Tag: Life

2 cats

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Medium cat (left) and large cat (right) like to sleep on this chair. Usually there is a single occupant, but tonight they are sharing. The little cat is on the floor just exploring to find somewhere to settle down.

I’m glad they tolerate and cope with each other, the small cat is nervous and sometimes has a paw raised to her, but there’s very rarely a squabble and usually they chase together to pay. I think I will go  and settle down too. I’m struggling to keep my eyes open, the cats have the right idea. X

It has to be Chinese

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What are your favorite types of foods?

Our mother would take us out for meals occasionally when we were children. Sometimes it was Indian, but mostly Chinese. I like the flavours, the textures, the combination of ingredients. Duck with hoisin sauce, chicken chow mein, special fried rice, beef with spring onions and black bean sauce. All kinds of other things. I just like it, although I have read that the Chinese food in the UK is not authentic.

Mom got us to use chop sticks which added to the unique and special feeling it was to eat out. In those days the only other form of Chinese food was Vesta Chow mein which came in a box and you added hot water to it I think, and fried prawn crackers. But they were good memories.

My memory (phone)

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Why does my phone switch itself off when I try and take a photo? I think I might have too many photos in my phone memory and I don’t optimise them enough. When I do try and do that the picture sizes are reduced but the originals stay on the phone. So I have to go through them all to remove duplicates. This also means that all the photos are stacked under one date (today’s), but I have to do it. I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to do it now. It also means that the photo sizes here will be reduced.

My dilemma is that a lot of pictures here are large and they are taking up a lot of space, so I sometimes have to take off photos from my blogs to give me a bit more room to add new pictures here. So if you find a blog of mine here without a picture? Well that’s the outcome of not being able to afford a better package on WordPress. X

Bara brith for tea.

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With a cup of tea.

Just back from Llandudno in Wales where my sister bought me a Welsh fruit loaf for a treat. I just had a couple of slices with some butter and a cup of tea. Very nice. Apparently it’s lost favour with younger people but I’d urge you to try it.

Wikipedia says :

History:

Bara Brith derived its name from the Welsh language, bara meaning bread and brith translating as speckled. It was traditionally made in farmhouses by adding fruit, sugar and spices to the basic bread dough to make a sweet treat for special occasions. It has subsequently been used as a colloquialism—to “over spice the Bara Brith” means to do something to excess.

We got two loaves from a little tea and cake shop in Llandudno.

This doesn’t happen…

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Describe your ideal week.

My ideal week would be to go out to a studio, paint for a few hours, make good progress on a painting. Go to choir practice. Cook tea for me and my hubby. Sit and chat about our days.

My ideal week would include going for a walk with him, he might go for a cycle ride to see a friend. He goes to bed early, I stay up late to read or watch TV.

In my ideal week I would sleep well, wake refreshed. Go for a drive somewhere with my hubby. Visit a national trust property.

In my ideal week I would try and paint some more, take some photos, go on the Internet.

In my ideal week I would still have my hubby, I would still have my studio, I would still be doing art or at least more than I am now. I’m just struggling to get back to something like an ideal week.

I hope I have something to say.

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Why do you blog?

I like to share my art and ideas. I’m quite eclectic, a Jack of all trades. When I was little I was always getting bored, wanting to do interesting things. I was the one who held the snake and the tarantula when they were brought into school to show us what they were like. I used to climb up ropes and hang upside down from the top bar of the swings. I was very competitive and enjoyed running, then eventually cycling. Art was my main interest, and I’ve done many paintings and murals, but I also love science. I guess I should have been a teacher as I’m enthusiastic about explaining things. I guess that’s what my blog is about. Looking into nooks and crannies, finding things out. I’m possibly not as interesting as I think I am! But I hope people enjoy it.

Compassion?

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I just wrote this in response to someone complaining about people being on benefits. I’m trying to point out that you don’t have to look disabled to be disabled, and most people would not choose to be poor.

I gave up working to look after my hubby because of his severe PTSD and my health started to deteriorate. I tried to set up a small business but couldn’t earn enough to manage and when he died I was left with my work pension and a bit of savings. My Diabetes had never been good and two and a half years ago I started to shake. That turned out to be Parkinsons disease. For several years I’ve had to wear a mask at night because I suffer from sleep aponea. I lack strength in my arms because of a frozen shoulder and the spasms from Parkinsons in my arms and legs. Now I might have heart failure after several years of atrial fibrillation. I used to be able to cycle up to 100 miles with hubby and was quite fit.
In all that time until I gave up work to look after hubby, I was only unemployed for 6 months. I have full pension contributions.
I appreciate that there are some people that don’t want to work, but would you know about my disabilities if I hadn’t just told you? I know I’m deteriorating but I want to keep going. There are a lot of people out there with hidden disabilities.
Why do we always complain about benefit claimers when 80 men in the world have as much money as half the world’s population? That’s 4,000,000,000 people? Many of these billionaires inherited their money and avoid paying any tax? The poorest don’t chose to be poor. Imagine yourself going to a food bank once every two or three months and getting 3 or 4 days food? Or desperate people renting houses they can’t afford in poor or moldy homes. Would you choose that?
I’m sorry for this long comment. I can tell you about all the hospital visits I keep having to attend. The scans and blood tests. I try and keep going. Life is difficult. We all have our crosses to bear as they say. It’s that old thing of don’t look at the speck in someone else’s eye and not see the beam of wood in your own. It’s easy to criticise but we need more compassion.

Mid afternoon

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What’s your favorite time of day?

I can’t post a picture because my WiFi is not working. But I can describe mid afternoon. On a sunny day, a gentle breeze. A patchwork of blue sky and fluffy white clouds. There may be a scent of rain after a passing shower. Ideally I would be looking out over a valley with a small stone built village at the bottom next to a stream. In my memory I can see large oak trees, ash trees, beech and weeping willows. There are blue or purple hills in the distance.

Birds are singing. Robins, blackbirds, skylarks. Looking for food for their broods of fledglings. Sounds of running water from the stream and ducks quacking as they glide across the local pond.

The UK can be overwhelmingly green in the spring and summer. Autumn isn’t always as colourful as fall in America. But what it lacks in reds and oranges is made up for with fruit ripening on blackberry bushes, raspberries and the mushrooms snf other fungi in the hedgerows. And I love a quiet winters afternoon with white snow.

The hedgehogs will be sleeping on autumn days, waiting for cool and misty evenings. Life can be calm in these dreamy days. It’s not all wonderful but I’m thinking of an idyllic day.