Looking forward

Posted on February 8, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged England, Learning, Memories, Music, musicals, Penkhull, Poster, Rehearsing, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Spring will be well underway when we perform for one night only in St Thomas’s church Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent

We had a good rehearsal yesterday, we sang a song from the film Grease full of wop bada do wop a bing bang boom! Or something like that. It’s so fast my tongue was tripping over the words, but it got better as we went on. Then we sang the oompah pah song from Oliver! Fun and good for stretching your lungs. There will be much more to learn over the following weeks. My music sheet shakes when I hold it, I might need a music stand!

Cycling

Posted on January 29, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged bloganuary, bloganuary-2024-29, Cycling, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1832, Hubby, isle of Man, Mark Cavendish, Memories, Tour de FranceLeave a comment

What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

I love cycling, it’s been a while since I did any, but I still love it on TV. The tour de France, the tour of Britain, the Vuelta, I try and catch all of them when I can.

I think Mark Cavendish was a brilliant sprinter. He won more stages than any other cyclist in the history of the tour. I think it was 35 over 15 years. He’s from the isle of Man and represented it well.

I like the female tours aswell but they aren’t as well publicised and I’m not sure who the best racers are.

I remember riding down hills and trying to keep up with my hubby who was very fast. He even came third in a big race once against tricyclists. He was the real cyclist, but I’m glad he got me into the sport.

Full memory again

Posted on January 21, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, Blog, deleted, files, Media, Memories, Photos, Posts, Time, WordPress5 Comments

My phone is full of photos and my WordPress account is too. I want to add new images but my blog tells me my media file is full. What can I do? I have to delete previous photos from my previous posts.

So if you read one of my blogs and it doesn’t have a photo to illustrate it, that’s the reason why. I could delete the actual blogs but I don’t know how to do it?

Winter sun

Posted on January 21, 2025January 21, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Dusting, glass ornaments, Ivy, January, Light, Memories, Sunlight, Tired, Window, WindowsillLeave a comment

Sun glancing through the stairs window in January. I don’t have a window cleaner and the ivy is growing up and in the way and the glass ornaments on the windowsill. But I like the chaotic jumble of colour and shadow. I’m not very organised about anything anymore. By the time I’ve walked upstairs I’m ready to fall over. Dusting? I haven’t done that in a while. I need to get my act together. Anyway not much else to be said.

Dawn branches

Posted on January 19, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Branches, Hemisphere, incollage, Life, Memories, North, Photo, South, Time, Trees, Waiting, YearLeave a comment

Dawns coming a little earlier everyday. It’s almost a month since the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere (getting dark slightly earlier in the South).

I only really feel the year has turned when there’s still a bit of light in the sky at 5pm. I remember work days when I would go to the work in the dark and home in the dark. I’m just waiting, hoping for sunlight and warmth.

Glass ornaments

Posted on January 18, 2025January 18, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Glass, glass blowing, holidays, isle of wight, Lens, Memories, paper weights, SunlightLeave a comment

I collect glass paperweights, I have them in a windowledge but out of direct sunlight because if they cause a lens effect they can create a fire! Some people have had this happen and I don’t intend to experience the same.

I started collecting them in the 1980’s when I was given two in exchange for a painting. I must have 20 or 30 dotted around the house. They are very dusty, I don’t move them much because they are quite heavy.

If you ever get to see glass blowing it’s worth it. I found it fascinating when we visited a workshop on the isle of Wight one year.

Four years ago

Posted on January 17, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Bacon, brown sauce, Cheese, delicious, Food, Memories, Oatcake, Ode to the Oatcake, TastyLeave a comment

According to Facebook memories four years ago I was feeling rough so my dear hubby went out and got me a cheese and bacon oatcake. It doest look appetising but with cooked bacon and mature cheddar with a hint of brown sauce, the Oatcake was folded in half, hot and tasty.

We used to have the occasional oatcake over the months, it’s a local delicacy. As the artist, author and poet Arthur Berry wrote :

Ode to the Oatcake: 1980

Let us pay homage to the Oatcake.
Or Otcake or woodcake as the old men called them.
The Oatcake is not a cake at all really.
Not like the fairy cake or the Eccles cake.
Not a cake in that way.
More of a Potteries Popadum [sic]
A sort of Tunstall Tortilla.
A Clay Suzzette.

Hubbys tricycle

Posted on January 14, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Antique, Bike, Conversion, For sale, Fun, Memories, new wheels, restored, Tricycle, TrikeLeave a comment

I need to move on. I’m not going to ride this and I’m not sure if anyone will buy it. It’s a trike conversion. The back wheels and stays are bolted onto a bike frame so it can be adjusted to different sizes. We refurbished it, adding new wheels in 2022. A friend has stored it for me for over a year but it’s not fair to expect him to keep it.

So with regret I will try and sell it. If anyone here is interested I’m in the North Midlands of the UK. I’m willing to sell for a fair price.

Nursery rhymes remembered

Posted on January 13, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Childhood, Manchester, Memories, Nursery rhymes, nutmeg, Opie, Pear, Poem, Poetry, Salford, seesaw, Songs, TimeLeave a comment

I had a little nut tree

Nothing would it bear

But a silver nutmeg

And a golden pear

The king of Spains daughter

Came to visit me

And all for the sake

Of my little nut tree.

Funny how your mind looks for something interesting when it’s got nothing to do. I used to know a lot of nursery rhymes when I was a little child. This one I would say is well known? But who knows this one that I used to sing when I was on a seesaw.

Seesaw, Marjorie Daw

Jenny shall have a new master,

She shall have but a penny a day

Because she can’t work any faster!

I want to try and remember more. A couple in Manchester or Salford? Collected a lot of rhymes and children’s songs in the early 1900s. I think their surname was Opie. I’m sure there’s more information about it on line. They found that a rhyme sung in the south of England could travel to the North of Scotland in about two weeks by word of mouth (pre telephone).

Tree across the road

Posted on January 11, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Colour, Drawing, Green, Life, Memories, Over the road, Sketching, TreeLeave a comment

The tree across the road a few years ago. Covered in ivy. This was drawn for an old #bandofsketchers prompt. The prompt was ivy.

I haven’t been doing these challenges for a few months. I think I ought to try again. It seems a shame that I stopped but life has been getting me down. Art is a great cure for sadness I think. I’ll try again soon.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Memories