Ow my legs

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Ow my legs! Our female cat loves sharpening her claws on my legs, she sticks her claws in my trousers and then arches her back and pulls down. Sometimes she gets flesh too. I found blood trickling down my leg earlier on today. I love her to pieces but as soon as I realise she’s doing it I have to brush her away.

She rushes round and plays all the time. She fights with our boy cat but only in play, she puts a paw on his head or he puts a paw on hers and then she pushes him away with her back legs. One thing neither if them do is the strong fast kicking movement so neither of them get hurt. And they only nip each other, there is no going for the scruff of their necks. Basically it’s like slow motion wrestling followed by fast chasing.

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Unitarian meeting house

In 2018 I sang with three choirs at the Unitarian meeting house at Newcastle-under-Lyme. The original meeting house was built in 1717 but the building was burnt down. I don’t remember everything they told us but I think Josiah Wedgewood whose portrait is carved in wood above the door was a supporter of them.

I was impressed by the tapestries of their history that were on display in the hall. It’s fascinating what history there is in this area. Some of the Methodists first met near Stoke-on-Trent at Mow Cop and also built Bethesda Chapel in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent..

Berador

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Berador, wind wraith, fourth brother of the Vars. The clan of the elements.

Brother to Shenth, Earth wraith, Strunt, fire wraith and Flonda, water wraith.

Berador had been seperated from his brothers in the War of Merenda. He was now lost in the great forest where his breath beat against the leaves and branches, tearing at them, and yet he could not escape.

It had been three months since the war ended and they had left him here thinking him dead. But the breeze in him still trembled the trees and sparse grasses. He knew Autumn was coming, then he would have a chance.

As the season turned the Forest grew orange and golden and mauve in the cooling air. Now Berador could push his breath against the leaves and they started to fall, curling and flying away. They fell in drifts on the ground that he struggled through. But he could see his way now. Beyond the edges of the trees lay their old haunt, Skreelt Castle.

In days he would be home, in days his brothers would celebrate his return. His breath would sustain him until his homecoming. He knew it would not be long now.

 

 

Ache

 

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I have that sort of portentous ache that feels like I’m coming down with something, perhaps a bug? I’m not sneezing yet but my throat is sore again. Perhaps I’ve been overdoing things, just feeling tired and aching.

Trouble with the Internet is that you can seek sympathy instead of just getting on with things. It is good to moan but it’s also probably annoying to hear people going on about how they feel  Is it appropriate to complain?

Well I guess in one way it’s informative. I won’t be doing much today because I’m not well. But whose business is that? I’m talking to strangers, to people who don’t know me. One may be sympathetic another thinks get over yourself.

My health pales into insignificance compared to people hurt or killed by cyclones or murderers. Life feels personal to me. But I am one individual. Life is more than that.

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Don’t you know?

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Don’t you know I love you?

Don’t you know I care about you?

It’s bleak out here

It’s cold and grey.

My heart is lost, broken, destroyed.

It hurts that you don’t care,

It hurts that you’ve gone away,

You are here in body but not in spirit,

You changed before my eyes

Your memory has glazed over

Milky white, foggy, out of focus

I can’t break in, I can’t get close

I still love you

Won’t you remember to love me too?

Spelling?

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Can you spot the mistake? It’s funny how the brain works – writing the word “buidling” instead of “building” is just an example. Apparently if you have all the right letters and the correct first and last letter of the word, your brain can unscramble it. For instance if I write :

The qcuik bowrn fox jmpus oevr the lzay dog?

You should still be able to read it.

Spelling only became regularised when the dictionary arrived. Once the spelling of words was written down with a definition the spelling was more fixed. But spelling is still quite phonetic, based on sound sometimes. For, four, fore all sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.

The example above is more likely to have occurred because of a computer mistake when the author or designer did not proof read the art work.

I guess I make a lot of mistakes too. I do rely on spellchecker but even that gets it wrong sometimes.

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Starry

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I’ve been making patterns again, this time using a close up of sequins on my jumper… Very random I know.

The stiches  on the jumper also add texture to the photo. I think the stars look like little dancing people holding hands.

I love stars and astronomy. I’m interested in things like the magnitude of stars, seeing comets, planets and asteroids. I read web pages like spaceweather.com which gives you information about CMEs (coronal mass ejections) from the Sun, which is caused by the sun’s magnetic lines of force getting tangled up and hurling out plasma from the sun’s surface.

If the weather is clear I will look out for meteor showers like the orionids or geminids (Based on the constellations they appear to emanate from).

I wish I lived in the southern hemisphere. I have heard of the magellanic clouds (small neighbouring satellite galaxies) which are below the plain of the ecliptic, which is the flat plain of our galaxy. Anything below that can only be seen from the south.

We (our planet) is topped at an angle of 22?degrees. So although we see constellations they vary with the seasons. They rise above the equator or sink below it depending on where we are in the year. If you sailed on a boat or flew on a plane at night you would see the constellations change as you flew north to South, or vice versa. Some constellations like the southern cross are only visible in the southern hemisphere and some like the plough or Great bear are only visible in the North.

I had a couple of little telescopes and once saw a tiny image of saturn and its rings and the galilean satellites of Jupiter – four moons that orbit Jupiter. There are more but are too small to see in a backyard telescope.

I’m no expert but I do like to learn. I’m sure there are lots of websites where you can find more information. Funny how I can ramble on after describing my jumper!

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