Discount?

I go to a (nameless) supermarket that used to give discounts if you purchased shopping from them and used their discount card. I would build up a bit of money over the year and use it towards my Christmas shopping.

Recently they changed the system. Now if you use your card you should get a discount off some products and ‘everyday essentials’ (like milk and broccoli???). I’ve asked a few times how I find these products, apparently they have an extra blue sticker on them. So now I have to spend time looking round the shop for stickers? It also means that I have to choose what the shop wants me to buy to save money. Today I saved a whole 20pence on a tuna sandwich. That’s 20 pence off £26.40. When I asked the manager she said customers nationwide had asked for it? I wasn’t consulted.

Other information is that as theirs is a small shop they have less discounted products. If I go to a bigger store I will find more! Guess what, they are further away and consequently cost more to get to! Wow, wonderful (not).

Another portrait

Oh I am forgetful! is this Cate Blanchett? I think she played the lady Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings films. I drew this about the time the films came out and it’s another sketchfu digital drawing. It’s not perfect but I am quite pleased with it and have good memories of the site.

Singing for health

I went to choir this morning. It’s one for lung health but I go because my friend goes and more and more for my mental health too.

I’ve been through a lot of crisises lately and I feel like I’m in the middle of a crescendo of music at the moment, will the wall of sound collapse and calm down, or turn into a tsunami of torment? Awaiting test results to find out.

I finally got a long awaited hospital appointment through, I’m hoping something will be sorted out, but I’m nervous of the outcome.

Meantime? I will keep singing at choirs, trying  to keep my spirits and endorphins up. I will try and keep calm in the middle of a whirling cacophony of worry!

My old sandals

Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

Not flip flos

Not beach sandals

Proper walking sandals

Have taken me up and down

Hills and paths

Through fords

Into the sea

On hot days and pebble beaches

Foreshore, piers

Along garden paths

Looking for minnows

In shallows

Sandals that supported me

Sandals that transported me

Sandals I tore off

When my feet got stuck in mud

Sandals that wore out

Heels worn down

Sandals full of grit and memory

That guided my feet..

To you

Duchovny portrait

Digital drawing I did of David Duchovny about 10 or 15 years ago (when the X files was on TV?).

It’s another one of my drawings at Sketchfu before the website closed. I had a great deal of fun drawing there and it seems so strange not to be able to draw there anymore. I loved doing portraits on the site.

Light

I’ve just been playing with a spiral, like a pine cone. I added light and shade using the eraser tool on my Artrage app, this is the last one which went funny when I edited it on Instagram but looks OK now. There are about five variations using Artrage, photodirector and Instagram to et to this. #bandofsketchers prompt was light.

Tent memory

I just watched a video of a cow walking up to a tent, the camper had left his trainers outside. As the cow walked past the trainers got stuck on a front then rear hoof. Very funny, but who decided to film the cow. Could it be a faked video?

It bought back memories though. We once went camping once on a farm near Ludlow on the English /Welsh border. A dog there was pregnant and while we were out for the day cycling down into Ludlow to explore the castle, it got in our tent and stole the cheese and other stuff we were going to have for tea! The farmer was very apologetic. I think he gave us some sausages and eggs to replace the lost provisions. We made sure the tent was zipped up and tied shut the next time we went out!

By the way our tent was just a tiny two man canvas tent that served us well for many years. I do remember waking up on one occasion with a cow snuffling round the guide ropes of it, but the cow did no harm.

On another occasion we were camping above St Ives in Cornwall. It was a stormy night. My hubby put his foot against the tent zip and broke it. I’d got a sewing kit with us? Why? I don’t know, but I remember roughly sewing up the tent opening to keep it shut in the gale while having to hold the torch in my teeth (hubby having fallen asleep).

Mom’s old car

Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

When I passed my driving test I couldn’t afford to buy a car so my mom gave me her Austin Allegro? as she had wanted to replace it. She did say the brakes were a bit dodgy. But with the enthusiasm of a new driver I wasn’t too worried.

A couple of weeks after getting it we decided to explore the countryside where we used to cycle. The narrow lanes were tricky but I got us safely to Rudyard lake and a peaceful afternoon.

What possessed me to take a wrong turn on the way home will never be known. Possibly I thought I was taking a shorter route? But we got lost, the lanes were narrower, steep banks on either side. I came down a hill approaching a bend when suddenly another car roared round the bend coming head on for us!

All I could do was violently swing the car left toward the side, the other car got past, but the brakes didn’t stop us in time. I hit a low stone wall straight into the radiator. The car stopped. I had to find a phone (no mobiles in those days). We rang the AA who came out. The car was a write off, the engine had been knocked back six inches!

Despite the fact the car was destroyed I still think it was the best gift. And I learnt a valuable lesson. Don’t drive beyond your capabilities.