Meanwhile…

credit: Phong Nguyen Dinh on pixabay

Meanwhile, Gemini with Aries Rising. That suggests someone who likes to talk about themselves. If you ask my daughters, you’ll find that’s me to a T.

Apart from that, it also suggests someone who might have trouble with hands, arms, and maybe her head. Yep, that’s me too. And that’s what this post is about.

Twenty-plus years ago I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the neck vertebrae. I’ve kept that under control all these years. But this past year, possibly because of problems with my eyes (now resolved) I’ve been rather clumsy on my feet. I’ve taken some tumbles. The worst was in September when, in my eagerness to get a photo (see below) I tripped up a step and my head collided with a concrete wall. Result, mild concussion. And a massive jolt to the neck-vertebrae.

24th September 2023

Coming on six months later I have lots of pain in my arm caused by compression of the nerves leaving the spinal cord in the neck. Writing has become difficult, especially writing lots.

And so, I have shelved the intended next novel. For now.

But I can’t not write. Pull out my hair in frustration. Jump up and down in frustration.

Solution?

Editing requires less hand-work than full-on writing, and there’s a story I wrote back in 2016 and subsequently posted in serialised form on this blog. Might I be able to revive it?

I looked. I read. I decided to go for it.

But I can only work in short bursts, same as I’m having to restrict my time in writing comments. My enormous apologies if it looks like I’m ignoring you. I am not. I’m reading, but maybe I’m not always commenting.

And that’s my update cos I really can’t type anymore. The arm will improve, just needs some physio. Please bear with me.

 

Posted in On Writing | 24 Comments

Sunday Picture Post: Marriott’s Way

17th February 2024. Was it to rain? Or not? Forecasts were undecided. Regardless, we hopped on the bus to Norwich. We’re walking the first part of Marriott’s Way. Please join us…

17th February 2024 

Marriott’s Way begins in Norwich, at St Crispin’s Bridge. And here we’re greeted with catkins and blossoms. The day looks promising.

17th February 2024 

A detour off the Way takes us through a small wet woodland. Lovely and muddy!

17th February 2024 

But we have swans and geese for company…

17th February 2024 

Back onto the Way and the first of the bridges over the river Wensum. This is the newest…

17th February 2024 

17th February 2024 

Here there is a park where we encounter a ‘Park Run’ and daffodils…

17th February 2024 

The next bridge…

17th February 2024 

We’re passing through the outskirts of the city, witness the industrial background…

17th February 2024 

And the next bridge…

17th February 2024 

While to our right is an industrialised area, to our left are flood meadows, now become a nature reserve…

17th February 2024 

Bridge over the river Wensum allows a fair shot at the flooding. There should be a river bank here, deep in nettles and reeds!

17th February 2024 

17th February 2024 

More bridges…

17th February 2024 

This bridge marks the boundary between city and county and is a good place to stop. More photos next week from this walk. See you then…

 

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Gargling Goose

17th February 2024

I claim this for Heads Up, my second title of #2024picofthemonth, as set at Of Maria Antonia

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Quizzical Guillan

Guillan pulls in his fleshy lips and chews them, his leather-gloved hand up to cover it. Did he intend the impression of thinking? Aye, Arvina knows what he’s thinking. He’s wondering what to do with this parcel of worms. He’s more than a little afraid of her and her mother.

“The stolen nun’s daughter,” he says with exaggerated disgust.

Arvina says nothing, waiting for him to declare his intent. He’s not come this distance simply to pass the time of day. There’s been no introductions, no polite ‘you’re welcome to stay’.


91 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Intent

 

Posted in Fantasy Fiction | Tagged , | 9 Comments

CCC276: Larry the Master Tiler

Larry was a master tiler. Never a more talented man. But he never could play it straight. Always punching for the joke, that was Larry.

He left instructions for when he died, that he wanted to be buried behind this wall. Though his fellow tilers and his family didn’t understand why, yet they adhered to his wishes and buried him there, six foot under.

Understanding came on the year-anniversary of his death, when the first tile appeared. And year after year, another appeared. Such a cheery wall to commemorate Larry the Master Tiler.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro, Photos | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #276

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.

Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN

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

Tuesday Treats: Flowers and Fungi

Details photos from our walk on 6th February 2024. Enjoy

Larch cones. Larch is a deciduous conifer…

6th February 2024

And here the lichen is really nuzzling…

6th February 2024

Another odd ‘conifer’, the yew has flowers and berries instead of cones (forgive the blurriness, it was very high winds!)

6th February 2024

And while thinking of seeds, heather seed pods…

6th February 2024

Ah, greenery! Honeysuckle, frequently the first leaves to appear…

6th February 2024

And this I think is possibly foxglove, though it could be comfrey

6th February 2024

6th February 2024

These need no naming…

6th February 2024

And catkins, of course…

6th February 2024

And did I say fungi? Oh yes…

6th February 2024

6th February 2024

Yes, it is a fungus, just a very very small one

6th February 2024

And lastly, Trametes versicolor, aka Turkeytails…

6th February 2024

Hope you enjoyed. It does seem that spring is on the way…

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Glenda the Goose

17th February 2024

Ever since an ungainly gosling, Glenda hasn’t wanted to join with the gang – those gaggling girls with their goggling at the glorified guys, all greedily grappling for the grass and grain. Most ungregarious, is Glenda.


35 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Gregarious

 

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Sunday Picture Post: Two New Woods

6th February 2024, forecast high winds, wind chill, but no rain. We’re exploring where we’ve never been before. Takes two buses to arrive. Come with us…

6th February 2024

Pine isn’t native here, so we tend to find it in regimented rows, plantation style

6th February 2024

But amongst the pine and where it’s been felled…

6th February 2024

We earmark the location. Could be happy fungi hunting, in its season…

6th February 2024

Moving along to the next woodland, which is just down the lane…

6th February 2024

A place of mammoth trees… and then we encounter a sweet chestnut plantation…

6th February 2024

This isn’t the right season to visit here either…

6th February 2024

Again, we make a note to return in fungi season

6th February 2024

We’re heading out of the woods, eventually to catch the bus home…

6th February 2024

Felthorpe church where snowdrops abound…

6th February 2024

6th February 2024

The lane leads us to Marriott’s Way… wind-blasted!

6th February 2024

And just to let us know this used to be a train-track…

6th February 2024

That’s all for now, folks. Hope you enjoyed, though this really isn’t the season for woodlands. See Tuesday Treats for some colourful details!

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CCC275: Another of Jack’s Crazy Plans

We could hear the tide rolling in behind us, chasing us across the foreshore. But we’d soon be safe. We could see from the dryness of sand that the tide didn’t lap the cliffs. We just had to get that little bit closer.

Oh, but it was slow going, feet sinking into the sand, stones slipping beneath us. And the weight of that chest! I swear there was no treasure in it, just stones, sands and water. But Jack wouldn’t listen. Jack always knew best. Huh, strange how Jack’s plans never succeeded.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro, Photos | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments