Questions

Now come the questions. 

How big am I going to make it? 

How many more squares do I need?

10 cm or 5cm, or smaller? 

Do I make some more circles? 

Do I make more plain ones, or patterned? 

Do I add extra stitching? 

Do I keep to some kind of order, or scatter them? 

How many layers? 

Do I build up height for a 3d effect? 

Like a jigsaw puzzle, keep playing with it. Arranging and re arranging. It may take a while. 

I am staying local this weekend. There are plenty of walks I can do around here. I am keeping my eye on a visiting cat which has been injured in a fight. We know where it lives but it wanders the village. I have spoken to the owner, he doesn't care. We (my cat rescue friends) are trying to get him to agree to a castration. We took the cat to the vet because it's injury had turned septic. Man is ok with that. I am trying to get cat to eat the food with the anti biotics on it. He doesn't like the smell so he rejects it. I will keep trying. Need to be here to look out for him coming back. Hopefully the wound will heal up now that the vet has cleaned it up. 

Shout out for the International Walking Group. It's the last day of the month, tomorrow is check in day. Let's hear from those taking part. 

Have a nice weekend. Toodle pip.   ilona

Tittletattle

 Can't be bothered to write a blog post today. Here are some bits I picked up on the tweeeteratta. It will be interesting to see what happens now that Mr Musk is in charge. I read that people have been leaving the platform in their droves. Oh well, their choice. 

'I have the Indian jab in my arm and the power of good it did me.' Boris Johnson announces a vaccine initiative with India after meeting with the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

At least twelve major food-processing plants in the US have been destroyed during the last two weeks. Another food processing plant gets hit and finally someone is covering it.

Drivers face thousands in fines if they don't tell DVLA about lifestyle changes.

World Economic Forum report: “90% of all coastal areas will be affected by rising sea-levels due to climate change.” Obama, Pelosi, and Gates, all have homes next to the sea.

The saddest aspect of partygate is that it has led to precisely zero discussion in the media as to whether these rules were actually justified in the first place. Politics as soap opera.

Yorkshire detention centre to house 1,500 single male asylum seekers in ex-RAF base – exclusive GB News report.

Governments across the west are increasingly itchy about "misinformation". They believe that they and institutions under their purview have a monopoly on Truth. So they cast 'misinformation' as a 'threat to democracy'.

Keir Starmer calls for a truce & for all sides to draw a line under covid breaches. In an interview with The BBC he said ‘it’s time to move on & stop wasting Police valuable time. There should be no more investigations’

Best-selling author Douglas Murray tells Julia about his new book The War On The West. "This is a movement against our past and present to re-write everything in our country."

Prison guards ordered to stop using woke words like 'clients' and residents to refer to prisoners.

Terminated from my teaching job today after 20 years of teaching. Completely devastated.

Rishi Sunak admits home owners could face £1,000-a-year rise in rates

Voter ID will do far more harm than good to our democracy. Make no mistake - between voter ID, Covid ID, the new digital ID framework & the push towards biometrics - there is a steady march towards intrusive mandatory ID.

'We've heard from Mr Cummings that it was chaotic in the Department of Health' Karin Smyth MP reacts to the High Court ruling that the Government broke the law by moving Covid patients into care homes at the start of the pandemic.

A reputed federal informant and whistleblower who went missing after reportedly turning over a trove of secret files about Deutsche Bank was found dead at a Los Angeles school earlier this week, a police official says.

Bill Gates is buying up the majority of American farmland and BlackRock is buying the majority of single family houses but I'm supposed to believe the biggest threat to us is Elon Musk buying Twitter?

Tattybyes for now. Catch ya later.   ilona

Firbeck and Letwell.

The sun was out yesterday so I put some snacks and a drink in my rucksack and went off down the M18 and A1M into Nottinghamshire. I think I might have been a bit over the border into Rotherham district which is in Yorkshire. I'm not sure where the county borders are there. 

I spotted some footpaths which needed an explore. I parked at Firbeck. which is between Blyth and Maltby. Found a spot opposite the pub, on the roadside, on a bend. First I had a look at the church before I set off. Two views from different angles. 

I love looking around villages, all the different styles of houses. This one looks interesting. 

Very unusual shaped windows. 

The house opposite is a similar style. 

A peek over the garden wall. A sea of flowers. 

Firbeck has a big hall. I couldn't see it because it's in it's own grounds and surrounded by high fencing with a big gate at the entrance. It has been under renovation. I found a short video of the site, filmed from a drone. Have a look at it here. This was filmed two years ago. I have just found a web site advertising the apartments for sale.  

From Firbeck I followed tracks through and around fields and arrived in Langold. I have been here before, but this Community Memorial Garden I missed.

I had a lovely chat with these two gentlemen who were working to keep it in it's pristine condition. They gave me the lowdown on it's history. A £10,000 grant was funded by the National Lottery to provide an open space for local people. I was told to come back in a few weeks time when all the roses would be in bloom. 

From Langold I made my way towards the Country Park. No need to walk around the lake this time, I did that a few weeks ago. I went off down a track through a wood which took me into a field. Miles of yellow, and a gorgeous aroma coming from it. I love that smell. 

Coming down a track with hedges both sides of it, I kept hearing odd sounds, like clattering and banging. As I got to the end of the track I could see where it was coming from. Six people were following a tractor across the field. They were clearing all the large rocks. Some were tossed into the bucket on the back, others were thrown over to the edge and landed in the hedge bottom. 

I came into the village of Letwell. These houses used to be shops many years ago. 

I had to zoom into this restored Dovecote. There wasn't access to get close to it. 

On my way out of the village I passed the church. Time for a sit down and a bite to eat. It was getting cold so I put my jacket on. 

It was a long walk through the field after that. This path is easy to follow. 

That building is Thwaite House Farm, that's where I am heading. Close up the house had a very modern look about it. Big glass doors at the entrance. 

I could hear a lot of baaaaaaa'ing. Thinking I might see some cute white fluffy lambs. Nope. Cute black fluffy lambs. 

Time to get a move on back to the car. It was 6.30pm when I set off back, and was home in an hour. Only seven miles walked. I am on target for the end of the month, so I can dilly dally a bit and enjoy the walk without it being a slog. 

Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip.   ilona

Thoughts before breakfast again

 I have to chuckle about the latest hooohaaaa going on in Parliament. Did Angela Rayner deliberately flash a bit of leg, Sharon Stone style, to distract Boyo Boris? Is the dress she was wearing inappropriate attire for a works meeting? 

Ms Rayner is rather peeved by the attention she has received, but I have to say that she does seem to be full on in your face sometimes when it comes to voicing her opinions. That in itself can be interpreted as loving attention.

When I was young, a long time ago, I remember flaunting my pathetic assets, in the hope that I might catch the eye of some easily influenced young chap. It often worked. Mini skirt up my arse flashing a bit of knicker. Low cut top, bra padded out with a pair of socks to boost the non existent cleavage. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. 

Ms Rayner is a very attractive woman and I think she knows it. She shouldn't be surprised if men lust after her, because that is what men do. She works with mainly men, just as I did. It only takes a flash of a bit of flesh, a cheeky smile with eye contact, and quite a lot of men will take that as a signal that something else might be on offer. I will add here that not all men are looking for adventures, but in the right circumstances some of them would be sorely tempted. 

It's human nature that some men would welcome a bit of a romp, and quite often it happens in a working environment. If women didn't put their assets on display and covered up, men would find it easier to keep their little pecker in their underpants. 

Catch ya later. Toodle pip.   ilona 

Sheila Hicks Exhibition. Part 2.

Here are a few more pictures of the exhibition at the Hepworth Gallery, in  Wakefield. 

The small pictures were of interest to me. They show the different techniques you can do with thread, and imagination. 

This is a large wooden frame wrapped with thread. A simple idea but very effective with the right colours. 

Large textile boulders thrown into the corner of the room. 

These snakes were hanging from the ceiling.

Fabric wrapped with thread. 

Amazing weaving. 

I've been out again today. Now it's getting late and I must go to bed. The brain has gone to sleep. Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip.   ilona

Thoughts before breakfast.

 I was speaking to a friend in the village yesterday. She had the fourth vanjabbydozy on Saturday morning. She told me that within a few hours her body went through a series of involuntary jerking movements. She had no control over it. She tried to bend down and put the dogs food bowl on the floor and dropped it, scattering the food. The dog ate it off the floor. Things seem to have calmed down a bit now and it has stopped. 

These incidents of adverse reactions, no matter how small or short lived, need to be reported. In the UK it's the Yellow Card system, in the US it's VAERS. It may appear normal to some people to have a reaction, but by reporting it the health authorities can build up a picture with the data collected. 

It is still at the experimental stage until 2023. If people are not reporting their reactions, how are they able to assess the efficacy of it. How can they move on to the next stage if the data is incomplete. If the true picture is not known. 

Fizzzor have been forced to publish their findings from the information they already have, even though it doesn't contain all the reactions from a vast amount of people. They wanted to hide it for a very long time, but a court order has forced them to publish. 

Knowing the full picture of everything that has happened is imperative to help the pharmaceuticals to develop a much safer product.  

Breakfast time. Toodle pip.  ilona

The Hepworth Gallery at Wakefield

Yes, I was at Wakefield yesterday. I had been wanting to go to the Hepworth Gallery for a long time. I was in Wakefield a few years ago but it was late in the day and not worth paying for the car park and entry just for an hour. 

I picked up a leaflet from the 20 21 on Friday night, a guide to the UK's must see exhibitions, and spotted a textile exhibition, so I thought, I must go to that. 

The artist is Sheila Hicks, and this exhibition is definitely worth seeing. She has a web site full of pictures of her works. Check it out here. 

When you walk in the door of the Hepworth the galleries are up the stairs. When you get halfway up the stairs turn around and look back. This is what you see mounted on the wall high above your head. 

Colour and textiles is what I love. As I walked through the halls I was in awe of the sheer scale of the works on show. These bundles of fabric offcuts are huge and filled one side of the room. 

These hanging fibres are wrapped with embroidery silks. 

Another huge pile filled the corner of another room. On closer inspection the massive cloth pebbles are enclosed in mesh bags. 

From ceiling to floor. I wonder if these strands are transported separately and assembled onsite. They must weigh a ton. 

This is rather like a massive beaded curtain. 

Here is some blurb about the artist. You should be able to read it if you click on it to enlarge it. 

I made a walk through video. 

There are more photo's, I'll put them on another post. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona