I wanted to make Chow-mein and I had a packet of sauce. But my bean sprouts had gone soggy with having problems with my fridge. So I made something up.
I sliced some aubergine, red onion, broccoli, kale, pak-choi and red pepper and stir fried it all together. Then I added a tin of green lentils for carbs and cut up what was left of a roast chicken, mainly breast, then added the chow-mein sauce and cooked it for about fifteen minutes. I have no idea if this is the correct method but it tasted OK.
Swan from a couple of years ago, changing from plumage as a cygnet (young Swan) , I guess the brown helps camouflage it. I haven’t been out anywhere for weeks, so I have not seen many birds recently. This photo was taken on a walk round Westport Lake. More worrying is the prevalence of bird flu in the UK which was around in the summer and has been continuing over the last few months. Its frightening that so many birds and animals are being affected by disease. It says something about humans interference with nature that these things are happening. Recent studies have found that the bird flu virus survives in open water for months and that it is able to infect birds that migrate to those lakes and pools, making them ill when they arrive.
I hope this bird has had a good and healthy life. I don’t know how the disease can be prevented.
Five years? Where did they go? How have I changed and what am I doing differently.
The trouble is remembering everything. It’s half a decade after all. Along the way I’ve made friends here, and also lost a few. Like ghosts they just disappeared from WordPress. People I enjoyed reading most days just stopped, but without resolution or explanation in most cases. Even the ones I found elsewhere then disappeared again off the new platforms.
The trouble is trying to keep things fresh, trying to discuss different ideas. I used to write little short stories sometimes, spooky little tales that had a twist in the tail, but I don’t know if they were any good. I’m still writing short poems some humerous, some more serious. And I try and write about my artistic endeavours, whether that’s about painting or illustration. I hope they are not too boring. It’s been a bad few months and I know I haven’t been as upbeat as I could be. We will see what comes in the future but I hope I can keep going without getting too boring or inconsistent. Thank you for following me! ❤️
Looking back on the first half of 2022, I was struggling to finish my Illustration course. But things weren’t too bad and I was OK eventually. Then in the last six things got worse through illness and loss. So I have decided not to make an actual resolution, but I have decided to be more ‘dragon’ this year, I will try and be stronger and more thoughtful, patient and brave (but no fierce temper!). The illustration is from a drawing I did last summer.
After several hours trying to sleep with all the doors closed and with the fridge beeping endlessly and despite turning it off and on I finally managed to ring a shop at 9am. I explained the situation and asked what I could do. I was told that there should be a button somewhere on the back of the fridge to press in and disable the alarm. OK, I looked but there was no circuit board at the top back of the fridge and no button. But in the base I could see a light flashing….
I asked the man on the phone what to do because I’d disconnected the fridge from the mains. He said look for a button. I bent down and found a smoke alarm (a normal household one) just resting on a bar at the back base of the freezer compartment, partially hidden behind the motor which was hot, I pressed the button on it and it stopped! I went and got my hubby to show him and he picked the alarm up! It wasn’t even attached to the fridge freezer. It must have been placed there either by the manufacturer or by the shop we bought it from. I’d spoken to the guy who told me about a button and he explained that the compressor in the fridge freezer must be faulty, as it was getting hot trying to cool the fridge too much. Now I have a fridge that needs replacing and a dusty smoke alarm that is giving a beep every few seconds (the battery in it must be low), I’m just glad I made that call! Plus the cats can finally sleep x
That was Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt. Well I need a new fridge freezer. Mines been beeping since 2.30 this morning. We think it’s because it’s too frozen and not defrosting properly. It’s done it a few times but not for this long before. Can’t sleep as we are in a small house and it’s very loud so watching the news to drown it out a bit. My ears hurt!
It’s the MOST annoying thing! My fridge freezer has been icing up a lot lately and I’ve defrosted it a couple of times although it’s meant to do it automatically. We found out a couple of years ago it has a very noisy alarm and we ended up calling out a gas engineer because the noise was coming from near the gas boiler. But no it was the fridge. So at about 2.30am it started going off. I’ve turned it off and defrosted it. I cleared the vents at the back of the freezer which were a bit blocked. I unplugged it (but it must have a battery to keep it going). I plugged it back in because I don’t want my frozen food to spoil and the motor is still working. I checked the door seals, they are fine. So I’m left with a loud beeping (swear words) fridge freezer. In a small house, where you can’t get away from the noise, so I did a load of washing. At 3am.
Any ideas? I can’t sleep because of it. I’m watching TV news while I try and rest to take my mind off it. I may buy a new one but Monday is a Bank Holiday. I don’t think I can wait till Tuesday! Help… Plus the cats are fed up!
I started writing and drawing a gratitudes book about 140 days ago and I intend to continue in 2023. I think it helped me through some very bad and sad times, through grief and illness. Through confusion and misunderstanding. If you can just think of a few (three) small things each day, you can take something good away with the bad stuff. I even got my hubby doing it. I had to sketch images to go with the writing and that helps to clarify what I’m grateful for. I shall continue and that’s not a resolution.
Mallaband-Brown 