Sunday Picture Post: Early on a Spring Day

Friday 19th March – the day before the vernal equinox – the Met Office forecast suggested I might catch a sunrise

Screenshot from Met Office website: Gt Yarmouth 19 March 2021

But with the sunrise scheduled for 5:59 I needed to be out early

19 March 2021

Downriver from Haven Bridge; towards Breydon Water beyond Breydon Bridge

19 March 2021

Like Lot’s wife, I glance back… the awaited event must be nigh

19 March 2021

And here the sun shows herself, no mist nor clouds to hide her

19 March 2021

For an hour or so after, the sun tints the clouds and gilds the grasses

19 March 2021

As the sun rises she casts blinding light over Breydon Water

19 March 2021

Soon I acquire a walking companion who stays always slightly ahead…waddling

19 March 2021

And geese take to the air

19 March 2021

Low tide, a film of water covers the mud and reflects the blue sky. Beautiful.

19 March 2021

And the much-photographed Berney Arms Mill

19 March 2021

As the path enters Burgh Castle, Spring greets us full frontal…

19 March 2021

Burgh Castle with its Roman ruins… a good place to stop for a coffee from my flask

19 March 2021

I choose a different route back… along a flooded lane

19 March 2021

and a track that takes me back to Breydon

19 March 2021

The photo doesn’t show that the trees either side are pussy willows (I’ll show you that in Tuesday Treat)

19 March 2021

A last look at Spring… until Tuesday Treat

Hope you enjoyed the walk

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What the Romans Did

Burgh Castle: 19 March 2021

These Roman remains of  a C3rd fort sit 5 miles distant from Great Yarmouth (when walked via the estuary bank). There and back gives me a 10-mile hike.

Wall/Tower from the list provided for #2021picoftheweek provided by Maria Antonia

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CCC123: What Have They Done?

Crimson’s Creative Challenge 123

What have they done to me?
Taken me and turned me to stone
Never again to go home
Sat upon a post in the cold
Do they think this foliage will fool me?
I am not young but I ain’t so old
Roar they said, roar and guard us
Cos not one of them knows how to be bold.
And I shan’t mention the birds that regularly shit on me.

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Crimson’s Creative Challenge #123

CCC123

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

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Tuesday Treat: Details

A few of the smaller things seen on my walk last week
(Acle to South Walsham via Upton)

Remember the mistletoe tree? Not an easy shot, but…

8th March 2021

And the fairies’ garden, where the rowan leaves offered early colours

8th March 2021

Alder hung with catkins and cones

8th March 2021

8th March 2021

8th March 2021

We met some animals along the way

8th March 2021

8th March 2021

Our path took us around the perimeter of Upton Fen where the channels sprout fresh green

8th March 2021

and the hazel catkins blow in the wind

8th March 2021

and fungi are never far away

8th March 2021

and daffs grow on the banks

8th March 2021

To arrive at South Walsham Broad where the Egyptian goose is a common sight

8th March 2021

Flowers seen along the way…

8th March 2021

8th March 2021

8th March 2021

That’s all folks… no Tuesday Treat next week, not sure I’ll get out for a walk
(my father’s funeral, you understand)

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Gladly Would I

May 2017

Happily would I trudge the many mud mired miles
Gladly would I work my feet
Rub them raw in shoes until they blister
Just to see this perfect vista

29 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Vista

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Sunday Picture Post: Land of My Fathers’

Monday 8th March dawns misty and cold. But we’ve arranged to do this 10-mile walk from Acle via Upton to South Walsham (home in 1817 to my many-times great-grandpa, John Self Brown) and back, and so we will.  The bus takes us across the grazing marshes to Acle. Thereafter it’s mostly off-road walking.

Despite a parish almost empty of families Fishley church remains open: it serves the people of Upton too

8th March 2021

Cutting across the field to Upton, what’s this we spy in the naked branches? Could this be mistletoe? Indeed it is.

8th March 2021

There’s a secluded garden accessed via the footpath into Upton village…

8th March 2021

You’d be forgiven if you thought I climbed a tree to take the photo. But look again…

8th March 2021

This delightful garden is a community resource… and home to fairies

8th March 2021

Our path takes us through the reeds…

8th March 2021

with views over the marshes to a mill beside the River Bure

8th March 2021

To deliver us at Upton Staithe

8th March 2021

8th March 2021

Maybe you think of willows when you think of rivers and lakes. But here are alders decked in crimson and gold

8th March 2021

Destination, South Walsham Broad. We sit awhile to eat our lunch, accompanied by Mr Mallard

8th March 2021

And back to Upton by road where we pass an ancient Grandmother Oak

8th March 2021

Before we leave the area, I love old houses; I’d love to live here…

8th March 2021

Hope you enjoyed this week’s walk. The sun didn’t shine, most of the paths were deep in mud, but there were some interesting sights. I’ll share more of those with you on Tuesday.

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Lined Up and Waiting

Upton Staithe: 8 March 2021

The boats line up, ready to move down the channel and into the river as soon as our government lifts the Covid restrictions.

Follow Me, from the list provided for #2021picoftheweek provided by Maria Antonia

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Update: March 2021

It’s been a while, so it’s not surprising if you thought I’d deserted you. Of course, I have not; but I have had to redistribute my time.

A year ago, when I released The Spinner’s Game for sale on Amazon, I had no idea of what I’d need to do to promote the sales. With no marketing budget, word of mouth becomes prime. And where better to spread the word than on social media. Over the past year, Twitter users have represented a large portion of my sales.

But Twitter is only one call on my time. My back has healed and strengthened, which means after three years of hitting the pain-barrier after five or six miles I can again walk 10-to-15 miles. Moreover, when weather allows, I’m getting out for two walks a week. As you might guess, I return with lots of photos. Another activity that eats into my time.

AND THEN THERE’S THE WRITING

My sixth book, Learning to Fly, launches on 1st April 2021. Available both as paperback and e-book, the latter available for pre-order on Amazon.

LEARNING TO FLY

Medievalist Neve is delighted to find herself surrounded by swirling colours and foot-stomping music in Regin-jarl’s mead hall… even if her presence is dependent on the memories of a banished angel.

Prompted by that angel to find the truth of her grandfather, locked in a cage to be food for vampiric grimmen, trapped beneath a dragon, life isn’t fun for Neve… though she does like the music!

 

THE FUTURE

I have resurrected Roots of Rookeri, posted here in weekly episodes in 2014. It is currently with my critique partner, but I shall be wanting beta readers for it shortly.

Work In Progress cover

A penniless poet-chorus-master & staunch adherent of Luban’s founding principle of “wealth is evil” falls for a visiting spy in guise of a scholar from status-hungry, gold-dripping Rothi. But problem: she has great wealth, and he’s its rightful heir. A Comedy of Errors in Shakespearean style.

I hope you’ll forgive me my absences.

 

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CCC122: Dancing Naked

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #122

Donald Duck
He’s the man for me,
Uncle-sent and spicy-green.
I’ll play Sapphire to his Steel,
He’ll be Mallard, I’ll be Teal,
Fantasy or is it real?
Call me crazy, it’s insane
Dancing naked in the Rain

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments