Category: Memories

Jumping cat

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Bad photo of my old cat jumping before we moved house. It’s blurry with my camera shaking Parkinsons hands.

I used to walk around with her purring, draped round my shoulders. She would follow me everywhere. Once when I walked into a friend’s bungalow via the back door she sat by the door for ages, I’d come out of the front door and my friend had found her waiting for me!

She would jump across from one gatepost to the other when I tapped the wall. I got several photos of her doing this and used them as the reference for the painting. I actually won a small prize in a local exhibition for this painting.

Bird

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I’ve suddenly got back  to drawing on our bandofsketchers group. I lost confidence with my health issues and problems with my eyesight. I didn’t feel the same way about the challenges and so let it slip.

But I saw what my friends are doing and decided to have another go. This bird comes under the prompt ‘new’. I decided to do something in a new style in Artrage. I hope you like it.

Need to write

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I’m in a writing group and I hand write stories and poems. But our latest challenge has me worried. It calls for us to write a piece 2000 words long! I suddenly feel like I’m back at school or college writing essays.

You need to understand that my computer is bust and I type all my blogs on my phone. My Parkinsons makes my hands and arms shake and my hands cramp up, so my jottings are usually brief, maybe too brief. But I like to be concise.

I find hand writing suits me more because I can place a note book on the arm of my chair and write things down as I think of them. But 2000 words? I can’t do a word count unless I add up say every 20 or 50 or so of them. Then total up the numbers at the end.

The other thing is reading out. I stutter now. My speaking voice is affected by Parkinsons, it’s frustrating when I want to get a good delivery of my words.

Oh well, I must keep going. X

Old Spode

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Old light and fitting at Spode factory site, taken 4? years ago when I still had my studio there. I like the fact that the photo looks black and white apart from the pale grey/browns on the globe shaped light shade.

I wish I could time travel, go back to when I could do things, climb stairs, move things around. I struggle just to get through my front door. I guess the thing to do is to get on with things the best I can. I’m stubborn, which means I don’t give in easily.

In the garden

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Bulging with plants

I have to say I’m amazed at how the back garden plants are growing. There have been some casualties from the heat, some plants have wilted while others have thrived. My photos are all a bit blurry, I need to clean my phone lens, but it gives you an idea of how well it’s done. But I’m praying for rain. X

Missing my cat (back now and OK)

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He needs his meds

He has a heart problem and is on medication twice a day. He’s probably just asleep somewhere in the shade but it is 29°C here and I’m worried. I will go out in the garden and call him, but I need to be careful as I’m unsteady on my feet. Why does this have to happen now. He’s due back at the vets tomorrow for a checkup. My other boy cat has probably moved out. He only comes home every few days and turns his nose up at his food. My female cat is also out… Maybe they are off playing together!

Pottery closure

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There was a pottery in Burslem where they let you paint your own designs.

Unfortunately like many other ceramic factories it has closed. The cost of gas and electricity means that a once thriving local industry is dwindling. Stafford pottery was one of the latest victims.

There are still excellent potteries that create designs and pieces of art for the 21st Century. Portmeirion, Emma Bridgewater, Wedgwood are a few that continues to produce beautiful work. It’s hard to say whether they will still be producing ceramics in a few years time. We also have a company called Lucideon which undertakes research and development of ceramics for such things as electrical insulators, non slip tiles and other diverse uses.

Hopefully this city of potters will continue to survive well into the future.

Music

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What brings you peace?

I’m not keen on pop music, but I’m finding that as I get older I’m happy and at peace when I’m listening to classical music. Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Mendelson, Holst, and several more. I’m not good at remembering the sonata, or opera, or symphony titles and numbers. But I love the sound.

I’ll sometimes try and sing gentle songs, some religious, some not. It’s the sound and choral tones that affect me. Brings me peace.