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.

Sleep

Posted on January 31, 2025January 31, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, Dictionary, Dream, learning to relax, Memory, Sleeping, Thinking, Tired, Words2 Comments

Somehow I’ve learnt to relax, I’m getting better at letting my muscles loosen and feeling so tense.

I was talking to someone and they suggested thinking of a word of at least 7 letters. Maybe omnibus? the idea then is to take each individual letter, one at a time, and think of several words starting with that letter. For instance:

Oval

Occipital

Organic

Oscillating

Overall

Then the next letter…

Mobile

Manic

Masters

Malleable

And so on. Because you are thinking of different words it takes your mind off anything else, mostly be the time I get to the third letter I’ve got to sleep. Think of a new word each time, it seems to work.

Photographs, Esther Chiltons weekly prompt.

Posted on January 30, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Crying, Esther Chiltons weekly prompt, Happy, Hubby, Life, Memory, Photograph, smilingLeave a comment

I wrote this about her prompt.

My precious photos are of and with my hubby. Sometimes I sit and cry, sometimes I laugh at silly memories. Photographs captured that moment when we walked across a stream. When we returned hours later the tide had come in and the stream was a deep salt water channel. I lost my bike pump into the water and when I got it out to use again it had gone rusty. Photos can be like that. They can fade. And memory fades too, so photos make it easier not to forget.

I want to go

Posted on January 29, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Coast, Feelings, Holiday, Loss, Memory, Mountains, Sadness, Seaside, Time, Travel, VisitLeave a comment

To Wales, and the lake district, and Scarborough, and Devon and Dorset. All the places I’ve been on holiday in my life. I want to ESCAPE! Get to beautiful places, see the coast, the mountains, get out of the city.

I can’t get away to the sea and sky. My mind won’t let me, my arms won’t let me, my legs won’t let me. I get worried, I think of things that might happen. I need to have company. Isn’t that strange? When I had my hubby we went everywhere together. Now he’s gone there is no one to reassure me. To make it safe. I’m fed up. Anxious, frustrated, lost, fearful.

Sorry to go on.

Carpet

Posted on January 26, 2025January 26, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged 1993, carpets, cellar, Fine Art, front room, Life, Memory, Old House, Painting, TimeLeave a comment

Section of a painting I did about 1993. It’s interesting to look at how I painted the pattern on the carpet. It was actually a large rug on a terracotta and black tiled floor. This was in our old rented house which was quite delapidated. The cellar underneath this room was very wet and the mortar was rotting. It was held up by an acroprop and you could see the floor was bowing downward so we didn’t use the room much and I used it as a studio. When you changed a light bulb you needed to take insulation tape with you. The wire was cloth covered and would fall off when you changed the bulb. There’s a lot I could say about that old house, but that’s it for now. It is funny how a painting can evoke so many memories.

Tents moment

Posted on January 25, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Anglesey, Car, Fish and chips, Food, frame tent, Holiday, Memory, red wharf Bay, Tea, tent, Wales5 Comments

I put a five man frame tent up once with my hubby. We’d borrowed it because ours was worn out. It was only when we had finished putting it up that we realised the curtains were on the outside! It took another hour to redo it. The thing was huge with complicated bedrooms to hang from the internal frame. It had taken an effort to get in the boot of the car it was so heavy.

We were on holiday for a week at Red wharf Bay in Anglesey, hubby also managed to back the car over my best saucepan, which was annoying because we only had a couple of small pots to cook in until we could buy a replacement. I think we went to the local pub down by the bay and had delicious fish and chips and a pint of beer for tea. (So there was an upside after a frustrating afternoon).

Wooden

Posted on January 23, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, Beech, Carpenter, elm, Grandfather, Life, Memory, Pine, symmetrical, Walnut, Wood2 Comments

Sliced wood. How do you make a veneer for furniture? Cut through a slice of wood four times, glue it onto some backing wood like pine and add three more pieces rotated so the result is a symmetrical pattern.

This is what my grandfather, who was a carpenter, did for my mom and dad as a wedding present. He gave them two wardrobes, one large and the other smaller. He used a carcass of probably elm or beech and then used Walnut, polished and stained to a dark glossy finish. They were beautiful. As a child I used to go and look at them. The pattern and colour enthralled me.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Memory