New paintings and regular art updates.
Curry splodge for tea. I like to cook but I struggle to cut things up as Parkinsons shaking makes it hard to hold the knife. It tasted nice though. I buy odd shaped veg so I guess it doesn’t matter how it looks. Had no nan or roti bread so used tortillas instead.
I love this phrase, standard candles, it’s a way of looking at the universe to work out distances in light years.
But I keep getting conspiracy theories about the universe from people on the Internet. I decided to try and explain my point of view.
I explained I’m not a physicist or optical expert. But I’ve read a lot over the years so this is my take on measuring the universe’s size.
This is what I wrote. Please accept my apologies if this is totally wrong. I only have a scant understanding.
I’m no
t an expert in optics but I think they have found the universe is over 13 billion years old based on the time light takes to arrive at earth. The science uses standard candles (globular clusters of stars that have the same light production so they can be used to judge distance because of light intensity). John Gribben explains this well in his popular science books.
Parallax can also be used to measure distance. If you look out of one eye at your thumb at arms length, then at it from your other eye you will see it apparently move. The same can be done from earth observatories. Look at a star at one end of Earth’s orbit around the sun then 6 months later at the other end… Effectively creating a very long thin triangle. The star will move a tiny fraction against the background of other stars. Using simple geometry you can measure the distance. These methods helped to work out how far other galaxies are outside the milky way. I read all of this from books by authors like Issac Asimov, Sir Patrick Moore, Carl Sagan, Brian Cox, and John Gribben among others. Not by watching Fox news.
(the last bit because I was accused of believing things that are on TV)
Already missing Autumn
Colour fades in Winter
Llke a Bruegel painting
Colour slipping off the branches
Like skin falling
Leaving black bones.
The hounds swallow vermillion
Grind umber
Sup on the remains.
Bring Spring soon.
It was raining this morning at three in the morning, but through the mild mirk of a December night the sound of a blackbird was heard singing.
The rain continued and the raindrops splattered my window, the drips from the gutter splashed down onto me as I opened the front door to get the milk bottles in. Water was running down the road and overflowing the drains.
I didn’t hear the bird but I could hear the cars whooshing through the rain… Being on a main road can be noisy.
Sometimes you just have to doodle, To be free. Drawing n the Artrage app. It’s one of my favourite places t draw digitally, you get various pens and thickesses. You also adjust the metallic effect. I enjoy it.
Usually I send cards to my friends, but the local card shop has closed, the post office closed and one of the post boxes has been removed.
I decided I would make a donation to the charity Parkinsons UK instead. They do work on trying to find and resolve the causes of Parkinsons disease. Hopefully I will be helping others in my circumstances.
Cards are a fun way to show you care about your friends and family. They were first sent by the Victorians in 1843. They became more popular in the 1860s and 70s. People used the penny post to send them to their loved ones. I do t really want to stop sending them, but digital life affects reality.
I took this photo a few days ago and have no idea where it was at and who I was with! How can I have forgotten? I honestly don’t remember and you take a picture because the food is so nice. I don’t even remember what flavour it was!
It’s quite presentable, and I’m sure it was tasty, but after the last few days of problems and activity the whole thing has completely gone….
You know, the whole Internet is full of images of food. I guess you could save a lot of wasted space by not posting pictures of it!
One of my Christmas cactuses on the kitchen windowsill has come into flower. I hope the rest will flower too. I have ten different Christmas cactii there. I think they are not doing as well as they can because I am not watering them enough.
On the end of the sill was an old amarylis plant, I think I’ve overwatered it. But it was about ten years old. I also have a maidenhair fern on the bathroom that is huge but most of it’s leaves have gone brown. Probably because I had the radiator fixed in the bathroom and it gets too hot in there. I need to sort things out…..
Two cats side by side
Friends not brothers
The big one washes the old one
A caring lick of recognition
Each trying to be close
To the heater.
Oil filled,
It takes the chill away
They stay close in winter.
My third? In a basket upstairs
Snug and happy
The third cat,
Aloof, independent
Smug.
Quick sketch, crafty group, I wasn’t well so just did this. Pencil on cartridge paper. I think I still have my skill in drawing but Parkinsons makes it harder. I still hope to get better medication and reduce the dopamine breaking down in my brain. I love art and hate the way this disease is making me “stick”, or shaking uncontrollably.
I’m trying hard to keep going, I do not enjoy how things are. But I realise my life is a lot better than some peoples lives. I’m lucky to live in a country with a universal health service. My eternal gratitude goes to the NHS., without which I would be stuffed!
Mallaband-Brown