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Work, Flowers and Holy Mackerel

 

A corner of my art studio, 2021.
A corner of my art studio, May 2021.

It has been a while... Yes, you've had some new videos to look at, but not much in the way of words to read. Okay; I'll endeavour to fix that with a quick round-up of  recent events.

Just before Xmas, I was made redundant. I'd worked part-time for the same company as an Activity Co-ordinator  for five years with no complaints at all. The most recent CQC evaluation had been full of praise for the lively and diverse activity programme. Then COVID 19 hit, and the company looked around for ways to cut overheads now the resident population had been reduced in size. So, it was bye-bye Adele.

Colleagues made my last day there lovely, with flowers and gifts, including a large case of art materials. Two of the elderly residents walked across to investigate the fuss, and when they learned I'd be leaving, one told me she'd really miss me and the other said, "It's you who keeps me going!" Twang went the heart-strings. Ouch.

But times change and so must we. And I soon began another part-time job in a similar role, and I'm enjoying my time there.

Richard's had his second COVID vaccination (Pfizer), but I've only recently had my first (AstraZeneca) shot so far.

Work has progressed with the 5th Artisan-Sorcerer novel! After a very long delay, while I mulled over the story so far, pondering the need to drive the plot along more decisively, I read through the MS and edited out around 20,000 words. Yes, that much. What's left is far more to the point, more focussed. Then I had a brain wave, and now I'm off writing again, after too many months of being too wrapped up in my day-job's changes, (and feeling restless with being unable to travel anywhere).

When will the 5th novel, already long overdue, be ready? I have no idea. It'll be done when it's done. But I am working on it again. 

I've also been writing a few short stories, unrelated to the Artisan-Sorcerer series, and I'm planning more new videos for my YouTube channel. Please visit and have a browse of videos old or new, and subscribe to the channel to make sure you won't miss new material which will be published there very soon.

Speaking of flower paintings, this does seem to have become a theme of my work. This was not intentional. In fact, I'd always steered clear of the topic as being too stereotypically girly and obvious. But last summer, due to the various interminable lockdowns, I was stuck for something to paint until I spotted the row of poppies growing against our garden wall. I painted those, then Richard kept coming home with bouquets of flowers for me to paint. And so the theme developed.

I've been doing a bit of work in the garden when it's not raining. When we moved here, this garden was overwhelmed with forget-me-nots. There are umpteen varieties of this flower and unfortunately we've inherited the ugliest of them, one which has sparse flowers but an abundance of horrible hairy leaves which give a wicked rash to anyone rash enough to touch them. Once the forget-me-nots have finished flowering, they wilt and drape their yellowing, itch-inducing leaves over everything. So over time I've been digging them up. We still have some, as the pesky things are nothing if not resilient, but the quantity has been greatly reduced and now there's room for other plants to flourish.

We've been watching Gotham on DVD, and are now part-way through Season 3, and thoroughly enjoy it. When Richard came home with it, I groaned. The whole superhero genre leaves me cold. However, I've really got into this show, with its strong characters, quick-paced and tangled plot, and with some really good acting. There are strong female roles, too, which are central to the story. Camren Bicondova hasn't become Catwoman yet, but I've enjoyed the way her story-line is winding around to that. Robin Lord Taylor's role as Penguin has been great fun, too. (And not a "Holy mackerel, Batman!" to be heard, thank goodness!)
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