Next doors TV.

Posted on January 8, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Disturbing, Football, goal, hearing loss, Life, Noise, Reading, Silence, Sound, Time, TV4 Comments

I wish I lived in a detached house, not one with thin walls and a neighbour who’s TV is right next to the wall. We don’t complain because he is deaf and I think he would struggle to hear if he moved it anywhere else. Also you don’t want to fall out with your neighbours if you can help it. Most of the time it’s OK, especially when we have our TV on, but sometimes we like to read in silence and then, well if there is a football match on next door the volume is so high that we can tell when someone scores a goal!

I think the volume next door has gradually increased over a few years. You get used to it. But late at night it can also be disturbing. I don’t think there is a solution unless we have noise lowering insulation put in.

Knocking on?

Posted on January 8, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Clocking on, English language, Getting older, getting on, knocking on, Learning, Old House, Photo, RuinsLeave a comment

Man knocking on the front door of an old, derelict house out in the countryside. Knocking is also a phrase in England that means getting older hence “the old man who was ‘knocking on’ in age, knocked on the door of the derelict house”. Perhaps knocking means that the person is either becoming elderly, or even approaching death. There are so many strange phrases in the English language. ‘Knocking on’ can be changed to ‘getting on’ or even ‘clocking on’ which can also mean getting your clock card punched by a machine at the start of a factory shift. The more you learn the more there is to find out!

Walking

Posted on January 8, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Friend, Illness, Loss, Memory, pulled calf, Sad, strolling, Time, Two years ago, Walking2 Comments

Two years ago I was walking almost every day to get fit. Then I pulled a calf muscle and my walking buddy got ill. I was stuck for a while because I wasn’t able to put much weight on my leg without it feeling like it was going to snap again. I ended up not walking very far. I tried to get back into it. But then illness and loss got to me. I ended the year with a chest infection. Now I have seen this and hubby has been walking I think I need to start again. There is no reason why I can’t if I try once I’m well again.

Green man at Rudyard

Posted on January 8, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged @ivans_uk_tours, Green man, Leek, North Staffordshire, Rudyard Kipling, Rudyard lake, Rushton Spencer, Staffordshire moorlands, WalkLeave a comment

Hubby went for a walk yesterday and his friend Ivan who runs Ivans UK Tours (@ivans_uk_tours) took this photo. Ivan had arranged a walk round Rudyard Lake in North Staffordshire. It’s a canal reservoir near Leek. I pinched this photo off his Facebook page because it is so lovely and I love the Green man design. They walked all the way round the lake starting off at the Rudyard Lake Hotel around the east side of the lake along the lanes because you can’t walk along the shoreline. Then up into the woods to the north end of the lake up steep pathways and along muddy tracks. They came back along the path of the old railway line that runs from the lake up towards Rushton Spencer. However they were walking South to the dam at the south end of the lake. From there you can walk back across to the hotel car park. Approximately 7miles.

I think Rudyard Kipling was named after Rudyard Lake I think…..?

I’ve not been well enough to go and when my hubby described the route I don’t think I could have managed it even if I was well!

Quick

Posted on January 8, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, clue, crossword, crossword clues, Drawing, Life, quick crossword, SketchingLeave a comment

Thursdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Clue. I only just did this one. I like trying to do the New Scientist Magazine Quick Crossword. I’d like the backgrounds of crosswords to be coloured, but the ones I try and do are always black and white.

Arnold Bennett suite. The Leopard Hotel.

Posted on January 7, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Arnold Bennett suite, Fine Art, Murals, Painting, Stoke-on trent, the Leopard Hotel in BurslemLeave a comment

This was the back room of the Leopard Hotel in Burslem (the Arnold Bennett suite). The hotel burned down last year taking my murals with it. They were painted in emulsion paint directly onto the walls so it would have been impossible to remove them before the hotel caught fire (apparently the empty hotel had someone growing cannabis in it and the fire was from an electrical fault. It had been bought for redevelopment and the local community wanted to take it over to make it work again. Now its gone. You can see the relative sizes of them to the size of the room. I painted them between 2006 and 2007. I miss them.

Textured cat

Posted on January 7, 2023 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, Digitally manipulated, Filtered, Mat, Photo, Poem, Poetry, sat, Sitting, Tuxedo catLeave a comment

The cat sat on the textured mat

A filter changed its shape

It’s spikey and crinkly

Coloured and wrinkly

But the cat is relaxed

Not very fat

Contented on the mat.

Windy night and morning

Posted on January 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged January, Night, Rain, scudding clouds, Sleep, Stormy, Tired, Waking, Walking, WindyLeave a comment

It really was a dark and stormy night… And morning has dawned dark and gloomy. The ill fitting window in the kitchen makes vuuumming noises if the wind is from the south and the trees outside were whipping back and forth in gusts of wind. So I woke up about 4am then couldn’t sleep again. Sometimes I will watch the clouds scud across the moon but last night it was black and gloomy despite a full moon the night before. I’d set the alarm for 8am but cancelled it at 7.55 and got up and cooked us breakfast. Hubby is going for a walk with a friend. I’m glad they are not going too far because he won’t be back too late. Now? Got some chose to do, but the cats decided to sit on my lap so I will try and doze.

Abstract face

Posted on January 7, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Abstract face, Apps, Art, Blogging, Digital art, Filters, Memory, self portrait, Sketching, WordPressLeave a comment

Abstract self portrait. I can’t remember how I got to this point. It’s got to be a couple of years since I created this. I’ve got an idea that I used various filters but which ones? My WordPress Media library has some odd images in it and every so often I have to edit them and delete some of them because my memory on WordPress is 99.8% full. I can’t afford to pay more for my blog page so it’s a case of managing what I have.

Saying that, does anyone know what else I can do? I don’t want to delete blog posts, I don’t have the time or the energy to do it. What I am doing is to delete some of the images as they take up more space on my site. What do people think?

Tiger cat

Posted on January 6, 2023 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Carving, Cat, Design, Fun, Learning, lino cut, Pattern, Printing, tiger cat2 Comments

Lino cut cat from last year. The curve at the back could be from a snail shell. This is another technique I would like to pramore this year. I think I will try and create card sets, hopefully without cutting my fingers. You also have to remember to carve back to front or letters are the wrong way round. If you have ever tried this you can feel the carving tools slipping on the surface of the lino. You have to push quite hard to cut down into it but not too deep or you can split the lino. The kit I bought had a safety carving blade which is the safest way to carve. I look forward to doing some more.

Mallaband-Brown

Author: artbychristinemallabandbrown