New paintings and regular art updates.
I hate getting colds, but it’s that time of year….
So my sister visited and showed me a website that does something similar to the adult colouring books you can buy these days.
Now I think I’m addicted! It’s certainly taking my mind off the cough I’ve developed. It does mean I’ve wasted a lot of time doing nothing. But I need a rest. I’m hoping whatever it is, it doesn’t develop into anything worse. In the meantime, back to colouring.
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In months my garden
will be aflower,
floral fancies,
blooming anew.
But sadly now
the sight is of grey hue.
Cold sprigs of twigs
leaden coloured,
deadened stems.
Give them some sun,
some warmth
some food?
Then they will improve their mood.
I wait and cry
with many a sigh,
Looking around
For colour on the ground.
Daffodils and Tulips
Crocus and Snowdrops.
Then Bluebells and Violets,
will stir the air,
colours will flare!
Brighten the world,
set bees abuzz,
and waken my love,
of nature.
I thought it was cold. Now it’s snowing! It hasn’t snowed in months. Since last year… Cars coming down the hill with hazard warning lights on. Luckily not slipping or sliding. The flakes are huge fluffy things. In an hour two inches have fallen. And the silence, the quiet that you get when snow falls. It muffled everything. Makes the world seem less busy. Now I’m going to put the heating on… For a bit…..
Oh its a bit cold today. There is sleet falling and its very grey overhead. I’m sitting shivering a bit, I have to pay my fuel bills soon and I’m trying to minimise how much I use. So the heating is on a timer and I’m wearing a cardigan to keep warm. The temperature inside is about 17°C (outside its about 5°C). But it’s been another mild winter. It’s only been frosty a few times and we’ve had no lying snow. I’ve got things to do so I can leave the heating off till later. When I was younger I wasn’t bothered by the cold. I lived in house with no central heating, and we just had single glazing. So I’m a lot better off than I used to be.
I do think about the majority of the people on the planet who are not as lucky as me. It’s a sad situation where a few billionaires can have as much money as half the earth’s population. In the meantime my hubby just turned a light on, but left one on in the kitchen…. Bah humbug!
Ooh its cold in here?
Have you opened the window?
Again?
Well I wanted fresh air!
So go outside!
You are heating up the atmosphere…
It’s minus 5 out there..
That’s why you’re wearing your coat in the house?
And the heating is on full…
And the extra heaters are on…
Are you mad?
Is it any wonder I get annoyed?
The other reason why I drew a slug.
I had fetched a takeaway meal from our local Chinese restaurant last night but had to go out for an hour before coming home to eat it with my hubby.
An hour turned into two (as it does), so I came home hungry and ready to eat.
I said hello, and my hubby complained he had lost a bottle of beer. He could remember drinking one but could not find the other bottle. But he proudly said he had made a loaf (he likes making bread). We went in the kitchen and he showed me the bread he has made. So where’s the takeaway I asked, looking in the fridge which was empty. Oh I put that outside to cool down, he said!? What?
He went out and bought the bag in, together with the beer bottle which he had taken out too.
Both had slugs on them!
I’m sorry to say it went in the bin. The little trays the food was in were covered with hungry slugs. The beer was empty, not because he had drunk it, but because he had put some in the bread. I was not a happy person.
Next time I’ve told him to use the fridge!
Thinking about how much life has changed since I cooked toast on our gas fire.
In the 1970’s we had electric central heating installed downstairs in our house. This was installed by our council. But my mom would not have it on because of the cost. We used to sleep with our outdoor coats on top of our sheets, blankets and eiderdowns to keep warm. In the winter there was always frost on the inside of the bedroom window. Sometimes really thick ice.
Now my home has double glazing (single at my mom’s house till the 1980’s). Central heating. The water is usually hot, where we were only allowed to put the heater on for an hour at night at my old home.
Also computers were just coming in and calculators were introduced when I was a teenager. Now they are everywhere. “go online” is the mantra.
Electric cars? Maybe imagined in the 1960’s to be everywhere by the turn of the century, and people really thought there woukd be flying cars.
Bad stuff now… Too much plastic… Too much pollution. But there were shop wrecks like the Torrie canyon and the Exxon Valdiz that poured millions of gallons of oil into the sea and destroyed sea bird colonies.
What else? Our phone, when we got it was a big green one, with a hand held ear and mouthpiece attached to the phone body by a curly wire. The phone itself had a dial with holes lined up with numbers on it. To dial a number you put your finger in a hole then pulled it round the dial until you got to a stop then the dial turned the other way and you dialled the next number… Now, well we have mobile phones, hand held computers like in star trek.
Other things, better medication, more cures for cancer, more treatments, more, older people.
The thing is, the more we have, the more we want…. Catch 22….
There is plenty to see on a short walk in the area around the Etruria Industrial museum at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent.
There was a very cold wind blowing along the canal towpath so we only had a short walk. We took a look at the cygnets on the canal, they were on their own so presumably their parents have left them now. I wish we had taken some duck food with us. There were plenty of other birds about including ducks and geese, a rook or crow and magpies.
Some of the industrial buildings in the area are more visible now the leaves are off the trees. One of these is the tall chimney that is on the industrial estate behind Jessie Shirley’s flint and bone mill, which is attached to the Etruria Industrial museum.
One of the boats on the canal had smoke rising from its chimney, which made me think of hot tea and toast. We soon got back to our car, and put the car heater on to warm up. Brrr
It’s good to look back at old drawings as the days grow colder and shorter. Remembering warmth and colour, the view from the cafe there, then a gentle walk round the lake. Watching the place mature over the years, the trees have grown up so tall. Now Staffordshire wildlife have taken over running the site there has been a programme instigated to improve the area and make it more wildlife friendly. I saw four cormorants perched on a man made island there a couple of months ago. I thought these birds were costal, but maybe they are coming inland like gulls.
Must visit again in the near future, maybe if it snows…. Then I can re draw this scene…
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Finished and varnished! Well after being struck down by a severe head cold all week it was touch and go if I could get this done. But I was doing the lower part of it, so only had to climb up at the end for a few minutes to varnish the painted bits at the top. I now feel like c**p to be honest. But I’d promised to get it done (a bit like Boris) (grr) (people in Britain will know what I’m on about)…… The people I did it for are really pleased.
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Mallaband-Brown