Sunday Picture Post: At the Third Attempt

Posted on September 6, 2020 by crispina kemp

The main Broad at Whitlingham: 20 August 2020

We were going to Whitlingham Country Park. Twice we’d said it, and then been rained off. Now it was going to happen. But the day would be hot. Best to get an early bus. Be there and walked around and back before the swelter started.

Ha. Things didn’t quite work that way.

An accident on the Gt Yarmouth to Norwich route blocked the road. The police set up a diversion. Ha! A narrow twisting country road where the bus we were on encountered an equally large vehicle.

But eventually, we’re there and no one was paddling, no one sailing…

Whitlingham: 20 August 2020

But a spider was spinning between the parapets of Trowse bridge as we passed it

Trowse bridge: 20 August 2020

We walked around the Broad (aka lake) while the weather was still bearable

one of the many drainage channels: 20 August 2020

Disturbed some skulking moorhen and a coot. Looked for gold…

Shucks, they’re only pebbles: 20 August 2020

Stopped to admire the Old Man’s Beard that was scrambling over a straggling buddleia

Love this colour combo: 20 August 2020

Took loads of photos of trees. But so many trees, not easy to separate just one

A handsome birch: 20 August 2020

It was now getting hot, so we sought shelter in the wooded hills. Previous years we’ve found a rich assortment of fungi. This year we’re too early. But we did find these…

Yellow Curtain: 20 August 2020

Loved the deep ochre colour against the green of the moss

Joining the path again: Rosebay in autumn finery…

Rosebay spindling into dehiscing seed-pods: 20 August 2020

And came upon a regatta. A yacht race in miniature…

Radio-controlled model yachts on Whitlingham Broad: 20 August 2020

Sweltering hot, feeling tired and uncomfortable, we would have left except…

Swans at Whitlingham: 20 August 2020

… the wildlife had different ideas.

BTW: with wildflowers now fewer and fungi not yet in abundance, no Tuesdays Flowers. Instead, a treat…

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And the Father Above Saw the Mother Below

Posted on September 5, 2020 by crispina kemp

… and desired her

Post sunset: 3 Sept 2020

In the hour leading up to the sunset, and the half-hour post-sunset I took 310 photos, many of which I have posted on Twitter (Peace Be My Name @ineebrown51). And I have no doubt many more will find their way onto the pages of WP.

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

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 24 Comments

CCC95: Carry On Regardless

Posted on September 3, 2020 by crispina kemp

First of August… how many years ago? You remember that day?
You’d been working in Saudi… two months of our letters. No internet then. Photos exchanged.

Meet you at the airport, you said, please.

Oh, I was undecided. My friend drove me there.
I was late, your plane already landed.

We sat in the bar and talked. And talk. And talked.

Then you hired a car and we went out to the coast, walked hand in hand in the sand, the surf swirling around our feet.

I remember then you turned to me, your deep cornflower eyes intent on mine, melting me, stealing my breath. Oh, that sun-drenched windswept Ingrid Bergman kiss.

Don’t know what I’m doing here
I’ll carry on regardless
Got enough money for one more beer
I’ll carry on regardless
Good as gold, but stupid as mud
He’ll carry on regardless
They’ll bleed his heart ’til there’s no more blood
But carry on regardless
Carry on with laugh
Carry on with cry
Carry on with brown under moonlit sky
I want my love, my joy, my laugh, my smile, my needs
Not in the star signs
Or the palm that she reads
I want my sun-drenched, wind-swept Ingrid Bergman kiss
Not in the next life
I want it in this
I want it in this
Got one note to last all week
I’ll carry on regardless
The hill to happiness is far too steep
I’ll carry on regardless
Dried his mouth in the Memphis sun
He carried on regardless
Tried to smile and he bit his tongue
But carry on…
Source: LyricFind
Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #95

Posted on September 2, 2020 by crispina kemp

CCC#95

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.

Photo is of Hemsby beach, taken on a very hot morning (1st August 2020). To the right of the photo, on the horizon, is a windfarm

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos | Tagged , | 42 Comments

Tuesday Flowers (and fungi)

Posted on September 1, 2020 by crispina kemp

The flowers I saw on my walk from the wet woodland around River Tas to the farmland as I came into Hempnall

Great Horsetail growing in great abundance: 22 August 2020

Closeup of Great Horsetail: 22 August 2020

These giants cast the little horsetails your find in your garden into the shade. They grow up to 6′ tall.

Reeds: 22 August 2020

I love reeds this time of year. So much so, I’ve taken inspiration from them for my hair!

Wild Angelica: 22 August 2020

I’m not 100% certain on this one. So many white umbellifers, so many with pinnate leaves. Yet everything about it (height, flowering time, environment) says it’s so.

Purple Loosestrife: 22 August 2020

Currently blooming around every small and large body of water! Along with Great Willowherb, it’s the most common waterside plant of this size

Lichen and fungi on a small twig: 22 August 2020

Only the most hopeful of idiots would try for a close up of a twig no bigger than my little finger when the wind is gusting up to 50 mph. But hey, here’s the result. Wow! I amaze myself.

Spear Thistle in seed: 22 August 2020

So many thistles, I’m taking a bet on spear thistle, but it could be another. And I make no apologies for its inclusion. I love thistledown.

Another thistle: 22 August 2020

But which thistle? I’m thinking it’s a milk thistle cos milk thistles grow around here, and those bracts are right.

Great Mullein: 22 August 2020

The Great Mullein can grow to 6′, which then is a frequent casualty of this wind. This one was heading on 5′ but wasn’t yet fully formed.

 

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The Endless Sea

Posted on August 31, 2020 by crispina kemp

10 July 2020 at Gorleston beach

I stand upon the shore
Content the endless sea
That kisses my toes
Is kissing your toes too

18 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Challenge: Endless

Posted in Poems (Some Silly), Thoughts | Tagged , | 32 Comments

Sunday Picture Post: Treading in my Several-Times-Great-Grandma’s Steps

Posted on August 30, 2020 by crispina kemp

Saturday 22nd August, I shod myself in walking shoes, equipped myself with food and water, and caught the 6:30 am bus out of Great Yarmouth. At Norwich, I caught another bus to arrive at Newton Flotman by 7:40 am. It was a breezy day. It was to get breezier.

Early sun on the houses at Newton Flotman: 22 August 2020

My father was born and grew up at Newton Flotman. But his mother’s family had come from “across the road and down the lane”. That road is the A140, the old Roman Road from Venta Icenorum to Colchester. Down the lane are the two parishes of Saxlingham: Nethergate and Thorpe.

But first to cross the river; navigable in former times, now barely a stream. The Tas.

Reflections in River Tas: 22 August 2020

I’ve become quite obsessed of late with water-reflections.

The sun ripples on the water: 22 August 2020

Cargate Lane from Newton to Saxlingham: 22 August 2020

An iconic sight at Saxlingham Nethergate: 22 August 2020

As a child, I’d come through here on a bus to visit my other grandma who lived in the next village along. Every time I saw this barn, I knew we were nearly there.

Saxlingham Nethergate: 22 August 2020

Saxlingham Nethergate: 22 August 2020

Saxlingham Nethergate: 22 August 2020

Deemed a Village of Outstanding Beauty. You can see why.

Wood Pigeon… posing: 22 August 2020

You see the sign he’s sitting on? Generally, that means restricted to farm traffic. But in this instance, I think it means foot traffic…

Wash Lane, a Restricted Byway: 22 August 2020

The long lost village of Saxlingham Thorpe: 22 August 2020

Today, what remains of Saxlingham Thorpe hugs the parish boundary with Newton Flotman and shares the advantages of being close to a main arterial road.

Looking back to Saxlingham Nethergate: 22 August 2020

Parish church of Saxlingham Thorpe: 22 August 2020

A greenway takes me to the next village: 22 August 2020

My maternal grandma lived in the next village. Hempnall. Not the place of her birth; she came from South Norfolk, from close to the Waveney. But my maternal grandfather’s family had settled here.

St Margaret’s Church, Hempnall: 22 August 2020

View from the bus shelter: 22 August 2020

Oh, the times I had waited here as a child. Then we didn’t have phones that doubled as cameras. We didn’t have easy connections. And nor had I. The 4G connection was erratic here. Whether that’s the usual state or whether it was due to the winds and threatening storm… beyond me to know.

I spent a lot of time in Saxlingham in 2016-17. I researched its history from the earliest times. I trod its bounds.  The results of that research formed several posts here on WP. If you’re interested, see here:

Written in Soil

Enter the Scribes

Wulfgyth of Karletuna

Ketel Alder

Edwin of Meltuna

Family Connections: Wulf, Wine and Thor

The Migrating Village of Saxlingham Thorpe

Posted in History, Photos | Tagged , , , | 30 Comments

In Time for Lunch

Posted on August 29, 2020 by crispina kemp

Costessey: 24 August 2020

It wasn’t that the walk that morning had been long and arduous. It wasn’t that we melted beneath a fierce summer sun. But we had been out since 7:00 am (to catch the bus into Norwich) and walking since 7:40. Now bellies were rumbling… and that charming woodland I know from experience is alive with biting bloodsucking insects. Not a place to sit on the ground.

And so we were thankful for this seat.

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

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

CCC94: Upton Fairy Tours

Posted on August 27, 2020 by crispina kemp

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #94

Welcome to Upton Fairy Tours
A guide to what lies behind our garden doors
Here you’ll find the fairies’ myriad houses
Terraced like yours and bought at a bargain
Here you’ll find their colourful gardens
Full of flowers, fragrant to smell
Here you’ll find their magical well
But we go quietly, as hushed as mouses
Else it all disappears in a puff
The cunning work of the guardian, Fairy Nuff

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro, Photos, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , | 26 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #94

Posted on August 26, 2020 by crispina kemp

CCC#94

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 , | 50 Comments