I hope I have something to say.

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Why do you blog?

I like to share my art and ideas. I’m quite eclectic, a Jack of all trades. When I was little I was always getting bored, wanting to do interesting things. I was the one who held the snake and the tarantula when they were brought into school to show us what they were like. I used to climb up ropes and hang upside down from the top bar of the swings. I was very competitive and enjoyed running, then eventually cycling. Art was my main interest, and I’ve done many paintings and murals, but I also love science. I guess I should have been a teacher as I’m enthusiastic about explaining things. I guess that’s what my blog is about. Looking into nooks and crannies, finding things out. I’m possibly not as interesting as I think I am! But I hope people enjoy it.

Buddliea but no butterflies?

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I think I’ve seen two cabbage white butterflies this year, no red admirals, no peacock butterflies, no commas, no fritillaries.

What’s done this? Could it be the weather, we had cold wet spring. Could it be insecticides? There are more being used that are affecting bees. Nicotinoids are banned in some countries, but have been allowed here I think. It’s a real worry, without insect pollenators we run the risk of not having food crops pollenated.

We really need to get our act together, now!

The Third Policeman

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Have you read the third policeman? A book by the Irish writer Flann O’Brien.

It’s very surreal, with a cash box full of some sort of power, a nameless narrator who gets involved in trying to claim the box. Other characters are embroiled in a very complicated situation. I can’t remember all the plot because it’s long and entangled. I read it 40 years ago, and I know it’s somewhere in our house, but where?

There are three policemen in a barracks that are guarding machinery that change sound into light? And something about the atoms of men migrating into their bicycles and vice versa. You get so far through the book and then realise it is repeating itself. A bit like a sci-fi story of a repeating time line.

Flann O’Brien was the pseudonym for Brian O’Nolan who wrote the book between 1939 and 1940 but it wasn’t published until the 1960’s. I wish I could explain it better, but if you want a peculiar and though provoking book maybe look it up?

Don’t ask!

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How are you feeling right now?

I just want to be well

Not feeling low

Tired and fed up

Don’t do this?

Be careful not to…

Avoid salt

Don’t eat cheese

Remember to wrap up warm

Think calm thoughts

Measure your blood pressure

Check your eyes

Don’t eat too much…..

And pray to stay alive each night!

I’m back!

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My Internet is temporarily fixed. I had a very helpful engineer round today. Turns out my cable outside my house might be damaged due to strong winds. So now I have a router that picks up WiFi and is integrated into my router attached to my landline

I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I’ve got another engineer books for next week to see if the cable needs fixing, then I should have my landline working.

I don’t know why I understand what the engineer was explaining? Maybe Osmosis after years of listening to people?

Esther Chiltons prompt Crazy.

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Wifi is back on and I am trying to catch up.

Esther Chilton has another prompt using the word crazy. I wrote about this trip with my hubby….

So many crazy things! Cycling home to my mother in laws house over the pennines springs to mind. It was after an easter camping trip. It snowed heavily as we started home over main roads. It was about 45 miles to cycle. But there was a steep hill to climb at the end. We were heading up about five miles of steep hill. Unfortunately the snow had other ideas. The road had been cleared until we got halfway up. Then we were faced with snow drifts and snowbanks. Even with our combined strength (we were on our tandem with a bike trailer carrying our gear) we realised it was crazy to go on. So a twenty mile detour back down the hill was the only solution.

The place where we stopped? A village called Turn!

Compassion?

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I just wrote this in response to someone complaining about people being on benefits. I’m trying to point out that you don’t have to look disabled to be disabled, and most people would not choose to be poor.

I gave up working to look after my hubby because of his severe PTSD and my health started to deteriorate. I tried to set up a small business but couldn’t earn enough to manage and when he died I was left with my work pension and a bit of savings. My Diabetes had never been good and two and a half years ago I started to shake. That turned out to be Parkinsons disease. For several years I’ve had to wear a mask at night because I suffer from sleep aponea. I lack strength in my arms because of a frozen shoulder and the spasms from Parkinsons in my arms and legs. Now I might have heart failure after several years of atrial fibrillation. I used to be able to cycle up to 100 miles with hubby and was quite fit.
In all that time until I gave up work to look after hubby, I was only unemployed for 6 months. I have full pension contributions.
I appreciate that there are some people that don’t want to work, but would you know about my disabilities if I hadn’t just told you? I know I’m deteriorating but I want to keep going. There are a lot of people out there with hidden disabilities.
Why do we always complain about benefit claimers when 80 men in the world have as much money as half the world’s population? That’s 4,000,000,000 people? Many of these billionaires inherited their money and avoid paying any tax? The poorest don’t chose to be poor. Imagine yourself going to a food bank once every two or three months and getting 3 or 4 days food? Or desperate people renting houses they can’t afford in poor or moldy homes. Would you choose that?
I’m sorry for this long comment. I can tell you about all the hospital visits I keep having to attend. The scans and blood tests. I try and keep going. Life is difficult. We all have our crosses to bear as they say. It’s that old thing of don’t look at the speck in someone else’s eye and not see the beam of wood in your own. It’s easy to criticise but we need more compassion.

Mid afternoon

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What’s your favorite time of day?

I can’t post a picture because my WiFi is not working. But I can describe mid afternoon. On a sunny day, a gentle breeze. A patchwork of blue sky and fluffy white clouds. There may be a scent of rain after a passing shower. Ideally I would be looking out over a valley with a small stone built village at the bottom next to a stream. In my memory I can see large oak trees, ash trees, beech and weeping willows. There are blue or purple hills in the distance.

Birds are singing. Robins, blackbirds, skylarks. Looking for food for their broods of fledglings. Sounds of running water from the stream and ducks quacking as they glide across the local pond.

The UK can be overwhelmingly green in the spring and summer. Autumn isn’t always as colourful as fall in America. But what it lacks in reds and oranges is made up for with fruit ripening on blackberry bushes, raspberries and the mushrooms snf other fungi in the hedgerows. And I love a quiet winters afternoon with white snow.

The hedgehogs will be sleeping on autumn days, waiting for cool and misty evenings. Life can be calm in these dreamy days. It’s not all wonderful but I’m thinking of an idyllic day.