The Black Art of Pancake Threading

Posted on July 23, 2019 by crispina kemp

Image by Domastic on Pixabay

‘Blinking heck, Julie, I love my job, I really do…’

‘But?’ Kezlia’s friend prompted, the wine glass pushed encouragingly close to her nail-picking fingers.

‘Why’d they think cos I can organise a show that I can judge it too? Babies, cars, tattoos…’

‘You did very well at that Tattoos and Blues.’

‘Yea, but art is art, whether on skin or canvas. And Mr Bloody Body Beautiful.’

‘You could have called on me to judge, I wouldn’t have minded.’

Kezlia ignored her. ‘And now the Black Art of Pancake Threading. What do I know about that?’

95 words: Judge

Written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt

Posted in Mostly Micro | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

What Pegman Saw: The Great Inland Sea

Posted on July 22, 2019 by crispina kemp

Image by Domenic Perre on Google Maps: Loxton

‘Ain’t no sea inland, big nor small. I told him, but he didn’t listen to me.’

No, he’d seen the way the rivers ran westward. But why westward when the sea lay to east? To Captain Charles Sturt the answer was simple. The rivers must disgorge in a Great Inland Sea. And so, equipped for an expedition through hostile country, supplies all carried in a double-prowed boat, he made his journey, summer of 29-30, westward, ever westward.

‘But he didn’t find no sea?’

‘Nah. But he might’ve done if there’d not been a drought that season. Bogs up, up there; floods and does. But he did discover where all those westward rivers run. Into the Murray and out to sea.’

Wordcount 120

Written for What Pegman Saw: Loxton, Australia

Posted in History, Mostly Micro | Tagged | 41 Comments

Sunday Picture Post: Foxglove, an ornamental native

Posted on July 21, 2019 by crispina kemp

Foxglove: 15th July 2019, Mousehold Heath, Norfolk

The epitome of the cottage garden, this showiest of native flowers isn’t, as you might think, named for the fox. Nope, no fox ever wore these on its fingers. It is named for German botanist Leonhard Fuchs.

A pretty flower… pretty lethal. Ingestion causes nausea, diarrhoea, drooling, abnormal heart rate, weakness, collapse, tremors, seizures… and death. But it also makes the eyes dilate, and so precious ladies in ages past used it to snaggle a mate. With that list of symptoms, it won’t surprise you to learn it’s the source of digitalin, a group of medicines used for heart problems.

 

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , | 51 Comments

Retired…

Posted on July 20, 2019 by crispina kemp

I puzzled my head over what to photograph for the #2019picoftheweek title Road Worthy. Then, while taking my camera for a walk, I came across these …

tractor tyres, retired: 3rd May 2019

For details of #2019picoftheweek challenge see MariaAntonia

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 51 Comments

CCC36: Part of the Wide Blue Sea

Posted on July 18, 2019 by crispina kemp

Crimson’s Creative Challenge

I heard my old home call to me
From across the wide blue sea
‘Twas time for me to set sail again
Across that wide blue sea

I heard my fair lass call to me
From across the wide blue sea
‘Twas time for me to cast off again
And sail the wide blue sea

I heard my old Ma call to me
From across the wide blue sea
‘Twas time for me to return to her
Across the wide blue sea

I slipped my moorings, cast my lot
Tillered my boat o’er a storm-ridden sea
Prayed I’d survive though I knew I’d not
Now I’m part of the wide blue sea

Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #36

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , | 57 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #36

Posted on July 17, 2019 by crispina kemp

#CCC36

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.

The photo was taken aboard the Mincarlo, the only surviving sidewinder trawler of the Lowestoft fishing fleet. Built 1961.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge | Tagged , | 72 Comments

Pour Me a Guinness

Posted on July 16, 2019 by crispina kemp

Merry Christmas
Pour me a Guinness
What, are you leaving before you finish?
You bet, there are limits.
But I’m gutted, my heart you diminish
What do you want me to do? Grimace?

Wordcount 33

Written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt

Posted in Mostly Micro, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , | 30 Comments

What Pegman Saw: Of Mud and Trade

Posted on July 15, 2019 by crispina kemp

Great Yarmouth, seen from the estuary: 20 July 2018

It formed where the three rivers joined, between the island-guarded northern bank and southern cliffs, at the estuary the Celtic Iceni called “Noisy Mouth” (for the strident gulls that roosted there). The Romans helped.

They built a fort on the northern island, and on the cliffs to the south a receiving station for grain and wine. But more, they turned their ploughs loose on the soil. Disturbed, with every storm, silt filled the rivers. The rivers carried it down to the sea. And where it settled it formed a spit.

Plants moved in. The Romans went home. The Saxons used the grass-grown spit for summer grazing, and later invited the Vikings to trade.

One “Orme of the Orkneys” made of the northern island his second home and founded upon the former sandbank his entrepot. And so Great Yarmouth was born.

In 1086 seventy burgesses traded there.

Wordcount 146

Written for What Pegman Saw: Great Yarmouth, UK

Posted in History, Photos | Tagged , , | 55 Comments

Sunday Picture Post: In a Bind

Posted on July 14, 2019 by crispina kemp

This Sunday, I feature bindweed …

Sea Bindweed: 5th July 2019

Hedge Bindweed: 8th July 2019

Hedge Bindweed: 8th July 2019

Buds of bindweed, thinking about blossoming soon. The video below follows the process, from bud to open flower.

And yes, I know these are every gardener’s bane. But seen in the wild, where they belong, they are delightful.

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 31 Comments

By Sand, Stone, Sky and Sea

Posted on July 13, 2019 by crispina kemp

Sheringham cliffs, North Norfolk Coast: 5th July 2019

Sheringham, a quaint fishing village on the North Norfolk Coast was my resort of preference when my children were young. In those days, at low tide, there were rock pools with sea anemones and hermit crabs. But erosion and accretion has changed so much of our coastline. The beach has risen! Those groynes used to tower above me. Now I can hop over them.

For me, this is as close as I can get to The Great Outdoors, which title I claim for the #2019picoftheweek challenge

For details of #2019picoftheweek challenge see MariaAntonia

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 35 Comments