Grr

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Grr, I’m a tiger, I like this picture of me. It’s me and it isn’t.

I wish I’d done this as a face painting. But it’s on a phone app. That’s why it doesn’t quite fit to my face.

I don’t remember it blurring the area around my face. But only my hair. Weird.

I think of the words ‘Tyger, tyger burning bright, in the forests of the night. What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?

One day there might not be any Tigers left, then all we will have are photos, film and art. The memory of great creatures, small creatures, so many plants and animals that no longer exist…

Old measurements

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We were discussing old measurements this morning and started talking about the transition from the old imperial measurements to metric. I was only a child when it happened and we went from pounds, shillings and pence to pounds and pence during ‘decimalisation’.

I was trying to think of old words for measurements of size and volume. The ones I remember, but don’t know the sizes or amounts are… Gill (still used) , peck, chain, acre (still used), pint (still in use) fluid ounce (still used), mile (still in use). Quart and Gallon(still in use). Stones, Pounds, ounces, (still used). I’m sure there are lots more, but I was young when they changed. You can see Britain over the last fifty years has acted very slowly. It has used dual measurements over the last few decades, with some things measured in litres and kilograms and kilometers.

I do worry that we might have to revert back to the old weights and measures when we leave Europe. Its a mad world we live in! I think the British want to go back and live in a simpler age, like the 1950’s! But we can’t time travel despite having a popular TV programme that does just that! (Dr Who).

Hedgehog information.

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I hope you can read this. Hubby has been going out and buying ‘specialist’ hedgehog food from the local pet shop. Then a friend on Facebook posted this! I don’t want to be responsible for harming them so that’s the last lot of hog food we will be buying. There is also a meaty version so we might get some of that.

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Triffids?

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Don’t let it come close! It will swallow you whole. The woman screamed at me as I walked up the hill. I saw what she was pointing at in front of me. A giant swirl of leaves and tendrils.

What is it I asked her. But she was running in the other direction…

Then I noticed the thing was moving, it was edging towards me. I turned to run but there was another one. It had sneaked behind me when I wasn’t looking.

I jumped in fright, ducked and tripped. Falling and running at the same time, I twisted as the tendrils touched my coat, desperate not to let them touch my flesh.

A hand grabbed my shoulder and arm, it pulled me away from the plants.

You don’t want to let a Triffids get you. A man pushed me into his car. We drove away.

Now I’m in London, I still don’t know what’s going on. Hopefully I can find out?

Woody cat

The abandoned cat who is virtually ours. He definitely has adopted us. He’s wheedled his way into our lives. He gets fed regularly, sleeps in a bed in a shed, and comes and sits on your lap when he feels like it. I will try and get his microchip altered. His owners went away and left him. He would be in the house, but I have two rescue cats already. I’m getting them vaccinated next week and then we can try and introduce them to each other. Things could get difficult.

I do love him, he’s worked his way into my heart. These photos of him were taken in the garden this afternoon.

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Tomato plants no flowers!

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We put up two little greenhouses for the tomatoes this year. We’ve given them plenty of food and water. It’s a bit shady, not the usual place we put them, and they have grown leafy, but with very few flowers, and they don’t seem to have set. It’s getting too late for tomatoes now. On the other hand the local shop gave us some very withered and dried up small tomato plants yesterday but they have fruit growing on them. Weird… Anyway I guess I’m lucky we had other produce xxx

Neddy

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‘Neddy’ named by my hubby. Used the watercolour background I’d created and found an image of a horse or pony with a long mane.

I used fine black nib marker pens to draw him, then permanent markers to add some colour to him and to the tall grass around him (fading the colours as it went higher to give a feeling of depth). I then used a 6B graphite pencil to soften the strength of the marker pens. I drew this because I liked the overgrown mane. If the pony ran it would flow out backwards like a billowing curtain or long ribbons.

I did this today because I didn’t have a prompt from stoke urban sketchers so I thought I would still draw something to keep going.

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Watercolour background morphed

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I have a wide paintbrush you can use to spread watercolour across a page. On the right hand side is part of the original picture and the left hand side has had the hue digitally changed. The grass style marks were created by scratchingvthruogh the wet paint with the edge  of  a bit of  plastic. I might try and use the original background in my sketchbook for a new drawing, and I might upload this image to draw something else. I like the feel of this. I might add a lone pine tree or something like that. X

Rain

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It’s been threatening rain all morning. It was raining earlier, the abandoned cat we look after appeared bedraggled at the back door so he came in for a pouch of cat food before going off again. He’s definitely an outside cat.

We were expecting rain all day. My hubby was going for a walk but that has been cancelled. So he’s in the shed making cozy places for the hedgehogs and the cat to sleep in.

Rain. One year, many years ago, we were suffering weeks of rain. I told someone that an ark was being built on the top of the hill. They believed me! This country (UK) has so many influences from the North, South, East and West that we can sometimes get all types of weather in one day. The rain is one thing, but we sometimes even get (very small) tornados. Also hail storms, water spouts, gale, storm and hurricane force winds. High temperatures (rarely) but highest last year it was 38°C. Low temperatures, probably worst in Scotland around minus 20°C.

So yes, rain, some of the UK is very wet, certain villages like Seathwaite in the Lake District get some of the highest rainfall. Some of it is extremely dry. The South East of England around London frequently gets less water from rain than it requires so water companies are allowed to extract water for public use from rivers and aquafers.

On the whole I like rain. Except for late one night when we came out of a club and missed the last bus home. We had a five mile walk in the heavy rain. The water ran down my ‘showerproof’ coat. My trousers got soaked, and then the rain started getting in through the coat seams. Oh joy! Even my shoes were sodden… Memories.

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