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.

The dancing dino

Posted on March 2, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Act, Cabaret, Dance, Dinosaur, Entertainment, Flash-dance, Fun, Music, Sideshow, TyrannosaurusLeave a comment

This is my friend last night. She was part of Cunning stunts cabaret show. She was dancing to flash-dance in a Tyrannosaurus suit. It was sooo funny.

I’m glad we went. She is part of a father/ daughter act who do a circus and sideshow act. They do everything from knife throwing, fire breathing, lying on beds of nails and all those traditional acts, but they do them with a modern twist. Last night they did a mashup of cult movies with sideshow skills.

They have been all over the world with the show and very rarely come home to put a show on here. There evening included lots of little sketches, exotic dances and music from Pig man and his rubber band singing Jazz.

For the final section you have to imagine an orange Dino gyrating and pole dancing to one of the flash dance tunes, bending over backwards, twisting and turning, mad! It brought the house down. Imagine Godzilla at a disco!

Fractal

Posted on March 2, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blog, Blogging, Chaos theory, Computer, Fractal, Fun, Golden section, Internet, Learning, Mandlebrot set6 Comments

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This is a form of Broccoli, the pattern seems fractal, where it repeats in smaller and smaller forms but in the same pattern. Another example is the Mandelbrot set. The now famous pattern that constantly reveals and renews itself the deeper you look into it.

Have you heard of Fibonacci numbers? They relate to the spirals on this Broccoli plant too. There are two spirals if you look closely. One is more curved than the other. It’s based on prime numbers. Like 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, and so on.

Now this is where I have to admit only a slight knowledge, I only know about Fibonacci because of programmes I have seen about him and they were based on art. I have also heard of the golden section, which is based on another spiral, and is said to allow you to place objects in a painting into the most beautiful composition. But I am no mathematician.

If you look up Fractals, Mandelbrot and Golden section, you should find interesting information about them all, and Chaos theory which seems to link them all. They are all fascinating.

There are several books out there about Chaos theory. It’s worth reading around the subject.

Well balanced

Posted on March 1, 2019 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Balance, Canterlevered, Cat, Fun, Humour, Levitate, Life, Poem, Poetry, SquashedLeave a comment

Just when you think

The day couldn’t get more cat

Another view arrives

Like a third bus,

At the same time ,

With the same number,

On the same route.

Squashed on the lid

My well balanced cat

Canterlevered out

Over space,

Your spine curves and stretches

Round like a bridge

Supported at both ends

Strong.

Your head was tucked down

All snuggled till you saw me.

Levitation is your trick today.

Boarded up

Posted on February 28, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Adventure?, Fun, Humour, Life, Short story, Silly story, Very short story, Writing2 Comments

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He woke up in darkness, the window he has climbed through last night was now boarded up. He was alone in the barn, but his hands were tied behind his back. He heard a quiet rustling in the straw. A squeak and he realised there were either rats or mice sharing the space with him…..

Everything had been quiet when he had crept into the barn about 8 o’clock the previous evening. He’d been setting up the camera when something or someone had hit him on the head.

What the hell do I do now? he thought. I’m stuck.

He glanced about and he saw something black in the corner, an old scythe? Yes stck under some sacking. It was so easy in mystery stories. Just rub against the blade and escape…. Two hours later he’d got through one strand of rope, his wrists were bruised and cut and he was sweating with the exertion of trying to escape. If he ever got out of here he would have words with his mates…

This was not how a stag party was meant to go!

Fairies

Posted on February 28, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Fairies, Fun, Sculpture, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trentham Gardens, Wire1 Comment

I saw lits of fairies made of wire at a place called Trentham Gardens recently.

I was intrigued by them so when I saw a wire weaving kit to make a small one I decided to get it. I opened the box to find a small mackette of a figure and three thickness of wire together with some pliers.

I’m nervous of even starting! There are apparently YouTube videos to help but I’m not sure what I will end up making. I’m better at painting in two dimensions than creating in three. Wish me luck!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Fun