RSS

Monthly Archives: February 2020

Simple Supper and A Poem

It has been a wild, stay indoors, kind of day all over the Uk today – a reading day, a resting day and so a very simple supper of Cauliflower Cheese.

 

Here is a poem dedicated to those of my friends who are poets.  I want you to know that you are very much appreciated right now!

The Poet by Raymond Garfield Dandridge

The poet sits and dreams and dreams;
He scans his verse; he probes his themes.

Then turns to stretch or stir about,
Lest, like his thoughts, his strength give out.

Then off to bed, for he must rise
And cord some wood, or tamp some ties,

Or break a field of fertile soil,
Or do some other manual toil.

He dare not live by wage of pen,
Most poorly paid of poor paid men,

With shoes o’er-run, and threadbare clothes,—
And editors among the foes

Who mock his song, deny him bread,
Then sing his praise when he is dead.

 

 
7 Comments

Posted by on February 9, 2020 in Food, poetry, Postaday2020, Uncategorized

 

Tags: ,

Jelly Babies, Oak Tree and A Poem

An afternoon of resting, reading and Jelly Babies!

Who knew that Oak trees have catkins? I didn’t. I knew about acorns, of course, but didn’t have any to add to my glass Oak tree. Little beads to mimic catkins, now, that I could do!

Our Niece-in-law who lives in Olympia near Seattle is a poet. She has given me permission to share this very powerful piece with you, with her introduction.

“Here’s an old thing I wrote in an attempt to talk about the racial injustices that consistently hurt everyday people and I want to share it again on what would have been Sandra Bland’s 33rd birthday.

I hope one day for a better world. It starts with you and me. Let’s remember people like Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice and Michael Brown and Philando Castile and continue to speak their names so that people who wish to cheapen their precious lives will know that we do not, will never, stand with them.”

Precedent

A Cleveland child’s melanin was Just enough Cause
for murder-
Cold blood under the warm sun.
Six million dollars will not be enough
to sook his mother’s ache,
You can’t tell her this was an honest mistake.

A man had his breath pressed out of his lungs
On a live stream, on a street corner,
The world watched him beg for his life.

Protect/Serve/Seek/Destroy.

She was from Waller County, a pin drop on a map
That’s now a black hole void
where precedence discards prudence.
Where a woman can be detained at a traffic stop,
Found hanged in a jail cell,
and forgotten.

A Fort Worth teen plead guilty
to assaulting a mentally challenged child.
Cold concrete, wire hanger, steel locker, chipping paint
Are the canvas onto which he scrawled the slurs,
the acid words and acrid variations
of the Purity of Hate in America.

He served no jail time,
It wasn’t a hate crime.

A small town in Michigan runs on brown water,
Their babies have rashes and their hair is falling out.
Never mind lead poisoning causes death and developmental delay-
Those kids have bed rolls over at Genesee,

You see,
They are pre-enrolled in the prep school for slavery,
The cops will let them know when it’s their time to go.

Their mamas smoke foil and rise above the pain-
Flesh of womb claimed commodity before the
cord stops pulsing
Gaslighted by the streetlights
which always blink red and blue.

If five white teens went missing
from the nation’s capital,
the whole world would mourn and wring their People magazines
Until their salty fingers all had sliver on sliver of papercuts.
Would put out a special on dateline NBC with
a reward for any information that
might lead to their discovery.

Tomorrow is a smog cloud,
Tomorrow no one is safe.

It’s polluted by the precedents we set, today.

 
5 Comments

Posted by on February 8, 2020 in America, art, glass, Photography, poetry, Postaday2020

 

Tags: , , , ,

Daffodils, More Daffodils and Phiz

In the town car park today, I spotted these little daffodils.

We have a ‘host of golden daffodils’ in our house. Last week, for the lovely Mr S’s birthday, our super neighbour brought in many bunches of Cornish Daffodils which have now all opened, all 58 of them!

On this day in 1812, Charles Dickens was born. We have a beautiful set of his works, illustrated by Phiz, the nom de plume of Hablot Knight Browne. They worked together for 23 years. These are all from Nicolas Nickleby.

.

 

Tags: , ,

Our Wonderful NHS

I spent much of the morning at St Michael’s Hospital in Hayle where I have had steroid injections in both ankles to combat the arthritic pain. The injections are uncomfortable to have done but give me relief for about 6 months so are very well worth it. The staff are wonderful – kind and understanding, friendly, efficient  and can’t do enough to make the patients feel good about their treatment. In this photo, with prepared ankles, I am about to go down to the operating theatre where the injections are done with x-ray guidance, Thank you to everyone especially Simon who allowed me to squeeze his hand very tightly. He said he was a rugby player and could stand any pain I inflicted! Tea  and Toast afterwards were greatly appreciated too!

Two days resting and being sensible and then back to life as I love it – and pain free!

 
11 Comments

Posted by on February 6, 2020 in Cornwall, Postaday2020, Uncategorized

 

Tags: , ,

Tyres, Crocuses and Glass Trees

After a wonderful session singing at the Eco Park this morning, I spotted these brightly painted tyres as I was leaving. I’m sure they will all be planted up before too long

In a first for February, our lawn needed mowing today! As he was busy, the lovely Mr S realised that some crocuses had planted themselves in the middle and called me out to see a surprise.

I put donated/discarded jewellery on all my glass pieces (which are all made from reclaimed or rescued glass) and today I have added Cherry Blossom to one of my trees and an owl to the other. There are three more in the making…..   These are all being made for 29th February when we will be joining in the planting of 800 trees and raising money for a Refugee charity.

 

Tags: ,

Dwarf Iris , Snowdrops and Buddy Holly

We have chimney pots full of flowers! Here is one blooming with Dwarf Iris Injad Sherwood.  They don’t look like the packet but are lovely anyway. You can just spot the first Tete a Tete further back in the wall.

I love Snowdrops.

On this day in 1959 Buddy Holly died. I was too young to know his music then, just remember the older girls in the cloakroom at school weeping and wailing and I didn’t understand why!  Here’s one that I grew to love, “Every Day.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KduJS8y48jc

 
4 Comments

Posted by on February 4, 2020 in garden, music, Photography, Uncategorized

 

Tags:

Trees, Sunset and A Crossword

I’ve been making glass trees! Here are the first two.

There was a very pretty pink sunset as I drove to and arrived at choir this evening.

What a very clever and like-minded crossword compiler put this one together!

 

Tags: , ,

Star, Stew and A Song

I didn’t  pack this decoration away with the other things as I like seeing it twist and twirl in the warmth above the radiator.

To round off the lovely Mr Smith’s birthday weekend, I have made a Chicken and Hatch Chilli Stew, using proper American Hatch Chiles and it was scrumptious, a proper treat!

Chicken and Hatch Chile Stew

 

Eva Cassidy was born on this day in 1963. She died far too young. Here is one of my favourites of her songs and you can read about her here.

 

Tags: , ,

Friendship, Twine and A Band

Friendship February

Gorgeous coloured twine for the garden seen in a Falmouth shop today.

As a birthday treat for the lovely Mr S, we went to see a fabulous band, Falmouth Soul Sensation, who were playing a Benefit concert in aid of Cornwall Hugs Grenfell. This charity, formed by a Cornish resident after the Grenfell fire tragedy, gathers ‘one week’ pledges from holiday-home owners in Cornwall to give Grenfell survivors and bereaved families, as well as firefighters, the hope of a holiday. At least 500 people have been supported so far. Local businesses help too supplying ice creams or boat trips, free visits to attractions and cream teas. Those who couldn’t offer such things have paid towards the transport to bring families here. A lot of people have been made very happy by this offer of friendship and support from Cornish folk.

Falmouth Soul Sensation

 
 

Tags: ,