Early morning

Posted on October 7, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Black and white photo, Ceiling, Early morning, Filter, Memory, Settee, shadow, Time, woodchip paper2 Comments

Early morning, looking up from the settee where I’m currently sleeping, I can look over at the ceiling and see the shadow cast across it by one of the living room lights. It’s in black and white because the colours were washy yellows, and I thought this looked more dramatic.

The fact you can see the woodchip patterned paper on the ceiling which is not very flat shows the poor decorating skills of the builder who put it up there almost 30 years ago! I’m never going to take it down, it’s hiding a multitude of sins including bad plastering and cracks I think.

This was around 6am or maybe later, I just liked the stark, long shadow.

Blue to Red

Posted on October 7, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Blue, Change, conservatives, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2081, Labour, Life, loyalty, Memories, Red, Time4 Comments

What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?

At 18 I voted blue (Conservative). That was how my family had always voted, we spoke about it, and I was supporting our first woman prime minister. How I regret it now!

After the election I moved out and started to learn more about the world around me, how people struggled and how the new prime minister was making things worse for people not better.

I went through several general and local elections over the decades but I never voted blue again. I had completely changed my mind. Sometimes I don’t like Labours policies, they can seem to be Tory lite, but I’ve never not voted for them. Sometimes they get into power. But for the last thirteen years Conservatives have been in power. They have had five prime ministers, some of which were not elected by the populace but by their fellow MPs. They make promises but they don’t keep them. Cancelling projects which were expensive and that have been massively over hyped. All blue policies…. From privatisation to selling peerages…

So I’m Red through and through. I think I always will be. The biggest change of mind and direction in my life.

Quite often

Posted on October 5, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2080, Eyes, imposter syndrome, Lost, map reading, Maps, short sighted, Time, WorkLeave a comment

Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.

I was a child and because my eyes were bad I couldn’t see where my parents were on a big beach. So I got lost, but luckily someone found me and I got back to my family. Then they found out I was short sighted, so I ended up with glasses.

Later I got lost trying to map read while my mom drove. I wasn’t very good at it, so we took the right road, but headed south not north. Eventually I realised I had gone wrong and we found our way home. After that I studied maps (on paper), so I knew where I was.

But feeling out of place can also be emotional. I used to do an important job and did it well, but I didn’t fit in with other staff members because they thought I was too soft with our customers. I started to feel very out of place. I think I suffered from imposter syndrome. I second guessed myself all the time, thinking I would get caught out for doing things wrong.

I’m glad I’m out of it. I want to feel I have a real place to be,

Still doing gratitudes.

Posted on October 5, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged 3 gratitudes, feeling better, gratitudes, Life, Memories, Sketching, Thinking, Time6 Comments

After a break because I was injured and fed up I decided to start a new gratitude book. I wrote down what had happened so that I will remember how I was feeling. But I didn’t want to start right from the beginning. So today I’m actually on day 420.

Three gratitudes a day helps balance the bad things that are going on as well. I like adding a small sketch to each gratitude to make it more real to me and helps me remember what went on during the day. I’m glad this idea was suggested to me. It really helps x

Hedgehog 2 years ago

Posted on September 28, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Environment, Food, Hedgehogs, Memories, Nature, Shelter, Time, Two years ago, Wildlife2 Comments

Two years ago we were having regular hedgehog visitors to our garden, but this year we haven’t seen any. We live next to a busy road and I worry about them. There was also an area of wasteland next to our garden that had brambles growing on it. That was cleared by a builder who removed all the vegetation from it, our garden is quite wild but there was old bits of wood to hide under. I think we will start leaving food out for them to forage again.

Poison words

Posted on September 24, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Confidence, cruel, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2069, Memory, Nasty, poison, Thinking, Time, UncaringLeave a comment

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

I used to be hurt when people said things to me to upset me. I would take on board what they said, and it could lead to several sleepless nights, or mistrusting my judgement or feelings.

After a few years of this I talked to a new friend who explained a way of getting through or over the uncaring words.

What they said was imagine the nasty words are poison. The words are absorbed by the victim (in this case me) and the poison works it’s way into the mind of the person they want to hurt. This affects that person’s confidence, thoughts, security.

But in the meantime the person doing the poisoning walks away scot free. With no effect on them, able to go and place poison elsewhere, spreading their cruelty and getting a rise out of others.

The trick is to realise what they are doing and train yourself to ignore their jibes. Inoculate your mind against their poison and learn to stop their tricks before they can get to you. It really does help.

Poor pears

Posted on September 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blossom, Cherries, Crop, Food, Fruit, Fungus, Gardening, Growing, Pears, Ripe, Time, Trees4 Comments

Some years the pears set, the tree is well watered and we get many pears off our tree. But it’s looking sad as the wind blew it over at an angle a few years ago. We had to support it on blocks of wood.

As the branches are horizontal that usually encourages fruiting. But both the pear and cherry trees flowered but we’re caught by late frosts and then strong winds that blew the blossom off. The cherry only managed half it’s crop and now the pear is even worse. A few pears had a fungal infection and had to be thrown away, you can’t compost them as it encourages the fungus to spread. So we only have a few pears to show this year. Here are three. The little one is going squishy so it’s getting thrown out.

Pears are funny, they stay unripe for ages. Then seem to ripen overnight. We will just eat these, as there is not enough for a chutney.

I don’t

Posted on September 6, 2023 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2051, grudge, poison, Sadness, Sketch, Thinking, Thought, Time4 Comments

Are you holding a grudge? About?

I don’t hold a grudge, it’s too painful, and it makes no sense. If you hold a grudge who are you harming? Yourself. Painful thoughts about someone else don’t harm them, they don’t know about it, but the worm of a grudge bores inside you and makes poison in your thoughts and harms your moods.

Oh I have held grudges before now, and for a long time, but I have it up as a bad idea. Don’t hold grudges, it’s not worth it.

Colder evenings

Posted on September 1, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Boiler, Chilly, Cold, Cost, Darkness, Heating, Layers, Life, Night, Poem, Poetry, Time2 Comments

There’s a chill in the air

And it’s only September

Autumn already

Shorter days

Longer (cold) nights

I will not switch on

The dreaded boiler

Until my lips and fingers

Pinch in the cold.

Layers of clothes

Must be the answer.

Use the cat as a blanket.

Coats on the bed

I remember that

When I was a child.

I don’t know

Posted on August 30, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged a year, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2044, Habits, Life, Memory, notebook, three gratitudes, Time2 Comments

What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?

For a year I wrote down three gratitudes each day, I spent time thinking of three things I was grateful for even when they were only small things, like traffic lights turning to green at the right time. But when I hurt myself I stopped. I don’t have a spare book to write in. I have almost forgotten what it was like to do it.

I don’t think I do have another habit that I can mention. I haven’t thought about it before. I think life is too chaotic. I’m hoping that when I can get another notebook I will start again. I’m concentrating on getting well again. I’m really looking forward to starting again.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Time