Meet a dalek..

One day at a train station we bumped into a dalek. It was trundling backwards and forwards along the station platform… A police telephone box was inside the ticket office. My hubby had mighty fun and enjoyed meeting one of our favourite TV characters. Unfortunately Dr Who was not in attendance.

The Dalek was remote controlled and was a replica of one of the original models of the space monsters. Apparently they were pedalled around by people sitting inside them on the BBC TV series. I just loved the cheek of my hubby holding on to it….

Old poster

I don’t know how old this poster is, it was my hubby’s. It says “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Francis Bacon.

I think hubby got this before we met, in the 1970’s when he was at college. He always loved books and probably 3/4 of our books were his. We both had an eclectic taste in books. I need to declutter, but they are all old friends. X

Blurry photo

It would have been our anniversary today. We lived together for years before we married. I painted him when I was about 20 and he still sits in this painting looking out at me. I did a lot of drawings and portraits of him over the years, I am glad there are visible memories of him.

What will happen when I go? Who knows what my relatives will want to do with all my art? Will a local museum take them, or will they just get skipped? I don’t know, I won’t be here but I would like to have some recognition. The trouble is I’m very eclectic, I paint for my self in these images. Ah well, more questions…

Stuff

Blurry photos of a disco glitter ball, mobile of planets, dusty dream catcher, glass hangings… Not necessarily in that order…

I have collected lots of “stuff” over the years. Most of these are hung to high to reach now for me, so they are dust collectors.

Not having hubby around means I can’t get  things down from high places. Goodness knows what I can do. But at least this shows my eclectic tastes. I’m interested in a lot of things.

If I showed you the rest of my house you’d probably be horrified. But that’s the life of a crazy artist.

Books

If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

Because then I could get rid of a few! I have over 1000 but some are a bit obscure, and some were my hubby’s… Huge books about planes, submarines, ships, bicycles, cars. Also books about the second world war. Then there are my collections of old science fiction books, I don’t necessarily want to keep them all. I don’t want to get rid of them all, so my book shop would actually be a stall that I can easily pack up and take away (except they weigh a ton).

Mystery

Hubby played a prophet in one of the Mystery Plays a few years ago. It was outside but his big booming voice could be heard by the audience sitting on the green. He could project his voice over the traffic noise. If he had been bought up in a more middle class environment I’m sure he would have been an actor. But mental health meant he struggled to remember all his words. We also did the local amateur panto together. He got a pretend Oscar one year for most enthusiastic entrance (or something like that). He was a marvellous, memorable man.

His hat

Macro shot of part of my hubbys flat cap from a few years ago.

It’s another one of the photos I found in Facebook memories. It reminds me of how he used to dress. More like a Lancashire farmer than someone living in a modern town. With a tweed jacket and old working mens trousers or jeans. A plaid shirt and boots or black leather shoes. His hair was usually escaping from under that flat cap. He sometimes got called the mad professor because his hairstyle was much like Einstein’s or other times curly when what was left of his hair was uncovered.

A big man, strong. He loved cycling and science. He knew such a lot of things but was often troubled. Bad memories of childhood. Our partnership was of mutual support. Mutual love. I remember his cheeky grin and the twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

Yes this photo bought back many memories.

Alone

Hubby

You birthday was today

But there is no voice

No laughter

No sudden shout

Of annoyance or glee.

You were here, then gone

Lost in space

Not forgotten by me

But gone from the world

We always held hands

Grasping our dreams

Let’s go out

Take a trip?

Now I stay still

Remembering but not visiting

Still waiting

For your non return.