It depends

Posted on August 11, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged alert, Art, Clothes, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2025, Drawing, Food, groundsheet, Keys, Medicine, Sketching, Thinking, warning, Water2 Comments

What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

Yet again I have to be equivocal about this question. I mean I’m not deliberately being ambiguous, but there could be many answers depending on the person, their age, sex, health and the place they are at.

1. Fresh water /food

If you are alone and outside away from people, for instance on a walk it’s a good idea to take supplies. I imagine I won’t be far from transport, but what happens if you get lost?

2. Spare clothes/groundsheet

If you are out and about and lost you might not be able to find shelter if the weather deteriorates or it gets dark. You might have to stay put, so having extra clothes and something to make into a shelter could save you from exposure. We went camping one Easter and I had to wear two pairs of trousers and three jumpers because of the cold!

3. A map

Learn to read maps, if your phone goes flat and you can’t charge it how do you find your location?

4. Medication?

Even if you don’t expect to be out all day and night it’s better to be prepared. The older you are the more likely you are to need medicine. Don’t ignore it, and if necessary take out travel insurance.

5. Car keys?

Yes if I take the car with me, and house keys.

6. Medical alert.

If you take some medications then you need to take warning notifications with you. Similarly if you are allergic to food colourings, bee and wasp stings, or antibiotics it’s worth letting people know!

7. A sketchpad and something to draw with.

I’m an artist, what did you expect me to say?

Condensation and chemical trails

Posted on August 5, 2023August 5, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Airplane, chemical trails, Condensation trails, Discussion, Life, silver iodide, Thinking, Water, water droplets2 Comments

A friend posed the question, what comes out of airplane engines? Con or Chem trails? It’s a question I can’t resist answering, I’m hopefully telling you something you already know?

Condensation trails are what comes out of plane engines. Water vapour from the engines condenses out onto dust particles in the upper atmosphere. They cause the characteristic long thin trails up high in the sky. On the other hand chem trails were the US using crystals of silver iodide which is a harmless salt. It acted as nucleation point for water droplets and was washed out of the clouds it had been released into. They used it to make rain during droughts, I’m not sure if that is still the case.

There is a Kate Bush song about it which I’ve forgotten. We had to learn a few of them a few years ago I can’t remember which one.

Wave curl

Posted on July 22, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Artrage, Digital drawing, Life, Metallic, nonmetallic, Oils, spin, splashing, Twist, Water, wave2 Comments

Artrage oils digital finger painting creating a spinning, swirling, twisting splashing wave. A mixture of metallic brushes and a non metallic air brush spray digitally achieved this effect. Like a mad spin speed in a washing machine drum! I had fun xxx

I love cooking

Posted on July 20, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Butter, Cherries, cherry pie, Cherry tree, Cookery, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2003, Flour, Gale, pastry, Water2 Comments

What foods would you like to make?

The answer would be cherry pie!

I’m a reasonable cook and food is fun to make. I can make a good trifle, roast chicken dinner, pizza, curry, paella, and many other things including cakes and bread. But I’ve never made a homemade cherry pie.

I could probably make the pastry, I’ve made apple pies and tarts before. But I don’t know what to do with the cherries? Do you de-stone them then put them in raw? Or do you cook them first with sweetner and a dash of alcohol like cherry brandy?

We only got a few cherries this year as the majority blew off our tree in a gale. They were pecked by the birds so I left them on the ground for our hedgehogs too.

So does anyone have a recipe they can share please? I will have to get fresh cherries from the shop. I don’t want to use a tin of pie filling which would be full of sugar. So if you can help I would appreciate it. Thanks x

Little poppy

Posted on July 19, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Bud, dew, Fine Art, Gardening, Life, Painting, Poppy, Rain, Water2 Comments

I had a lovely afternoon out so I gave my friend this small painting to say thank you. It’s only about three inches square. We had gone to a garden center so I felt it would be nice to give her something floral. Poppies are my favourite flower, vibrant and silken looking. This is a simple painting in acrylic. Drops of dew or rain sit on the petals and shimmer in the light. A bud ready to burst sits next to the flower with it’s promise of further beauty.

Forecast

Posted on July 15, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, expectations, Poem, Poetry, precipitation, Rain, Shine, Warm, Water, Weather, Wet, whether, Wind2 Comments

Tomorrow will be cool,

or not

It will be wet, 40%,

Or not?

Wind and rain

Or sunshine again?

We can say with clarity

There will be weather

But we don’t know

Whether

It will be fine

Or rain will make

The pavements shine!

Precipitation!

Be alert….

Washing and hanging baskets

Posted on July 8, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Drying, Flowers, Growing, Hanging baskets, Life, Plants, Rain, Scent, Washing, Water, Weather5 Comments

It’s a struggle to dry my washing in the back yard at the moment. The washing line snapped and I’ve tied it back up but it’s a bit saggy. It is also surrounded with hanging baskets which are a riot of colour and lovely scents which I hope will infuse into the drying clothes (although it’s already rained this morning!). I can’t fit a dryer in the kitchen even if I could afford one, or afford to run it. Just hoping the day stays dry now.

Global warming

Posted on July 4, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blank verse, Climate change, crops, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1986, global warming, Heat, Life, Poem, Poetry, Time, Water, WorriesLeave a comment

What are you most worried about for the future?

The heat is on..

The world is melting

Tides are rising

It’s happened in my lifetime

Sea water is hotter

Glaciers are drying up

No water to drink

Once it’s gone.

Drought hits crops

Why not be concerned?

Just because I might be gone

I still need to worry

For the ones that come after.

Do my best to restore things

To how they were?

Not much effect maybe?

But one fingernail holds me

Stuck on a cliff

Of hope to change things

We cannot turn back time

But we may make a difference

If we all try?

Chomped cherries!

Posted on July 1, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cherries, Food, Fruit, Life, pecked, Red, Tasty, Time, Tree, Umbrella, Water, WindLeave a comment

We just gathered some cherries off the ground because the rain and wind has knocked a lot off the tree. This is about a third of them that were too bruised, damaged or pecked. The rest have just been washed thoroughly in salty water and I’ve put them in the fridge to eat tomorrow. I will thoroughly rinse them again first.

The plan is to get a broom or a stick to try and pull some more down and collect them in an upturned umbrella. I hope the weather doesn’t intervene in the meantime! Praying the wind doesn’t whip up and blow them off. There’s still plenty left for the birds…

A quiet bench…

Posted on June 30, 2023June 30, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bench, Childhood, Life, Memory, Relaxed, Tree, Walking, Water, Weeping willow, Westport lakeLeave a comment

Bench at Westport lake last year. It was taken on a drizzly day like today. It’s good to see the weeping willow tree a bit further round the lake sweeping like a curtain across the side of the waters edge. It brings back memories of another one I knew….

I used to hide under a weeping willow when I was a child. It stood on its own in a park and I would sit with my back against it and imagine I was in a green tent or hiding behind a green waterfall. I had many adventurous thoughts sitting there in peace and quiet.

Relaxing on a bench is good when you have a view like this at Westport. After you have walked half a mile it’s nice to stop for a chat. Or a sandwich and a cup of tea. Refreshed and calm you can carry on with your walk. By the way there is a bench appreciation society page on Facebook for those that are interested….

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Water