Who to invite?

If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?

I would invite all my artist friends from over the years. Plus all my family. I would go to the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. It would be fully restored (it was destroyed in a fire) and all my murals would still be there.

We would chat about the old days, and what they had been doing. Find out about where they had lived after I lost touch with them. I would lay on a good meal for them depending on what food they liked. I don’t remember what they used to eat? How could I after 40 years or more in some cases… But to know their life has gone well and hopefully they have been successful.

Who wouldn’t I invite? Famous people. I would be in awe and unable to talk. Can it be possible to meet someone who is important and speak with them at their level? I just don’t know.

Questions like this trouble my imagination. It’s wonderful to think of great people, but I would be too nervous and shy!

I’m not a doctor

Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?

I’m not a doctor, but I always think in situations you should ‘first do no harm’. That is something I try and live by. Even when I’m tempted to do something. That said I am no saint. I get angry like anyone else. But you have to try not to get to upset. I wouldn’t hurt anyone, hit anyone, although as I’ve got older I do swear at, or about people. Thankfully that can’t physically harm, although mentally it might hit home?

One of the problems, still, with social media, is the lack of nuance. What is written is in black and white… There are no grey areas unless you create them in your words. For a long time on one particular site a person was being very antagonistic towards me, everything I said seemed wrong to them. We lived in different countries with different traditions and we couldn’t seem to agree on what was the best way to cooperate… I thought I must find a way so I found an important symbol in that country and did a complicated and detailed drawing of it and offered it as an olive branch. Luckily it worked and things became much more harmonious afterwards, we even became friends.

I guess all I can say is try and be diplomatic if you can. You should still tell the truth, but in a constructive way, and try and do no harm. I think hurting someone can only come back and bite you!

Happy Valentines day

It’s Valentines day here and a friend put a card through our letterbox wishing me and my hubby a happy Valentines day. I think it’s really sweet of her. I think it’s a nice idea to share love between friends as well as couples. Why not? A token of friendship and care and love? The idea of a more inclusive world where everyone gets something from it. After all not everyone wants to be in a relationship. They are normal people, they shouldn’t be deminished because of their choice. X

Framed

I think it’s a good idea sometimes to take a different view for an image. In this case my friend sent me a photo from three years ago. I used a mirror on the wall to frame the people in the photo. He also sent me a couple of other photos I’d taken, and completely forgotten about. Those both have photos of windows where the view outside and the objects inside are framed by the window. By the way I think the mirror was framed with wooden sticks?

Five years!

Five years? Where did they go? How have I changed and what am I doing differently.

The trouble is remembering everything. It’s half a decade after all. Along the way I’ve made friends here, and also lost a few. Like ghosts they just disappeared from WordPress. People I enjoyed reading most days just stopped, but without resolution or explanation in most cases. Even the ones I found elsewhere then disappeared again off the new platforms.

The trouble is trying to keep things fresh, trying to discuss different ideas. I used to write little short stories sometimes, spooky little tales that had a twist in the tail, but I don’t know if they were any good. I’m still writing short poems some humerous, some more serious. And I try and write about my artistic endeavours, whether that’s about painting or illustration. I hope they are not too boring. It’s been a bad few months and I know I haven’t been as upbeat as I could be. We will see what comes in the future but I hope I can keep going without getting too boring or inconsistent. Thank you for following me! ❤️

Covid on the up?

My friend just told me she has covid and a few other friends have had it recently. Then someone else posted this graph on Facebook. There is a definite uptick on the right of the graph. It’s not clear how it will progress and given the lack of publication of the stats on TV anymore its not surprising that people are possibly getting a little complacent about it. Yes most people are vaccinated, but it doesn’t mean you will be totally immune. I just hope that people can get over it quickly. I for one keep buying and wearing masks.

Too many

Oh I get fed up, too many emails, I keep deleting them, but sometimes they reappear in my inbox. I have to admit I don’t know how many I actually have. I keep some from friends that I have had for years. I just don’t know if I can delete them, they are my contact with the past… What do you do? How much memory do they take up? Should I delete the lot?

Keeping in touch.

I’ve realised how out of touch I have got with some people. It’s not deliberate, but I’m one of these out of sight, out of mind people. I tend to be aware of things in the ‘now’, and the past is gone. It’s helpful because I don’t dwell on bad things from the past, but on the other hand it makes me forget to keep in touch with old friends. Can you know too many people? I don’t think so. But I can’t hold them all in my head! So my intention is to try and at least say hi once a month…. I need to remind myself to do it…..

A dear friend

I painted my cat sitting at the top of the stairs behind a flower pot several years ago. I just saw this on my Facebook memories as I no longer own the painting. She was a very loving cat and lived to at least twenty years old. (She was a stray when we took her in). She was very clever and used to ride on my shoulders when I walked round the house or the garden. I’ve painted and drawn many of my cats but she was the one I painted the most. X