Halfway round the sun

6 months ago the leaves

Held onto the trees

Fluttered in the breeze

Warm and gentle

Only slightly crisped

By cold winds and frosts

Halfway round the sun

The light slowly faded

Cold winds decended

Now the grey gloom remains

The sun visited us today

For half an hour

But still…….

Halfway round the sun

Spring is coming….

Bureaucracy

11 letter word,

Bureaucracy (/bjʊəˈrɒkrəsi/; bure-OK-rə-see) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants, non-elected officials. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected officials.

What that doesn’t say is that it can be a nightmare! I sent in a letter to the government in January which was confirmed as the letter was tracked. I didn’t hear anything back so I rang them today only to find out I should have registered my query over the phone when I sent in the letter. There was nothing about that on the form. I asked why and the man at the other end said he didn’t know why, but that it is a problem! Thank goodness I rang up and registered today, only THREE WEEKS LATE. Argh!

Helicopter overhead

Stock photo

Something was happening. The whirring sound of a helicopter grew closer, then it was overhead, I was inside my house and didn’t know exactly where it was but it was very loud! Then three police cars, sirens blaring, drove up the street.

I decided not to go out and look, as I didn’t know if it was some sort of car chase and my front door opens directly onto the pavement and street. I’d just watched the news about speeding cars and I didn’t want to see a crash.

The Helicopter was circling overhead, but with a phone flat battery I couldn’t take a photo (usually helicopters here are transporting supplies or patients to the local hospital). The helicopter got very close and very loud which was a bit frightening. More police cars shot up the hill, what was going on? After about a quarter of an hour things calmed down. I used the excuse of going out to pick up my milk off the garden gate at the side of the house to see what was happening. What I saw about 50 to 100 yards up the hill were some police cars, blue lights flashing, on the street and more inside the yard of the local pottery factory. Something has clearly happened there. I guess I will have to wait for this afternoons or evenings news.

One law?

If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?

The scales of justice weigh heavy, there are so many laws or orders I would repeal, but I would need to be convinced that any of them improved the lives of millions or even billions.

My influences are stories like Robin Hood, mythologies and historical tales where support is given to all, for instance the tale of the good Samaritan and the healing by Jesus, and St Francis’ care for the animal kingdom.

I’ve been told by people I’m too naive, too forgiving, too caring. But I don’t care, for the world to continue as it is, is too cruel and damaging. Somewhere there must be a kernel of decency.

The world is tilting to a right wing view. People are the victims. The world is too chaotic, and somehow we need to find a balance between human needs and environmental issues. Maybe instead of letting the richest people take over let’s gently tax them and make them pay? A small contribution from their gleaming gold would help so many.

So my one law is “Tax the Richest”.

Pottery fun

Hope this will be a feature for my garden. Just made today, a planting pocket at a BCB workshop in stoke. Really enjoyed it. Now waiting for firing. The blue and orange are slip colours, there’s a little cat scratched into the left bottom corner. The black and white patch is newspaper holding the planting pocket open until the clay is hardened. I used leaves impressed in the surface for the design but the wet slip obliterated a lot of the details so then I scratched them back into the surface.

Pine tree

From a painting I did of the Chinese willow pattern I did a few years ago. Based on a couple of Spode platters. It took a long time to paint the details. It’s an acrylic on canvas. This is only part of it, concentrating on a temple and pine tree. (I think). I’m sorry it’s so dark, it was copied off my screen saver background and it’s really far too dark. But anyway, I just wanted to post a random piece of my art. I’ll have to try and lighten it.

What do you see?

Today at choir someone had spilt water on the floor. Like a Rorschach test, looking at ink blots, I saw the figure of a fairy swinging. Both legs bent at the knee, wearing pointed toe boots, sitting forward on a swing, butterfly wings behind and a little pixie hat on her head. If I can I will try and draw on top of the image to see how much more I can make it look like a fairy. This is an example of Pareidolia, where the mind sees images from random patterns.

Walsall memory

I just saw this image on FB and I suddenly realised I recognised it (I think), so I wrote this about it as people were saying it was in Stoke on Trent I disagree and think it’s a place called Chasewater :

I’m from Walsall originally and I think at the bottom of the hill was a crossroads called 5 ways? There was a cycle shop half way along as you went from the Walsall end towards Cannock. (over the chase, towards the Katym memorial) We called in there in the 80s and bought a five speed sturmey archer gear which eventually was sold to a cycle collective in York…. Memories..

Apparently taken in 1966, not sure who the photographer was.