Singing

Posted on June 14, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1967, Loud, Music, octave, passion, Prompt, Singing, singing lessons2 Comments

What are you passionate about?

When I was a child I would make up songs to send myself to sleep. I can remember lying under the covers and singing lullabies. I must have sung quietly as I shared bedroom with my sister!

As I got older I sang with the school choir, but my voice was untrained and would flip between higher and lower registers. I think they liked me in the school choir for the volume I could create.

As I got older I would go to parties and burst into song, usually something like “Swing Low” which has a lower tune that I could hit (I found out I’m a contralto I think). Finally I decided to try and control my voice because I went to a Christmas Carol concert and my voice was up high and down low, hitting notes an octave apart.

I started singing lessons and did the basic grade exam, I was learning once a fortnight because I couldn’t afford more frequent lessons. It was expensive and then my teacher decided to move away. Thankfully my best friend at the time had persuaded me to join a choir on the weeks I wasn’t at singing lessons. Now 20 years later I’m singing in that choir and another one, I’m confident enough to perform in public and I’ve realised how it helps my mental health. Singing relieves anxiety, it’s like art, it takes your mind off things for that brief time when you are creating musical sounds. It is a true passion of mine.

The road goes ever…

Posted on June 14, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Dark, Dorothy Clive garden, Hills, JRR Tolkien, Life, path, Road, Sunny, the Hobbit, Time, up and down2 Comments

There are some verses in the Hobbit by JRR Tolkien “The Road goes ever on”….

I wish I could remember it. I could look it up, but basically I’m too tired! The photo I took last year, at the Dorothy Clive garden reminds me of the verse, the road or path winds off into the distance. Who knows where it will lead as it rises and falls, but there is the possibility of adventure and even danger. I guess it could also indicate what happens to us in life, the ups and downs, you can’t forecast what is round the corner, it could be something nice like an old friend, or someone jumping out at you with malice. The path isn’t always sunny and bright. But we have to live it the best way we can.

Willows pattern plate (Thai food)

Posted on June 14, 2023June 14, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Food, Good food, Hill Street, Sawadee Thai taste, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, Tasty, Thai foodLeave a comment

I haven’t got the hang of social media food posting. I either take photos of the plates before I get the food or after I’ve eaten it!

We’ve just been for a birthday meal at Sawadee Thai taste in Stoke. It’s becoming a redular thing. Tonight we had starters of athai fishcakes and spare ribs, then red duck curry and jasmine rice. We used to have more food but I’m trying to be good as its all too nice but too filling! Plus I had some mango and pineapple pieces for afters. Full up and sleepy now…

Fox and cubs?

Posted on June 14, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Dorothy Clive garden, Flowers, fox and cubs, Gardening, Life, Orange, Plants, Staffordshire2 Comments

I may be wrong, but I think this plants colloquial name is Fox and Cubs? I think you get a main flower then a number of smaller flowers around it. I’ve seen it growing as a weed, with dandelion style seed heads? But I may be completely wrong and it could be a different plant entirely? If anyone knows please tell me. I think we saw these plants at the Dorothy Clive garden last year when we visited in the summer.

Cold

Posted on June 14, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Cold, Cool, Drawing, Fan, Felt pens, Quick, Sketching, Tuesdays prompt2 Comments

Cold was our #bandofsketchers Tuesday prompt.

How to keep cool in hot weather. We don’t have air conditioning so we occasionally use a fan to at least stir the air a bit. I’ve imagined one with ribbons (which would probably get tangled up). Just a quick felt pen sketch.

Spring

Posted on June 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1966, day length, Equator, Forests, Green, Growth, Jungle, Plants, Spring, TimeLeave a comment

What is your favorite season of year? Why?

When Aqualegia (grannies bonnets) and Daffodils and Tulips flower. When the winter rains and frosts abate. When insects start collecting nectar and pollen and the sun rises earlier and sets later. Spring is my favourite season.

Spring refreshes the world, a fizz of flowers shoot up and cover the ground. Leaves sprout and burst from buds, trees are clothed in green again. Not the dark green of summer leaves, but the pale lime greens of new growth.

Not everyone has seasons, towards the equator the day length stays around the same length. The growing season is continuous and forests and jungles can grow to huge sizes. Unfortunately that means that loggers and farmers destroy virgin jungles by removing the trees and replacing them with palm oil plants or growing other crops such as corn and maize. This is destructive and raises the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

So my answer is that I love Spring, it helps me keep track of time. It is enchanting and beautiful. I’m glad I live somewhere that changes, even if it is only for a short time.

Rhododendrons

Posted on June 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Forests, Gardening, Growing, invasive species, Life, plant pests, Plants, RhododendronsLeave a comment

Rhododendrons look lovely, but they can be an invasive species. They shade out smaller plants and the ground around them becomes bare. I know in some places they are removed. Rhododendrons are native to Asia but were imported by plant collectors in the Victorian era. They ‘layer’ themselves to spread, a branch can touch the ground and where it rubs against the soil it will send out roots (or layer). This also happens with other plants. Forest and parkland have to be managed to protect it from invasive species like this and others such as Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed.

Tiers

Posted on June 13, 2023June 13, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Colourful, Drawing, Felt pens, Food, Sketching, Tasty, TrifleLeave a comment

Sunday’s #bandofsketchers prompt was Tiers. Only just drew this. I made a trifle at the weekend to share with my sister who was visiting. Plus it is my birthday today, this is a low sugar version. I realised it has three tiers…

Robin Hoods Bay

Posted on June 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 8 years ago, grooves and chimneys, Holiday, Life, North Yorkshire coast, Photograph, Robin hoods Bay, View, YorkshireLeave a comment

When we stayed at Robin Hoods Bay and I came home with Shingles!

This was eight years ago, time goes so fast! We stayed in an upside down house with the lounge on the top floor so you could see the sea view. There was a very steep staircase and the hill the village is built on is very steep too. There is no parking on the main road through the village down to the sea so you have to park at the top and walk up and down to get to the house down a little side lane. I painted the view while I was there, sitting in sunshine looking out, enjoying the view…

The vote

Posted on June 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1965, Democracy, dictatorship, Important, luxury choice, People, Prompt, votes, Voting2 Comments

What’s the one luxury you can’t live without?

It’s only about a century since women were given the vote in the UK. You might query why I would choose it, but it’s so important. How can I, as a woman, have any influence on the people that rule us? By voting.

A million votes can sway big corporations to bring in holidays for their workers. Votes can decide the outcome of an environmental protest. Votes are not just used to choose politicians, but to decide on whether someone should get an important job, or if affordable housing is built or not.

Votes are democracy in action. Instead of top down politics it can change how people live from the ground up. It can support fair shares of food, water, housing, health support and other important decisions

Voting is not a perfect solution, but it has to be better than living under a dictatorship. It can reduce the oppression of men women and children. It is a luxury I would not be without and I vote at every election.