Colourful

Some colourful recent activity and Racer back at Charlton House waiting for Andy to have his jab. 

All put together in a not very good video with the same music as the last one as it is the only tune I like in the video programme.

 I finished a pair of very bright socks recently, and didn't fancy making any more yet. I was thinking of making a pair with a Fair Isle pattern around the top, which led me to buying a book of 200 Fair Isle patterns, and now I am making a scarf by trying lots of them out. I like to draw out the pattern and write the instructions numerically, which is quite a soothing activity, though not strictly necessary as they are pictured well in the book. I like this kind of project as it is not boring and involves lots of fun colour experimentation. 

Here is Racer waiting for Andy. 

She took her camera too!

Elephants and Giant Mushrooms

After a facebook post of Fresca's, with an animal book with an elephant, in which she requested to see my elephants, I went round the flat and took pictures of some (most) of my elephant collection. Maybe because they are associated with memory I can remember where most of them are from. 

This is one I made (better pictures, process and inspiration here) I saw a picture in a magazine of a metal elephant and really wanted it, so made one. I had been doing Arty Party which had taught me how to do papier mache animals. It took a while!

This wooden elephant was my Gran's, (my Dad's Mum's) and lives in a jumble of things and books in the wooden, glass fronted book case my Grandad made. It made me realise that I have not removed or tidied the things in there for a long time, possible the twenty years we have lived here. So that is on my list at some point.

This is a piece of an elephant I found in Essex on the estuary at the bottle beach. It is sad to be only a part.

Wooden bookend elephants from a nice lady on Greenwich market. She was moving and was selling lots of lovely things from her flat. I also bought a white on red polka dot enamel teapot from her.

They live on the bookshelf in the hall.

Also on the bookshelf is the little display shelf of wooden things. Both elephants on here are from Linda Sue from one of her marvellous parcels!

This is my printers tray of tiny things. I bought the tray in Leicester about 30 years ago. The two red elephants on here are from a strange second hand shop in Rochester, run by an old couple with few teeth. It is piled high with junk-actual junk, but you can occasionally find something good. I don't know how they keep going, and always expect that they will have shut each time I go. There is also a little Wade china elephant and a wooden painted Indian one, and I am not sure where they came from. 

I was with Linda Sue when I bought this old plastic elephant, but I can't remember where we were. It might have been Tunbridge Wells. 

Not sure where this one was from. It is made of heavy pottery. 

This one is a mystery too. My elephant memory is deserting me. Below is another wooden one but I bought it in Leicester and my brother made it new tusks. 

This one is extremely heavy. It looks old but I don't think it is. It is probably meant to have a Howdah attached. It was either a boot fair find or a charity shop in Welling. 

This one is called "The Little Wanted Elephant". I made it and said I didn't think anyone would want it, and Andy said he did so I gave it to him. It lives on the shelf with my Tiger cat memorial. 

This was from the boot fair and was very damp smelling, but that has faded now. It is completely solid. I think it must be stuffed with sawdust. 

 That is the end of the elephants. Now for the giant mushrooms. Not mine, but a very clever artist in China called 小芊枫 XiaoQianFeng. Her video was put before me by YouTube. This artist is amazing. The video is about 20 minutes long, and beautiful. She lives somewhere remote looking, and seems to have a lot of space at her disposal, which she needs for her project. It must have taken her weeks, but is all there to see, and makes me want to rush off and make just one mushroom, (as I don't have much room!) immediately. 

Girlettes and Covid Vaccine in a Historical Setting

The Girlettes have been a bit like me recently-not doing a lot and feeling tired. However, things are starting to improve as the light comes back, and we have plans. Not many plans, but a trip out somewhere once we are allowed.  I showed Racer her portrait on Fresca's blog and it made her feel famous. She is still happy with her current outfit, especially her woolly warm boots. 

Madeline is still in her map dress, and doesn't mind too much, though she says it is not very practical for any trips we make take soon. Behind her is my second macramé Christmas tree-the red tassels above are the bottom of the first one. It was from a kit that my sister bought me for Christmas, and was fun and quite quick to make. 

I was going to make pyjamas for all three, but I tried to make a pair for Minnie first and they were far too small. So she is wrapped in a little moss stitch blanket on the back of the settee, in between Paddington and the Womble. I may try making onesies instead, out of this cosy fleece fabric I have, but not yet. 

This morning I went for my Covid vaccination, and took Racer with me. She stayed in my bag as moral support but I forgot to take her out for pictures, so she is going to come out with me again tomorrow and see if I remember. I was amazed to be vaccinated so soon, as I was expecting more like the end of March, beginning of April. The doctor who injected me said they were ahead of the game in this area, which is good to know!

I saw this paw print on the way. I see loads in Camberwell, and always mean to take photos. They are the archaeological clues of the future! This is a particularly well defined one and you can even see the claws.

The appointment was at Charlton House, a Jacobean mansion built between 1607 and 1612. A lovely location to be jabbed! This building is on the edge of the gardens.

Here is the main house and the queue. It was all very well organised and all the people were very pleasant. It was strange to be among lots of adults but not be at work. There was a bit of banter and entertainment from the cheerful ladies who organised the part at the end where you wait for 15 minutes in case of a reaction. I also eaves dropped on a conversation between two men behind me but resisted the temptation to join in when they were talking about schools. I felt they did not quite have all their facts right but resisted anyway!

I took a few covert covid vaccine room photos. It is the library of the house. You can just see a soldier in the background. There were a few helping to vaccinate and organise. I think the other people are volunteers.

The ceiling has lovely plaster work.

My timer counting down my fifteen minutes. I have an achy arm the same as when I had the flu jab a while ago, but no other problems. In fact the flu jab arm was worse I think. I am relieved to have had the first one. It has been ok going to work but the possibility of getting the virus is always in the back of my mind so now I can worry less!

 

Lily

Here is our little old cat Lily. She is still surviving, living on the bed with trips out to the sitting room, kitchen and back yard to eat some of the also surviving catnip plant, which she loves. I have just devised a step for her to get on and off the bed independently, using some cassocks rescued from the bin at the church hall where I work in the summer holidays, and a door mat. The mat gives her enough grip to be able to do the little jump required to reach the bed. She is so old-about 20 now, and takes four different medicines each day, mixed into a runny treat called Lick-e-Lix. She has Hyperthyroid disease so takes medication to control this. She is very thin, and her fur tends to get matted on the areas she doesn't clean much. It is difficult to remedy this as she has always hated being combed, and is very sensitive. I have tried all sorts of combs, but today came up with the idea of using a large plastic needle to tease out the ends of the clumpy bits. I cut off the worst of it first. It is like a fibre problem-her fur is felting together. My strategy was working for a while, but then I pulled a bit and she hissed at me. I will carry on trying though! She is totally deaf too, and when she wants us she does a big yowl. When we go to see what is wrong she does a little meow. One of the times she yowls is to let us know she has had a poo! We have a litter tray for her on a table at the end of the bed. One of her drugs is for her joints. She is quite stiff around the hips but can still move around quite fast when she has to, such as when she spots Cassie coming. Andy says the way she walks reminds him of Julie Walters in the two soups sketch. 

A while ago we came up with the idea of a heated blanket for her, as she feels the cold. It is the best thing ever, and she gets very put out if it is turned off. We put it inside a jumper or pillow case and she loves it. She also has her own scratching post which she has a little go on every day. We were worried about Oliver and her being together when we first got her, but a few lucky swipes and hisses at him when he got too close has given him the impression that she is not to be messed with. He also loves to sleep on the bed or on the drawers next to the window and possibly realises that he will not be allowed to do that if he is not nice to her. This may not be the case but it seems like it, and he was very happy when he was finally allowed to come into the bedroom, which was not for a long time after we had him. Cassie has her own domain in the kitchen-a cushion above the radiator where she spends a lot of her time, so it all works out quite well really! 

Good Things

 This is from ages ago when I found the video making stuff on the computer. It has ready made everything and I just put some photos into it. Cats, beach, charity shop sea gull and tomatoes are included!

January Over

 January and February are always the hardest months of the year to get through. Let alone with all that is going on in the world. I have been feeling tired, miserable and a little ill this week, but this weekend I have begun to feel slightly better. I have started taking vitamin D so wonder if it is having an effect. I had to do one of those lateral flow tests this week, which have just become available at school. You don't have to do them, and I was undecided, but then I got a rash on my arm, and Andy told me that can be a covid symptom. I rang the NHS testing line but you can't book a test if you don't have one of the three main symptoms, so they advised that I use a lateral flow test from school. I haven't had any  kind of test so far, but have often thought it looks unpleasant having the swab in your throat and nose. It is! I didn't have a mirror, but managed to swab my tonsils without touching the inside of my mouth. It made me gag, so then I did the nostril, which made me sneeze. After that it was a relaxing half hour sitting in the medical room at school to see whether I could go on to work that day or go home and book a proper test. It came out negative so that was a relief. You have to report your result to the NHS which turned out to be a bit of a long winded process. Then they helpfully emailed and texted me to let me know the result which I had just let them know. Now I have to do them twice a week. 

Last week, in an effort to cheer myself up, I decided to buy a slide projector, as I have lots of Mum's slides. I looked at many on eBay, and, although I wanted one of those carousel ones, I thought they have more parts that could go wrong, so I went for one that has a sliding section which holds two slides. It is an old one, probably from the sixties or seventies, but works ok. It has a noisy whirring fan, and gets hot very quickly, but I have managed to look at quite a few slides so far. I also got a slide viewer which is new-just a magnifier with a light, so I can look at more in there. The projector is more fun though. Here are a few of my finds so far...

My brother in an unknown location. 

A pink sheet against a blue sky. Not sure where it was taken or who took it but I appreciate their choice of subject. 

The Wendy house my Dad built for us when we were little. Had to look up why it was called that-it never occurred to me to wonder before. -"Wendy was injured soon after her arrival in Never-land so Peter Pan and the lost boys built a small house around her where she had fallen. Thus we are given the phrase “Wendy House”. J M Barrie himself designed the first Wendy House for the first production of the play in 1904." Source here.

Me and my dog Tramp. I found him as a stray living in our garden when I was three. You might not choose to call a dog Tramp now, but it was the sixties. He was a lovely dog. he was a mix of something and Papillon, and was a reddish brown. Mum and Dad thought he was a fox at first. 

Nana in suburban scene. (My Mum's Mum.)

I don't know who these people are, but I love the ghost child on the right of what must be a double exposure. 

The cottage we used to live in, on a snowy day. 

A trip to London of which I have no memory. We were all dressed in red and are feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square. 

I love these pictures. 

Nana again, with my sister Jane in purple and me behind. This is probably on Sheppey. 

I don't know who this lady in the snow with her little poodle is, but I like the photo. That's a lot of snow!

Me, Mum and Tramp on a walk. It might be on a holiday that we went on after my Mum and Dad got divorced. It was in Norfolk. It is a happy photo anyway, taken by my brother I think, and according to the name on the slide box. 

Reading and Painting

I watched a news report today about gaming, and it had this man talking about his 'sport' of gaming. He was some kind of world champion. I appreciated it being a skill, and causing him stress, but I can't accept that it is a sport. It is a game, clue in the title, but sport to me involves at least being on your feet and some kind of movement. And I was trying to remember what the other word is for that kind of thing-it is a hobby. I couldn't remember the word for a while. The man could also claim that it was his job, but it must have started as a hobby. Definition of sport: 'an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.'

Or 'play in a lively, energetic way.'

Anyway, this digression is to do with the fact that reading and painting are hobbies too, alhough I am not sure that people use that word very much anymore.

This is one of my book piles, and is the one containing books I intend to read soon. But first I need to finish the book below which is extremely long. It is covered in tracing paper to protect the cover as I am not good at looking after books I am reading and it will get battered in my bag. I had to change handbags to accommodate it. It is about diseases, epidemics, pandemics, and the people who research them and solve the puzzles they throw up. I read about it last year when covid was becoming a thing, but I couldn't get hold of it for ages. It was written in 1994 and is just fascinating. The people who go to far flung places to find out what is causing outbreaks of new and scary diseases are amazing and often foolhardy and encounter many dangers. So far I have read about Ebola, Lassa Fever, Swine Flu, Legionnaire's Disease, (so called because it was first discovered after a number of American Legionnaires died after attending a conference in Philadelphia in 1976.) and I am really enjoying it, and it is just making it so obvious how the current situation was only a matter of time. There are parts of it I have read that wouldn't have meant much to me a year ago but certainly do now. I heard a thing on the radio the other day that if you are a person who likes apocalyptic fiction and films, ( I am) then you would have been better prepared for the pandemic as you would have mentally rehearsed similar situations. I am not sure if that is true or not but it is interesting. And I suppose zombies would be worse. 

Below are a few doodly painrtings I did over the last couple of weeks when I cound not find the enthusiasm for continuing the doll painting I started before Christmas. I still don't feel like doing that so I will wait until I do. But little doodly faces are fun so here they are. 

I did some of them whilst on the phone as everything was handy and I can talk and doodle. And I did some with my left hand. I used to enjoy reading the blog of  Lynne Hoppe and she advocated drawing with your non-dominant hand sometimes, and I thought of her. The writing is also left handed. I used Derwent Inktense pencils which I love. 

This is not left handed. It is pen and charcoal.

Just pen with water and a paper sample I found in old stuff from somewhere. 

Inktense but with no water added. A 1920s swimmer is what comes to mind. 

Acrylic ink just two colours.

Inktense with no water.

Inktense above and below. Above is right hand and below left. I think I like the left handed ones more. I could really feel what I was doing-in that it was harder to do so it made me more aware of the process than the automatic right hand.