Drawing and painting

Posted on March 17, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1877, Drawing, Flow, hours, Illness, Life, Sketching, ThinkingLeave a comment

What activities do you lose yourself in?

I have always drawn and painted. Hours can disappear and I don’t notice them. I think that’s called ‘flow’, I’m immersed in it. Even now when my left arm shakes I can’t stop. I end up with shake lines or I have to put things on an easle to stop it. I now have golfers elbow in the same arm and gout and trigger finger in my right hand. But I keep being creative. I really think its my reason for living. When I stop drawing that will be the end of me. Even if I can’t hold a pen or paintbrush I can doodle on my phone and finger paint as in the digital drawing above.

A few years ago I was in hospital. I made my hubby bring me a sketchpad and pencils, I think that was proof I was getting better!

February’s steps

Posted on February 15, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged daytime TV, effort, five thousand, Health, Illness, Pain, steps health, Time, Trying, Walking7 Comments

After several months of little or no activity my brain kicked in and I’ve started walking again. I went from virtually zero to around five thousand steps a day. I think I am finally better after illness and sad times. My health is by no means perfect, I’m having lots of problems with pain, but if I don’t make the effort things will only get worse. Sitting watching daytime TV is not the best use of my time, and I’m hoping more activity will also get my creativity going again.

Went singing!

Posted on February 6, 2023February 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Australian, Choir, Chorus, Ghana, Illness, lungs, Music, Sea shanties, Singing, Songs, world music6 Comments

I went back to choir practice tonight after about six weeks off. My chest infection seems to have finally subsided and I’m just left with a tight feeling in my chest and my voice is a bit growly so I was coughing a bit after trying to sustain notes.

I did have fun, we sang some sea shanties, including Haul away Joe. A Ghanaian song, a song from Australia and one about a Low bridge on the Erie canal.

Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Bass singers were all there and we harmonised really well together. I’m really sorry I missed the Christmas Carol pub crawl and the Wassail in January. I’m glad to be back!

Shopping

Posted on January 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bagging area, Exhausted?, Food, Illness, Lost, rearranged, Shopping, Supermarket, superstore, Tired2 Comments

I have just been shopping, for the first time in a week. But really I’ve only been out a few times in a month through ill health. The trouble is the superstore I go to was refurbished in the summer and because I’ve been going to a cheaper, smaller, super market I don’t know where things are. It took me about half an hour to get eight things! I used to be able to go in and get what I wanted in about five to ten minutes. Now I have to search. Plus they have added a lot more self checkouts. I prefer the manned tills, but there were big queues today so I used the self checkout. I had several ‘unexpected item in the bagging area’ situations. Partly because I took my own bag and it didn’t like it. Then it kept telling me to put the last item back in the basket? A woman manning the checkouts had to come over and sort out the computer screen. Oh for old fashioned checkout people. I went home and vowed not to go out again tonight.

Grey day

Posted on January 10, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bug, four weeks, Illness, losing time, Memory, Rain, Thinking, three weeks, Time, TiredLeave a comment

It’s been raining a lot today, but I noticed it was slightly lighter this afternoon and the sun seems to be setting a little bit later. Soon the sun will be setting after five pm, that’s when I know we are getting through the winter. Sitting in the house with the curtains closed to help keep the warmth in makes me feel sad. But I realise how close to being a recluse I can be. I was thinking that I have only been out of the house for a few hours in the last month. Last week I took myself to the shop on my own for the first time in about three weeks (hubby has come out with me to keep me safe while I’ve been ill). Am I being lazy, or sick? I don’t know, I think I’m probably protecting myself, I don’t want to catch anything else and I don’t want to pass this bug on. It’s strange how your mind muddles and loses time when you are in the same place for a long time. It makes you think.

Walking

Posted on January 8, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Friend, Illness, Loss, Memory, pulled calf, Sad, strolling, Time, Two years ago, Walking2 Comments

Two years ago I was walking almost every day to get fit. Then I pulled a calf muscle and my walking buddy got ill. I was stuck for a while because I wasn’t able to put much weight on my leg without it feeling like it was going to snap again. I ended up not walking very far. I tried to get back into it. But then illness and loss got to me. I ended the year with a chest infection. Now I have seen this and hubby has been walking I think I need to start again. There is no reason why I can’t if I try once I’m well again.

Swanning about

Posted on January 3, 2023January 3, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bird, bird flu, Cygnet, Disease, Illness, Life, Nature, Swan, viruses, Young SwanLeave a comment

Swan from a couple of years ago, changing from plumage as a cygnet (young Swan) , I guess the brown helps camouflage it. I haven’t been out anywhere for weeks, so I have not seen many birds recently. This photo was taken on a walk round Westport Lake. More worrying is the prevalence of bird flu in the UK which was around in the summer and has been continuing over the last few months. Its frightening that so many birds and animals are being affected by disease. It says something about humans interference with nature that these things are happening. Recent studies have found that the bird flu virus survives in open water for months and that it is able to infect birds that migrate to those lakes and pools, making them ill when they arrive.

I hope this bird has had a good and healthy life. I don’t know how the disease can be prevented.

Still negative

Posted on December 21, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bugs, Cold, Covid, flu season, Illness, immunity, Life, Negative, Sick, Thinking, Time, Virus, Winter5 Comments

Spending time worrying about whether I have covid means I have not really thought about all the other bugs out there. They can be transmitted differently, for instance by touching surfaces. I think covid is spread more by breathing in droplets.

Anyway, bam! I have got a bad cold or virus, and as many of these haven’t been around as much because people were not interacting or being in close contact with one another. We are all more susceptible to the risks of other diseases now. You might have immunity to one illness, but if you are not in contact with it frequently then it can be worse when you get it again. What fun! Sniffles…..

Wheezing

Posted on December 20, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged annual, Choir, Christmas, Cold, Cough, Illness, Mystery singers, WheezingLeave a comment

🤧

I’m fed up. My chest is wheezing and if I go out in the cold it gets worse. Thankfully the weather warmed up a bit today, but my voice is croaky, like a box of frogs. It had dropped so low I even recorded it! I could have been a bass singer, even basso proffundo! Given that my range is generally an alto (contralto) it was quite disturbing to hear the noise I was making. I was due to go out on Monday afternoon to sing with the Mystery Singers at a local park (I’d already missed singing on Saturday) and again in the evening to go Carol Singing around our local pubs. It’s an annual thing that the Mystery singers do on the evening of the Monday before Christmas. Not for me this year. Apparently a few of the others have had the bug too. I’m really fed up.

Stuck!

Posted on December 16, 2022December 16, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bed, can't breathe, Health, Hubby, Illness, Sick, side of bed, Stuck, Tired, WorryingLeave a comment

Thank you to my hubby for rescuing me this morning. I was trying to get out of bed. I swung my legs out but ended up floundering on the edge. Half in and half out. My hubby came round and assisted me. I felt my bum sliding off the edge of the bed. I think. I was short of oxygen. I feel weak as a kitten. I hope this doesn’t get worse.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Illness