Robbie Burns songs.

Posted on January 27, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Burns night, Choir, Fun, Melody, Music, Old songs, Robbie Burns, Singing, songLeave a comment

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After singing ‘Green grow the rashes o’ by the Scottish author and musician Robert Burns, we started learning a new song at choir tonight. It’s called ‘Ay waukin o’. It’s not about walking, but about waking or being awake. Not being able to think because of thinking of her dearie.

The melody is beautiful, rising and falling in sweet harmonies. Singing about lanely (lonely) night. Everyone else sleeping, and she sings ‘and bleer my eyes wi weepin’.

So beautiful. Its music I’ve never heard before, I’m pleased we are learning it.

Serendiparty Art and Craft Centre, Stoke

Posted on January 26, 2020January 26, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Art centre, Blogging, Craft centre, Design, Inspiration, Life, New, News, Paintings, Somewhere to go, StokeLeave a comment

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Apologies to Google for using their map? This is a new Art Centre with local artists work being displayed and for sale. I’m really pleased that I’ve got some of my paintings there.

Its Serendiparty Arts and Craft Centre in Campbell Place, Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent. Open 10am Wednesday to Sunday. The owner Phil, is very welcoming.

If you look for http://www.serendiparty.com you should be able to find it.

Tile

Posted on January 24, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Design, Fire surround, Mid twentieth century, Middle aged, Middle income, Pottery, TileLeave a comment

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Probably a mid 20th century tile. I don’t know but it appeals to me. It’s tidy and subtle, a nice pinkish grey. It’s the sort of thing you would find round an old fireplace in a three bedroom semi-detached house. I guess it’s the sort of thing that would have been a favourite of a middle aged, middle income family…. Now it’s retro! IMG_20200123_222756_285

Yorkshire Poster

Posted on January 22, 2020January 22, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Blue lias, Fossils, Interesting, Life, Moors, North Yorkshire moors railway, Pickering, Poster, Steam trains, Trains, Trees, Whitby, YorkshireLeave a comment

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My hubby came home today with this print of North Eastern Railways ‘the Yorkshire Moors’…. Tranquil solitude. What is interesting is its a railway poster, with no railway visible!

Yorkshire is the largest county in England. It is home of the National Railway museum in York and is crossed by the North Yorkshire moors railway which runs through wooded hills and moors from Whitby on the coast to Pickering in the heart of the moors.

All of the East coast of the county is interesting. There are towns like Scarborough there. A lot of the coast is not very stable. There are cliffs where landslides occur and parts made of mud, called blue lias which is crumbling and full of fossils. You can find Whitby jet in it which is fossilised monkey puzzle trees which is jet black.

Whitby Abbey was a setting for the Dracula story and every year they have goth and steam punk festivals there.

Wine

Posted on January 19, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged beer, Blogging, brewing, Demi-johns, Drink, Glass, Sparkling, Taste, WineLeave a comment

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I don’t drink much, but I used to make wine. My favourite was a sparkling plum wine. I didn’t know what I was doing so I used a yeast that makes lots of gas and fizz. The wine was brewed in demi-johns, then I put it into old beer bottles with ceramic and rubber stoppers. When we opened the bottles it was a deep orange red and had a real sparkle.

Sadly I couldn’t remember what yeast I had used and I never got the same result. I also found that I was allergic to the sulphur dioxide that is used to sterilise the equipment, so I would start sneezing uncontrollably.

I then went on to brewing beer for a few years. That was fun and less difficult but in the end I sold all my demi-johns.

Read through this cat!

Posted on January 19, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Cat, Cats sleeping, Curled up, Fun, Newspaper, Paper, Sleep, Tired6 Comments

Is your cat asleep on your Sunday paper? Snuggled up and warm? How can I possibly move him…. Two hours… Four hours.. Finally he went off for some food an I got the chance to read the paper.

I think cats can sleep up to 16 hours a day? well I might be wrong. Mine usually find the warmest spot and snooze. Sometimes when they are dreaming they twitch. That’s interesting to watch, whiskers and paws moving rapidly. Tail flicking. Ears moving. What interesting dreams they must have….

Cats are beautiful to paint, they are sleek and lithe. They make interesting shapes and are graceful. As you can tell I’m a fan.

Amaryllis

Posted on January 18, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Amaryllis, Beauty, Blogging, Bulb, Flowers, Life, Plant, Red petals, WateringLeave a comment

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My Amaryllis plants are coming into leaf again. They die back after flowering and being in leaf over the summer and autumn. I generally leave them to dry off for a couple of months, then start watering them again about now. The leaves emerge and then the flower spike from the large amaryllis bulb. They prefer to be tightly fitting in their pots. One of mine is about ten years old and has grown another bulb next to it. I love the large flowers, they are always brightly coloured. As you water the plants and the leaves and watch the flower spikes grow, you can almost see them expanding by the minute. If you got one at Christmas don’t throw it away when it dies back, keep it and water it next December or January, you should be lucky and get new flowers x

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Blogging