Since todays prompt is beautiful I decided to draw a beautiful view of the Ukraine. So sad about what is happening. Felt pen drawing, #bandofsketchers. I love the mist coming down over the hills obscuring the pine trees.
Beautiful
Tag: Beautiful
Dawn Chorus
Despite it being the start of January I am listening to a beautiful dawn chorus. It is either a Robin or a Blackbird. That’s because I’m struggling to sleep again. But hearing the liquid notes and swirling tunes is fascinating and lovely. I’m just sitting quietly and I can hear strong birdsong despite having double glazing. Each tune or snippet of song only lasts for a little while, then there is a short gap and the music starts again. There is no other sound out there. It’s too early for traffic or footsteps. Just a high series of tweets and whistles cascading from a small bird.
The weather forecast is for lower temperatures and snow rain and ice to return over the next few days. I shall make sure the birds in our garden have food and water. They deserve it for creating such beautiful song. I could not get a photo so excuse my drawing of the garden. Its full of trees and bushes. Now other birds are joining in. Excuse me while I listen… X
Black cat
Sweet black cat
Nervous and shy
Stepped towards us
Then ran away
Black shadow in trees
Rush away now
Fast on your paws
Down the road you go
Quick and silent
Shiny and sleek
Now you go
Home you seek.
Summer flowers
I don’t know what they are called but these blue petalled flowers with their deep pink centers cheered me up today. This was while I was on a three or four mile walk. I’ve managed to get out again on my walks and done around 9000 steps for the first two days of June. I hope I can keep it up.
Cat on a sink
She balances on the sink
Waiting for a love
Looking beautiful
What a face
How can I resist?
But she’s ready to pounce
Her brother is on the floor
Clash of the cats
Tripping me up!
The moon tonight
Two images taken with the phone on my camera tonight. I took both on the manual setting on the camera as the auto choice was over exposing it. I altered the exposure so that the sky appears darker and the moon is more defined. I didn’t know how to do it. I just clicked on the tools and messed about with it. (This was the last time I took a photo of the moon and I haven’t altered the settings since).
I also had to zoom in x 5 to get a big enough image to see the moon. Then I cropped it to enlarge it. In all of that I was expecting some camera shake but its not too bad. I leant my elbow on a large glass jar on the kitchen cupboard to try and make my image steadier and I also held my breath.
Sunset
When the sun set tonight it as like the sky was on fire. A deep purple/blue shading down to maroon, red, orange and then yellow.
I’m not sure I have quite the right colours on my phone camera, they seem slightly more intense, but that’s to do with how the eye accommodates in low light levels.
Whatever the colours the reality was spectacular. Beautiful. Colourful. Awesome. I would have liked to see the horizon but I was going into choir practice and didn’t have the time to drive over the other side of the hill.
X
Variegated
Variegated leaves
Your identity mottled,
Yellow and Pink,
Magenta and green.
Veined and speckled,
Xanthaphyl and
Chlorophyll,
Anthocyanine.
These are pigments,
Changing light to food.
Shade loving or sunlit,
Deciduous wonders,
Delightful colours.
Wisps of fantasy,
Patterned delights,
A figment of imagination
Made reality.
Cherished Chimneys
I finally got into Cherished Chimneys in Longport, Stoke-on-Trent. Its an Aladdins cave of Chimney pots. Small, short, long, tall, fluted, straight, curved. Dark, light, terracotta, superb ceramics. The shop restores chimneys for buildings where the original pots have been lost, but also sells to the public who use them as ornamental sculptures and flower pots in their gardens. It’s worth taking a look if you are ever passing.
Cat statue
What’s going on? My cat turns to stone when he sits in the bathroom. He stares out of the window. I think he sees the movement of the birds feeding out of the frosted glass.
He is fascinated by the sound of them landing on the bathroom roof. They sound like they are tap dancing across the roof.
If I wanted another stationary photo of him I would have to take photos on the bathroom. That is where he is at his quietest unless he is sleeping but then you don’t see his beautiful eyes.
X
Mallaband-Brown 