New paintings and regular art updates.
Two cats on the sofa. I used my photodirector app to change and enhance the texture of the photo. The two cats rarely sit together so it was nice to see them being so calm and friendly to each other. I think relaxation is the main reason for cats!
The last three days we have done mainly flat walks, but today my hubby and I decided to climb up our hill. We need to get more heart points on my phone and the best way to do that was trying to walk up the hilly side streets in the area. It also got us away from the traffic on the main road. There are some streets that go up, and some across, so by walking up, then along, I managed to keep the pressure off my calf muscle that sometimes gets really tight after I pulled it a year or so ago. Also hubby is not as young as he was so it gave us both a breather. Finally we reached a little park and sat for a few minutes looking over the view and enjoying the trees in the park. Then up again, to reach the main road at the top of the hill and along it’s crest, before taking another horizontal route to get to our road and a few more hundred steps steeply downhill. Four days in a row we have walked. My arm shakes and so we hold hands or he holds my arm. It’s good to be out and about.
A long day, a funeral, a wake. Gentle celebration of a lost life. No awful grief, just a summing up of someone that touched many hearts. I am proud of her. I was moved and surprised by her life.
Seeing myself on the photos in tribute to her was a shock, I hadn’t been told they would be there. That touched me deeply. To know that half of me has now been seperated. I touched the coffin and said goodbye. A long day, a painful day, but a joyful day.
Leaves fall from the trees, they gradually break down and disintegrate, but their molecules are still there, they add to more life and energy, they are still part of the universe. They exist, existed, they have not exited this realm. A lot to think about. My gratitude continues as I remember sharing my life with her, my sister, my twin.
We were never one
But we were together
You and me
Sharing one space.
We were dressed the same
Identically unidentical
Called fraternal –
Really sororal
Now you are gone.
One half disappears
The other must go on.
Apart, forever.
Parted.
Merged,
Me and he
Forty years together
Him and me
Us.
Blue and brown eyes
Beard and bare face
White hair and brown
Smile and frown
Friendship, partners
Together.
Thinking of you
And me
Life sentences
Words
Time.
One on my knee, one on the arm of the chair. My two boy cats sitting almost nose to nose. They are quite tolerant of each other, and this is the closest they have ever sat together. It asted half an hour, both snug and warm. This is not photoshopped they were about three inches apart. So pleased we got the outside cat to join the household especially at this cold time of year.
You took my hand, held it tightly. Dragged me up the hill to the viewpoint.
We stared across the tree tops, across the views of hills and valleys. There were old houses and modern warehouses where there used to be fields. It’s gone, you said, our youth and the beauty that was once here.
Remember when we had strength? When hills were virtually flat? When colours were bright and gaudy.
The trees were shorter then, we could see further. We used to hold hands and more. Now, we are lost, can our hearts stay forever together? The hill is steep nowadays. But we walk hand in hand.
Old hands hold tight, remember smooth skin when we first met. Remember missing you when you went away. Riding a motor scooter forty miles to go home for the summer, and you cycled after me.
Smelling blossom when we walked home to the student flats. A stolen kiss. Our history, together. The cats we’ve owned, the cycle rides. Buying a tandem, selling a tandem because the chain kept falling off.
Camping at minus 7 near Clitheroe. Snowy nights. Two pairs of trousers and three jumpers under canvas. Bike trailers and cycle clubs.
Life keeps going. Work, houses, learning. We keep together, stay together.
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!
It’s happening, the two boy cats tolerate each other enough to share the settee!
The time we have taken gradually introducing them over the last few weeks. Indoor and outdoor cat are within a meter of each other…. They might be at either end of the settee but the outdoor cat had to jump up past the indoor one. No hissing, no spitting! Great
Mallaband-Brown