My Molly Leigh mural

Posted on May 3, 2024 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Arnold Bennett suite, Art, Burslem, Cottage, Fine Art, Leopard Hotel, medicinal plants, molly leigh, Mural, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Witch4 Comments

I painted this mural several years ago on the wall in the Arnold Bennett suite in the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. The building sadly burnt down on 22nd January 2023 and remains a burned out husk of the former historical hotel.

It represents the Burslem witch Molly Leigh.

Margaret ‘Molly’ Leigh was an English property owner in the Staffordshire town of Burslem who, in her will, left substantial sums to charity. She was also accused of witchcraft, and, after her death, her grave was disturbed following claims she was haunting the town. Wikipedia

Born 1685, died 1746.

Her grave is in a Burslem church yard and is set at 90° to the other graves to indicate witchcraft.

My painting shows her old cottage and medicinal plants such as foxgloves. It’s a moonlit night and I painted a ring of icy cloud around the moon to make it more spooky. The ancient woman depicted is actually based on a French peasant woman by Theodore Gericault.

Gobbledegook

Posted on May 3, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Bbc TV, Comedy, definition, gobbledegook, Memory, obfuscation, Words, Yes minister, Yes Prime ministerLeave a comment

Confused, muddled, incoherent. Gobbledegook.

Like double-dutch it’s a word that tries to describe the kind of word salad some people talk rather than a measured and clear explanation.

If you have ever seen “Sir Humphrey”, the political private secretary in “Yes, Minister”, and “Yes, Prime Minister”, the BBC series from the 1980s and 90s, you will know he would used gobbledegook or flimflam (another lovely word) to blag his way through telling the Minister important information without telling him clearly. It’s in this case a method of obfuscation, using a long tangle of incomprehensible words that is sneaky and makes the story he is trying to tell virtually impossible to understand.

It’s an informal noun and according to Google it is defined as :

language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of technical terms.

“reams of financial gobbledygook”

I hope you enjoyed this word!

Yes!

Posted on May 3, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Choice, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1927, Family, female, Life, Memory, song, Sufferagette, Vote, Voting4 Comments

Do you vote in political elections?

I’ve voted in every election I could. The first time I voted following my families choice, I was young and I hadn’t really thought through my voting intentions, we had always voted one way so I followed suit.

Then I left home, my situation changed. Many conversations followed and I realised I no longer agreed with my family. Much to their surprise I changed allegance. Why? The reality of life was not as I’d imagined it as a child.

I think the important thing to do when voting is to really consider what’s on offer, not just to you, but to your neighbours and friends. Bad policies should not be selected. That means any party that is not bothered about the needs of the population should be discarded. Perhaps we could have more accurate measurement of whether parties have kept their promises?

As a woman I’m proud to vote. I remember all the women 100 years ago who fought for women’s suffrage. If you can find the song on the Internet have a listen to the song “Nana was a Sufferagette”. I think it gives a good idea of how I feel.

Flowery

Posted on May 2, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Blossom, Cherry, Flowers, Garden, Green, Pear, Spring, Time, Trees, wild, Wild garlicLeave a comment

I think this is wild garlic? I took the photo a year ago. I love having a, wild and wooly garden. I am concerned that my fruit trees came into blossom early I haven’t seen many insects about so I’m not sure if they have been fertilised. I can only wait.

Boat Band

Posted on May 1, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged 6 months, accordion, Beehive pub, Boat Band, fiddle, Guitar, Hospital, Memory, Music, scan, Time, tromboneLeave a comment

I enjoyed going out to see the Boat Band at the Beehive tonight. It’s been over 6 months since I have been out to see them. The pub was quite full with jolly people and it was lovely to feel that mood wash over me. It felt very strange being on my own though. And odd not having my hubby to talk to. But I’m glad I went, I even tried singing a couple of songs.

It had been another long day and I had a hospital appointment in the afternoon, I’m so grateful that my friend came with me to keep me company although she had to wait for an hour and a half while I had a scan. I couldn’t stop shaking so I hope they managed to get good pictures.

Now I’m shattered, I need some food but I might just have a sandwich and go to bed. But I’m really glad I went out. Life has to have some good times.

Quick owl

Posted on May 1, 2024 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Bird, bird of prey, Feathers, Fine Art, Life, Memory, Owl, PaintingLeave a comment

I’m going to try and get to an art project about Molly Leigh, the witch of Burslem. I want to try and do a painting of her, but I only had a bit of time today, and because I’m trying to get back into painting again I decided to paint an owl. I did it because it’s a magical kind of bird, the way they can fly silent as a whisper to catch their prey. It’s a small acrylic on canvas. I’m not sure of the species as I based this on a precious owl painting I did a few years ago.

Crying

Posted on April 30, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Blank verse, Life, low, Memory, Poem, Poetry, Sadness, Tears, Thinking, TimeLeave a comment

Crying is cathartic

Tears relieve stress

But do they ever stop?

Many more to come

Will they ever end

When will they be done?

Quiet nights are worst

But even in the day

Tears will still fall

Thinking, all alone

In my little home

Sadness overwhelms.

Looking forward’s hard

Past this veil of tears

Into future years…

Have I been camping?

Posted on April 29, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged camping, Cornwall, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1923, flysheet, holidays, Interesting, Memory, Sewing, tent, WalesLeave a comment

Have you ever been camping?

Several times, but something always seemed to go wrong!

We went on the train to Wales, we were going to cycle around and camp every day. But we’d only took the fly sheet of the tent not the whole thing. We asked someone if we could prop our flysheet up against his tent, he said yes, then my hubby decided to be generous and bought the man several whiskys in the camp bar, so when we woke up in the morning most of the money had been spent and the forecast was for rain. After a brief discussion (argument) we caught the train home stuck in a guards van with a very loud Welsh rugby team singing rude songs!

Another time we took a frame tent in our car, we put the tent up, only to realise the tent was inside out and the curtains were on the outside. That time my hubby reversed the car over my saucepans! Result, Argument!

Another camping holiday, we cycled 40 miles in sunshine one spring, the weather turned and we had a few nights of snow. We had to sleep in all our clothes. It was minus 11 °C one night. We cycled home and got stuck in snow cycling up a steep hill, we had to take a detour adding 20 miles onto the ride. Result shattered!

Then there was the cycle trip to Cornwall, we were on a clifftop above St Ives. My hubby put his foot through the zip in the middle of the night. Luckily I’d got a sewing kit, so I sat with a torch in my mouth and sewed the front of the tent up, luckily that was our last night there.

We did have a few other more successful trips but we decided to go on caravan holidays instead, and I could tell some tales about them too!

Summer

Posted on April 28, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1922, enthusiasm, Life, Memory, productive, Sadness, Spring, Summer, vitamin D2 Comments

When do you feel most productive?

I usually feel better in summer, at the moment the daylight is increasing and I feel slightly more productive. I somehow usually come out of myself in the spring, and as the season progresses I feel more enthusiastic.

This year? I don’t know, I’ve spent a lot of time just staring at things. My motivation is really low. I don’t go out much so I probably low on vitamin D. I will try and get over the feeling of sadness and anxiety. I would like to be more productive as the days lengthen. I will have to see what happens.

Tulips

Posted on April 28, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged effort, Garden, Growing, Growth, Memories, Photo, Spring, Time, Tired, Tulip, WorkLeave a comment

Last years tulips were beautiful. We had seven or eight in the pots outside our house, sadly this year I only had two. I haven’t got on top of gardening because of everything that’s been happening and I will regret not being able to keep up with the seasons. I’m going to try and make more of an effort, a bit at a time, give myself rests in between spells of gardening. It might take a while and I need to try and put the effort in

Mallaband-Brown

Category: Memories