All That Glitters

Posted on January 16, 2021 by crispina kemp

9th Jan 2021

On this one bush alone there were at least 50 such sparkles. I was happy to capture just these few.

Sparkles, from the list provided for #2021picoftheweek provided by Maria Antonia.

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CCC114: Safe in Isolation

Posted on January 14, 2021 by crispina kemp

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #114

Someone had been there. How could I tell?

Was it the lingering scent?

Or the hairs, short and red, surely from a fox?

Maybe it was the prints melted through the frozen mud?

No, it was that break in the icy crust. My family dwelt within, believing themself safe in their isolation.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro | Tagged , , | 21 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #114

Posted on January 13, 2021 by crispina kemp

CCC114

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 , , | 17 Comments

Tuesday Treats: Details

Posted on January 12, 2021 by crispina kemp

Hi. A week of rain kept me in but Saturday dawned bright so I put on my thermals and shoes and off I went, getting a head-start, as it happened, on a head cold. These photos are just a few of the details; I’ll cover the walk later

Here we go round the mulberry bush on a cold and frosty morning

9th Jan 2021

Frozen raindrops

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Frosted Alexanders

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Frosted seats… I don’t think I’ll sit just now

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And now the sun sends out her warming rays

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Yet in sheltered places, everything remains frozen

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I took an awful lot of shots of reeds… orange in the sunlight

9th Jan 2021

A certain sign of spring… pussy willow

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Crystals… I couldn’t resist a close-up

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What makes this frozen puddle sparkle so?

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More signs of spring… the elder tree with buds bursting

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I think this is a thrush’s feeding ground. Loads of empty snail-shells amongst the frosty mosses

9th Jan 2021

Some plants even in decay look good…

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No words required

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Pretty as winter flowers, the swollen ovaries of ivy…

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…to be followed by the berries,  on the blue-side of black

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Can I take a walk without I find some fungi? Jelly Ears

9th Jan 2021

And now a drum-roll please, build up the tension… what has she to show us? I have waited, I have tried, I have repeatedly failed. Until Saturday… THIS… THESE

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I am not a bird photographer, but this Little Egret has been breeding on our marshes for several years, but timid and elusive. To capture it so has made my year

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , , | 26 Comments

My Life Of Late

Posted on January 11, 2021 by crispina kemp

image: bill taft on pixabay

Sat: Fireworks lit the laptop’s screen. Graphics chip. I’d bought a new machine the day before Lockdown closed our shops. But all had seemed well and so…

Sun: Powered the laptop. It groaned and whined. The fan. I persisted and meanwhile downloaded a year’s worth of Window’s updates to my new laptop.

Weds: Sister phone. My father has tested positive for Covid

Thurs: Phone call to say the owner of my property is selling. I have to find another home.

Apologies for not reading your posts. My life has become a crucible of late. I’ll catch up as soon as.

100 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Crucible.

Posted in Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged | 51 Comments

Sunday Picture Post: New Year’s Blues

Posted on January 10, 2021 by crispina kemp

With no desire to bring you down, yet our walk from Great Yarmouth to Gorleston beach was mostly undertaken in blue light. There was a heavy fog. Temperatures below freezing. But in the early dawn, it was wondrously quiet!!! We enjoyed it. I hope you will too.

That fog makes even the power station look ethereal

1st Jan 2021

Looking downriver to the ONE ship in port

1st Jan 2021

The Vos Glory

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A sad-looking gull; no one out fishing today

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The sun attempts to shine through but the clouds aren’t having it

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The lighthouse… it overlooks the river’s pool (where the ships turn)

1st Jan 2021

A solitary turnstone; he prefers the sparse findings on the pier to those on the beach. Why? Cos the tide is high

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Have you ever seen that sea so quiet? Oh, and look. Four hardy swimmers!

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Splash

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Colour. At last! Some beefy dog’s paw-prints in the sand

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What, more colour? Groynes, almost lost beneath the sand

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A lone marker

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People begin to appear… with dogs. Must be getting on for 10:00 am. Oh yes, so it is

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And the sun slips through the clouds

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While on the prom the beach huts remain shuttered until the summer

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A stately ascent…

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Frozen, the boating lake… pond… pool (for model yachts)

1st Jan 2021

This time of year, the gulls take to skating…

1st Jan 2021

Colour! The sun lights up the Pavilion Theatre. No pantomime this year

1st Jan 2021

And wildflowers bloom on the river’s side

1st Jan 2021

We then walked back to Great Yarmouth. Not a huge hike. About 6 or 7 miles. Since then the weather has been foul; essential shopping trips only. But next week… fingers crossed

 

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , , | 31 Comments

The Distant Moon

Posted on January 9, 2021 by crispina kemp

Blue Light: 27 Dec 2020

To the southwest, the sun had sunk beneath the distant horizon. I turned around, intending to leave my vantage point. And there, above the lights of Great Yarmouth train station, was the moon.

And for this, I claim the title, Blue Hour from the list provided for #2021picoftheweek provided by Maria Antonia.

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 10 Comments

CCC113: The One

Posted on January 7, 2021 by crispina kemp

Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Beaming light
A guide in the fog of night
A beacon to beckon us home
A call that’s heard from far and near
A welcome we cannot fail to hear
Regardless of the miles we roam
Not built of brick or stone
But a soul, throughout the world, the One.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #113

Posted on January 6, 2021 by crispina kemp

CCC113

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 , , | 26 Comments

Tuesday Treat: The First of the Month

Posted on January 5, 2021 by crispina kemp

I set myself a challenge: to post one photo from each month in 2020. Oh, but so many to choose from. So let’s say photos of plants, preferably flowers, and found growing wild. But that’s still too many to choose from. So let’s take them from the first day’s shoot of each month. OK. Let’s go…

Alder Catkins: January 2020

Pine cones: February 2020

Cherry: March 2020

Red Deadnettles: April 2020

Apple blossom: May 2020

Dog rose: June 2020

?Water Dropwort: July 2020

Fennel: August 2020

Himalayan Balsam: September 2020

Dogwood berries: October 2020

Silver Birch dripping gold: November 2020

Gorse: December 2020

I can’t wait to take photos of bright spring flowers again. What joy that’ll be after the winter glum

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 15 Comments