I wish I could…

Posted on March 26, 2023March 27, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chess, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1887, Knowledge, Learning, protégés, Skills, Time4 Comments

What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?

Play chess better. I don’t understand how people can work out several moves ahead. I only know the basics, I learnt from playing against my father as a child. But I don’t know how to castle and I rarely play. I don’t know where our chess set and board are.

When I watched a film about chess players in the 1970’s I was amazed and impressed by them. But they were protégés and must have had some sort of mathematical minds so that they understood the game in great depth. Then of course computers were introduced which started to beat humans. So I would like the ability to beat a computer like Deep Blue. An ambition I’m sure I will never have!

Dear me at 100

Posted on March 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bucket list, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1873, Halleys comet, Learning, Letter, Thinking, to myself at 1003 Comments

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

Dear me

I never expected to get to 100, although I really wanted to. I enjoy being creative and learning new things. When I was young I always got bored, so I found things to do. The more I did that, the more I tried to do. Art, science, astronomy, pottery, reading. Lots of nonsensical things too.

I think using my mind is important, I hope I still have all my marbles when I reach 100. I once met a woman who was in her mid seventies and said she had no room in her brain to learn more! Why? It doesn’t make sense. Finding out new things renews me. It gives me the opportunity to understand more. I hope that me at 100 can still take in information and keep up to date with what is going on in the world.

I really wanted to see Halleys comet return. I hope future me saw it? Its on my bucket list. X

Bring back bar charts!

Posted on March 7, 2023March 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, bar chart, bells and whistles, Display, Feelings, Irritated, Jetpack, Learning, Life, Limerick, Poem, Poetry, preferences, viewing3 Comments

Well I don’t like this swinging line

To other users it might be fine

But irritating I think it is

To see stats displayed like this

It gives me vertigo like I’ve drunk wine!

…….

Oops! They are there! You have to slide the screen sideways!

Crochet

Posted on January 10, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blanket, Crochet, Fun, Hobby, Knitting, Learning, Pattern, square, Stitches, Throw, WoolLeave a comment

Not knit one pearl one. Only one crochet needle and a finger and thumb required. Twisting and turning, wrapping the wool round and knotting it.

If you want to learn it have a go. You can make squares to create a blanket, or crochet round and round to make a throw. It’s a craft in the same way as knitting or macrame. There are plenty of patterns out there and you can make clothes too. If you look on line you can find some very strange crocheted trouser suits for men! I realise that it was more popular in the 1970’s…..

Knocking on?

Posted on January 8, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Clocking on, English language, Getting older, getting on, knocking on, Learning, Old House, Photo, RuinsLeave a comment

Man knocking on the front door of an old, derelict house out in the countryside. Knocking is also a phrase in England that means getting older hence “the old man who was ‘knocking on’ in age, knocked on the door of the derelict house”. Perhaps knocking means that the person is either becoming elderly, or even approaching death. There are so many strange phrases in the English language. ‘Knocking on’ can be changed to ‘getting on’ or even ‘clocking on’ which can also mean getting your clock card punched by a machine at the start of a factory shift. The more you learn the more there is to find out!

Tiger cat

Posted on January 6, 2023 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Carving, Cat, Design, Fun, Learning, lino cut, Pattern, Printing, tiger cat2 Comments

Lino cut cat from last year. The curve at the back could be from a snail shell. This is another technique I would like to pramore this year. I think I will try and create card sets, hopefully without cutting my fingers. You also have to remember to carve back to front or letters are the wrong way round. If you have ever tried this you can feel the carving tools slipping on the surface of the lino. You have to push quite hard to cut down into it but not too deep or you can split the lino. The kit I bought had a safety carving blade which is the safest way to carve. I look forward to doing some more.

Happy New Year in Greek

Posted on December 31, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 2023, Greece, Greek, greeting, Happy New Year, Language, Learning, Relatives, ThinkingLeave a comment

ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος

eftychisméno to néo étos

A relative recently went to live in Greece. Its not something I would ever consider because I’m never going to get on a plane (phobia of flying) and I’ll never drive there. But that doesn’t stop me from be interested in the language. I’m not going to start learning it, but it is fun to know a few phrases and as there are Greek people in the area I thought it would be polite to learn this. It is also useful to be a singer in a choir that learns music and also languages by repetition. I’m amazed at how many words I know by heart just from singing them. Greek pronunciation is interesting but by reading the translated script and listening to a verbal translation I think I got it. Anyway my relative has now been sent my best wishes for 2023, hopefully in Greek and not Gibberish X

Eye doodles

Posted on December 29, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Colour, Doodling, Drawing, Faces, Fun, Learning, Life, nostrils, Photodirector, Sketching2 Comments

For as long as I can remember I have drawn eyes. Sometimes I’ve even just painted them. I have always drawn faces, my Mom would ask why I drew nostrils when I was about nine or ten, and I said it was because people had them! I’ve never stopped drawing eyes, but I have a definite way I learnt when I was a child and its hard to get out of the habit, they just don’t look realistic. It’s something to do with the shading of the eyeballs, and the eyelids and flesh around them. Hence doodling to play with my technique and used photodirector to change the texture on the drawings.

Finding the good

Posted on December 1, 2022 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Cat, Emotions, Grateful, Learning, Life, Light, Love, Negative, Positive, Support, Traffic, WhistleLeave a comment

…. In the bad

Gratitude is something I’m trying to find every day. Three little things that I can write even if it’s been a bad day? Things like being stuck in traffic but someone let me out at a junction. I went to an art meeting today and people appreciated what I was saying, and I’ve trained my cat to jump up on my knee when I whistle him so he can have a love. That’s the little light in the dark tunnel. A spark that makes me feel a bit better. I’ll take that. X

Hello duck

Posted on November 19, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Duck, hello duck, Learning, Mellards, Play, production, rehersalLeave a comment

Rehearsal day. We went to find out about a production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ended up getting the parts of Mr and Mrs Fezziwig. The rehersal was at a place called Mellards and I was impressed by this mural of a duck painted on the wall. I’m not sure about the stars/ gunshot holes? I hope no one would shoot at it! Anyway got to learn a few lines… Eek!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Learning