A bit of a strange weekly update with art, peanut butter and some sails. Let me explain.
This is my second attempt at drawing my friend David Clavey and I need to have another go. I am wondering if it might be easier for me if I drew from life, not just from a photo on my iPad. So hopefully I might have a go at finding a willing subject who won’t mind me scribbling away for a little while, possibly not being very productive.
This art stuff, by the way, is one of the tasks I set myself when I retired and you could say it is “unfinished business”. This is because I failed my Art O’Level at school, of which I was desperately upset and disappointed. I knew I could do better than getting an ‘ungraded’ grade, so now is the time!
With the Saturday morning Parkruns taking place most weeks, a little group of us have got into the habit of coming back to our house for coffee (rather than pay National Trust prices for very mediocre coffee). Coffee at our house includes toast, bread rolls, both homemade of course.
This last week I added a little challenge of peanut butter taste testing. I’ll do a blog post about that soon.
Earlier this week I needed to go to the hospital, for blood and urine samples ahead of next week’s appointment in the Renal Department. I ran there and back, a total of just under 5 miles. I felt pretty good afterwards, though it is surprising how quickly I have lost most of the fitness I gained in late 2019. Naturally I hope to regain that fitness again!
With the hospital appointment in mind, there is much to discuss including the recent spate of urinary tract infections and how this makes my pee become like parsnip soup, not to mention the discomfort in my back and the effect on my kidneys. I will be eager to get the results of the various tests – I’m looking forward to that.
The photo of the sails was taken at Alexandra Palace this afternoon. Hannah had been there supporting her college’s trade stand at the Dinghy Show. I can tell you it’s very tempting to get drawn into the sailing world and I know this is irrational, but it’s my constant feeling of being cold that puts me off. Our house needs to be at 25c for me to feel comfortable and needless to say it is only like that on the odd occasion when I’m home alone.
It was nice, however, seeing youngsters milling around and clearly getting into the sport. Young people need something like that – or any team sport – to learn many life skills. It’s so important and I wonder if many of society’s problems stem from lacking those life skills and attitudes.
I’m off now to find an extra jumper!