Unicorn

Posted on October 17, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Horn, Legend, Manuscript, Medieval, Myth, Narwhal, Nature, Painting, tapestry, Tooth, UnicornLeave a comment

When did I first find out about Unicorns? In a book, probably. Something about myths and legends. Always a white horse with a horn from its forehead. The closest thing in reality in nature are Narwhals, a type of cetacean with a long modified tooth sticking out forward from its head.

Unicorns are often depicted in medieval paintings, tapestries and manuscripts. Apparently the only way you could catch them was to have them lay their head in the lap of a virgin? They were a lovely idea. Perhaps the idea was influenced by antelope? It’s something I might investigate.

Daft alphabet

Posted on October 17, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Alphabet, Colouring, Drawing, Fun, Learning, Letters, Random idea, Screens, Text, Typing, Writing6 Comments

I was reading a friends blog and she was explaining that she knows some children that use screens all the time so their handwriting isn’t good.

Thought if you added drawings to the letters you could make them interesting and fun. But it’s hard to think what to do, and I’m sure it’s been done before.

Thought I’d concentrate on capital letters first. Some would be easy, like a D turned into a dogs head, or an S for Snake. I’ve doodled a few ideas, greens for consonants, red for vowels.

I don’t know, it needs work, but it could be fun. For instance I’ve turned F into a piece of pie, and V into clock hands, but V could be pie? If I was doing this for real I’d make the shapes more recognisable and also turn it into a colouring game….

Hanging basket

Posted on October 17, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bee friendly, Colours, Environment, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Hanging baskets, Life, Nature, Nursery plants, Plants, ShedLeave a comment

It’s mid October and the baskets just keep flowering. This ones on the garden shed, another sheltered spot. I would recommend ordering them from a small nursery or farm, they generally end up filled with more and different flowers that have matured more by the time you get them. I usually ask for lots of colour and the lady that plants them up will put in lobelia, begonias, fushias, trailing petunias, and other flowers I can’t remember the names of. Then we fill our own baskets with pelagoniums, small sunflowers and trailing tomato plants (this year). I hang baskets one below another. Then set up pots on the wall and the ground. Finally we’ve grown a few, like this one, on the shed. Those have had nasturtium seeds put in them and have given a lovely late flowering display. In all the sadness of this year they have given me great joy.

Easy dessert

Posted on October 17, 2020October 17, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged afternoon tea, Banana, Cream, Croissant, Dessert, Food, Ingredients, Random, Raspberries, Sweet, TastyLeave a comment

Ingredients :

Two croissants,

One Banana

Half a tub of extra thick double cream

Sugar or sweetner to taste.

A few raspberries for decoration.

Method :

Take the two croissants, cut them in half horizontally. Slice a banana in half lengthways. Place one half in each croissant. Sprinkle with a little sugar or sweetner. Dollop the thick cream on top of the banana, then place the top of the croissant back on top. Serve as it is or with a few raspberries on the plate. Tasty and easy.

Serves two.

Youcan substitute whipping cream or squirty cream if you want. X

My eyes

Posted on October 17, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Central heating, Halogen heater, Heater, Instant heat, Radiating, Random, Warmth, WattageLeave a comment

This is our new heater. On one bar! It’s being used as a lamp too….

The old oil filled radiator we had in our living room was used to supplement our central heating or used instead of it now the days are getting colder. The problem was that there was an oily residue on the base of it and on the fins. It also used 1000 Watts. I wanted to get another, less powerful oil heater, but my hubby chose this. On the positive side its only 400 Watts on full power and it seems to radiate more heat than the oil heater did.

But it’s so bright! I have to turn it away from me so my eyes aren’t burned out of their sockets (clearly not true), but it’s too bright for me.

Swan, Westport Lake

Posted on October 17, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Cold, Exercise, Geese, Longport, Need to relax, Swan, Walking, Want to walk, Westport lakeLeave a comment

Longing for a walk round the cold lake, away from people, stretching my legs, getting exercise again after a month if tonsillitis. I’ve got to escape, get out, get away from crowded stores.

Fresh air, beautiful sky’s and landscapes. Snow White swans, warm down covering them, to survive the winter. Out to feed them, and the geese. That’s what I want to do. Soon…

Write a poem

Posted on October 16, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Funny, Humour, Incomprehensible, Phone, Poem, Poetry, Predictive text, Random, Silly, WordsLeave a comment

In predictive text starting with the word ‘phone’ :

Phone and email

I have attached

Yes I think

I am currently

What is the earth’s

We have a small forest

I am interested to join

Yes please can you send me the invoice

Words to say that I have from the company

I have a very complex problem

Yes……… Thanks

Batik yin yang cats

Posted on October 16, 2020October 17, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Art, Batik, Cat, Colours, Design, Dye, Framed, Fun, Workshop, Yin yang4 Comments

I went to a Batik workshop about three years ago when I first got my studio at Spode. I’d never done it before, but basically we used hot liquid wax as a resist to dyes. When you paint coloured dyes over the pattern you make, the colours are not absorbed into the cloth or canvas where the wax had been painted. Then you have to het a hot iron and paper and iron the wax out with the paper between the cloth and the iron so the wax gets absorbed into the paper. There is probably a clearer way of explaining, but as I say I only went to one workshop. My friend made this heavy frame for the yin yang cats. There is glass in it to protect the fabric. I was rather pleased with the result.

Cat and ball ⚽

Posted on October 16, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged ball, Cat, Chase, Dribbling, Fun, Kitchen, Life, Living room, Ping-pong, Playing, Stairs2 Comments

Our cat loves this ball, it’s a ping-pong ball covered in a knitted stripy fabric.

Suddenly there will be a clatter and the cat, who takes the ball upstairs in her mouth, is chasing it downstairs, then into the kitchen or along the living room floor.

She bat’s it backwards and forwards between her front paws, or under the settee then pulls it back out with her claws. The game goes on for half an hour or so. In which time she will run up and down stairs several times. If she was a footballer she would be a premiership star!

Last night I started throwing the ball up stairs and then she chased it back down. Having cats are fun.

Cat reflected

Posted on October 16, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, Depth of field, Feline, Life, Mirror, Photo, Reflected, WindowLeave a comment

On one side my cat in the mirror, on the other side the view of him across the bedroom. Surprisingly the first image was in the mirror. I think I had a bit of camera shake when I took the photo of him across the room. It’s also odd because there seems to be more depth of field (depth perception) in the first one. I might do more pictures of reflections and see how they turn out.

Mallaband-Brown

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