Not that bad…

Posted on January 16, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Computers, decades ago, Life, Memories, not bad, Pandemic, Thinking, Time, VirusLeave a comment

Lockdown, I can only go out for exercise and do essential shopping.

But when you think about it, it’s not that bad. I’m not stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere with no one to talk to. I am warm, I have food, I cn talk to people on the phone or online. I might be getting a bit bored. But it’s not like in the past, when I was a child. On Sundays everywhere was closed. No one that worked in simple, low paid jobs, could afford a car. Very few eople had tv’s and there was only one channel and a few radio stations. Computers didn’t exist except in universities or in the armed forces. The air was dirty and polluted, coal fires were the norm to heat houses. It was a different world.

Now we are linked? Possibly too much. But if we stay away from each other as much as we can? Things might just get better…

Memories of Boggle Hole

Posted on January 14, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Boggle hole, Life, Memories, North Yorkshire coast, Robin hoods Bay, Sea, tide, Travel, Visit, Youth hostel4 Comments

I was talking to a friend who had got caught in the tide coming in at Boggle Hole a few years ago and I remembered our adventure (not).

Boggle Hole is a small valley on the North Yorkshire coast. There is a Youth Hostel there. A couple of miles north is the pretty (but steep) village of Robin Hoods Bay.

We decided to walk along the beach to the village for a drink and evening meal. We knew we had to be back at Boggle Hole hostel before it locked up for the night. I kept saying we needed to go, and eventually we left the pub. We realised if we climbed the hill and walked along the cliff path it would take too long, so we decided to walk along the beach. This is made up of large slabs of rock and sand. The slabs slope slightly with the bits closest to the land dipping down. A stream runs out of the Boggle Hole valley and then north along the beach then out to sea.

It was starting to get dark and the tide was coming in. We walked, then started to jog. The water was now ankle height so we walked further out where the rock slabs were higher. The stream was backfilling as the seawater ran along it, and it was getting very dark. My hubby had a torch, and we decided to go on as we would never get to the hostel in time.

Suddenly the water was coming in really fast. The water was up to my waist and very cold. My hubby was wading thigh deep as he is a lot taller than me. A glimmer of moonshine showed the headland, we just had to get round it and then we would be on dry land! But the rock dipped down as we waded towards the valley. The stream bed was lower and we had to ford it…..

I was chest deep and starting to panic. Hubby was not much better off. Much more of this and we would have to swim… But the ground was rising as we waded. Soon we were out, freezing and soaking wet. We ran up the path to the hostel and got back with minutes to spare!

After drying off we slept soundly and went back down to the beach as the sun rose. The beautiful sunrise to the East was disturbed by a crashing sound…. Bits of cliff were falling off as the sun dried the earth! That part of the Yorkshire coast is notorious for crumbling. The cliffs are mostly blue mudstone called Blue Lias, where dinosaur bones and ammonites among other things are uncovered by winter storms.

We were young and healthy but I have heard of other people getting caught out at Boggle Hole, but it was a memorable visit!

Boat and hubby

Posted on January 12, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Age, Boat, Decades, Grandfather, Hubby, Memories, Old, Painting, Time, YearsLeave a comment

The boat is probably about 90 years old? The painting of my hubby is about forty years old. You know you are getting on when things you own start to age with you!

Time passes, faster it seems as you get older. Ten years just flew by. I have so much stuff that I have collected over the years. I wish it was displayed beautifully… But its not.

2011

Posted on January 12, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Friends, Landscape, Life, Memories, Pub, Riverside, salts Mill, Sketching, Ten years agoLeave a comment

Visiting my friend in Yorkshire in 2011 just after he moved their. I can’t believe it’s so long ago.

In fact I remember the day we’ll. We went to sit by the river at Salts Mill and called in a riverside pub. We were looking over a cricket pitch and the wooded hills in the background. It was a hot sunny day. I love sketching instead of just taking photos….

Locks

Posted on January 10, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Barges, Boats, Canal, canal lock, Dappled shade, Etruria, Memories, TreesLeave a comment

Lock at Etruria, steps up to the road and over a bridge at the top. When the snow is thick I actually think its easier to walk in than when it’s like this. Slushy and slippery. But snow doesn’t last that long these days. Last year was as hot as 2016, which was the hottest year on record in the UK.

It would be good to take a long walk along the canal in the summer. Under dappled shade from the trees. Watching canal barges and boats putter past with their gaudily painted castles, and roses painted red, gold and green.

Old hands

Posted on January 9, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cycling, Fun, growing old, Happy, Life, Memories, tandem, Time, Together, Wrinkles3 Comments

Old hands hold tight, remember smooth skin when we first met. Remember missing you when you went away. Riding a motor scooter forty miles to go home for the summer, and you cycled after me.

Smelling blossom when we walked home to the student flats. A stolen kiss. Our history, together. The cats we’ve owned, the cycle rides. Buying a tandem, selling a tandem because the chain kept falling off.

Camping at minus 7 near Clitheroe. Snowy nights. Two pairs of trousers and three jumpers under canvas. Bike trailers and cycle clubs.

Life keeps going. Work, houses, learning. We keep together, stay together.

What to do for New Year’s Eve.

Posted on December 29, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Celebrate, Covid, History, Life, Local pub, Memories, New year, New years eve, Time, Virus4 Comments

I guess we won’t be going anywhere this New Year’s eve. And yet that’s not a bad thing. Usually we visited friends to get away from the noise at the pub across the road. They were always rowdy and played very loud music that had such a loud base beat that it shook the house. Dum dum ddiiddi dummmm.. Each year seemed to get worse. I didn’t complain because that’s what people do.

So what shall we do, we might go for a walk in the afternoon if it’s not too icy. I think it would be nice to find our scrabble set, or a chessboard. I do sound like an old fuddyduddy, but I just want to be cautious. Virus news is that the infection is escalating. I’d rather stay in and be safe….

Rose

Posted on December 28, 2020December 28, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Digital art, Digital drawing, Gardening, Life, Memories, Paint, Rose, Rose water, Roses, Scent, Shed, ThinkingLeave a comment

A rose, red as blood. Thorns or thornless, a joyful thing. Here is life and beauty, scent of musk, blooms that attract bees and insects. I remember the rose bush at home when I was a child. It had bright pink roses climbing up some trellis work. We used to collect the petals and try and make scented water out of them. It didn’t really work, but it was fun trying. The rose bush must have been eight or ten feet high and as wide. In the summer the scent was fantastic. I remember it was next to an old shed and the paint on the door was green and bubbling off because of the sunlight. The contrast between the fresh roses and the shed door was so interesting….

Bauble paintings

Posted on December 25, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Bauble, Christmas, Glass bauble, Memories, Painting, Ribbon, Tree decoration2 Comments

One of my bauble paintings that I did a few years ago. I did quite a few of them and they were only two inches by three. I was trying to paint old fashioned glass baubles. You don’t get them much these days. Sometimes they had a curved hollow in them with a reflective surface so they glittered in the light of fairy lights. It was a memory from forty or fifty years ago. Old fashioned and nice…..

Acrylic on canvas, with ribbon on the back so they can be hung on a Christmas tree.

Getting ready?

Posted on December 22, 2020December 22, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Christmas, Covid, Foid, Life, Lunch, Memories, Missing friends, Planning, Turkey, WorldLeave a comment

Thinking about Christmas. Or any other festival. I would usually be getting ready to travel to see my relatives on Christmas day, or for them to come to us. Only a small group of us, between three and four depending if there is another guest. Then Christmas lunch would be turkey with sausage meat and stuffing, roast potatoes and parsnips, peas and sprouts. Plus gravy. Not interested in bread sauce or cranberries. Our lunch then over we open presents and chat, watch some TV. Maybe go for a walk. In the evening the meal is a salad with some cold meat. I guess I should apologise for this. I know vegetarians and vegans and I do feel guilty. It’s our family tradition, but perhaps it’s time to change.

As the Christmas celebration arrives I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth tidying up and preparing lots of food. There are only two of us this year. Life changes and you have to go with it….funny how describing it for us is all about food and not the religious reason. How strange. I didn’t mention presents either. I’ve got too much stuff. I don’t think I need more!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Memories