When I was young silver Birch trees were greyish silver. I remember seeing some in our local park. Even when I came to live in this city they were silver grey…..
But now… Each time I see one its white?! Is that right, are they the same species? I think they are…. I think it indicates how much less industrial smoke is in the air? And are trees growing faster now? They seem to shoot up. If they were cut down would their tree rings be wider, fatter, more growth in a year than before the pollution started to reduce… Memories of a changing world.
Being together is supposed to be better than being by yourself. Not as lonely. But when you live in a small house it’s not that simple. A narrow galley kitchen means you struggle to pass each other. One persons shooing is the others dislike. You bought four huge pork pies? The potato salad is full of sugar? Why can’t you put waste food in the bin, instead of letting it float in the sink….. Then there is TV. We don’t have Netflix or anything like that, so we watch terrestrial TV. But do there have to be so many steam train programmes? Tools is another thing. Yes he has a shed, but this time of year he takes over the kitchen, there are batteries, middle boats, cable ties, screwdrivers… The list is endless, all over the place. He doesn’t like shopping and washing up. So the food is weird and the water splashes everywhere. My new cupboard door is loosing it’s surface because its always wet… So I do things myself. The most irritating? When I buy things for both of us and he eats it all first.
If I asked him to write his irritations, he too would have a long list. He would be right! Living together isn’t easy.
Interesting statistic. Married men I’ve five years longer than single men on average, whilst married women live five years less than single ones!
Of all the seasons I remember autumn’s the most. Walking in the ark as a child, kicking my legs through piles of dry leaves, or slashing in puddles of water with soggy leaves sticking to my wellies. Looking at faces in gnarled trees, seeing if I could see Halloween witches. Sitting under the remaining few leaves of a weeping willow. Wondering when it would be clothed again. Time then was slow. Six months took a year….
What emotions or feelings do you think are shown in this portrait? Anger, sadness, upset? Concentration or thought?
Sometimes it’s hard to tell. I know I drew this a couple of years ago and the sitter was, I think, either listening to the radio or watching TV. I think the look is concentration. Some peoples can sag when they are in repose. I know it takes more muscles to frown than to smile, but sometimes a face takes on a characteristic look, a shape it settles into. That’s this look…
I’ve upgraded my Instagram account to try and understand the traffic there. I have been putting off doing it for a few years but as I’m trying to do more art and illustration I guess it’s necessary. I think having more insights will help me choose what to post and when. But like here I’m a bit of a scattergun. Anything I’m interested in gets written down and as I have eclectic tasted I have I like sharing those ideas here. What do you think?
Watching from afar, I wonder what is going on over the pond. The TV reports people of faith advocating violence (and by that I mean both sides in the election). Whatever is happening people need to step back and take a deep breath and then count to ten.
Why don’t they all follow the guidelines that are written in the bible and other religious books. Turn the other cheek. It’s not impossible, caring for your fellow man and woman instead of denigrating them or speaking out against each other. It’s not easy to stand back I know. Tempers are rising, but why? Surely we need a world where people support each other. I know there is evil out there, but we don’t all have to follow it. I know I’m naive, and I’m actually not religious, but I wish people would think….
Will the counting ever end? 200,000,540 or 74,002,350 or 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ….
I’m sitting in the UK watching the news about the USA election. Thinking about how disorganised it seems. Clearly they needed mail in ballots ( we call them postal votes) because of the pandemic. How can that be argued against. Then it said Pennsylvania is supposed to be causing problems because the mail in ballots were counted after the polls closed, but thats because the Republicans would not allow them to be counted before then!
The delightful Donald is tweeting that they should stop counting in one state but he is behind, so that would give the win to his rival?
I am being disparaging I know. I apologise, but when you sit outside and look in it does seem peculiar. It feels like one of the greatest countries in the world is being run by a toddler. I’m expecting him to say he’s not playing football anymore and is taking the football with him. He may be very good, what do I know? And I can’t claim we have got the best government ourselves. I guess democracy is not an exact science, humans get in the way of sensible ideas.
Christmas is coming but will it happen? Our government is locking down the country from Thursday until December 2nd. This is after being advised by the scientists and doctors to bring in a lockdown about three or four weeks ago. No, they didn’t want to harm the economy, close schools, so they decided on a Tiered system, one, two and three… But that doesn’t seem to be working, hospital admissions and deaths are escalating again. So now it’s a lockdown. But then a minister has come out to say the lockdown might extend past four weeks. I don’t know where we will be at Christmas.
The whole thing seems to have been dealt with so indecisively, instead of keeping on top of things we were all given free rein, people travelled across boundaries.
I’m fed up, but I will continue to stick to the rules. I will be careful, I will wash my hands and I will continue to wear a mask, not just for me but also the people around me. Meanwhile the government needs to get its act together. Money is not more important than people.
Mallaband-Brown 