Sunday Picture Post: Wooded Hills and Open Water

Posted on November 7, 2021 by crispina kemp

26th October and we hopped on a bus into Norwich. We’re headed for Whitlingham Country Park which hugs the river as Rive Yare wraps around the southside of the city. It’s not far to walk and the day is fair.

We pop into a small woodland on the way…

28th Oct 2021

28th Oct 2021

A former gravel quarry, there are plenty of steep hills to get the muscles working

28th Oct 2021

Along the lane the hedges are colourful

28th Oct 2021

Though you might have to search for it

28th Oct 2021

28th Oct 2021

We arrive at the park. After recent rain the water is high

28th Oct 2021

I thought I saw some fairies here: 28th Oct 2021

Alder red! 28th Oct 2021

28th Oct 2021

We catch the swans in their morning ablutions

28th Oct 2021

Willows are turning, but only where they catch the full-on sun

28th Oct 2021

A glimpse of the River Yare

28th Oct 2021

And back to the beginning with a walk through the woods

28th Oct 2021

We found many fungi here. I’ll show you on Tuesday. That’s all for now folks

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The Birth of Amanita

Posted on November 6, 2021 by crispina kemp

Amanita muscaria: 3 Nov 2021

It is rare to come upon any fungus in the process of erupting, but with the colourful Amanita muscaria, it’s a wondrous sight. And so…

See That! Another title achieved from the list provided for #2021picoftheweek provided by Maria Antonia.

And in case you’re wondering… here’s the adult form. Ah, you say, the pixies’ toadstool

Amanita muscaria [Fly Agaric]: 3rd Nov 2021 

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Murky’s Empire

Posted on November 6, 2021 by crispina kemp

image by Johanna Pakkala on pixabay

The Magnificent Maker made humankind and like troublesome flies, they multiplied. ‘Here are too many,’ he said and sent a flood.

He saved a few which again became many.

They had roofs over their heads, food in their bellies and clothes on their backs. They had birds to sing and fragrant flowers. Yet they were not happy. They wanted whatever their neighbours had. They waged futile wars that destroyed fertility.

70 words, written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Empire

Taken from Shore House Compendium, in Roots of Rookeri, to be published 2022.

 

Posted in Fantasy Fiction, Mostly Micro, Mythic Fiction | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

CCC156: It’s All In The Name

Posted on November 4, 2021 by crispina kemp

Thou shalt not pass! Gandalf growled and barked.

“I’m sorry,” his owner said. “We never should have named him that.”

 

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro, Photos | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #156

Posted on November 3, 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 , , | 33 Comments

Tuesday Treats: Fungi and Other Things

Posted on November 2, 2021 by crispina kemp

As we cross the bridge across the Wensum, I see this…

15 Oct 2021 

Surely a good sign for the day’s fungi-hunt

From the bridge… this: 15 Oct 2021  

Bracket Fungi are there all year round. But in fungi-season they grow and put on fresh colours…

15 Oct 2021 

15 Oct 2021 

15 Oct 2021 

And then there are those that only appear at this time of year…

15 Oct 2021 

15 Oct 2021 

15 Oct 2021 

15 Oct 2021 

15 Oct 2021 

And then there is this. I’m told it is an Amethyst Deceiver. These little things were everywhere

15 Oct 2021 

That’s all for fungi this week. I’ll leave you with this (leave:leaf, get it? Pun)

15 Oct 2021

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Sunday Picture Post: Mousehold Heath

Posted on October 31, 2021 by crispina kemp

15th October, we bus into Norwich and arrive wonderfully early to walk through uncrowded streets. We’re heading for Mousehold Heath, a (mostly) wooded height that sits above Norwich on the banks of the Wensum. We cut through the cathedral close whence we emerge to this…

St Helen’s “Great Hospital”, Bishopgate, Norwich: 15 Oct 2021

We cross the river at Bishopsgate Bridge and straight away begins the climb

15 Oct 2021

Norwich as seen from St James Hill: 15 Oct 2021

We’re now on the edge of Mousehold Heath, about to venture in

15 Oct 2021

I have featured this free-standing wall before. And I still don’t have the history of it. This is new graffiti, I’ve not seen these hearts before

Love in the Woods: 15 Oct 2021

Someone is keeping an eye on us: 15 Oct 2021

In a clearing, we find Pitch & Putt…

15 Oct 2021

Comprising gravel and sand, it’s no surprise to find over the centuries the heath has been much quarried… resulting in these wonderful hills (yes, we climb them)

15 Oct 2021

Looking up, looking down

15 Oct 2021

At the heart there is the heathland

15 Oct 2021

15 Oct 2021

15 Oct 2021

Hope you enjoyed, and managed the climbs with me. Oh, and we found some interesting fungi. But that must wait till Tuesday Treat.

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Such a Bore

Posted on October 30, 2021 by crispina kemp

image: Bohdan Chreptak on pixabay

I love this woman
She’s one of the best
But the prompts she gives us
I swear are a test
Not of our encyclopaedic knowledge
But how we’ll use the word
That’s not like the rest
Take today’s vellichor
To say of old bookshops would be a bore

48 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Word Prompt: Vellichor

Posted in Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , | 19 Comments

For St George and England

Posted on October 30, 2021 by crispina kemp

Detail, St Ethelbert’s Gate, Norwich Cathedral: 15 Oct 2021

St George features on St Ethelbert’s Gate at Norwich cathedral. The gate was built in 1316 after the previous was destroyed in riots.

I think this qualifies for A Long Time Ago, another title achieved from the list provided for #2021picoftheweek provided by Maria Antonia.

Posted in History, Photos | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

CCC155: Lily

Posted on October 28, 2021 by crispina kemp

Lights
Bright sparkling lights
Like stars fallen to earth
Stars singing her worth.

Lily woke up smiling while still in bed
Her dream repeating in her head.
The stars had beckoned her
Called to her from afar
Granted her dream to be a film star.
Within her, excitement zinged
A Hollywood agent must have heard her sing.

Her phone vibrated and bleeped the once
An incoming text to announce
A successful interview, in her excitement Lily had forgotten
But the position applied for she now had gotten
To play the part of Ursula the Bear
The cuddly mascot at the local pier.

Oh well, maybe next year.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro, Photos | Tagged , , , , | 24 Comments