Quiet, peaceful, resting cat.
watching TV
With me.
Quiet, gentle, happy cat.
sleeping deeply,
Sleeping beauty.
Quiet, tired, needs a nap,
finding comfort,
giving support,
Quiet peaceful, happy cat.
Relaxing cat
Category: Uncategorized
Vintage
This was today’s Urban sketchers challenge. Vintage.
My vintage Viking Queen mixtie bike.
Drawing this quickly it makes me realise how hard it is to draw accurate ellipses. This was the bike I bought a few pounds a week from Swinnerton cycles in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, forty years ago. I used it till I was knocked off and fractured my skull. I carried on riding it for a year, but it collapsed because the headset had been damaged in the crash. I took it to be mended and the shop lost the frame. I bought a new bike, but it was the wrong size for me. (my legs are slightly short). I ended up giving the new bike to a friend and learnt to drive. Big mistake. I got my old bike back rebraised about a year after I took it in to the shop. From then on I put on weight. I carried on cycling occasionally, but mainly used the car. The last time I rode my bike was about ten years ago. I’m scared to get back on it as my balance is not good. But I keep it, thinking one day I will have another go….
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Playing
Cat is chasing my knitting wool
Wrapped round its paws,
Across the room,
Fast like a famous footballer,
Knocking the ball
Back and forth.
Under the table,
Through the gap in the chairs,
Into a box…
She dribbles
She Scores!
She would beat any goalie!
Gardening
I just read a really sad post on Facebook. A woman had friends round in her garden and someone said her garden was ugly. It was full of flower borders and a neatly cut lawn. There were pots on the lawn and it looked like a proper cottage garden with ox eye daisies.
Unbelievable how unkind people can be. I replied to her post:
“Looks amazing, if you have birds and small mammals you are doing the right thing. I’d rather your garden that something covered in decking! Ours is full of trees, squirrels, hedgehogs, the occasional fox. Loads of birds. Don’t let them get to you.”
I thought about it. We need to make more space for wildlife not less. Somehow patios and outdoor rooms have become the norm. How much money is spent on concrete? Lease think about making a small place in your garden for wildlife.
Pattern
I drew this a few weeks ago. Now I’m thinking it would make a good design for some cotton material, maybe a panel on a tee shirt or a pair of trousers. I actually have a pair in black and white that is similar to this. It’s amazing what you can do with a black ink pen and a bit of technology. I just need to find someone to work with.
If you know any innovative art sites that do printing let me know. I did think about joining somewhere called spoonflower but I wasn’t certain about it.
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Poppies continued..
Here’s my attempt at my square (5) of the poppies painting. As you can see the image I was working from had a great big yellow five in it, so I ignored that. On the original photo the colour balance is more muted, but somehow on the one I was coding from the grass is quite orange. I decided to draw with felt pens, permanent markers and coloured pencils. It’s obviously too green, but it’s hard to layer up colour with pencils, they go shiny and form a waxy surface. After I finished this I added a few streaks of orange ermanent marker but they are too defined, so I left it at this. Positioning of the figure and hill is difficult. Hope when it’s added to the rest it will be OK.
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Shocked
The one on the left is me, the one on the right is the FaceApp thing that is doing the rounds. It’s an android Google app and it uses AI to seamlessly alter your photos. I had a look at me if I was male, older, younger, but I didn’t like them. They were interesting but they didn’t feel true. The only one I kept was the picture on the right hand side (feminine), not sure how that makes me feel. I’m a bit more warty and moley than the world thinks I should be? Ultimately we are all wearing a cover if flesh, but it’s what’s in our minds that counts…
What my hubby bought!
A train ground signal! Why? It cost £60, he got £5 off. Again Why? He’s going to hang it up in a tree and put a light behind it… Railway memorabilia from the 1960’s…He did have a garden railway but the track got covered by plants.
Men are strange, but I guess women are too. Some go out and spend lots on makeup or shoes. I think I’m just weird. I’ve never been that bothered…
I don’t know what will happen to his train signal. I guess eventually it will rust. But it’s made him happy… Ah well…. At least he’s not into football!
What to do on the Solstice
I can remember seeing the sun set and then come out again from behind the Cloud hill, near Congleton, Cheshire.
I could not remember where we were but according to ITV.com there is a place to stand to see it….
‘The solar event which happens just once each year will be visible in the Midlands tonight.
The double sunset takes places during the the summer solstice and can be seen from various locations around North Staffordshire.
According to the Oxford Journals the double sunset can be seen from the churchyard of St Edward the Confessor in Leek. The alignment of a local hill means that the Sun is occulted close to sunset around the time of the summer solstice. This phenomenon was described in 1686 by Dr Robert Plot. Calculations show the phenomenon will be visible for another 500 years.
- How does it happen?
The apparent double sunset is due to the rotation of the Earth. As the sun sinks behind The Cloud the planet continues to rotate, allowing the sun to become briefly visible again.’
Apologies for the length of the quote, but it explains what I mean clearly.
Please note I’ve now been advised: due to earth movement and buildings it can no longer be seen in St Edwards churchyard but can be viewed from Lowe hill near Leek. My Dad is Doug Pickford who has written books about local legends (info from a friend)
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My own flowers
Last year, painting of morning glory flowers and some poppies. I haven’t grown much from seeds this year. We do have some lettuce plants, but they have probably been drowned by the amount of torrential rain we’ve been having over the past few days. Some places have had a months rain in a day! That compared with six weeks of sunshine in April and May. As usual our weather is topsy-turvy. Basically because of where the United Kingdom is positioned. We get weather from every direction, the Atlantic, the Arctic, Siberia, even dust dragged up from the Sahara. We are a weather magnet!
I want to go and get some seeds and see if I can grow some nasturtiums for late summer bedding, and the butterfly caterpillars love them. They are a nice, spicy, bitter and peppery orange flavour when added to salads and cold soups.
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