The Old Order Changeth

digital sketch by jinksy

Lines like soft charcoal
appear on my computer.
A plastic pen cries.
It will never feel paper,
only electric signals.

This was my first attempt to sketch using my WACOM Bamboo Pen & Touch tablet. It was a surreal experience, hence my rather strange poetic offering to accompany my In Tandem offering this week. And now for the other picture...Hop over by clicking the link and you'll find a Mr Linky so you can join in too...

“At last! I can have a peep at her art project!”
Jessie had been so keen to answer the front door she’d left the studio one ajar. It was the perfect chance for Sara to satisfy her curiosity.
“Bother- the easel is facing the wrong way – now I’ll have to mind the creaky floorboard, or she’ll know I’m in here.”
As the younger sister, Sara was often dubbed ‘Nuisance’ or even ‘Nosey parker!’ when she asked for a preview. But now was the perfect time to steal one. She almost tip-toed round the room, till she stood looking at the charcoal drawing of a dark haired lad, who stared back at her from the stretched paper on the board.
“I wonder who that is? Bet she won’t tell me…” Hardly had the thoughts entered her mind, than she heard footsteps coming upstairs – two sets of footsteps! Then Jessie walked in the door, followed closely by one who could only be the boy in the sketch…

Hat's Off!

To Trellissimo! he transformed a Cycle advert into a whimsical apparition in shades of dusky grey-blue-green.

Having never learned to ride a bike, I quickly dispensed with this accessory - well, not quickly - it took quite a long time to paint it out, but now I can concentrate on starry thoughts instead...

Two hundred million or more years

your light's been streaming forth,

much brighter than the other stars...

you surely know your worth?

Across the dancing ocean waves

you've guided seafaring ships

of Polynesian sailors

with praises on their lips

for your luminous, bright beauty...

while to those along the Nile

you were forerunner of flooding

which made the land fertile.

The long hot days of summer

starved all plants and made them wilt

till the river covered all the land

with its annual cloak of silt...

n.b. The original poster was featured by Tess, on Magpie Tales. 

How Napple Got Her Name

Adam and Eve bit that infamous apple
when temptation entered the scene...
Many years later, I turned into a 'Napple'...
how ever could this have been?

A plain 'Granny Smith' was how I began
to be called as my family grew,
and my number one girl first made me a 'Gran!'
Once Baby talked, what did she do?

'Granny Smith' had became 'Granny Apple'
but by Baby the words got condensed,
and Lo, and behold! I was "Napple"
and rather than being incensed

I welcomed the name, joined in the game
and Napple I've been ever since! 

Blame all this on the Poetry Jam  prompt word 'Temptation'.
And do go and see where an apple lands when it doesn't fall close to the tree!

Poetics: On Your Feet

Shine (sculpture) by Willie Cole

Second Hand Shoes

I stand outside the Oxfam shop
in front of rows of shoes.
I wonder, would I stand in yours,
if I had to choose?

Some tiny shoes aren’t very scuffed
because young feet outgrew them,
while those were such a comfy pair
their owner's half worn through them.

Not so these, they must have hurt;
they’re scarcely used - no speck of dirt –
and those with heels so high and thin
were never made for walking in?!

There are shoes quite narrow
and shoes like boats
with bulges made by bunions;
there are football boots that boys in specs
might tie with laces and string round their necks,
like the men who sell the onions.

See, those are the fashion of years gone by,
discarded on a whim.
Although they’re almost good as new,
it’s plain that they would never do,
for one must ‘keep up with the Jones’s.’

So all of these shoes, where invisible feet
have imprinted their character, careless or neat,
hold their stories to tell, if we listen and look,
just as clearly as if they appeared in a book.
And what would the story of our shoes be
if they, too, stood in line for the whole world to see?


Thanks go to Brian Miller  (Waystation One or dVerse poets pub) for this prompt. 
But now, I'm going to link this to I Saw Sunday, too, because the sight of those black shoes heaped into a gorilla face, underlined once again that things are not necessarily what they seem. Even the most commonplace objects can make us think again when viewed in a new light... Which is good point to ponder on any day of the week.

Not Quite Haloes!

This old snapshot follows the train of thought I was on in last week's Sepia Saturday for it was taken on the occasion of the same cousin's wedding.

As you can see, it was a chilly, grey and damp day, and the only warm parts of us were the hands tucked into those pretty and unusual muffs. My little Bro (!) in the front there, was quivering like a leaf, it was so cold, but he manfully stood to attention, nevertheless.

I decided not to crop the photo, despite the fact that I have a tree growing out of my head, behind my halo, for the drizzly mist and dated cars add their own charm... so does the Maid of Honour, who will remain for ever chatting away to the unseen photographer, who would have been yet another family member, aunt or cousin.

The dresses were 'shot silk' - (taffeta!) - pale blue with pink overtones, and tiny pink silk rosebuds were stitched on the muffs and headbands. Bro's pageboy pants were pale blue wool, and every item had been made by my cousin's nifty stitchery - I mean the unseen bride, of course. What a girl!

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt may be found HERE, thanks to Alan and Kat.

And here, thanks to Blogpal Hilary of The Smitten Image, is the edited version. Isn't she a star?!

A Stitch In Time

Embroidery makes her eyes ache.
Sewing the silken threads in line
with the picture inside her mind
allows no room for a mistake.
Her strength of will bows to her skill
as she struggles to stay awake
until her mantel clock strikes nine,
leaving her heart, not eyes, to ache.

Poets United took Night Time for their Thursday Think Tank prompt. I was thinking of the days before electricity, when women stitched away by candle light, when I wrote these lines this morning- before I read their prompt! Fortuitous, or what?
Oh, and it fits my own In Tandem, too!

Where The Bee Sucks

    
  That phrase has always sounded funny to me, but you can see why it sprang to mind once I saw what my shutter captured after yesterday's honeysuckle shot - a bee with his nose in the trough! I had no idea he would be in focus, the rate he was buzzing around that lavender bush by my knees. More thanks to Canon's A800 - but what a shame the little ladybird is only a fuzzy blot on the landscape...I had noticed it earlier, but when concentrating on the darting, buzzing monster, it faded into obscurity.

   The Universe's lessons are everywhere. This one reminded me how easily we ignore, or push things into the background of our lives, when really they deserve to have their turn at being in sharp focus for a while, too. How easy it is to take people and things for granted...

At Last!

Years ago, I planted this honeysuckle in the hope that one day it would reward me with its beauty. For several summers it remained a green and sparsely creeping thing, climbing anywhere but over the metal obelisk I installed.
Last year I noticed one or two blossoms, but now it has truly understood its potential!. I zoomed in on one of its many flower heads as a test for my new, simple little Canon A800. Which passed with flying colours, I think you'll agree...

Seems as though this plant is a great reminder to us all, never to stop striving to reach our full potential, however long it may take. Plus it rewarded my eternal hope and faith that one day it would blossom just as I'd imagined! ♥


Susannah's I saw Sunday will no doubt have more delights to brighten this wet day.

Trick Cyclist?

I've always loved this picture of one of my cousins. It was taken in my Gran's back garden - probably by an aunt of ours. That's my 'trike' she's endeavouring to ride, and I can still feel the curve of the bell push under my thumb, and hear its tinny 'tring-tring'.

I learned yesterday that, at 83, she has been diagnosed with lymphoma, and it seems there may be secondary tumours. But when I talk to her on the phone, she still manages to retain her girlish sense of fun. I think that deserves a special Sepia Saturday tribute...

Monkey Business?

At the bottom of a box of strawberries that were delivered a few days back as part of my grocery order, this slightly squashy creature eventually came to light. As soon as I looked him in the eye, I could tell he was really a big ape dressed up in a strawberry suit...

Have you got any odd fruit or veg 'animals', with pictures to prove it?   

(I think these two pictures came from the same family album.!)

Curtain Up?

The beauty of our play will come in part from skies
which learn to change their dress in faster time
than an audience will take to spot a scene shift.

A newly painted backdrop prompts an end
to the actor's tale. He speaks his lines,
and, as leading man, holds centre stage
in  Nature’s sunny theatre in the round.

Yet in the gallery the soft applause
of raindrops grows in volume, while the wind
standing ready in the wings, awaits its cue.

The rainstorm curtains held by tasselled loops
slowly draw their veil across the day, and the company
retires to rehearse the second act…

This is me -  In Tandem mode - if you'd like to write something to go with this picture too, click on the link in this sentence, and join us!

Stick Men

Having spent a good portion of the morning exploring textures and paint options on the drop down lists available with my latest 'toy', (click on the word and you can see what the toy is) I plump for 'paper' and 'water colour'. When I click on these, I have absolutely no idea what will happen on the screen, for into the mix come more list options.

I have to choose amounts for 'thinners', 'loading, 'pressure'. These are from dome shaped symbols whose inner ring slides back and forth, for 'more' or 'less' of the 100% they offer. The permutations are virtually endless.

The first random strokes across the print area look to me like sand dunes. I go with this idea and add a sky which I  hope with have the luminous quality found near bodies of water. I add a pool in the foreground, and some fronds of dry grasses and a dessicated  shrub. The horizon line is bare, and I want a silhouette figure to give scale to the whole thing. This is a real challenge for my ability to control the 'pen' ( AKA brush, as far as ArtRage is concerned.)

A few lucky strokes, and there they are, the Stick Men, who look as though they were meant to be...

Bean Thinking

Flat, stringless Helda beans; been in the fridge long enough to lose their first crispness which would slide effortlessly through the slicer. Now, when I snip the tip and try to push the flat, cut edge through the metal blades, the bean buckles, sticks as the first white seed clogs the cutters, and I have to resort to a knife.

The pale skins are cool beneath my fingers, which soon find their own rhythm – slice into three lengths, cut each section into four thin strips, place in container. Pick up next bean, slice into three lengths, cut each section into four thin strips… and so on…

The resulting heap of green slivers is uniform, and will cook through evenly, all at the same speed. The bonus? They will look appetizing when served up onto a dinner plate, instead of a tangled mess.

Next, I create crisp, carrot batons, rich, glowing red-orange, with slightly paler hearts. They lie alongside the beans in my steamer, and round chunks of leeks and oddly shaped, tiny new potatoes scattered around the edges make a composition any artist would be pleased to capture on canvas.

The whole operation takes exactly the right amount of time for the water in the lidded base of the steamer to boil. I lift the lid and steam clouds my spectacles as I place the many holed steamer section, with its vegetable still life content, onto the pan and replace the lid.

The only difference about these simple actions, is that this time, I decide to translate them into written words. I realise, although to me the commonplace preparation of vegetables is scarcely remarkable, to many other people it would be anything but…And I begin to place myself in the shoes of someone with disabilities which would turn the whole thing into a mammoth undertaking.

I’ve known friends and relations with arthritis in their finger joints, so bad, their whole hands became misshapen, and gripping tools or knives varied between the painful, and the impossible. This is only the tip of an iceberg, when I begin to add amputees, stroke victims and those with birth defects to my list of beings who will never be able to copy my actions unthinkingly. All this is apart from the millions of people around the globe who have no chance of cooking anything. There is no food, no water, no utensils, no kitchen... and no hope.

And these thoughts happened because I made a conscious decision to be more aware of my actions, instead of performing them while my mind was miles away, doing less boring things instead...

I thought this might be a good post to link to Susannah's I Saw Sunday, even though I posted it Saturday! LOL  Blogland days tend to be different, anyway...

Decisions?

For the most part, I hate making them. Procrastination looms. So when it came to choosing which of my own graphic prompts to follow at Two In Tandem ,  you can see why I've taken the easy way out and written something to go with each of them. I understand this is akin to playing games with myself, but I haven't worked out another way of joining in that Mr Linky's List...
Here's number one:-

A sudden shutter clicks and doorways open.
Sunlight lays its hands upon my head
and energy cascades about my being.
It brings a scene shift on the stage of life
and I, as actor, need a different script
to follow.  Playwright, do you heed my words?
The backdrop changes daily. I have learned
that standing in the wings is not enough.
It's time to enter right and play my part.

And here's the second:-

Swooping low among the forest treetops
a raptor starts his routine, lethal quest,

his widespread wingtips brushing close to branches 

where dappled shadows shake, then still, suppressed.

Upon the ground warm blooded rabbits scurry;
they sense the menace hovering overhead.
The bird, aware of each erratic movement,
plummets...and one leveret lies dead.

Back on the nest, his mate sits, incubating.
Her downy warmth enfolds a clutch of eggs
with fragile shells as smooth as river pebbles,
against her taloned feet and feathered legs.

As birds of prey they both are well trained killers,
but parental instincts see them prove their worth,
for slavishly they'll tend their newborn offspring,
until they too may rule the skies of Earth.

Seeing Is Believing?

Wandering around my tiny garden with a camera in hand this morning, I took some random shots of a green plastic bag full of yesterday's cuttings and weeds...But the wonderful monster at the top of this image only came to my attention when I'd downloaded the images. Hope you can see (and enjoy) him too!
I thought he'd be ideal as my I Saw Sunday offering! Hehehe!

Here Be Dragons!

Thoughts glitter,
dance across the mind,
leaving trails
like comets
to mark the passage of flight
from obscurity to light.


And here's a late edition here for Thursday Think Tank, which had 'Freedom' as its subject. Blogger effectively stopped me from doing anything for most of yesterday, and writing became a problem. You will maybe see the connection with my first part of this two layer post...

Freedom: a mind set,
rather than a concrete fact.
Thoughts roam where they will.

Build no walls,
and create no barriers
within mind.
Let it go,
exploring where it chooses
in search of new horizons.

All doors will open
as the key of wisdom turns,
unlocking secrets.


If you click on the Two in Tandem logo in the side bar, eventually, with luck, you'll be able to see other people's ideas of what my glittery graphic suggested to them!

Missed It!

"What?" I hear you cry...
Answer: Posting a little snippet  from the last week, to share on I Saw Sunday...
So here's one on Monday instead, better late than never.

For several weeks now, I've been eyeing up a four foot six 'weed' in my garden, that had materialised alongside my whirlygig line, but as it added a splash of colour with its pretty array of yellow flowerheads, I left it in peace.

And for the past few days two goldfinches have been saying "Thank you", by coming to feast on its seeds. I had to resort to Google for this image from The Guardian, as there was no chance of my catching my own visitors unawares.

I shan't be digging up the 'weed', but will leave it to flourish and possibly produce progeny in the future, in the hope it will encourage these delightful little birds to draw an 'X marks the spot' on their Good Food Guide Map.

Cryptic?

 

Winchester Cathedral - Flooded crypt with statue.

As I wandered through some of my photo files I found this hauntingly beautiful picture that my No. 1 Son took a year or two back, after melting snow had caused an unusual problem. It speaks for itself.

See more photographic delights on Sepia Saturday, thanks to Alan and Kat.

There's A First Time For Everthing

And here's my number one attempt at a recognisable painting, using the Bamboo Tablet and Pen I mentioned a while back. I'm beginning to understand some of its capabilities, but I can tell, there's still a long way to go!

Over on Alias Jinksy today is another example of how imaginary 'brushstrokes' can be made to look 'real' by computer wizardry. If you are one of those people who gets the urge to write when confronted by a collection of colours, please feel free to copy the graphic onto your blog, and join in. 

You'll find a Linky List so you can add your name and blogpost URL once you've put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard. Linky will make it easy for nosey parkers to visit and see what you've done later in the week! Hehehe!

I Am Duly Reprimanded!

By my Little Bro - who is in no way little, only younger. Hark at him chuckle about that... Ya, Boo, Sucks. He wants to know why I haven't posted here for a week?! Cheek! I keep telling him, he could always do one for me...

But now it's Saturday, and I have a moment to make up for my lack of napple notes, here's an update. I've just got back home after a rain soaked trip to my local Post Office. I suppose I should be thankful I have one...

However, that was the only boring part.  On the way home, I called into Wordsouth to drip dry for a bit, while I drank a cup of their green tea with orange and lotus flower. It's where I attend various writing classes and events, and as it serves as a tiny café, it was an ideal place to drop in. I spent a happy hour or so in the company of its owner, plus two literary gentlemen who were discussing Kipling's 'Rewards and Fairies'.

 One of them said there was a secret message in the book, if you could find the key to unlock it... I can't wait to get a copy and start looking. Who knows what I may find?

What better excuse could I have for linking this 

old illustration of the Cottingley Fairies to Sepia Saturday?

Thanks, Alan and Kat for thinking up the blog.... You are obviously both good fairies!.

P.S. Click on the link words above and WIKI  will tell you more about the Cottingley Fairies...

I've Had An Attack Of The Borrowers!

If you've never read the book by Mary Norton, you'll wonder what on Earth I'm talking about... But if you have, you'll understand how puzzled I am that my Borrowers have purloined the tiny, USB cable that allows me to load my camera's photo's onto my computer.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Arrietty or Pod have  decided to become Bloggers, and set themselves up with a micro computer that needed my USB, which since Monday, has totally disappeared from the Aladdin's Cave I laughingly call My Desk.

Until a hastily purchased replacement arrives, Napple Notes are liable to remain unillustrated... Unless I pinch yet another picture from my long suffering Bro's collection? What a good idea! No sooner said than done. Thanks, Bro! This was taken during a boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads in 1973... Happy Days!

 

And it's the perfect opportunity to link another non-sepia photo to Sepia Saturday as well. Thanks Alan and Kat!

Nunc

Aromas link arms: tanned leather with fish glue, wood shavings with sawdust: turpentine with oil paints. Immediately memory takes me back to my Uncle Fred’s shed, with its open sliding door emitting exciting smells that drew me in as though I had a rope tied to a ring in my nose like a prize bull being lead round a show ring.

His littered work benches, along with metal lasts and vices of varying sizes, held mysterious boxes, tins, jars, bottles and canisters, from which he would extract some item he needed for the next stage of whichever project he was working on.

He had at some time made a square-topped wooden stool, which he used to let me perch on, as a child, so keeping me at a safe distance from his lathe, or sharp knives, while still letting me part-share in his creative processes.

His large hands with their thick, square topped fingers, could work with the utmost delicacy as they shaped the new leather sole to the well-worn footwear of friends or family for whom he played cobbler. I would watch every stage avidly, and marvel at the final polishing of the edges on his noisy, whirring machine.

One push of the starter button, and the lathe grumbled into life. As he used the various discs of the sander, polisher or brush, the pitch of the motor sang its own switch-back song, loud enough to drown out any childish questions I might ask.

Nunc, as I called him, almost always had a cigarette between his lips, which waggled up and down as he talked and sent wreaths of smoke swirling around his head. It made him screw his eyes up, and the action folded the skin of his face into wrinkles.

Now I think about it, I don’t remember him inhaling, as most hardened smokers do. He seemed to use the cigarette more as an adult dummy, a comforting presence between his lips while his hands were busy. Perhaps at heart, he remained nothing but a big kid, playing in his own particular play house.  But I am eternally grateful that he used to let me in on some of his games, too…

I was reminded of Nunc today because of this photo on the right by Rob Hanson, to whom I say 'Thanks for the memory!""
 







And on the left, is my Uncle Fred, dressed for company! 
Now, I think I shall I shall put this in as a late entry for Sepia Saturday.

Milk Maid Monday?

I was intrigued to discover recently, that milk can be bought in bags, delivered by my milkman, same as bottles. So I decided this morning to take a photo of this strange phenomenon. The plastic jug is totally recyclable - though not too sure about the milk bag- can't take it out to read the small print, now I've put it in place.

Thing is, it was the wonderfully clean, drip-less-pouring-out ability of this cunning contraption that made me want to praise it to the skies today. Let's face it, milk cartons can be a disaster, and even glass milk bottles often let a wayward trickle ooze down their curvaceous sides.

But not this. It pours as clean a whistle, and there's a cap to close at once before placing the jug back in the fridge door. What a joy to find an article that exactly does the job it was intended to do!

More Togetherness

It being Thursday, over on my Alias Jinksy blog, there is another combined poem-and-pic from Elizabeth and I, but deep in Blogland other things are stirring!

So I decided to have another, triple combination  for today on Napple Notes, for Juliet and Susannah have both written words which fit a picture I posted way back... Hope you enjoy the mélange. Juliet , alias Crafty Green Poet, wrote:- 

Trees
glow purple with dusk -
an owl hoots.

And  Susannah's poem that I asked to be allowed to copy from her blog 'Out Of My Ocean', has a similar evening overtone. Blogger won't let me link straight to it, but you can get there via the side bar link on her 'Panopticulated' blog.

A Page Turned...

The orange day slips back into the purple night
and all is as it was before,
but not me.

The passing of the hours, the changing hues
have altered something,
I have changed.

Though all appears to be the same
when viewed from the surface,
it is not.

My Niece Is No NIt

But she is a knitter, and a creative one at that, as you will see from this delightful photo of her latest handiwork. 

And here's what she had to say about them:-

"I finished me some funky socks. Why yes, I stood on a chair to give them a pink background too. But I didn't bother matching the stripes 'cos I like them wonky like this."

When I tell you she is the Mum of the budding young artist in my previous post, you will see the apple didn't fall far from the tree!

And once again, it gives me a perfect excuse for brightening the Sepia Saturday scene with a picture which deserves to go down in history for future generations. The fact that it's as far from sepia as it's possible to get, only goes to prove that the rebellious spirit is a family trait in which I am proud to admit I share.  I'd class  it as just another unorthodox Utopian urge.

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

I simply had to share these words of wisdom, spoken by my five year old great niece. I plead for the understanding of her mother, whose photo and words  I have purloined, and I quote "At one point she thought about putting water over it, and told me  "Artists have good ideas, silly ideas and great ideas. I'm going to do it.".

Could anything be cuter?

Black Friday?

Well, Thursday wasn't too good either, at least in  Blogland, was it  folks? Blogger throwing a wobbly messed with our heads as well as out blogposts!

Now here we are, back to another Sepia Saturday and I'm messing with your eyes, as this photo was in reality a white lily. But how regal does it look in these sombre purple shades?

Along with the WACOM Bamboo Pen & Touch Tablet I rashly bought this week, came various downloads. Included in the price were things like ArtRage Studio Pro and Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, not to mention the actual delights of the tablet and pen itself, which let me draw freehand images for the computer screen.

I will need to practice lots, before I start sharing those first efforts, but it's plain that the potential is enormous. So is the learning curve. Enormous, I mean.

Suddenly having to use full movement of my arm to position a cursor on the screen feels totally alien, after years of only moving wrist and fingers to click a mouse. But I begin to  see how my first faltering steps in Blogland, which began with a plethora of words but no pictures, and my sudden urge to include all kinds of illustrations, is akin to Radio evolving into Television. I hasten to add, I have no secret wish to  begin making movies, though. At least, not that I know of...yet...

Picture Me?

No, don't strain your heads trying to imagine a jinksy look alike! Think more "Picture by ...???, words by...???" Collaboration is the name of the game, and today over here  you can see where this idea is leading, as Elizabeth Crawford has supplied a picture, and jinksy has written a poem.

The comments people left after my imaginary Sepia Scene on Sunday, show that imagination is alive an well amongst you all - especially people like Maggie, who saw a dog in the sky, or Little Nell (a porker), or Broken Biro ( a flock of starlings)  while other options took me on a tour of the world.

Then I sent a different picture to Crafty Green Poet, and Juliet emailed me like so:-

"Hi Pen
I just wrote this, forgive the rabbit, they tend to creep into everything...

Without my glasses, colours blur
like patterns in rain-washed windows:
hills of orange and skies of pink
and a lakeside view in violet.
Watching it all, a rabbit floats
high in the clouds with ears of yellow
that stretch across the sky.

best wishes and thanks for thinking of me with this!"

And talking about the same picture, Elizabeth said:-

"From the soft pastels of babyhood, to the deep purple of personal power, all underlined by the dark red of banked creative fire. I think we agree!"

Suddenly I feel as though I am in at the start of something big...

Trompe L'Oeil?

Thinking Sepia Saturday, although it's Sunday,  I've created this illusory landscape. I wonder how it appears to you?

Believable?

If so, where in the world might it be? And how would you describe what you see in it? Let's hear what your imagination decides...

Seeds Of Change

Something is germinating, today. After discovering the poems that Elizabeth Crawford had written for April's 'Poem a Day' at Writer's Island, I contacted her, and we've been trying to work out a way of collaborating. Her words and my pictures, or vice versa. So here is the first of her words written for my illustration. The basic idea could lead anywhere - this is merely the first step.

White barked tree trunk
waves aloft deep blue essence.
Lavender perfume spills
across spring landscape.

I decided to post this on Napple Notes, and Alias Jinksy, to see which, if either, blog caught people's ttention.  With the lavender colour spilling over in my mind this morning, I created this flight of fancy too.