New paintings and regular art updates.
Argh! My cat is on tablets twice a day for heart failure. I mix the tablet with water and use a small syringe to get him to swallow it. I forgot I don’t have a lens on the right side of my glasses. So when I squirted the syringe half went in my eye! I have washed my face and doused my eye with water, then used my antibiotic eye drops… I hope I haven’t done any real harm!
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?
When I was young I cycled evrywhere with my then boyfriend, later to be my hubby. Sometimes we went on the train with our bikes then cycled on to our destinations. I was fit enough to cycle 100 miles on our tandem. I enjoyed the trips and went round the lake district and over to places like Harrogate, down to the Midlands and into Wales. We travelled in all sorts of conditions, Sun, rain, snow, ice, wind. It was interesting to see the world pass quite slowly and yet for the landscape to transform as we passed through valleys and over hills. Whipping down hills, wind in my hair. Then one day I was knocked off my bike by a drunk driver. After a short spell in hospital I started cycling again. But unknown to me the bike had been damaged. A year later it collapsed as I was cycling up a hill. The down tube had pulled away front the headset (the tube between the handlebars and the forks.) I took the bike to a cycle shop but they lost it and the replacement bike I bought was not the right size. By the time I got my old bike back I had learnt to drive. I needed a car because I had a job requiring me to work in different towns. I still had my bike but the car was convenient. If I had continued to cycle every day I think I would be fitter now.
Transport; I wish I could still cycle, but I stopped a few years ago. Driving a car didn’t help, the more I used the car the less I used the bike. That was because I had a accident that damaged my bike so it came apart while I was riding it a year later. It took a year to get it fixed and in the meantime I got the car. I used that for work and to travel further with my hubby. I did keep cycling for a few years, bur as I say I gradually lost my fitness and confidence. I still have the bike, it’s in my house. It’s a classic, I hope one day someone else can use it.
Written for Esther Chiltons prompt “Travel”,
Tripped up tonight coming in the front door. Caught my toe on the bar at the bottom of the door! Went flying but grabbed the cupboard and was holding the door handle. Wrenched my shoulder and hurt my foot but at least I didn’t land flat on my face. Must be more careful!
I am annoyed. I put this glass down by my chair this morning after drinking some fruit juice. I went out to an appointment, came home, went to walk into the kitchen and caught the glass with my foot. Of course it smashed. It had a heavy base but the ridged sides were thin and delicate. Result, glass shards everywhere. I hope I have swept them all up.
I don’t know if it’s possible to make glasses like this stronger, it was an expensive glass and I’d like to buy a replacement, but dare I? Do I have to treat it like a rare jewel?
I decided to try and kill off some mould in the bathroom and poured neat bleach onto the grouting then used a glove to spread it over the tiles.. But I must have dripped it. My trousers now have orange splashes. And I love them! What to do? I might try and get some black paint and paint over the splodges! Argh
Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.
When I passed my driving test I couldn’t afford to buy a car so my mom gave me her Austin Allegro? as she had wanted to replace it. She did say the brakes were a bit dodgy. But with the enthusiasm of a new driver I wasn’t too worried.
A couple of weeks after getting it we decided to explore the countryside where we used to cycle. The narrow lanes were tricky but I got us safely to Rudyard lake and a peaceful afternoon.
What possessed me to take a wrong turn on the way home will never be known. Possibly I thought I was taking a shorter route? But we got lost, the lanes were narrower, steep banks on either side. I came down a hill approaching a bend when suddenly another car roared round the bend coming head on for us!
All I could do was violently swing the car left toward the side, the other car got past, but the brakes didn’t stop us in time. I hit a low stone wall straight into the radiator. The car stopped. I had to find a phone (no mobiles in those days). We rang the AA who came out. The car was a write off, the engine had been knocked back six inches!
Despite the fact the car was destroyed I still think it was the best gift. And I learnt a valuable lesson. Don’t drive beyond your capabilities.
Twelve years ago, another cat we took in as a stray. He wasn’t microchipped. He was going in a local shop and climbing on their shelves, they didn’t like it so we took him in…. He used to sit in the middle of the road waiting for me to come home. Sadly he was injured by a car and had to have an operation to save his leg. He recovered but a year later he was knocked over again. I was so sad to lose him. I think he was the silliest cat I ever met. I even used to draw cartoons of him having adventures. Climbing trees, balancing on fences, stealing steaks!
We had finished tea and my hubby took the plates in to the kitchen to be washed up. He shouted through to the living room ‘are you cooking something else?’… ‘No’, ‘well you’ve left one of the gas rings on?’ I didn’t realise I had and I walked into the kitchen just as he lifted the Wok lid up off one of the gas stoves burners at the back. He’d only just turned the burner off and as he lifted the Wok lid by its plastic handle he let out an involuntary ‘ow!’ Turns out when I poured some pasta into the big pan of mixed veg and salmon I was cooking on the front hob, I must have dropped the wok lid over the back hob without switching it off. Because the gas was on low, and the lid and handle are heat resistant nothing caught fire, it just got very hot. If the pan lid had any food clinging to it, it would have caught fire, and because I can’t smell things properly we could have had a real problem. Thank goodness hubby spotted my mistake!
One minute I’m looking at various art online because I wanted to research a particulate artist. The next I’m falling asleep because of being very tired. The trouble is I was still holding my phone and my finger was poised over the keypad. Oops! The next thing I knew my finger was close to an ‘add to basket’ button. I’d almost bought a £200 painting! It was very nice, but I have several bills to pay this month….
Note to self, put the phone down if you are going to fall asleep!
Mallaband-Brown