New paintings and regular art updates.
This was an experiment using photoshop from 2002. It’s actually a woman’s profile. And goodness knows what filter I used for it. I like finding ols things. It makes me remember I’ve been doing things like this for twenty years!
Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you.
I was visiting friends at their new house about 40 miles away and I got lost. My hubby doesn’t like asking for directions so we struggled. I could not find where the place was and I’d forgotten to bring the A to Z map, (before satnav which I still don’t have). After a couple of miles of confusion I pulled over to ask a random stranger. I had moved up from that county years ago and I remembered how helpful they are.
Oh yes dear, said the old man, I know where it is. You go down the road past the speedway track (that’s where I met my wife you know), turn left onto the main road past the church (oh we got married there). Right at the roundabout (where I took my driving test), left at the football ground (my team, I’ve supported them for years). Then it’s second on the left (you can’t miss it, the trees are in blossom down there), and you’re at the street…..
After that long conversation we found my friends house easily. I was happy we had stopped. It reminded me of the type of people in that area, always friendly and talkative, engaging and funny. It was a positive encounter.
Flowers in a wreath seen on a bench last year? Was it a memorial to someone who had passed. Remembering a share time together looking at a view…. I wonder.
The bench itself is in good condition, the wood is starting to go green and will need to be replaces one day. I had a bench and the slats rotted. I went out and bought new slats but never found someone to put it back together again. I guess benches and people are similar. If they aren’t looked after they have a tendency to fall apart!
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
I’m not sure when I decided I wanted to be Robin Hood but I was a small child and I used to make bows and arrows out of the mock orange bushes in the garden. The twigs are springy and bent well without breaking, you could also use the straight twigs as arrows. I got quite good at firing them at little targets in the garden.
I guess it all started when I used to watch Robin Hood a programme on the TV starting Richard Green I think. I used to sing along with the theme tune. I also loved the Hollywood films with Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks Junior playing Robin.
I wasn’t really interested in Maid Marion, she had to get Robin to help her escape when the Sherriff of Nottingham captured her. Or she was always doing embroidery or weaving… Boring! I didn’t want to be a boy, but my father used to encourage me to do woodwork and I loved climbing trees. I was good at sport and running when I was young, but I grew out of it and it wasn’t until I got into cycling while I was at college that I got fit again because I cycled everywhere.
So yes, I’d like to have been Robin Hood because there were no exciting female role models except for maybe Emma Peel in the Avengers… That’s another possibility…
I used to climb up the sides of an old slide like this not the steps to get to the top. These was tarmac underneath that I could have fallen down onto, but I didn’t. Goodness knows why I did it. I also used to hang upside down from the top bar of the swings. I would climb up via the three legs holding up one end and then climb over. I don’t know why I stopped, maybe I was told it was not a thing girls did!
At the end of term at school we used to play pirates in the gym. They would pull the wall bars out and lock them in place and there were three or four ropes hanging down from the ceiling. The challenge of pirates was to play three dimensional tag. I would climb up the bars or a rope and if anyone tried to get me I would reach over and climb onto the next rope! I often was the last person standing (or hanging!)
Photo courtesy of a friend, hope that’s OK?
Gone but I remember you. It’s been a few years, but on Mother’s day I wish you were still here. I could tell you my news, how things had been. You would be stern but fair, or happy and pleased. No matter what, you would try and help with problems. You cared about things.
Mothers (and Fathers) who have passed away are still remembered. It’s always a tug on my heart when the day comes round and I can’t buy her flowers or get each of them a card, a thank you for their care and support. I will try to keep those memories, to keep her in my mind, today and in future.
What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times?
I have watched Star Trek, the original series over fifty years. I keep coming back to it. I’ll leave it a few years and then watch then again. My favourite character is Spock, although I do like James Kirk too.
I also enjoy Star Trek Voyager and The Next Generation and try and catch them occasionally too. I guess I like the fairness and attempts at diplomacy in the series. I’ve enjoyed the films, especially ‘The voyage home’, there is a charming humour to them. Yes there are anachronisms and things that would be depicted differently now. I would like to see more recent series but as I can’t afford a streaming service, we’ll I don’t know anything about them. I would like to catch the Picard series if it ever comes on terrestrial TV.
#bandofsketchers?
What’s happened? I’ve been ill again and I haven’t had the energy or will to draw. I’m behind on these prompts. I have ideas but the sketchpad is across the room and I can’t make myself go and pick it up. I think I’m a bit overwhelmed. I don’t think the cold, wet, grey weather we have been having has helped. Shivering and shaking is not conducive to drawing and sketching. Oh I must not moan, but sometimes you just get stuck. Bad mood and memories don’t help, I guess I’m a bit blocked in my creativity. Sunshine might help.
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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.
Only a few steps today, but more than I have been doing. I will try and keep this up now. If I can do around five thousand a day, or at least regularly, then it’s got to be better for me. Only problem is that my foot is hurting today, my shoe is rubbing on the outer side of my foot and I don’t know if it’s a temporary thing or if I’ve hurt myself. We will see tomorrow.
Mallaband-Brown