New paintings and regular art updates.
Ladybirds sleep,
Tucked in the crook of a branch.
Butterflies hang dormant,
asleep in shed roofs.
Frogs start to spawn
ignoring the cold and ice.
Plants hunker down,
below the ground.
Fish are deep in the pond,
torpid, sleepy, quiet.
Where are the bats?
Hibernating in a loft,
huddled and shivering,
waiting for warmth.
Last years temperature was 21°C
Today it is 3°C…….
Cold garden
chilled fingers,
icy wind,
frozen nose….
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.
Sneak peek of the washing machine front I’ve painted. Today was the dress rehearsal, one person had a problem as her trouser elastic snapped and they fell off as she was trying to make her entrance. I was practicing part of a song, and forgot to go on stage to sing that song. We got a lot of feedback on the mike’s. One of the helpers or cast got a parking ticket even though they were arked correctly… I still can’t remember all my lines, and in one scene the person before me completely forgot his so I didn’t know where I was! And breathe….
But on the whole we are getting it. There are lots of songs, dance, sketches, a nice story, an evil villan and lots of fun.
X
Sky to the East of us about 7. 10 am. Barometer showing fair but the old saw that red sky in the morning is a shepherd’s warning seems appropriate after all the bad weather we’ve been having. Apparently if the sky is red its because the dawn is reflecting off the underside of clouds (yes I can see that), and that means the bad weather is more likely to be overhead now or later. Red sky at night shepherd’s delight? The weather will have passed over and be moving away. I guess the point is also that it depends what direction the wind is blowing in?!
Waiting for the next storm…. It will probably start with the letter E…. How many more?
This is a local lake, but I’m using it to illustrate what has been happening this weekend as storm Dennis rages over the UK. Flooding in South Wales, Worcestershire, Yorkshire, Scotland and many other of the shires (counties). Cities, towns and countryside have all been affected. The water that fell from storm Ciara last weekend has saturated the ground and made it difficult for the water to drain. The weather has battered the mainland of Europe too.
Watching it all happen on the TV, I know its a rather small problem compared with what’s been happening in Australia with its wild fires. In East Africa where billions of locusts are affecting many countries. In South America where people are burning rain forests, in so many places on the earth where seven billion of us are causing untold damage?
The questions come, but are not always answered. I don’t know what to think. But I might have to stop writing about it. I’m depressing myself and probably everyone else….
One of the worst things I see on social media like Facebook is photos of proud people posing with dead animals they have shot. I always feel sick when I see them. Their big grins as they stick their boot on the fallen prey or hold up their trophy. I’ve seen dead lions, tigers, Elephants, giraffes, zebras…. But other animals too
Mainly in Africa, but animals hunted in other arts of the world including America. What gets me is that this is in addition to poachers that kill for tusks and hides and horns. These people, men and women seem to need to prove how macho they are, how clever and Great. When in fact they are just proving themselves to be cruel and stupid, and the thing is the more they kill, the less animals there are left in the wild. So I share the pictures, show their evil faces to the world. But if these rich, privileged people would stop to think, take cameras instead of guns. Well we wouldn’t be in this mess would we?
Buds are bursting on the bushes, leaves are slowly unfurling. Each tiny leaflet a herald of coming spring. A few crocuses and snowdrops are out. Rode Halls snowdrop walk, which is an annual event round here, is advertised on Facebook. Life moves on. The water from the storms is soaking the ground, and where there are trees and gardens the water is sucked up to swell the buds. Where there is concrete and bricks it washes down and floods out from the rivers.
The weather is on a knife edge, will it get to hot again this summer? Will we have floods or drought? Will warmth spread through the land gently or will we have fires on heaths and moors and in woods and forests. Our climate is in balance no more. It is up to us to do something to help it fall back into that balance of nature that is gentlest for the world. If we try hard I hope we can.?
Storm Dennis has been tipped as possibly more damaging than storm Ciara last weekend. We have had some strong gusts of wind, bending the Eucalyptus sapling we have growing in the garden, it’s leaves acting like sails, catching the wind, and bending it almost in half. The Leylandii in the neighbours garden has been whipping about and it’s branches seperating as the winds buffet it. Sometimes great gusts of air force themselves between the tree and the privet hedge at the bottom of our garden.
We are waiting for the heavy rain that is forecast, an Amber and Yellow warning has been set for the whole country. Even planes have been cancelled fir the passengers safety.
Britain is not a large island (or islands) but its shocking to think that storms can encompass the whole of it. Whether the heating of the atmosphere could be causing it? I don’t know, but you do have to wonder?…
Oh wish tree, oh wish tree.
What can you do for me?
Can you turn the world around?
Can you make my life more sound?
Wish tree, wish tree
Make the world more clean and free,
Give the poorest food to eat,
Take away all cruelty.
Cool the worlds excessive heat.
Make compassion mandatory.
Ask the rich to balance out
The split between them and the poor
Make them pay a small amount,
Wish tree let them pay some more,
To make reducing poverty count.
That is all I really want.
Wish tree let my wishes free,
Give a chance for you and me.
Sound or noise seems to affect me more as I get older. Most people start to lose their hearing, but I can hear a wide range of pitches. I think it’s because I’ve always shied away from noisy situations. When I was younger I went to discos and things, but if the sound reverberated through my body, or I could feel it as a deep thud, I wouldn’t stay. Same with loud guitars and amplified music.
In the same way I’ve never used a Walkman or those earbud things although I have worn headphones occasionally. But only on low volumes. I know that sound concentrated in your ears can damage your hearing. I guess people like loud music and that younger people are already damaging their ears. Sometimes when we go to theatrical performances the background music is too loud, and now if I’m listening to the radio and they play music in the background it’s sometimes too loud and distracting. I even sat in another room when a band was playing yesterday, it makes me feel nervous and agitated if I get to close, how strange….
Give me peace and quiet. Or a gentle breeze stirring the leaves on the trees. The gentle melody of birds like Robins, Nightingales or Blackbirds. Not the growl of car exhausts pushed to breaking point, Jack hammers, and thudding sounds (I can’t call it music) from cars.
Mallaband-Brown