The challenge today was thinking about and recording your views about the word care. What does this word mean to you? To think about either the people who care for you or for the people you care for. I thought for some time before deciding what to do for this challenge as I realised that for me, it was going to turn out to be quite personal. When I think of caring my first thoughts go to my Dad who has cared for me my whole life. He is 88 years old, coming up to 89 at the end of January. During this horrible pandemic, he has been brilliant and I, as well as my husband, my sister and all our family have cared for him. He has been brilliant, shielding when told to, staying at home and generally being a good boy by following the rules! He has hardly complained and just got on with things, gardening, looking after his house, cooking, and generally keeping busy. His work ethic is second to none. He is a sociable person, and seems to know everybody, so this past year has been especially difficult for him. He has had two holidays abroad cancelled and doesn’t believe that he will ever go and ‘sit in the sun by the swimming pool with a beer in his hand again’ which is sad. But as he himself says he is much better off than many others in the world and he is thankful for all his blessings. I decided to create a mind map about him, to say thank you and to remind him that he is loved by his family, highly thought of in his community and within his friendship circle. I love him to bits! Sue Westcott (C.) 2021
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Today, I had to design and plan a festival. It was suggested that I could include family and friends by holding a zoom conference, prepare and eat festival type food and dress in festival clothes. However, as you all know, all the best laid plans can go wrong and parties, celebrations and festivals can suddenly take on lives of their own. I know that other participants in these daily challenges will have thought of festivals of light, of music, of art and crafts and of literature but I had devised my own festival- the festival of cleaning! It all started when the element in my oven blew and I had to call in the lovely repair man. He lifted out the oven from its casing and to my horror there was quite a bit of mess behind where the oven had been, So, while he dismantled the insides of my oven I quickly cleaned the casing. I finished this with a smile of course and when he went out to his van to collect the correct part, I quickly grabbed the oven cleaner and applied myself to cleaning the insides whilst the interior lay on the kitchen aisle. The repair man soon came back and as quick as a flash and £115 later my oven was working. "Yeah!" I thought until I noticed that some of the debris from the oven had fallen inside the pan drawer underneath it. I realised that I would have to clean this so that’s what I did. I removed the pans and gave them a wash, cleaned the drawer and then when I was happy I thought to myself, “Well, if I cleaned the top drawer, I’d better clean the bottom one as well.” Now this drawer held some old pans, so I made an executive decision to throw them. Collecting a black bin liner, I soon filled this up with unwanted and unused items. Once it was sorted and re- organised as well as being cleaning I had another thought. "My George Forman grill will fit nicely in there." So yes you guessed it, I opened another drawer and did the same here. Re-organised, cleaned and as it was a set of three drawers the other two above it were completed as well. I was on a roll! I then turned to yet another set of three drawers and was rewarded with a beautifully clean and tidy trio that when opened gleamed at me in grateful thanks. One side of my kitchen had now been tackled so I had some light festival refreshment and decided to continue. I turned on the radio and was soon tidying, discarding, and cleaning six more drawers. Now festivals often take place over a few days, so it was back to planning and designing the next stage of my festival of cleaning. Tomorrow, I would tackle the remaining three drawers and the two cupboards under the sink! And then on the third day it would have to be the fridge and freezer, widows, surfaces, and floor. What a tremendously exciting two days to look forward to! Can't wait to see what happens if I ever have to plan a rave! Sue Westcott (C.) 2021 Nearly half way through the month and 13 out of 14 challenges completed. Today's challenge was set by a six year old girl. I had to blow bubbles and experiment with different ways of doing this. I also had to listen to the sounds they made when blown. I enjoyed this activity as it took me back to my childhood. I loved blowing bubbles, watching them escape and form through a tiny hoop. I liked trying to catch them as they floated to the ground. A fun challenge. First, I filled the sink with washing up bubbles and blew them with a straw and then just with the breath from my mouth. I did try a few other items but wasn't successful. I then went for my daily walk and bought some ready prepared bubble mixture and had a blast! I wrote down a list of things that I heard when I blew my bubbles. A rush of air A rollercoaster rumble A wave crashing A tin-pan drum humming. A delicate, light whoosh A soft purring A gentle breath exhaled A bird song A whistling of wind A whirr, a womp and a whop! I also studied the bubbles that I had created and wrote down what I could see. A sea of foam A powder white snow A curled crest of a wave A self-contained world A globe of ethereal light A translucent orb A prism of delight A floating rainbow A feather light transport system An intense carpet of bubbliness! Sue Westcott (C.)2021 I am definitely an idea person and not a technician.! I am most certainly not an artist either so this challenge proved to be time consuming and difficult. The original idea was fine but perfecting it on the computer using PAINT gave me a headache.
Thankfully, I am married to an extremely patient and talented artist who eventually made it possible for me to put this together. (Thank you sweetheart!) Oops! I've forgotten to say what today's challenge was. It was to create a t-shirt design with the logo I LOVE ART. So with out further ado here's my simple effort. I have to admit that I got carried away with this challenge. I had to create a blacked out poem. This is an exercise which means that I had to take a piece of text and block out unnecessary words, leaving only those behind which, when put together, would make a poem. I did three at my first attempt but then realised that maybe quality would be better than quantity! I finished the activity, although I'm not too sure that my work is the best that I could produce. One to put away for now and maybe try again sometime in the future. The texts were taken from the leisure section of Saturday's Daily Mail. An interesting and enjoyable. challenge. Gardening Midwinter trees Relieve the dullness. January is downbeat. Winter flowering plants So precious Welcome bulbs Snowdrops create carpets, Shining shrubs. Perennials Attractive low plants Whose flowers Look beautiful. Leathery leaves Evergreen, Coppery-purple, Dark bronze, Startling pink. Colour at winter’s end. Caribbean Calling Breaking waves Flutter on the beaches. Wonderfully relaxing. Soft sands Breeze off the water. Laos Garden Young children play With the sticky mud Spooky spider scrabbles Up slippery steps Dingy home Resident rabbits Luscious gardens Filled with Tamarind trees. At night Hear the soft rhythmic croak Of the common toad. Watch snails traverse Th garden walls. Just five minutes To explore. Today's challenge was difficult. I am 66years of age and I had to think of five memorable events in my life and write them down. Only five? There are so many but finally I came up with these: 1. My wedding. I was married 46 years ago to my lovely husband Philip on 3rd August 1974. I was 19 years old! 2. My first job. I was a teacher for over 39 years and my first school was Halton Bank Primary school. I started in 1976 and my first class was in Year 4. 3. Getting pregnant. I was an older Mum to be, being 37 years of age when I finally became pregnant. 4. Giving birth. Not to put too finer details on it, the birth was not my finest hour but the result of a beautiful baby girl was absolutely fantastic! 5. Retirement. I always said that I would know when it was the right time for me to retire and that came in 2014 when I was 60. I left Light Oaks Junior School after being a teacher there for 34 years. Some of the best years of my life- hard work but so rewarding. I worked with some wonderful staff and had the privilege of teaching some awesome pupils. Once these had been chosen I then had to think of 5 words that connected them. 1. Family 2. Love 3. Happiness 4. Celebration 5. Lucky I wonder what your 5 memorable events would be? Why not try the challenge yourselves. For Sunday's challenge (10th January) I had to think of something that I could put on a windowsill or in a window that people passing by would be able to see and possibly react to it.
As my lower windows can't be seen by people passing, I decided to make a simple poster and place it in my bedroom window. I spent some time looking at inspirational quotes but unfortunately, these would not be large enough for people to read clearly so I went for something very simple. I'm already falling behind trying to keep up with these challenges but hey ho- here we go! I had to make a a one minute film about my life or aspects of it. I made a video but unfortunately, I had difficulty downloading it onto Weebly, so I've just taken still photographs instead. Hopefully they will explain what I've been up to over the past few months. And the goal...
Today's challenge was set by the Nigerian poet, playwright and performer, INUA ELLAMS. His suggestion was a poem rant! To find something in the present conditions that deserved a tirade, a venting of annoyed or irritated feelings. My lovely husband when he read this said that it wasn't angry enough but hey ho I'm going with the flow! Where has all the laughter gone? The sounds of tinkling giggles infectious and lively. The hearty guffaws and gentle whispered smirks The teasing smiles which slide effortlessly across grumpy faces. The uneasy bubble that lies just below the surface waiting to erupt. The hee-haw braying, raucous, brash, and loud. The resounding screech of shocked delight, in the absurd and surreal. The adroit cleverness of the witty wordsmith. The comedic talent of the professional joker. The raconteur of some silly yet hilarious tale The unexpected ad-lib comments The applause for the well thought out comeback. The nail-biting pauses that await the thunderous response The anticipation of the next revelry. Where has all the laughter gone? COVID 19 sucked it all up! Sue Westcott (C.) 2021 How fortunate today for there to have been a smattering of snow fall over night as this challenge had me outdoors for about half an hour. I had to create a face from different materials and I decided that a snow face was going to be my aim. I actually created two and I am pleased with the way they turned out. My lovely husband, for those of you who know him, is a talented artist and he had the grace to say that I'd even got the proportions of the faces correct! Thank you dear for those kind words! (LOL) I also looked around my garden and found a green patch where the snow had melted and using a variety of nature's litter and some stones, I created yet another masterpiece. Moving back into the house, I was now on the hunt for more faces and was fortunate to create a few more before calling it quits as I had other things to do today! A pleasant way to spend an hour. |
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