Gone!

Posted on December 8, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, Flowers, Freezing, Frozen, Gardening, Jet stream, Life, North, Plants, South, WeatherLeave a comment

Minus 7.7°C in Shropshire last night, and below freezing locally. My Nasturtiums which were still in flower yesterday have collapsed in little siddy heaps. Their plant cells have all burst as the fluid inside them expanded into ice crystals. I knew it would happen, I was hoping to still have some in flower at Christmas.

The Jet Stream up in the sky has settled below England to our south and low pressure systems are pulling down cold air from the North of Britain. We are expecting freezing conditions for at least up to the weekend. By then the damage to my plants will be done. I haven’t got any garden fleece to protect the plants, I can only hope having plants close together will help some of them survive. X

Biscuit asteroid

Posted on December 7, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged asteroid, biscuit, Black and white, Bubbles, Craters, Food, Fun, Photo, SillyLeave a comment

When I turned a biscuit over it was full of bubbly holes underneath. It looked like something from outerspace! I changed it to black and white to give it a bit more of an authentic look. I could have played with it a bit more but I wasn’t sure what to do… And I wanted to eat the biscuit!

I wish I had a cats fur coat

Posted on December 7, 2022 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, Cold, fur, Sleeping, sleeping bag, Snoring, Thinking, Tuxedo cat, WarmLeave a comment

He’s snug, warm, as a bug in a rug, he gets curled up in a ball and he’s happy, he snores, puts his paw over his nose, and might be in the warmest tog sleeping bag or under a heavy duvet. Cats have a luxury coat that we humans don’t. We still have hairs and hair follicles, but as we wear clothes we don’t need a fur pelt. I wonder what came first, clothes or bald patches?

Cats still find warm places to sleep though. Usually on our bed. When it gets really cold they sneak under the duvet and snuggle up. They make a fair hot water bottle. The best thing is how they can sense your mood, sometimes they seem to be mind readers!

rehearsal

Posted on December 7, 2022December 7, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Chilly, Cold, Freezing, Learning lines, performing, rehersal, scriptLeave a comment

It’s cold but we went out to another rehearsal of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (which spell checker changed to sickens!) tonight, we are rehearsing at a bar, hence the single gin and tonic. Hubby has got a splendid dressing gown that’s been borrowed from a local amateur dramatics group. He was wearing that and a deerstalker tonight! He has the part of Christmas Present and needs to learn his lines although he may get a scroll to read some of them from. I however need to learn my lines!

It was freezing when we set out and even chillier when we got back to the car. Hubby tried to put his script on the back seat and the door was frozen shut! We both tried opening it but the lock only unfroze when we get home. We bought a pizza on the way back to save gas on cooking (no doubt if I compared prices it would have been cheaper to cook but I was tired). Anyway that was our evening…

Snow coming?

Posted on December 7, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chilly, Cold, Freezing, Frost, Icy, Illness, Poem, Poetry, snow showers, Weather6 Comments

Snow showers in the North

Will the winter spring forth?

Chilling beasts bones

Ice hardened like stones

Frost and fog lingering cold

Into cracked pavements old

People coughing and spluttering

Runny noses now sniffing.

Sleet and snow are coming near

But only in coastal areas, not here

We will get mist and ice instead..

Well that’s what the weather man said…

Window open

Posted on December 7, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Atmosphere, central heating system, cost of living, forgetful, Heating, Hubby, Oops, Temperature, WaterLeave a comment

Brrrr. I’m sitting feeling quite cold. Our central heating system is due to be serviced but even though its a very cold day I was expecting a bit more warmth… Its been a sunny day so it helped warm up the house…. But then hubby just said ‘I’d better shut the bedroom window!’ Wait? WHAT?

He had opened it about six hours ago because it was too hot up there. So I’ve had the central heating on full blast and we have effectively been heating the whole atmosphere!!! I asked him, again, not to do this, but he’s forgetful and he likes fresh air. Tempted to shut all the heating off….. Then he said I’d better turn the hose off… Ape that’s been on for four or five hours. No doubt there are icebergs in the garden now! Grrr and Brrrr

He bought me… The Moon

Posted on December 7, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Gift, Hubby, kind, Light, Moon, Moonlight, nightlight, Present, Sleeping, thoughtfulLeave a comment

My hubby bought me the Moon yesterday. He knows I love astronomy. It’s a light that is domed so it looks like one side of the moon. It has a remote control and goes through phases as you press one of the buttons or scrolls through them if you press the other button, slowly waxing and waning as you watch it. It’s not astronomically accurate, just a rough surface with vague craters and marès painted on it. It’s only a nightlight, I put it in the bedroom and tried to read by it but it’s just too dim. But good for getting up in the middle of the night because it’s not too bright so it won’t wake my hubby up. X

Planning meeting

Posted on December 6, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 4.30pm, Eleanora street, Meeting, planning application, Potbank Hotel, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Spode factory site is being considered for development by a company called Nimrod. There is a public meeting about it at the Potbank Hotel this Thursday at 4.30pm. If you live in Stoke and want to have your say please consider coming along.

Note the image is not mine.

Defence

Posted on December 6, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Chess, defence, Drawing, Felt pens, Prompt, SketchingLeave a comment

I can’t spell Sicilian…. Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was defence. I didn’t want to draw an army or war image, so I looked at chess. I don’t know how the Sicilian defence works but it seemed like a good idea. Just a felt pen drawing.

Cats, I love them

Posted on December 5, 2022 Posted in Cat, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Black cat, Cat, Grey Cat, Love, Owned, Pets, Tabby, Tortoiseshell cat, Tuxedo cat, white catLeave a comment

I am a cat person, I love them, they are graceful, independent, also beautiful. They can be extremely sweet but also very sneaky. They will get their own way if they can. They will sit and stare at you, waiting for you to relent. Waiting to be petted or fed. They can pin you down by sitting on you or your bed, so you dare not move! Sometimes they can be trained, mine come when I whistle, which is good because I think the sound of a whistle goes further than a voice can. I’ve had cats all of my adult life, or should I say, they’ve owned me!