2019 October – Back, ‘Shrooms, Dee Estuary, Nearly There
Back
This is a picture of me turning my back on everything.
Mum is still in painting and decorating mode. She’s now onto doors, frames and skirting boards. This seems to involve smelly paint, so I am making my feelings on this quite clear.
Mum says it’s really boring.
That’s a shame isn’t it because she hasn’t even got close to finishing upstairs and there is all of downstairs to do as well.
Mum says she’s got a week to get the kitchen and hall sorted and painted before the flooring arrives so it will be fine.
Well, at her current snails pace, she’s got a few long days and nights in front of her I reckon.
Just saying.
‘Shrooms
This is a picture of me out in the wild woods with some ‘shrooms.
You can see them behind me. They’re quite big. And probably poisonous I expect.
I’m not really that bothered but Mum thinks they’re interesting.
Dee Estuary
This is a picture of me on the west side of the Wirral.
You can see the Dee Estuary in the background and then North Wales beyond that.
We are staying with offspring#2 and her boyfriend at the moment. This is because the flooring is being put down at home and we’d just be in the way. So we have temporarily abandoned ship, as it were.
We’re being very nicely looked after here, please and thank you.
We’re in a field which can be hired by the hour for dog walking. It is all fenced in so I don’t need my lead at all. I’m not that fussed and I don’t run off much anyway. Mind you if it wasn’t fenced in I expect I’d be off like a rocket. I can be quite contrary like that.
There are nice sniffy things though. And water points all round the field.
So all in all, a good thing.
I like.
Nearly there…
We’re back home now and this is a picture of me asking Mum when this decorating malarkey is going to end.
It is now excessively tiresome. Mum says there is one room left to do and then that’s it.
Finito.
Fun facts: It is thought that paint was first used by humans over 100,000 years ago – a sort of ochre mixture made of natural clay, found in Blombos cave in Africa. More complex cave paintings using mostly red, black and yellow pigment date back some 40,000 years. The first oil paintings were probably Buddhist murals in 650 AD. By the industrial revolution, paint was being made in larger quantities (previously the constituent powders had to be hand ground) and interior house painting became increasingly common throughout the 19th century.
Saffron’s recommendations’ this month:
Music: Do you know what? We’re opting for Stereophonics this month. Welsh alt and trad rock with fab live performances.
Maybe tomorrow (lovely)
Mama told me not to come ft Tom Jones (cool)
Have a nice day
Mr Writer
Just looking
Handbags and Gladrags
and of course….. Dakota
Reading: The Golden Treasury of Poetry by Louis Untermeyer, published by Collins. Hundreds of well known poems split into themes – a bit of something for everybody. Mum likes Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll (of course she does) but I like Ogden Nash’s An Introduction to Dogs:
They cheer people up who are frowning, and rescue people who are drowning, they also track mud on beds, and chew peoples clothes to shreds. Dogs like to bark, they like it best after dark. Dogs are upright as a steeple, and much more loyal than people.
Film: Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams, about an inspirational poetry / English teacher. Takes a dark turn and not always easy to watch. Made the phrase ‘carpe diem’ (seize the day) mainstream. Plus of course encouragement to ‘make your lives extraordinary’, gracefully delivered by RW.
In the news:
Torrential rain brings flooding to many parts of the UK. Some areas in the Midlands, Wales and southern England are hit by a week’s rain in just one hour
Extinction Rebellion protests are banned across London by the Metropolitan Police
EU leaders agree in principle to move the deadline for a Brexit with an agreement from 31 October 2019 to 31 January 2020
Abortion is decriminalised in Northern Ireland