Tag: Friends

Esther’s prompt Home

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Esther Chiltons weekly prompt was Home.

I’ve posted this to her blog page:

Home
I hear the accent of a fellow midlander and I’m home again. There’s a twang, a sound that I recognise. I tentatively ask them if they will say where they are from. Usually I get a friendly response. Then we discuss where we come from. Either the same town or close by. Memories of town centres, historic areas, parks and zoos. So many things have changed. But hearing a friendly voice takes me back over 40 years to when I left. I can’t go back, my family has all left, homes sold. Only a couple of relatives and friends left and I can’t drive far so it’s out of the question to go. But I’d like to drive down on a nostalgic trip. Some negotiation with friends required as I couldn’t get on a train on my own I don’t think. Anxiety is not a good friend.

Caring

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

What quality do you value most in a friend?

What would I have done without the caring nature of my friends? Each time I have been down there have been caring words that have helped to bring me back up.

No one turned against me, no one ignored me. They were all there in one way or another. Life can throw bad things at you and your family and friends, so we all need to care for each other. And why not? No one should think they are superior to others. What would life be like if people didn’t care for one another? I don’t want to find out! Support and kindness are two other great qualities to value.

I dont

Posted on Posted in Cat, Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

How do you balance work and home life?

I’m in semi retirement

I’m too young to get my pension but I’m not working either. My health is not good, and I’m having various tests. So what do I do? I’m trying to keep occupied by doing creative things and trying to get some exercise. It’s weird because I’m not used to being like this, I was always strong physically and mentally but I feel diminished. Time is taking its toll on me.

Sorry, this is too serious, but the prompt is tempting me to reveal more about myself. Lots of things have happened in the last five months that have pulled me in different directions but mainly downward. I try to find a balance between not work and home, but activity and non activity. Sometimes it takes me a couple of days to feel right again. Most of the time I clamp myself tight like a barnacle inside my house, not looking for daylight. It takes me time to pluck up courage to go out. I can think about travelling, but I don’t. I think of all the things that could go wrong.

Luckily I have friends who drag me out. I can go to some places easily, but others? The anxiety is too much for me. Just going outside to pick up the milk off the gate can take me hours to decide to do it. And yet meeting friends lifts me up. My cats help too. What would I do without them.

Well that’s my situation at present….

Stall 2019?

Posted on Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

A photo of me taken by a friend when I was trying to sell small paintings at craft fairs. I’m afraid covid really knocked the head on this, I’ve only done a few small craft fairs since this and basically just one or two in 2023. The cost of hiring a stall usually cancelled out any sales money and also the cost of buying art supplies made the idea non viable. But I tried and I made some nice friends.

Mirrors removed

Posted on Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Portrait of my friend.

Today was a sad day, leaving my studio at Spode is a real wrench. I have had to gather up my belongings including paints, canvases, an easle. Even the mirrors on the walls and the nails that supported my paintings over the years I’ve been there.

How do you remove hexagonal mirrors that are glued to a wall? With a claw hammer and very carefully is the answer. Now some paintings are at a friends studio and others are here in my living room. Hopefully I will soon get sorted out.

I didn’t know you could sing like that?

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

What was the best compliment you’ve received?

I was with a friend on a training course once. We were in a hall with a piano and she decided to play. I started singing along, ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’.

Part way through another friend came in and complimented my friend for her singing, assuming that it had been her voice not mine. She pointed out it was me. He said something like, ‘oh I didn’t realise you could sing like that!’ and ‘you were very good!’. I wasn’t sure how to take it. Should singers look a certain way? But I think it was the best compliment because he judged it on my voice, not my appearance.

Young at heart

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hubby on a swing we found, at the edge of a field a couple of years ago on a country walk. Soon he was flying up to the sky! Luckily the rope didn’t give way.

When covid was going on we actually went walking more, getting away from the city and people, then when lock down ended we continued but with more friends. This was one of those occasions.

Later I stopped walking as much after badly pulling a muscle, but we were trying to get back into walking when I trapped my leg in the car door and that resulted in a wound that took months to heal. We were just getting back into walking when my hubbys health deteriorated and he passed away. The universe seems against me!

I think I need company to get back out again. I don’t like walking on my own, easier to hide.

Friends

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Who are your favorite people to be around?

So lucky to have many friends. I admit they have had to put up with a lot from me lately and I appreciate every minute they have given to me.

For the first time in 63 years I was on my own in December last year. Without those friends I don’t know if I would still have been here.

Time moves on and you lose track of people, trying to find them again hurts when they just seem to have vanished. But I have managed to track some of them down through Facebook (whatever happened to “friends reunited”?)

I hope we maintain some of those interrupted friendships. Covid didn’t help, although Zoom meetings made life a bit easier, but I’m glad not to do them anymore. X

First haircut since lock down!

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

My friend came round and gave my hair a trim today (another friend has also offered).

I was sitting in my dressing gown keeping warm, when a friend rang up. Do you want a haircut? I thought about it. Yes why not. She arrived twenty minutes later with scissors and comb. Ten minutes later and I felt lighter and neater. No fuss with washing and drying, no conditioner. I’d washed my hair already. I tried cutting my fringe (why do Americans call a fringe  bangs?) but I couldn’t really see it properly so she finished it off.

Midway through the cut another friend rang, so I rang her back and chatted about this and that. All the company tired me out, but I’m glad they got in touch. Now I’m surrounded by hungry cats. A reason to go shopping in a bit. Life, you can’t always hide.

Companions

Posted on Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

One of my cats. It’s good to have something as a companion when you find yourself on your own. The fact you have something to look after holds you together. You can’t easily give in to sadness when creatures rely on you. Life has a way of kicking your ankles and letting you know you still have responsibilities. Thankfully it’s also good to have friends to help out. They know who they are and how much support they have given me (buying catfood and shopping while I’ve had covid).

It’s going to be a long journey, but having my companion animals will help.