Giant metal frog

Posted on March 8, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Copper, Creative writing, Frog, Fun, Metal, Sci fi, Short story, Very short storyLeave a comment

Am I on Earth or an alien planet? I thought. I was walking around the lake, the ground was wet. In the distance I could see a metal spike rising up from the ground, with something sticking out, attached to it.

I got closer, the thing was clearly metallic, greenish copper coloured.

It was a sculpture of a frog, feet wrapped around the spike. It seemed to be looking at me? How? Its metal isn’t it?

Then it moved! One arm came up, it rubbed its eye in that odd way frogs do. It opened its mouth. .. The last thing I remember was its tongue flashing out, catching me round the neck. . The world faded.

Fishy

Posted on March 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Fish, Fun, Humour, Micro poetry, Poem, Poetry, Spotty, StripesLeave a comment

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Who you looking at?

Bluob blubble

My spotty fins are nicer than yours.

My stripes are neater

My mouth is bigger,

I’m a serious

Fish!

Reflected

Posted on March 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Fun, Humour, Lake, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trentham, Trentham Gardens, Wire fairies, Wire fairyLeave a comment

Caught on camera, this fairie metallic us, seen flitting over the lake at Trentham Gardens. Like a dragonfly. Was she catching gnats for supper or taking a drink of water from the lake.

Fairies rarely stay still long enough to be photographed. Their magic powers mean that they can hide from view. I only caught this image by dodging out from between the trees and having my camera on zoom. That is why it suffers from camera shake.

Lol actually there are lots of wire weave fairies at Trentham but I just tried to write a small fiction about this one.

Cycling home

Posted on March 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Age, Cycling, Fun, Humour, Lake district, Life, Scotland, Short story, Silly story, Very short story2 Comments

“I used to be fit.” The old timer said as he looked down sadly at his old bike. “I could ride up to the lake district, round Windermere and back home in a day. Now look at me, my knees are wrecked, my back aches and my balance makes me wobble all over the place.”

“You need to keep cycling though, I said, I know it’s tough, but if you stop now you will probably stop for good.”

“I’ll ride to Scotland and back he said, no doubt it will take some time.”

“But you don’t know the way. Why not try cycling on canal towpaths?” I suggested.

That was two weeks ago. I haven’t seen him since. Though I did get a post card from John o’Groats saying “in Scotland, can’t find the canal!”

Tonight’s sketches.

Posted on March 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beehive pub, Drawing, Fun, Honeywall, Life, Portraits, Sketching, Staffordshire, Still life, Stoke-on trent, Urban sketching1 Comment

These are the best of the bunch of sketches I did at the Beehive pub in Honeywall tonight. Some of the others were not too bad, but when you are trying to draw moving people it is difficult to get enough information down rapidly enough. That was what happened with the other ones – I was not speedy enough.

One image I do want to get is my friend Kate playing the trombone. It’s a wonderful sound in a small pub. I’m also in love with the gleam and reflections on it. Next month I will try and get closer and do a better drawing if I can.

These drawings were done in a Seawhite of Brighton Plein Air Sketchbook size A5 with watercolour paper. Using a Bic grip roller black roller ball pen.

Cats play

Posted on March 5, 2019March 5, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cats, Fun, Play, Pounce, WaterLeave a comment

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Our female cat loves playing in the bath, chasing drips or drinking water out of the tap. She can be really silly and pounce on anything, including my feet! She doesn’t seem to mind if water drips on her head.

Both my cats love chasing each other. I’ve seen them hiding down behind a shoe then a swift pounce and they are off chasing. They also stand on their back legs and sort of box with each other. Sometimes they start washing each other then one decides it’s all too much and it results in a squabble.

But I would not be without them. I’m sure my blood pressure has improved since we got them.

Inner child

Posted on March 4, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Childhood, Fun, Games, Kerplunk, Ludo, Marbles, Mousetrap, Snakes and ladders2 Comments

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I remember playing snakes and ladders as a child. The snakes wound round the ladders and if you landed on a snakes head you slithered down and were dumped down to the lower end of the board. It could get very frustrating if it kept happening. Sometimes you got really lucky and climbed a really long ladder.

Can you remember kerplunk? That was a game where you stuck sticks in a plastic tube and filled the it up with marbles. Then you took turns to pull out the sticks and you lost if the marbles fell. We didn’t have that game but one of my friends did and we always asked to play it

One of the most marvellous games was called mousetrap. You built up a complicated marble run out of lots of plastic pieces At the end was a trap to catch your mouse which was a sort of cage that dropped down to catch it. I only saw it once at a friend’s house and I cannot remember how the game worked. Another one was Ludo. Both my partner and myself have vague ideas of how that worked….

My inner child is in there looking out, wishing she could go back to a simpler life when the world was full of learning new things then coming home and playing games. I guess second best is at least being able to remember.

Maybe I will find a second childhood where I can enjoy these games again.

Sweets

Posted on March 3, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Creative writing, Eat, Fun, Humour, Short story, Silly, Sweets, Very short storyLeave a comment

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I just chose a random photo from last year and I’m going to use it to base a very short story on.

Sandra was looking for a gift for her friend. Something simple to add to a birthday card and a bottle of wine.

Ornate wooden corkscrews, crocheted scarves, silver jewellery, pots of chutney. There was lots on offer. Then she saw a sign which simply said sweets. The woman standing behind the stall had clearly decided to dress in harmony with her confections. A multi coloured tee shirt with a rainbow silk scarf round her neck. The woman’s hair was striped green and red. On her head was a straw hat painted with stencils of flowers.

She looked at the stand of sweets.. Blue hornet gobstoppers, orange nectar jems, cherry and liquorice twists. Burnt toffee with walnuts, pear and apple drops. Marshmallow wrapped in rice paper. They looked delicious.

Try one? Asked the stall holder.. She chose a caramel fizz bomb. Just hold onto the handle, said the woman and Sandra saw one attached to the top of the stall. She grasped the metal handle.

Suddenly a tingle went from her mouth to her brain, her arm went rigid and a heavy weight seemed to descend on her shoulders. Then her head cleared, she could smell lilac scent. Her ears started to foam! After that the fizz bomb gradually eased to a sweet caramel gently tickling her tongue.

I’ll have some of that she said, thinking of how her friend would react!

Can I sharpen my claws

Posted on March 3, 2019 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Cat, Claws, Fun, Humour, Play, Poem, Poetry, Rhyme, Wash, WhiskersLeave a comment

Can I sharpen my claws?

Is it OK to scratch?

You don’t mind my paws

Do you?

Can I sit on the fridge

Watch you take the milk out

Is that cheese you are eating

Can I have just a bit?

Can I lick your face clean?

Are you loving my nose?

I am ready to preen

My whiskers and toes.

Do you think I am fat?

Do you love my long tail?

Can I sit on your hat?

After all I’m all cat. ..

Addicted to blogging!

Posted on March 2, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Fun, Life, Photos, Science, Stories4 Comments

I started blogging in January 2018. I’d never really written before. I’d done things in a little newsletter years ago and I’d tried to write a children’s book which I called the swimming dragon about a dragon wanting to get back to its family in South America. But I’ve never had that published and I spent hours over it. I even painted illustrations But it never went anywhere because I was too nervous. It’s stuck on a floppy disc and on my old computer somewhere .

So I wasn’t expecting to get into this. It’s been a revelation to me. I know I’m only skimming the surface of blogging but I find myself more and more involved, to the detriment sometimes of painting which is what I intended this blog to be about.

I find myself enjoying writing short stories, sometimes with a little twist in the tale. Other times trying to write poems. I think about science and other subjects. I have stopped watching as much TV. I go out more so I can post photos of places. Most disturbing is that I no longer look at Facebook and Instagram as much.

Life is interesting, whether or not I shall continue at this pace I don’t know. But I’m enjoying things at the moment.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Fun