Today I went to a breathing workshop, I’d been invited by a friend. It was good, I was with other people who had different health problems to me, but I felt welcomed. We eventually sang some songs and the participants and although they were not a choir as such they were really good!
My friend had asked me to bring my small paintings so we could raise some money for the organisation she volunteers with. I was only selling tiny paintings, so I donated £1 per painting (between 20% and 50% of the prices). But it didn’t matter because they were wanted and liked. It was a good morning.
What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?
I’m not good at yoga, and I only do chair yoga once a week, but I think it helps me a bit mentally as well as physically. I can do standing poses and balances with the aid of a chair. I can’t get up and down from the floor, so sitting on the chair gives me support as I try and adapt the poses.
My physical problems make it hard to bend and twist without feeling dizzy, so I have to try and keep my balance and not over extend the positions I try and achieve. Problems with my arm mean I struggle to extend it. That’s why I like yoga, what we do is not competitive but collaborative. That too means a lot to me.
The yoga class happens before choir practice, and I’m sure that has a good impact on my mental health. Sometimes I don’t go because I’m not feeling well or feel down. But I’m trying to do the best I can. Life can be difficult so it’s worth trying to find something to do that helps.
Well the plants are getting well watered by the rain that has poured down here from the start of July after a hot June.
I wish I could send some of this rain south East towards the Mediterranean and its Islands. Plus Portugal and North Africa where there have been more wildfires. People have died. Meanwhile we are dripping wet.
I’m not complaining, as things go I prefer a cooler summer but I’m not sure how the climate will change in the future. We has grass fires here last year…. I would like to think if we can get our act together climate disaster can be avoided
Not flying! I’m scared to fly and it increases your carbon footprint.
Not driving! I’m careful because of health issues. I can still safely drive but I’m being very cautious and not going far…
Not cycling! I’m too old and unfit to cycle any more.. I wish I could…
Not riding on the train! They are too expensive, and the railways seem to have been reducing services recently. If I want to travel on one it would take a lot of planning and probably a lot of money. Plus you are not going to be able to buy tickets at a ticket office, they are being cut back.
Not going by boat! We are near to a local canal, but hiring a boat for a few days can be expensive too, and I think having to go through lock gates could be very difficult. Plus I think steering a 72 foot canal barge must be difficult.
Not by bus! The services are being cut so you can’t get back in the evening. One friend had to walk 9 miles to get home last week because he missed the last bus…. Before 7pm!
I will be walking… Not going very far as in not very fit. But I guess I’m OK with that. I don’t commute and shops are close. Holidays are too expensive so my travel plans this summer? A staycation !
Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was butterfly, moth or insect. I decided to do a symmetrical drawing of a butterfly using the Sketchbook app on my phone. Basically I haven’t seen many of them so far this year. So I preferred doing my own design rather than using an Internet image to work from. It’s definitely sketchy!
We bought an old radio 30 years ago, and it still works! It’s a vaccum valve radio. It only picks up long wave signals, so I can listen to radio 4 and the shipping forecast. We have a 1960’s one too with a huge battery and a large dial to tune into different stations and a big grill on the front.
It’s amazing how these relics of a bygone era can last for decades. OK if they were on all day they might break down, but I think its marvellous. Nowadays people would gut the insides and bung in some Bluetooth speakers and headphones. But I prefer a traditional mechanism. Life needs relics to remind us of our past. It’s only around 100 years since the end of the first world war. And some people born then are still alive. Go back 20 X 100 years and you are back in bible times. We think it’s ancient, but it’s not really long ago compared with deep historic time, like the millions of years ago that the dinosaurs existed.
I feel like I’m hiding the world on my shoulders and today has been one of those days.
First a phonecall/ interview I had to deal with. Then to my friends to help her contact a utility company. Then to the pharmacy to get my hubbys medication. Finally sending emails for a friend because she’s got problems.
Why do I do it? I tie myself in knots helping people. ‘I’m just a girl that can’t say no, I’m in a terrible fix’, as the saying goes. I guess after doing a helping job over twenty years it’s ingrained. I like helping, I’m not seeking acclaim. I just don’t like seeing people struggle. But sometimes I just want a day off.
So many schools seem to concentrate on “worthwhile” subjects, Sciences, Mathematics, English. The old fashioned three R’s reading, ‘righting and ‘rithmeric…
But we need creative thought as well as producing drones that do productive work.
If you learnt technical drawing you could design cars, create architecture, produce blue prints for engineering. Yes it’s all at the press of a button now, AI does so much, but artistic ability can help with innovation and ingenuity.
Art helped our understanding of medicine, Leonardo DaVinci undertook studies of anatomy that were well before other medicine caught up. Look at his drawings of dissections to understand his fantastic knowledge.
Art is in advertising, illustration, magazines, books, clothing, wallpaper design, surface pattern, product design, ceramics. That worthless degree that our government might close down could be the next big digital game, the shape of rotor blades that save energy for planes or wind turbines. Even a more readable font for someone who is dyslexic.
So art really should be a big part of modern society. Without it there would be no fashion, no special effects for TV and film, no beautiful make up for theatre or other creative productions.
Life is not just bean counting, it’s about passion and beauty. Otherwise we might as well all be clones, in grey jumpsuits, working 9 hours a day, sleeping when we are told and not attempting to be any different than anyone else.
Mallaband-Brown 