southern42

I'll just put kettle on.... Tea Lady

' morning all from red dragon land. Sunneeeeee. Blue sky. Chilly wind when I went out to the bins with the recycling. 5.6C. I forgot to submit yesterday's post and all because I could not remember what I had logged on to say - the cookies monster popping up across the screen wiping out all memory of it - only to find the message I did write, commenting on my lack of memory, did not reappear in the Editor this morning! HOWEVER....I did remember this morning on seeing the sun 🌞 streaming directly into my eyes, again, when popping the kettle on before breakfast. How? Well, I did the same thing as yesterday morning... I dug out the sunglasses! 😎 Yep! For real! The kitchen sink faces south east, getting sun up quite late compared with people lower down the hill. At the moment, it appears at breakfast time. Give it a month or two and it will be quite high in the sky at that time and not be staring me out. ION Yesterday's turn of playing Flute-ont'-floor-in-front-oft'-fire, the time I use the beatbox, went surprisingly well. Two positives: not getting puffed out as much and starting to keep to the beat better. Yesterday's target was to join the end of one line to the beginning of the next. Not so easy when twiddly bits, with hardly time for a quick puff of breath, come just before the first beat of the next line* and my tendency being to panic and mess up/miss out the notes altogether/give up before then, and thus, miss the first beat. I did manage it in the end and I hope it will all come together, today. *Six lines (of which four are repeated) before I get a long note at the end with room to take a decent breath between the lines of the second half of the song. So, breathing technique is all part of the learning process. Whoever said that playing the flute was easier than the piano because you only play tunes on it, needs to try it! The bamboo flute is the hardest of the few flutes I have played, but there are a lot of wind instruments out there which are far more difficult to play. Time to get a shift on, Henry is about to get into action. Take care. Be good. Be prepared. 🕶️ Polly

I don't need telling. I'm Uxbridge: it suits me down to the (under)ground and so many memories of Mum being there when I arrived/departed/we had lunch in the cafe/caught the bus outside in the bus station.

Er...hum...I managed to (accidentally) flip the badge over before it had properly dried...and had to pull it off the paper it landed face down on. <<oops!>> No damage I could see but, as a precaution, I gave it another coat of glossy varnish, then another one when I got up this morning...If I had had my wits about me at the start, I could have touched up the ground-down black lines but I guess it does show its battered history. No wonder he's giving me that look! 😥 Now drying, it lies in wait for its fate.... To keep it flat during varnishing and drying, I just happened to have a suitable bit of packaging, into which I stuck the pin, in my small kitchen worktop box of bitsnpieces. Taking a closer look at it this morning to see if it was just a bit of polystyrene, I saw it was a bit more than that; it is split into three crafted cushioning layers. You live and learn! Mr Pinbadge Orangutan's Big Bro: https://www.betwsrailwaystation.co.uk/dr-sen-orangutan-sculpture/ The palm oil free Coffee Shop from where he came: https://www.betwsrailwaystation.co.uk @polybear and friends: https://www.betwsrailwaystation.co.uk/the-lost-bear/ Link to the 2 minute film at bottom of the page (but, maybe, not for the feint hearted). Off for a toot now and some social company this afternoon. Take care. Be good. Keep your eyes open... Polly

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Sunny again. <<Wowww!>> Double figures, too, @10.0C. Do I detect a tad of warming? It did not feel like it in the porch. Toot on the flute. Beat box set at same tempo. Still puffing and panting along line2 but I did manage to play it, in the end, with its repeat. Continuing on from line1 failed miserably, today, so that will be my job to get right, tomorrow. When the varnish dried on Mr Pinbadge Orangutan last night, the middle still looked a bit scuffed up, so I gave it another coat of varnish (total of 4 coats) before going to bed. It was still not quite right, this morning, so I gave it another two coats before going off for my toot on the flute. Came back and gave it just one more coat echoing my flute playing strategy of 4-2-1. Though maybe I could do with learning a different one: Another mugadecaf time. Take care. Be good. Don't rush it! Polly

' night all and nos da. 🥱

I even had a taster this afternoon. I found a pin badge clasp on the floor of the car as I got in it after lunch. Go back a couple of weeks and I had walked into the kitchen with something on the bottom of my shoe - the pin of a badge stuck in the rubber sole. Lucky I was not walking barefoot, I thought. I am now guessing, by the lacklustre of the badge, that it must have fallen onto the car floor as well and got walked upon down the long gravel path into the house. So, one badge smartened up again. No, sorry, this is not a bear but an orangutan, issued by one of the cafes outside Betws-y-coed station - a Mother's Day present from one of the tribe during lunch there. Three coats of the glossy stuff has brought it back to life.

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Glorious sunshine this morning when I met a friend at a local(ish!) garden centre for an early lunch, parking being so much easier at 11am. The meeting had been postponed from last month so lots found to chat about. I also bought a nightlight similar to one I had bought for a Christmas present, only instead of an led light source, it has come with a candle <<urrrrghhh!>> so now I will have to order some before trying the nightlight out! <<boohoo and all that>> I was thinking of getting an led with mains cable or solar version, anyway, though the nightlight will be on the northwest side so not much direct sunshine there - scarce commodity so far, this year. Looks like more mackbwck time spent googling.... Toot on the flute I think I spoke too soon....Tough going this afternoon with a target of playing the first line twice followed by the second line twice to the beat. Without the beatbox, I did at least manage to do it a couple of times though I think, by then, I had rectified one or two issues - enough to say it may be worth continuing the battle. Opticians booked for an appointment end of next week so new glasses should be decorating my face soon. 🤓 Then it will be thinking about getting back into some muddling. <<Yippeeeeeeee!>> Take care. Be good. Light up the place.

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Sunny 5.5C. Nice in the sun though I only went out to the bins. So lazy today but lunch is had and there is Henry to get into action before my toot on the flute. Just hope I can keep up with the beat, today! If 36 bpm seems slow, think of it this way, when I tap my foot it will be at 144 bpm to keep those 1/4 notes in time. In my earlier days of piano and Western flute music, 120 bpm could be noted above the score but I do not ever recall playing things at anywhere near that speed! "Do not do fast" became my motto. A right turn around, now. Best get a move on. Other things to do as well. Take care. Be good. Take it easy. Polly

' evening all from red dragon land. Warmer out than it was this morning 3.0C. Not that I am going anywhere. Two sessions of toot on the flute by the fireside this afternoon, either side of lunch. On Line 2, I was struggling big time to keep beat at the prescribed 36bpm. Not much better the second time but I did manage a couple of rounds of the line sort of on the beat. Break the notes of the beat (crochet) down to a quarter (semiquavers), and add some twiddly bits in between and it feels like I am racing round trying to keep up with the F1 teams. At least I am not getting quite as puffed out as I was a week ago! Time for mugadecaf, then a quick toot (enjoyment session!) before watching whatever is on tv at 9 of the clock.

*$$$$$$$$ for short! Hat coat...

' morning all from red dragon land. Happy birthday wishes to Ian. Blue sky. Jack distributed a lot of his white stuff around the area overnight. Sun just arriving above the nor'west facing hill to dispel it. 1.0C risen to 2.9C Brrr and brrrrr. Snow above 2000ft so that lets us off! 😁 Family tracking stuff to pass to and fro between family members to do today. Sis has been busy sorting out stuff that belonged to mum. So quite a bit to get on with. I shall, however, have a toot on the flute in front of the fire while I still have the chance. We usually let the fire go out last day of March, clean the stove and sweep the chimney, unless it gets really cold, and let the storage heaters take over while necessary. That is my day sorted. Take care. Be good. Take a deep breath before you start. Polly

or winklepickers

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Sun n showers. Temp rise from 2C-4C. Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant Hapus Mynd i Gaerdydd 2023

The common question I frequently got was: What makes you think you can do this job?" It was not the question itself that bothered me but the snooty, looking down their noses attitude that came with it, especially when I came with higher qualifications than required. Maybe I should have given a 👑 mightier than thou 👑response but I still would not have wanted to work for them! 😂 It was bad enough working in an element of an us and them environment - the academics v* support and domestics as then called. Unfortunately, it got worse the longer I worked there and consequently aided my earlier than planned decision to go. Unfortunately, the attitude of a few more-senior staff was most demeaning and would put you in the trash can with Oscar but without the "love" 🤪. Fortunately, most more senior staff I encountered treated me with more respect and in many cases expected/asked me/us to work well above grade because they knew I/we had the requisite skills and knowledge. *I worked on both sides of the fence. Who remembers this, then...? 🤣 Take care. Be good. "Look on the bright side of life." Polly

...but it was this pic from my diy school history book that stole my heart. It was about this time (age 7) that I saw four similar manuscripts (probably in the British Library) that led to me becoming a calligrapher and graphic designer. Interesting use of my favourite pair of colours.* Also, seeing shapes and not seeing the detail within - two arms have been obliterated! That was overcome (in much later years) by a tutor's remark which I turned into: Look in the shadows which joined other tutor's expressions, such as: Draw what you see, not what you know. Make it really ace. *I carried on using red dots in geography to mark city, town and village names in the days when you had to draw the maps for your GCE O and A level exams, not be given them as I noted was the custom by the time our kids did their exams (GCSEs). If I had not had to learn to draw such maps and diagrams (the sciences) I doubt I would have remembered much at all! It also lent itself to making use of spider diagrams and flow charts in later life.

' afternoon all from red dragon land. Sunny, not too warm @5.1C. Brrr. Mind agog with family history after 2hr chat over phone last night whilst keeping up with the tail end of some coloured balls being knocked into small holes on the tv. <<Yay, he won!>> Someone has certainly been doing his homework - and, tentatively, I may be linked, somewhere along the line, to dear ole Alfred who burnt the cakes but it is a long shot. 🏹 Toot on the flute coming up to quicken up some twiddly notes as it appears, going by the beat box, some are a bit lethargic! Best get the little pinkies to speed up their act! Then it will be amassing some info from one member of the family and forwarding to the other. Take care. Be good. Keep your crown head on. Polly

[inappropriate comment, here, deleted after hearing that Babs didn’t make it. Apologies @Grizz for responding before I saw the later post.]

Nasty thing that CP. I caught it off classroom kids and just thought I had a cold, then flu, then I'm dying. The following morning the Doc said I had CP. Decades on I got the shingles jab. Mr Suvvern had to wait a year as he was just underage. It must cost/production over medical concerns that limits age accessibility because Dad was only in his fifties when he had it bad, bad, bad. Not, not, not nice at all, at all, at all. Hope granddaughter recovers soon.

We used to make our own! Amazing what you can do with old wood offcuts or stems of a bush and a piece of string! Mind you, we did grow up on doses of TV's Robin Hood, William Tell, and The Lone Ranger, and many a suitable Saturday Morning Pictures film. 🤠 Interestingly, though, in my first teaching appointment, I attended a teachers' in-service training session on children's speech. This was in London. We have the spelling and pronunciation wrong! It is Bowsanarras. All one word! ......... Morning all from red dragon land. Yellow ball up yonder shining brightly. Ground rather wet. 3.7C. Some toot on the flute and some tidying, or rather sorting and chuckin' out, in mind for today. Take care. Be good. Have a plan up your sleeve. Polly

Falling downstairs. First time was top to bottom about seven years old. Not an ache or bruise anywhere that I remember. Just got up and went to school as usual. Second time, I was on lunch in Marx and Sparx shopping with a couple of other teachers when I fell down a few steps of the staircase. A&E was next stop! Arm wrapped up in a sling, the sling was removed as soon as I entered the school gate. No way was I going to embarrass myself in front of my seven six olds. Third time, some years later, down a side stairwell in Woolies. The scariest was at home when I was expecting. Fortunately, I was ok. If you ever see me on a stairwell and I am not grabbing a handrail - let me know!

' morning all from red dragon land. Faint light streaming from the yellow ball behind the cloud behind us: land northwards bathed in golden light. A bit cold out 4.2C. Finishing off breakfast. Mr Suvvern gone to collect groceries - no afternoon slots left to book for today due to late booking! Wet weather, appointments, and school half-term down on parallel bits of metal (drawing Ray out for extra days driving) have generally upset the balance of doing things lately. Breakfast done. Time to get ready for stashing the goods away into the cupboards. Back later... Take care. Be good. Don't Panic! Polly

They no longer stock a lot of things. <<Grrrr>>

From a very young age, I was always called upon to get bees/wasps out of the house. Mum just fled. This bravery came in handy when a neighbouring student had similar in her room and when calls came from the classroom assistant when a spider was spotted in the stock room. In my own home, we get all sorts, most find themselves driven out or put outside. No lodgings here, folks! Tattybye!

The fantasy in my current reading is based on ancient prophecy and destiny, acted out by warriors, heroes, dragons, elves, goblins, trolls. All exciting stuff! Not for the faint hearted...people get scared, fight, get injured, and die. No different from Little Red Riding Hood, then, just a bit more drawn out.