Early morning

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Early morning, looking up from the settee where I’m currently sleeping, I can look over at the ceiling and see the shadow cast across it by one of the living room lights. It’s in black and white because the colours were washy yellows, and I thought this looked more dramatic.

The fact you can see the woodchip patterned paper on the ceiling which is not very flat shows the poor decorating skills of the builder who put it up there almost 30 years ago! I’m never going to take it down, it’s hiding a multitude of sins including bad plastering and cracks I think.

This was around 6am or maybe later, I just liked the stark, long shadow.

More tiles

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I thought I’d show you the other photo of the church floor I took last night. It’s a bit blurry but this is the main block of minton? tiles. It’s hard to tell what the central section depicts. I love the contrasting blues, oranges and terracotta colours. Using complementary colours makes the image pop even with using only blue and orange.

Blue to Red

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What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?

At 18 I voted blue (Conservative). That was how my family had always voted, we spoke about it, and I was supporting our first woman prime minister. How I regret it now!

After the election I moved out and started to learn more about the world around me, how people struggled and how the new prime minister was making things worse for people not better.

I went through several general and local elections over the decades but I never voted blue again. I had completely changed my mind. Sometimes I don’t like Labours policies, they can seem to be Tory lite, but I’ve never not voted for them. Sometimes they get into power. But for the last thirteen years Conservatives have been in power. They have had five prime ministers, some of which were not elected by the populace but by their fellow MPs. They make promises but they don’t keep them. Cancelling projects which were expensive and that have been massively over hyped. All blue policies…. From privatisation to selling peerages…

So I’m Red through and through. I think I always will be. The biggest change of mind and direction in my life.

Church tiles

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I was rehearsing for our Christmas concert (we are doing it to fund another pantomime in 2025). I saw these tiles up by the altar. I think they are Minton tiles. I also think the church was designed by Pugin?

The acoustics are very good in there and we had great fun trying to get the right harmonies for silent night. The concert is due to happen on the evening of December 15th this year. As well as traditional carols there will be rock and roll songs and some solos and duets. There may also be recitals of poetry.

There are other tiles in the church, so it might be an idea to listen to the concert and have a good look round.

Green hair?

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I found a photo of a ceramic head I made several years ago at my friend Claire pottery class. It must have hung on the same nail in the back yard for at least 20 years!

The weight of the face squished the space inside it in a bit, but it still is a good planting pocket. It has a crack in the back from the firing, so when I plant it up I use plastic to line it but make sure there are holes for drainage. I put different plants in each year, this time I have some sad snapdragons still clinging to life. Maybe next year I will try Sempervirans? (house leeks).

Pointellist portrait

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Using the glitter tool and then a thin brush in the Artrage app on my phone I created a head of a woman. It’s interesting because the dots are random so placing of the features becomes more inexact so the face seems more natural (not like my usual style). This was inspired by pointellist paintings, the #bandofsketchers prompt was inspiration.

Quite often

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Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.

Where am I?

I was a child and because my eyes were bad I couldn’t see where my parents were on a big beach. So I got lost, but luckily someone found me and I got back to my family. Then they found out I was short sighted, so I ended up with glasses.

Later I got lost trying to map read while my mom drove. I wasn’t very good at it, so we took the right road, but headed south not north. Eventually I realised I had gone wrong and we found our way home. After that I studied maps (on paper), so I knew where I was.

But feeling out of place can also be emotional. I used to do an important job and did it well, but I didn’t fit in with other staff members because they thought I was too soft with our customers. I started to feel very out of place. I think I suffered from imposter syndrome. I second guessed myself all the time, thinking I would get caught out for doing things wrong.

I’m glad I’m out of it. I want to feel I have a real place to be,

Warmest September on record

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I was just watching the news and so far this September is the hottest ever recorded in history, and the year is heading towards the hottest ever too.

Meanwhile our government has decided to cancel a high speed train project and instead wants to support car drivers. They are going to have some kind of war on potholes in the streets! They don’t want to slow traffic to 20 miles an hour in built up areas, although it means children would be less likely to be killed in accidents where the current limit is 30 mph.

Also the petrol or diesel car is seen to be better than electric vehicles. Our government is putting back the date when cars have to be electric from 2030 to 2035. Firms that were planning for the 2030 date and retooling their workshops now have to rethink what they are doing.

And the government have signed off on a new oil field in the north sea, but the oil and gas from there is due to be exported to other countries to be refined and we will have to buy it back at inflated prices!

But as long as our Prime Minister can travel on private jets all must be well with the world!

Still doing gratitudes.

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After a break because I was injured and fed up I decided to start a new gratitude book. I wrote down what had happened so that I will remember how I was feeling. But I didn’t want to start right from the beginning. So today I’m actually on day 420.

Three gratitudes a day helps balance the bad things that are going on as well. I like adding a small sketch to each gratitude to make it more real to me and helps me remember what went on during the day. I’m glad this idea was suggested to me. It really helps x