How do you spell Mackerel?

One of those words that foxes me. Makeral, Makeral, Mackerel? Finally got it.

Other words lose or loose…. I used to use loose when something was lost, not escaped from a field. And field was another one. I used to spell it feild….

Tommorow was how I spelt tomorrow

Centre and center interchangeable…..

Only my mother making me do 100 spellings a day rescued me. Sometimes I still get it wrong…. I’m wrung out!

Crafts

Portrait of a woman called Carol in our craft group working on some diamond art picture. I enjoy doing small portraits, quickly done, it fits in with my Parkinsons shakes, if a line goes awry I can hide it in cross hatching. I have a small notebook with very pae blue lines so they are not very noticeable. I never want to stop drawing and painting. It’s my life. X

I must finish this

About three months ago? I started this, but then winter arrived and I stopped painting. My eyesight has got worse, I’ve found myself cleaning my glasses and realised it was my eyeballs that need “cleaning”, my cataracts are getting worse, extending into my central vision. It’s like a vaseline smeared camera lens that they use to make scenes in films look more romantic or nostalgic. In my case it’s like looking through mist. And it’s bloody annoying! Luckily I’m having my eyes checked out to have a cataract operation. Hopefully I will be able to paint again soon.

Mori

I think a lot about life and death these days. If I don’t hear from people I worry about them. This morning my cat was so fast asleep he was barely breathing. I didn’t want to disturb him, but he is getting old so I gently blew on his ear. It twitched and I was overjoyed. He was fine and woke a few minutes later.

My sister says she might come and live with me if my health gets worse. But somehow I want to reject that. I’m not ready for a last chapter of my book. There has been too much loss lately. I just want that to stop. To enjoy life for a change. Slough off my sorrows and come back fighting. I can’t keep my sadness and worry going, it’s too exhausting. I know I need to “memento mori”, a Latin phrase, which translates to “remember that you must die” in English. It’s a reminder of mortality and the fleeting nature of life. The phrase can be used for a work of art.  I think that was what my little painting was about.

Arthur Berry mural

Arthur was one of my tutors at college. He went to Burslem School of Art to train in painting. I did this portrait mural of him and one of his paintings at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem in the back room. I think that was over ten years ago now. Unfortunately it was lost in the fire in 2022.

It’s emulsion paint, painted directly onto the wall, so when people ask me if the paintings were rescued I have to tell them no.

Lovely flower

I don’t remember taking this photo. I think it might be from a free photo library. It’s in my media files. Anyway I just want to start planting up my pots with lovely flowers like this. Ideally I’d like a friend to be here to keep an eye on me and perhaps help with heavier pots. I love creating a colourful garden in the yard for the summer. Fingers crossed I can still do it.

The canopy looks like a rabbit.

I was sitting in the library and looked out the window. I noticed the trees were still bare. Then I saw the shape of the canopy over the front door. It suddenly looked like a rabbits head. The letter Y at the end of library looks like a rabbits ears. I thought back to making shadow puppets on the wall, it’s so strange, a bit of Pareidolia?

Light

Lighting detail on the ceiling of Hanley Library, Stoke-on-Trent. I love the design. We were singing “this little light of mine” at a monthly choir practice and it really chimed that the image went so well with the music. It’s as if the sun is encouraging people to read and to use the library to enjoy all sorts of experiences.

Playing the kazoo

My purple kazoo

During one choir performance we all had to get out a kazoo and play along with the song we had been playing. I’ve had it in my bag ever since and when I fished out my sketchbook today I found it again so I seranadedvthevart group with tunes like the starwars theme, Dr Doolittle, the Bare necessites and a few others. I had everyone in stitches.

By the way I looked up the spelling of kazoo. AI SAID:

The correct spelling of the musical instrument is “kazoo“. The word refers to a simple, handheld musical instrument that produces a buzzing sound when the player hums into it, according to Dictionary.com