Tall friends

We just held, a celebration of my hubbys life. He was always interested in acting and theatrical performances so when my friends offered to greet guests at the start of the celebrations on stilts and in circus costumes I had to say yes. They stood outside and looked funny and magnificent. They stayed and enjoyed the rest of the evening. A group of us sang ‘always look on the bright side of life’. A good friend read a eulogy and showed slides and video of my husband. We had almost 200 photos of him on the hall walls. People read poems for him including one specially written and ‘do not go gentle into that dark night’ we had a harmonica playing and a friend singing and playing the banjo. There was a lovely buffet laid on by the hall.

People also wrote memories of him on cards so I could take them away. The plan is to create a memory book of the celebration. I took some of my portraits of him up to the hall.

All in all it was a fantastic evening and I was very pleased with how it went. I think my hubby would have appreciated the occasion. X

21.2.2010

14 years ago and we had heavy snow. On the night of 14 February 2010. The orange sodium streetlamps cast a reddish glow across the snow. Those lamps are now changed to white LED lights. Less energy used, less atmospheric lighting. No snow!

This has been the hottest February on record. Even in the alps and other mountains in the UK and Europe the amount of snow is 47% less than in previous years. Not good for skiers and winter sports.

This was on my Facebook memories today.

Young at heart

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.

Duchovny portrait

Digital drawing I did of David Duchovny about 10 or 15 years ago (when the X files was on TV?).

It’s another one of my drawings at Sketchfu before the website closed. I had a great deal of fun drawing there and it seems so strange not to be able to draw there anymore. I loved doing portraits on the site.

Spooky lights

I saw this at tonight’s performance and it made me chuckle. The way the lights are set up looks like eyes and a mouth. The shadow above like a set of long wolf like ears! The pinkness is really dramatic.

I have always seen faces and patterns in everyday shapes. Like paintings of flowers that look like lions to me, or the spindly abstract pattern of tree branches turning into a galloping horse. It’s a phenomenon called Pareidolia.

This could also be a riotous robot, a frankenstein style monster, or a dancing ghost, see what I mean?

Digital pigeon

Artrage oils drawing from several years ago. This is the free version of the app. You only have the oil pen tools but it certainly can be used to create interesting effects. I like this a lot, I used the metallic option to give it this sheen. If you tone down the metallic effect the colours become paler and you can draw over the darker parts (where I have outlined the bird) as it seems to be more opaque and covers over the darker areas.

Hidden Coots

Blue footed, grey blue bodies, black heads with white blazes above their beaks. Not a good photo but my arm shakes too much so this was the best shot of the bunch!

The other birds which are similar have red blazes above their beaks, darker bodies, those are Moorhens. The photo was taken at Westport lake last weekend. I did think about going back today but I didn’t feel well enough on this grey, foggy, cold and drab day.

Photo from WordPress library.

Trumpet playing

Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?

I lost interest in learning the trumpet because of lock down. I had to stop because I wasn’t allowed to visit the teacher for months. Then I got involved in other things. So my trumpet is in it’s case, with papers piled on top. I wonder if I will be able to take it up again? The trouble aswell is that I can’t really afford to do it anymore. I think I am fit enough and I can manage the breathing for it, but I need to find a cheaper tutor and work out if this fits in with my current finances.

I still enjoy choir practice and music making. I will have to see what happens. I might even try and join a brass band.