Repairing split jeans

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My old painting jeans. They are years old. When they started to split I started to sew. One patch of sewing covers another. Trying to keep up with the holes!

Mostly sewn with cotton reel thread, a few strands of embroidery silk. My stitches are no longer neat and small. My shaking arm makes it hard to hold the material while I try and stitch. The yellow is the latest cotton. I will swap to another colour soon. I just need to catch the rip below the pocket before it gets any worse. It’s really threadbare…

This is like the story of the old broom. It’s had three new stales and two new brush heads… But it’s still the old broom you always knew… X

Classical

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What is your favorite genre of music?

Stravinsky, Holst, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mozart, lots of older and more modern classical pieces. Including opera, ballet, symphonies and anthems.

I particularly like the Rites of Spring, and the Planet Suite. But almost every piece of classical music cheers me up.

But one of my difficulties is I can never remember what half of the melodies or composers are called. I will remember the music when I hear it, but ask me to name specific pieces and I struggle. Oh I know Ravel wrote the Bolero and Tchaikovsky wrote Swan Lake (I hope?), but I have a blind spot. I can remember some physics or biology, or information about art and artists, but music of any genre? I really struggle. It’s not in my head. And yet if I’m singing with the choir, I don’t remember the song until we start singing, then suddenly its there, words and tune. I must have a strange brain.

Weighed

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Plant pots on scales

In the washroom at Spode studios site. A series of plants and objects are clinging to life on the old brick windowsills. I like this in particular. The two ceramic pots just look right sitting on top of the weighing scales. The frosted glass sets it off. It’s OK in the summer but in the winter it’s freezing. The plants still survive though.

Getting better…

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His eye and face are much better now. We are still giving him antibiotics, difficult as he won’t eat them mixed in for, so we wrap him in a towel and try and open his mouth. It’s a tricky situation, but I think he knows he needs the stuff. The only thing is he won’t stay in, so it’s a case of pouncing on him and grabbing him. Does anyone have a good way of giving medicine? I might crush a bit of tablet and use his other medication syringe (to put liquid medication on his food) to give him the tablets mixed with water. We will have to see.

Fair fat and forty?

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Blurry photo from my Facebook memories

I called it “fair fat and forty”, which was actually a statement radiographers used to use for the risk having gallstones!

I must have been feeling a bit fed up when I painted it. The picture was taken off another photo so it’s a bit pixelated. I shall have to find the painting and take a better photo. I was wearing a favourite tee shirt recycle, repair, reuse. And I’m in front of books with humourous titles that I made up… I can’t read them here. I tend to do a self portrait every ten years or so. X

Washing and hanging baskets

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It’s a struggle to dry my washing in the back yard at the moment. The washing line snapped and I’ve tied it back up but it’s a bit saggy. It is also surrounded with hanging baskets which are a riot of colour and lovely scents which I hope will infuse into the drying clothes (although it’s already rained this morning!). I can’t fit a dryer in the kitchen even if I could afford one, or afford to run it. Just hoping the day stays dry now.

The dolphin one..

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Describe your most memorable vacation.

We were holidaying on the Devon Coast in summer. We came back to the campsite and saw a crowd of people on the beach and others in wet suits in the sea. We went to find out what was happening and saw a pod of dolphins swimming back out to sea. But one had stayed behind.

I looked at my friend’s and told them I was getting in! I took off my glasses and shoes and got in the sea fully clothed! I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity of swimming with a dolphin. I swam half way to the people in wetsuits so I was not much out of my depth. I was a reasonable swimmer and it was a calm and walm evening.

The dolphin was very inquisitive and kept swimming backwards and forwards between the people on the beach and out to sea. Of course that meant it had to come past me. One thing I did notice was it had a lot of cuts along it’s sides. Apparently it was well known for getting near the propellers of boats. Sadly it had been hurt by this behaviour.

The other memory I have was of the caravan step collapsing on our last night. It had rusted through because of the salt air and broke as I stepped on it. We had to move caravans and got an extra nights stay as I had hurt my foot and couldn’t drive back home until the following day.

Four years ago

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I was painting a backdrop for the final penkhull mystery play before the pandemic. It’s unlikely the plays will be continued, people get older or move on. The children who used to be involved are growing up. I don’t feel able to do anything like this any more. I can do some things but I shake too much to get delicate work like this done. At least I have memories. Willow pattern design I made up.