Potatoes

_20200203_235106_optimized

Who knew, well I didn’t, that potatoes are very full of carbohydrates that turn into sugar in your body? I went to a course to help me lose weight and we were discussing how much carbohydrates convert into sugar when you digest it. The worst culprits we’re white bread, rice, and potatoes. They explained that instead of looking at the traffic lights on  packets  of foods (showing green, amber and red for amounts of protein, fat, carbohydrate, sugar and salt), if you look at the back of the packaging you can see the total carbohydrates. Divide that by three and it turns out that the answer is how many teaspoons of sugar it would convert to. So 15 grams of sugar equate to 5 teaspoons of sugar.

So what about potato? A single medium potato is equal to 18 teaspoons of sugar! That means it has 54grams of carbohydrate! Who knew? Well I wi have to take this into account. More vegetables less carbs!

Westport today

A cold sunny day until the breeze blew clouds across the landscape. Ducks, geese, pigeons, moorhens and swans looking out for food, so we got two bags full to grain to feed them. I thought we would just go round the small lake which is a quarter of a mile, but instead we did the mile walk round the large lake. We’ll it was more of a slow dawdle. My hip is not right yet after pulling a muscle, but we did extend the walk into the maze that Staffordshire wildlife Trust have made on the area of hedging at the far end of the lake. The paths were muddy and difficult to get out of when we tried to regain the main path.

When the sun went behind the clouds it made a fantastic and dramatic picture. I took numerous pictures of the birds and trees and landscape around the lake. I feel much better for the walk, though I was very chilly when we finished. I need to be able to walk much further than this, but it’s a start.

Red arrows.

IMG_20180825_140514

Rhyl Air show, the red arrows. A lovely sky in August. Exciting to watch some expert pilots fly amazing planes in death defying aerobatics.

Standing on the beach, watching them swoop overhead, white horses on the sea. Puffing white clouds scudding overhead. Flat landscape, until you reach the inland hills.

Of course these are memories, not necessarily exact, but I remember, I remember……

Painting mugs

At Etruria Artists today we painted mugs, they were blank white mugs and we used on glaze paints that stay the same colour when they are heated. The most exciting thing is that they can be heated in an ordinary domestic oven. They have to be dried for twenty four hours, then heated at 150°C or gas mark 2 for 35 minutes to bake the colours in.

The outside photo is lock 40 on the Trent and Mersey canal. It was a beautiful morning, bright and sunny. I really do prefer coming to Etruria Artists ‘hands on Art’ at the Warehouse next to the lock in the morning rather than the evening. It is on from 10am to 12 noon if anyone wants to come along.

X

Two sunsets, two days

A few days ago there was a reddish sunset, today it was more silvery. Each one was beautiful.

I like the glow in the sky on the second one. I’m sad when the sun goes down in the winter because of how long it is until the sun returns in the morning. As the days go on I look forward to longer days.

I’m already noticing the  change of position of the sunrise and Sunset, gently moving along the horizon, gradually changing the time it rises and sets.

The weather should look very different on Sunday. A storm called Keira is on its way,  due to give gale force winds.

In the meantime if I see more beautiful skies I will post pictures. X

I miss them…

IMG_20200203_123557_302

One if the worst things about the Internet is when people disappear and you don’t know where they have gone.

I have ‘lost’ a few people here recently. Perhaps it’s a new year and they have cancelled their membership, or decided blogging isn’t for them. Some of them had become friends, or I’d invested some time in reading their blogs. Some explained that this wasn’t working and they were going, others just disappeared. I can’t help saying I miss them. One person passed away. I knew she had been ill and I was sad to find out she was gone. At least there was a message put on her page to say she had died. I could grieve. But sometimes there is nothing, they become ghosts in my memory, sitting there, with no explanation. Then there are people who’s pages on Facebook are still open despite having died two or three years ago. Each time I see their faces on my friends list I feel sorrow, and yet it would feel wrong to ‘unfollow’ them. What to do. The etiquette of the Internet.. We need to learn.

What’s in a cage?

IMG_20200204_060502_536

What’s in a cage,

and what is a cage?

Are we trapped in a net,

or free?

Are we birds in cages

or enclosed by space?

How big is your cage?

Can you walk across a room?

Are their bars on your window?

Is there no way out.

No bus,

no car?

Are you stuck in your mind?

Many cages exist,

some are visible,

some are in your mind…

 

Hyacinths

Sitting on our windowledge in the kitchen, the hyacinths look lovely. I have no sense of smell but I can admire their beauty. Yet again I decided to create some symmetrical patterns. I like the intricacies of images like this. They create a surreal impact which makes you look again. As usual my pareidolia (is this the spelling) kicked in and I started to see faces in both images. The mind truly does play tricks on you.