The old man climbed the hill
Grandma behind him
With her angled staff warding
Pressing, prodding
At top of hill the old men sat
On a bench beneath a young oak tree
And there he sat while the days passed by him
And there she stood, with her angled staff warding
As above them the stars ever circled around
Patterns changing
Millennia passing
Above the old oak tree
With the old man sitting
And Grandma’s angled staff warding.
Ever hallowed be her name
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
6th October 2026, and in my search for autumnal colour I focus mostly on leaves. Enjoy…
6th October 2026
🔼 Autumnal colour. Hooray! 🔽 Crimson haws of the Hawthorn
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
🔼 Hazel leaves are starting the long descent into winter and looking fantastic against that clear blue sky
6th October 2026
🔼 The humble Blackberry briar can be relied upon to lend ruby-red leaves to the hedgerow and woodlands 🔽 So too the Hawthorn, colouring early (but this year even this is late!)
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
🔼 Meanwhile the Holly leaves retain their glossy green, and offer us red berries as if in apology 🔽
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
🔼 Golden in the October sun (I’d say Birch but I’m not 100% sure) 🔽 The Sycamore is showing an exceptional amount of green! And, look, there colour of the bricks
6th October 2026
🔽 Harts Tongue Fern looking so much greener and fresher than those we saw all crisped up in the summer
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
Berries 🔼 Bryony, looks like its been dangling its berries for several weeks now 🔽 Yew showing its berries as if to wish us goodbye
6th October 2026
We’ll take our cue from the yew and say that’s all for now folks. Hope you enjoyed.
6th October 2026 and summer doesn’t want to leave us. No autumnal mists. No showers to leave picture-perfect droplets on the branches. So no waterproof shoes required on today’s walk. We’re hopping a bus to south of the border, to visit two woodlands, both community managed nature reserves. Enjoy…
6th October 2026
🔼 The sun streams over a meadow next to the woodland gate and I realise today is going to be a day of dancing with light 🔽 And the trees are happy to see us. Look, almost bending over backwards!
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
🔼 Strong sunlight creates crazy shadows… 🔽 and lights the way ahead in a most inviting way
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
🔼 Skeletal trees with an August sky…in October 🔽 The ‘gardeners’ corner
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
🔼 Both the horse and the sweet chestnut trees are usually first to change their leaves. But not this one! 🔽 Photo taken because, look, a splash of autumnal colour!
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
🔼 This first of the two woodlands is, to my mind, over-managed, with paths defined 🔽 The second woodland offers this one seat. It overlooks a pool, now rather short on water, and you need climb to reach it (the seat, not the pool!)
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
🔼 Finally, evidence of the seasons changing! 🔽 But only if you look down…
6th October 2026
6th October 2026
🔼 There are several hug-worthy beech trees in this woodland. If you don’t mind getting scratched by the holly 🔽
6th October 2026
Alas, this is all I have for you today. Don’t forget to catch Tuesday Treats.
Hope you enjoyed
Mousehold 15th October 2021
Not a hill
Just a slope
Easy climb
I hope
10 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Hope
It’s early yet in the season for a glut of fungi, and with the weather generally dry…and yet…and yet… here’s some from our walk on 26th September 2026 for all you fungi fiends. As before, I only give an id if I’m fairly sure. This week I’ve enlisted Google Images’ help on that. Enjoy
26th September 2026
🔼 The easiest to identify (in my opinion) are the Inkcaps, though they come in several shapes and sizes… 🔽⏬
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 Shaggy Inkcap 🔽 Apparently, according to Google Images, these are Ornate Stalked Boletes
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 Shaggy Parasol, another easy one to recognise 🔽 Possibly a Blusher, which belongs to the Amanita family
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 !!!! Death Cap!!!!❌ Deadly Poisonous!!!! 🔽 Seen here growing on the steep railway cutting
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 What, more inkcaps? These are Fairy Inkcaps aka Fairy Bonnets 🔽 Southern Brackets shedding it’s rusty-red spores
26th September 2026
That’s all for now, folks. See you all next week!
The hottest day of the summer. And that water looked so inviting.
“Come on, Luce. You can’t not swim on a day like today.”
I could, cos I couldn’t swim. And that river was deeper than me.
“Jo, grab her feet.”
No!
“Terri, her arms. Throw her in.”
NO!
But my screams didn’t save me. Into the water, glug, glug, glug, arms thrashing, feet kicking. Somehow I managed to surface, gulp air and paddle the water.
Hey, I was afloat. And I was paddling back to the bank. But why did I want the bank? I was swimming, of sorts, and this water was cool.
Not quite how I learned to swim. No one helped me, I jumped in. But the consequences played out the same
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
A mellow medley of photos taken along the second half of our walk on 26th September 2026. Enjoy…
26th September 2026
🔼 I confess to a cheat. These swans appeared before the end of the first half. But I wanted to start this second half with them 🔽 Colour. Autumnal. Dog Wood.
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 So very delicate, and not so often seen. Harebells 🔽 The Fern family have taken a baking this summer, but here, in the shade with the Ivy, this one flourishes
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
Colours come in all shapes and families. 🔼 Leaves of Guilder Rose 🔽 Knapweed, flirting with Bladder Campion
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
Golden! 🔼 The leaves of this Rose shone like true gold in the sun 🔽 But not to be outdone, so did this Lichen
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
Delighted to see a few of the wayside plants still in flower, having survived our hot dry summer 🔼 Toadflax 🔽 Scabious
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
And at the last… 🔼 Lichen-encrusted Oak with leaves just beginning to acknowledge the season 🔽 An awkward shot, looking down from the bridge, But the chance to capture this tiny Long Tailed Tit can not be passed by!
26th September 2026
And that, my friends, is all for today. Hope you enjoyed. Check out Friday Fungi!!!!
Continuing our walk out of Norwich along Marriott’s Way on 26th September 2026, we pick up the trail at the city/county boundary. Please join us… and enjoy
26th September 2026
🔼 It surprised me mightily the first time I saw this reinstated station sign from the days of the rail line that now is Marriott’s Way. I’d always thought Costessey kissed the Norwich boundary here. 🔽 And so the Way continues, not quite straight as it does arc a tad up ahead
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 Last week’s post was all about the River Wensum. This week we have its tributary, the Tud. A placid chalk stream ideal for children dabbling their toes and their fishing nets 🔽
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 More evidence of the former rail track (it is a former rail track!); these appear at end of every mile. So, here we are, 3 miles out of Norwich 🔽 In places the track narrows, though I think it wasn’t originally quite so wiggly-woggly. And here’s about as much autumnal colour as we found, courtesy of bracken, which is usually an early turner
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 When I first walked this trail it was unkempt, natural, suited for walkers only. And quiet. Now it’s been surfaced suitable for cyclists and runners and…and it’s not as quiet as it used to be. Though it is nice to see families using it together 🔽 My favourite reach of the Wensum. Memories flow along with the river, for here’s where we swam back in the days when trains still used that line
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 A side-track cuts across the fields to Costessey 🔽 And look, we’ve walked another mile. Close to the end of our walk
26th September 2026
26th September 2026
🔼 Something about this field entrance caught my eye. The lines. The contrasts. And what catches the eye, must be photographed 🔽 Last shot of River Wensum from the bridge as we cross it. We’re now, officially, in Drayton, where we’ll have lunch before catching a bus back to Norwich.
26th September 2026
Hope you enjoyed our walk. I’m thinking this summery weather won’t last much longer. Maybe then we’ll see more of the autumnal foliage. Check out next week’s Sunday Picture Post to find out!
