1 – The sun is shining out of an all-blue sky today, in the midst of a run of rainy days…
The beautiful Silver Birches in the churchyard behind our house shining out against the blue…
Shafts of sunlight illuminating the Willow tree, which for some reason, is still wearing its Summer clothes…
2 – My rapper Grandson was up for a couple of days as he had a gig in Leeds and on Friday I cooked a sumptuous vegetarian curry feast for him and his cousin, and his girlfriend, which went down very well with all!
3 – Grammarly believes in the Oxford comma – yayyy!
4 – Barbara managed some housework and washing-up on two days!!!
5 – I have finally finished the list of topics for my A to Z 2026 which will be on Fabrics
6 – I therefore moved on, to step 2 – making some samples of weaving to illustrate the A to Z.
Using a loom made by a toy company in 1957, but which is nevertheless a fully functioning loom, Iprooduced this sample of Plain Weave at bottom, and Twill Weave at top. Twill is what characterises Denim, for example. The eagle eyed crafters amongst you will see that the tension is gradually curving the sides of the piece inwards – rooky tension error… Well it was my first ever weave!
Plain Weave – blue cotton yarn weft on red warp.
Twill Weave.
7 – I have bought a Christmas present for Barbara – in recent years, we have eschewed giving presents to each other on the grounds that we have most everything we might want but this year, I decided to rebel…
8 – Grateful to be doing this gratitude paractice and for all the kind comments it garners…
9 – I have had two poems accepted by GAS: Poetry, Art and Music, which will be published on Christmas Day!
10 – Barbara’s eldest daughter is on a solo trip to Bali for three weeks – she has been estranged for much of the last year, but bridges have been mended and we shall see her at Christmas…
1 – I have virtually finished the layout of all the new Gelato Production Unit at work (remember the mess of pipework I showed you last week?) which means I can now proceed to writing the SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures) for the plant. This is vital as if you open the wrong valve or leave the wrong one open, a potential £6-7,00.00 could be lost – you don’t want cleaning acid in your gelato mix…
2 – I am grateful to live in such a beautiful (Go’s Own) county – Yorkshire and this is a view I had to stop and photograph with a view to a painting – Beamsley Beacon emphasised by strong shadows on a levely Autumn sunshiny day…
3 – On a smaller scale, no unused corner – in this case of a snicket (Passgeway) – fails to be colonised by nature – I think this is a Lavateria…
4 – The Olive tree in our yard continues to darken its tiny fruit though I fear there is not enough sun to develop them further before I have to wrap the tree in frost protection for the Winter – however – one fully formed Olive has made it and by the Spring, when I unwrap the tree again, will no doubt have attained black ripeness…
5 – The roofers returned to fix and relace a few slates on the extension roof and renew the render along the coping stones and they also painted (and cleaned) the small upstairs window, which is otherwise inaccessibe…
6 – More bounty from this year – some quinces in my daughter’s garden – not sure if they are edible or only ornamental? I love to make Membrillo!
7 – Across the road from the above, I encountered this tree spirit…
8 – More Autumn beauty – better on the ground than on my car…
9 – No Ten of Thankful complete without a little texture – so from the trunk of the tree that shed the leaves above – any graphic artists amongst you, feel free to use…
10 – Thankful to have found Ten Things of Thankful this week…
Ten Things of Thankful draws people from all over the world to share the best of their week – why don’t you join us…
1 – Glad we found the perfect spot for these carved Elephants in a corner of our winding stair – we bought it last year in the market in Dieppe whislt on holiday…
2 – This week’s harvest/scrumped apples and plums plus Blackberry and Apple jam and Apple sauce. – I say scrumped but the apples and plums were eithe wild or hanging over a wall into the public domain…
3 – Grateful that the fern I placed in this lovely Macramé plant holder, is finding sufficient light to thrive. The Macramé was a gift from our son’s crafty girlfriend – Yayyy the 70’s…
4 – Grateful for the cards I have received through the Postcard Poetry Festival – the ones on the left are from my list – List 4 and on the right are the bonus cards from the International list. Everyone wants to send to a person outside the USA so they publish an International List – there is no obligation on recipients to respond to these but most include their address so I gues they are hopeful of a return card and I will not disappoint…
5 – Glad that I finished and sent the last of my official PoPoFest cards – this one to a lady in Dublin, so I decided to paint Ben Bulben in Sligo where we lived for 10 years for which I am also grateful…
6 – After a week without rain and with watering by hand at 100litres a pop, I was glad to see a little drizzle today (manifested on my windscreen) – enough to moisten the leave though I had to do a proper watering testerday…
7 – Can you guess the texture I spotted this week (useful for backgrounds in graphic work)? It’s a towel drying on the washing line…
8 – Glad that my partner has managed to get up and see her best friend locally, followed by a haircut in advance of our holoday njext month
9 – Glad that my working week is over but grateful to still have a job 2.5 days a week…
10 – Glad to have found this list to do each week…
I am new to this – my second week but in these difficult times it seems an excellent thing to have to focus on Ten Things of Thankful each week…
My first time here on Ten Things of Thankful – introduced by Misky to this space…
One. My partner is in a deep depression which has closed off many of the things we used to do but on Saturday we managed to set out for Whitby which used to be a regular excursion. We stopped halfway at Helmsby and after having lunch, decided Whitby was too far, too busy, so we spent a liitle time in the excellent bookshop before meandering home on the smallest roads I could find…
One. My partner’s friendship bracelets taken as we had coffee in Helmsley…
Two. The book on Friendship from Helmsley Bookshop…
An alternative to buying a card – a ten poem chapbook from Candlestick Press
Three. Given that I spent 20 odd years as a hand-painted Signwriter, I am always delighted to see good examples of the craft which I am sorry to say are few and far between in the UK these days…
Four. One of the landscapes on our meandering route… I sometimes take pictures with a view to later making paintings.
Five. We also stopped in Risplith at G & T’s Ice Creams (they genuinely do make a Gin and Tonic ice cream) and whilst eating our cones in the car, I photographed this weathered paint which may one day come in useful for a background in some graphic work…
Six. For the last two months I have been taking part in the Postcard Poetry Festival challenge which is a project run by Cascadia Poetics in Seattle, Washington. The idea is to write an Epistolary style poem to 31 poets whose address list you are also on – to write about the picture on the card and to relate it to the person who you are writing to, who is of course, a complete stranger. This develops quick improvisation. This year I decided to make postcard-sized paintings and at a rate of 4-6 per weekend I have finished all but four this weekend two of which are below.
Two paintings from photographs taken in Crete during lockdown in 2020.
Seven. I still work 2.5 days a week for which I am thankful both because I need the money and because it keeps me abreast of things I would otherwise slip away from…
I love to photograph repeated items… There is nothing to give the scale of these San Sebastian Cheesecake (otherwise known as Burnt Basque Cheesecakes) but they are full-size cakes awaiting cutting before packing in our factory.
Eight. Barbara and I have booked a holiday for two weeks next month down in Cornwall – what the weather will be is anybody’s guess…
Nine. It was cloudy this morning so the watering of containers in our yard (we don’t have a garden) can wait till I get home this afternoon after my half day work – we have a hosepipe ban so it will take about 60 litres by watering can..
Ten. Healthwise, I am going to get a Lung Health MOT and have also been invited to take part in a Diabetes study out of Oxford University all knowledge is great at 70…
Welcome to TToT (Ten Things of Thankful) blog hop! Join bloggers from all over the world as we come together to share those things that we are thankful for. Ten is in the name, but no one is counting; feel free to link up no matter how many (or few) you can list. Make sure to go read and comment on the posts, too. The TToT has always been big on making this a friendly community, and getting to know each other through posts and comments is a huge part of that. We’re thankful for you!
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