I was sad to see winter
I want life to be renewed
Green and gold leaves
Pink blossom
Blue sky with fluffy clouds
Pour on a wash of yellow
Daffodils and tulips
Give me Spring!
Now.
Renewed
Tag: Memory
Was that YOU singing?
What was the best compliment you’ve received?
Years ago, I was in my twenties, my friend and I were staying somewhere on a residential course. She was a musician and there was a piano in lounge of the house we were staying in. I asked if I could try singing something (it was before I had singing lessons).
I’d just finished singing ‘Over the Rainbow’ and a man came in. He looked at us both and said to my friend ‘you have a lovely voice’ . To which she replied that it was me that had been singing! Then the man said something like ‘was that YOU singing?’ I think he was surprised because I wasn’t pretty and I had big glasses and probably didn’t look like a singer (what do they look like?). He said ‘you were very good’ again and left! I take that as a big compliment even if it was a bit strange…
The Owl and the Pussycat
Went to sea, in a beautiful pea green boat…
They took some money and plenty of honey, wrapped up in a five pound note….
A nonsense poem by Edward Lear, who also wrote the Dong with the luminous nose and the Yonghie Bonghie Bo. There used to be a TV show in the seventies that included these characters, but the animation was very weird and too colourful if that’s possible with the poems set to odd music, and I’m afraid it actually put me off reading them!
I also get Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll ( who wrote Alice in Wonderland etc) mixed up.
I realised this morning that I have the iconic animals sitting on my bookcase in the bedroom. They are a tiny cat made by an artist friend and an owl I made of clay pressed into a mold. I hadn’t put two and two together before. I guess that anything can spark a chain of memories, there’s a phrase for it in semiotics, about signs and signifiers, but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten it!
Bike before, Car now.
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?
When I was young I could cycle forty miles in three hours (including hills). We once did a hundred mile reliability trial in five and a half hours, we used a tandem. The one we rode on was two bikes welded together. One of the chain wheels was on back to front so a pedal unwound and fell off during the ride.
After I sustained an injury we got a car because my bike was damaged in the accident. It went in to be fixed and the shop lost it! I don’t drive much or very far now. In fact I travel less than I did when we cycled. Most places we go to are only a few miles away unless we go on holiday. I drove less than a thousand miles last year, so I guess my carbon footprint must be low.
No, I don’t use the train. If you go anywhere from Stoke-on-Trent on the train it’s hard to find one that comes back late in the evening so you either can’t spend a long time away or you have to come back the next day. We are also bypassed by the West Coast main line I think…. Bad for a city! Bus? Yes sometimes, but it depends again if there is a bus back and the routes keep getting changed or cancelled. And planes? Are you kidding…. Too scared.
Still there….
The tall chimney tapers
High up in the air
Birds soar around its slender height.
Blustery and white
Clouds scud across the blue
A memorial to ancient potters
Who wheezed in its smoky shadow.
Coughed clay into spittoons
Made and created beauty
Paid little
Working hard
In their race to death.
Not knowing
What makes you most anxious?
The world I’d bleak and I don’t know what to say or think. Words and thoughts churn round in my head. I feel anxiety about not getting something right, something I should have done months ago that could have massive consequences now or in the future.
Because I was focused on myself I didn’t see other people or a person who might have needed my help. It’s six months and the Earth has travelled half way around the Sun. That’s 186,000,000 miles. And now I’ve only just realised I should have been there for someone 186 Million miles ago! I feel idiotic, I feel great anxiety that I will not be forgiven. I feel I have lost a chance where I could have been of help…..
Even now, writing this, it seems a trivial response, too self serving, am I writing something that will help, or to just try and exonerate myself. Guilt and anxiety, mixed emotions and sadness…
Bench?
There is a bench appreciation group that I’ve recently joined. Showing some of the most interesting benches in the UK and around the world. I only joined because my friend invited me and has been posting some beautiful photos. When I looked back on my phone history I only found three pictures out of thousands! This one (which I’ve filtered to hide my hubby) always makes me laugh. There is a shiny wooden bench like a chaise longue? Not sure of spelling. At Trentham Gardens.. It’s hidden inside an arch of several trees. Hubby decided to try it out for size…
Six months…
Six months since I lost you
Six months of sorrow
I don’t remember every day
But milestones on the way
Remind me of a voice lost
A physical presence gone.
When I feel down the loss is greater
I dispare that your life is over.
I still pray for you at night
And I wish with all my might
That you were still here
Even if you were not near
Sister, twin, friend
My love to you
I send.
Would you like Marmite on that?
What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.
I hate marmite. I ate it once when I was a child and I never ate it again. Its a minor hate, it wouldn’t hurt me to eat it, but that’s how I feel about it. So if you asked me if I’d like Marmite on something I would not thank you.
This is why I took so long to answer this prompt. I don’t think I have a real question that I would hate to be asked? I guess there will be something but I haven’t come across it yet. I must lead a sheltered life.
Thinking of a question I would hate to be asked made me realise how lucky I am not to be in a situation where I would need to answer it. I think I will leave this here as I’m starting to waffle!
Snowdonia sketch
Drawing from 2021. I was watching Sky Landscape Artist of the year and I decided to do a drawing of Snowdonia in North Wales. This took half an hour. I have relatives that live near to Snowdon so it’s a place I love. The landscape near where I live is more rolling hills, certainly no mountains nearby.
One of the things about the UK is that there are so many variations in the landscape. Flat, hilly, mountainous, green, forested, heathland, waterlogged, dry, arable, coastal. You can see why people fall in love with it.
Mallaband-Brown 