Bad Hair Day?

Seems to happen to plants, as well as humans... When I saw this collection of seed heads (?) in somebody's front garden I couldn't but feel sorry for the one at the top, who seemed to be hanging its straight-haired head in shame...

Brush Up Your Smile!

For Sepia Saturday! I do believe I missed this one out when I posted a series of my Dad's drawings a while back. Anyhow, even if  I didn't, and you've seen it before, I'm sure the smile will be just as welcome. And look at that brush! How apt, since my recent escapade into the painterly world of pictures - even though mine are created with a pen, not a brush.  
(Some of them can be seen HERE, on In Tandem, if you're curious, as I've been posting one or two each week as prompts for Blogpal's writerly muses!)
Now remember - keep smiling!

Late Edition Extra - or something...
It's six o'clock Sunday morning now, and  here I am, wondering about an I Saw Sunday post, and thinking how Happy's smile has no sell by date attached. He is as chipper today, as he was yesterday, as indeed, he was in 1939.
At this point, I decided he'd make an ideal subject for Susannah's ISS, too. The more he can paint a smile on people's faces the better. So I hope he can add one to yours for a moment, regardless as to how the rest of your day is unfolding. A smile always makes a day better...

For The Curious

This is a YadaYadaYada currently available from John Lewis. Now you know.

After you've listened (for the umpty-ninth time in one afternoon) to the piercing "Beep!"of the button which sets it recording , you may wish you had remained oblivious to its existence...
Your children, or their children, however, will love it.

Silhouette

Thanks for all the kind wishes on the previous post - itchy fingers all better now!

For a quick post this morning, before the busy part of the day begins, I thought it only fair  I let you see the third member of the group that visited on Friday...  Mum-to-the-girls and my No.1 Girl, looking very tanned after her recent holiday.

We are a right pair of numpties, when it comes to presents. Since March, daughter has had a (breakable) Mother's Day gift for me, which kept getting forgotten on previous visits, and wasn't the sort she could sensibly send through the mail.

I, on the other hand, had recently bought a collection of 'caravan gifts' which I thought I  might stow away for her family's Christmas Stocking. When I realised their caravan would be in use this week, I thought "Hang it all! Why wait for Christmas?"

So we happily exchanged late/early presents on the spot! I got the best deal, for mine was a pretty, hand crafted, glass coaster all the way from Spain.

They on the other hand, had a lightweight bat-and-ball game, a 'Yaddda-yadda-yadda' device which alters the pitch of  one's recorded voice, and two enamel mugs with the inscription 'Keep calm and carry on.' What else would they need on a wet day in a caravan? Hehehe!

Postman's Knock

When I ordered a new kitchen bin yesterday from an office supplies website, I thought it strange - but not half as strange as the HUGE boxes delivered to my door a few minutes ago. Look at them!

And look what touching the cardboard did to my hand... The right one is just as red an itchy, but it had to hold the camera.
Silly me for not remembering how corrugated cardboard brings me out in a rash...
But what a magnificent yellow bin I now have!

Full Colour

Full colour Sepia Saturday from me again, and the only link to their tree theme is my Family Tree!
One day, this shot will be a reminder of our technological age. Granddaughters and their Ma came for a visit yesterday complete with mobile phones, an iPod Touch, and a WiFi lap top and cable for loading their holiday snaps of Gibraltar.

 

As if that wasn't enough, daughter returned from Tesco's with yet another phone- the white one in the picture. It has GPS, which means eldest grandchild will be easy to pin point at all times come September, when she starts 'big school' and will be taking a train journey back and forth each day. You can't be too careful when youngsters start out on their own...

The girls always come armed with a selection of paraphernalia  - toys or games either to show me, or to play with, and suddenly my living room shrinks - or seems to - as they fill chairs and floor with bags, boxes, bits and bobs. No travelling light for them!
The picture is a little blurred, as they were twisting gently from side to side on my whirly chair while I was trying to snap them.

But I did manage to catch the the younger one up close and personal, a little later, and thought her cheeky little face might brighten your day, as it did mine.. Thank goodness for more technological wizardry with digital cameras and computers, eh?

OK, Now Roll Up, Blogpals!

Here I am, spelling it all out for you in words of one syllable, HELP ME!

Before a team of white coated gentlemen or uniformed fire fighters start breaking my door down to come to my rescue, I'll explain. I've given birth to a brand new blog, and am asking for creative types to come and Oo! and Ah! over its cradle, in the hope that what they find there will inspire them to birth their own poem or piece of prose to welcome it to Blogland.
The easy way to get to it, is by clicking on the square in my side bar which looks like this.

You may think this is stating the obvious, but I learned long ago, that many Blogpals, especially those new to the vagueries of Blogger, have yet to get to grips with the concept of "If in doubt, click on it, and see where you end up."

Old hands at the Bloggame will need no such advice, I'm sure. In which case I may content myself with imploring them to help spread the word, so that my Tandem gets some other strong legs to help it travel the highways and byways of our wonderful Blogland World, i.e.join in and play, O ye writers! I need you!

Life's A Beach!

Some people build castles way up in the air.
but a castle of sand is enough for this pair.
Close to the sea edge, the waves will surround
and devour its ramparts too soon, I'll be bound,
for the girls to complete it. That's part of the fun -
it will give them a reason to make a new one!

This is my In Tandem offering for Margaret Bednar's painting this week, and it's also linked to The Poetry Pantry.

Painting The Town?

"You can always tell a tradesman
by the way he keeps his tools."
said our art school teacher.
"It's one of the golden rules.

Buy brushes of the very best -
and they will serve you well,
if you clean them after use."
Who didn't listen? You can tell!


Thanks for your painterly Magpie Tales prompt, Tess, which reminded me of this very handy tip that I've always tried to follow!

The Best Of Days

Yesterday I saw my new granddaughter for the first time, and got my first Napple cuddle!

What better offering could there be for Susannah's I saw Sunday - and a bit of a late offering for Alan and Kat's Sepia Saturday ? In colour!! lol

More Mayhem

In a week when chaos seems to have struck the money markets of the world, England has added riots to the overall madness. It makes me wonder what has happened to common sense? Who are these deluded beings who think burning shops and pillaging like pirates can add anything positive to their lives, or the lives of those around them?

When I began making marks on the screen which produced the image below, I was thinking about how the Earth would look if a giant machine carved it into thin layers, the way one of my sharp kitchen knives might slice through an onion.

I've watched enough archeological digs on Time Team's TV programmes, to know that humankind leaves traces in the earth which tell the stories of multiple lives lived on one spot, every bit as much as a rock's striations mark the many ages of our ancient planet. Somehow, thinking like this puts the world crisis into perspective.  All things change in their own good time...

Energies within our layered planet build
their calendar in sculpted, bedrock folds.
In slow progression, land mass shell-plates
move,  until a force - which levels all
over time - unleashes mayhem in motion.

Earth, Fire, Wind and Water join
in unholy alliance and Nature trembles beneath
their wrath. Peace is banished. Quakes create
tsunamis. Land, slips. Red molten rock flows
from volcanic dragons breathing fire
to  demonstrate dominion over Man,
a feeble being in comparison.

Where then lies Man’s greatness? Could it be
that mind and heart will balance out the scales,
should he be weighed against this universe?

This is my In Tandem offering this week....

Mercury Retrograde

And communications tend to go haywire at such times...Maybe that's why I couldn't get Dr Who on the line here this week!

This is my offering for Susannah's I Saw Sunday.

Oh, What A Grey Day!

But it was only for a few moments - soon blue patches began to appear...

Waterworld

Starfish sky
holds luminous life,
populates
deep ocean
where dark devours all light
but creates new rules.

See HERE for the prompt's Linky List if you'd like to join in...

Nothing Special

Or is it? A garden hose I can no longer use, as it won't fit any of my taps now; every so often, I think I've found an adapter that will work, and it comes out of the cupboard, only to go back in when it still won't connect...

But how delightful does it look, coiled on the remains of my Eucalyptus tree? I think it deserves its five minutes of fame, despite lack of function

On The Up

And here you must realise, I'm talking purely temperatures. We have 29° to 30° forecast over the next few days, and while many of our American cousins have been sweltering among far worse, in dear old England, these are enough to send us in a flat spin at the thought.

Owners of posh cars are about the only people who have come to expect air conditioning as a given. The rest of us sweat and look forward to the next drizzly day, which to be fair, is mostly just around the corner.
So while the morning is still pleasantly cool, I thought it about time I did a waffly, Napple post with no 'prompt' nudge needed from anybody else.  In fact, Blogland occasionally feels so devoid of free thinkers, that I despair.

Okay, so I'm guilty too, for indulging in a Mr Linky widget, but in my defence, I do try to use pictures which will leave interpretation wide open, and I've not been disappointed with the tangents peoples' minds have followed as a result.

But enough of that. Here's the tangent my mind went off at yesterday, as I was getting my lunch ready... However, it didn't stop there, because then I got the "What if?"urge that so often leads me astray from those things I should be doing. And I ended up with this... and this... and this...
Do click on the pictures to see their full glory...