My tag line?

If humans had taglines, what would yours be?

Artistic Cat lover?

First I had to ask Google what a tagine was!

A tagline is a short, catchy phrase or memorable sentence that encapsulates the essence of a brand or product. It’s often used in advertising and marketing to convey the key benefits or message associated with the brand, helping to create brand awareness and recognition. Think of it as the brand’s verbal logo, simple, memorable, and impactful. 

Key features of a tagline:

  • Short and memorable: Taglines should be concise and easy to recall. 
  • Captures the brand’s essence: They should reflect the brand’s values, personality, and mission. 
  • Used consistently: Taglines are typically used across various marketing materials to maintain a cohesive brand image. 
  • Can be descriptive, imperative, provocative, or specific: They can highlight what the brand promises to deliver, encourage action, pose a question, or focus on a specific characteristic. 
  • Can be a slogan: While slogans are often temporary and tied to a specific campaign, a tagline is a more consistent, long-term representation of the brand’s identity. 

Well I’m not a commercial business. I don’t think I’d personally like a tagline. But Artistic Cat lover sort of fits the bill. Both of these things have been part of my life for almost all of my existence. I’m not promising anything, I’m not selling anything, and I hope what I’m saying makes sense. X

Three books

List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?

Youngest influence? Old Yeller. I was at Junior school and read about a boy whose dog catches rabies. It was frightening and sad and tender. I don’t remember everything about it but I learnt about American society. I think Disney might have made a film of it.

The next was the Plague Dogs, written by Richard Adams who also wrote Waterside Down. Two dogs escape from a laboratory in the Lake District, called Snitter and Rawf, it’s about their desperate journey across wild moorland to try and escape to a better life. It’s full on dark adventure. Emotional and sad.

The Third one was when I was at college. It was the handmaid’s tale by Margaret Attwood. Yes it was on bookshelves in the 1980’s. It’s story was frightening then. Now it’s almost prescient.

Yes they influenced and informed me and it’s about time I read them again.

Making art

Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.

Any type of art.

I love painting (oils, watercolour, acrylic) , drawing, digital art, printmaking, pastel and charcoal drawing. Pottery, jewellery making, creating fused glass. Collage, scenery painting, illustration, photography and more.

I’ll try and do anything once. I’ve even tried drawing with boot polish and had a go at melted wax art. (I’m quite old and don’t like getting bored). Even had a go at brass rubbing once!

Kindness

What quality do you value most in a friend?

Kindness in friendship is important. You don’t have to have money to be friends but it’s good to care. People need kindness and compassion.

When you are in a bad spot having someone be willing to give you a hug can really help. Being understanding and non judgemental is important. You can say the wrong thing but be forgiven.

Time passes and life changes, people die and kindness helps. Thinking about it I needed peoples caring and kindness so much over the last few years. Thank you to them and I hope I can give some of it back.

Freedom should be fair.

What does freedom mean to you?

Freedom should go hand in hand with equality. The right to speak out about problems in society, to try and eradicate things like torture and violence and wars. To reduce poverty and share resources and responsibilities more fairly. And also allow religious freedom as long as it doesn’t discriminate against others.

I know it’s impossible. Human behaviour makes selfishness and greed almost impossible to avoid. But we should try. Some rich people create foundations to make their wealth go to the poorest, the most needy. They show up the other wealthy millionaires and billionaires as people stifling equality and freedom.

Freedom is the ability to learn. To understand, to share knowledge. To show we are more than bluntly uncaring primates. Perhaps our anticedents with simpler lives may have been happier than modern humans can ever be. I am a naive idealistic person but I do care.

Retirement!

What is your career plan?

Playing mahjong

I’ve worked long and hard

Given work some welly

Retirement would be fine

I mean resting and learning

New things.

I’m semi retired now

But I’m below retirement age

Which keeps moving on

I would have retired four years ago

Except they changed the rules…

Ah well at least I can.

An old prompt, I chose mathematics

What’s something most people don’t understand?

I’ve been wondering what to write for this prompt, and I realise that apart from basic addition (arithmetic) people struggle with calculations and formulas.

I was dropped down into the CSE group when I did maths at school. In the end that did me a favour. The exam was like a normal lesson and I got an o level pass.

I just about understood quadratic equations but never liked having to go through the stages of the calculations. I could follow logarithms, but never did calculus. My understanding of sine, co-sine and tangents left something to be desired.

But at least I understood numbers. There is something like dyslexia that some people have, it’s called dyscalculia. As people become aware of it, it might explain why they struggle.

Voting

Do you vote in political elections?

Yes I vote, voting is important. If people abstain or spoil their ballots they leave the opportunity for a different party to be elected. In one byelection this week someone won by 6 votes, overcoming the other party’s majority of 15000 votes.

Unfortunately Reform, a right-wing Trump style party won several council seats and a MP position and a few mayoral posts.

Reform is a bit like the republicans in America, they want to set up a Doge department to cut back spending in the UK, make people pay for health insurance (we already pay national insurance to fund the NHS). Our health care is currently free at point of contact, they would take that away.

I’m obviously telling you how I feel, I don’t know how my readers will react. I feel very strongly that people should vote, it lends stability to the country. I also want to honour suffragettes who fought for a woman’s right to vote.

Friends?

Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently?

When I eventually found out a so called friend had tried to have an affair with my hubby I was shocked. My hubby told me about it because we had had an argument about the way she spoke about him ( clearly because he had rejected her).

It took a while to sink in, and we broke off the friendship after that. But the signs had been there before. She was always round our house when I was at work, ostensibly because she had commuted back on the train and called at our house on the way home for a rest (she would walk back from the station). Often I would give her a lift from our house, and we would chat. She kept saying that she was not a good person, but I reassured her. Now I think about it she was probably trying to confess about her behaviour.

When hubby died a couple of years later she rang me up and asked if we could be friends again! I don’t know if she was aware of my hubby telling me what she had tried to do. But I could not bare to say anything and just hung the phone up on her!

Stock photo

Chocolate

Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind.

It’s Easter and my sister just asked me if I have had an easter egg as a treat. I haven’t, I had a rice crispy easter cake with a couple of mini eggs on it. I’m trying to lose weight and improve my diet.

But high percentage chocolate is supposed to be good for you so I sometimes buy 85 % dark chocolate. I recently found out that it’s good for your magnesium levels. I will only eat one square a day so I don’t increase my sugar levels.

I try and buy fair trade chocolate to make sure the cocoa farmers get a fair price for their crops, but I really ought to research it more to check this is correct.