Photography – Page 6 – M J Mallon YA Author and Poet

Spooktacular 2015: The Gallows at The Caxton Gibbett Inn

I’m joining in the Spooktacular Capturing History Challenge from Ed Mooney.

Here’s a link to Ed’s blog:

https://edmooneyphoto.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/spooktacular-2015/

As I’m blogging this on a Monday, this is my entry for Rachel Thompson’s #MondayBlogs too: https://twitter.com/RachelintheOC. Rachel blogs at Bad Red Head Media. http://badredheadmedia.com/

I really wanted to join in this challenge this month as I am doing a spooky stuff and nonsense theme on my blog leading up to Halloween. By the way, today, Monday the 26th of October is the last day to submit your photos to Ed. So if you want to join in get cracking, and email him, super pronto!!!

I was originally going to take one of those Ghost tours in Cambridge, which I still fancy doing, but then it struck me the perfect idea to post about for this Spooktacular would be the history behind the Caxton Gibbett Inn in Cambridgeshire, particularly as it features briefly in my manuscript! This place is or shall I say was about as creepy, and unlucky, cursed if you ask me, as it gets.

The inn was located between Cambridge and St. Neots. It is no longer standing as it burnt down in mysterious circumstances, in March 2009, when it had been trading as a Chinese restaurant, The Yim Wah House. In fact I had been there a few times for meals, as I have some friends who live out that way so I’m so glad it didn’t burn down when I was in there munching my spring rolls! Apparently fifty firefighters had their job cut out trying to stop the blaze. Anyway the Yim Wah has now relocated, I don’t blame them! Would you want to stay in residence there after that? Shudders. No brainer. The Yim Wah is now situated in the centre of Cambridge, good move!

The legend of the original inn is interesting Halloween fare. Apparently three travellers were murdered by the landlord, (who intended to steal from them.) He disposed of their poor unfortunate bodies down the pub’s well. The original gallows stood on Caxton Common, the replica gibbet was thought to have been made from the timber of a nearby cottage.

Punishment was a very public affair in those days, the murderer was hung alive in an iron gibbet from the gallows and death under these circumstances followed due to starvation, dehydration or exposure. Apparently thereafter the inn was haunted by mysterious footsteps that stopped at the well! Creepy , Ghoulish stuff or what? !! Enough to make you choke on your spring roll! Sounds like that land may be cursed, and it is now the home of fast food restaurants. Well, on the bright side at least with fast food you’re in and out quick, surely nothing too terrible can happen to you in such a short timescale! My advice is don’t hang about and chat too much, get out of their fast!

So not exactly good joss. Perhaps not history as such, maybe more of a legend, but it does seem to me to be an area of Cambridgeshire with a creepy predisposition, and a gallows, so beware!

The story of the inn captured my interest so much that it features briefly in my manuscript Krystallos.

Here’s a short excerpt:

Amelina spoke in a hushed spooky whisper. “Talking of ghost stories did you see that Chinese restaurant that burnt down at Caxton Gibbett? Its burnt out shell creeps me out every time I go pass it, the original inn on that site, also burnt down in the 1920’s.”

“The George Inn, yes, bit of a weird coincidence isn’t it?” said Ilaria her voice rising with excitement.

“The place was cursed. The landlord was hanged and gibbeted for murdering his guests as they slept. The room where they were killed was always intensely cold,” said Amelina, as a cold shiver ran down her spine.

“God that’s creepy, talk about gruesome,” said Joselyn, “Thanks, I’ll not sleep a wink tonight.”

“Me neither. Maybe when we’re wide awake some fit dead guy could return from his eternal slumber for a chat. Hopefully a famous rock or pop star,” joked Ilaria.

“Now that would be cool. You know I had this amazing dream once that all the rock stars came bursting out of my posters and had a party in my house. It was a bit freaky as some of them were dead. They were rocking out until the early hours,” said Amelina as she demonstrated her favourite rock hero pose playing air guitar to the girls.

Ilaria, Joselyn and Jade looked at Amelina with wide eyed astonishment.

“God you’re crazy, Amelina, I can’t believe the things you say or do. The air guitar was awesome,” remarked Jade.

Ilaria and Joselyn laughed.

Hope you enjoyed my Spooktacular post, I enjoyed taking part, I’ve been planning this for ages, this baby has been waiting part finished in my draft folder and I nearly forgot to join in, that’s just typical of me. Scatty, or Loopy depends on how you take me!

Links:

http://www.cprs.co.uk/caxton.html

Bye for now, hope you enjoyed this Spooktacular story.

I’m hiding under the covers tonight just in case!

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Camera Lucida: Metal

It’s #12 Challenge from Julia at My Red Page and this week’s photography challenge is metal.

Here’s a link to Julia’s post : https://myredpage.wordpress.com/2015/10/16/camera-lucida-metal/

I decided to take a photo of one of my favourite metal candle holders in the evening, all lit up, and it was interesting how the shadows around made interesting patterns.

I’ve done some other metal photography in previous posts, here’s a link to these too:

The Kelpies: https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/08/28/edinburgh-festival-the-kelpies-sculptures/

The metal structure in the ceiling of the Grafton Shopping Centre, Cambridge. https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com/2015/10/08/instagram-kyrosmagica-style/

Hope you like them. You can see more of my photography on my Instagram account here’s the link:

https://instagram.com/kyrosmagica/

Bye for Now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

3 Day 3 Quote Challenge: Day 2

I have been tagged by Janice who blogs at On the land to participate in the ‘3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge’. Many thanks to Janice for inviting me to participate in this challenge. Janice blogs about our world and how important it is to care and nourish it: Caring About Our World; Reflecting About Life. She hopes to encourage us to move towards a cleaner, more sustainable future and away from the worst consequences of climate change.

Here’s a link to her awesome blog: https://ontheland.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/3-days-3-quotes-challenge-thich-nhat-hanh-love-letter-to-the-earth-bewow-writers-quote-Wednesday/

The rules for the 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge:

1. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

2. Share one new quote on three consecutive days on your blog. They can be from anywhere, anyone, or anything that inspires you… Which means, it can be from yourself, too!

3. On each of the three days, nominate 3 more bloggers to carry on this mission impossible endeavor (if they dare!).

So my quote today is about love. I decided to edit one of my photos of this pathway in a park and add this fabulous quote from Maya Angelou that caught my eye, its simple message is so humorous and true!!

Love is like a virus.

It can happen to anybody at any time.

Maya Angelou

Love is a bit of a pathway, a route you either choose to take or not, so that’s why I chose this particular photo to go with Maya Angelou’s quote.

I’ve added more photography on my Instagram account now, do pop by and see: https://instagram.com/kyrosmagica/

If I had to write a haiku about love it would go something like this:

Here are my nominees if you’d like to take part!

My nominees:

http://cindyknoke.com/

http://www.mybookishlife.com/

https://booksandbakes1.wordpress.com/

Hope you enjoyed today’s quote, and my buzzy bee haiku, try not to catch a nasty love virus unless you want to!!

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Hugh’s Photo Challenge: Week 2 – What’s in the Cupboard?

I’m joining in week 2 of Hugh’s photo Challenge.

Here are the rules from Hugh’s blog:

Fancy joining in the fun? Here’s what you need to do.

1. Take a photo of either the contents of a cupboard or of just one item from a cupboard.
2. Create a new post on your blog entitled “Hugh’s Photo Challenge: Week 2 – What’s in the Cupboard?”
3. Add the photo you have taken to the post and tell us a little about what you are showing us.
4. Create a pingback to this post or leave a link to your post in the comments section below so that other participants can view your post.

My photo:

This is my new kitchen display cabinet, so I thought I’d photograph these pretty assorted fairies under the spotlight, in the new, clean dustless shelf! A perfect spot to show off their prettiness. The top shelf has a little ornamental container with houses my crystals. I love crystals so it’s not surprising that they feature in my writing! More about that to come, I will be looking for beta readers for my novel so keep a look out for posts.

You can see the individual china angels and my crystals in close up on my Instagram account: https://instagram.com/kyrosmagica/

Link to Hugh’s post: htt p://hughsviewsandnews.com/2015/10/17/hughs-photo-challenge-week-2-whats-in-the-cupboard/

Hope you enjoy the fairies. These were a gift from my mother, a collection that she gave to my daughters. Now that they are older and have lost interest in them, I keep them as a keepsake, a reminder of them being little. Perhaps one day when they are older, past their teenage years they will appreciate them again!

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

A Leisurely Sunday Breakfast: Oh La La!!

My friend Hugh invited me to join in on his Breakfast photography challenge, a recent idea after he and I joined Instagram. I usually have a bowl of cereal, a cup of bog standard tea and bite into an overripe banana, but today to make it a bit more special, I chopped up the overripe banana, and arranged it nicely. Then I decided to go French, and have a croissant and jam. It looked nice on a flowery plate but I reckoned it needed a few finishing touches, so I added a bit of pot pourri, a few leaves of my begonia plant, a fun Halloween apple with a bug in it, my favourite mug, which also happened to have apples on it, and not just any old tea but red bush vanilla! But, it still didn’t quite look right so I rummaged in my fridge to get the strawberry jam out, and I put a huge dollop on top of the warmed croissant, crowning it with a single slice of banana. I love bananas so that seemed appropriate, the crowning glory in my leisurely Sunday Breakfast!

Result: Oh La La!!

It was very tasty, though I didn’t eat the begonia leaves, pot pourri or the bug, no I had to draw the line somewhere.

Everyone else is still fast asleep, the house is silent. No snoring, rumbling, nothing. This is unusual. I keep on waking up so early, my mind is too active! I reckon it’s all those scary books!! In fact this morning I had that annoying dream, you may have had it? The dream in which the door bell rings in the early hours of the morning and wakes you up. Ugh, how inconsiderate, especially on a Sunday. Nasty dream, never mind, I had a lovely breakfast and now I can write. So that’s a plus!! When my hubby and daughter wake up it will be croissants all round!! I shall have to do an Instagram virtual croissant for my eldest who is at University in Brighton. She will be gutted.

Here’s a link to Hugh’s blog to join in this fun photography challenge: http://hughsviewsandnews.com/2015/10/10/hughs-photo-challenge-week-1-what-did-you-eat-for-breakfast/

Do you have a favourite breakfast? I know that I had mine many years ago when I was in Malaysia, I couldn’t quite reproduce it today, sorry Hugh. If I could I would! It was a large chapatti style pancake with a spicy sauce for dipping, loved it!!

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Instagram: Kyrosmagica Style

Hi Everyone.

I have an important announcement to make Kyrosmagica is now taking its first delicate steps into the …… unknown …. new civilisations … space dock….. no only kidding, I’m partaking in the delights of Instagram. You will probably have noticed by now that I love taking photos. All sorts of weird and wonderful things catch my eye, even fabulous ceilings like the one above, so I will be posting my favourite inspiring images and sharing them with you.

There will be something for everyone, I hope!

Whether that might be pretty trees, colourful flowers, tasty food, (I love my grub,) lovely places, candles, clocks, crystals, and of course bookish/blog related posts. Stolen cats (yes, I might need to pinch some as I don’t own one, a serious setback to an Instagram user. Any cats free for a sitting? You know who to contact, details below.

So please do follow me on Instagram too, this is a new endeavour and this empty handed lover of cats needs all the support she can get, help me crank up my follower notch a little if you can. If you do I promise I will purr….. I can’t wait to connect with new followers on Instagram and see all your lovely photos from all over the world. Already I’ve discovered some wonderful photos locally here in Cambridge, and further afield in exotic faraway places.

So do join me on this journey.

Yesterday with this in mind I went out on my first Instagram specific photography jaunt, the weather wasn’t what I’d call optimum, it was a bit of a grey day, it could have been sunnier but nevertheless I managed to get a few photos without being rained upon.

I have lots of ideas planned for my Instagram page and I am very excited about this!!!

Funnily enough I saw another person taking a close up photo of tree bark, I reckon she must be a keen Instagram enthusiast too! Either that or she is studying botany. At about the same time I nearly took a photo of my feet walking but I saved that gem of wonderment for next time!! Don’t laugh, people do this on Instagram all the time!

One particular image that caught my eye was a simple blue balloon that had floated up to the top of the ceiling in the shopping centre in Cambridge, and was trapped there. Can you imagine what that child’s reaction must have been when it floated away? No doubt tears were shed. I guess it might have been a birthday balloon, it looked shiny and fancy. I loved the contrast of the round, blue balloon, against the crisp lines of the ceiling structure.

Here’s the rest of my selection from yesterday, which you can see on my Instagram too, most of which have an Autumnal/Halloween theme:

Starting off with some candles on display in a shop, I love candles, tea lights, and aromatic delights so it’s not surprising that these featured.

Some Lush Halloween Bath Bombs perhaps, I love my smellies!

This colourful tree by the colleges and other pretty spots in the park on the way to Cambridge town centre caught my eye too:

It does look kind of deserted doesn’t it? There were people around but they kindly moved out of the way for my photography stint!

And did I mention that I like to eat? I think I did. This window display at Patisserie Valerie made me halt in my tracks. It’s enough to make anyone’s mouth water!! So have a cake or two on me ………………

Hope you like them!!! Napkin anyone?

Thanks so much to all my lovely followers for continuing to support me in all that I do here in this blog, on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Goodreads, and now on Instagram. It means so much.

Keep on smiling, hugs, bye for now….

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

You can follow me on:

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kyrosmagica/

Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kyrosmagica

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20419289-marje-mallon

Tumblr: http://kyrosmagica.tumblr.com/

Writer’s Quote Wednesday: Michael Morpurgo.

This week I’m thrilled to be joining in Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday.

Here’s the link to find out how to join in this open community of quote enthusiasts: http://silverthreading.com/2015/09/16/writers-quote-wednesday-george-carlin/

My contribution for Colleen’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday is this gem of pure wonderment from Michael Morpurgo.

Encouraging young people to believe in themselves and find their own voice, whether it is through drama, writing or art is so important in giving young people a sense of self-worth. Michael Morpurgo.

I absolutely believe this is true, and the photograph below, (which I’ve edited with Michael Morpugo’s quote,) is taken from my youngest daughter’s art work when she was still at primary school.

It is nice to keep a copy of these little artistic endeavours on my blog as they bring back memories of when the girls were little, that seems such a long time ago now! Both of my daughters are pretty arty, my eldest enjoys writing, art, and drama, and my youngest writing, dance and photography (which I would include too in the quote!) Being creative seems to run in our family! In fact my grandfather and my uncle had a photography business in Edinburgh.

Here’s a trio of Georgina’s artwork from primary school, the one on the left and right remind me of batik, The middle one is very colourful and exotic too! Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to whole cloth, or cloth made using this technique. It is found in various countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Nigeria. More about Batik on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batik

The photo below is one of my eldest daughter’s artwork pieces that she did when she was studying GCSE Art.

Author’s Bio – Goodreads

Michael Morpurgo is the author of many books for children, five of which have been made into films. He also writes his own screenplays and libretti for opera. Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1943, he was evacuated to Cumberland during the last years of the war, then returned to London, moving later to Essex. After a brief and unsuccessful spell in the army, he took up teaching and started to write. He left teaching after ten years in order to set up ‘Farms for City Children’ with his wife. They have three farms in Devon, Wales and Gloucestershire, open to inner city school children who come to stay and work with the animals. In 1999 this work was publicly recognised when he and his wife were awarded an MBE for services to youth. He is also a father and grandfather, so children have always played a large part in his life. Every year he and his family spend time in the Scilly Isles, the setting for three of his books.

http://www.michaelmorpurgo.com

I hope you like the quote from Michael Morpurgo that I have featured for Writer’s Quote Wednesday this week, and the magical artwork too!

If you are artistic or creative and would like to be featured on this blog, I will be posting artistic, photographic, writing, poetry, creative, and dramatic pieces, (written accounts for the drama please!) by youngsters in the age group 11-18. So do get in touch if you are interested in featuring, leave a comment below.

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

Camera Lucida: The Colour of Life

This is my photo for Julia’s Camera Lucida this week. The theme this week is The Colour of Life. If you’d like to join in or check out Julia’s awesome owl post here’s the link: https://myredpage.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/camera-lucida-the-colour-of-life/

My photo of Alice’s card filled hair is a bit of a steal really as it is a photograph of my daughter Natasha’s artwork when she was studying GCSE Art but it seemed to fit the theme very well, as it is so colourful and vibrant. This week I will be doing some posts about celebrating and encouraging the artistic endeavours of young people. Life is full of challenges and possibilities pick an Alice fantasy card and see where time will take you. I Love the wackiness of Alice in Wonderland, our lives should be full of exuberant, eccentric moments and this painting sums it up for me.

Hope you liked my post. If you’d like to share any of your children’s art work/photography in the comments below please do.

Marje @ Kyrosmagica. xx

#MondayBlogs: Camera Lucida Photo Challenge: Week 9 The Sign

I’m thrilled to be taking part again, this is only my second week! Bit of catching up to do. Hurrah!! What am I up to? Julia at My Red Page’s Camera Lucida Photo Challenge.

Here’s a link to her blog if you’d like to take part in this fun photo challenge: https://myredpage.wordpress.com/2015/09/04/camera-lucida-the-sign/

This week’s theme: The Sign

an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else.
a gesture or action used to convey information or an instruction.
a notice on public display that gives information or instructions in a written or symbolic form.

For this week’s prompt I wanted to focus on doing a light-hearted post about funny signs rather than a serious photography post.

PART 1 : THE MYSTERY OF THE PARKING LOLLIPOP LIFEBUOY

My photos didn’t come out too great so with that in mind I thought I’d challenge myself to do this funny post. How can I make fairly boring photos interesting? Apply a sprinkling of humour, a bit of an adventure, a dollop of Tintin and Snowy mystery… Me hopes.. to spice up these photos.

My first photo to the left of the trio of mediocre-ness is odd, the yellow out of focused sign says: Have you paid for parking? Don’t worry it didn’t speak to me personally I just read it while I was waiting at the bus stop. Also that yellow STOP sign painted on the ground on that far right photo caught my eye. I think the other folks at the bus stop probably thought I’m a bit loopy taking photos of it and its neighbour a round circular object that isn’t a lollipop. The yellow parking sign is placed right beside a sharp incline with wild grasses and plants growing, no car park immediately behind or near it. Of course it makes sense if you know that you can park and ride at this site. So no real mystery after all or is there? Of course there is a mystery there has to be or else this post would be oh so dull. Here’s a clue: wonder of wonders there is a red lifebuoy next to it. That one’s specially for Julia, I know she likes the colour red. There is no lake or river here, and never has been as long as I’ve been in residence in Cambridge so why would I park my yacht, or possibly my rubber dinghy nearby, and then get a bus? More importantly why would I need saving? The Tintin and Snowy plot thickens. Don’t disappear meet them in PART 2 BELOW.

PART 2 Tintin and The Stone Wall To Nowhere.

Then I found the answer, I walked through the park to the other side of town looking for more strange signs and I came across this beauty for you dog walkers out there, apparently when your dog poos, fire comes out of its a**. That’s a revelation to me!! What have you been feeding your dog? Chillis, curry sauce, hot paprika? So that’s my answer to this peculiar mystery, I need saving from doggie poops that combust by themselves! Who needs fire lighters for BBQ’s, oops that’s getting a bit too much. Moving swiftly on. Let’s get serious now, be good citizens, don’t let your dog off its lead just in case it tries to sneak through a stone wall.

Back to the parking issue, and to my friends Tintin and Snowy my final photo’s caption is NO PARKING GOODS ENTRANCE. What? There is nowhere here to park your car, yacht, or dinghy either, just in case you’re wondering. There is just a solid brick wall, this does not count as an entrance for your goods. They’d have to be invisible goods to get in there. Ah magic and wizardry, perhaps this is a stone wall to nowhere. I’m so curious – what is behind those bars on that window? I hope there isn’t a prisoner in there …… Really there’s no way in, and no way out either. I’m not kidding, it’s kind of getting a bit Dr. Who ish…. Snowy would be relieved to know that even a little spider couldn’t get through those crevices, believe me, let alone you and your trusty dog on its lead. Maybe there is scotch whisky in there, now that would get Snowy on the trail, he like a little tipple. If Dr. Who is busy with his tardis lets get Tintin, and Snowy on the trail, this sounds like an adventure for a man and his dog. I loved those books as a kid, The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. I must re-read! We could call this Tintin adventure The Stone Wall To Nowhere, or just simply The Stone Wall, that sounds very Tintinesque.

Anyway, getting back to reality, (a bit,) I suppose you could smash a window and get in that way, but your dog and Snowy might not approve, he or she might think it is a very bad idea. Let’s face it he or she just wants to go to the park. To do a you know what…. Sensible dog… Fire extinguisher at the ready. Call the fire brigade!!!

Hope you enjoyed my wacky contribution to Camera Lucida, I enjoyed writing this so much!

It’s a bit of daftness to keep you entertained at the start of the week. Happy Humorous Monday, Folks….

Oh if you fancy writing a piece of flash fiction, or a short story about this theme do have a go, I think it would make for fun reading…… I might write one too….

Bye for now. I’ve got to get my shades on and play poker with my imaginary dog, see you later!

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

#Monday Blogs: Camera Lucida Photo Challenge: Week 8 Divergent

I’m having a shot at taking part in Julia’s Camera Lucida photo challenge this Monday.

Do check out Julia’s blog it is wonderfully dressed in a most brilliant, sumptuous Red!

Here’s the link to My Red Page if you’d like to join in Julia’s Weekly Photography Gallery:

https://myredpage.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/camera-lucida-divergent/

Julia’s chosen theme this week is : Divergent

The definition of divergent is things that move in different directions or that are far apart from each other.

Opposites, dissimilar, different, contradictory, reverse.

I decided to focus on shadows as the theme of light and shadow, and in particular good and bad characters, is one I like to consider in some of my writing. The photo below is one of my Country park photos that I took in the woods, I’ve cropped the image to make it seem more scary looking! I’m particularly pleased with this creepy shadow, what do you think?

The photo below is a striking shadow on the mottled ground, I’ve manipulated the image to make the shadows appear darker, thicker and more menacing. Creepy huh?

This is a gentler image of my shadow set against contrasting brightly coloured hexagonal paving stones. What am I up to? Is it really me? There’s no way of telling is there? That’s the fascinating thing about shadows they leave so much to the viewer’s imagination.

This is another photograph that I took at the country park, I’ve cropped the image to focus on this interesting pattern of lined shadows that caught my eye.

Thanks for stopping by, what do you think of shadows? Do they fascinate and intrigue you too?

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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Encouraging young people to believe in themselves and find their own voice, whether it is through drama, writing or art is so important in giving young people a sense of self-worth. Michael Morpurgo.

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I’m thrilled to be taking part again, this is only my second week! Bit of catching up to do. Hurrah!! What am I up to? Julia at My Red Page’s Camera Lucida Photo Challenge.

Here’s a link to her blog if you’d like to take part in this fun photo challenge: https://myredpage.wordpress.com/2015/09/04/camera-lucida-the-sign/

This week’s theme: The Sign

Share this:

I’m having a shot at taking part in Julia’s Camera Lucida photo challenge this Monday.

Do check out Julia’s blog it is wonderfully dressed in a most brilliant, sumptuous Red!

Here’s the link to My Red Page if you’d like to join in Julia’s Weekly Photography Gallery:

Share this: