Still coughing

Posted on January 6, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Cat, diagnosis, Feline, Odd, Short story, Silly story, Very short story, Werecat?Leave a comment

I don’t want to worry you doctor, but I don’t think the tablets you gave me worked? You see I’m still coughing, and I keep wheezing, and I feel odd…

Thank you for examining me. So you can hear the wheeze? Oh, more like a purr? How odd.

Now look doctor, I don’t understand. What do you mean, feline blood? No my family keep cats, they aren’t actually cats!

But it doesn’t make sense, I am not licking my cat! How can it be? A Furball? That’s what I’m coughing up?….. That’s Mad! And why have my pupils suddenly gone from round to slits? Oh doctor, am I turning into a Werecat!? Is that your diagnosis?

Cyclamen

Posted on January 6, 2023January 6, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cactii, Cyclamen, Flowers, Growing, Life, Pattern, Plants, Reflected, Seeds, Symmetry, WindowledgeLeave a comment

Apparently reflected (using the layout, symmetry app on my phone). These Cyclamen are flowering really well. As they fade the stems curl over and the flower heads start growing seeds that are then deposited in the soil to grow into new plants. This is a large indoor version but we have small groups of cyclamen growing in the garden. The colours go well with the Christmas cactii next to them. OK I think that’s enough about my kitchen window ledge!

A strange creature

Posted on January 6, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Christmas cactus, Creature, Flowers, Fun, Green, Life, Pareidolia, Pattern, Red2 Comments

A crab? A pouting face? A reflection of a dragon? You can do funny things with symmetry and photos. Christmas cactus turned into something surreal. It would be better if it was less blurred, but my arm shakes so much sometimes that I get camera shake. Still it’s an interesting image and it’s an example of Pareidolia (seeing creatures in a pattern that isn’t actually there). I have posted a few of these on the blog over the years.

Christmas cactuses, late

Posted on January 6, 2023January 6, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cactii, Christmas cactus, Colour, Flowers, Kitchen, Late, Time, Windowledge, winter floweringLeave a comment

Only a couple of weeks late, but gloriously in flower now. It’s amazing how the tiny tips of flower buds grow swell and then unfurl. We have bright red, and pale pink and dark pink it’s a riot of flowers in the kitchen. Plus we have a cyclamen and a money tree. I like it at this time of year. It disguises the dying hanging baskets outside in the yard.

Close up

Posted on January 5, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cloth, fibres, macro, magnifying lens, Memories, micro, Photos, Time, ViewLeave a comment

I have a little lens and light that used to fit over my old mobile. I took a few photos while I had the old one which I just found in my gallery, because I transferred the memory card over. I might publish a few more. Is this called macro photography or micro photography? I can’t remember. Anyway this reminds me that you don’t have to stick to one style of doing things. You can experiment and see whether you can do things a different way. Be open to new ideas…..

Down the Rabbit hole

Posted on January 5, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged afternoon tea, Cake, Cup and saucer, Food, Life, rabbit hole tea room, sandwiches, Scones, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, TeaLeave a comment

My friend reminded me today that two years ago we were having afternoon tea at the Rabbit hole tea room in Stoke. We had a lovely meal of sandwiches, scones and cakes and tea in porcelain tea cups and saucers. We had to book a table in advance. Obviously it was closed during lock-down but I believe it is open again now. It was a charming place and suitable for families having birthday parties. I hope it does well despite the cost of living crisis.

Dahlia

Posted on January 4, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Childhood memories, Children, Colours, dahlias, Flowers, Green, growing up, Memories, Orange, Red, White, Yellow1 Comment

Reviewing old photos from a few years ago I came across some pictures of Dahlias. This one of a pompom Dahlia really resonated. I remembered my father used to grow them in the summer when I was a child. He had a whole patch of them, this shape and more shaggy ones. I remember I could see spirals in them. They were all different reds and oranges, whites and magenta and yellows. Striking against the green leaves and stems. They were in a small back garden and next to a pile of soil where we children would play ‘I’m the king of the castle get down you dirty rascak’ not sure how that worked except we competed to be at the top of the pile of soil…. Memories are random and come back infrequently. I just remember the Dahlias and sunshine.

Mandelbrot

Posted on January 4, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Chaos, Drawing, fractals, infinite, mandelbrot set, SketchingLeave a comment

For Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt Chaos. This is an old digital drawing I did on the computer years ago. I don’t know if this is cheating but I tried to draw the Mandelbrot set, a fractal image that can be viewed at all scales and this shape keeps being revealed. It might be infinite. It is a product of Chaos theory! If this wasn’t OK I said I would try and draw something else.

Chow-meined-up

Posted on January 3, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged chow-mein, Cookery, Cooking, Food, green lentils, green vegetables, pak-choi, red pepper, stir fryLeave a comment

I wanted to make Chow-mein and I had a packet of sauce. But my bean sprouts had gone soggy with having problems with my fridge. So I made something up.

I sliced some aubergine, red onion, broccoli, kale, pak-choi and red pepper and stir fried it all together. Then I added a tin of green lentils for carbs and cut up what was left of a roast chicken, mainly breast, then added the chow-mein sauce and cooked it for about fifteen minutes. I have no idea if this is the correct method but it tasted OK.

Swanning about

Posted on January 3, 2023January 3, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bird, bird flu, Cygnet, Disease, Illness, Life, Nature, Swan, viruses, Young SwanLeave a comment

Swan from a couple of years ago, changing from plumage as a cygnet (young Swan) , I guess the brown helps camouflage it. I haven’t been out anywhere for weeks, so I have not seen many birds recently. This photo was taken on a walk round Westport Lake. More worrying is the prevalence of bird flu in the UK which was around in the summer and has been continuing over the last few months. Its frightening that so many birds and animals are being affected by disease. It says something about humans interference with nature that these things are happening. Recent studies have found that the bird flu virus survives in open water for months and that it is able to infect birds that migrate to those lakes and pools, making them ill when they arrive.

I hope this bird has had a good and healthy life. I don’t know how the disease can be prevented.

Mallaband-Brown

Author: artbychristinemallabandbrown