CCC102: The Long-Shanks

Posted on October 22, 2020 by

Crimson’s Creative Challenge 102

“Mally!” His cousin, deep-voiced, called him. “Mally, come on, stop hiding. Me and the boys are going out on the lake.”

Malcolm wanted to call in return, not to venture out there. But to alert the others was to give himself away. And he remembered what had happened to his brothers and sisters and cousins, his mother, his father, his grandpa and uncles. Weren’t many of them left now on that lake.

And he’d seen what the others had not. The long-shanks with their loud killing sticks.

BOOM! BOOM!

The long-shanks hunting season again had begun.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro, Photos | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #102

Posted on October 21, 2020 by

CCC102 [Focus is Mallard, male]

Welcome to my weekly challenge—open to all—just for FUN, FUN, FUN

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 , , | 18 Comments

Tuesday Treat: Fungi Found on Mousehold Heath

Posted on October 20, 2020 by

6th October 2020: Mousehold Heath which in previous years has yielded some new-to-me species of fungi. Would we find new ones this year?

Every fungus hunter’s delight, recognised by all, even if unable to name it

Amanita muscaria aka Fly Agaric: 6 Oct 2020

And its brother…

already featured on this blog: Tawny Grisette. THAT was a new one for me

Turkey Tail: 6 Oct 2020

Nothing new here; it’s quite common. But it is a good specimen

Jelly ears: 6 Oct 2020

Another common fungus. But again, a good specimen

This next one could be one of several different species, several different families. I’ve yet to get to grips with these bonnets/parachutes/etcs. But I like the elfin size of it

Unnamed: 6 Oct 2020

Another Unnamed (possibly parachutes): 6 Oct 2020

Rose Bonnet: 6 Oct 2020

This is another group I’ve yet to identify with certainty, but I’ll take a guess at a Wood-tuft

Unnamed: 6 Oct 2020

Pretty as flowers: 6 Oct 2020

I have this recorded in my folder as In The Dark Lord’s Garden.

Hare’s Ears: 6 Oct 2020

This is classed as a “cup”. And it was a new find. Happy with that

Dapperling or Amanita??? 6 Oct 2020

The Dapperling and Amanita families have much in common

Shaggy Scalycap: 6 Oct 2020

What a wonderful name. And so easy to identify. And another new one for me.

Unnamed: 6 Oct 2020

I’d like to say it’s a waxcap. But there are several other species it could be.

Hoof bracket growing on birch: 6 Oct 2020

Love the colour of that one

Unnamed: 6 Oct 2020

I’m sure to an expert it would be easy to name. But I’m not that. I do see it often, spilling out from trees.

And finally an easy one…

Oysterling, underneath: 6 Oct 2020

Oysterling, above: 6 Oct 2020

And that, my friends, is all for today. I’ll have more for you next week. Maybe I’ll even be able to name a few more.

I hope it’s encouraged you to look more carefully at the places you’re passing. In the ordinary, the extraordinary hides.

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 18 Comments

Waking Asleep

Posted on October 19, 2020 by

image by Stefan Keller

A nightmare, I know it is
I’m LUCID dreaming
I can wake from it

I struggled to wake
I woke in my bed
NO! Not my bed
I’m dreaming again

I struggled to wake
I woke in my bed
NO! Not my bed

43 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Lucid

True story. I pulled myself through 5 layers of sleep to reach proper consciousness and my own bed. It was frightening.

 

Posted in Mostly Micro | Tagged , | 22 Comments

Sunday Picture Post: Norwich and its Heath

Posted on October 18, 2020 by

Fungi season’s begun. So it’s off to Mousehold Heath for us. A bus to Norwich. A walk through the cathedral close

Norwich cathedral, south face: 6 Oct 2020

Then up the hill. Not high, but sufficiently steep. It’s where Robert Kett and his rebels set camp. (See Kett’s Rebellion)

Oaks trees on Mousehold Heath: 6 Oct 2020

Heather thrives on the heath: 6 Oct 2020

For centuries the heath was given over to sheep. Now, though much reduced in area, it provides the people of Norwich with a wonderful woodland interspersed with heathland

Hills, dells and dales: 6 Oct 2020

Parts of the heath were quarried for sand and gravel. Now reclaimed by Nature they tax the legs!

Bracken and pine: 6 Oct 2020

A woodland walk: 6 Oct 2020

6 Oct 2020

The unexpected: 6 Oct 2020

A wall that begins nowhere and ends nowhere. It’s a mystery to me

Magnificient trees: 6 Oct 2020

Out of the woods, returning to Norwich to catch the bus.

Quayside & River Wensum: 6 Oct 2020

Renovated riverside houses: 6 Oct 2020

But I remember them as rundown, ramshackle struggling one-man businesses

And a last look at the cathedral. As you can see, we’d been caught in the rain

North face of Norwich cathedral: 6 Oct 2020

Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Oh, what’s that? What about the fungi we found? I’m saving that for Tuesday.

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Six Swans A-Staring

Posted on October 17, 2020 by

Swans at Whitlingham: 12 Oct 2020

Swans caught in the act of staring. But what are they looking at?

Swan at Whitlingham: 12 Oct 2020

This swan was splashing and beating the water with its wings. We figured it for an exhibitionist

Watch Me, another title achieved in Maria’s Antonia’s #2020picoftheweek

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 16 Comments

CCC101: The Turn Around

Posted on October 15, 2020 by

Crimson’s Creative Challenge 101

What is this place he’s shown me?
A folly.
Shown to me, why?
For my folly in loving him?

I turn away that he won’t see the hurt in me
With gentle hands, he turns me around

You have it wrong
Here’s my secret place I share with you
For the love of true friends
Is a love that never ends

It is indeed a folly and despite its appearance, it is quite modern.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge: #101

Posted on October 14, 2020 by

CCC#101

Welcome to my weekly challenge—open to all—just for FUN, FUN, FUN

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 , | 39 Comments

Tuesday Treat

Posted on October 13, 2020 by

Forgive me for borrowing a quote: September rains bring October fungi. Except these photos were taken in September, after the very wet weekend of 26th & 27th (most were found along Marriotts Way). Enjoy…

📷 28/09/2020

📷 28/09/2020

📷 28/09/2020

📷 28/09/2020

📷 28/09/2020

📷 28/09/2020

📷 28/09/2020

📷 28/09/2020

📷 28/09/2020

The observant might notice the cobweb spread beneath this fungus, its strands catching the fungus’ spores

And as a reminder of what day this was…

📷 28/09/2020

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 17 Comments

That’s Tantamount to Heresy

Posted on October 12, 2020 by

Not by my camera (image by Guillaume Preat)

He said my suggestion was asinine.

I asked him why.

He said it doesn’t conform to the accepted theory.

I said what if that theory is wrong?

No, he said, that is truly asinine.

But what about that body of evidence? Do you dismiss it?

Evidence, he snorted. A made-up load of sums.

Then you don’t accept that the Earth revolves around the Sun?

No. That is worse than asinine. That’s tantamount to heresy.

74 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Asinine

Posted in History, Mostly Micro, Thoughts | Tagged , | 24 Comments