Owl and pussycat

Posted on September 15, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, Author, Carroll, Jabberwocky, Lear, Memories, Owl, Poetry, pussycat, reminiscences, ThinkingLeave a comment

Looking at random things in the house. On my bookcase upstairs these two friends. I think I put them together because they remind me of Edward Lears poem.

The owl and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat.

They took some honey and plenty of money wrapped up in a five pound note…..

Which is the female and which is the male? I don’t know, is it important? I don’t remember the full poem and I often get it mixed up with Lewis Carrolls Jabberwocky poem.

It’s amazing what pops up in your memory when you see things. I have a good visual memory and that helps when I’m painting. I often talk to myself if I’m trying to remember what something looks like or how it’s put together. X

Long day

Posted on September 4, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged antibiotics, frazzled, Health, Illness, Ivy, Life, Memories, Thinking, Time, Tired, Window2 Comments

My upstairs stairs window.

My life had been quiet during the last few weeks. Long boring days, my ivy has been growing and I can trace it’s growth in my memory, almost like watching paint dry. I need to get someone in to help.

My brain was frazzled by the heat and now it’s getting cold I’m more interested in keeping warm and cozy. The cats keep me company, either on my lap or on the bed. The last three days have been worse, the skin on my legs is sore and I’m starting a course of antibiotics tomorrow. I think I have a temperature. I’ve been too stationary with not being able to drive so I think I need bucking up a bit. I’ll try and do a bit of walking tomorrow. Fingers crossed I’ll feel more myself soon. X

Going over

Posted on September 3, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Flowers, Hanging baskets, Life, Memories, Photo, Poem, Poetry, Season, waning yearLeave a comment

Into autumn

Hanging baskets wilting

Blue skies

Turn grey

Night comes sooner

Each day

Life persists

Autumn gives some gifts

Fruit so mellow

Mists and fungi

Changing seasons

All below

A stormy sky!

I don’t know

Posted on August 20, 2025August 20, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2037, Life, Meaning, Memories, Name, Prompt, surname, Thinking, WordsLeave a comment

Where did your name come from?

When I was little I thought Mal-la-band meant the bad band in French. I convinced myself that it meant the bad band. Although that perhaps would have read “La band mal?”

I imagined myself as a part of a band of pirates, sailing the seven seas, looking for buried treasure and adventure.

Mal and Mer mixed up in my mind, I was quite young and I also thought it meant a bad sea or stormy sea.

As I learnt to spell my name I became aware that other children were taking the micky out of me. There was a type of margarine called “Blueband” and guess what exciting word kids in my school would call me? Yeah, you got it.

But when I got married I kept my original surname along with my hubbys. I didn’t want to lose it. I’m attached.

And it’s meaning? I don’t want to know. I just like my ideas.

Ten?

Posted on August 18, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2035, Films, heros, Life, Memories, Prompt, Ten films6 Comments

What are your top ten favorite movies?

How to choose ten movies?

I can’t imagine putting these in any order, and they won’t be profound or too subtle. I’m a sucker for weepy films, but I like interesting ones too.

1, Always, a fire fighter crashes his plane and dies, then haunts his girlfriend as she finds a new love.

2. Close encounters of the third kind. Friendly aliens arrive on Earth and one man gets to go off with them.

3. The theory of everything. The story of the life of Sir Stephen Hawking.

4.Its a beautiful life. The tale of how a man’s life was changed for the better, and how Clarence earned his wings!

5. Harvey. Where is that giant white rabbit?

6. How to train your dragon. The original animated film of the book by Cresdida Cowell.

7. The sound of music, a nunnery, a governess, love and escape from the Nazis.

8. Ring of bright water. A story of otters, watched as a child.

9. Hidden figures, the story of how 3 African American women were working for NASA. They were deeply involved in the Moon landings and beyond.

10. Lawrence of Arabia. I saw it years ago and fell in love with Peter O’Toole.

That was quite painless. Tomorrow I might choose differently.

Bird

Posted on August 16, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, ArtRage app, Digital drawing, Drawing, Memories, Sketching2 Comments

I’ve suddenly got back to drawing on our bandofsketchers group. I lost confidence with my health issues and problems with my eyesight. I didn’t feel the same way about the challenges and so let it slip.

But I saw what my friends are doing and decided to have another go. This bird comes under the prompt ‘new’. I decided to do something in a new style in Artrage. I hope you like it.

Books

Posted on August 10, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Books, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2026, Hubby, Life, Memories, sales, Shop, stall, Thinking1 Comment

If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

Because then I could get rid of a few! I have over 1000 but some are a bit obscure, and some were my hubby’s… Huge books about planes, submarines, ships, bicycles, cars. Also books about the second world war. Then there are my collections of old science fiction books, I don’t necessarily want to keep them all. I don’t want to get rid of them all, so my book shop would actually be a stall that I can easily pack up and take away (except they weigh a ton).

Upside down

Posted on August 8, 2025August 8, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Black and white, chest x-ray, Image, Knowledge, Learning, Life, Memories, upside down, x-rayLeave a comment

There’s nothing worse or funnier than seeing a supposed doctor ot medic looking at an x-ray upside down. These chest x-rays are an example.

I was watching a TV show and saw what I knew was wrong. This is why we need to learn, to be educated. If you don’t have knowledge how is it possible to learn. It a trivial example, but worth considering. Meanwhile I’m still chuckling!

Not a real loaf

Posted on July 27, 2025July 27, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Alice Beech, Bread, last performance, life food, Memories, Music, Opera, Scene, Soprano, Time2 Comments

Dough used by the soprano, Rosie (playing Alice) who was in the Alice Beech scene in Who is Molly Leigh? On the scene she pretends to make penny loaves for the widows and orphans of Burslem. When she passes away she bequeaths her cottage to Alice. The scene shows Alice baking and donating penny loaves to the poor.

One of the props every performance was some dough so she had something to represent the work at baking she did while she was singing her part. This was left over at the end of the Opera so I decided to make it into a Cottage loaf shape! No yeast involved and not cooked.

You need hands

Posted on July 22, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged B'arts, clothes rail, Coat hanger, Design, Hands, hat stand, Life, Memories, Photo1 Comment

I saw this today, a clothes rail that had hand shapes to hook coats or hats on. I spoke to our choir leader at teatime and as we were chatting I mentioned I liked the funky design…. Turned out her ex husband had made it years ago! It was a commission made for a business man, but when his firm closed it came back to the Barts building and is used for costumes.

My question, how on earth did I pick up on this link without ever knowing about it intuition?

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Memories