Sunday Picture Post: After the Storm

Posted on November 5, 2023 by crispina kemp

We’ve been having lots of rain-storms this autumn. 24th October 2023 was forecast “wet”. So do we cut the walk. No way. We’ll take a chance. Hopped a bus into Norwich, hopped a second bus out to Thorpe Marriott. We’re walking Marriott’s Way to Costessey. Let’s go.

24th October 2023

Here’s a little pond at the start of our walk. And then it rains…

24th October 2023

Don’t care of the rain, I’m having these two shots, taken to either side of a bridge over the Wensum. So much rain, the river overflows.

24th October 2023

24th October 2023

The view would be better without the rain!

24th October 2023

Ah, the rain has stopped. Sun would be nice. Ok, I’ll settle for this break in the rain…

24th October 2023

Another look at the Wensum…

24th October 2023

Is that a sunny break up ahead?

24th October 2023

24th October 2023

And we arrive at destination, which is a group of old gravel pits now flooded and softened by nature, beside our little River Tud

24th October 2023

24th October 2023

24th October 2023

24th October 2023

Of course, we were hunting for fungi. And we found. I’ll show you some of those on Friday. Meanwhile, you’ll find fewer Tuesday Treats than usual… too much rain to spend time snapping little delights!

Enjoy…

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Welcome to my Domain

Posted on November 4, 2023 by crispina kemp

24th October 2024

This beautiful gent stood guard beside a gate into a woodland with a pond. And so…

Be My Guest, one of the titles from Maria Antonia’s #2023picofthe week 

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Sammi’s Quest

Posted on November 4, 2023 by crispina kemp

Image: Julita on Pixabay

Here I set this quest
To refresh your thoughts
For life itself, to renew your zest
This thing you seek
It doesn’t reek
It smells quite sweet
Rich
Earthy
Like maturing oak
Like leaves well soaked
But you’ll need a hound
For what’s to be found
If you search
Beneath a birch

52 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Search

In truth, I don’t know if these are found beneath birch. Can you guess what it is?

Posted in Poems (Some Silly) | Tagged , | 37 Comments

Friday Fungi: A Selection from 17th October

Posted on November 3, 2023 by crispina kemp

Hold on, my fungi fanatics, for here we go…

17th October 2023

I don’t know for certain but I’m thinking this is a Fake Death Cap. It’s almost certainly an Amanita. As is the next, probably a Tawny Grisette…

17th October 2023

This next is an easy one: Turkey Tails (Trametes)

17th October 2023

Don’t expect me to identify the rest…

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

I’m thinking this next one is a Hoof

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

Another Tawny Grisette… I think

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

And for the last, a coral… stood on by a dog, I suspect

17th October 2023

Hope you enjoyed, you devilish fungi fanatics! More next week.

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CCC260: Killer Gran

Posted on November 2, 2023 by crispina kemp

Harry didn’t believe all that talk of a killer stalking the woods and didn’t want to stay home, nice and safe, while his grandma was out at the shops. He snuck out the back door and ran like crazy to those woods. He’d show her she couldn’t frighten him with silly tales.

Up and up his favourite hill he went – great for tobogganing down – and…

He screamed.

Strong arms pinioned him.

The killer.

“Harry, I told you to stay at home,” said his grandma.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Mostly Micro, Photos | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #260

Posted on November 1, 2023 by crispina kemp

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 , , | 6 Comments

Tuesday Treats: The Other Sights

Posted on October 31, 2023 by crispina kemp

17th October 2023, our walk on Mousehold Heath required that we passed through Norwich. Here’s some of the sights not included in Sunday’s post. Enjoy…

17th October 2023

St Andrew’s church, showing my obsession with church windows. And next, a fine example of a fine city…

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

Norwich grew wealthy on shoe manufacturing. The factories remain, but the trade is gone. BTW my namesake St Crispin is patron saint of cobblers and glovers!

17th October 2023

Paddling along the Wensum has become quite an attraction since early Covid days… and boating always has been

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

As with many of the city churches, St James is now redundant as a church and instead serves as a puppet theatre…

17th October 2023

Love this band stand set just into Mousehold Heath…and below is a less peaceful relic. Cow Tower was constructed to house canons. It was used against Kett’s men in their C16th rebellion.

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

Always swans on the Wensum…

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

The cloisters at Norwich cathedral (it was founded as a Benedictine monastery). And a commemorative plaque with personal meaning for me. My father was part of 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment, but he wasn’t taken prisoner with the rest, and he survived the massacre. Alas, he died early 2021, aged 100-and-some.

17th October 2023

That’s all for now folks. But check out Friday’s post. I have fungi to show  you…

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

Sunday Picture Post: The Heath Above the City

Posted on October 29, 2023 by crispina kemp

17th October 2023, a bright sunny day. So we put on our hikers and hop on a bus to Norwich. There is a wooded heath about the city, we’re headed there. Please do join us…

17th October 2023

To avoid the rush-hour city, we walk along the river side… and out through the old city walls. Now it’s a slow slog uphill. But worth it…

17th October 2023

A glimpse of the cathedral above the hedges as we briefly look back…

17th October 2023

And here we are. Enjoy the walk…

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

And while we walk our eyes are sharp for signs of fungi. In seasons past this has been a happy hunting ground… see Friday’s post for today’s yield (3rd Nov)…

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

Can’t resist this next shot as we near the edge of woodland…

17th October 2023

17th October 2023

And back into the city…

17th October 2023

A riverside walk, and a cut through the cathedral grounds…

17th October 2023

I hope you enjoyed. Don’t forget to check out Tuesday Treats for sights not included here, and Friday Fungi!

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Our Cathedral

Posted on October 28, 2023 by crispina kemp

17th October 2023

The earliest parts of Norwich cathedral date to late C11th, but it has been much extended with later Gothic additions. I like these Romanesque parts the best

Starts With C, one of the titles from Maria Antonia’s #2023picofthe week 

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They Called Her Didz

Posted on October 28, 2023 by crispina kemp

Image: Enrique Meseguer on Pixabay

Her family called her Didz, and only her family knew why.

She had strange memories, memories that didn’t tally with anyone else. She’d say, You remember that time when… And her family would sadly shake their heads.

Folks thought her a liar, a dreamer, a fabulator – but aren’t we all fabulators to some extent, exaggerating, elaborating, finding the narrative that is our life?

She had several lives. She had dissociative identity disorder: d.i.d.

73 words for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Dissociate

Note: I came across this mental disorder when researching a story, and I gulped, for we’ve always called my eldest daughter Didz. But that’s cos she’s diddy.

Posted in Mostly Micro | Tagged , | 32 Comments