New paintings and regular art updates.
Something is occurring on UK tv
An orange smarmfest for people to see
So many millions drink the juice
And find their brains are letting loose
Thoughts of selfishness and pain
Their minds are so full of distain
For the poor and the elderly
Veterans too.
No fears in their minds
For those they will hurt
Much rather to vote
For an Orange Jerk.
My friend sent me this photo (I don’t have an attribution for it). This was a few year’s ago when it was open and the Leopard Hotel was running ghost tours and serving lovely food.
Then one of the owners died and it was taken over by a family member. I don’t know what happened but I think Covid didn’t help. In the end it closed and the owner moved elsewhere. Although the frontage looked OK it needed a tremendous amount of money spending on it as it was partly derelict in the back upper floors.
The hotel stood empty for months, it was bought by an entrepreneur who may have been going to turn it into flats. Unfortunately someone got in and apparently set up a cannabis farm in it (what I heard). Then it simply burnt down. Some of the frontage may remain but the place is boarded up.
I was involved for a while because I painted the murals in the back room, the Arnold Bennett Suite. I never got decent photos in there. I do hope it can be restored.
It doesn’t look like much but I can see the floor. It means that the people taking some furniture out for me will be able to get through.
It’s taken me a year of grief to get to this point. I have had to get rid of things I might have wanted to keep. To say “goodbye” to things that have sat in the same place for years. The “that will come in handy” stuff, the “oh don’t throw that away, I’ll have it”, stuff.
I have also uncovered a large patch of damp under one of my windows, I will have to be responsible and get it patched up. Time, maybe, to stop ignoring things?
I miss the green
The growing leaves
The water and the trees
The bright light
A gentle heat
And birdsong
Give me ease.
I know that when
After the dark
Will come the waited spring
I just wish
At times like this
It would arrive
……
Soon..
Our house, our friends, our relatives.
We were together so long
I can’t say ‘my’ yet
Even after a year.
Sometimes I feel like it’s a dream.
Hubby, my hubby, will be back.
Walk into our house
Be with our friends
Our relatives.
They know
I miss him.
So
On a quiet day
The world can stay
Bound in a shroud
No need to unwrap
Or unstrap
The troubles on my back.
I’ll rest my eyes
As time slowly flies
Through the open windows.
The sky is grey
And I can’t say
If my troubles have dwindled.
I need repair
And real self care
To haul me through my sadness
Without that care, a real nightmare
Will send me into madness.
So quiettude is what I seek.
No loud hurrahs
No rowdy bars
Just me, alone, asleep.
Is Lady Liberty disappearing into mist and fog? What happened to the support of huddled masses? Can there possibly be mass deportations?
Looking up the name of the island where people arrived in America, Google says:
On 1 January 1892, Ellis Island opened to receive immigrants. At its peak, during the early years of the 20th Century, thousands of people passed through its gates each day. Angel Island in San Francisco Bay had the same role on the west coast from 1910 to 1940.
So why is this aspect of America. Support and kindness now being curtailed? Perhaps it is through fear, perhaps it is selfishness. I don’t know. There seems to be almost a mass hysteria around the world where xenophobia is taking control. We see it in the UK where the legal routes to migration have been reduced and people fleeing conflict have been forced to risk travelling across the Channel in small boats to get to the UK. Vicious rumours about those poor people have caused riots and misinformed so many people in negative ways.
We see war in Syria now that has started to maim and kill people again. Destabilising countries causes strife and fear and forces people to move. Gaza is in crisis, Ukraine is being destroyed. Sudan has floods and starvation to mention a few current crises. But instead of dealing with the bad actors we allow the oligarchs of the world to feel they can get away with their cruelty.
All of us need to stop and think about kindness, caring and love. It’s about time we thought as President Kennedy did, not what we can do for ourselves but what we can do for others. Somewhere humanity needs to think about our fellow humans and not just grabbing what we can and damn the rest.
It makes me dispair and worry about what we are doing. Maybe fear of what’s happening to the Earth’s environment is now impacting on its population. Somehow we must start to care more about each other.
I keep getting ads in my time line to order my 2024 past book now.
Anyone who follows me will know I don’t need reminding. I have had the worst 12 to 24 months in my life that I never want to live over again. I hope to get through December and have a better start to 2025, although I worry about geopolitics. I don’t want one! I don’t want reminding, please don’t make me!
OK that’s enough..
There were good times too, I have some good photos, but I’m not in the mood to share. I’ll hoard those to myself, keep them safe.
What is good about having a pet?
When I’m feeling down and lonely
The cat will come to me
He jumps up for a little love
While sitting on my knee
He gives comfort when I am low
Dispels my sadness you see
That little cat who is my pet
Is my truest company.
It felt like I spent a whole day looking at people’s comments about the American election. The website Threads was full of discussions about how frightening it is for women.
It seems that support for Trump has increased across the country, feelings that he is some sort saviour abound. Why?
And what about his felonies, his lies, his bankruptcies? It seems that these things have been spoken about so much they have been normalised. It’s that old idea, water off a ducks back.
As long as eggs and milk are cheaper, who cares about cutting health care and pensions. I’m aghast at how selfish the results seem. We will see what happens. But it’s also frightening for the rest of the world.
Mallaband-Brown