Popping in for a cuppa here and to catch up with everyone's news. It's probably the last day of our heatwave, so I'm about to sit out in the garden and enjoy the sunshine (covered up and wearing SPF 50!) Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday!

So glad to hear your good news, Larry! (hugs)

Great to catch up with everyone's news!

It's even sunny and quite warm here, too. *faints* I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

A herbal tea and a handful of Dara's delicious cookies would be a treat!

Scott, we have seagulls and crows with similar thuggish attitudes. Especially if you have any food!

Verbs, any of those cannolis going spare? They look delish!

Mind you, we're already spoiled with Sara's cookies! I'll grab a coffee and a handful of those.

Hope everyone's having a good Friday!

Liz is home and doing well. I think I have convinced Liz to enter a story for the competition. I hope she does well for my sake.

So glad to hear that Liz's knee replacement went smoothly, Roland. You must be so glad to have her home.

Ooh, so many goodies to have with a coffee today. I can't choose!

The thunderstorms didn't reach Ireland, Trevor!

It's just a cool and gloomy 15/59 degrees here today. At least it's not raining!

Sara, I loved your latest Scamp story!

A coffee and a handful of Sara's delicious cookies would be perfect!

Good morning, everyone!

Hugs to lovely Elizabeth. *hugs*

Verity and Trevor, your mother in law quips made me chuckle.

Here in the northwestern periphery, we had a few gorgeous sunsets (at around 10 pm) and light night skies leading up to midsummer. It's back to normal and raining here now.

Larry, since you've been so kind as to make coffee, I'll snag a cup. Plus a handful of Sara's delicious cookies, of course!

What a fabulous idea! Great to celebrate the continuation of Stories Space with a comp! Thanks for this, Molly!

As for the site, I am going to put my plan together. See the discussions in the relevant thread for where that is coming from. Should have more on the weekend. I'm going to build a prototype to test out a few ideas.

Scott, you are brilliant! Thanks so much for putting together a sample plan so decisions can be made, let alone a prototype! Hope you know that those of us with less (or no) technical knowledge are happy to pitch in to help with ther aspects, when/as required.

So glad that Victor is feeling better, Larry.

Nice to see the regulars popping in and hello to all. A coffee would do rightly this morning!

Great thread, Scott! I'm impressed how you and Ping have got to grips with this all so quickly, fingers crossed for everything!

Back to our cosy coffee house mood, my elderly mum is slowly improving and reducing her pain meds. When I last spoke to her she was sprightly and chatty for the first time in many weeks. For once, I was actually relieved to hear her spout her hardline conservative views (slightly to the right of Ghengis Khan) which means she's getting back to her normal self.

Looks like we'll get some rain here today. Well, it is summer in Ireland.

I would welcome some coffee and Sara's delicious cookies!

I'll definitely be supporting the new incarnation of Stories Space if that happens, fingers crossed. So wonderful to see the enthusiasm and willingness to keep the site going, albeit in a different format. You are all stars!

Appalling news about the terrorist attack, Scott, in your city. Unthinkable evil.

Hugs to Roland. ❤❤❤

And hooray, there are cookies! So life must be alright. :) Thank you, Sara!

I'll grab a handful with a coffee.

Hi Linda, great to see you here! *waves*

Sitting cross-legged, with sustained focus, the unfamiliar sensation builds. A jolt at the base of her spine sends a leaping flame flickering over her core. A wave of warmth sweeps up from her belly to a sense of empowerment and gladness of heart. A growl escapes her throat then a sharp mental clarity floats into a deep, thrumming, universal peace. After an endless moment, opening her...

Added 18 Oct 2020 | Category Micro Fiction | Votes 7 | Avg Score 5 | Views 166 | 9 Comments

Stillness is an art, a challenge, a marathon, An elusive quality to strive for. Life’s distractions are simpler, Busy-ness, activities, filling the diary, Padding the mind with the next thing to do. The white noise of chatter Externalises focus, Like the buzz of traffic, A sea crammed with boats, The skies packed with planes. So, in this threatening, frightening, enforced stillness, It...

Added 14 Jun 2020 | Category Poetry | Votes 8 | Avg Score 5 | Views 441 | 7 Comments

At our local swimming pool, you can clearly perceive the pattern of the school year, especially during the holidays. It gets markedly busier at half terms and the Easter break and even at Christmas (if parents really don’t know what to do with their children on a bad day weather-wise, having steadily worked through all the seasonal movies in the nearby multiplex)! These are brief flurries...

Added 21 Sep 2019 | Category Musings | Votes 10 | Avg Score 5 | Views 551 | 11 Comments

“You’re planning on doing WHAT ?” Isabella exclaimed, her voice emerging higher and louder than she expected, but her startled outburst had little or no effect on her group of friends. The men of the party, Luke and Marius, who were normally so protective of their female companions, just grinned at Aelia and Zenobia, who looked pleased with themselves and quietly excited. “But one of...

Added 30 Dec 2018 | Category Young Adult | Votes 10 | Avg Score 5 | Views 760 | 8 Comments

Kate stumbled down the neatly raked path, her glasses steamed up with the heat of raw emotion and half-blinded by tears. She trusted she would find her way to her favourite spot in the Walled Garden if she were blindfolded, or even in the pitch dark. That was if the entrance hadn’t been barred by solid metal doors at nighttime. It was as though she was led by a homing device to her place...

Added 09 May 2018 | Category Romance | Votes 9 | Avg Score 5 | Views 739 | 11 Comments

Perched on a craggy outcrop, staring out to sea, the priest opened his mind and his heart to God. In such wild and lonely places, he felt closest to his Maker and His divine word. He was not a young man, and knew his role as a travelling preacher, bringing God’s message to those isolated enough to be those starved of it, would not last forever. Previously, he could put in a day’s march in...

Added 21 Feb 2018 | Category Young Adult | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 622 | 5 Comments

Dancin’ the blues Is a complicated business; First, you focus on the rhythm, Then you try to feel How your partner moves, Fumbling to sway with his groove: Most of all, you strain to blend with All the glory of That music, In three or four pressurised minutes, When you concentrate intensely On all these elements.   If you can surrender To the beat, your partner, That music, ...

Added 05 Dec 2017 | Category Poetry | Votes 10 | Avg Score 5 | Views 810 | 9 Comments

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Former British Army Lieutenant Adam Merryweather survived the Western Front of WWI and has slowly recovered from his injuries. But can he heal from a broken heart?Torn between family duty and personal happiness, he sacrificed his love for Alf and has never ceased to regret it in the two years since...

During the summer of 1816, Lord Byron invited the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife-to-be Mary Godwin to spend some months at the Villa Diodati in Switzerland. These poetic rebels were attempting to escape society's disapproval of their radical lifestyles at home in England and to engage in a...

Arriving in Bath Spa to accompany his sister Letty in her first experience of polite society, Jacob Longley, Lieutenant in His Majesty’s Royal Navy, is more at home on board the good ship Gloriana. To his surprise, he has a possible suitor of his own in the glamorous Sebastian...

Joshua Jones is in London to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. As a young black man from a modest background, he works hard to pay for his painting classes, both as a fencing master’s assistant, then as a waiter in an exclusive gaming club, which his uncle manages.During the London...