Dorothy Clive garden

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Wondrous garden in the countryside on the borders of Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire. In Willowbridge I think? Every spring my hubby and I would go to see the rhododendrons in flower in the Quarry garden, sometimes they were fully in bloom, other years the blooms hadn’t opened or were going over. Today they were perfect. I just wish my hubby was here still to see them. I’d been to the hospital for more tests so this was a treat for my sister who had come with me. She held onto me on the steeper slopes. Today it was very blustery and overcast with a cold wind but at least it wasn’t snowing like it had been in some previous years.

Splodgy skies

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More boring splodgy night skies. The white line is the moon, just shows how bad my camera shake is! 60 second exposures, went from greenish to slight pink to blue. So maybe there will be better views outside the city?

I’m afraid I’m getting a bit obsessed with the Aurora Borealis. But since we are still in a stream of particles from the sun I might as well try and take pictures when I can. The next solar maximum is in 22 years and I might not be around to see that. Sorry these pictures don’t show amazing structures but I’m pleased just to get the colours here in the middle of a city, x

Longest days

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I’ve just spent two days working with BArts and Growthpoint. They were putting on an opera show about Molly Leigh.

There were three scenes today, a church where a vicar was criticising a local woman called Molly Leigh and saying she was a witch, turning milk sour and having a blackbird as a familiar. A pub scene where there were  customers and staff gossiping and talking about Molly saying good and bad things, like she borrowed money and didn’t pay it back, but then gave a family with a sick child several pints of milk so the child recovered. Then the final scene where a community choir came together to sing from her perspective bringing out the various aspects of her life. Each choir member was playing part of Molly as a whole.

The photo is of the cottage interior with a few of my bits of painting included. I have to say it was hard work, tiring, very intense and yet life affirming. I did more in two days than I’ve been able to for a few years and now I’m absolutely shattered.

Scenery

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So tired,

A day full of painting ad singing, I was helping with the Molly Leigh project at BArts. I offered to paint a picture for a wall in the witches cottage, I ended up painting a fireplace too. I only did the morning as I wanted to join the choir and to be honest I was so stiff and tired after I’d been painting I almost fell asleep in my chair!

Auroras!

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With my sister. We went outside looking for auroras. A lot of people living nearby had taken photos and posted them on Facebook. The sky just looked a bit cloudy to me, but a friend said she thought the sky just looked a bit odd until she took a long exposure. So I set my camera on night with a wide apature and it stacked pictures for 60 seconds. I shake too much so had to try and find a position to hold the camera still, hence the blurry shots. I ended up shoving my right hand against the door jamb and just pushing the button with my left, shaky hand. On the last one I caught greenish streaks. My sister took a couple of these. No real structure but proof you can see aurora even in the city with a long enough exposure! One off the bucket list!

Japanese food.

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What a treat! Starter with wasabi mayonnaise at Miso Japanese restaurant in Stoke, Stoke on Trent.

Then I had a bento box, your choice of main dish plus vegetable goyoza, sticky rice with sesame seeds, salad, cucumber sushi rolls and thinly sliced pickled ginger. There are vegan, vegetarian and meat or fish options.

Then we had sake and also plum wine. I’m not used to drinking much anymore but a relative was over visiting me so we decided to go mad.

I don’t go out very often anymore, but I remember years ago we used to visit the restaurant regularly. I’m glad I went, it’s really friendly and the food is always good.

Finished?

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I might do some more to this tomorrow but a full day on it has knackered me. The sky is a bit wrong and I could darken some of it to add shadows. I think the roof is too light too so I might add blues and browns.

It’s for a project about Molly Leigh but I might also try and enter it for an exhibition. I want to make it the best possible representation.

Progress

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This is hard work, I don’t shake as much when I’m concentrating but the tremors of Parkinsons make small details difficult. I try and hold my breath and clamp my arm against my body. In fact I’m having to redo sections because I’m not happy with the results, but I will persevere, memory of Molly, work in progress. Acrylic on canvas. Copy of a mural I did at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Difficult to reproduce the same feeling.