Fred Bear

 Fred Bear was threadbare and eaten by moths. Now he is patched up and feeling quite smart. He was knitted by a lady called Fifi, whose husband worked with Andy's Dad, and Andy says he didn't like him when he was little, mainly because of his purple bow. Andy's Mum called him Fred, because he was made of threads. Fred has been around for years, and at some point, the moths got him and chewed eight holes in him. I think he is made of pure wool, which the moths love of course.  I managed to find a yarn that matched his colour pretty well, which is hard when buying online as the photos are not always true to the colour. I knitted patches, put them under the holes, then darned the edges to the patch to blend them as best I could. Originally he was stuffed with cut up tights or stockings, which were his kind of colour, so didn't show through the holes in the fabric. I used polyfill, so only stuffed him lightly. He has a smart black bow to match his features, which, remarkably, survived the moth attack!

I was going to post this on Thursday but blogger wouldn't let me upload any photos. After signing out then in it let me today. It is a year since my Mum died, which does not seem possible. I miss her so much, and still can't believe it is true. Am I still in the denial stage? Who knows but I feel she is still with me in some way. I think she would have approved of Fred and his repairs! I need to do Mickey next. He is my childhood toy who I still have and he is in a bad state too. His leg is falling off. Nursery nurses or Early Years Practitioners as they are now known, seem to universally ask the question of children who have had a minor scrape, if their leg/finger/arm etc will fall off, which makes them laugh and distracts them from their upset. I don't think Mickey would laugh though as his leg actually is falling off. Mum and Nana, her Mum, often repaired Mickey over the years, so he does not look at all like he did when young, and I need to carry on that tradition!

Bear Ladies, Strange Fish, and Other Wonders

More random pictures from recent weeks. This week has been great, if a little worrying at first. Last weekend, Andy came down with what seemed like a cold. He didn't have a temperature, but he did develop a persistent cough. I suggested he try one of my lateral flow tests. He was non-commital. Then, at my break at 10.15 on Tuesday, I got a text from him saying that he had decided to go for a proper test, and that the NHS person had said that I should self-isolate too, until the result was back. After going to see the head teacher, I set off home at 10.35. Traffic is so light at that time compared to my normal time, so I was home by about 11.20. I couldn't work Wednesday, and the result was still not back on Thursday, so I couldn't work Friday either! In the end, Andy rang the number on his paperwork, and he was told that he should have registered the test by ringing up to do so. That was not explained to him. He then got the result straight away, which was negative thankfully. But in the meanwhile, I have had a lovely week off work! I will get paid for Tuesday, but not the other two days, but never mind. The time was better. I also got three cat bookings yesterday, as restrictions on foreign travel are being lifted for a limited number of countries, so my money top up is back!

Anyway, onto the random pictures!

Deptford market in the holidays. Always fun to look around, and it recently reopened. These bear ladies looked so cheery in the sun. I also went yesterday as I was fed up with sorting and packing boxes and felt like a break! I found the best things! I probably should not even go as more stuff is not necessary, but I did, and there is always something good. The first thing I picked up looked like a Coronation (George VI)  souvenir book, and I am reading the book about the young Queen Elizabeth, and wish it had pictures. So I thought it would be interesting.  When I got it home, I realised that the front part is the souvenir, and it is attached to an amazing scrapbook from the 1930s, all about the coronation, the abdication, and various royal related things. It is fascinating and has lots of pictures to fill the gaps in my book. I will post some pictures later on. 

Then I looked in a box of old stuff on the ground, saw something rusty and pulled it (them) out. It turned out to be a pair of rusty old skates.  The man I bought them from claimed they are Victorian, and pointed out the front which he described as Dreadnought shaped like the boat. I am guessing that you attached your boots to them. I found out through google that they are adjustable ones. I love them. Completely useless for anything but I love them!

On the bear lady day, I found and bought a schoolboy's diary from 1945. This will be interesting I thought. It wasn't! Not a mention of the war, and after the first month when the boy made at least a little effort to describe his life, he just wrote either "school", or "played" on the following pages and gave up altogether by March! He did write, "My birthday", on June 26th!

Next, two drawings from Reception children. I love the girls on the first, and am impressed by the way the figures are drawn. They fill the page, convey relationships through size, and are in proportion. Look at the eyes too! And I think that the person in the middle must be her Mum, who is pregnant, and this girl is always talking about this and wishing the baby was here! 

Then there is this snail. It is so delicately drawn, and I like the way it is just pencil, with lots of interesting marks. 

The great thing about sorting through years of stuff, is finding the things you know you have but that are lost. I found my packet of polystyrene tiles for making printing blocks, and so this person came out. I used acrylics to print her, as they dry so quickly and I am impatient. I did find my printing inks too but they can wait for another day. 

This is my favourite picture of Eddie. He is sitting on a pile of clean washing, and looks cute, but I only noticed afterwards how his little black and white face echoes the doll face behind. It is a big face, just a head, that I made to go on top of a wire clothes form that displayed some scarves I made. 

This dead creature was on the beach at Sheerness last week. Andy thought it was a ray. It has spikes like teeth on its tail. 

Then this strange alien mouth underneath. 

This no parking sign looks like it is on a launch pad! On the other side is the seawall and the beach. 

Sheerness Ghost Office!

The weather has been all over the place this week, with lots of rain, high winds, and quite cold. This was the view from my bus on Tuesday morning. I love it when the light is like this, and it is always fleeting, so I am pleased I saw it. 

 

Spring Evenings Can be Chilly

 

Random Selection

Hi! I don't know why but I just have not felt like blogging. I haven't looked at Instagram or Facebook much either. I continue to watch a lot of YouTube though! I have been reading a lot, sorting out more crap from the flat, having coffee with friends, helping my brother to move house, (exhausting!) taking my Dad, Joan and their dog Wilf over there to see his house, and taking stuff to the lock up. Also working, knitting doll socks, painting planets, (quite badly!) and I don't know what else. The doll socks are nearly on their way. I am going to spend some time this weekend catching up on what has been happening here, and then I will feel connected again! In the meanwhile, here are a few random pictures from the last while. 

Cassie and the Frog Prince, who finally went to live with Joan and Dad. He was glad to get out of the bag I have kept him in for months!

You know who, looking his cutest!

Part of a display of mudlarked china outside the farm in Rotherhithe near the shore.

A mosaic there which includes some pipe bowls and stems. 

A police boat on the river. The last time I went mudlarking at Greenwich quite early in the morning, one went speeding along with its siren blaring. I am not sure why that was necessary as there seemed to be no other river traffic!

One of the newly cleared and cleaned areas. I have had the bowl on the right for a very long time. I think it was one of my first second hand purchases in Leicester when I lived there. I went to Polytechnic there, worked, then went to university there to do my teaching. I think I lived there for ten years in all. I really liked living there. The bowl is all cracked and damaged, but holds together. I feel that it is really old, and it is one of those things I take for granted, then notice it anew every so often. So I gave it a starring role on the windowsill for a while!

One of the not newly tidied areas. What a mess! Bolly knows his treats are up here, and he does this cute thing where he moves his paws like he is doing a fast doggy paddle on the fridge door. We don't always give in but it is hard not to. It is what he used to do when he wanted to come in, before he was allowed. 

 At my brother's, he had all his recent carvings out and some of the large charcoal drawings he did when his carving tools were not available, due to imminent moving. All brilliant. He has done a series of skulls and partial skeletons. He is very good at carving and could probably make a fortune if he sold more of his work!

This carving is part of a huge table in parts that he made. Below is a drawing of another carving which has the skull at the top and a chain hanging below. All from one piece of wood that curves around it. I didn't take a picture so can't show you. He said that as he carved the chain, it got longer and it was touch and go whether it would fit in the space allotted. I love things like that when making things, the problems that occur that you didn't foresee and what you learn from those. 

He one looks quite jolly!

Village Life in the CIty

A village with hundreds of apartments that are continuing to be built. It is quiet though, so that at least is village like. And it has green space and the river, so I think it would be a nice place to live. But not really a village!

 

Cats, Cats, Cats!

The saga of Oliver and his new friend continues. He comes round every day to scavenge whatever food he can find, and although we are not encouraging him, we are not chasing him away either as he is Oliver's friend. If we see him come in we go over to the kitchen and he goes out, but he usually comes late at night or early in the morning, and unless we shut the flap then we can't stop him. I presume he goes back to his house in the daytime to sleep and eat there. There is not usually much food left lying around, just biscuits, so he is not eating much. Often one cat will appear before the other one, which implies that they are going around the area together. It is so strange! They do have little spats, but it is not serious fighting, more like play fighting and chasing each other. Cassie has not reacted to him in the way she did to Oliver. She just looks at him and he ignores her. Lily has seen him a couple of times, but doesn't seem interested. Andy has called him Eddie. He pretends to be Oliver saying, in a deep northern accent, "This is me son Eddie. He's alright." 

A slight stand-off last weekend. 

His little golden bell.

He is a cutie!

Here is Cassie taking advantage of a sunny spot by the sink.

And Lily fast asleep on a blanket I found in a skip in Northumberland years ago. 

And last of all, this is Ollie mesmerised by the screen saver on Andy's portable DVD player. He sat there for ages moving his head round watching it bounce from edge to edge, occasionally trying to touch it with his paw! 

 

Back to the Foreshore!

Under the jetty. It looks pretty creepy I think but it isn't. It is a secret world. The tide was very low and on that part of the foreshore there is a way to get right down to the water, with solid parts and things to hold onto, unlike some parts where it is an expanse of mud that I don't trust. The mud on this part is mainly solid clay with large lumps of stone to stand on too. I didn't find much but I loved being back there. Nobody else was on the beach apart from a dogwalker right down the other end. 

 

A boat from the yacht club with three purposeful looking men. I practised my zooming and tracking skills!

Some noisy and comical geese. I am not sure if the first two are protesting about the second pair's arrival or greeting them!