.
About The Mystery of Folly’s End
Picture caption: Book cover of The Mystery of Folly’s End featuring a glowing window in a house surrounded by dark trees
Two estranged sisters, a dead husband, a mysterious hotel and a ghost?
Charlie didn’t want to know her cheating sister Then she phones, desperate for help. The man she stole from her has died in mysterious circumstances Leaving her with two children and no money. Unable to ignore the plight of the children, Charlie drops everything, her life and her job, and rushes to help her family.
Will the fragile truce between them last? Can she find it in her heart to finally forgive her sister, or will what happened in the past destroy any chance of a reunion?
Can these sisters work together to solve their problems, or would that be too much to ask?
Meet Charlie Fletcher
Introducing Charlie Fletcher…
My writer has devised a clever idea to introduce myself to the book-reading public.
I am supposed to wow you with my fantastic personality if I remember where I left it.
I am part of a very successful Interior Design company based in London. We are well known for our innovative concepts.
A single, fun-loving woman, the eldest of two warring sisters. We couldn’t get on these days if our lives depended on it.
This wasn’t always the way with us. As children, we were the best of friends, but when she stole the love of my life and married him, she ruined any chance of a happy ever after for either of us. Luckily, my sister had moved away before I could get my hands on her. I have hated her ever since.
So, when I received a frantic call for help years later, I had mixed feelings. Turns out, the love of both our lives was missing, presumed dead, leaving my poor sister with no money and two kids to look after.
Should I ignore the call or tell her to take a running jump?
It’s not as easy as it sounds. As I said before, I am a businesswoman; I can’t take off on a mercy mission at the drop of my sister’s hat. But for some reason, one I can’t seem to put my finger on, I packed a bag and travelled to Bognor on Sea, turning up at her door the next day.
Can I patch up the past, forgive my sister, sort out her problems and get back to London before I am missed?
Why don’t you come along with me on the 4th of August and find out?
Extract from The Mystery of Folly’s End
“When I walked through the front door, the red light on the answer phone was blinking, so I pressed the replay button on my way to the kitchen, expecting a message from Peter. Instead, my sister’s voice followed me as I filled the coffee pot. I wondered what had prompted the call, as it had been so long since she’d had anything to say. When her voice grew louder, I stopped what I was doing and listened.
‘… I have to bury Tom, but I don’t know how without any money, there’s nothing in the bank… please pick up, Charlie, I need you.’ She didn’t wait long before hanging up.
Her words didn’t register fast enough for my exhausted brain. I finished making the coffee before it hit me. Tom was dead?
I rang my sister’s number.
‘Who is this?’ Her voice sounded normal now, not stressed or upset, which probably meant there was an empty wine bottle around somewhere.
‘It’s me, Angie. I was at work and didn’t get your message until now.’
‘So kind of you to call, sister dearest.’
Better make that two bottles of wine. ‘Maybe I should ring back when you’re sober…’
‘Suit yourself, only you’ll have a long wait. I may never be sober again…’
I wanted to put the phone down, but something made me ask, ‘How are the kids, Angie?’
For a moment, I thought she’d passed out. I could hear the television somewhere in the background.
The next voice I heard sounded small, helpless, and lost.
‘Sorry, Charlie. I’m hovering between anger and hysteria and enjoying neither. At least the tears have stopped. I know it’s a big ask, but can you please come and help me?’
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. We hadn’t been close since she married Tom all those years ago, breaking my heart, for he was mine long before she got her claws into him. She had driven a mile-wide wedge through our family before moving away with him, but she was still my little sister. Something terrible had happened, and two helpless children were involved. I knew my fate was sealed, at least for a while. Rather than ask questions, I said I would be there in the morning.
Tom was a successful property developer, so I wondered why they had no money. I made arrangements with Maggie while toasting a cheese sandwich, secretly glad to be passing on that awkward customer. Before turning in that night, I threw an assortment of clothing into a bag, ready to leave first thing in the morning. I fell asleep, wondering what I had let myself in for…”
Picture caption: Book promotional banner featuring the book cover of The Mystery of Folly’s End in a dark and misty woodlands
Jaye Marie came to writing rather late but has always loved books.
She enjoys reading many different genres, so was surprised to discover a passion for writing detective thrillers. Four of them to date, with more to follow.
She also enjoys running a website/blog, https://jenanita01.com and loves meeting all the wonderful people who drop in to say hello!
When I was a little girl of six years old, I loved to dress up. I was never Robbie. I was Peach-Blossom, the Native American Princess, or Willow, the Irish tree spirit, but most often, I was Aurora, the beautiful princess from Sleeping Beauty.
I had the record of Sleeping Beauty with a frightening picture of Maleficent, the evil fairy and self proclaimed ‘Mistress of All Evil’, on the front cover in the form of a fire breathing dragon. The back cover featured animated pictures of golden haired Aurora and the three good fairies. How this story captured my imagination. I hadn’t seen the film, but I listened to that record over and over again. I danced and sang and became Aurora.
At school, I taught my friends about Sleeping Beauty and Aurora. I made up a play of the story, based on the record. Each of my friends had a starring role but I was Aurora. My teacher came across us practicing this play in the school playground one day and decided we should perform it for the whole class.
My patient father, quite used to his dreamy daughter, brought our old record player and the record to school and set it up for the performance of the play. My mom sewed me a dress from fine lemon fabric with an underskirt. My friends and I performed the play and I was Aurora in my beautiful, floaty dress. It was a magnificent performance that I’ve never forgotten.
Little girl
Bewitched by music
Enthralled by
Good fairies
Always dancing and singing
Happy enchantment
Years later I saw the film and it thrilled me. It is still one of my favourite Disney movies.
This is my favourite scene from the movie:
Battlestar Galactica was not a film, it was a TV series. Not an exact fit for Esther prompt, but close enough in my opinion.
Battlestar Galactica Brides
When I was a little girl of six years old, I had a best friend named Susan. Susan was the daughter of one of the teachers at my school. The pair of us loved Battlestar Galactica, a TV series about human refugees whose home planet had been destroyed by evil Cylons and who were trying to find the legendary but unknown planet Earth.
Susan and I played Battlestar Galactica for months. I created ‘walkie talkies’ for both of us out of small Liquifruit boxes. The straw was the antennae. We pulled it up when we were talking and pushed it down again when we were finished. I wrote numbers on cut-to-size pieces of paper which I pasted onto the front of the boxes. These were the push buttons for dialing people. In my story, Captain Apollo was my boyfriend and Lieutenant Starbuck was Susan’s sweetheart.
One day, we decided we should stage a double wedding. We planned for this momentous occasion for weeks. Somewhere, we got hold of some tulle to fashion into veils and we both had white dresses. We picked fresh flowers from the garden for our hair and bouquets.
I’ve never forgotten that ‘wedding’ or the liquifruit ‘walkie talkies’ I made, although I can’t remember much about the show.
First wedding
In white with flowers
Girl children
Adherring
To traditional ideas
How life has changed
I don’t have pictures of these events, but this is a picture of TC on our wedding day:
Today, I am delighted to welcome talented author and blogging friend, Dan Antion, to Roberta Writes with a post about his latest book, Bridge to Nowhere.
Picture caption: Promotional banner for Bridge to Nowhere featuring the book cover and the purchase links
About this series
The Rascal Todd Mysteries are novels and short stories featuring a stubborn young investigative reporter for the Pittsburgh Courier-Reformer. We first met Rachael “Rascal” Todd in the final book of the Dreamer’s Alliance Series when her research into a closed case caused her to become a target herself. With help from her boss, her father, her boyfriend, and on occasion, her cat, Bonkers, Rascal finds answers that the authorities can’t.
About Bridge to Nowhere
Picture caption: book cover of Bridge to Nowhere featuring a bridge with a small boat in a harbour
Pittsburgh reporter Rachael Todd has a hard deadline — and it’s personal. Her friend is a murder suspect. He knew the victim. He had a strong motive and a weak alibi. Rachael’s certain he is being framed, and she’ll have to live up to her nickname “Rascal” to clear him. Rascal sees a connection to an earlier crime. The clock is ticking as she digs through multiple layers of legal and bureaucratic misdeeds, crimes, and evidence that the police ignored.
Is a crime solved when the criminals are identified, or only after they are brought to justice? This is a mystery born from that question. The story includes many twists and turns, even after the crime is solved. It features characters, including the bad guys, that grow in ways that might surprise you, and well-researched circumstances that will take you from delight to frustration while moving you close to the edge of your seat—sound interesting? If it does, this book is for you.
Gary Willes is a friend of Rachael’s that she met when, on a police ride-along, she was present while he was trying to commit suicide. Gary had been recently laid off, but decided to abandon his career as an accountant and become a teacher. Rachael is interviewing him for an article on how he has turned his life around.
“Gary explained why you’re here, Rachael. I’ll leave the two of you to cover that.”
Gary followed Tanya to the door. He gently closed the door behind her and returned to the front of the room.
“I’d invite you to the library, sorry, ‘media center’ or the teacher’s lounge, but I have some things to share that I’m not eager to explain to anyone else.”
Rachael was a little confused. “About your suicide attempt, or about Jeffrey Kline?”
Gary gave an ah-ha kind of laugh. “About Jeff, but not what you think. Also, not what I hope you will share in your story—at least not yet.”
Now Rachael was totally confused. “Did you know Jeff? Are people asking you about his murder?”
Gary looked around the room, as if someone might have sneaked in through the closed doors. “Rachael, I’m a suspect!”
Rachael’s eyes opened wide. “What? Why would anyone think you would kill him? That’s absurd.”
Gary explained. “Someone sent the police an anonymous tip. They suggested I killed Jeff to force Riverbend to hire me back.”
About Dan Antion
Picture caption: Dan Antion’s author picture. Dan is wearing a baseball cap and a blue jacket. He has glasses and a small beard.
Dan Antion was born and raised in a small suburb outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dan is well known from his popular blog, No Facilities, where he brings humor to a snarky set of characters and shares photos of nature and architecture. After forty-two years in a technology role in business he began a second career as an author.
When he’s not writing, you can find him hiding in his wood shop, or exploring with his camera.
Picture caption: One of the interior doors in the Rijksmuseum AmsterdamPicture caption: TC waiting for me (as always) at the entrance to the treasure trove gallery where Rembrandt and Vermeer works reside along with two others of the top five paintings in the RijksmuseumPicture caption: Still Life with Peacocks by Rembrandt. In Rembrandt’s time, peacocks were a delicacy for the wealthy. The meat was used as a filling for pasties. After being slaughtered, the birds were hung upside down to drain their blood. Picture caption: Isaac and Rebecca, Know as The Jewish Bride by RembrandtPicture caption: The Wardens of the Amsterdam Drapers Guild, Known as The Syndics by RembrandtPicture caption: Self portrait as the Apostle Paul by RembrandtPicture caption: Rembrandt’s Son, Titus, in a Monk’s habit by Rembrandt
Lastly:
Picture caption: Yours truly with The Night Watch by Rembrandt. The Night Watch is a group portrait of a company of civic guardsmen.Picture Caption: A better picture of The Night Watch
d’Verse: Picking up the pieces
The d’Verse prompt for Tuesday, hosted by Punam, is as follows:
So, for today’s Poetics challenge, I would like you to write about grief (in general or personal). If that is something you don’t want to share, you can write about healing, dealing with loss or the general state of our world that brings grief to you.
I was introduced to Joni Caggiano’s beautiful and powerful poetry through Barbara Harris Leonhard from Masticadores USA and Michelle Ayon Navajas from Hotel by Masticadores.
Both Barbara and Michelle work incredibly hard to promote poets and poetry. You can find out about their submission process for publication on their respective sites.
Picture caption: Book cover of One Petal at a Time in black and white
What Amazon says
One Petal at a Time is A Journey of Healing and Resilience
In “One Petal at a Time,” Joni Caggiano invites readers into the raw and poignant landscape of her journey as an Adult Child of Alcoholics. From a childhood fraught with unpredictability and fear, Joni’s story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of hope in the face of adversity.
Growing up in an environment marked by mental and physical abuse, Joni learned early on to navigate the treacherous waters of uncertainty. With dangers lurking around every corner, she turned to humor as a survival tactic, using laughter as a shield against the darkness that threatened to engulf her.
But beneath the facade of laughter lies a soul burdened by fear and self-doubt. Trapped in a cycle of dogmatism and low self-esteem, Joni struggles to find her footing in a world that seems intent on tearing her down.
As she grapples with the demons of her past, Joni learns to embrace vulnerability as a path to healing. Through introspection and self-discovery, she untangles the knots of her trauma, one petal at a time.
“One Petal at a Time” is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of self-love. Readers are reminded, through Joni’s journey, that healing is possible, even in the darkest of times, and that every step forward is a victory worth celebrating.
Endorsed by Claudia Black, PhD – Pioneer in the study of dysfunctional family systems shaped by alcohol and addictive disorders.
Expressed with such raw emotion and honesty, this is an incredibly powerful book for any reader, but if you grew up in a family impacted by substance addiction, you will identify with the pain in childhood and the joy that comes with the author’s healing and recovery.
Claudia Black Ph.D., author of It Will Never Happen to Me, and Unspoken Legacy
My review
This collection of emotional poems documents the poet’s journey from a childhood with two alcoholic parents and filled with abuse, to personal fulfilment. It is a staged journey from pain, confusion, and the destruction of innocence to acceptance and the achievement of happiness. This is not an easy read, as the poems are raw and very vivid so it took me a month to read and digest it. The book is divided into three sections, each dealing with different stages in the poet’s life, and each section is introduced with an essay giving colour to the poems that lie ahead.
This is an extract form the introduction to Part 1 about the poet’s childhood:
“I am the watcher of monsters slumbering with lit cigarettes, abandoning hot iron, stove, and oven. Emotionally exhausting, my allegiance is, with great care, to keep the two imitators unscathed. My fledgling face holds a lingering crimson path, where tears fall incessantly carving my saga.”
My favourite three poems in part one are Cleansing, Southern Rising, and Silent Cry.
“phantom of shame circles disgrace like fireflies without flames” From Cleansing
Part 2 is about the teenage and young woman years. A short extract from the introduction entitled Seedling is as follows:
“Love felt like a wonderment, and my shield melting like chocolate in my youthful mouth in front of your gazing eyes.”
My favourite poems from part 2 are Counting Clouds, Forced Submission, and Blood Orange.
“beautiful oranges surrounding me blood drips from internal wounds shuddering in the shadow of dusk dying bit by bit without any trust”
Part 3 is introduced with an essay entitled Blooming and this is the final paragraph:
“When I succumb, dear husband, please do not shed a tear for me! I will be that child I never got to be, dancing, and rejoicing without even the knowledge of sadness. I came from a seed, I grew into a seedling and God shined on my bloom and His Breath took me Home.”
My favourite poems from Part 3 are Open Casket, Bedtime, and Sunflower, A New Page.
“I am a sunflower, golden, proud, and tall dancing playfully towards the bright sun no longer living in the land of the small”
A beautiful book of poems that I highly recommend.
Joni Karen Caggiano is an internationally published author, poet, and photographer. She is a 2022 Pushcart Nominee for her poem, “Old News is Not Old News,” published by “The Short of It Publishing.” She was privileged to write the Forward for the Best Seller, “I Am In Itself Poetry In The Dark,” by the five-time Amazon Best Selling Author Michelle Ayon Navajas. On SpillWords Press NYC, Joni won Publication of the Month in November 2022 and Co-Winner of Socialite of the Year 2023. Joni was a Co-Author of both # 1 Amazon Bestselling books, Hidden In Childhood and Wounds I Healed. She is also in five additional Poetry Anthologies. Her first book of poetry, “One Petal at a Time,” will be released by Prolific Pulse Press, LLC in 2024, featuring Valencian artist Francisco Bravo Cabrera. Joni is also proud to be included in the upcoming Poetry Anthology, “A Safe and Brave Space,” published by, “Garden of Neuro Publishing, to be released in the Spring of 2024. She is currently a writer for Hotel Masticadores. Joni formerly contributed four combined pieces a month for one year to Masticadores India and Masticadores USA.
Thank you to talented author, Beem Weeks, for hosting a post about the creation of the book cover for my short story collection, And the Grave Awaits. You can find Beem’s books here: https://beemweeks.wordpress.com/buy-here/
Greetings to one and all. Today, I am introducing you to author Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s new release, And the Grave Awaits. Take it away, Robbie!
Picture caption: My artwork for the cover of And the Grave Awaits in charcoal and coloured pencil
It is not easy creating a cover for a collection of diverse short stories. The cover needs to give the reader a sense of what the stories, as a collective, are about so it needs to reflect the common thread. It also needs to make a strong statement about the genre of the short stories so as not to mislead potential readers.
And the Grave Awaits includes a variety of short stories which all fall under the broad umbrella of paranormal, but which vary greatly in their themes and subject matters. For example, The War Babies and All that Glitters is not Gold are both stories about women working in factories to help the war effort during World War 1. Justice is Never Served, Death is About Choices, and We’ll be Waiting are all based on true events, while Missed Signs and The Last of the Lavender serve as warnings about the dangers to human health that lurk in nature. The Christmas Pie is based on the meaning behind an old nursery rhyme while The Bite and Glass Mountain are supernatural fantasy. The common thread with all these stories is that they all result in an unnatural death … or a grave. Thus, the motivation behind the title, And the Grave Awaits.
Thomas also has a fascinating blog where he shares all sorts of interesting information about scientific mysteries, as well as information about Leonberger dogs, jokes, and book reviews: https://leonbergerlife.com/
Sally’s blog is a magazine styled experience and covers topics including cooking, health, book reviews and book promotions, jokes, and many other topics of interest. You can find Sally’s blog here: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/
roberta-writes.com 