Friday, March 29, 2013

The Annual Hot Cross Bun Bake- off.


The Annual Hot cross bun bake off.


It took me by surprise this year. Easter I mean. Usually I start thinking of Easter when the shops get crowded with bunny cards and lots of pinks and blues but I guess I haven't been shopping lately.
So once I remembered I started the hunt for the recipe of the one thing I make at Easter- Hot Cross Buns.
Every year I try to make the buns I remember from my youth. Buns that were probably made at the local bakery shop but served up warm with lots of butter on Good Friday for breakfast. Yummy!
Every year, I can say since leaving England, I have been pretty much disappointed .At first you couldn't find buns to buy. I have tried all kinds of recipes , some from England some from Canada and some from the USA but I usually mess up somehow. 
One year the buns looked lovely, shiny brown with the big cross on top but tasted dreadful. Mike recognized the taste as baking soda, I had misread the recipe and put that in instead of baking powder. Another time the dough didn't rise properly and they came out like hot cross balls. One day later you could have used them to play golf if you had painted them white.. Another time all rose so well they formed one huge mass on the baking sheet and were more like a hot cross cake. I won't tell you how many times they have come out with burned bottoms and other peculiar traits.
Last year I decided I would look for a recipe to make them in the bread machine and actually found one. I think I tried it as I have written on it ' Pretty good. So I'll try that one again and hopefully they will be okay. I do remember the recipe did make rather a lot and we were eating buns for most of April!!

Postscript. Well the buns turned out pretty good. I remember to cut the dough in half and I froze ½ so we can have July 4th buns with that if I remember the dough is in the freezer.
They were a little darker than I would prefer but tasted really nice.
Happy Easter.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Thoughts on Sewing


Thoughts on Sewing

On the wall of our hallway we have this lovely flower/leaf design called “ Collage Impact” It is very skillful embroidered design using various materials. It is one of the things we bought when we went on a return visit to England in about 1971. We were visiting an art exhibition at the local library  in Watford and this caught our eye. It stood out among the paintings and sculptures and we thought it was so different and lovely.

I wanted it mainly as I don't sew and knew I could never make anything like this. In fact I can't sew. I am useless from the basic sewing on of buttons to the type of sewing people do for fun like embroidery.
When I went to school we had lessons in basic sewing and my attempts were dreadful .I couldn't make the stitches the right size or straight . I think I failed that class. You also had to learn how to darn, Why I don't know as I can't remember ever wearing anything that was darned but I failed at that as well.
In High School ,called Grammar School in those days in England , I failed miserably in Domestic Education class. This was a class all the girls took to learn the basics of cooking, cleaning and sewing. In sewing class we had to design, cut out a pattern and then hand sew a garment that you could wear. Now that was bad enough but we had to make a pair of knickers ( underwear/panties). Now just imagine a whole group of 14 year old girls cutting out patterns of knickers .Just imagine the things that were being said and especially as the material we were given to do this ,was a pink flannelette. I think my planning went somewhere wrong in the measuring as my knickers were large enough for an elephant. I can remember that even the teacher tried to hide her smile as I held them up. I was totally embarrassed but I can laugh about it now. The rest of the class certainly did .

Maybe that's why I never got any better at sewing. Anyhow my mum and sister were really good with a sewing machine and they managed to make any dresses that I needed.

So this masterpiece on our wall is cherished. I wonder if the lady who made it, a Mrs Pettiman ever wonders about where it went or who has it now.

I am sure I would.


An Average day for Me


An average day in the life of me
The messy studio

Just in case you wondered...

7am get up , make coffee go back to bed . Discuss all and everything with Mike(most days)
8.20am get up. wash, dress, do daily walk, (most days)
8.50am Feed the dogs, have breakfast ( always)
9.20am check out messages on computer ( most days)
9.50am go to Hobby Lobby to pick up art supplies ( when needed)
10.45am make lunch chicken pot pie ( prepare) ( not often)

chicken pot pie ready to cook

12 noon have midday sherry on front porch with Mike ( most days)
2pm eat lunch (most days)
2.30pm work in studio ( sometimes)
4.15pm feed dogs and water plants (always)
5pm Watch TV news ( always)
6pm check computer messages and write blog ( sometimes)
6.45pm drive to Grapevine for Brit ladies meeting ( once in a while)
9.45pm drive home (always)
10.30pm go to bed. (most days)
The British Connection meeting

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Thoughts on restaurant meals

Hannahs Superior Hamburger



We went out for our Anniversary meal to a very nice upscale restaurant in Denton called Hannahs. We had never been there before but as we came in through the door and saw that it was a place with white tablecloths, interesting artistic décor and a calm, quiet atmosphere we knew this was probably a place we would like. And we did.
We were seated by a very attentive and knowledgeable waitress . About half of the tables were filled and the noise level was quiet and just right so that we could hear each other talk but could not hear people the next table.

The wine, just a house wine, Merlot was excellent. The menu was quite different with lots of choices and was reasonable in price. I opted for a Hannah's supreme hamburger with onions and sweet potato fries and Mike had a combination meal which included scallops. We shared a salad to start. This was a good thing to do and the waitress suggested it I think knowing that the portions of meals they serve are very large.
We both got through the half salad each and I managed about 1/3rd of my hamburger plate and Mike managed about ½ of his dish before we both gave up. I emphasize the taste and the food was excellent, the size was just too much.
Mike's meal

What a waste when you think of it.
And Hannahs is just no different than any other restaurant we go to.. The portions they serve are just too big . I know I have a small appetite but why do they not offer meal portions in different sizes. I look around at the tables as the people leave and not many leave “clean plates” as we were trained by our mother's to do. So a lot of food is being wasted or taken home in little boxes to be left at the back of the fridge, one day to be eaten or given to the dog. That is a very costly way to eat and I bet given the choice lots of people would opt for a smaller meal especially if it came at a smaller price.
That would be a winner all around for restaurants, and people but not necessarily for dogs!!
Less food= less obesity= less waste.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Our 53rd Wedding Anniversary

March 26,1960

         

I wrote this piece last year on our 52nd Anniversary so I'm just updating it as I don't think many people got to read it. It was on another blog.

It was a cool,gray, end of March kind of day in Watford , England and anyone who has lived in the British climate will know what I mean.But on this date March 26 1960( how far away that sounds) to two people very much in love  the sun was shining. It was our wedding day and at that time we would never realize that 52(53) years later , again the sun would be still be shining but for real as only it can do in Texas.(Actually it was freezing here this morning)

Now we would be in a land far away, having  lived in England, Canada and now in Texas. During that time we have bought different houses and cars , seen many different places , had our family and seen them grow up with all the happiness and sadness, hope and happenings and laughs that brings.
But on this special day we remember each other and our special day and it brings us joy .Instead of cards we brought each other two red rose bushes. Let us hope they last , like us well into the future. Unfortunately they didn't! the drought last summer did them both in!


Our Best Man Roger and his wife Lydia sent us this lovely card from England and knowing how we potter in the garden it was oh just right in many ways. So thanks Roger and  everyone else  for your best wishes . They have meant a lot to us over the years .



This new blog I am writing is just a collection of memories. Please check in from time to time. Comments are very welcome.
This Last blog I suspended as I needed a new one to have a mixture of memories , photos, paintings, thoughts  in fact a plog. hence
Plogging Plus.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Last Butterfly .... well at least for now


The Last Butterfly ( well at least for now)
My attempt in acrylic paint 9" x 12"

So I decided the time had come to paint the butterfly for the challenge on Paint and Draw together. The entries have started appearing and some of them are just wonderful , If you would like to see some of them you need to visit the blog page at http://paintanddrawtogether.blogspot.com.
This is not a competition , just a way of getting all kinds of people to try to paint and draw and by doing so , hopefully to have fun , enjoy themselves and maybe even get better at painting.

Original photo

If you have been looking at my blogs you will know it has inspired me to try some different forms of painting after seeing the other entries done in pastel and watercolor and oils.
The important thing that you find out as you use  different media is that there is no one way of painting or drawing and you can surprise even yourself if you try.

Also concerning the lovely Monarch butterfly I just read that The Monarch overwintering numbers are in and it is not good news. The population has hit an all time low with a 59% drop in population.
That's really sad.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Yet Another Butterfly


Yet Another Butterfly
First attempt 

Saturday dawned thundery, wet and cold. What to do? Stay inside and think of Summer.
I had also bought a box of watercolor crayons yesterday and was interested in experimenting with them. I watched a couple of YouTube videos on the various techniques involved and set to.
You basically draw and crayon your subject with any of the lovely crayons and then very carefully add brushes of water over the parts of the drawing to blend the colors. Fairly easy to do and gives a nice soft impression.
I thought I'd try to draw a piece of bamboo leaf that I picked outside and that went well so then I found a butterfly and drew that.
I was quite pleased with my first attempt and I can see how these crayons could be used to supplement watercolor paints. I will try some different subjects. I am getting a little tired of butterflies.

Friday, March 22, 2013


A Happy Retirement
Mike's Icheban flower vase.

When you are working, there never seems to be enough time to do all the things you want to do or would like to try. So when people retire they suddenly have a whole lot of time in the day to fill in.
When retirement came, quite a while ago now for both Mike and I we welcomed it to try out new things . I became a volunteer for Meals on Wheels, the Friends of the Library and the local Humane Society. I tried keeping chickens, gardening, and painting. Pretty soon I found I was working harder than I had ever worked as a teacher but found it equally as rewarding. And still do.
Mike found new passions to follow. He decided he would like to try and become a cook but was unsure how to start. I was all for this as I like to cook but found cooking all the meals everyday was eating into my time for other things and so was happy for him to take over the cooking. I found a real easy cook book and gradually Mike worked his way through it . At first I helped with little comments and tips. These days he is a much better cook than I am and he still loves to cook each day. He likes to try new recipes and invite friends to come for a meal.
Latest project

His other passion was to try woodworking. He had done a little woodworking at High school but didn't get on very well. At one time was given the task of sharpening pencils as he couldn't do the required task given by the teacher. So he had a self challenge and a purpose He started with little things but has gradually built up both his tools and expertise so that he can make all kinds of lovely things. Nearly everyone in the family has something that I am sure will become a family heirloom, one that Dad/Grandad made.
We still find time to do other things that retired people do. We go for trips and plan day outings. We can sit and have a drink at lunchtime, or read or watch TV when we wish. We can have time to just sit together and talk and think.
Maybe that's the best part of retirement.
Time .

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Hush Now Don't You Cry by Rhys Bowen


Hush Now Don't you cry by Rhys Bowen


I'd like to call this my book of the week but with all the gardening I have been doing I have had little time to read as this book took almost 2 weeks to read.

It is obviously one book in the Molly Malone Mystery series although I didn't know that when I picked it up in the library.
Molly Malone is a lady detective working around the 1900s when It was not usual for ladies to work and especially not to be a detective. In this book Molly has recently been married to a police detective and they are on honeymoon in Newport , Rhode Island. They are staying at one of the cottages, actually a very large house or mansion invited there by the owner a very rich and powerful tycoon. The mystery develops when the owner is murdered. The husband get sick and so you can guess who solves this very intriguing mystery - Molly Malone.
This was interesting to read as it had lots of historical details as well as a good mystery in the style of Agatha Christie. Very readable and I never guessed who did it either!!

I will probably check out other books in this series.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

March 21 Mum's Birthday

Mum with Beth , Sheba and Little Greydog



March 21 is my mother's birthday and now that she has got her angel wings I still remember her on her special day, This term” when I get my angel wings” she used to use when she would speak of dying, She would rarely mention getting older or dying and I guess in her mind , she wasn't getting older as she was always full of life and ready to do any new adventure that came her way so dying wasn't something she would talk about. Whether she thought about it I never knew.
We could always remember Mum's birthday when we lived in England as it nearly always coincided with the first day of Spring and occasionally fell on Mother's day in England as well. We continued to send her birthday cards when we moved and also Mother's day cards but I never felt she understood why her Mother's day card came so late. When she got the card in May ( Mother's day in USA) she would mention nasty things about the post office being late again thinking the card should have come in March. Every time I would explain but I never seem to get through to her and by the next year we would have the same conversation.
Mum didn't have much time for dogs or cats or any pets really. I think her life had been hard when she was growing up and a pet would be just another thing that needed food and care. She did let me have pets though but I had to take care of them. I had rabbits and a terrapin, and eventually a dog. All I remember with lots of fond memories, Eventually Mum did get used to the idea of pets and had a little cocker spaniel, that was great company for her as she got older .When she came to visit made a great fuss of my dogs and even would let them sit beside her on the couch.
She never did take to my cats though.
So on this day March 21 I remember my Mum with love and affection.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Welcome Spring


Welcome Spring

I am sure in some parts of the country and certainly in Canada it doesn't feel much like Spring . Here in Texas it does and we welcome it with the promise of warm but not hot days and hopefully some cooling showers; no nasty storms or hail and hopefully not too much wind to blow the new blooming flowers away before we have chance to enjoy them.


All the photos were taken by Mike in our garden and so you can see we are having a good start to Spring here.

This video I found Mendelssohn - Spring Song - Songs Without Words on youtube is very good and worth watching.

Monday, March 18, 2013

The Mountain is NO More!

NOW

The Mountain is NO More!  

After a herculean effort I can finally say the mountain is no more. If you have been following this story about our huge pile of wood chips and the way we have been moving them around ,you will be pleased , as we are, that they are now in their designated place in our yard and garden.
Mike trundled the last barrow out this morning and I know we have moved at least 50 barrow loads but toward the end of the pile we began using all 3 carts that we have and I lost count. All I know it was a LOT. Mike our grandson , moved about 6 loads for us but even he found it heavy going and he's a pretty strong and fit guy. We took it easy because we had visions of heart attacks or strained backs if we tried to do too much at a time so I am very glad it is finished.

When we began

We now have lovely environmentally sound paths all over the place and my vegetable garden area looks very smart now. We even have a path to the Bridge to Nowhere.
We haven't had a good rainstorm since we put the paths down so we still have to wait and see if the paths all float away when it rains hard but I'll take a chance on that these days as rain is very sparse in Texas.
I have learned a good lesson.
If you ask for somebody for something , make sure you watch what you are given. Sometimes it's a lot more that you want!!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

St Pat's Day 2013

Genuine Leprechaun Feet

We really do very little in celebrating St Patrick's Day but then we aren't Irish and it is their special day. I usually send St Pat's Day cards but this year the day crept up on me and I didn't get them out on time. So anyone who reads this,"Happy St Pats Day to you from us." Sorry it is a little late.
We did get out our special leprechaun shoes which it seems we have had for ever. I think once upon a time Mike used to wear them on St Pat's Day to work but now his feet are too big and I can't wear them as they  are too big for me. Plus I would have looked kind of silly digging in the garden especially as I know there isn't any pot of gold to be found there.

We made up for it by having colcannon for lunch. Mike found this Irish recipe which is basically  cabbage, potatoes , leeks  , ham, butter, milk and nutmeg  mixed together into a casserole. It is very tasty and I guess was a meal made during the times when the Irish were struggling with the bad times and food was not plentiful. If you ever want  to read an excellent historical novel about the potato famine and the struggles of the Irish plus the subsequent immigration of many of them to the USA especially to the settlement in Chicago, read Galway Bay by Mary Pat Kelly. It is an excellent read.


Mike also partook of a good Guiness and we both finished lunch with a good shot of Bailey's Irish cream with our coffee so I think we celebrated St Pat's Day rather well.
Wish you could have joined us.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

The Experimental Butterfly


The Experimental Butterfly

After a long morning of heaving top soil and chip shreddies around the yard in 80 degree temperatures , then a nice lunch ,I decided I'd had enough of gardening and I would have another go at painting the butterfly picture for the challenge on the blog Paint and Draw Together. You might have seen my early attempt on my blog The Dusty Butterfly.

Let me start by telling you I have never really been taught how to use water color paints but I do have a set of them that someone bought me . I am also very impressed at some of the lovely effective paintings that I have seen from people using water color.

I found in my cupboard of art junk some water paint pencils I had never used. Some water paint paper and a set of water paint paints and brushes so I was all set to go.
The water paint paper is pretty thick stuff and I remember that usually you wet the paper before you start. I didn't do that as I took one of the pencils and sketched out the main parts of the butterfly and flower. I did know with these pencils you are then supposed to paint on water on top of the penciled marks. Well I did than and it was fun. The colors appeared and the more you worked at it the less the marks of the pencils could be seen, I liked the effect it made for the background but found the white butterfly and the shading on the flower difficult to get right.
I solved the problem with adding some water color paint with the brush and also adding the butterfly wing pattern ( very difficult to do) as well with black paint afterwards.

Can't say I was really satisfied with the result but I might try another painting this time doing the background again in water color and adding the actual flower with acrylic paint and see how that works.
Might be alright, might not. I can only try. Stay tuned.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Peas and beans and Barley grow....


Peas and beans and Barley grow....

Well I hope they will now that finally I have some good earth. My kind Grandson Mike made good on his Christmas day promise that he would go and get me a truck load of good compost and topsoil mix and he delivered it today just in time for planting new veggies. Thanks also to his Dad for letting him borrow the family pick up. This was a very necessary item to have and one which we don't have.
As a bonus Grandson Mike helped fill up the new beds with the new soil as well and so we only now have a baby mountain of soil to contend with, After all we are still working on the chip mountain at the other end of the garden!!
Previous to this we had been trying to grow veggies in either our hard type /slate /clay mix of Texas soil with a generous combination of either leaf mold or bags of rather dubious topsoil that we had struggled home with in plastic bags. Some of that was pure gray sand.
Now everyone knows to get good garden growth you need good soil and we just don't have it here. We are in the Cross Timbers part of Texas and we have very nice trees but the soil is poor.
The raised beds filled with new soil

This late present is a blessing indeed as Mike and I were trying to figure out how many bags from the garden store we would need to fill the new raised beds Mike had just made.  
The thought of carrying them home and getting them in the beds was very daunting.

So why do any of this.? Just taste the difference between a super market veggie like a potato and a home grown one and you will soon know why.
Plus every year it is a challenge and that's good for you.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Starting Summer Vacation ( Plants)


Kalanchoe

Living in Texas you get used to very sudden temperature changes. It's usually not just a few degrees either. It can go from 30 degrees to over 80 in a few hours so today it felt like summer had come or was starting early. The temperature after being in the 30- 60 degree range jumped into the 50 to 80 degree range and when I looked at the forecast , that is where it seems it will be for the near future.

So out go all the inside plants which have made parts of the house look like a jungle since November . All my inside house plants get to spend a summer holiday outside.
The problem now becomes because they have all grown so much that all are really heavy, so lots of heavy lifting involved.Then the question, “Where shall we put them so they don't get fried alive when the really hot temperatures in the 90s start .” We don't want to have to move them all again. Fortunately we have lots of trees so we do have shade areas but this year it seems the trees are sleeping in a bit and we don't have many leaves yet.
Finally after getting them all out and put in more or less suitable places I decided to give them all a nice drink. That brings up another problem. Will all the hoses reach? Are all the connections good. Usually they are not and we sure can't bank on rain here to water the plants.

That done or at least figured out, we could finally sit on the patio under the umbrella shade and have a nice relaxing drink. Only to find that the umbrella shade had a big tear in it.
Oh well Mike was going to Home Depot anyway for hose parts!!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Spring Clean or Garden? That is the Question


Spring Clean or Garden? That is the Question


We had a good rain at the weekend and the ground is finally looking less like cement. The weather has warmed to 50 degrees and will climb to 70 by the afternoon. Blues skies, little wind, sunshine. Yes definitely a gardening day.
However, when I got myself all ready to go out clad in my new short gardening welly boots, and my junky jeans and a old sweater and gardening gloves and went into the kitchen , Mike had already decided this would be the day to clean out some of the cupboards in the kitchen, Not before time, I might add as when we moved in over 6 years ago, we just put things in the first cupboard we came to and they have basically stayed that way ever since. So Spring cleaning it was . You don't realize how much stuff you accumulate and actually don't use until you get it all out and look at it.

By lunch time we had managed to wash and arrange the stuff we would keep in a tidy manner in most, but not all the cupboards. We had also managed to actually threw away a large box of stuff we just don't use . That will be heading off to the Humane garage sale in a couple of weeks. We had to be really firm with ourselves to throw things away but it's for the best as we have a lot more room now.


So I had to do my gardening after lunch and a short nap, a read, a check of the computer, feeding the pets but I did manage to get a little done.
Tomorrow I will try again.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Spinach is not great even for late birthdays


Spinach is not great even for late birthdays

Today was a soup day and yes, it wasn't Wednesday, our usual soup day but on Monday, friends Sally and Joe called and said they would be coming by our house today . So we thought how nice it would be to have a soup day with them as they were the ones who gave us our Soup Bible book and started us on soup days. So that is how Soup Day was today!!

Mike decided to make Spinach soup. He hadn't made that one before and it looked good. It was a quick and easy soup without lots of preparation time and we could make it easily for our friends. It had the usual ingredients and I bet you can guess the major one. It also had onions , leeks and potatoes and various spices. What it didn't have was a broth base only water. Mike queried that but decided as this was the first time to make this soup he would keep to the recipe and use only water. What a mistake.
The soup looked good. A very dark green color and I bet you can guess why. It have lovely swirls of cream on the top and Sally thought I liked that because I am artistic which I did.

Unfortunately the soup was rather bland. I even had to add salt to mine , something I very rarely do. Mike only gave it a 7 and our friends a similar number( they were being polite I think) but I was honest and gave it a 5. I didn't like the texture and was disappointed in the result after it looked so good. We had a green salad with fruit and really nice fresh baked bread so we did have something to eat but we wish it could have been better.

WE made up for it with lots of conversation as we hadn't seen our friends for a while. You know it's been a while as I had rocks to give them that I had collected last summer and their Christmas presents. Sally and Joe brought me a birthday gift and a card. This 75th birthday is really going on a long time! The gift was a lovely set of white dishes that match the soup plates they had previously given us.

So maybe next time they come to visit we can use the dishes to prepare a real tasty lunch !!
The card was really cute and shows how well they know us.
Thanks Sally and Joe. It was good to see you.
Sorry about the soup!!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Blame the Stairs



One thing you realize as you get older , stairs get steeper and are harder to climb. For years stairs have been no bother for me. I would run up and down them, even taking 2 steps at a time sometimes. Stairs were fun. They made places and buildings more interesting.
They were places to sit on and to use to find other interesting places. If you were a kid or a puppy a place to climb up and slide down or use for your slinky or ball toy. One of my favorite poems by AA Milne ( read it below) is about stairs. In England we had open plan stairs in our house and I can remember thinking that my 2 boys both under 6 were actually going to kill themselves using the stairs at a climbing frame. They didn't but they fell lots of times and thought it was lots of fun.

We even built our last house with 2 sets of stairs. The house was built into a steep hillside and the living area was reached by either set of stairs. It enabled us to see the view across the valley. I would go up and down those stairs maybe 10 or 12 times a day without giving it a single thought. Well maybe I did when I had to carry all the groceries up the stairs. That was a big chore but usually no bother at all.


At our new house we also have 2 sets of stairs but neither set of stairs do we have to use on a daily basis .So pretty soon after we moved in, I was not going up and down stairs regularly anymore. Gradually I have noticed that after 6 years it is now more difficult for me to go up stairs than it was previously although I can still come down okay. Now I have to consider is that because I just don't do it anymore on a regular basis or is it because I am just getting older and this is making me notice it more. Maybe a combination.

I just know cleaning the upstairs rooms is a chore I now avoid and put off as long as I can but now I blame the stairs.

Here is  the poem by AA Milne of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh fame.

Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where i sit.
there isn't any
other stair
quite like
it.
i'm not at the bottom,
i'm not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Dusty Butterfly

my attempt in chalk pastels.

The Dusty Butterfly    

So this month the painting challenge on” Paint & Draw together” blog is a beautiful white butterfly on a lovely red flower.( see below) Only one other artist has submitted a painting or drawing so far and his was a beautiful pastel drawing rather than a painting.
Now I recently had bought a set of chalk pastels. The colors are beautiful . All in a lovely box of 24. I had drawn with oil pastels a very long while ago in fact when I was in college in Montreal but never really took to it as it becomes a very messy way of drawing. Oil and sticky fingers all over the place not to mention oily fingerprints where you don't want them.
Maybe I thought chalk pastels would be easier to work with. Wrong!
The challenge photograph

I took the picture of the butterfly hovering over a pretty red flower and sat down with my new chalk pastels, I had watched a few YouTube videos of pastel drawing and it really didn't look too difficult. I did notice that the artists using the pastels had very large boxes of pastels all broken up and looking pretty messy. That should have given me a clue this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. And I was so right ! using chalk pastels is just as dirty and difficult as using oil pastels. In no time I had the green where the white would be and a combination of dust and marks all in the wrong places. Part of the technique is to rub the colors together on the drawing to make the proper tone you need . My tones were not correct and the chalk dust was everywhere . To cap it all my beautiful new box of pastels did not include black which I really needed for this drawing. Also they had forgotten to put a black chalk in my lovely box of pastels, A necessary ingredient for this drawing.
So it was not a good experience.
I think I'll stick with painting.

The Self Challenge


The Self Challenge

Sometimes in life you need to set yourself a challenge. This happens where you are feeling a bit blah, or depressed or just want a change or even just something different to do. A self challenge gives you a purpose and a purpose is essential for living.
Now after the sermon, I'll tell you about a couple of challenges that I set myself.
My doctor had said .” You have high blood pressure and to get it to a better level you need to eat the proper diet and do more regular exercise". I left the right diet for Mike to figure out . After all he is the cook. I took on the regular exercise.

My challenge was to get walking on a regular basis, So I set myself to walking every day for about 1 mile. It was hard at first, I tried walking out on the street .That's not pleasant.You have to keep checking for cars etc and you can't keep up a steady pace. Then I hit on walking up and down my driveway and Mike ( the mathematician) figured out that 10 times up and down the driveway equaled a mile. It was calm, quiet and I could keep to a steady pace. That is until I decided if I had music and a good beat I'd do even better. Finding the right kind of music is the subject for another blog entirely. The outcome of all of this is that now I have been doing my walk for close to 7 years every morning. My blood pressure is much better and that challenge is now “old hat”. I think the diet has helped as well.

The other self challenge I have set myself, and this is because I knew I was in a rut, watching TV, reading, sitting around more and being less creative, was writing this blog. But not just writing a blog. I had done that off and on last year and knew I could do that. This time the challenge for myself was to keep writing a new and interesting blog everyday for a year. I decided at the outset to incorporate any creative work , painting, photography in as well as writing so it became my Plog.We are now up to Spring about ¼ of the way so far so good.

Thanks for reading and giving me feedback it helps me keep going.

PS Our mountain of clippings is down to 1/3 the size it was and about 50 wheelbarrow loads moved.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Save the photos


Save the photos

I bet when you went to see an elderly relative or friend, one of the things that happened was out came the old photo albums. A great and interesting time full of memories came out as the album pages were turned. Lots of laughs and memories of great and sad times too.
When an elderly parent dies one of the things you usually find is  a box of assorted photos.When you check them out you have no idea , who some of the people are or where and when they were taken. But it's interesting to guess and realize your parents too were young and had a different life than you are having.

In our house we have this really clever photo cabinet which contains small albums of photos of our immediate family . I spent some time when we first got it as a gift , to sort out the photos so each person in our family had their own album. This was a favorite thing for the kids and grand kids to check out whenever they visited.

We also have lots of albums and envelopes of photos, videos and even film slides and I wish they had all been sorted out too but after 75 years you get a LOT of stuff.

So I started to put our latest photos on a computer stick straight from camera to computer to stick. Very easy.  I'm not entirely sure also that my photos have been going up to a “Cloud” somewhere but whether they are there or not I don't know as I have no idea how to find it.

All this fast changing technology makes me think that in a few years printed photos would scarcely be found so what will you be able to show your grand kids in the years to come.How will you remember what happened and who you saw and where was it?
I suspect my present stick will no longer work or we will have to have a new device to play it and as for the “Cloud” how will anyone find it.

So young people out there that read this. Take care to print some photos out when you take them on your smart phones and pads .Put them in a safe place and collect some of Grandmas photos too 
You'll be glad you did when you are as old as I am as photos make memories last.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

The Rescued Violet


The Rescued Violet

I don't often go grocery shopping with Mike as he has shopping off to a fine art now and can go faster and is more successful at it than I am. And he likes it !! And I don't!!
Today I did go with him as there were some other places we needed to go.
I'm glad I did because as we went into Walmart , there by the cash out counter was a table of inside plants and right at the end a few very bedraggled and pathetic looking African violet plants. I love these plants. Actually I like all plants. So I went over to see them and right at the end of the table was a poor little pink/mauve one that was really suffering.

I guess no one had bothered to realize it needed a drink of water every so often and the poor thing was parched. I didn't really need another plant but I needed to rescue this one. So I picked it up , gave it to Mike and said , “Happy  Valentine's Day, just a few days late. Isn't it pretty.”.

At home I introduced it to the other African Violet I have which was once a little thing as well. With a good drink of water Violet soon was looking perky and enjoying her new life.
Another rescue story ending happily.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Miss Tabby Cat



Miss Tabby cat

I first saw Miss Tabs when I was delivering Meals on Wheels to an old lady. She was running around with a bunch of other tabby kittens all abut 5 weeks old.This was about 1998
I'll see what I can do to find the kittens a home” I said. By the time I had found a foster to take them and went back there were only 4 kittens to be seen. To get anywhere near them or the mother was going to be difficult. Another 2 weeks went past before we had managed to catch 2 very unhappy and fierce little kittens. All the other kittens and mom had disappeared.
So I took them home and knew these would be hard kittens to socialize as these were semi feral cats.
I knew no foster would want them as this would be long term fostering to get them ready for adoption so they stayed with me.
Gradually they did become a little bit tamer and we called the female Miss Tabby and the male kitten, Spins as he had long spindle like legs. I did all the medical requirements, the testing and shots and spaying and neutering and worked at getting them ready and socialized around people so they could be adopted.
It took far too long and they were still wary around people even when they were about 9 months old . I realized these were going to become my cats and so I adopted them.

They were shy around the other cats and tended to hide in the house and but were okay around the dogs. They had been using the doggy door to go in and out and gradually they were coming in only for food a couple of times a day and preferred to sleep in the barn unless it was really cold or wet . They would occasionally come for a quiet petting or stroking but the slightest movement and off they would go. Their wild genes were kicking in. Calling them to come had no effect but they would always be around.

When we moved to our new house we had to catch them as they sensed something was about to happen. It took me 3 days before I managed to catch Miss Tabby and bring her to the new house. Spins was okay and all the cats were soon settled into the summer room. I wondered what would happen after I let these cats all out. Would they disappear again? Food was in the summer room so I reckoned they all would come there to be fed. They did and soon everyone was back in the same routine as they had at the other house.

This continued for a few more years. Spins disappeared for longer periods and longer periods and we reckoned he had found a new home somewhere.
I noticed Miss Tabs who was now about 12years old, had an eye that looked like it had a cataract forming. She had always had odd eyes; one green and one a hazy brown. She was still going out but spending longer time inside. She was still very timid especially around loud noises and any sudden movement. For a short while I kept her inside in one room as gradually her other eye became clouded and I realized she had become blind. She hated being kept inside and showed it by peeing on all the furniture .I was nervous about letting her out but one day I knew this inside prison was not a good way to keep this cat. She went outside while I watched her and began feeling her way around very slowly as if learning the new patterns of where she should go. She adapted fast and she now travels all over the house and yard comes in and out and sleeps outside in the sun or inside on a chair and manages with her disability to enjoy life. Its amazing how animals adapt.The best thing is she is now a happy cat enjoying a quiet retirement.