Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

Deborah Jay reviews CUSP OF NIGHT by @MaeClair1 #paranormal #ghosts

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Sue Vincent

Reblogged from Deborah Jay:

I thought the Hode’s Hill series would be a little out of my usual reading pattern, but with its mix of mystery and suspense, plus a goodly dollop of the supernatural, it soon had me hooked.

Here is my review of the first instalment, CUSP OF NIGHT.

I’ve just finished the second, and started the third. That says a lot about how much I’m enjoying them. I checked, but only three in the series so far. Pity. Just saying…

Blurb

The truth hides in dark places . . .

Recently settled in Hode’s Hill, Pennsylvania, Maya Sinclair is enthralled by the town’s folklore, especially the legend about a centuries-old monster. A devil-like creature with uncanny abilities responsible for several horrific murders, the Fiend has evolved into the stuff of urban myth. But the past lives again when Maya witnesses an assault during the annual “Fiend Fest.” The victim is developer Leland Hode, patriarch of the town’s most powerful family, and he was attacked by someone dressed like the Fiend.

Continue reading at Deborah Jay

Posted in reblog | Tagged book reviews, murder mystery, paranormal, supernatural | 2 Comments

Solstice of the Moon: The Singing Stones of Duddo…

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Sue Vincent

It was a little further out of our way than we expected… and a little farther off the road too. When we parked the car, there was no sign of the stones, just a sign saying we would need to allow at least an hour. With a long journey still ahead, we almost didn’t go… but then, we didn’t know what we might miss. Donning the boots for a tramp across damp fields, we set out, hoping the projected hour was an overestimation. When the land shifted and we saw the stones crowning the hilltop, two things were immediately obvious. An hour was a gross underestimation… and it was going to be well worth the walk.

The Four Stones of Duddo are actually five… and were once seven. There were six stones standing in 1811, but by 1852, two had fallen, with one of them finally breaking. Two sockets were found in the west of the circle during an excavation in 1890, when only four of the stones were still standing. One of the fallen stones was re-erected in its original position around a hundred years ago. It seems a little sad that the circle, which has stood here for 4200 years should suffer so much in modern times.

The hill upon which the stones stand rises alone, like an island in a ploughed sea, in the centre of a wide basin. You could imagine it appearing to float above the morning mists. In the distance are the hills of Scotland and the view from within the circle is wide.

As we walked up to the stones, we thought we could discern the last vestiges of a henge in the green circle the farmer had left unploughed. Doubtless, his predecessors had not been so gentle with the land. Later research threw up a report by the antiquarian Canon James Raine in 1852 that suggests there was also an outer circle, now lost. He recorded that the circle is “36 feet in diameter. Four stones alone are standing, the tallest of which measures 6 feet 9 inches in height, by 13 feet in girth.”

Figures alone do not and cannot give a true idea of the scale and the presence of these stones. It is not until you walk amongst them and are dwarfed by them that you begin to realise just how big they are.

They are shaped stones, tapering towards the base, which is unusual. It had been suggested that it is this form that gave rise to one of their names… The Ladies… which seemed most appropriate as the subject of the workshop we were on our way to attend was ‘Maiden, Mother, Crone‘.To me, they looked like ancient teeth crowning the hill.

Continue reading at France & Vincent

Posted in albion, Ancient sites, History, Landscape, mystery, Photography, scotland road trip, Silent Eye weekend workshop, Solstice of the Moon, travel | Tagged Duddo, standing stones, stone circle | 2 Comments

“Ain’t this a mess, Sheriff?” ~ Steve Tanham

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Sue Vincent

In the film ‘No Country for Old Men’, there’s a famous opening scene at the site of a drugs shoot-out. Everyone’s dead when the local Sheriff and his deputy arrive and start wandering through the bodies as though they were in a Spaghetti Western.

The Deputy stays silent for a long time, then says excitedly, “Ain’t this a mess, Sheriff!”. Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) looks askance at his junior and replies, as only Tommy Lee Jones can, “Well, if it’s not a mess, it’ll do till a real mess comes along…’

Continue reading at The Silent Eye

Posted in Ancient sites, Sacred sites, Scotland, The Silent Eye | Tagged Nigg Church, Nigg Stone, Pictish Trail, Picts, Shandwick Stone | Leave a comment

Published! ~ Jane Dougherty

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Sue Vincent

Jane Dougherty Writes

Today’s the day, my mum’s birthday and publication day for my first chapbook of poetry! I never thought I’d do it, but never say never. Having received enough rejections from literary agents for several lifetimes, it would have seemed like pure masochism to submit my poems to a publisher. We’re only constructed to take so much punishment. So, I did it myself. Quick, simple and completely painless. Except for the cover which is always a pain.

The poems are new but the themes are old. The usual, but mainly about water, what it says on the tin. Here’s what it looks like

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and if you’d like to get your very own copy here are some amazon links

Link co.uk https://tinyurl.com/y2et7dcr
Link .com https://tinyurl.com/y5ueldrq
Link Australia https://tinyurl.com/yykla7nm
Link Canada https://tinyurl.com/yxu5azlk
Link India https://tinyurl.com/yy6qvle5

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Posted in Photography | 9 Comments

Carrot and Coals: Maze…

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Sue Vincent

…There is another important thing with these sites which is not always immediately obvious.

It is not a collective thing.

It is not simply a case of visiting each and every site and then resting back with feet raised and head held high basking in the glories of one’s achievement. It is a living thing.

Each subsequent visit reveals more.

A wider scope: a deeper understanding… more questions, inevitably… many of them unanswerable, probably.

It is nice too, and I feel it is appreciated although by what or by whom I do not know, when one elects to take other people there; when one acts as something of a guide… but then again it is also exciting to explore a new site, along with someone else who is new to it…as in the case of Arbor Low…which is a henge and one of the most important sites of Central England which we are now calling Mercia.

Continue reading at France and Vincent

Posted in albion, Ancient sites, Art, Books, Don and Wen, france and vincent | Tagged landscape, magic, mystery, Mythology, Photography, psychology, story, The Silent Eye, writing | Leave a comment

Looking out

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Sue Vincent

With half an eye to a handsome face…
Rugged, smooth or touched with grace…
Or a pretty dress I’d love to wear,
A pair of heels, a style of hair…
I’m seventeen, or twenty three…
Or would have been
Were I still there.

With jaded eye I read the news
Of wars, and ecomonic blues;
Initiatives that come too late
To halt the conflict, stop the hate;
I’ve seen it all…The cyclic fear
That dogs our footsteps every year.
I’m ninety-two…a century…
Or might have been
Or soon will be.

Eyes of a child look out of mine,
And see the lover pour the wine,
And see the hand that takes the glass
All ages as the moments pass.

Alight with laughter, washed by tears,
A childlike gaze ignores the years
And wears her heart upon her sleeve,
And still, the unrepentant Eve
Looks out upon a changing world
Through eyes of woman,
Mother, girl.

As timeless as the inner flame,
And ageless, as without a name,
It is not bound by passing years
Nor by the sorrows, joys and tears.

Eyes of child look out on life,
Infant, girl, and later, wife.
Mother, lover, sister, friend;
Turning seasons without end
That will remain alive inside,
In spite of what the wrinkles hide.

For I am all and all are me,
The who I was, and am, will be.
All occupy the inner space
Regardless of a changing face.

Posted in Poetry | Tagged ageing, cycle of life, feeling | 46 Comments

Bow #midnighthaiku

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Sue Vincent

Bowed but unbroken

Seeking still to call forth light

Weathering the storm

Posted in Photography, Poetry | Tagged haiku, Life, Poetry, rainbow, storm | 18 Comments

Solstice of the Moon (Part 1) ~ Running Elk

Posted on October 27, 2020 by Sue Vincent

Hand in hand with retelling the story of our weekend in and around Inverurie, Running Elk, who was our guide and shepherd for the weekend, shares his own perceptions. One thing we have learned over the years, is that you always learn as much and more as you teach…

Day One

The forecast wasn’t all that bad but, heading South, the signs didn’t bode well. The showers seemed to be clumping together, somewhat; and by the time everyone had gathered at the initial meeting place, the gaps between clumps were becoming fewer and shorter.

They appeared to be a hardy bunch, however, and we headed up to the first stone circle at Easter Aquhorthies. Everything seemed to ease for a while, in the car park at least, as boots were donned and sou’westers affixed. Off we trotted along the track.

As the group found their natural places in the circle, the heavens, literally, opened. Thinking it “just a shower” I pushed on…

Then the wind got up. Is that hail? … and on…

I swear that was a flurry of snow… and on…

By the time I realised that the assemblage was likely not warmed by the rather dry delivery of a bunch of “facts” and “fact-ion”, by which I intended to establish the tone of the weekend, it was too late.

My boots were sodden filled and would remain so the entire weekend.

The thing is.

I was having WAY too much fun, and learning WAY too much, even in the first few moments of trailing a large group up to the stone circle with which I am probably most familiar. The group opened up a whole new dynamic with which to explore, questions to ask (and be answered), and they were all playing along wonderfully.

You see, these places ARE group spaces. Investigating, poking around, and evaluating a stone circle alone, or with a few people, is merely an exercise in logic, science, and (so-called) pseudo-scientific thinking, and, ultimately, is a rather dry, flaccid task in exercising the brain matter. As a group space, it is all but impossible to realise the bigger picture in one sitting.

With a larger group, everything changes…

Lesson 1: “Manly men” really don’t belong here. Their big logical brains encroach too heavily into the lightness of the space. Their scent intrudes, their footsteps, hard and heavy, fall rudely in the space between the shadows, and the magic barely penetrates their armour of practical scientism. The nice thing about this group is that all the men are open-minded, open-hearted, seekers of things beyond the mere rational senses. The circle, singing, welcomes them…

Continue reading at Stepping Stones

Posted in Ancient sites | Tagged Another stream, landscape, Sacred Sites and tagged group work, silent eye, standing stones | 3 Comments

Solstice of the Moon: A flying visit…

Posted on October 27, 2020 by Sue Vincent

There was absolutely no way we were going to drive to our destination without getting sidetracked. Where would be the fun in that? So we decided that the first place that would take us from the main road north would be the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

There were a number of reasons for that. It is a very beautiful place with a long history, a place of pilgrimage still today.The pilgrim route is still marked by poles across the shifting sands, although most visitors now take the causeway that is revealed at low tide.

On our last trip this far north, in the depths of a deserted January, we had experienced the strange and unearthly atmosphere of the island when the tide cuts it off from the mainland. There is a very different feeling between an island that is always and predictably sea-locked and one that seems to withdraw from the world when the tides come in. Leaving the island had been a surreal and unforgettable experience, driving through the receding waters in pitch darkness, with one headlamp out. ‘Civilisation’ seems a remote and unlikely chimera when the sea glitters around the wheels of the car.

This visit, though, would be in daylight and with hours to spare before the next tide, no chance of finding ourselves lost once more in that other world. That was a pity… but there was another reason too for our visit… they make the best mead on the island… and it was my birthday, after all…

Tree of Life by Mary Fleeson

Duly supplied with mead for the evening, we wandered around the tiny village. It had been closed for winter on our last visit and I have also seen it in the throes of high season, thronged with bustling tourists. This time the island was open and yet there were few people about. It is odd how the place changes with the shifting tides of human presence.

We went in search of refreshments. The pub near the Abbey was closed and up for sale. Last time, we had watched a glorious sunset, then retired to the warm pub to finish writing Mister Fox as we waited for the turning tide. Instead, we headed for a little place I had visited with a friend some years before.

The island itself is a sanctuary for birds and they have inevitably found their way into the little garden tea shops where there are easy pickings. We watched them as we entered, tiny sparrows helping themselves without fear to a free lunch… and clearing the crumbs from every abandoned table.