Tag: Prompt

Queen Elizabeth the First

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Who is your favorite historical figure?

I wish I could share a picture of Queen Elizabeth 1st, but as I’ve previously explained my Internet is down.

I learnt about the Eliabethans at school, and became obsessed with their clothing. I loved trying to draw and paint the ruffs they wore round their necks and the splits the rich Eliabethans had in their clothes to show the underlying cloth.

I was interested in the history of the Queen too, not just her clothes. Her court of figures such as Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Frances Drake. She was monarch when King Philip of Spain tried to Invade England with the Spanish Armada but was beaten by Drake if I remember correctly.

She never married and was one of the longest reigning monarchs of Britain. She was known as the Virgin Queen. Shakespeare may have written plays for her. But I don’t know the actual facts.

An old mug

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What’s the oldest thing you own that you still use daily?

I still use an old mug that I’ve had for over twenty years. There’s a small crack in the top of the handle that flexes slightly when I pick it up if it’s full. One day I think it will either get broken in the washing up bowl or when I pick it up. Hopefully the first option as I don’t want a lap full of decaff!

I do use it virtually everyday but I can’t find it now so I’ve used a stock photo that looks like it. It’s like goldilocks, just the right size for a drink, not too much, not too little. The handle fits my hand just right.

I don’t know the manufacturer, but it’s likely to be local as I live in an area called “the potteries”. You can tell people are from here. They lift up pottery and look underneath for the manufacturer’s mark (backstamp). It’s so well known that its called the “turn over club”!

Truth

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What are you passionate about?

I like truth, I always have, I heard a story when I was little, about a boy that chopped down a tree but owned up to it when asked as he couldn’t tell a lie… I think that was a boy who became an American president.

How ironic that a recent president posts on a website called Truth, but that isn’t necessarily being honest (is this where I say allegedly?).

Why am I passionate about it? It actually makes me feel ill not to be honest. I was bought up as a Christian and although I’m now agnostic, I still feel deeply that truth is  important. I feel that people should know the truth about things. The problem with that though is that different people have different truths! I was recently listening to 1984 by George Orwell and it did strike a chord about how the masses can be controlled. Life is difficult and truth is important to me.

I don’t know?

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If humans had taglines, what would yours be?

What a question! Taglines are used as short snappy phrases to sell things through advertising. So is this prompt suggesting we should advertise ourselves?

Mine could be “confused and chaotic”, but would that give people a full picture of my real personality. I guess taglines could be like the “What three words” app. As every three meters square is located on the planet, it means that a house can have multiple words to define it’s location. It’s up to the user to choose which ones they want to use.

My three words could be:

HARP APPLE DEVELOPMENT

ALGAR EVENT SUNSHINE

BEVEL CRUTCH DOSES

SCAN FOOT DOMED?

By the time you’ve gone all through them, disliked them, wished they could be changed, you’ve forgotten what you were choosing them for?

So my tagline will be something random

MILDEW SCORCH FERVENT!

Myself

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Who do you spend the most time with?

It’s 6 months since he went (almost exactly). 6 months alone. Finding my way. The rest of my life? I was always with someone. Being a support and supporting. Now.. I see to myself and try and help others where I can.

When I do spend time with others it’s with good friends or members of groups that do activities I enjoy. But sometimes, I just want to be alone.

I guess I could live as a recluse, or alone on a desert island? I might not be good at finding food though. I would need someone to drop me off supplies or have a mild environment where plentiful food grew all year round. But how would I know what was safe to eat or drink? I’d need sterilising tablets or fire to boil water. Life isn’t simple when you are alone. Even in the simplest of environments. And when you live in an industrial society you are too estranged from real life and real survival skills.

My life is in a brick and mortar cave. I can survive here, but I still need to maintain it, look after it. Life is constantly changing. I appreciate company.

3 books

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List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?

My list are:

The first: Old Yeller (can’t remember the author)

I read this when I was about 10 or 11. I had only ever read gentle children’s adventures and Old Yeller is the story of an old dog that has caught rabies. I remember being shocked by the story, by the descriptions of what happened. It was the first book that felt realistic and not safe. I’m glad I read it as it opened my mind to the world.

The second : The Plague Dogs, by Richard Adams.

Set in a laboratory where dogs and other animals are experimented on, two dogs join forces and escape. Lost on the Cumbria fells they eventually meet “the Tod” a fox, a wily character. All three animals are being hunted by the lab and the police who have dubbed them “the plague dogs” because of scaremongering by the press. Will they escape ?

(Richard Adams also wrote Watership Down.)

The book influenced my style of writing, there is a section in one chapter on how to write a newspaper article. The book also gave me an idea of how animals can suffer at the behest of mankind.

The third book is: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood.

I read it in the 1980s before it was very famous. I’ve seen the TV series which is far more in depth than the original book. As a young woman I was shocked by the mysogeny of the world the women in it lived in. I saw it as a warning and never believed that anything like it could happen in the real world? And yet so many things have happened that seem to want to drag women back to the home and dispel the rights they have fought long and hard for.

I would recommend all of these books if you want to open your eyes to different ideas.

Caring

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What quality do you value most in a friend?

What would I have done without the caring nature of my friends? Each time I have been down there have been caring words that have helped to bring me back up.

No one turned against me, no one ignored me. They were all there in one way or another. Life can throw bad things at you and your family and friends, so we all need to care for each other. And why not? No one should think they are superior to others. What would life be like if people didn’t care for one another? I don’t want to find out! Support and kindness are two other great qualities to value.

Glass paperweights

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Do you have any collections?

It started small, two paperweights in blue and red with gold and silver leaf surrounded by clear glass globes. I loved the way the centres were embedded and I’ve always thought they look like small planets.

The skill and attention of the glass blowers that made them sparked an interest that has stayed with me, so every so often I will treat myself to a new one.

They have to be sturdy because the windowledge they are on to catch the light is also my cats favourite sun trap, so they have been knocked off onto the floor a few times “thud”, but no breakages luckily.

Also luckily they have not acted as lenses and heated up or set fire to anything! Always check it’s safe to place them. I wouldn’t put them where they can act as magnifying glasses to focus bright sunlight. My window is shaded by trees.

I have other collections but this could get quite boring!

Cat

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Of course it had to be a mad digital cat drawn in Artrage with metallic and non metallic pens. #bandofsketchers prompt was Animal.

Artrage is a fun app to use, you can try various tools like oil paint, spray paint, pens, different brushes and pastel. The brush sizes can be varied on a sliding scale and you can change the amount of metallic and non metallic paint you use. There was a free version, Artrage oils. I don’t know if it’s still available.