10,000 Comments on My Blog!

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress38 Comments

Is 10,000 comments some sort of milestone? I don’t know. But it seemed worth celebrating, so I thought I’d put up a photo of my published books in a stack. The picture in the background is of a modern sculpture depicting a man reading. I came across it in a park in Lyme Regis, Dorset.Do …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 21/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, Poetry5 Comments

Wide skies and calm seawaders vie with gulls for fooda young mother tends her childcurious about life beneatha gentle pool of still waterand beneath distant cliffsa cargo vessel awaits departureto far off lands as yet unknown *****……………….*****Some of my pictures appear in the Gallery.But, if you want images to decorate your home or office, use …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 20/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, Poetry13 Comments

How bent the boleof a beech clingingto this steep slope’s edgeasking why and howit came to this fateand lives and growsdespite what timehas laid upon it *****………………………….*****Some of my pictures appear in the Gallery.But, if you want images to decorate your home or office, use in calendars, greetings cards, jigsaws, advertising, or anything else you …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 19/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography7 Comments

Strolling at day’s end from Janet’s Foss back to the hotel at Malham, we watched the sun slowly sink to leave a lovely winter evening sky. Just the two of us on the path at this stage in the day. Our earlier walk along the River Ribble from Settle to Stainforth had refreshed memories of …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 18/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Photography, Poetry2 Comments

The distance between uson this dying day of wintersignals what I wonderis this the final partingor a renewal of our loveor a simple misunderstandingtime will render comedywhen we glance back on yearswe have yet to walk together? *****………………………….*****Some of my pictures appear in the Gallery.But, if you want images to decorate your home or office, …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 17/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, Poetry3 Comments

How many years have you passed on this steep slopewhat stories might you tell of that long timehow fierce the storm that brought you downto rest a broken wonder across our path? *****………………………….*****Some of my pictures appear in the Gallery.But, if you want images to decorate your home or office, use in calendars, greetings cards, …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 16/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography10 Comments

The day held a surprise, a destination neither of us expected to see during our stay. It began with our enquiry at the ticket office for the various boats that tour Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. Our Italian was basic. The lady issuing tickets spoke barely a word of English. But we were confident enough …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 15/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography4 Comments

‘I should warn you, you’re standing in what’s probably the most dangerous spot on Earth’, so said the tour guide we’d followed, with a small group of other tourists, to the emerging caldera of the reforming volcano at Santorini. She went on to tell us the fumarole a few yards distant was issuing at least …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 14/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Photography9 Comments

Heady days under the sun, balmy evening walks to local tavernas, and pleasant meanderings back to the adults only hotel. Those were the days! Looks like overseas holidays are no longer a simple road to ‘get away from it all’ considering the combined barriers caused by Covid and climate change. But, with the most moronic …

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Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Literature, opinion, Reading, Review, Romance8 Comments

Fiction Classics/Literary Fiction288 PagesJane Austen’s first published novel ‘Sense and Sensibility’ manages to capture all her humour and dissatisfaction with the age in which she lived. I felt the language was a little more convoluted and, occasionally, more obtuse than in the better known ‘Pride and Prejudice’, making it sometimes hard work to ascertain her …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 13/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, Poetry7 Comments

Walking in the woodsof autumn colours and warmthwe let fall call us *****………………………….*****Some of my pictures appear in the Gallery.But, if you want images to decorate your home or office, use in calendars, greetings cards, jigsaws, advertising, or anything else you fancy in print or online, you will find more here.

#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 12/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, Poetry4 Comments

The grass lies cut and dryingstriping the gentle slopeand awaiting balingto feed the beastsin the cold daysof a winterawaitingtime *****………………………….*****Some of my pictures appear in the Gallery.But, if you want images to decorate your home or office, use in calendars, greetings cards, jigsaws, advertising, or anything else you fancy in print or online, you will …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 11/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, opinion, Photography17 Comments

Uneasy lies the truce between footfalls and wheels in the forest. Multitudes of narrow circles of rubber coated steel press harsh upon wet ground, forming grooves the rain cannot escape and making waterways of once sound walking paths. Slowly, those small streams erode the ground until the soil under walkers’ boots slips away to flood …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 10/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, Poetry7 Comments

Day’s end or night’s beginningdepends on what’s been doneor what’s intended I suppose A warm summer’s day comesto a close softly lit by a moonfull of the promise of pleasure Gently the evening wavessettle to ripple a surface of calmsharing colours of dusk with a Sky yet blue as a summer daysets an evening gull …

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#Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 09/Feb/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography8 Comments

Rugged beauty defies the violence of the sea that made it here on the coast of Devon. The landscape is indifferent to its influences, but humanity is blessed with an ability to detect the abstract quality we call natural beauty. Probably, such appreciation was initially an essential component of our make-up, a spur to make …

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