New paintings and regular art updates.
As June turns into July
I see a bird rise up to fly
I see a cloud floating past
and a flag upon a mast.
I see buttered scones
and currant buns,
Ice cream cones
and happy mums,
dozing cats all curled, asleep
The carp from its pond does peek
People rest and take their ease.
Buzzy are the drones of bees.
Now that summers at its height
Feel the Sun in its might.
The cats are inhabiting the bathroom while the weather is hot. I’ve got a board to sit on because I struggle to get into the bath. Although I’ve started to do yoga to try and build up my core strength. It’s easy to leave the board there and put a cat mat on it. My boy cat likes to lie there at night as there is less insulation in our extension so it cools down quicker (not so good in the winter). The other smaller cat likes it too but she gets pushed off by the bigger cat so she ends up on the corner of the bath.
Yesterday was really hot and they slept on the floor on the cool tiles for some of the time. Today it’s cooler though still hot and they have resumed their places. Not for long though. I want a nice cool shower.
Writing the summerhouse,
In the baking heat,
Trying to relax and stretch,
On a hot seat.
No double glazed windows
No insulation to keep us cool.
Only the doors to open
See the little pool.
The steam is rising from my head,
My feet feel like lead.
Hot and humid
Wringing wet
Skin is dripping
With sweat.
Then the radio blared out
34 degrees at Heathrow
Cold, cool, frozen, water, shivering, teeth chattering….none of these are here right now.
If I had got ice or ice cream I would eat it like snow.
Thats what I want, you know.
Darkening sky and rising breeze,
Thunder rumbles overhead
Drops of water trickle down
Now heat and wind have fled.
A streak of lightening,
A whip of lightening Streaks the air
Then the pub returns a blare
Of House, rap, and garage music.
It’s not the heat that drives me in.
But the beat that does my head in!
6am, sunlight creeps in
and bathes the dusty books
with a golden glow
chases away the cobwebs
sings loudly by the door
breaks vases with a sparkle
finds dust motes in the air.
Sunlight cleans and bleaches
exposes over and over
till red book covers are faded
now salmon pink
Sunlight tinged with heat
warms your head
tickles your feet
raises a smile
makes you feel alive
a photosynthetic dash
of vitamin D
Sunlight is Life.
Cats are heat seeking, so when I put some of the washing up away, well he jumped up and sat in the warm patch of sunlight!
I’m considering using him as a dish mop or tea towel. I’m surprised he hasn’t jumped into my frying pan.
At one stage he had his head down and started purring loudly. Don’t worry I washed it all again afterwards. The space is now full of draining crockery and I’ve cleared a space for him away from here.
X
“Brrrr it is getting cold in here” she said. “Put the little oil heater on”. ‘yeah, ok’…
“I’ll have to put my jumper on”…
Half an hour later, “that heater isn’t doing much, and you have had the oven on to bake a loaf. Is the central heating working?” ‘ow yes, the radiator is hot…..’ “so why is it so cold in here?” ‘I don’t know?!’
Half an hour later. ‘I’m just going to water the plants upstairs’…
‘er I think I know why it’s cold….?’
“why?”
‘I left the window open’
‘I’ve shut it now’
🤦♂️ Face-palm.
This was my garden…….in 2017….
This was my back yard last year. Everything was lush and green with lots of colour. This year things are not as good, some plants are wilting in the heat, others have only just survived. I haven’t taken photos of them because its all a bit messy. Still I will persevere. We might be getting some rain on Sunday if we are lucky.
There may be some thunderstorms east of us but nothing due here. It’s so strange, we are a wet country usually. We are normally known for complaining about cold wet summers, and grey dismal winters.
Climate change? I don’t know. But something is going on.
Multiply up all the gardens in the country where the plants are struggling. Then think of all the farms that are having trouble, having to feed hay and winter food stocks to there animals because there is not enough grass for them. It’s not normal. While over in Europe temperatures have risen above 40°C.
But we are lucky in comparison with other parts of the world. Terrible floods, droughts. The world’s temperature has risen since the turn of the millennium.
We are worried by plastic in the oceans, maybe we should really worry about the climate before its too late. Climate scientists have reported that the weather could actually become so hot that we end up in a “hot house Earth” scenario.
If not for our generation, but for future ones we need to stop listening to business people whose interest is short term gain and move to a more balanced, less greedy world. If that means that rich western countries should share technology with the whole world then that’s what we should do. Rant for the day over. ..
The UK is one if those weird places in the world where the weather can change at the drop of a hat (or a cold front). The hot dry weather we have experienced over the last few weeks has taken us a bit by surprise.
British people expect changeable weather. If its sunny for a few days, and hot, we expect a thundery breakdown of the weather, raining cats and dogs…. (metaphorically)…If it is raining we expect more of it, or fog or snow, or hail….we can’t get used to it….and yet we are fine if we go abroad, where its always sunny!
Britain lies in a temperate climate, with winds coming towards us from all directions…East winds bringing cold Siberian temperatures or rain from Europe, North winds with storms and snow, West winds with Atlantic gales and low pressures, or areas of high pressure that can bring sun or frost. Heat rising on winds from the South, dragging up sand from the Sahara ….
There are many sayings in Britain along the lines of “if you can see _____ its going to rain, and if you can’t see _____ it is raining.” That is why its such a green land.
But, we are using too much of the water that we have in reserves, there are canals being closed for the summer because they don’t have enough water. Some reservoirs are almost empty…it is not a crisis yet. It may not get that bad but we are hearing about possible hose pipe bans.
Maybe It is global warming, all I can say is I hope humanity decide to do something about it…..
Mallaband-Brown