CCC193: And All the Land Was Tidy and Paved

Posted on July 21, 2022 by crispina kemp

It all began one hot summer.

The grasses browned and crisped; people trod the dried grasses and rubbed them away.

Next year the grasses tried to grow but…you know how it goes.

Two hot and dry summers later, the parish council said, “Let’s pave the area, it doesn’t grow grass and the wind is eroding it.”

Where had been earth, where had been grass, now was concrete.

That autumn the rain never stopped. Rain, rain, rain. Five years of rain all in two months, they said.

But concrete doesn’t absorb in the way of grasses grown in earth. And so the flood began.

In the aftermath of the “Beast from the East”

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Crimson’s Creative Challenge #193

Posted on July 20, 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

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Tuesday Treats: Butterflies, Grasses, and Flowers

Posted on July 19, 2022 by crispina kemp

Some of the details from our marshland walk (22nd June 2022). Hope you enjoy

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I suspect this Tortoiseshell butterfly is laying its eggs on this nettle. We saw several in repose on nettles

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Not all butterflies are immediately visible…

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That’s all for now, folks. Hope you enjoyed.

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Sunday Picture Post: The Back Way

Posted on July 17, 2022 by crispina kemp

Picking up from where we left it last week. We’ve walked Breydon Bank, now for the return walk at “the back” of the grazing marshes.

A farm track takes us across the marshland, to the outskirts of the small village of Burgh Castle…

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We welcome the cooling breeze that whips unhindered across this land. These horses welcome it too

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The track becomes a lane through wooded land…

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…where foxglove grow in amazing abundance…

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After a short run of road, we’re onto a footpath that takes us through arable land (and back into the heat)..

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Looking across the barley to the distant northern rim of Breydon Water..

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Here used to be grazing marsh, here it used to flood in winter, here are the same drainage channels as we saw on the marshland

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The last mile or so takes us along the edge of those grazing marshes, only a drainage channel and a fringe of trees separate us. The white tower on the horizon is the Water Tower (a reservoir) at Caister-on-Sea, north of Great Yarmouth

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From here we’re onto a busy road for the rest of the walk into Gt Yarmouth. But we pass a retail park on the way and stop for coffee.

Hope you’ve enjoyed. Don’t forget to check ont Tuesday Treats for flowers and winged things seen on the way.

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The Power of Attraction

Posted on July 16, 2022 by crispina kemp

Buddleia: 8th July 2022 

Buddleia isn’t nicknamed the Butterfly Bush without good reason. Usually its spires are alive with feeding butterflies. But cos I wanted to take the photo…none.

Flower Power, another title from the list Maria Antonia has given us for #2022picoftheweek

8th July 2022

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Braving the Winds

Posted on July 16, 2022 by crispina kemp

22nd Dec 2021

It started with a clang
A boom and a bang
White blankets wrapped around
A flood washed the ground
Green began to grace the trees
Braving the winds that iced the leaves
The sun rose strong though ragged and torn
And a new year was born

46 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Year

Posted in Photos, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

CCC192: Lady in Red

Posted on July 14, 2022 by crispina kemp

She rises alone from her bed
An ancient lady in a skirt of red
Brought to these shores by a people long since dead
Amongst grains of wheat and barley for their bread
Mother of millions, and millions fed
Poppy to this tilled land is wed.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #192

Posted on July 13, 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 , , | 12 Comments

Tuesday Treats: Winged Things

Posted on July 12, 2022 by crispina kemp

June, when butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies take to the air… but first, we are beside Breydon Water, there must be some birds

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But there are not many, and this vies for our attention…

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Butterflies and damsels love to bask on this sun-warmed metal flood defence

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Easy to photograph them while they’re warming

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But not always easy to spot…

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And where there are butterflies there are also caterpillars

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I may not like stinging nettles, but the Red Admiral seems happy to nestle in there

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More? You want more? That must wait till next week. Hope you’ve enjoyed.

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Sunday Picture Post: Too Hot To Travel

Posted on July 10, 2022 by crispina kemp

Forecast for 22nd June is hot hot hot. We decide NOT to take buses but to stay local. A walk alongside Breydon Water and back along Angles Way which here runs between grazing marsh and villages. So, bring plenty of water, and let’s go…

Here at the back of the town, the Bure joins Breydon Water, itself  the confluence of rivers Yare and Waveney, to flow out to the North Sea

7:30 am: 22nd June 2022

Wayward seeds take root and flourish in the sloping banks of Breydon Water

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Green and red navigation poles, best not ignored. At least one pleasure cruiser per season goes astray to get stuck on the mud with the ebbing tide

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Ahead lies the confluence: River Yare to the right, Waveney to the left, but we’re not walking that far today

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Sloping banks give way to a fringing of saltmarsh…

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The ebbing tide reveals the mud, rich feeding grounds for migrant birds in their season…

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And in summer the ducks bring their fluffy ducklings here to feed and to play

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Meanwhile to our left reeds along the drainage channels provide nesting sites and cover for sedge and reed warblers, reed buntings and various waterfowl…all of whom keep a low profile with us humans about

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The swan is big enough and fierce enough not to need hiding!

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The pump house controls the water levels in the maze of channels that keep the marshes dry for grazing

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I’m delighted to see we have cattle again. They’ve been absent over past years, their pastures taken with horses

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And speaking of which…

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We’re now on a track that’ll take us to Angles Way and the trek back. Seems a good place to stop for today. We’ll pick up where we’ve stopped next week.

Hope you’ve enjoyed our water-side walk

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