Mom’s wedding ring

Posted on May 25, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, bequest, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1947, Jewellery, Life, Memories, Mom, precious, Support, Time, wedding ring2 Comments

What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

My wedding ring holds mom’s in place. Her hands must have been bigger than mine, hers would fall off without it. My ring is cheap, soft gold. I bought it myself for £27 from a jewellery store when we were getting married. Mom’s wedding ring is heavier and I’m sure higher quality. It’s slowly wearing mine away as they have rubbed against each other for about ten years. It was her bequest to me when she died, and every time I look at it I am reminded of the strong supportive woman she was. She allowed me to go to college when she could have insisted that I found a job. She helped me with my spelling when I was younger (I was in a low stream at school because I couldn’t see properly). They tested my eyes and I got glasses, mom helped me catch up by helping me with spelling. 100 words at a time! I got put up into the top stream at school. Mom encouraged my artistic endeavours. She would even show people my drawings.

She raised me and my siblings after our father died and went out and did two jobs to support us. She learnt to drive so she could transport us to places. She even took us out to Chinese meals and taught us how to use chopsticks. So many good and odd memories! She raised us to be polite and thoughtful. I am forever in her debt.

Garden nine years ago

Posted on May 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged alliums, Aqualegia, Facebook memories, Gardening, geranium, Memories, Photos, Plants, Tulip2 Comments

We had lots of aqualegias and tulips, geraniums, and alliums. The photos just popped up on my Facebook page. I forgot how much the trees have grown up in the intervening years. We are cutting some of the branches back, to let more light in. The photos were a bit blurred but it was good to see them. Gardening is a lovely pastime. When you get results like this it makes the work worthwhile.

Mostly scientists

Posted on May 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1928, History, Learning, Life, Memories, Physics, robots, Scientists, Time4 Comments

List the people you admire and look to for advice…

Issac Asimov, three laws of robotics

Carl Sagan, pale blue dot, astronomer and scientist

Noel Fitzpatrick, exceptional veterinary surgeon

Marie Curie, discovered Polonium and Radium

Sir Patrick Moore, famous amateur astronomer,

Sir Oliver Lodge, invented the spark plug

Dr Jane Goodall, primatologist

Rosamund Franklin, jointly discovered DNA, British Chemist

David Attenborough, naturalist, broadcaster and environmentalist

Chris Packham, Environmentalist and broadcaster

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, discovered Pulsars

Mary Anning, discovered fossils.

Albert Einstein, General and Special theories of relativity.

Richard Feynman, American physicist. Wrote ‘Surely you’re joking Mr Feynman’ and other books.

Is that a long enough list? I like to try and understand basic science, I don’t know enough, but I try and get some understanding. I think Asimov got me thinking about science at an early age. He not only wrote science fiction, but books about chemistry and other sciences. So I found out about the early chemist’s, physicists and astronomers. By reading his books they introduced me to Carl Sagan, who wrote books such as Cosmos.

At the same time I used to (and still do) watch ‘The sky at night’ on TV. So I learnt a bit about astronomy, but also about people like Jocelyn Bell-Burnell who discovered pulsars, and other scientists including Issac Newton.

David Attenborough introduced me to gorilla’s, in his TV programme ‘life on earth’ and so I heard about Jane Goodall and her work with primates.

Finally in the 1970’s there was a TV series that dramatised the lives of Marie and Pierre Curie. Having read about her in Asimov books it was fascinating to see what she had been doing in the early twentieth century.

It’s a random list, but it helps me explain my interests…

Through the door

Posted on May 5, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Age, Building, conservatory, courtyard, Decay, Garden, History, Memories, Poem, Poetry, RottingLeave a comment

View into a courtyard

What was a conservatory

Glass gone

Now open to the sky…

What happened?

Age and decay

Piled up over time

Timber rotted

And fallen.

But space preserved

Repurposed

Made good

New life

In old building

Learning photoshop 2002

Posted on April 29, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, blocks!, exploded blocks, Fun, Learning, Memories, Photoshop, Profile2 Comments

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!

Directions

Posted on April 20, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A to Z, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1912, Directions, Driving, Lost, Map, Memories, Positive, stranger, Time2 Comments

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.

Bench view?

Posted on April 15, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Age, Bench, bench appreciation, Flowers, Life, Memorial, Memories, Wood, WreathLeave a comment

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!

Robin Hood

Posted on April 9, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Archery, Arrows, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1901, Hollywood, Life, Memories, mock orange, Playing, Robin Hood, Target, Time, TV programmeLeave a comment

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…

Childhood memory

Posted on April 3, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Age, Childhood, Climbing, fearless, Fun, Memories, ropes, School, swing, Tag, Wall barsLeave a comment

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?

Mothers Day

Posted on March 19, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged absence, Family, Father, Hearts, Life, Loss, Love, Memories, Mother, Mothers day, Passed awayLeave a comment

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.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Memories