Category: ab

I am the owner of a lovely new Adult Colouring Book. It is full of cats drawn by artist Louis William Wain (1860 – 1939). He was famous for his drawings and illustrations of large eyed cats and kittens. Here is my first attempt at colouring one of Louis’s drawings.

My poem!
Pussycat Pussycat, where have you been?
I been pointing a rifle on the village green
Pussycat Pussycat, what did you there?
Helping Ukrainians give Putin a scare!
Pussycat Pussycat, keep hold of your gun
Ukrainians now have Russia on the run!

Phew! Have been given the runaround by a bunch of cheeky leprechauns. Honestly just because it’s almost St.Patrick’s Day they’re twice as mischievous as normal. Anyway, I’ve managed to calm them down.

You can read their story Catching a Leprechaun here

Here is a new very short story for you – Poison Ivy

And a new poem – Ukraine 2022

It’s hard to get going when the weather is so icy, don’t you think? I would stay under the duvet in my lovely warm bed until Spring if I could! Instead, I make tea, (a nice cuppa warms the hands), toast some bread, slather on the butter and turn the heating on. I live in hope that by the time the bills go up and we’re all living in fear of vastly inflated fuel bills, we’ll be in the middle of a heat wave. Anyway, I have two new poems for you, which you can find here (link below). Feel free to comment.

1. Ukraine 2022
2. We’ve Already Said Goodbye

Froggy activity in my (temporarily neglected) garden pond has resulted in a mass of frogspawn – in the coldest spell of wintry weather we’ve had for a long time! The daffodils are budding, and our shed roof has had a fox asleep on top of it for the first time this year!

Enjoy the sunshine everybody!

01/Feb. Finding myself awake in February 2022….(what happened to January?) a quick scan of the papers revealed that we are now in the the Year of the Tiger!! Hold on to your hats everybody. Grrrr.

It started off with a country-wide gasp of disbelief as Boris Johnson, mired in controversy, accused of lying, cheating, misbehaviour in office, and a police investigation into his suspected criminality, jetted off to to set himself up as the Saviour of Ukraine (facing a looming Russian invasion). A few hours later, accused of ‘confusion’ by Putin, he was back in UK facing more accusations and calls to resign. Get the popcorn in folks, this could go on for some time.

02/Feb. An afternoon walk in sunshine did a lot to clear my head and give me a more positive outlook, after all, the shadow of Johnson cannot hang about forever, can it? Even he can’t hang by his fingernails indefinitely and surely the conservative MP’s will find their inner strength and force him out. The current situation needs change.

03/Feb. Big happenings in 10 Downing Street! BJ has lost FOUR top civil servants as MPs urge the Prime Minister to resign. Extraordinary times. The prime minister looks dishevelled, rough, and ‘on the edge’ – every day there are the front pages of the newspapers shouting the latest lies and obfuscations, the radio interviewing politicians (more often than not the opposition as the Tories are fed-up ‘defending the indefensible’) and more info about Partygate! All this and the threat of galloping inflation, with energy costs rising hugely, cost of living doubling/tripling and the poorest in the country having to use foodbanks to feed their families as their income forces choices between food or fuel during the coldest time of year.

04/Feb. Sun’s up, time for a cuppa. Back soon. AB

This year is almost over, almost done. I won’t be sorry to see it go. It’s been a horrible year with the Pandemic claiming so many lives, and death and illness interactive maps shared and explained daily by Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, scientists labelled Doomsters and Gloomsters by Boris Johnson, an eternal optimist, labelled a clown by the French.

In April I experienced a Tia, (Transient ischaemic attack), also called a mini-stroke. This was mild and the NHS rose to the occasion with the Southmead Hospital expert consultant organising blood tests, a Brain Scan, Electrocardiogram all within one afternoon – no time wasted! I have made a full recovery and am now on medication to help guard against further attacks. This affected my confidence for a while as I was wary of continuing my usual social life. Thank goodness for Zoom. I have managed to keep in contact with family and friends and am now looking forward to more face to face contact in 2022, and seeing a good deal more of my lovely family.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!

The Tories have lost their seat in Shropshire having held it for almost 200 years! Huge news and a success for Helen Morgan for Lib-Dems who won with a 6000 majority. After a torrid few weeks for Boris Johnson with accusations of ‘one rule for them and another for us’ from the press and public, it seems the party is over for Boris and the Tories with several mp’s calling for Boris to resign.

Moving on to real life, I have been to the supermarket several times this week, buying Christmas crackers, mince pies (I know, I could make my own, but would have to buy sweet mincemeat then make pastry and use gas to cook them. Then trying not to eat them as they cooled down.) So I bought them. I also bought cheese straws, chocolates, wine, fancy cheese – all sorts of stuff I would not usually be buying. Then yesterday I had a brainwave for presents. Buy little fat Kilner jars from Amazon and fill them with fruit and nuts. Jars duly ordered, they’ll be delivered tomorrow! Final presents sorted. So, back to the supermarket today for fruit and nuts, more chocolate and red ribbon to tie around the necks of the jars which had already been delivered! Filled with the fruit and nuts the little jars look lovely. But take the ribbon off again, it didn’t work. Next to finish wrapping up the gifts which will lie under the Christmas tree for a few days until the family arrive and the present swapping commences.

While I was getting on with saving the economy, a breaking news bulletin apparently broke the story of Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary investigating Downing Street parties held during lockdown in contravention of Covid rules. Mr Case has owned up to parties held twice in his own offices during the lockdown and now calls are being made for him to resign. I imagine he’ll have to investigate himself and find himself not guilty of any wrong. *Sigh*

Must go, got to throw some tinsel around and scatter coloured lights about. Have a nice evening all!

Emerging out of a pandemic in which a deadly disease has been stalking the Earth is something which is happening now. After months of avoiding social activities, trying to keep contact with friends and family via zoom, and finding life continues on T.V. I’m now slowly, very slowly, waking up. Visiting the local supermarket is like walking into Christmas, beautiful sparkling lights greet the shoppers, the shelves showing brightly coloured trinkets, and all sorts of tempting chocolates and goodies.

Now we have a new worry, Omicron, a new strain of Covid19, which has emerged in South Africa and is now rapidly infecting the world. Apparently it’s causing a mild illness. but so much is unknown about the infection risks the politicians are at a loss as the Season rolls on to Christmas. Should we be in lock-down? Working from Home? Should Christmas be banned altogether or just micro-managed by meddler in chief, Boris Johnson? As trust in Johnson ebbs away, a lack of confidence in his competency results in the people of the country deciding not to follow rules set by someone who refuses to follow them himself. Calls for Johnson’s resignation become louder.

Funny how things in life just creep up on you, the way time flies for instance. We have now been in lockdown or tiers or living restricted lives for over a year. The coronavirus which has affected lives across the world now appears to be coming under control. Vaccinations are giving us hope. Social distancing, we are told by Matt Hancock, is on track to end in mid-June. I truly hope that will in fact happen, but a number of people have been so traumatized by the day by day reports from politicians, scientists and chief medical pundits all warning us of the dangers of poking our heads above the battlements and going outside, I fear it will be a lot longer than a few months before the populace relaxes!

However, February ended with some beautiful warm sunshine making Sunday the best day we have seen for ages. Coffee in the garden, washing on the line, made it feel Spring-like and happy. I wonder how many of us have taken up new hobbies now we have some time to please ourselves? What do you enjoy doing? Box sets can be a great way to spend an evening, with a glass of wine and some chocolate! Time now for me to get on with one of my hobbies – cooking! Tonight it’s a lamb curry with rice with a small leaf salad and red onions. A glass of delicious Rioja will round it off nicely!

Bye for Now, have a lovely evening xx

Feeling a bit stale and unfit I decided to go for a daily walk to hopefully improve on my fitness. Starting on Monday 15^th I started out and walked briskly for 30mins and 8394 steps. I managed to increase the time spent walking through the week and today notched up 11571 steps. I do feel more fit, and am also sleeping better, I’m now aiming to keep it up until Easter!
The garden has been showing signs of Spring with daffs and crocus bravely pushing their way through the cold ground to put on a pretty show. But for me the main interest has been our little garden pond, which is now full of life with lots of frogs and frogspawn! The magpies have shown an interest in trying to eat the spawn but the parent frogs are forever jumping about and diving and generally making the magpies disappear.  See some photos below.
The latest lockdown announcement from Boris Johnson proposing some relaxing of rules is very welcome. I have had my first inoculation at the end of January and am due the second dose sometime in the next few weeks. The time can’t come soon enough when I can see my lovely family again. We are all getting our hopes up for a grand get together and a much anticipated catch-up!  Fingers crossed everybody that we will not be let down again!