Blue Ice

Posted on February 2, 2019 by crispina kemp

Living beside the sea with its salt-laden air, on those rare occasions when snow and ice deign to grace us with their whiteness, it tends to be sparse and not last much beyond dawn. How then to find a photo for #2019picoftheweek challenge: Frozen?

Upton Staithe

Upton Staithe lies silent beneath its cover of ice: 20th |Jan 2017

Two winters back, the day being bright and the camera new, I caught the bus inland to Acle, thence a walk through to the riverside village of Upton, in the hopes of finding something snap-worthy at this barren season. Lo!

For details of #2019picoftheweek challenge  see MariaAntonia

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 25 Comments

Winter Fog

Posted on February 1, 2019 by crispina kemp

image by blick-pixel on pixabay

I cannot see, the world turned white
A fog descended in the night
Which frost’s cold fingers sealed in place
Where’s the sun, its pleasant face?
Lost behind it.
O, Sun, please push a way through it
Disperse it, dispel it
Whisper to us with summery breezes
Your blissful warmth, please, to ease us.

Written in response to what faced me when I opened the curtains yesterday morning — and I hadn’t the wits to grab my camera, and so a pixabay image heads it.

Posted in Photos, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , | 23 Comments

CCC12: A High-Sighted Low-Bearing Bull

Posted on January 31, 2019 by crispina kemp
boleyns bull

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #12

Alas, poor Percy, set his sights on the Upper Echelon.
Ended his days as a lowly bearer of a lichen-encrusted escutcheon.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #12

Posted on January 30, 2019 by crispina kemp
boleyns bull

CCC#12

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)
If you tag it #CCC others should be able to find it by ‘Searching’ in the WP Reader (fingers crossed)

Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN.

Details of the photo are given, if relevant, below this line

Two (almost identical) bulls stand guard on the entrance to Blickling Hall, (Nr Aylsham, Norfolk), both hold a shield to display the family’s heraldic devices. The family? The Boleyns. Though the present hall was built by a later incumbent. See my post By Blickling

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos | Tagged , , , | 39 Comments

What Pegman Saw: Homeward Bound

Posted on January 28, 2019 by crispina kemp
kuivastu saare county estonia

from Google Maps

At last at the ferry and the ship leaves soon.
But, Ma, haven’t we time for an ice-cream cone?
If you’re quick, and you get me a frozen drink on a stick.
Yikes, now that’s the klaxon sound!
Catch those drips, one last lick,
We’ll have to hurry, Pa will be waiting,
Seven years away, now homeward bound.

Written for What Pegman Saw

Posted in Mostly Micro, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Sunday Fungi: Three … Not of a Kind

Posted on January 27, 2019 by crispina kemp

January isn’t the month for fungi. Yet two years back (2017), the weather being unusually mild, I found these little gems, all in a row.

Three types of fungi

Don’t miss the orange-capped specimen (lower right) trying to hide : 11th January 2017

And, as a bonus … these brackets are most often seen as solid-looking colourful fans. Yet here, in winter-growth mode, those outer loops become almost translucent.

Translucent brackets

Not often seen,  turkey-tail brackets in winter-gowth mode. 11th January 2017

Posted in Photos | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Across Country Leading

Posted on January 26, 2019 by crispina kemp

Not the first photo I’ve posted that features pylons—I do confess to a perverse passion for them. Neither was the photo recently taken. But …

leading lines

The line of pylons is greatly compressed, by use of f16 stop: 31st May 2017

… I can’t imagine a photo more suited to #2019picoftheweek challenge title: Leading Lines

There’s a total of 8 pylons in this shot.

For details of #2019picoftheweek challenge  see MariaAntonia

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

CCC11: Naked and Blue

Posted on January 24, 2019 by crispina kemp
3 sheep

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #11

The Norfolk sheep
Her coat doth keep
All the winter through
For if cut slick
And to the quick
Naked, she turns blue.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #11

Posted on January 23, 2019 by crispina kemp
3 sheep

CCC11

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)
If you tag it #CCC others should be able to find it by ‘Searching’ in the WP Reader (fingers crossed)

Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN.

Details of the photo are given, if relevant, below this line

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos | Tagged , , | 29 Comments

Tell Me a Story Challenge: Grandma’s Birthday

Posted on January 22, 2019 by crispina kemp

Dale, at A DelectableLife tagged me as a link in a photo-prompt chain. And what the jig, maybe I can’t resist the challenge.

So here’s the photo she gave me. And below is my ‘inspired’ story …

Legs, from Dale

What a day to take a fall
Grandma’s birthday, Grandpa books the village hall
Cousin Rachel removed her shoes
Grandma blundered over those.

And now to forge the next link in the chain …  This is how it’s done:

  1. I write a story based on the photo above (done)
  2. And pick a new picture to act as the next prompt (see below)
  3. And tag three bloggers to play along (and fingers crossed, cos not all like to play these sorts of games…)

So, without further ado, I nominate the following three bloggers, who, I do stress, are under no obligation to play along.

  1. Padre at Padre’s Ramblings

2. Michael at Morpethroad

3. The Bag Lady

And here’s the new photo-prompt. Enjoy.

two men in a bath

Though I can’t imagine what stories this might inspire …

Posted in Mostly Micro, Photos, Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , , , | 23 Comments