CCC 90: Little Clogs Clatter on Stairs

Posted on July 30, 2020 by crispina kemp

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #90

Fredrik clumped and clattered his way up the stairs. “Come on, Trudie, there’s plenty of room up here.”

Trudie wasn’t so sure, but she followed him up, nose twitching and sniffing.

“Something’s missing here,” she said after another sniff of the air.

“Nah, it’s cool. No one else here, no fight for the food.”

“No food,” she remarked, now she’d figured what was missing. “This isn’t a mill for grinding grain. No wonder there’s no one here of our kind.”

Fredrik stopped at the top step and looked around him. “Hmm. Not agricultural land, only grazing.”

“Plenty of room… but no place for mice.”

St Olave’s Mill is a windpump, for draining the marshes

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro, Photos | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #90

Posted on July 29, 2020 by crispina kemp

CCC#90

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.

FYI only, it’s not a windmill, but a windpump used to drain the marshes.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

I Remember Well

Posted on July 27, 2020 by crispina kemp

10 July 2020

I remember well the day we met
Beside the turbulent sea
With seagulls loud
And wind that screamed
The surf breaking at our feet
Our dogs far away and chasing
And your words as nuanced as the clouds

38 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Prompt: Nuance

Posted in Mostly Micro, Photos | Tagged | 22 Comments

Sunday Picture Post: Green Lanes and Pines

Posted on July 26, 2020 by crispina kemp

I invite you to walk with me. Inland this time, along green lanes and over hills (okay, not high hills but hills the same).

We’re going to Lound where we’ll pick up the Snakes Track that’ll take us to Asby: 14 July 2020

Humph! 14 July 2020

The start of Snake’s Track. But it’s okay, there’s a clear path to the side of this nettle-grown gate.

Snake’s Track: 14 July 2020

Chicory growing wild: 14 July 2020

A full halfway along, there’s a break in the hedge (new trees being planted) and we can see into the fields. Wildflowers form wide borders, intended to attract pollinating insects and bees, and thus also birds.

Scabious: 14 July 2020

Scabious had become rare but again is flourishing thanks to the farmers and their field-edges

A typical cornfield in N E Suffolk: 14 July 2020

Cornflowers, corn-marigolds, poppies, ox-eyed daisies, wild geraniums, self-heal… some of the flowers I identified here

A riot of colour: 14 July 2020

Loud with the humming of bees

Hemlock: 14 July 2020

As we turn off the track, to pick up another to take us to Ashby, there is an incredible smell. It doesn’t find favour with most people, but it makes me think of roasting coffee. It’s hemlock in the sun

Lound Lakes

Beyond Asby, heading back to Great Yarmouth, Lound Lakes are a reservoir managed by Anglian Water. And private property. This was all we could see.

Pine cones… 14 July 2020

Pine isn’t native to Norfolk and Suffolk. These have been planted on the hill that rises above Lound Lake (a former Board).

Pines: 14 July 2020

Pines and bracken on a hillside; it could be Scotland. No, it’s Suffolk

Rowan: 14 July 2020

And you can’t have pines without Mountain Ash (Rowan)… all heavy in berry

Pylons. And rain clouds: 14 July 2020

The weather had remained fair for us, so we couldn’t complain if the clouds started to mount as we were heading for the bus home.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. Deciding which to use out the 300 I took was a major challenge!

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Water Under the Bridge

Posted on July 25, 2020 by crispina kemp

Transportation, another title achieved in Maria’s Antonia’s #2020picoftheweek

The bridge is at St Olave’s on the Waveney River. Part of the Broads area, the river forms the border between counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.

I liked the double-take, of both water and road transport

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Because I’ve been asked…

Posted on July 24, 2020 by crispina kemp

In 1998 I stayed a week in Wells, in Somerset. I visited Glastonbury, climbed the Tor. I walked the Mendips. I visited Cheddar, famous for cheese… and explored the caves there. I took some 72 photos of those caves (2 x 36 exp films, back in the day). Here are a few, quality not digi-perfect (these are scans)

Sept 1998

Sept 1998

Sept 1998

Sept 1998

Maybe one day I’ll go back to Cheddar… with a digital camera and take 700 photos more

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CCC89: Vertically

Posted on July 23, 2020 by crispina kemp

Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Nah, you’ve got that wrong.

Six foot apart LATERALLY, not vertically

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge 89

Posted on July 22, 2020 by crispina kemp

CCC89

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

My Thanks to a Saracen

Posted on July 21, 2020 by crispina kemp

I dwelt upon the shore
With tides and rhythms
Known and sure
I didn’t venture far
An occasional dip
Into the forested hinterland

That wondrous place invited me
In forays brief
Delights I saw…
Yet when rather I’d be exploring
I fled the dangers I heard roaring.

What lay beyond those first few steps?
Others dived in
It seemed they could swim
While for me, fear turned me back each time
Until an unexpected Saracen met
With great care did take my hand
And led me there

87 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Hinterland

Posted in Mostly Micro, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged | 22 Comments

Sunday Picture Post: By the Coast Part 2

Posted on July 19, 2020 by crispina kemp

For the second half of this journey, we’ll start at Gorleston and finish at Corton (last week’s Part 1 included Lowestoft to Corton)

Gorleston pier: 10 July 2020

8:00 am. Low tide.

Gorleston beach: 10 July 2020

Looks peaceful, doesn’t it? Huh.

A one-time end of groyne: 10 July 2020

The one-time groyne is now buried beneath the sand. I wonder what happened to the limpets I remember from 20 yrs back, encrusting the wood.

Beach huts along Gorleston promenade: 10 July 2020

A colourful splash…

Can’t resist Grafitti: 10 July 2020

Part of the sea defences.

Sea defences at the south end of Gorleston beach: 10 July 2020

Just how effective are these broken boards?

Cliff falls: 10 July 2020

The cliffs are crumbling all along this coast, taking properties, thankfully not taking lives.

Hopton cliff-top: 10 July 2020

We ran out of beach as we approached Hopton, so had to take to the cliff… but not before we were thoroughly drenched and battered. Then the weather turned against us.

Mayweed alongside a cornfield: 10 July 2020

We walked around a large cornfield, bright on the edges…

Cornflowers: 10 July 2020

Corn marigolds and Mayweed: 10 July 2020

Fennel: 10 July 2020

The fennel is out of place here. It’s not a usual cornfield weed

St Bartholomew’s church, Corton: 10 July 2020

The church is in partial ruin. Yet the parishioners still resort there for their services.

Another sign of a growing beach: 10th July 2020

Past the waves (another drenching as they crashed over the prom) and back to the beach at the top end of Lowestoft

Sea kale: 10 July 2020

The beach is not a barren place. Sea-kale in glorious abundance grows here. Not sure how edible. Might be a bit tough having to withstand the salt and the drownings.

My feet: 10 July 2020

And a rare treat: A look at my feet.

Those trainers were dripping water. I binned them when I got home. And no trousers cos I’d abandoned them, being heavy with water and sand. Luckily I was wearing a nearly-knee length tunicky-top. My purse was ruined, what was in it was salvageable. My phone was a total write-off. Well, I needed a new one. Why? Because we’d tried to beat the tide… and failed.

Next Sunday our walk takes us inland.

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