This morning Liz is in the midst of a church zoom meeting, so that means a coupe of hours for me to do just what I want to; you will understand that that is within reason! So this morning finds me in the studio, first my e mails, to be honest I don't like that very much, however it then gets better, so a little ink work; at present work is progressing with an A3 ink depicting how everything changes as a wooded area is left, as we move to more open spaces and at about twenty hours in, it is going well, but when working on a work of this sort there is a need to regularly rest your eyes and concentration: so now, I will catch up with my blog and tell you what is happening in my world.

I am now back on my feet and walking again, not going very far and it is hard, but I am on my feet and the woods are reachable again, so that is very good indeed. The other day we drove to St. John's and walked a short distant in the woods; recently it has been wet, so the colours were marvelous. We passed these silver birch trees up near the railway line. They seemed to shout, "Paint Me", so being a good little boy I did. Its a very sketchy water colour and I hope you like it.

Good morning, today the photograph is a page from a recent book of mine, which looks at woodland pathways and then placing them alongside the words of that ancient King David.

It has been a tough few days as my back fell apart again and I ended up in hospital for investigations and pain control.

I must say how wonderful St. Peters were. Within five minuets of being in the hospital I was given morphine, I arrived on the ward at approximately 4 in the morning and was seen within three hours by the consultant and several other doctors. This was followed by a who;e raft of specialty persons; physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pain control nurse, X ray dept. My care was magnificent. The heroes in my mind were the care assistants and domestics who just could not do enough for me and the pain control nurse. The chaplaincy care was super,  I was talked to, prayed with and given amazing practical help

I am now home, very delicate, with a long way to go, but getting there.

Thank you and I am now going to have a short dose.

Today we decided to wander into London, it is about fourteen months since we were last there. Since then have experienced numerous lock-downs, the pandemic and much awareness of illness, appropriate behavior and to be honest a little fear. Well the time is now right to live sensibly, do things sensibly and not to be fearful. so after church today, London loomed.

First the fare, that has gone up a whooping 27%! We pressed on, station OK, train OK. The south Bank lay ahead of us, great. It was shall we say crowded, it was as if every body south of Birmingham has gone into London for the first time like us.  People were being sensible giving plenty of space to those around them, but it was crowded; we need to get used to those numbers of people again. The obligatory picnic was eaten on the train going into London; which was a turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwich, lovely!

I took with me a camera with a small zoom lens and took just one photo, it is of the city area from Gabriel's Wharf. Also with me was a small A5 sketch book; I had to do a couple of sketches. They are of the Victorian Embankment and Somerset House from the National Theater.

Home about four thirty, tired but happy.

 

Just occasionally unexpected things work out for the better, because rather irritatingly I had to stay in today waiting for a boiler man to appear.

This was because when we returned from holiday a cruel shock awaited us. Our central heating boiler just would not work!!!

To be honest the last few days have been a little cool as well. So that was a bit of a niggle, but never mind as we weren't too cold, as our trusty old fan heater worked OK. So that was all right; but boiling a kettle for water was a bind. Well today the boiler man appeared and fixed it, well almost. It is working but needs new parts, they are coming next week.

So today I needed to stay in and wait, now waiting all day for someone, is not my idea of fun. But it all worked out rather well, because most of my time was spent sorting images on the computer, painting, drinking tea, reading, watching junk TV and even a little sleeping. Do you know, I really enjoyed myself; it has been a super day and I feel all relaxed. Maybe my lovely bath a little while ago has something to do with that.

So we are back home, having had a lot of exercise with lots of rest and relaxation attached; it was a good break. now we are home and challenges await.

Although ink remains my principal medium, during this last week my camera was played around with, which made a slight change on emphasis.  Above is a major oak support beam to the barn which formed a part of our garden wall. The barn is 16 century or older. There were amazing details everywhere within and without the building; I could have spent the week just with that barn. Inside the barn was a coracle, which for the uninformed is a prehistoric type of paddling boat; the fore runner of canoes and rowing boats. It is modern, exact replica, made from willow, hazel and  a cow hide. Amazingly Chris paddles it on a nearby pond.

Just back from our walk, washing done and dry, back in off the line, kitchen floor to clean, then we can chill out for the rest of the day.