New paintings and regular art updates.
Marigolds in a bag, something seems to have broken the flowers off. I’ve got to get them planted but yesterday the rain fall was stupendous. Today the weather was better, but I am very tired. Tomorrow could be the day they get planted. Meanwhile, the forecast is for more rain and cold winds coming from the north. June seems to be below par for the time of year. But I’m determined to get my garden looking good instead of full of overgrown weeds!
I wasn’t driving last night so I had a small gin and lots of tonic. But when the drink came it had a sprig of rosemary in it along with the ice. It was delicious, tasty, refreshing. I had the glass topped up with more tonic water. It was very delicious.
I liked the look of the crystal cut glass so took a photo of it. I don’t take many photos of food and drink but I just liked the image. I might play around with it in photodirector.
Some leaves are falling despite copious rain. It’s mid may up here in the northern hemisphere, but spring and summer feel far away. What is happening ? Is the climate changing? Maybe it’s a slow motion version of the film the day after tomorrow. Some talk of the Gulf stream current dwindling has been mooted over the last few years. The stream pulls up warm water from the Atlantic up the west coast of Wales and Scotland then on up to the Arctic. This floats above cold water travelling underneath it in the opposite direction. But humans seem to have the ability to mess things up. I have no proof of this. I’m merely speculating. But the weather is cold and grey. I think I’ll take a vitamin D tablet.
How do you feel about cold weather?
I like cold weather as long as I can get warm when I need to. I like cold, clear, frosty days. Days when trees look like white sculptures, where hoar frosts build crystals of ice on leaves and twigs. Where spiders webs festoon hedges.
I don’t like warm wet winters, where you go out and your feet feel wet all day. Where the rain blows into your coat hood and trickles down your neck. Cats drive past and spray you with water from the gutter.
I don’t like too hot summers. I can’t cool my house down enough. I feel like I’m melting. Cold showers or an electric fan with a bottle of frozen water in front of it (not too close) are methods to keep cool.
Britain can get very cold and very hot but it rarely stays the same every day. Sometimes we have short heatwaves and cold snaps, but the weather has changed over the last few years. Those mild wet winters are confusing the plants and insects. Life is trying to keep up with man made climate change and I don’t think we are doing enough.
Last year we got some blossom on our apple tree but very few fruit. This year despite cold wet and windy weather the tree is absolutely covered in blossom.
The tree is bent over and trained against our fence so our neighbours actually have more of the tree in their garden. I’m hoping the blossom gets pollenated but again I’ve seen very few insects because of the weather. Fingers are definitely crossed on this.
My feet were soaked, my coat got soaked and hail and rain trickled down my neck! The bottom of my trousers acted like a wick and sucked up the water. I was still wearing sandals because I hurt my toes a few weeks ago and the sandals are squelching so I’ve had to get my warm slippers on. It’s not very warm so I’ll get a hot shower.
April showers? Yesterday the next door town had a mini tornado that blew a caravan over and several trees were blown over in the east Midlands. Today we even had a thunderstorm. I only went out to meet a friend, we had a walked up the steep hill to her house and then I was stuck for a while because the hail and rain was so heavy. Water was streaming down the pavements and gutters which is why my feet got so wet.
We are lucky to have rain in this country but a lot of UK farmers have been affected by the wet winter months. Crops have been affected and are not growing like they should. The plants are basically being drowned and many flood warnings have been in force.
Better weather and a high pressure system is expected over the UK in the next few days. Meanwhile I’m going to try and get warm and dry!
There’s something fascinating about the old windows at Spode Works. I took this photo this week in my friend Amy’s studio. It looks out over the back of the ceramic halls that front onto Kingsway in Stoke. The dirt and grime is from the clay dust that still covers much of the site. The buildings are freezing in winter and stay cool in the summer, I think because of the thermal mass of the solid factory.
Time is gradually eroding and changing the structure of the buildings. Buddlea bushes have colonised one of the older parts of the factory and I wonder if they will make it crumble. It will feel strange not to go there anymore.
Fish ‘n’ chips
For tea,
For me!
What a treat
So nice to eat
Warming food
To lighten my mood
Just the sort you
Add vinegar and salt to
A delicious meal
To make me feel
Purring and happy
And so is my catty!
I went with a friend to Rode Hall today to take a look at the snowdrop walk, an annual event where people can walk round and see snowdrops growing by the lake and in the woods. Sadly we are at the end of the snowdrop season so a lot of them have finished flowering. But it was good to get out.
I’ve been hiding away recently. I don’t like driving very far as my health has deteriorated. But going out with a friend made me feel safer. I hung onto her on the slippy muddy bits. I feel like I’m teetering forward all the time. My balance is off, but I managed to bend down and take a photo of the snowdrops (galanthus ?) I know Rode Hall has lots of varieties of snowdrops and snowbells?
I got home and fell asleep, I was so tired, but I’m glad I went. Spring is on its way.
Rode Hall is off the A34 Road near Scholar Green in Staffordshire.
Seeing the floor in the Spode Factory is a memory of what went before. Industry and creativity joined. Scratched and chipped, the surface is damaged. Most of it is hidden by studios on either side of a central corridor. When you go into the studios some have metal, single glazed windows that let in the cold of winter. And once the cold gets in it doesn’t seem to get warm again till March!
The building is solid concrete and brick, with arched, barrel shaped ceilings high above. I think any heat rises up there and is lost to us on the shiny, scratched floor.
But here people worked hard to create beautiful ceramics, magical pottery, a hive of hot activity that didn’t need heating because of the kilns and machinery, now long gone.
Mallaband-Brown