Working in a care home

Posted on March 9, 2025March 9, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged carer, coping, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1865, Learning, Memory, older people, Thinking, TimeLeave a comment

What experiences in life helped you grow the most?

Understanding how people cope as they grow older is important to me. I worked as a carer after I finished college for a few years. When you work with people doing the job you learn about aging, mental health issues, loneliness, coping with disability, loss and other issues. You also find that some carers are more caring than others. Some people should not be allowed in to work with clients.

I worked in two different places and the clients were more disabled at the second home, but everyone worked hard to support them. My favourite memories were shows we put on for the residents. One Christmas we did a talent show. I wore a fur coat, tinsel, a home made tutu and blue wellies. I then tried to dance the swan lake ballet, at the end I had someone come on and shoot me with a pretend gun! I came second to two carers miming “sisters” from White Christmas. They were dressed up and were very good, but one of their wigs fell off and I think that’s what won it for them..

When you are on a low wage, part time contract, you really understand how hard life can be and caring for older people teaches you how complex life is.

In Car news…

Posted on February 21, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged anxious, Car, car door, Fixed, Lock, Mechanic, Memory, OK now, update, Window lock, WorryLeave a comment

On Tuesday night I got trapped in my car. I booked it in a garage to try and get it fixed. The mechanic came and took the car this morning but came back in less than an hour. They said the lock and window are now working. They think the window lock button might have got knocked accidentally? Also the door opens now? I hope it’s just reset itself, but it makes me nervous, I might have to try and visit friends and make sure they are in if I visit. I will also have my phone at the front of the car so I can get to it straight away. If I decide to drive myself to the shops I might need someone to let me out!

Magnified

Posted on February 9, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Art challenge, Drawing, Facebook, Life, Memory, search, SketchingLeave a comment

9.2.25 looking or searching for inspiration.
#bandofsketchers prompt was search. Haven’t done this much for months. Biro in a sketchbook.

It’s a prompting challenge I used to do on Facebook but things got on top of me. Maybe I’ll be able to get into it again. X

Greyhound

Posted on February 8, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Calendar, court, Dog, Greyhound, Home, Life, Memory, Penkhull, Photograph, Public houseLeave a comment

Local public house, the Greyhound pub in Penkhull. This was another of the photos that I got into this year’s calendar. It’s another thing that is helping raise money for the village hall that was flooded a few months ago when an old water tank in the roof burst. Luckily the place was cleaned up and dried out quite quickly.

The pub was a local court for Penkhull manor a few centuries ago, and though you cannot see it here, it appears to be tudor in origin though I don’t know for certain.

I was so pleased to hear that I had got 3 photos in the calendar. If there is another competition this year I will try again.

Chair yoga

Posted on February 4, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged chair yoga, Good for you, Meditation, Memory, poses, Relaxation, Stretching, Virus, YogaLeave a comment

Can’t find a photo in the free media library of chair yoga but anyway….

I finally made it back to our yoga class after weeks of virus and feeling very ill. I was shocked at how tired it made me feel. I think I’ve lost muscle strength and did most of the poses on the chair. My balance has got worse so I clung on to the back of the chair for support for standing poses.

Yoga relaxation was good tonight, we had to imagine a place only we knew to be our secret retreat to rest our minds and bodies. I chose a place far back in my memories. I won’t say where, but I have got an ideal place to visit in my mind.

Look after yourselves. X

Decluttering

Posted on February 3, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Clutter?, Collection, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1837, Life, Marbles, Memory, Poem, Poetry, StuffLeave a comment

Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.

I haven’t lost my marbles, yet!

Or any other thing!

To spring clean or not?

But my stuff is mine

It comforts me

Makes me feel whole.

It’s there on my list

Things to do

Choose books to keep

And to loose.

But I can’t move

I am stuck

In sadness and grief

Unable to change my life.

Cat behind fishtank

Posted on February 2, 2025 Posted in Cat, Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Cat, Time, Memory, Goldfish, Black and white cat, Paw, Oil on board, fishtank, oval, 1980's fine artLeave a comment

A painting I did in the 1980s when we still had our beautiful mainly white cat. She would sit and watch the goldfish in the tank, sometimes raising a paw as if to try and catch them, but the tank had a lid and a pump so they were perfectly safe.

I painted this on a board that used to have a mirror attached to it but that was long gone. I used oil paint I think, it gets absorbed into the wood rather than sitting on the surface like acrylics. It’s about 2 ft long and is hung in the living room above the archway that divides the room in half. I often look up at it and smile at the memories it brings.

Remembering Autumn

Posted on February 2, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Cold, Dark, Flood, Hibernate, Leaves, Memory, Storm, Sunlight, Trees, Wet, Wind, WinterLeave a comment

It’s been a few months since the sun shone for any length of time. The colours of the trees was glorious in places, others blew away in strong winds.

Winter has been mostly grey and overcast, interspersed with storms that have swept across the country blowing over trees, damaging buildings, flooding farmland and towns and villages. We have had snow, hail and rain and dark days as well as nights. Spring won’t be here till March. So I think I’ll hibernate again

Four leaves

Posted on February 1, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged clover, Description, dew, Four, Green, Leaves, Life, Memory, Poem, Poetry, Rain, three, Time, WaterLeave a comment

Four leaf clover,

just green and neat.

Splattered with dew or rain

Contrasted against black

How to describe it more?

Thin stem from its centre

Leaves splayed out lobes.

Striped with thin veins

Each curved gently

Upper surface dips downward

Four fan shaped

Instead of the usual three

Lucky?

Memory of the one I found….

Work computer

Posted on February 1, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Computer, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1835, defragment, fax, green letters, Keyboard, Memory, Mouse, WorkLeave a comment

Write about your first computer.

I had a work computer before one at home. The screen was covered in green writing to add information. There were no pictures, you had to use a mouse and keyboard. If you wanted to get on the Internet you had to use a modem. That made funny squeaky noises when it commented. I remember we had to defragment the computer every few months. That meant spending ages waiting for all the files on the computer to defragment. But you had to watch it so you could click a button at the end. I also remember you had to send information by fax.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Memory