Carrot cake with pouring cream.

Last week I went to Trentham Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent. This cake was a bit blurry but nice. The cream calmed the sweetness of the carrot cake down. We had intended to have sandwiches and salad. But when we got to the cafe it was a bit too late to get anything savoury.

It was nice to get out of the house and go for afternoon tea with my sister a few days ago. I’ve been ill for a few weeks now, I’m OK one day, then I’m shattered the next, so I really enjoyed the trip out.

Carrot cake seems to have become a British classic along with fruit scones and banana bread. Others include black forest gateau and Victoria sponge. All of them are real treats.

Does he know?

What way is he going?

Where he will end up?

On Mars or in the English channel

In Canada or the Gulf of America….

Has he got the knowledge

To lower the price of one egg?

Or is he looking for the Golden goose.

He plays with words and obfuscates.

But does he know what that means?

In the meantime the world trembles

In fear, shock and disbelief!

How did they chose him….

The ballot was real

Are they crazy

We all

Wait.

For four more years….

Getting down…

My cats and photos…

When I attempt to take a photo of my cat, nine times out of ten they move (like this picture). They are sweet cats and I’d call them photogenic, but that doesn’t mean I can get a clear image of them. They don’t like to pose!

Case in point, my cat was staring out of the window and I thought I would grab an image but no, he decided he wanted to be with me and jumped down. All I got was half his body and his quirky tail! Missed him again!

Carpet

Section of a painting I did about 1993. It’s interesting to look at how I painted the pattern on the carpet. It was actually a large rug on a terracotta and black tiled floor. This was in our old rented house which was quite delapidated. The cellar underneath this room was very wet and the mortar was rotting. It was held up by an acroprop and you could see the floor was bowing downward so we didn’t use the room much and I used it as a studio. When you changed a light bulb you needed to take insulation tape with you. The wire was cloth covered and would fall off when you changed the bulb. There’s a lot I could say about that old house, but that’s it for now. It is funny how a painting can evoke so many memories.

Canal builders

One of my murals from the Leopard Hotel in Burslem. Stoke-on-Trent. Sadly lost in a fire. Brindley, Wedgwood, and two other people involved are depicted meeting at the Leopard to plan the work. It’s been several years since I painted it and I can’t remember the other names so if anyone knows please tell me. This was emulsion paint directly onto lining paper on the wall.

I’ve just been told the other two were Erasmus Darwin and Thomas Bentley. Thanks to my friend Greg Stephens for the info.

Tents moment

I put a five man frame tent up once with my hubby. We’d borrowed it because ours was worn out. It was only when we had finished putting it up that we realised the curtains were on the outside! It took another hour to redo it. The thing was huge with complicated bedrooms to hang from the internal frame. It had taken an effort to get in the boot of the car it was so heavy.

We were on holiday for a week at Red wharf Bay in Anglesey, hubby also managed to back the car over my best saucepan, which was annoying because we only had a couple of small pots to cook in until we could buy a replacement. I think we went to the local pub down by the bay and had delicious fish and chips and a pint of beer for tea. (So there was an upside after a frustrating afternoon).

Finally in progress

I started this at art group last November and I hadn’t touched it till today’s art group. That’s about 2 months. I feel guilty that it’s taking so long but with illness and one thing and another it’s taken me this long to get going again. It’s a work in progress and I want to try and get a better feeling of three dimensions to the teapot.

I working the pattern out as I go along and I need to take into account the lighting aswell. It’s been four hours and I didn’t want to stop, but the session only lasts till 2.30pm

2025 calendar

My favourite photo

One of my photos that I got in a local calendar for this year. There was a photographic competition in the summer. People were asked to submit pictures of our local village of Penkhull for it to raise funds for the village hall.

In the end three of my pictures were chosen, that’s a quarter of the twelve monthly images! There was also a thirteenth one that was chosen for the front of the calendar. I’m so proud to have had my work included for 2025.

Storm Eowyn

Red warnings over Ireland and Scotland today for strong winds. Some gusts were over 100 miles an hour. Almost a million houses are without power over Northern Ireland and Eire, and the storm is moving across to Scotland.

Amber warnings for North Wales and the North of England. The rest has had yellow warnings.

I woke this morning to the wind blowing through the cat flaps, seeking the gaps around the kitchen window, and whistling round the door. The bare skeletons of the trees were rattling their branches together. I think the birds were hunkering down in the bushes. Next door has a scaffolding platform in their yard while they work on the roof and walls. That shivered and shuddered as strong gusts blew past it. I was worried it would blow into my yard. The cats have been out but quickly rushed back in.

People were warned not to travel and trees have been uprooted and structures damaged. There has also been flooding in costal areas. This is one of the worst storms recently, but they are getting more frequent.

But the large country to the West of us has a new president that does not believe there is a problem. He wants more oil and gas development.

He is the reason for a lot of hot air.

Wooden

Sliced wood. How do you make a veneer for furniture? Cut through a slice of wood four times, glue it onto some backing wood  like pine and add three more pieces rotated so the result is a symmetrical pattern.

This is what my grandfather, who was a carpenter, did for my mom and dad as a wedding present. He gave them two wardrobes, one large and the other smaller. He used a carcass of probably elm or beech and then used Walnut, polished and stained to a dark glossy finish. They were beautiful. As a child I used to go and look at them. The pattern and colour enthralled me.