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Rhyl Air show

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A sunny August bank holiday weekend, at least today, forecast is for rain tomorrow……

Rhyl beach is long and sandy, there were food stalls and lots of things on show including the RNLI and RAF and Royal British Legion for the Poppy appeal.

We walked along the coastal path, towards the town and watched planes zipping by, aerobatics, an old Blenheim and a couple of Spitfires. All free, and as we had walked down from my sisters house we didn’t have to pay for parking!

Rhyl airshow takes place every August Bank holiday, when a free show is held and the planes fly out over the sea. There can be big crowds but it was not bad today….lots of space on the sand and great viewing conditions.

First we saw a five plane aerobatic team, then an old autogyro from the 1960’s, later on old war planes, a Blenheim and a Dakota and two Spitfires. There were other planes following, looping the loop, doing stalls and twists, soon there was a fighter jet trainer shooting across the sky.

The climax was a team of around 6 red devil parachutists, falling from the sky with smoke trails. I say 6 as the sun was shining in my eyes and I could not see the screen of my phone. As there parachutes opened they also flew the welsh flag below them. Brilliant afternoon. I even got slightly sunburnt!

I managed to get a few reasonable photos on my old Samsung phone, I also did some quick sketches of the planes.

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Recent sketches.

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When you are out for lunch, or going for a day trip its good to ditch the camera sometimes and just sketch the view. It might end up a bit skewiff but that doesn’t matter, you are making personal memories, things to remember, like the way my friends hat dominated our table at a local restaurant Amore, in Newcastle-under-lyme or the fact I always seem to eat lunch before I think about recording what it looked like. We had a huge meal at the New Inn at Dyserth. Then drawing a view of a landmark, trying to catch its character and the sunlight hitting the tree trunk just at the right angle to cast its shadow on the huge stone walls behind it. Drawing the oddly angled steps that are made to bend round protruding rocks and the stone wall at Dyserth Falls…oh I cram a lot in on day trips!

 

Seaside

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This is a new footbridge at Rhyl. The bridge can lift up on both sides of the footpath so that boats can navigate the lower area of the river. The footbridge is at the west end of Rhyl just near the blue road bridge and next to Rhyl’s bike hub where you can hire bicycles.

On our visit the sun was shining, but it was quite windy. The river below looked quite muddy and because the river is tidal the water was rushing out towards the sea.

The structure is interesting, the footpath seperates around a central mast and you can see down to the hydraulic rams that can lift up the two halves of the bridge. I haven’t seen in operation but I imagine it looks spectacular.

 

Familiars

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Cats are said to be Familiars, aloof but linked to their owners, and disdainful of fuss from anyone else. My experience is that I can make friends with most of them, if I can work out what sort of sound they like.

Years of being owned by cats teaches you that they respond to different noises or looks from the person trying to befriend them.

Noises: churring, purring, chuch-chuch sounds seem popular with cats, I’ve practiced making purring noises since we first had a cat. Then miaow, or prrup sounds, with kittens or shy cats I try and sound like a little cat crying, it’s sometimes difficult to get high pitched enough. But hit the right note (quietly) and a shy kitten may become more friendly.

Looks: If the cat stares at you don’t stare back. slow eye blinks are the thing, close your eyes and keep them shut for a second. Cats do the same thing and it makes them feel less threatend.

Gestures: If you want to stroke a cat just offer it the back of your hand or a finger to sniff, dont try and stroke it unless it starts to rub its head against your hand. Don’t lunge at it or try and pick it up. Cats are small animals and can feel intimidated.

Also try not to make loud noises which will startle the cat.

If you see your cats tail wagging/waving it might be getting annoyed or excited and wanting to play, just be careful, a paw may take a swipe at you and cats have sharp claws! Also be wary of the tooth and claw situation…..ow!

Cats like fusses, being stroked, if they are enjoying it they may start kneading you with their front paws, but beware a cat having its stomach stroked or tickled might kick out with its back legs while grabbing you with its front paws and biting ….

I’ve learnt from experience that you have to move your hand away carefully, pull I away and you can end up badly scratched.

Do: treat a cat with respect, try and make friends, enjoy the love a cat can share with you.

Don’t: shout at it, pull its tail, insist on picking it up if it doesn’t want you to.

Conwy sketches

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If you decide to take a day trip to Conwy, north Wales, on the other side of the estuary to Llandudno and the Great Orme mountain, can I suggest you don’t take a cheap sketchbook, an ok blunt pencil and a couple of old biros with you because you have forgotten your good drawing tools?

Firstly it doesn’t make drawing easy, particularly if you choose to walk along the battlements of a castle. If the sun does decides to shine then you can’t get dark enough shadows to show the foreground trees and you can’t get the subtlety of shading on the mist shrouded mountains in the distance. Each sketch becomes more random and quick. The only good one you give away to “Eric the storyteller” of snowdonian folk tales because you managed to capture a reasonable image of him.

Off down to the smallest house in Great Britain, built 400 years ago, now there is a house to draw. Luckily you dredge up an old black felt pen and make tentative marks. How to show how tiny the house is? The clue is to draw the welsh lady by the door, passing on wisdom and history. She is a good figure to add for a sense of scale. Mission accomplished while queuing to enter the house, the felt pen has run dry, but the image is clearer than the previous ones.

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Storm

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The sky was clear earlier, just a few clouds skudding past as the sun set, the sky deepening in azure blue as the night arrived. But now, less than two hours later, the wind has picked up the leaves that had fallen early because of the drought. The storm is blowing around the house like an old steam engine, puffing and panting, whistling and roaring. I could imagine gouts of flame shooting out its boiler.

One minute all is quiet, then gusts blow down the chimney, the air in the room cools and stirs. The cats have come in to seek shelter, yet they are restless, torn between comfort and agitation. Nose to the glass looking out at the chaotic movement of the air…

The traffic noise is amplified by the wind. Unseen cars blur past in a loud buzz, like bees scattering from a hive seeking food at breakneck speed.

Still no rain in this gale, tiles rattle but not from raindrops, this storm is selfish and does not want to share its water. Jealous of allowing the land to drink. Will it rain? Perhaps, maybe wet the feet of the trees.

I think of the poor and destitute. Wrapped in an old duvet or plastic bag for shelter. How will they cope with no roof to protect them? This storm is the first of the season, big bulky winds rattling plastic sheeting, tearing it from cold bodies.  Why are they unhomed, unheeded, unheated, uncared for?

In a land due to celebrate the centenary of the end of the first world war, in a land that was fit for hero’s, we have gone back to the maelstrom of survival of the fittest and devil take the hind most.

My safety from the wild wind is their loss. I grieve for them.

Old Brown furniture

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These photos do not do the wardrobe my grandfather made justice. I had taken photos of the handles and lock but not of the lovely thick walnut veneer thst covers it. The doors have two slices of veneer onbyhem so th a the pattern is in 4 quaters.

Grandad was a wonderful carpenter. He did work in churches and made lych gates. I dont know if I ever met him, because by the time I was old enough to know him he had passed away and grandmother had remarried.

I think though that I got a lot I my artistry from him. The wardrobe is old and scratched but still loved and used. I think we should all use old furniture, you don’t need to go all modern, refurbish it if you must, but save your money, and the planet!

Two old paintings

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You know when you find old paintings? You wonder where you were when you painted them, what you were doing! These bring back memories of a holiday at Challaborough in Devon in 2002.

The rocks were dark and solid, with red brown sandy beaches. Across the bay you could see Burgh Island, a small island across a stretch of sand. To visit it you had to drive up from Challaborough and follow the coast road round to a little hamlet opposite the island.

The stretch of sand is really a sand bar that reaches out from the coast to the island, sometimes it is under water and can only be reached on a sea tractor that has a seated platform high above the waves. The island is worth a visit  because there is a 1930’s hotel on it that Agatha Christie, the famous crime fiction writer, stopped at. There was also a pub near the shore of the island, called the Pilchard. Im not sure whether they are still open as it was over 16 years ago that we were there!

I remember taking little canvases with me and sitting painting the view from the caravan site we stayed at at Challaborough, I also remember having to stay there longer as I twisted my ankle because the caravan steps were rusted through with the sea air and collapsed when I climbed up them.

Anyway these are two small canvases that bring back memories…..

When insomnia strikes

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My ears whistling that high pitched whistle again, last night it was sussing like a weathered shell held to my ear. Plus it’s gone cold  all of a sudden, the chill has reached my ankles, my knees, got up to get the duvet to snuggle in, then I was too hot…

Snoring from my partner doesn’t help, it builds up gradually, not too loud, but when you are trying to lie quietly it creeps up on you, can you sleep before it reaches peak snore?

So I go back to bed, snuggle under the duvet, elbow my partner in the ribs so he turns over, blow my nose to relieve the whistle…5 minutes, 10 minutes….no, pick up my book, turn to page 44 and start reading. It’s a science book, Richard Feynmann QED, trying to understand light waves or particles, quanta…..dozed offf…….zzzzx…CAT decides to jump up to get warm next to my back,,uh….drsf ,,gnnnh…she wakes me up running over my face!…..awake again I seek solace in my computer, check emails…write this…..no midnight trumpish tweeting where’s the coveeffee,,,,Gnnn, coffee,,decaff,,hot…….