Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was slope. I drew a cat sloping off the page, with a sloped back walking down a slope. Three digital variations…
Slope
Fruits
Oranges, pears and plums. Tasty treats. I might get some set Greek style yoghurt and have a sliced orange with my cereal in the morning.
Fruit is healthier than fruit juice because instead of giving your body a quick hit of sugar (fructose), it takes longer to absorb if you have the fibres of the fruit to digest to release the sweetness. I learnt to my cost when I was younger. I was drinking a lot of fruit smoothies every day. Very nice, but it affected my health after a couple of years of drinking them. It really is a case of everything in moderation.
We are lucky to have fresh fruit here, but not everyone can afford it. It’s cheaper to buy sweets or food with too much sugar added. A poor diet really is bad for you, but if you are poor it’s not easy to be healthy.
No mail…
Three weeks I’ve waited
Waited for my email
Email to be fixed..
Fixed, new phone
Phone number the same
Same…. No email
Email gone, lost
Lost – now connected
Connected, but no email!
For three or four weeks I waited.
The technician was ill
It’ll be fine now
He said this morning…
Now I can send,
But not receive…
Fired up my PC.
3800 emails!
NO!
Yes
Have you ever broken a bone?
I’ve broken a few bones in my life. Luckily they mended.
I don’t know if I should give personal information out about my health, and yet I have shared before. So I will talk about something that happened more than thirty years ago.
I will talk about one injury which was very painful. I slipped on the top stair of a friends house and bumped down every single step on my bottom. Instead of sympathy all my friends just laughed! I realised I had hurt myself, so went to the accident unit at the hospital., in those days you could get checked over much more quickly.
After about four hours of standing up (I couldn’t sit) the doctor diagnosed a fractured coccyx (your tail bone). He said he wouldn’t xray the area, but that it would take six to eight weeks to get better. In the meantime I needed padding to support my weight, so I bought a blow up swimming ring. It was very strange going to work and sitting on a blue ring covered in goldfish. I got some smart and silly remarks from colleagues. But eventually I was OK…
Five years ago
Five years ago I sketched out a design for a cat sculpture and my friend Charis Jones who is a brilliant blacksmith made this wonderful creation for me, by interpreting my doodle. She called it Eshers cat and it has been sitting in our garden looking smart for the last five years. It’s lovely and makes me smile every time I look at it. Now it’s a little rusty from the weather. I’m thinking of using rust resisting paint (if that’s a thing) to give it a new coat… Literally! I just love it x
Kitchen cat!
Four years ago the microwave was on the other side of the kitchen and our boy cat used to lie in the sun here. Now he’s hot a spot on the other side of the kitchen where he watches the goings on in the garden, still a happy relaxed cat. The windowsill is full of overgrown Christmas cactuses and two large metal cat doorstops. I’m happier he’s away from the washing up! Thanks for the memories Facebook!
Dorothy Clive garden today
A few miles from Stoke on Trent in the Staffordshire countryside is the Dorothy Clive garden. We went there today because I knew the rhododendrons would be in flower and also I wanted to see if I could drive that far (my arm is still shaking and very sore and it’s hard to drive). Luckily I was OK and it was a gorgeous day and a lovely place to visit. You walk up from the car park at the bottom, past the pool, up a steepish slope covered in trees and flowerbeds. There is a cafe at the top and a dry garden and quarry garden at the top (where the majority of the rhododendrons are). There is also a stag sculpture and a waterfall. From the top of the garden you can see three counties, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire. Worth a day out….
Retired
How do you balance work and home life?
Balance, what’s that?
Retired: bored or busy?
Sometimes life sucks
Other times it’s lovely.
Time passes quickly
Flowers grow, and fade
Trees shed leaves
And bud.
Stay up late
Lose the daylight
A twylight time?
Prevaricate and regret…
Loss of what’s left…
I should work more
But my mind is tied
In gossamer threads
Of nothing…
Frustrated by
My lack of
Vision and
Determination
To do more…
11 years ago
About 11 years ago I drew this self portrait. I was with a group of other people who went to a pencil drawing workshop. What strikes me the most about this is how chubby I was, it reminds me how I’ve changed.
The sketch was done using a small makeup mirror and it was impossible to see my whole face at once, but I did my best. In one section of the drawing I almost rubbed through the paper trying to remove some of the graphite. That’s why there is a dark smudge on one of the cheeks.
We were told the drawings would be used for the London Road festival in Stoke. Imagine my surprise when I was driving home one day and this was attached as a 6ft square banner on the front of an empty shop. I now have it at my studio at spode.
I forgot the arm!
How would these stay up?
I’ve made an ‘armless’ sketch of big glasses. I was just trying out some textures in my sketchbook app.
Do you know you can tell if someone is short or long sighted depending on whether their eyes look bigger (long sighted) or smaller (short sighted). That is dependent on the convex or concave nature of the lenses in their glasses.
If you are very short sighted your eyes will look smaller than if you are only mildly affected. It also depends on whether your spectacle lenses are made of glass or plastic.
If you ever watch a TV programme or film with an actor wearing glasses then look at the lenses. If the light catches them you can see if the glass is flat, then you know they don’t really need glasses!
Mallaband-Brown 