Vaccum repaired

Posted on December 19, 2025 Posted in Uncategorized, Cat, MemoriesTagged Cats, Life, Dust, Friend, Rust, Repair, YouTube, Videos, Vacuum cleaner, hoover bagLeave a comment

Oh my goodness! My vaccum cleaner stopped working/ wouldn’t switch on and I guessed it was full of dust, so I put in a new bag, but it still wouldn’t work. So my good friend L said she would try and fix it, she’s good at that kind of thing.

She looked at several YouTube videos and found out how to take the top cover off. Then you had to unscrew another cover to get to the switch….

The problem was the cover was held in place by Allen key. Hers would not fit. So she looked at more videos. Turned out you could gently prise the switch out of its hole to get under it. Dust and debris of rust was discovered. She was very good and brave because my cats have used the machine as A perch for years! I’m embarrassed to reveal how bad it was.

Anyway she gently cleaned it out and put it back together. Lo and behold it works!

So happy, doesn’t make up for the car but it’s saved me paying out a lot to repair it. X

Now I’ve asked if she can fix my kettle!?

Sketch of a greyhound ornament

Posted on December 3, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 1930's?, Anne Potts, Art deco, Dog, Drawing, Friend, Greyhound, Life, Sketch, unique, writing group2 Comments

My friend brought this to our writing group today. She had written a story about it because she has loved it all her life and has shown it to some antiques experts. I asked if I could draw it.

She called it “The little runner”. I sketched it today. It’s of a running greyhound. It’s a studio pottery piece by Anne Potts, an Art Deco ornament she made aged 16 in the 1930’s. Totally unique. She went on to be a famous potter from Stoke-on-Trent.

First drawing…

Posted on October 15, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged 20 minute sketch, Art, cataracts, Drawing, Fine Art, first drawing, Friend, Pencil, Portrait, Sketching1 Comment

My first drawing after my cateract operation. It was just a quick sketch, a drawing of a friend. I was really scared I wouldn’t be able to sketch, but there I was shading in with a pencil. I had forgotten the pleasure I get from being creative. Now I need to keep doing more!

My cat

Posted on July 25, 2025 Posted in Cat, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Bed, Black and white cat, Cat, Friend, Life, Photo, Poem, Poetry, Queen, Sleeping, Tuxedo cat3 Comments

She’s regal

A true queen.

Jumps across me at bedtime

She has made her own space.

Black and white

Cute and small.

Friend.

Sold!

Posted on May 31, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Bird, Colour, Fine Art, Friend, Kingfisher, Old painting5 Comments

Kingfisher painting that was up for sale at Etruria Industrial museum today. Please to say a friend bought it. What a nice surprise and I know it’s going to a good home. Kingfisher feathers look blue but are actually brown. It’s the irridecence of their feathers that makes the colour glow.

Pud

Posted on May 25, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged afters, Chocolate, Dessert, Food, Friend, Green, keylime pie, pud, sundae, Tasty, zesty2 Comments

My friend had keylime pie for afters this evening. It looks delicious and she let me taste it. Very zesty and tasty. I had a slightly uninspired chocolate and vanilla ice cream sundae for my pud. Naughty but nice is the expression I would use. I’m going to have to stop eating ice creams but this hot weather we’ve been having has tempted me. By the way the colour is too yellow in this photo, it was almost fluo green! Or that might be my eyes?

Can you see the wire cat?

Posted on March 30, 2025 Posted in Cat, Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cay, Fine Art, Friend, Life, Model, Ornaments, Sculpture, Windowsill, wire catLeave a comment

It’s a wire cat my friend made, she’s done fairys and birds and squirrels. But now she’s gone onto making cats. I really like this, it’s about 12 inches tall and 9 inches wide. I’ve got it on my windowsill along with a collection of ornaments and a couple of plants (which I keep forgetting to water). I think its well modelled and quite cute. She certainly put a lot of work into it.

Out to lunch

Posted on December 29, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Canal, Countrysiide, drive, enjoyable, Friend, lift, Lunch, Pub, Towpath, Trent and mersey, Visit3 Comments

My friend took me out this afternoon for lunch. We went to a pub called the Star at Stone and had a pleasant lunch. It’s on the Trent and Mersey canal and sits next to the towpath so it’s reachable from the water as well as the road. The decor is quite rustic and a nice mash up of old chairs and oak tables.

On the way home we drove home through the countryside on a road that parallels the main road but is more twisty and interesting. The sun was low and shining on the sides of buildings giving them a beautiful glow. A definite pick me up after days of grey mist.

Scroogy

Posted on December 8, 2024 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A Christmas Carol, Alone, Annoying, Broken, Charles Dickens, Film, Friend, Frustrating, Grumpy, Life, miser, Scrooge, Tired, visitor2 Comments

A friend just came round to see how I was. I’d just finished watching the George C Scott version of a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, so I was happy to ask her in. She’s a lovely person but a bit excitable and overwhelming.

Anyway she started tidying up the kitchen and put some things in the recycling bin. I heard her moving things and came in to find she was mixing up the types of waste. Not only that she had put my refillable olive oil bottle in the bin. I had to ask her to stop and pulled it back out again. Then she went in the bathroom and managed to break a bit off the tap, (it just needed screwing back in place).

I know how my stuff works and she could have asked instead of coming in like a bull in a China shop. I appreciated her concern for me but please let me do things my own way.

By the time we had chatted for half an hour I was feeling fraught. Thats why I feel a bit grumpy/scroogy. I’ve got used to my own company, I like doing things my own way and I was getting frustrated by her trying to take over. She’s gone now and so has my almost Migraine. It’s left me feeling like a bad host!

Claws

Posted on May 31, 2024 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Cat, Claws, Friend, Lap, leggings, Legs, Life, Ouch, Pain, puncture wound, Sharp, TimeLeave a comment

Ouch! Kneading my leg, pulling holes in my leggings. I know you love me but that hurt! Sharp claws might be a good hunting tool for cats, but my flesh is punctured! I love you dearly, but sometimes you dig in too hard. Please get off my lap. I’m off to get a drink and a few painkillers!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Friend