
All seeing,
Eyes wide
Light receiving
Shape taking
Interpret space
Watching orbit
Time grabbing
Glinting highlights
Blink shut
Shutter speed
Star seeing
Billions reflected
Light sight…
New paintings and regular art updates.

All seeing,
Eyes wide
Light receiving
Shape taking
Interpret space
Watching orbit
Time grabbing
Glinting highlights
Blink shut
Shutter speed
Star seeing
Billions reflected
Light sight…

Esther Chiltons weekly prompt is waiting. I remember my school holidays.
I was waiting and waiting for the summer holidays to come. I remember being about 11, we had recently moved house and I was at a new school. We had a real garden, trees to climb, a swing and seesaw that dad had put up and I wanted to explore the area. My new friends and I would find new places to visit, the local arboretum, canals and the far end of the Broadway where my uncle and aunt lived. I was getting old enough to walk a few miles, or cycle around country lanes to go to parks for picnics. Those few weeks were really worth waiting for, everything seemed more colourful, exciting adventures like jumping across the local brook, or trying to collect insects. As I tried to balance on walls or climb up into the laburnum tree I was learning about the environment. At the end of the holidays I decided to get more interested in nature and was made a tree warden at school. That holiday was worth waiting for.

Back in 1985 several comedians got together and started raising funds for charity. A few years later it became a biannual fundraising event for people in the UK and around the world. The comedian Lenny Henry was at the forefront of the shows and helped present so many funny routines that made it such a different type of telethon for collecting money. Many comedians and musicians have lent their support to the show including Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders. Billy Connelly, Griffin Rhys Jones, Miranda Hart, Russell Caine, and many more. The show also went to places to see how they could help and recorded the results of their support of communities and individuals. Providing help for people suffering from HIV, and other chronic diseases, mental health issues, children injured during war, starvation and so many more frightening experiences.
Comic relief has collected over One Billion pounds in donations from the British public in those 40 years and are continuing to do so. We may wish that governments should support more needy children and young adults, but at least we are trying to make an effort to help.

Esther requested a piece of writing about a funny moment this week and my memory went back to my early childhood…
Thinking of children and what they say and do. I was a young child, probably about 5. I was developing a wart on my thumb and asked my mum what I should do? She told me to rub some bacon on it and bury it in the garden. Some time later she found me outside calling for her, asking if I could come back inside? I’d rubbed the bacon on my thumb then shoved my thumb into the soil! I always have taken things too literally!
What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

Each day I try and write three things. Simple things I’m grateful for.
Not wondrous things, but little ones.
Traffic lights staying on green, getting to an appointment on time, a phone call from a relative, an unexpected laugh with a friend. Maybe seeing the first tadpole or daffodil of the year.
Just list 3 things, with today’s date, maybe add a little sketch of what’s happened. Each positive gratitude trains your brain to feel less negative. I’ve dome it for a couple of years now. It helps X

What way do I go?
Left or right, don’t know
The path of life ain’t straight
It tangles round my feet
Like the lyrics of a song
Don’t know it’s length, how long?
I’ll be upon this earth
But I hope it’s full of mirth!

The Moon will be eclipsed by the Earth tomorrow morning and there will be a blood (red) moon due. That means that as the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon the light rays from the Sun are refracted by Earth’s atmosphere. Blue light is scattered more but red light continues towards the Moon and illuminates it. (in a similar way that at sunset the sky can turn red).
Moonlight has been important in my life, from the Moon landings from 1969 and seeing it in its various phases. I remember being in my bedroom sitting on my bedroom window ledge as a child and reading books by moonlight. I loved being able to read even though we had to turn the lights out. I used to enjoy it.

Post,…. A relative lives abroad with her partner. I need to remember to send a birthday card and an anniversary card together as the occasions are within a day of each other. Also I’m posting them early (it’s a month away), because it took three weeks to get her Christmas card delivered to her. I also won’t post her presents as she had to pay import tax on the one I sent at Christmas, which cost her more than the price of my gift! The reason for the late delivery of the card ? Her postman waits until he’s got enough letters together before he delivers them!

My friend designed this banner for a Mock Mayor ceremony he organised in 2021? To celebrate the ancient tradition of electing a Mock Mayor (like a lord of misrule) for a day. I’m not sure of I’ve remembered the right date. But Covid happened and a new ceremony was postponed.
That means I’m still the Mock Mayor! It makes me laugh. It’s not real or serious but it is a nice thought that I was allowed to play the part! My hubby got to wear a dress and play the lady mayoress, he revelled in it. Fun memories….
Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?

Ultimately I’d be a cat because I know them the best. I might have chosen tortoises, goldfish and stick insects, all animals I had as a child. But cars have been with me in one way or another for over 40 years (not the same one obviously).
Cats are loving, so am I,
Cats love sleeping, me too
Cats like playing, yeah to some extent
Cats like eating, no argument there….
Cats are graceful, well I can’t compete with them!