New paintings and regular art updates.
It was raining this morning at three in the morning, but through the mild mirk of a December night the sound of a blackbird was heard singing.
The rain continued and the raindrops splattered my window, the drips from the gutter splashed down onto me as I opened the front door to get the milk bottles in. Water was running down the road and overflowing the drains.
I didn’t hear the bird but I could hear the cars whooshing through the rain… Being on a main road can be noisy.
A few months after our driest summer in years we are constantly getting wet weather gales and storms. The rain gets through holes and doen chimneys and overflowing guttering.
I want brilliant white clouds floating in azure blue skies. Sunlight on my head and shoulders. Soft breezes, not howling gales. Scents and smells that lift the spirits, not mould and fungus.
So, the spring will come again. I hope to enjoy the rest of winter and then greet spring with open arms.
Reddish sky in the morning
Shepherds take warning….
And they should! A few days ago we had a red dawn, this photo was taken as it faded.
The sky soon clouded over and later we had a deluge! Water flowed down the hill so fast and deep that it overwhelmed the drains and poured out of gutters onto the pavements. At the back of my house it came down the window in a sheet of rain and the water snuck into the wall and plaster around the window frame. I’ve never seen anything like it.
There was a flash flood in the centre of town with rain water up to people’s car headlights. Shops that were safe at the front had brown water knee high in their store rooms….
It might have been a microburst but it was very stormy. The winds were blowing trees about. It was more than the usual thunderstorm. Thankfully it blew over after about twenty minutes.
Climate change is here. I don’t know how places like Jamaica and Cuba and Haiti coped with last week’s hurricane. I feel so worried for them.
Yes it’s raining a lot here in England, so wet I dare not go out. I’m not allowed to get my face wet or get water or grit in my eye.
I really want to go out and do some shopping. I need to get cat food, but it’s still raining after about 12 hours. But I can hear the cars splashing through the water outside the front door. It’s only 2 or 3 steps to my car. But I need to use a brolly and my walking stick, so by the time I’ve put them in the car I will get soaked. Luckily I’m parked right by the pavement so I don’t need to step through a rushing river of water that runs down the gutter. The grates for the run off are full.
Anyway I’m off to grab a coffee… Decaff of course.
Send us mares tails that precede rain.
Send clouds full of water
England’s Green is fading
Brown fields abound
River levels dropping
Paddle your canoes no more
Canal boats stuck in place
High and dry on mud!
Give us a cup or two of rain
To water our parched countryside
Let the land drink
Again.
I didn’t notice but one of my orchids has flowered. Not a good photo, lots of camera shake. You can just see there are a few lower buds yet to open.
Today I got soaked walking 100 yards to choir practice. I can’t drive and I struggle to manage with a walking stick and a brolly, so I left it behind It was drizzling when I went out but it came down heavy as I walked along. So much so it was raining into my eyes. I was told not to get water in my eye that had been operated on. I avoided doing it in the shower but unfortunately the weather got the better of me. Still I have antibiotic eye drops to put in.
Which reminds me I’d better water the orchids.
My hanging baskets are getting well watered. I took a video but you can’t really see the rain well. I looked up the storms on blitzortung.org which is a free thunder and lightening monitoring service covering the whole world. There is a line of thunderstorms heading up from the south from the Welsh border to around Derby passing over Stoke-on-Trent and rumbling north.
The closest lightning was about 2 seconds between flash and boom. That’s about a mile away as there is a time delay due to the speed of light being so much faster than the speed of sound. The last combination was about 12 seconds… 2 seconds equals a mile distance, 12 is therefore 6 miles. It’s going North.
One thing I’ve noticed is the rolling boom of thunder seems to last a lot longer these days. Starting soft before reaching a crescendo then gradually fading. There must be so much energy up there! And it’s just stopped raining… And the birds have started singing again…
I hate hot weather, I eat too many ice creams! Sweet and sugary, tempting me, cooling me. But also not good for my body. I used to have a lolly maker you filled with cordial and water. Pop sticks in each deep, round cylinder and freeze. The sticks act as handles. Bobs your uncle.. Low calorie water ice lollies.
Hot day, hot even in the shade. And as we rehearsed in costume it felt hotter still…..
“Hello everyone, let’s get straight to it shall we…..” I’m narrating and I start the show. I only have a few lines but I ended up reading from the script because I just couldn’t keep the jumbled words in my head.
When I finally got home I had a hot cup of tea, ond then an ice cream! Weird combination but I just needed rehydration.
Two quiet days and now I’m exhausted again. I need shopping but I’m waiting for it to cool down. The weather app says 30°C likely tomorrow. Long term weather forecast is for 20°C and sunny with a light breeze next Saturday on Mystery day. Wish us luck.
One of my cats, last night he was keeping the bed warm for me, no thanks. 27°C in the day and not much cooler last night. I think he was rather warm too. As soon as I sat on the bed he was off. He’s not a teddy bear sort of cat.
The cats are all over the place in this weather, they disappear in the day, only to come in for fresh water and the occasional meal. But they seem happy. I’m hoping for some rain soon.
Meanwhile I have decided to have another quiet day. Sitting in a darkened room, I’m shattered by tiredness and the heat.
Mallaband-Brown