War horse

Posted on April 4, 2019April 4, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 1st world war, Entertae, History, Horse, Joey, Life, Play, Puppets, Regent Theatre, Theatre, War, War horse4 Comments

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I don’t have any photos but I did a quick sketch from my memory of the horse in Warhorse that I went to see tonight.

The play starts with a puppet foal which is quite small. The story shows him being bought and then brought up on a farm in England in 1914. Suddenly the foal becomes a fully grown horse. He is sent along with thousands or possibly millions of horses across to be part of the cavalry in the First World War.

The story charts what happened to him and also his owner who enlists so he can find him.

The horses in the play are depicted by puppets which contain two puppeteers inside them and one moving the head and neck. In scenes where he is galloping extra puppeteers move the four feet. The horses move in realistic ways, flicking it’s ears, moving it’s tail. Rearing and bucking.

There are sections of horrific violence but through it all there is a strong streak of humanity. There are good and bad on both sides. I found myself enthralled The play seemed to fly by.

I need to mention the other puppets, the goose, swallows flying on the wing, and a first World War tank that were so well used to depict reality. You forgot there were puppeteers, you just saw the things they were meant to represent. If you get a chance to see it, its worth it.

Molecules

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chemistry, Fun, Humour, Laugh, Life, Physics, Playing with words, Poem, Poetry, Sub atomicLeave a comment

Molecules spin

Atoms twist,

Protons crackle

Neutrons buzz

Electrons fizz

Quarks charm

Muons jitter

Neutrinos just don’t bother…….

Urban murals

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Life, Market, Murals, New Market, Old Market, Politics, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-TrentLeave a comment

Here are two murals in Stoke Town centre (or Stoke-upon-Trent) one of the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent.

The market is mostly held inside this building with food stalls including fish and meat. Clothes stalls and all sorts of other merchandise.

Several years ago (almost 40) the old market burnt down. I remember sitting in a friends garden and seeing the plume of black smoke flowing high up into the sky. The cause? An electrical fault. The site was cleared but the local Labour Party fought for it to be rebuilt and a few years later the new market rose on a part of the site near the old market hall. There followed a library and council buildings. Nowadays the market is less busy. More shops are closing in the town. Cuts to local government are affecting the jobs in the town and city. Services have been slashed because of austerity measures bought in after the 2010 general election. The cuts really bit when the local administration went over to a Conservative and independent coalition.

Maybe one day things will improve. In the meantime it’s good to see the vibrant murals on the market building.

Partner

Posted on April 2, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Life, Love, Pen and ink, Portrait, Sketch2 Comments

Well it’s a reasonable attempt at a portrait as he was moving for most of it. Bug I do think he looks like a tired Liam Neilson! We’ve been together for almost 40 years. A lifetime. We’ve both changed. Got older and creakier. I think I’m lucky being the younger one. But I do want him to stay healthy and enjoy his life. Today was his birthday so I took him out for lunch and to a garden centre. His choice of present? Compost and a brazier to burn garden rubbish in. We’ll practical at least. Tonight we might go out again, or a takeaway. Then we have a couple of other entertaining things to do later in the week.

Aries

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged April, Aries, I don't believe in astronomy, Life, Month, Poem, Poetry, Ram, Showers3 Comments

Aries the Ram

Looking at you,

Head tilted.

Ready to charge you,

Run at you.

Butt you.

Start of April,

A constellation

Up in the sky

Aries the Ram

Force of nature.

Hard headed

April showers

Hit your head with hail.

Wind whips round

Like a Ram

Bashes you

Thumps you.

Weather and stars

Adventure and growth.

Escaped cat!

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Adventure?, Blogging, Cat, Cuddles, Escaped cat, Life, vetsLeave a comment

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Last night my cheeky little cat got out. We think it was when my partner went out to check on his bike. I went to bed quite late thinking she was upstairs curled up in a cupboard on some blankets.

6am, I came downstairs for a coffee. The male cat was being friendly, but the female was missing, which is unusual because she usually gets up and has a drink of water if I’m up. I called her. No response. She didn’t come to me. I thought has she got out? I shouted by the back door, nothing, I shouted by the back door again. I closed the door then heard a miaow. Was it inside or out? Outside!

Poor cat ran in soaking wet. It had been raining cold rain all night. First she went for food. Then water. Lots of cuddles later she is back upstairs curled up in the cupboard.

My worry is she only got half her vaccination last year. I’ve been trying to get her to the vets. But she sees the pet carrier and runs. I really hope she hasn’t picked anything up while she was out. I will have to and get her there again.

Vinca

Posted on March 31, 2019March 31, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Garden, Green, Life, Plant, Purple, VincaLeave a comment

A scrambling, ground cover plant with pointed shiny green leaves and striking purple flowers. They have five petals that seem to spiral down to the pentagram at the centre. I think you can also get white and also blue versions with variegated leaves.

We just got this plant for the garden where I’m hoping it will take over from the ivy that is covering a large section of ground.

Ducks

Posted on March 31, 2019March 31, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Birds, Ducks, Hello, Life, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

it’s not often that you walk down the road in your local town and see a duck and a drake walking down the road in front of us. Crossing by a taxi rank. There is a river called the Trent that runs through the town, but it is in a culvert until it comes out near our local football ground.

When people say hello to each other in Stoke they say “hello duck” where in other places it might be “hello chick, or hello dearie”.

So we hope the ducks found the river or flew off to a park. I didn’t know who to contact and neither of them were injured. Just taking a walk….

Titchy theatre

Posted on March 31, 2019March 31, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Fun, Gazebos, Life, Living, Micro theatre, Over the road, TheatreLeave a comment

Today we went to the Harpers Titchy Theatreup at the village hall. We went to listen to short plays written by about 17 people (including my partner and myself). The stories were varied and ranged from subjects about flying a plane to Lancashire in 1963. The name was chosen for a gentleman who passed away last year.

The idea was to write on about two pages of a4 paper. A play or poem to be read by up to 3 or 4 people.

My stories were about monsters and overhearing a conversation. My partners was about childhood memories.

I don’t have the originals because they were hand written and had to be typed up. When I get them back I will copy them to this site.

Helibores

Posted on March 31, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Environment, Flowers, Garden, Helibores, Life, Plants, SpringLeave a comment

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Another plant I love in the spring are Helibores. The flowers range from bright white, pale green, pink and green and deeper pink. Sometimes the flowers are upright and you can get double species, but mainly their flower heads droop down and you need to lift up the flower to see its true beauty. There are sometimes dappled patterns and flecks of darker colours. The centre of the flower is quite prominent, backed by a slightly darker centre.

The leaves are deep green and shiny, sometimes five lobed. The borders are sometimes slightly serrated. I don’t know all the types of Hellibores there are but if you want an unusual plant that flowers early in the year and keeps flowering into April then they are worth getting. They offer some food for early insects. If you like your tulips and daffodils you could also try these. They are easy to keep and I grow mine with pulmonaria which come up a little bit later.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Life