New paintings and regular art updates.
Yesterday in Newcastle under Lyme for the Christmas lights opening. A large reindeer puppet strolled round the town centre. It’s movements steered by three puppeteers, directing it’s head downwards so that young children could stroke it’s nose. The head was lit up and you could see it’s eyes blink.
It was a lovely and beautiful sight. I think it was made by BArts.
Singing reindeer bringing some cheer…
We went off to a garden centre today to get some pyracantha and roses to add to our hedge, we are bulking it up because it looks like there was another attempt last night to get in. I feel like we are under seige.
Hubby nailed some fence boards back in place and we also bought a lot of chicken wire to go above the bamboo screening we have put in. Spiky Pyracantha will go next to all this. Making it more robust.
We heard Christmas music as we were searching for plants, and these animatronic reindeer made me laugh and cheered me up!
One of the problems with sleeping on the sofa… It’s already occupied!
My feet are at this end and the cat thinks it’s great to get in the way. He likes to snuggle in the corner. I added the knitted reindeer for scale. He’s a big cat!
Dawn is a coming
The sleigh is halfway
On its route around
The world.
Up and down continents
North and South
From East to west
He flies.
Pulled by reindeer
Under radar
Over phone lines.
Past startled cats.
Waking birds too
For an early
Dawn chorus.
Santa’s sleigh
Is on its way!
Reflecting again
Houses climb the hill
Roses and ivy climb the walls
Snow dusted hedges
And bright shining rooves
I can almost hear
Reindeer hooves
Clambering over
Cold icy snow.
Imagine a landscape
Frozen below.
Drawings found in a cupboard today. They are of Fly Agaric toadstools. No date to say when I did them so it must be several years ago. The drawing is unfinished, so it might be when we were moving house? I found some paints at the same time….
This would be moody were it not for the dim outlines of blow up Christmas animals at the bottom of the image. I get the reindeer, but I’m not sure why they had a 🐧 penguin.
Santa was in the warmth of the Apedale mining museum. He seemed to have had a job lot of toy speedboats to hand out. The boys we saw had all got them as presents, I’m not sure whether little girls got the same, as we didn’t see any with presents. I suppose it makes it easier than having to tailor the toys to the child.
The sky was quite moody but it didn’t rain until we were on the way home.
I think everyone had a great time.
Norman my white nosed reindeer…. 
Norman is hoping to be a stand in Reindeer at Christmas. He’s wants to be an understudy for Santa’s team.
He says that he’s waited five hundred years for the chance and his nose has turned white with age. He’s wearing his favourite stripey woolley jumper and has borrowed a set of Santa’s braces to keep his trousers up. He feels the cold at the North Pole because of his age.
Norman almost went out in 1960 when Dasher had a pulled hamstring from dashing and crashing about, but he missed out when a reindeer called Snowy took Dashers’ place.
Norman says his sense of direction can let him down. He once flew to the South Pole by mistake but did make friends with the King Penguins down there. He now takes a blow up globe and a compass with him so that he can find his way around the world.
Norman has a month to prove himself so he can go on this year’s Christmas run.
Mallaband-Brown