Sunday Picture Post: Happing on Flordon Common

Posted on May 15, 2022 by crispina kemp

Out of nowhere, without the slow build usual of spring, Friday 6th May is going to be hot. Not roasting-hot, not height of the summer-hot, but hot.  So fill those water-bottles, pack your sunscreen, and come along with me.

Two buses take us to Long Stratton, a small town on an old Roman road (we’ve been there before, the start of many walks). We head out of town northeastward and happen upon Tharston

6th May 2022

Too soon to take advantage of this seat. As with many Norfolk villages, the church is way-way-way away from the present-day village

6th May 2022

Just to remind us of the month, every hedgerow is white with May blossoms (hawthorn)

6th May 2022

The route is over fields and along little leafy lanes…

6th May 2022

6th May 2022

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve a passion for pylons. If we see nothing else this day, still I’d be happy with these

6th May 2022

6th May 2022

Twisty-turny country lanes, and sprawling farm buildings…we’re happening upon the next village, Hapton

6th May 2022

6th May 2022

More little lanes, and across a pasture with cattle grazing

6th May 2022

And we’re at destination. Flordon Common. Next month (June) this path will be lined with yellow flag (wild iris)

6th May 2022

In centuries past this stream powered several mills on its way to join the river Yare just outside Norwich. How things do change!

6th May 2022

No yellow flags today, too early. Instead the common has turned white with ransom flowers (wild garlic), and oh boy, is that a tantalising smell

6th May 2022

We follow the path kept wide by grazing cattle to rejoin the country lanes at Flordon village. By now the heat has become oppressive. The two miles back to the bus-stop somewhat resembles walking into an oven; I want to return to the shade of the trees

6th May 2022

I hope you enjoyed the walk. I did. But I have to admit, I have a heart problem which makes me hyper-sensitive to heat (doctor says I shouldn’t go out in it but stupid me, I keep going)

Hope you’ll join me again next week. And don’t forget to check out Tuesday Treat for the flowers seen on the way

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Marguerite

Posted on May 14, 2022 by crispina kemp

14th May 2022

Marguerite wasn’t used to this
Crammed together with her sisters
In the nursery
Now she’d been bought
She had the spotlight

21 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Spotlight

Posted in Mostly Micro, Photos | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Along The Street

Posted on May 14, 2022 by crispina kemp

6th May 2022

This charming cottage is visible only in the winter, in summer obscured by trees and herbage, as if the seasons play hide and seek with it.

Hide and Seek, another title from the list Maria Antonia has given us for #2022picoftheweek

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CCC183: That Was Harry

Posted on May 12, 2022 by crispina kemp

That was Harry
Fishing was his life
Every spare moment
Neglecting his wife
Their 15th anniversary
She bought him a stove
Asked the local Tesco’s
To deliver his food
Friends asked her
Don’t you get jealous
Of all those fish?
No, she said
For without my Harry
Marriage is bliss

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #183

Posted on May 11, 2022 by crispina kemp

Here’s how it works:

Every Wednesday I post a photo (this week it’s that one above.)
You respond with something CREATIVE

Here are some suggestions:

  • An answering photo
  • A cartoon
  • A joke
  • A caption
  • An anecdote
  • A short story (flash fiction)
  • A poem
  • A newly minted proverb, adage or saying
  • An essay
  • A song—the lyrics or the performance

You have plenty of scope and only two criteria:

  • Your creative offering is indeed yours
  • Your writing is kept to 150 words or less

If you post a link in the comments section of this post I’ll be able to find it
If you include Crimson’s Creative Challenge as a heading, WP Search will find it (theory)
by ‘Searching’ in the WP Reader (fingers crossed)

Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Tuesday Treat: Flowers, Feathers, Wings and Things

Posted on May 10, 2022 by crispina kemp

A selection of photos taken on my walk 25th April 2022. Hope you enjoy

May blossom: 25th April 2022

(Probably apple): 25th April 2022

Definitely apple: 25th April 2022

Forget-Me-Not: 25th April 2022

Ransoms (wild garlic): 25th April 2022

More ransoms: 25th April 2022

Lords and Ladies: 25th April 2022

Marsh Marigold aka King Cups: 25th April 2022

25th April 2022

Orange Tip butterfly on Lady’s Smock: 25th April 2022

Holly Blue on Ivy: 25th April 2022

Small While on Garlic Mustard: 25th April 2022

Speckled Wood on White Dead Nettle: 25th April 2022

Blue Tit on apple tree: 25th April 2022

Mallard on water! 25th April 2022

And finally, for fungi lovers

Southern Bracket hiding away cos it’s not at its best: 25th April 2022

I do hope you’ve enjoyed. 25th April 2022 was a fantastic walk. I came home with 597 photos. It’s not been easy to select which ones to share with you: I wanted to share them all!

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Bluebell Wood

Posted on May 9, 2022 by crispina kemp

Photos taken 25th April 2022 in Green Hills Woods, Costessey. Feast your eyes. Sorry I can’t share with you the divine scent that filled that wood and made us quite giddy.

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

But as precious as the bluebells are, to me the Wood Anemone charms me more…

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

And Wood Sorrel, now become so rare in our woods I have to hunt for it every year

25th April 2022

And if you don’t believe this domain of fairies… I’ve known it since I was a child

More flowers and other delights tomorrow. Hope you’ve enjoyed

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Sunday Picture Post: Back Home

Posted on May 8, 2022 by crispina kemp

It doesn’t matter the years since we’ve moved, our childhood home is always “home”. So, hop on a bus, then another, and come walk with me the woods and hills and lanes of my childhood.

We start with the woods. Formerly part of Costessey Hall estate, now parish owned and available to everyone, that’s not always the case in England.

25th April 2022

And straight away we’re climbing hills [not high but they can be step] to emerge into Bluebell Land! See Monday’s post for a glut of these wonderful flowers

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

Leaving the woods and the bluebells [don’t panic, there’s plenty more to come on Monday] we head towards the Wensum Valley. We’ll be weaving back and forth across the Wensum for the rest of the walk

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

NOT the Wensum, but the diminutive River Tud, one of its tributaries, and Red Bridge which carries a mostly-muddy lane. Great river for paddling; usually noisy with toddlers and their mums but quiet today

25th April 2022

One of the several flooded gravel-pits which were quarried in days past. This used to be Costessey Common; it is still a parish recreation resource… and beautiful in all seasons

25th April 2022

We join the former railway track which now is Marriott’s Way dedicated to cyclists and walkers which will take us back into Norwich… but there’s plenty to see along the way. It’s recently been *surfaced* which means no more puddles and deeply mired places

25th April 2022

On outskirts of Norwich we cut across a meadow (lots of wetland flowers, see Tuesday Treat) and take the path beside the Wensum

25th April 2022

25th April 2022

First the river’s to our right, and then it’s to our left. The Wensum wends, and there are many bridges along the way!

25th April 2022

Old Man Willow. Although he’s not the one who says “Thou shalt not pass,” sure looks like he’s saying it here!

25th April 2022

One last shot (you can just make out the river to the left) then we’re back into traffic and heading for the bus to take us back “home”.

25th April 2022

I hope you enjoyed this homeland walk. I return to Costessey at least twice a year, for the woods – the bluebells and autumn colour – and for the pits – the flowers and the fungi in season (hush, the only place I know to find the scarlet elf-cup!). See Monday and Tuesday posts for the flowers and other delights seen on the way

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My All-But Empty Fridge

Posted on May 7, 2022 by crispina kemp

image by Alvaro Calcedo on pixabay

A chunk of cheese, a couple of eggs and a slice of cold beef, but that wouldn’t stretch to feed my friend who unexpectedly arrived.

A trip to the shop to buy two smoked haddock fillets, new potatoes, and asparagus. The perfect impromptu meal, ready in twenty minutes.

48 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Impromptu

Posted in Mostly Micro | Tagged , | 11 Comments

My Happy Place

Posted on May 7, 2022 by crispina kemp

18th April 2022

This is Breydon Water, confluence of Rivers Yare and Waveney which with the addition of River Bure flows into the sea at Great Yarmouth. When the tide is out, and here you see the tide is out, extensive mudflats lie to either side of a navigable channel. I must have a trillion photos of this place, for it truly is my happy place, but I chose this one taken not long after sunrise with the mist still veiling the distance.

My Happy Place, another title from the list Maria Antonia has given us for #2022picoftheweek

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