Come away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o
At first glance this may not seem to fit the challenge but if you read down Elisa’s post you will see that the song ‘talks about life and how we need to give something of ourselves to others to make it worth’.
The Dartington estate was created by the Elmhirst family and is now held in trust for all to enjoy its beauty. 
Would you like to join in? http://autumninbruges.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/music-in-pictures-contest-dare-to-live/
And the answer to my ‘Foreign’ post is here, lake Volta in Ghana where this story is set. Well done to http://eof737.wordpress.com/ the only one who knew!
He climbed into the boat with eyes wide and fearful and then squinted towards where he knew his destination should be, far across the lake. Grateful to lower his pack from his head – it was so heavy that it felt as if it was pushing him into the earth – he tucked himself into the driest corner he could find and used it as a seat. A middle aged woman sized it up and silently daring him to complain she deposited her abundant bottom beside him. Once they both knew she had won, she took some bread from her bag and passed him some and even though he’d had some rice before he left the village, he would never say no to food.
The boat started filling but it was the first of the day and the ferrymen knew that once it was three quarters full, it was pointless…
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Cee has gathered some interesting info about the colour orange, go here http://ceeslifephotographyblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/cees-fun-foto-challenge-orange/ to learn all and to join in. Meanwhile here are my orange efforts.
The canal in winter.
Smile, it’s a desk pet!
Quick, someone remind me?
Julia doesn’t like Halloween, I can’t say I’m over keen either but it’s an excuse to be silly so here goes with A Recipe for a witch perhaps you would like to write one as well?
Five Century Cackle Buns
Take nineteen apples, bobbed and then spat out. Chop and mix into a litre of pepto bismol. Mince the fingers of seven ladies and soak them in mackerel juice for three Sabbaths.
Whisk all together with sprinklings of powdered caterpillar, the feathers of a dodo, the warts of a crone and an eyebrow from an Arctic chimp.
Bring to the boil, strain through a hermits sock, saving the mashings for later. Tip into fifty individual dragon’s egg shells and bake.
Mix the mashings with hair removal cream and spread over cooled buns.
Enjoy with a large mug of boiled bluebottles.
Julia has gone for a seasonal prompt this week with ‘and winter will bring . . .’
I didn’t think I would make it, but as I’m babysitting this evening, the late night is an opportunity, so here is
Winter’s Gifts
And winter will bring enduring moon
regal rotund shining for hours through the six a.m. alarm
through sharp ice sky rolling to the west
as dawn ripples from the east.
And winter will bring ice
crunching crystals on grass shooting veneer onto pond
silvered birch a forest of icycled chandeliers.
And winter will bring
spiralling north wind on street corners
whipping around limbs and petrifying ears.
And winter will bring light precious from low sky sun
concentrated through window an illusion of warmth
no substance and stunted shadows.
And winter will bring thrust from the underworld
Galanthus to herald the spring.
Join in with Julia at http://jfb57.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/100-word-challenge-for-grown-ups-week63/
I’ve just had a trip out to my favourite book shops – well one of them, a book lover could never have just one favourite could she? Book Cycle is a charity shop with a difference, the buyer decides how much to pay. In my case that is to their benefit, because if I gave too little I would feel mean. I imagine that there are people who can only afford 20 pence and that’s okay too. They welcome donations and when I have books I can bear to part with, that’s where they go!
They send some of the donated books to Africa, see the photo, some of the profit goes to paying for the shipments, and they also plant trees . They have a small seed bank and occasionally have planting and fundraising events.
The other wonderful thing is the building they occupy. It’s in one of the oldest parts of the city, in a lovely Tudor timbered house, right next to Mathew the Miller and the House that moved (I’ll post about that one day).
The shop is staffed entirely by volunteers, of all ages, and they have Shelf Cycles in community venues around the city.
Today I found three books, the maximum allowed in a day, all short stories to help me with my creative writing course, and spent less than I would on one new one.
What do you think of the shop?
My city is very old – two thousand years, and naturally has its share of ghost stories. So far, I haven’t managed any photos that spooky, so I’ve gone with the witches instead!
This is what happened
This is where it happened
Perhaps this is who it happened to!
Ailsa would love you to join in here http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/10/26/travel-theme-spooky/
Sara Rosso says `Foreign. While foreign (rightly so) often brings up images of things outside of your own nation, it can also apply to things outside of or different from your normal environment, or even something which is out of place in general.’
Foreign is fascinating, if it’s different I’ll love it and want to experience it, so this week the challenge is fab as far as I’m concerned. The photo I’ve chosen was taken in . . . any guesses? 
To at least one blogging friend this isn’t foreign and I know that a fair few of my visitors live there!
If you would like to join in visit http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/weekly-photo-challenge-foreign/
This photo was taken along the road from Salisbury cathedral, in August 2009. It was at first floor level and the building is very old. The Sheep? Well I tried to find out more and it seems to allude to Wiltshire being a sheep farming county. Sadly the other thing I discovered is that a year or so after I photographed it, the sheep was decapitated, a mindless act of destruction. I feel for the people whose windows they are.
Join in at http://sandraconner.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/photo-challenge-thursdays-windows-week-6/
Lucid Gypsy 