Sunday Picture Post: Green Lanes and Arable Fields

Posted on May 24, 2026 by crispina kemp

The forecast for 11th May 2026 isn’t good. Wind. Cold. Potential rain. Disregarding the negatives, we’re up early to get into Norwich, for the bus we need is an infrequent service. Yea, we’re there in time, and after a very bumpy ride we hop off here…

11th May 2026

🔼 As the sign in the window says, this is Hempnall – where I spent many a school holiday with my grandma. But we’re not ‘walking the Krons’ today as I did many times with grandma’s dog. We’re heading to the next village 🔽 Kron Manor, built ca.1610, much modified since

11th May 2026

11th May 2026

🔼 A few steps west of the village-proper is Pymar’s Lane. This is where our route begins 🔽 And is often the case, it takes us through a farmyard

11th May 2026

11th May 2026

🔼 For most of our trail we’ll be walking through scenes such as this. Saxlingham is great for walkers, with a plethora of public footpaths, all in good keep 🔽 Steps and a handrail down into ‘Mud Hole’. The open pipe beside the steps might alert you to the source of the ‘mud’. It’s more than just field drainage. When I was researching the history of Saxlingham, I discovered there’s a river rises between Saxlingham and Hempnall which has been directed via here, along Wash Lane, and subsequently under the village road to eventually join the River Tas. Today the ‘hole’ is dry.

11th May 2026

11th May 2026

🔼 Love this church. St Mary’s of Saxlingham Thorpe. The parish register records the presence of Kemps in the village (long story) 🔽

11th May 2026

🔽 Seen across the fields, St Mary’s at the neighbouring parish of Saxlingham Nethergate

11th May 2026

11th May 2026

🔼 Wash Lane, dry today. I have waded through it on past occasions 🔽 Looking back at Wash Lane as our trail takes us out of this ‘sometime-stream’s’ shallow valley

11th May 2026

11th May 2026

🔼 A short and rather narrow lane separate these two green lanes 🔽

11th May 2026

Emerging onto another lane, we’re heading now for our bus back to Norwich.

Hope you enjoyed our walk. More photos on Tuesday

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These Nourish My Soul

Posted on May 23, 2026 by crispina kemp

20th April 2026

Woodland walks
Loving talks
These nourish my soul
Makes me whole
These my heart does cherish

16 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Cherish

Posted in Poems (Some Silly), Prompt | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

Friday Flyers: Birds, Bees, Butterflies and Damsels

Posted on May 22, 2026 by crispina kemp

Photos of winged beings… as seen on our walk on 8th May 2026

Butterflies…

8th May 2026

🔼 Green-veined White 🔽 Painted Lady, looking rather faded having survived the winter

8th May 2026

8th May 2026

🔼 Peacock 🔽 Small White AND a ladybird

8th May 2026

8th May 2026

🔼 Speckled Wood 🔽 Male Wall

8th May 2026

Other winged beings…

8th May 2026

🔼 Blue Tit looking very proud 🔽 Amber-bummed Bumble bee (no, that’s probably not the proper name for it) ⏬ Female Large Red Damsel (that is the proper name for it)

8th May 2026

8th May 2026

And that, my friends, is all for now.

Next week we head inland to arable rural South Norfolk

 

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CCC087: This Land of Mine

Posted on May 21, 2026 by crispina kemp

Let me paint this land of mine

Wash the sky with powder blue
Forbid existence to clouds anew
Mix a brave and earthy green
To stand for the most honest sturdy trees you’ve seen
Gild the fields in golden hues
Then, remember those puffy clouds? We’ll call back those
Daub them liberally around the edges
To underscore the hedges

Say now, if you will, is not the hand
Which created this land
Simply divine

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

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #087

Posted on May 20, 2026 by crispina kemp

Every Wednesday I’ll post FOUR photos (if you want to get a head start you’ll find them marked in that week’s Sunday Picture Post and Tuesday Treats). Lots of choice!

And here they are:

You respond with something CREATIVE. Perhaps an  answering photo, or micro-fiction, or a poem, or just a caption

As before, there are 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.

Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos, Prompt | Tagged , , , | 25 Comments

Tuesday Treats: May Flowers. Mostly

Posted on May 19, 2026 by crispina kemp

A dozen or so additional photos from our walk on 8th May 2026 (see also Friday’s post!). Enjoy…

8th May 2026 

🔼 Poppies by the water’s side 🔽 Who can resist this group of sheep!

8th May 2026 

🔽 Can you spot the butterfly here? See Friday’s post for a closer look

8th May 2026 

8th May 2026 

🔼 We came upon this clump of pink campion 🔽

8th May 2026 

🔽 The first blackberry-bramble flowers I’ve seen this year

8th May 2026 

🔽 Red clover. Usually the bees are busy on this but not this day

8th May 2026  

🔽 I’m no expert on grasses but I’m guessing this is a sedge. But there being so many species of sedge, I’m not going to say more than that

8th May 2026 

🔽 Another plant with multiple species: Mouse-ear speckling the edge of the woods

8th May 2026 

🔽 Quite a collection of plants here. At the centre is Herb Robert which has a small pink flower. As to the fern, I’m guessing that’s a Buckler fern, but which one, don’t know

8th May 2026 

🔽 Vetch. Again, lots of species but I think I’m safe to say this is Common Vetch

8th May 2026 

8th May 2026 

🔼 And here, in wicked close-up, is the rapeseed plant which gives us canola oil 🔽

8th May 2026  

That’s all for now, folks. Hope you enjoyed. Don’t miss Friday’s post for lots of various ‘flyers’

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Sunday Picture Post: Gateway to the Norfolk Broads

Posted on May 17, 2026 by crispina kemp

8th May 2026, the forecast is favourable with zero chance of rain, scarcely a breath of wind, and good visibility. That’s good, cos where we’re heading can be…wet. The Norfolk Broads are a network of rivers and lakes occupying the northeast corner of Norfolk (where I live). So let’s fill our water-flasks, tie our shoes and hop a bus to Acle, the self-named ‘gateway’. Enjoy…

8th May 2026

🔼 Our walk starts at Acle Boat Dyke where Broads’ cruisers line up like it’s the start of a race. 🔽 Never mind the boats, look at this poppy, shot through the wires of a fence

8th May 2026

8th May 2026

🔼 Lucky the person who lives here, surrounded by grazing pastures and reedbeds alive with the calls of warblers, rails and hungry ducklings 🔽 and with riverside frontage!

8th May 2026

🔽 When we hear chug-chug-chug it’s usually to annonce the approach of a Broads’ cruiser. I’m surprised to see this boat. Shooting through the reeds allow the occupants a degree of privacy!

8th May 2026

8th May 2026

🔼 Wet woodlands (locally known as carrs) abound in the Broads area. Some have foot-friendly paths, such as this one. 🔽 Seen through the woodland trees, a typical Broadland scene

8th May 2026

8th May 2026

🔼 We emerge from the woodland. Way in the distance is this former drainage mill, fuzzy with the increasing heat enticing mist to rise 🔽 As we leave the river and the woods, we’re very much aware of that increasing heat.

8th May 2026

8th May 2026

🔼 Last stage of the walk (back to Acle to catch a bus) 🔽 the footpath run (slogs?) through a rapeseed field. Those plants are taller than us, and there’s a definite incline to that path

8th May 2026

🔽 One more field and we’ll be back in Acle.  The path through that last field is somewhat steeper than the one just walked, so I put the camera away to allow myself to give it my all.

8th May 2026

Hope you enjoyed our walk. Check out Tuesday’s and Friday’s posts for more photos

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , | 25 Comments

My Daughter

Posted on May 16, 2026 by crispina kemp

Image by Sunrise via Pixabay

My daughter says she’ll never wed
Never wants to share her bed
Rather she’d sleep in a ditch
Be accused of being a hedgerow witch
I said I understand
But does that include a woman as well as a man
I blame it on the night she was born
During a Halloween thunderstorm

53 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Thunderstorm

Posted in Poems (Some Silly), Prompt | Tagged , , | 34 Comments

CCC086: Open Your Eyes

Posted on May 14, 2026 by crispina kemp

Don’t go to sleep
Open your eyes
Gold is falling from the sky
Pick a penny
Pick a dollar
You can sip of the nectar
But beware not to swallow

In my head I’m hearing this as a fairies’ chant

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos, Poems (Some Silly), Prompt | Tagged , , | 18 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #086

Posted on May 13, 2026 by crispina kemp

Every Wednesday I’ll post FOUR photos (if you want to get a head start you’ll find them marked in that week’s Sunday Picture Post and Tuesday Treats). Lots of choice!

And here they are:

You respond with something CREATIVE. Perhaps an  answering photo, or micro-fiction, or a poem, or just a caption

As before, there are 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.

Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos, Prompt | Tagged , , , | 23 Comments