Tuesdays Treats: Belles and Butterflies

Posted on May 12, 2026 by crispina kemp

A collection of photos from our walk on 29th April 2026. Enjoy…

29th April 2026

🔼 While some blossoms have bloomed and now are dying, others are just beginning to open 🔽 this holly is a joy to see!

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

Nature waves her yellow flowers to welcome the Spring 🔼 Here we have Broom, the ‘Plant-a-genet’ which a certain medieval family took as its badge and made it famous  when they became kings 🔽 Buttercups glowing beside the water ⏬ Marsh marigolds hiding in the grasses

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

🔼 I was looking forward to finding Wood Anemones. Alas, I found but one. Too late (how dare they not wait for me!!!) 🔽 I must content myself with Ramsons.

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

Bluebells 🔼 with Ramsons 🔽 with Dandelion ⏬ going solo!

29th April 2026

 

29th April 2026

🔽 Fumitory, a wayside plant often found along the edges of arable fields

29th April 2026

The flyers…

29th April 2026

🔼 I beg your forgiveness for the blurry head of this Jay. But what chance of a better focus when the bird hides behind leaves and the wind decides to gust just as I click 🔽 A female large red damselfly, majestically coloured

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

🔼 Orange tip 🔽 Red admiral, worse for wear having over-wintered

29th April 2026

🔽 Of all the photos I’ve taken of Holly blues, this is only the second I’ve caught it on a holly leaf!

29th April 2026

That’s all for now, folks. A different environment next week with different subjects to attract my lens. Join me then

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Sunday Picture Post: Green Hills, Dark Waters

Posted on May 10, 2026 by crispina kemp

29th April 2026 and the day dawns with exceptional promise. We hop on a bus to Norwich, and another to take us to the outskirts. Our ultimate destination is Green Hills Wood, in Costessey, but first we’re going to take a look at Costessey Ponds which lies to the side of Marriott’s Way. So, do up your laces, and let’s go…

29th April 2026

🔼 The first photo of the day, and what a glorious day it is 🔽 Hawthorn, aka May, last of the Spring blossoms is now gracing the hedgerows. Beautiful

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

🔼 The tiny Tud. This is as big as it gets, just before it joins the Wensum on its way to Norwich. It’s a chalk-land stream and, as you can see, its waters are very clean 🔽

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

🔼 Nudging the bounds of Costessey are two delightful ponds, former gravel pits, fed by the Tud 🔽

29th April 2026

🔽 I remember the grounds around the ponds as straggling scrub with heathland profile. It has since matured into a pleasant woodland

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

🔼 We leave the ponds and head off to Green Hills Wood where the bluebells are in full bloom 🔽

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

🔼 Bluebells at Green Hills Woods 🔽⏬

29th April 2026

29th April 2026

It’s time to leave Costessey and return to Norwich for our lunch. While waiting for the bus the memories flood, for my old house is across the road, full in my face. Do I regret the move to the coast? Yes, and no.

More photos in Tuesdays Treats

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Casting Nasturtiums

Posted on May 9, 2026 by crispina kemp

20th March 2025

I’ve a mind to sue
It’s defamation of character
Don’t you know
I’m not one of those Polly Titians
To take it kindly
And she’s as bad
That one who’s hammering the keys
Writing libelous words
Casting Nasturtiums
Rapacious, indeed
Just because I eat the weeds

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

Posted in Poems (Some Silly), Prompt | Tagged , , | 28 Comments

CCC085: This Merry Month of May

Posted on May 7, 2026 by crispina kemp

For long millennia here they’ve stood
Casting mystical blue throughout this wood
Ringing their bells for the fairies’ ritual weddings
Blessing the old folks in their ancient steadings
Beside them, amongst them, the fair white maids
Brighten up the blue-hued glades
Attend the fairy brides
With their sunny-golden eyes
Let’s celebrate this day
Celebrate their colours in this merry month of May

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos, Poems (Some Silly), Prompt | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #085

Posted on May 6, 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

Tuesdays Treats: April Belles

Posted on May 5, 2026 by crispina kemp

Additional photos from our walk on 20th April 2026, mostly flowers. Enjoy

20th April 2026

🔼 Bluebells, true English bluebells 🔽 The delicate little flowers of wood sorrel with a splash of colour from the ground ivy

20th April 2026

20th April 2026

🔼 Even smaller than the wood sorrel (above) is the tiny moschatel  🔽 and corydelis (with bluebells photobombing!)

20th April 2026

20th April 2026

🔼 Love to see the newly unfurled beech leaves, the perfect accompaniment to the bluebells 🔽 In this woods, when a tree needs felling it’s not taken away but is turned into woodland furniture. A throne for me and throne for you

20th April 2026

🔽 For me, there’s magic in the combination of stitchwort and bluebells. The fairies agree, that’s why they encourage the stinging nettles to grow close by, as protection 😉

20th April 2026

20th April 2026

Tales of the river bank 🔼 ramsons, gotta love that wild garlic 🔽 and more garlic with Jack-in-the-hedge aka garlic mustard

20th April 2026

20th April 2026

🔼Perhaps (!!!) not wild but naturalised, apple blossom 🔽 But this one’s definitely planted, some decorative species of Japanese cherry

20th April 2026

That’s all for now, folks

More next week

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Sunday Picture Post: Blue Hills, Cool Water

Posted on May 3, 2026 by crispina kemp

20th April 2026, the day dawns perfect for our walk. No rain, no mist, slightly overcast sky which we prefer since the sun deepens the shadows and dazzles the white. We hop a bus to Norwich, then another to take us to Costessey. Two hills in Costessey, both filled with bluebells at this season. Our first visit is to East Hills Woods. Let’s go

20th April 2026

🔼 Here’s where I played as a child, when I chased up these hills; I’m a bit slower now

20th April 2026

🔼 Bluebells: Less carpets, more like generous-sized scatter-rugs. But it’s all natural here, unlike some of the showier bluebells woods 🔽

20th April 2026

20th April 2026

🔼 I’ve featured this field maple on the woodland edge before. It’s…ancient 🔽 A peek through the trees to what’s beyond. One, because I like to see the sharp geometry of newly planted potato fields, and two, because this looks across to the second woods, and where I lived before I moved to the coast

20th April 2026

20th April 2026

🔼 Beech and oak, amongst the oldest inhabitants of the woodland 🔽⏬

20th April 2026

20th April 2026

20th April 2026

🔼 A dragon wishes us a good day as we leave the woods. The clouds are clearing, the sun is shining, the colours take on more vibrancy

20th April 2026

🔼 Down the lane from the woods we arrive at the wonderfully cool riverside walk. Always my favourite at any time of year 🔽

20th April 2026

🔽 We’ve just time to wade through the ramsons before catching the bus (smelling of garlic, of course)

20th April 2026

That’s all for now folks. We visit the other woods next week, and another part of the river. Don’t forget to check out Tuesday Treats for more photos from this walk. See you there!

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Those Eyes

Posted on May 2, 2026 by crispina kemp

Image credit: Amanda Ignacia via Pixabay

She looked so cute
Like she was made for a bathing suit
The tantalising glean of her ponytail
Such an attraction couldn’t fail
Eyes, her eyes, mesmerised
Dark mysterious pools
To capture fools
Incandescent shine, divine
And how she used those eyes
Assessing and weighing up the passing guys
Lips expressing their lack of impression
Looking for a mate to hook for the night?
Beautiful and picky, she had every right
But then she looked in my direction
Her wordless lips offered me an invitation
Sorry, lady, I’m not of the same persuasion.

93 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Persuasion

Posted in Poems (Some Silly), Prompt | 15 Comments

CCC084: Spirit of Fire

Posted on April 30, 2026 by crispina kemp

Spirit of Fire, thee I admire
Bright upon the forest floor
Beautiful Butterfly, thee I adore.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Poems (Some Silly), Prompt | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #084

Posted on April 29, 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 , , | 20 Comments