New paintings and regular art updates.
Our senior school was amalgamated with another one and so they decided to to rebuild science and craft blocks and a sports block with a swimming pool! The great thing was that we got to do life saving skills as well as learning to canoe!
That was the time years ago when governments spent money on schools and education…. And it was good because children who couldn’t afford it got to learn to swim. I wish that austerity hadn’t cur so many services now.
Most of the leaves have fallen. Now we are at the start of winter there is a bit more to see. The Holly Bush is getting in the way though. The bright sunshine and blue sky have gone. Today there is persistent rain gushing down from the sky with threats of snow. As far as I’m concerned I would sleep through winter and wake up in the spring if it stays as bad as this!
About fifty years ago I used to watch ‘Flipper’ on the TV. A 1960’s show it was all about the adventures of a dolphin called Flipper. I didn’t know then that there was more than one dolphin and I think I remember reading they were not well looked after during filming?
I remember finding a book in the library called ‘Dolphin Island’ by Arthur C Clarke. It had the effect of waking an interest in science in me. I remembered a boy being shipwrecked and rescued by dolphins. He ends up on a Pacific Island and goes through several more adventures until the inevitable happy ending.
Recently someone mentioned the book so I decided to order a second hand copy. What I got was bitter sweet memories. The book was a lot shorter than I remembered. I read it in a couple of nights. The adventures that had been in it are now seen through older eyes. Where I had been on the edge of my seat, the tension was no longer there. It was still interesting, and I would love to know if there is any chance of finding a dolphin language. But I don’t think I will re-read it. This is an old fashioned Children’s Book. Give me 2001 a space odessey any day.
Featuring a painting by my artist friend Charlie Walker. The other, little yellow rose, is one of mine.
Who needs insulation when you have lots of books? Well I only have them lining one wall so I guess we do. I did start counting them once, but when I got to 1000 I gave up. Some of them are unreachable because they are too high up. I sometimes get the step ladders out if I notice one I’d like to read again. I have my favourites, including sci-fi and fantasy, biography and science books. I’m about to start a book about the history of Jodrell Bank Radio telescope.
There are books by Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke that I like. I also enjoy books by Terry Pratchett. I think that’s because I read some them when I was at school so I have that memory ingrained in me. I remember reading Arthur C Clarke Dolphin Island when I was young. It enthralled me. I read it again recently but it had lost some of its magic. I guess some of the fantastic things he talked about dont seem as amazing in the modern world….
Oh, I don’t know what is wrong with me, I just feel sad. I’m fed up with things, the cat has got another appointment at the vets. I think I need to see them too! My shoulder aches, although the exercises I’m doing really are helping. I just want to talk to someone new, or an old friend, but I don’t want to bother them with my worries. I find myself staying indoors, keeping myself to myself, ignoring my hubby who comes up with grandiose ideas and I can’t keep up with him. Anyway enough moaning… Take care everyone. Have a good weekend.
Of all the seasons I remember autumn’s the most. Walking in the ark as a child, kicking my legs through piles of dry leaves, or slashing in puddles of water with soggy leaves sticking to my wellies. Looking at faces in gnarled trees, seeing if I could see Halloween witches. Sitting under the remaining few leaves of a weeping willow. Wondering when it would be clothed again. Time then was slow. Six months took a year….
My friend went to the Wassail in 2018 wearing his tricorn hat and a plague mask! Completely coincidental, but I just found this while clearing old photos off my phone, so spooky I had to share it.
We were sitting on a balcony, looking out over a lake in North Yorkshire. A glass of wine, a comfy chair. The hotel had cabins as well as rooms, all made of wood like American or Canadian log cabins. We had been out for the day to the Yorkshire sculpture park and had driven from there North and East so we could drive over the massive suspension bridge over the river Humber. We then took the road West through Hull and back down towards Otley and the river Wharfe where we had a meal in an italian restaurant overlooking the river, we had a delicious fish meal with pasta and salad, I still remember it. Finally back to where the hotel sits a few miles outside of the town of Shipley. We only stayed a couple of nights, but it was warm and friendly. I would go again, as soon as we can after the virus has faded into a distant memory (hopefully). I need a break. But only when it’s safe.
My mom came and saw me at college one September and made me promise not to move in with my boyfriend till after Christmas. I moved in in the October! With a lot of ups and downs we are still together forty years later.. We hate and love each other! I think the wedding vows have it right, sickness and health, richer and poorer. It gives you a clue that the world is not perfect and that you have to work at relationships. Sometimes it doesn’t work, sometimes it does… I guess we were lucky…
This was last year I think…. Memories of madness…. And fun!
One thing I am missing on TV is Doctor Who. I’m old and I watched the original series back in the 1960’s from behind the settee. The creatures that scared me the most were the Daleks and the Cybermen.
The sets they filmed on were a bit wobbly, but then you suspended disbelief when you were a child, in the same way that some if the special effects on Star Trek were a bit naff with polystyrene rocks….
This photo was a few years ago at a railway station where someone had bought the dalek and a model of the tardis. Strange but true.
X
Mallaband-Brown