Tree views

Posted on February 12, 2023February 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bund, Day out, lakes, Life, Photo, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trees, Visit, Walk, Westport lake, wildlife centreLeave a comment

Trees on our walk today. (somehow I seem to have posted the same thing twice so I’m editing this into a new post). Anyway this was at the far end of the big Westport Lake where a large plot of land has had tons of hardcore rubble placed on it I don’t know if its an industrial site or housing, but they have builf a huge bund (piled up slope) hopefully to hide it from the lake. Previously it was a muddy rocky mess adjacent to the nature reserve and the main train line that runs to one side of the reserve. I’m glad these trees have been left to screen off the area.

Three cats

Posted on February 11, 2023 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Blank verse, Cat, Life, nine lives, Poem, Poetry, three, three cats, Tuxedo catLeave a comment

Yes, we have three cats

Hungry, playful, cheeky

Are not their names

Sometimes together

Sometimes apart

Chasing each other

Loving toys

Liking treats

Eating catnip.

Hiding in, under, on.

Jumping, climbing, causing

Fun and trouble

Things, found, battled

Played with.

Equipped with claws and teeth

And purrs and growls

Formidable felines!

Nine lives!

Autumn and Spring painting

Posted on February 11, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Autumn, Description, Fine Art, Life, Painting, Spring, Thinking, World8 Comments

Sometimes I just have to create something different. I don’t do many paintings of abstracts, I find them difficult to do. I don’t want to have to write a long explanation of what the painting means. I love all sorts of art, but it’s hard to pin down what would be my favorite. This autumn /spring painting is acrylic on canvas. With colours that represent the seasons. The shapes are meant to represent middle age, complexity, confusion, a city scape, and the spring is simple nature. See I said I hate describing what I’m doing, and yet that’s exactly what I’ve just done! Maybe I should do a Winter/summer one?

Terrarium

Posted on February 9, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged dark green, glass jar, Indoor plant, Life, Photo, Plants, Red, stems, terrarium, Triffids2 Comments

A triffids in a glass jar, up on the windowledge, a bit damp and mucky, but it still grows and twirls. Red stems. Dark green leaves, bought from a supermarket and still surviving after eighteen months. OK not a triffids, but a strange ugly plant that needs me to love it? Feed me Seymour?

Sold, Heron

Posted on February 9, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Bird, Colour, Fine Art, Heron, Life, Nature, Painting, Reeds, Sold9 Comments

Got a nice surprise this morning, I’ve sold another small painting (long and thin). It had been for sale at the Arts and Minds Gallery at Harper Street in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent. As usual it’s lovely to feel that someone has taken it into their heart.

This was a playful piece. I started by painting some weeds and rushes, and only decided to add a bird, this Heron, because it fitted in with the shape of the canvas.

Next? I might paint some gentle landscapes or flowers, but play with the style again, not forgetting the industrial heritage of the area.

Singing for mental health

Posted on February 8, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, Harmony, Joy, Life, Memories, Mental health, Music, pleasure, Singing, Time2 Comments

I went to another choir practice last night and we sang some old songs from our repetoir including ‘La Para Deiu’ (I think that’s how it’s spelt). We haven’t sung it for at least five or six years, and if you had asked me what the tune was I would not have been able to sing it. But as we started to sing it flooded back. Soon we were singing in three part harmony and I was getting goosebumps down my spine. We sounded very good, better than we used to I think, and this was with new choir members joining in. I can’t explain how it lifted my mood. People were grinning and laughing. We sang a couple of other older songs, one we hadn’t done for maybe twelve or more years, from when we moved from our old venue. I hope the choir keeps going, it truly is good for mental health, raising our spirits and exercising our memories.

Bones named

Posted on February 6, 2023February 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Biology, bones, Hand, Human, Human biology, Life, Memory, mnemonic, Question, TwitterLeave a comment

Someone on twitter asked ‘what do you know for certain?’ so I had a think about it and came up with something I remember from my human biology class.

The names of the bones of the hand, scaphoid, lunate, triquetral, pisiform, trapezium, trapezius, capitate, hamate. The mnemonic to remember it is : Spanish ladies take pills that they can hop. I guess it worked because I still remember them!

Watching videos

Posted on February 5, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged addicting, Film, Films, Life, Mobile phone, Phone, programmes, Time, Trains, TV, Videos, war films, WatchingLeave a comment

I’ve fallen into a bad habit, I’ve started to watch a lot of Facebook videos, one after the other. My phone keeps showing me hairdressing videos, five minute crafts, films about Agate, car crashes, American politics, police stopping cars. The trouble is its easier to watch one after the other rather than whole TV shows. Part of it is because hubby likes watching train and war films. I get bored by whether the train is running on narrow or standard gauge or even broad gauge. I don’t want to know the difference between tanks and armoured cars. I don’t want to know which general won what battle. So the phone videos have increased, which I think might be impacting on my arm problems. I don’t think I’m addicted, but it’s keeping my mind off things….

Old Nokia

Posted on February 4, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged basic, Fixable?, History, Life, Mobile, not smart, old Nokia, Old phone, Simple, Time2 Comments

I just found this under a cupboard! It’s my old phone. Goodness knows how old it is, I don’t know if the battery will have corroded it inside. I’m thinking of finding out if it can be refurbished as my hubby doesn’t like smart phones and just wants something basic to ring home if he needs to. I will try and find out if it can somehow be upgraded to work on the right sort of signal. It must be several years old? Are they worth anything? So it’s not smart, but is it fixable?

Abstract flower

Posted on February 2, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Art, Drawing, Felt pens, Flowers, Life, outlines, Poem, Poetry, SketchingLeave a comment

Flowers made of light

Colours big and bright

Abstract patterns

Lines shape matters

A rose and stem?

Do you see them?

Pen and ink

That’s how I think!

Outlines and contours

Artistic encounters!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Life