Exquisitely, Annoyingly, Totally Unanswerable

Posted on October 23, 2021 by crispina kemp

image by Nadine Doerle on pixabay

I don’t suppose the average Joe in the street gives thought to this, far more concerned with football results, rising prices, Climate Change, the increase in positive Covid tests and whether Blundering Boris will fall off a figurative cliff before or after the next election.

But for a few of us this endures, exquisitely, annoyingly totally unanswerable: Did William (the Bastard) Duke of Normandy truly have right to the English throne?

The ink, the paper, the hours, the reputations this question has cost us.

84 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Question

Posted in History | Tagged , | 58 Comments

CCC154: Crowded Out

Posted on October 20, 2021 by crispina kemp

Norwich Cathedral: 15 Oct 2021

Look at this. What do you see? Beautiful, isn’t it. The praise of God made permanent in stone.

But look again and see the oppression of the Saxon race, Norman stone that crowded us out of our homes.

Three parishes flattened so they could build this to assuage their guilt. Our houses, our churches… and we could not pray in there instead. This was for their monks, not for the defeated Saxon people.

Beautiful, yes. A beautiful construction that flattened and destroyed us. But we lower our eyes and we obey and we live to fight another day.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, History, Photos | Tagged , , , | 48 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #154

Posted on October 20, 2021 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 , , | 18 Comments

Tuesday Treats: Changing Seasons

Posted on October 19, 2021 by crispina kemp

Our walk on 28th Sept was too late for summer flowers but too early for autumnal trees. Yet there were some signs of the changing season. Enjoy…

A tansy lingers in flower: 28 Sept 2021

Ivy, golden-bright, at its best now: 28 Sept 2021

Fruits…

28 Sept 2021

Not all of them edible

28 Sept 2021

And seeds big…

28 Sept 2021

And small…

28 Sept 2021

And leaves…

28 Sept 2021

28 Sept 2021

28 Sept 2021

Some fallen…

28 Sept 2021

And [drum roll] fungi… some hiding…

28 Sept 2021

Some full-on displaying…

28 Sept 2021

Hope you’ve enjoyed this colourful round-up. Next week we go to Lound Lakes. Hope you’ll join me.

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

The Between Land

Posted on October 17, 2021 by crispina kemp

28th September isn’t yet autumn, but nor is it summer, it’s a between-time. And likewise, our walk this day is through a between-land, through the softly undulating plateau between rivers Yare and Bure, through agricultural land, and through woodland. Come join me…

28th Sept 2021 

With few flowers left and the trees not yet turning, it’s the land that provides most of the colour

28th Sept 2021 

28th Sept 2021  

We prefer farm tracks and footpaths, but occasionally we have to walk a country lane (and beware of meeting tractors)

28th Sept 2021 

Looking back as we leave the road and walk through a small woodland instead

28th Sept 2021 

The way-marker ahead gives us a choice of routes. We’re turning left

28th Sept 2021 

Sometimes we find a bench conveniently placed

28th Sept 2021 

And sometimes we find obsolete gates. This little road serves the church at North Burlingham

28th Sept 2021 

You might think the land is flat, but this lane proves otherwise. Down we go… and up again

28th Sept 2021 

28th Sept 2021 

Back to where we started with the rolling farmland between Yare & Bure, between Acle and Hemblington… one of my favourite walk.

See Tuesday Treats for the details of what we saw along the way

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 19 Comments

Saturday Night on the Bure

Posted on October 16, 2021 by crispina kemp

9th Oct 2021

Goodnight, another title achieved from the list provided for #2021picoftheweek provided by Maria Antonia.

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Blood-formed Laces

Posted on October 16, 2021 by crispina kemp

image by Ewa Urban on pixabay

They fought with guts and guns and taunts of come-on
They wiped the field on the defeated faces of human races
They patterned them with blood-formed laces
The legion from our region

32 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Prompt: Legion

Posted in Mostly Micro, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

CCC153: The Last of the Ents

Posted on October 14, 2021 by crispina kemp

The Elder called us
Said there was business outstanding from the last meeting
Said sadly some of our numbers were missing
Said that was due to foreign intruders who have taken to eating us
We asked what could we do
Could we retrieve our nuts from their pooh?
He said look around, do we see many saplings?
And we looked, but we couldn’t see any
No new generations that we might call younglings.
Will we be the last of the Ents?
Destroyed by imported grey immigrants.

A word of explanation. Those wonderfully cute grey squirrels are not native to Britain and can, in the right (or wrong) circumstances, by stripping bark off our trees, cause their demise.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #153

Posted on October 13, 2021 by crispina kemp

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 , , | 20 Comments

Tuesday Treat: From Dawn to Dusk

Posted on October 12, 2021 by crispina kemp

I live on a spit of land. At the front is the sea. At the back is an estuary. The sea faces east, the estuary west. Here’s some shots taken 3 days apart. Enjoy.

7th Sept 2021: a misty morning 

7th Sept 2021 

7th Sept 2021 

And finally the sun burns the mist away: 7th Sept 2021 

7th Sept 2021 

4th Sept 2021 

4th Sept 2021 

4th Sept 2021 

One last gasp and the sun is gone: 4th Sept 2021 

Could have shown you more but… didn’t want to bore you with my sun shots!

 

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , , | 20 Comments