Come away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o
If I had my choice I would only have one season – summer, like Cat Bird in Oman has! Having said that, it’s December and we have only had two or three frosts so far. Cheri Lucas at The Daily Post has asked us to share a picture that means changing season to us, but I couldn’t think how so I’m posting all four seasons.
Cee you didn’t say it had to be straight lines so I’ve pushed the boundary slightly!
If you would like to join in visit http://www.ceephotography.com/2012/12/04/4320/
Myfanway aka Chittle Chattle has begun a regular 100 step search for inspiration for her wonderful creative embroidery and textile work. The first time I set out to find something interesting I failed miserably, but today was better.
Along the road in one direction is a green square or park, it’s been here as long as the oldest houses – at least two hundred years. Sadly it’s locked and fenced to be used by a few select houses. I have never seen anyone there or heard a single voice, isn’t that sad?
Luckily in the other direction is a similar green, open and with beautiful mature trees. It’s never crowded but it’s used daily all year and in summer is very popular. So this is the green today, for http://chittlechattle.com/2012/12/02/todays-100-5/.
When friends and family come to stay they always leave relaxed, de-stressed and at peace, so of course I’ve chosen the Devon countryside for Jakes challenge.
Where these photos were taken, on Dartmoor, there is no noise, the only sound you will hear is the whistle of the wind, the odd sheep and some bird song and definitely no traffic!
Cheri Lucas over at the Daily Post says ‘This challenge is about using reflections in the composition of a shot. Reflections are all around us, whether they’re in a window, a puddle, a mirror, or another surface. They can dramatically affect the feeling and mood of a shot by creating a surreal sense of duality.’ Visit http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/reflections/ to join in. Here is my interpretation. 
This moving window is a clothes shop in Exeter and I’ve only ever passed it when its closed at night. I expect that they have similar in their other branches so you may have seen the same look before. I don’t know how its done, I think its taken from a webcam but not a live one. On the window it names Huntington beach in California – hard to read with my phone camera shot. Its one of my favourite shop windows, I love the choppy waves,
I hope you enjoy it too. Join in with Sandra’s Thursday Windows here
Poor Julia has been feeling a bit rough and her prompt this week is very apt. GREY, simply one word. Now what to do with it?
Blue and Grey
I was headless for years, until that Smith cast me a new one. I must say, without a head it was more fun scaring people. What’s a ghost boy to do? They looked at my statue and I would spring forth. A grey version of the Blue Boy, they’d jump out of their skin. That’s when they decided to exorcise me. So we had a spirit party, surrounded them we did, all the dead orphan boys from St John’s. They won’t try that again in a hurry.
Now there are several in the city, handsome, shiny and blue, statues of me.
A little background for you. When I was little I used to see this statue of the Blue Boy in the old Princesshay and always loved it.
It disappeared for a few years when the shopping centre was rebuilt but now its back in almost the same spot as before.
It’s said that the Blue Boy was created on the site of St John’s Hospital School which dates back to 1633. They weren’t orphans though, it was a school for the privileged. The boys wore a uniform of blue caps and gowns and were nicknamed Blue Boys. The original statue was made of stone and by 1830 it was actually headless! It’s head was replaced and it now resides in Exeter School grounds. Four cast iron Blue boys were made in the 1850’s, the one above and three more are in the Exeter area.
Come and join in at Julia’s place
A few months ago I had my 25000th blog hit and I asked the person that ‘hit it’ to write a guest post for me. It was a busy time for her, but she has kept it in her mind and then recently she was inspired by a post here at Lucid gypsy. She is Sharon, or New Pillow Book, and her blog A Number of Things is an eclectic mix of poetry, photography, writing and just good fun. She takes part in several of the challenges and is a regular and supportive visitor. She made me laugh with Pie of Newt and I love her travel themes. She blogs most days, but not in a flashy way, she has a quiet unassuming style but also a strong voice.
When I posted about Agatha Christie’s Home recently, she said `Dittisham is a perfect name for a village in a Christie mystery! Aside from that, your photos are so lovely. For some reason, I especially like the one of the moored sailboats dotting the river.’ So I challenged her again and she came up with this very clever and thought provoking flash fiction. Enjoy, and she would love to read any comments 🙂
Death in Dittisham
Enid checked to be sure that her stocking seams made a straight dark line up the backs of her legs. She peeked through the curtained doorway. There were only a few customers at the tables in the tearoom. “It’s quiet for now,” Mavis said. “Just as well you’re here, though. We’re expecting two busses of trippers today.”
“Shame they won’t have a chance to talk to Mrs. Mallowan.”
Everyone who worked in Dittisham knew who Mrs. Mallowan was: Agatha Christie, the famous writer. Of course, many of the trippers thought she was “Miss Christie” or, sometimes, “Mrs. Christie”. They all knew that the big house across from Dittisham was hers, though. That was part of the reason they visited, and their visits were what kept the Pink Petunia Tearoom open and kept Enid and Mavis employed.
Not that Dittisham was really the placid English village it seemed at first glance. But wasn’t that how any good Christie story started out, with a world that wasn’t at all what it seemed to be?
“Mrs. Mallowan? Oh, lots of them don’t want to see her,” Mavis said. “A nice chat with old Miss Marple, or a glimpse of that funny Belgian fellow, and they go home happy.”
But just then the first wave of trippers poured into the tearoom. It was hours before Enid and Mavis had another chance to catch their breath. “Regularly run off my feet,” Enid remarked as they leaned against the wall in the back room, tables emptying at last.
“It’s better than Micky D’s.”
“One party asked me where they could stay the night. I recommended Bertram’s Hotel.”
“Oh, get on with you, do.” The two girls wiped down the tables and tidied up before setting off in opposite directions for home. Enid liked walking through this silent Dittisham by herself. It seemed so real. She wondered if she and “Mavis” would convince the characters in a real Christie story. The light was fading, but she knew all the back streets and shortcuts. Sweet-smelling flowers, a friendly cat on its nightly prowl, a huddle of – something – under a bush. She crossed the lane and bent over the crumpled object.
And then she was running, running, all the way to the police station on the green. PC Jackson looked up in surprise as she burst in. “Now then, Enid, what’s all this?”
“Oh, Jim!” she panted. “It’s Miss Marple!” He gaped at her. Stupid, I’m being stupid, she thought. He wasn’t PC James Jackson any more than she was Enid Green. He wasn’t a policeman at all. This wasn’t England, and the 1930’s were eighty years gone. This was only a sham Dittisham, ChristieWorld, nothing but a specially built tourist attraction filled with actors working on their English accents. She loved it, and now she had to destroy it.
“Miss Marple?”
“Look, Matt, phone the real cops. It’s Miss Marple. I mean Mrs. Milewski. She’s dead.”
* * *
Lucid Gypsy 