Category Archives: Illustrations

Delivery!!! 29th April

Lockdown Mooring 4 to Bridge 95 (pick up point) to not quite Lockdown Mooring 4

Sorry Tilly! We’ve a rendez vous.

Making our move

Today we had our first food delivery coming to the boat from Morrisons. We’ve not used them before so waited to see what happened with substitutes etc. Mick received an email listing things that weren’t available and what we would be getting instead.

After the last few weeks of sunny sunny weather I’d included a few things for a barbecue. Our mooring means we can hug the hedge and still have at least 7 meters between us and the boat for people to pass. But on the substitutes list they had swapped salmon steaks for some that are already cooked and some Halloumi was coming with added chilli (it might be nice on a barbecue!). As the weather has changed it won’t matter anyway. My choice of white wine was swapped for another, but so long as it’s not Riesling or Liebfraumilch it will be fine.

Down to one flag at the bubble mooring

So after breakfast we pushed off to cruise not quite a mile to the pick up point. We pulled in as close to the gate by the bridge as possible. Here is an ideal spot for a delivery, a layby and gate to reach the towpath, except the towpath is mostly concrete so it took quite a bit of effort to get spikes in. Now we could settle.

Our first delivery since lockdown

The delivery arrived seven minutes into our allotted slot. The chap was relieved to spot us so easily and quickly, he’d thought it would be tricky. He chatted away as he unloaded the crates at his van and then brought our shopping to us in plastic bags. Having the hatch to the towpath meant it was easy to see what was in each bag. So I verbally sorted things, those items that can sit in the cratch for a few days and those that would need to come in and be dealt with before being stowed.

Towpath sorting

The wine cellar has moved for a few days, but is now restocked and we now can all go to the toilet as we have a fresh supply of cat litter for both bucket and box. I hasten to add we had only been running low on stocks, and had not had to reuse it!

Fridge
How did they get ordered!?

With it just starting to rain we decided to make a move and return to our mooring before it got worse. No winding hole until Nantwich ahead of us and a big sign on the wide stretch just behind us saying no winding we decided to reverse the third of a mile to Poole Hill Winding Hole to turn. Back to Hurleston to wind again in the heavier rain.

Lockdown Mooring 4 had been taken by someone, a familiar boat from a week or so ago. The 48hr mooring now had three boats on it, all nicely socially distanced, leaving enough room for us between them. We pulled into the first gap, gaining slightly different views from the windows.

Neighbours

In our old boating life we would automatically pull up and share a ring leaving no ‘git gaps’. But in this new world it’s better not to share rings if you can possibly help it, leaving a ‘good gap’ instead. However we had no choice today, both ends of Oleanna had to share rings with long outies.

WHAT!!!

Tilly was warned that should she think we were still the end boat she’d be getting on someone elses boat and they have a woofer! The rain put her off somewhat anyway. No amount of head nudges would make it dry up.

As the afternoon went on the sun made an appearance. The skies turned from dark grey to bright blue and Tilly ventured back out, returning damp at the edges.

I’ll stay here if it’s raining thank you

During the day I received a friend request on facebook along with a message. I’m glad the message came as the penny wouldn’t have dropped otherwise. Thirty seven years ago I occasionally trod the boards with a local amateur dramatic group, Rowntree Players. I appeared in three pantos, Puss in Boots, Babes in the Wood and Humpty Dumpty. The request had come from the chap who played Humpty Dumpty, I have to say he wasn’t very round. By the end of the day I’d managed to find a publicity photo with both Gary and myself. Lovely to hear from him.

Humpty Dumpty in 1983

We seem to have ended up with a lot of potatoes. We already had an almost new bag under the steps, we now have a very new bag in the cratch and tomorrow we are likely to get even more as we have a veg box delivery. So instead of sweet potato wedges tonight with our chilli we had normal potato wedges. These were a hit, not quite chips, but the next best thing for a while.

This evening we watched the first episode of the new Van Der Valk. We like crime dramas and he does have a really rather lovely boat, so it ticks lots of boxes. Wonder when we’ll be able to go to Amsterdam next?

0 locks, 1.75 miles, 0.33 in reverse, 2 winds, 3 flags to 1, 6 boxes wine, 10 litres litter, 1 disturbance, 4 occupied, 1 slightly confused cat, 7 amended poses, 1 big jump, 37 years, 1 humpty dumpty, 1 button band nearly knitted.

Closing Down. 27th April

Lockdown Mooring 4

Today notices from C&RT have been coming into our inbox regarding the closure of lock flights due to low water levels in reservoirs. Levels have been kept low at reservoirs on the Leeds and Liverpool and the Macclesfield due to essential maintenance works. Now with the lack of rainfall, the levels will remain low, so not enough water at the beginning of the boating season to sustain normal boat movements.

As we’re not meant to be moving anywhere anyway it seems sensible for measures to be taken to conserve as much water as possible. So all the locks between Wigan and Bingley, and either end of the Macc are being padlocked and ashed up tomorrow lunchtime and measures are being taken so that vandalism won’t be possible.

So when the lockdown ends (which I don’t think will be anytime soon) we won’t be able to cross the Pennines by any route, the need to do so no longer exists for us, but it would still have been nice to be up on the Leeds Liverpool again. Another thought had been to spend some time on the Macc, but the poor old Macc hasn’t had any luck in the last few years.

Where we go, and when, will stay on the back burner for now, there are other things we need to do whilst the canal network closes down around us.

Sour dough Into the bowl to rise

This morning I decided I’d be making some bread today whether my starter was ready or not. I’ve been watching it closely and it definitely runs to a timetable. Nothing happens for a couple of hours, then it gradually rises over the next hour and a half. At some point in the next half hour it gives up bubbling and sinks again. It hasn’t been as bubbly as I’d liked, maybe my expectations were greater than its own. Maybe what it has been doing is all it will ever achieve and I’ve just been wasting flour. So this morning I fed it and returned the jar to the proving shelf. A timer was set for three hours time.

Town square

I re-read the synopsis for panto and took notes. The writer for Rapunzel is the same chap who wrote Aladdin and there are similarities. Along with a tower with one window and no door, I will need to create a Town Square (obligatory), a pub, a galleon and a medieval jousting match.

Cannons and rigging

My calf muscle has been rested for a few days so I decided to see how it would fare walking up the locks whilst the hours ticked by for my starter.

As I approached bridge 97 I could see there was some sort of kerfuffle going on, flapping of wings etc. I carefully walked up the bank to see what I could see. Two male Pheasants sparring with each other. No females standing on the sidelines, just a head bobbing stand off.

Boys will be boys

One chap looked pristine whilst the others feathers around it’s neck were bedraggled, he certainly wouldn’t have been my choice in such a state. Heads bobbed up and down and only occasionally did claws make contact. Stunning looking birds.

Once they’d made enough room for me to pass I carried on over the bridge and up the flight. Sandra from NB AreandAre had told us about an egg farm at the top of the flight. We already knew of the lady with her few hens, but on the other side of the Llangollen just a bit further along was a whole farm.

Egg shop

A red van was parked with it’s back doors open, a honesty box and prices on the eggs. Medium and Extra Large hens eggs along with some duck eggs. We currently have quite a few eggs on board so it was just as well I didn’t have any money on me. But we’ll be back when we need some. Apparently he normally has around 30 dozen to sell a day. His ladies looked quite happy out the back too.

Eggs anyone

My calf had survived the journey, so I’ll be taking more short walks for a while.

Happy ladies

The timer was just about to go off when I returned. Time to make necessary flour for a loaf. Oats and sunflower seeds needed grinding up and adding to various other starches and flours. I hoped that Maple syrup instead of coconut palm sugar would work. My starter had reached it’s normal maximum, so I poured off enough for the loaf, mixed everything together then put it into a t-towel lined bowl, wrapped it in plastic bag and left it to rise back on the shelf.

The recipe said two hours maximum, but hardly anything had happened. I decided to leave it the three and a half hours my starter normally takes to rise and this proved to be a good idea.

Risen a bit

Whilst it did it’s thing Mick worked his way though tax returns all of which mean he owes the tax man nothing again. I dealt with emails about my sketches and ideas for Dark Horses next production #unit21. So a day pretty much like the old days, three projects in one day.

The timer went off the oven and cast iron pot were hot, time to see what baking my loaf would turn out like. The previous recipe had been using sorghum flour and had been a lot firmer, this was with buckwheat and had been like a thick cake batter. I carefully turned it out of it’s bowl onto grease proof paper and scored the top. It started to relax, so I quickly popped it in the pot and into the oven, fingers crossed.

A loaf with potentail

The end product looked not quite as risen as I’d hoped for, but it still showed much more potential than the last loaf I’d made. We’ll have to wait for the morning to see how it has turned out. The remains of my starter have been put into the fridge with the hope that it will pop back into life for the next loaf.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 flight walked up, 10 flights closed, dozens of eggs, 1 last feed, 1 sketch to redo, 5 amendments, 2 uv or not, 9 scenes, 2 boats again, 1 set breakdown, 3.5 hours, 1 loaf with potential, 1 very large friend!

Thirteen for Twelve. 24th April

Lockdown Mooring 4

‘Nine and a half hours Tilly and we want to see you at least twenty times today please!’

This sort of fell on deaf ears, well she is a cat! What did I expect!! After an initial roll around to leave her scent Tilly disapeared for a few hours, nowhere to be seen. Calling for her mid morning didn’t work, or maybe it did as she returned about half an hour later to say hello and have a drink, followed by a snooze. I think she was still a bit pooped from yesterday.

Out and about in the sunshine

Work for me again today. I wanted to get the initial sketches completed so that Amy can peruse them over the weekend, then I can do any amendments that she’d like along with things I’d like to do. Improving hands is top of my list! By the end of the day all sixteen drawings had been scanned and emailed to Leeds.

Cast portraits, just a couple to add

Mid afternoon an email from Will at Chippy Theatre dropped into my inbox with a synopsis for Rapunzel attached. A Zoom meeting will be arranged to meet the Director next week. This year John Terry is having a break from panto, so David Ashley is taking the reigns.

My sour dough improves with each day time feed, but as the stove is no longer alight it isn’t doing quite so well overnight. I gave it a feed at around midday. It takes a couple of hours before anything starts to happen, then it starts to bubble up the sides of the jar, expanding with air. After about three and three quarter hours it seems to reach it’s peak and within another twenty minutes it has sunk again. I’m hoping that it shows an improvement tomorrow so that I can make a loaf of bread again. But I have to be patient.

15:50
16:10

During the afternoon I’ve been messaging the greengrocer from the market. They do fruit and veg boxes so we’re going to give one a go. No idea what we’ll get, but when we last did a shop with them at the market I spent around £17, so I’ve ordered a £15 veg box. Their website suggested there were no slots left this month, but because they deliver to a house close to the canal near here we have been added in. Very exciting, just hope we’ll be able to eat it all.

This evening the C&RT boaters update arrived keeping us up to date with what the trust are doing. This is a weekly thing anyway, but today it informed us that around a third of the Trusts staff have taken furlough leave, operational staff remain at full strength to look after the network and support boaters needs. They are starting to do aquatic weed management, I wonder if that will happen here?

They are also extending current boat licences for a month from their current expiry date. So our licence which should run out at the end of March will now last us until the end of April next year. Wonder how they are doing this for Gold licence holders?

I so wish I could stretch like that, it looks so good.

Tilly decided to come home for a snooze during the afternoon. Waking with an hour left of shore leave she sat at the back doors gently reminding us she was there. Mick and I looked at each other and decided that it was actually dingding time and the back doors today would remain shut!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 walk round the reservoir, 1 leg rested on board, 2 calls from Val, 16 sketches scanned, 0 car accident that wasn’t my fault, 20 page synopsis, 3.75 hours optimum rise, 1 veg box sneaked in, 13 months for the price of 12.

Remote Control. 23rd April

Lockdown Mooring 4

An alteration to my routine was called for. I tend to get into work in the afternoons and because of that and wanting to listen to what is being said at the daily press conference from London I keep missing out on a walk. So I decided to rearrange my day a touch, heading out for a walk returning for lunch, then I could get on with work.

Thursday Photo

Today I plotted a route to walk, around three miles with the aim of seeing a house I’ve not noticed from the canal before, Wardle Old Hall which sits at Bridge 101 of the Shropshire Union Canal. Most of the route I’d be covering I’ve done a few times now but that can’t be helped, so I chose to cross over the canal and return across the fields to Stoke Manor.

Recently people have been saying how clear the water has been looking with the lack of boat movements. Sadly that is not the case here. Boats still move for shopping, water etc, but there is far far less movement than there normally would be on the Four Counties Ring. Instead of the canal clearing so we can see the fish and what lies below our hulls the canal is growing murkier and thicker. Last night we’d noticed a layer of scum which was starting to collect trapped by the bridge hole behind us. Today the start of weed was very evident along my route up towards Barbridge.

Weedy scummy

There was lots of activity on the side of the reservoir. At least eight Fountains employees were cutting the grass and trimming the nettles working their way round the two boats now moored there. I did a double take as one lawnmower was moving around by remote control. I’ve seen the little robot mowers before in peoples gardens, but this was a fully grown up big cutting machine a chap walking alongside directing it with a joy stick. At least he was getting his excersise without having to man handle the big mower along the slopes. I was then surprised to see another chap walking his way round the steeper sections of the bank with a mower, maybe the big one is too heavy to get to the top.

Onwards towards Barbridge I walked, the earlier time of day meaning there were fewer people about. I got just past Stokehall Bridge when a muscle in my left calf went ping! Damn!! This has happened before, several times, normally during the colder months. I took a few steps further, not as bad as it’s been before, but I shouldn’t antagonise it more than I had to. I’d managed a mile and was turning round before I’d reached my goal, a hobble back to Oleanna.

Wild Garlic. I’d like to find a patch of it away from the towpath and make some pesto

Another four sketches were achieved, some closer images which require better faces. Some looked good, others not so. The play works it’s way through all four seasons and I was a little bit unsure as to when we went into Autumn, a quick text to Amy and that was sorted.

Coming along

My sourdough starter was fed and returned to the proving shelf whilst the excess was mixed with several different flours, milk, cocoa and chocolate.

Baked in the oven for 25 minutes, then left a short while to cool just enough. The result was good, but could have been a touch better. I’d had to substitute the main flour for rice flour which tends to be a touch thirstier, so this may have dried the mixture out a touch too much. Next time, if I’m allowed to use so much chocolate again, I’ll reduce the amount of arrowroot and add a touch more milk to see if that improves things.

Brownies

Listening to the press conference we both commented on how badly Matt Hancock was delivering his spiel today, he had no idea of what he was saying, he can’t have read it before hand. We listen to what is being said at these conferences and find ourselves commenting at the TV, our comments are getting louder and LOUDER each day!

We’d not seen Tilly for most of the day, she’d returned home for a drink and a short snooze mid afternoon, but now cat curfew time was getting close. A quick call along the towpath didn’t work, so I hobbled down through the gap into the field. More calls. She wasn’t along the left perimeter where she’s popped out from the last few times. I called and called.

Maybe she had gone to climb the trees in the centre of the field?

Is that her?

Was that a Crow over there? On the other side of the field? It was too big for a crow. It moved so it wasn’t an inanimate object.

Yep that’s Tilly

I got Mick to pass me the camera and zoomed in on the black shape walking away. That black shape had four white paws and holey tights!

TILLY!!!!!!!!

All the

NO acknowledgement what so ever, just a swifter walk away from me. At least we knew where she was. Should we leave her to come home on her own? No, we knew she would now be tiered, tired like a little kid who won’t go to bed giving you all the excuses that you can see straight through. Oh for a remote control cat! We could turn her round and bring her back straight across the field!

way

Instead Mick put his shoes on, decided that going to the right would be the shortest route around the boundary to get to Tilly. Off he set. Ten or so minutes later I phoned him. Tilly was on the other side of a hedge from him doing the toddler thing and meowing about being busy! No point in trying to pick her up because she’d find enough energy to wriggle herself free and then be far FAR too busy to come home. Words of encouragement were the only way forward.

over

A while later I hobbled back to the gap to see what progress had been made. They were on the opposite side of the field now, Tilly was leading the way home following her scent, the longer way round the field. I tried shouting, but neither Tilly or Mick could hear me. Back to chopping veg up for a stir fry.

there!!!

Then half an hour after Mick had set off I could hear his no quite so encouraging words just on the other side of the hedge. Time for me to take over.

As she popped her head out from the sideways trees I could see just how exhausted she was. Luckily she knew the best thing to do was come inside and have some food and a drink. Then she took herself away into the bedroom where she curled up for the night only to be disturbed once by us making the bed up.

Arrow points to Oleanna, pin to Tilly!

I wonder where she’ll get to tomorrow!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 remote control lawnmower, 1 miles there, 1 ping, 1 hobbling mile back, 1tsp maple syrup, 4 sketches, ? more figures just to impress, 12 brownies, 2 shouting boaters, 1 shouting cat lady, 1 cat just visible, 0.75 miles walk for Mick, 1 totally exhausted cat, 0 lap sitting tonight.

A Month Of Sundays. 22nd April

Lockdown Mooring 4

All back to the new normal today. Game of pen, followed by feline shore leave rules, breakfast, towpath murder etc.

At times in the old normal, it was hard to determine what day of the week it was, ‘Today is Thursday?’ is one of the phrases that was used quite often on Oleanna. Somehow we knew we’d reached the mid point of the week, but not quite certain which side of it we were on. Our Saturday newspaper would help a touch, anchoring one day a week for us.

Well it is Sunday!

But things in the new normal are not quite the same. Every day feels like a Sunday, we are of course correct one day out of seven. Now that we have had a whole month of the new normal I decided to unwrap the pork joint we’d got and let it rest in the fridge all day to roast this evening. I actually know it’s Wednesday but today it could be Sunday.

Troubles towing after turning the corner

More work for me whilst Tilly went out exploring. She found a friend and brought it back to sit on the towpath next to Oleanna. For once she didn’t bother to consume it as a snack and just left it for passersby to admire. One lady wasn’t too impressed! Maybe it will keep people away from us.

Quite a few more boats moving today, including two that came down the locks. It turned out one was towing the other. Wonder how far they are heading?

10th April
with a full lock

Mick had a walk up to the reservoir this afternoon. We’ve been keeping an eye on the damp patch of towpath below the bottom lock at Hurleston. A C&RT chap had said it was due to an artesian well alongside the lock. Most of the time we’ve been here the lock has been left full, but the other day the last boat to go through the flight came down, leaving it empty over night.

17th April with an empty lock overnight

The following day we walked up to have a look and compare the towpath. There was still a little trickle seeping out but the whole area was far drier than when the lock had been left full. We’re considering sending the photos in to C&RT as to us it looks like there is a leak.

Hurleston eggs

Mick returned from his walk with a box of eggs. At the top of the reservoir there is a house that keeps chickens and the lady charges £1 for half a dozen. We’d seen other people walking with egg boxes and now we know where they’d come from.

Rising again

My sourdough starter had a feed this morning. I’m using the 1:1:1 method to try to get it back rising and frothy. 1 part starter, 1 part water, 1 part brown rice flour. It has turned the corner and grows for the first three hours then deflates. It just isn’t growing enough yet to bake with. So I decided to give it a third fee today to see if that would help. I’ve retained the excess to make some brownies with tomorrow. Thank you for the link to the scrapings method Jerry. I need to get my starter fully frothed then I’ll give it a go.

Stopped in her tracks

As the joint cooked I was going to watch Orlando a broadcast via the ICA. The information about it suggested that it could be useful for a project that might happen next year as the film incorporated projection and live costume changes. But sadly even though our internet seemed to be fine the picture froze. After a few minutes I decided that it wasn’t an artistic element of the film and gave up.

Good crackling

0 locks, 0 miles, 6 eggs, 3 chutney recipes passed on, 3 feeds, 1 mouse for all to see, 9 hours shore leave, 2 new neighbours, 5 sketches, 1.5kg pork joint, gas mark 7 for 50 minutes, 10 more scored lines, 1 vast amount of crackling, 1 month, 31 Sundays, how many more to come?

PS. Who’s daughter lives in the house that we walked past with Tilly? You didn’t leave your name.

Tonights sky

Short Of Nothing We’ve Got. 20th April

Nantwich Embankment

As we’re near a water point the washing machine was put to work whilst we had breakfast, another load would be needed before the drawer was empty again.

So pretty with the bluebells

Mick headed off to Sainsburys with a bike and lots of shopping bags leaving me to walk in on my own for a few bits. The Alms Houses on Welsh Row are even prettier than before, their gardens growing greener every day. Forget-me-nots and bluebells contrasting with the red paintwork. I think they are my favourite buildings in Nantwich. They just need a visit from Frank Matthews to replace the spikes on their roofs.

This one would be easy Frank no turning

In town I first visited Holland and Barrett being asked to wait outside until someone left. A chap on a bike joined the queue behind me saying he’d had short shrift from a lady in a different queue earlier today. She’d bitten his head off rather than give him a polite answer and a smile to his question. He preferred our queue.

Tulips and Wallflowers, they remind me of Rowntrees in York

Holland and Barrett was the first shop I came across to bring in measures to protect everyone, and with each visit they add more. Today I was invited to use some hand sanitiser as I walked in, both members of staff wearing masks. They had brown rice flour but no gluten free plain flour. Two bags bought and I was quickly out of the shop, I can now see if I can persuade my sourdough starter to come back to life with the aid of a cabbage leaf.

Fed and a cabbage leaf

Next the bakers. Mick is very partial to cheese twists from Sainsburys, sadly they hadn’t been available when our shopping was picked this morning. There also hadn’t been time to pre-order a pork pie from Clewlows, so a cheese and onion pasty and a medium pie would have to do instead.

Boots to stock up on eye drops, at the till they had some hand sanitizer so that was added to my basket. Then round the bend to Home Bargains where I joined the orderly queue down the side of the building. As I neared the front door Mick came past pushing our click and collect order. A quick once around the shop and I’d found hand wash and some new clothes pegs, we could now hang the washing out with confidence.

Ooo! Escape pod

Back at Oleanna, Tilly was closed in the bedroom whilst all Micks shopping came in, disinfected and stowed. Then she was locked out of the bedroom as I brought my shopping in, then back in the bedroom as the final items were disinfected.

Sadly for Tilly we’ve decided to stay in Nantwich another night so for some of the afternoon we had to cope with her protestations at the back doors. Once she’d visited her pooh box she calmed down a touch.

Where’s it’s roof?!

Tomorrow she will get a fresh box, she’s really done her best to use shore based facilities and this lot of litter still has life in it even after three weeks! As a treat her escape pod came out, I was told off for not getting the roof on it quick enough though! This can only mean one thing, a river cruise. Hooray!!!

Don’t forget the towel too!

The whirligig was put up with washing on it, but during the afternoon the wind got up, making sound effect noises at our windows. Despite having new clothes pegs Mick decided to put the washing on hangers in the pram cover, safer than having to fish it out from the cut!

Some more work on my illustrations this afternoon. One I was very pleased with, another not so. Faces either work really well for me or take several attempts. On the virtual poses I’ve been using, the head of one of the characters seems to be a touch too big for her body so I’m having to adjust it as I go. Still plenty more to do.

Breezy. I like this one

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 bike of shopping, 1 pleasant queue, 1 pasty, 1 pie, 1 lot of eye drops, 2 bags flour, 0 plain flour, 1 big pork joint, 1 red cabbage, 1 leaf, 2 loads washing, 1 escape pod, 1 happy cat, 3 illustrations, 2 episodes of The Nest.

The Aroma Of Camembert. 18th April

Lockdown Mooring 4

Checking into our weekly Geraghty Zoom slightly late this morning we had to quickly join in with singing Happy Birthday to Tilly (Mick’s great niece) who was turning five today, we also got chance to wish Kath (Mick’s little sister) a belated Happy Birthday for yesterday. Everyone was in high spirits as we got to see all of Tilly’s unicorns in turn, our Tilly returned in time to wave a muddy paw to everyone too.

Treasure Island NT

Discussions on the latest two National Theatre productions were held. We’d not watched Jane Eyre which others had but we’d seen Treasure Island last night. A lot of money had been spent on that set. When I was at college 30 years ago my final project (only designed and never realised) was Sweeney Todd set on the Olivier Stage. A visiting Production Manager told me that the budgets for such a show at that time were around £100,000 and I’d spent all that on my set only! We all suspect that when the National Theatre reopens the budgets will be far smaller for some time.

A grey day with showers. Mick decided to get a bike out and head to the garage for a newspaper as we’d missed out last weekend. He donned waterproofs as it was a touch wet and set off only to return a few minutes later once he’d noticed a puncture!

Bike at the ready

As he set to mending it the heavens opened, he sought refuge under the pram cover and continued mending the hole. The position must have been easy to find as no bowl of water was required. Then he was off down the towpath.

I continued with virtual poses for my illustrations. Then moved onto sizing them ready to be used as guides for my drawings. By the end of the day I was happy with how the second drawing was turning out with the addition of an oak tree into what would have been my set design. The opening drawing can wait as it should be quick to do with nobody in it.

Snowballs and angels

Mick returned with our Saturday newspaper and left it for tomorrow. As we sat and half listened to the news conference from Downing Street an aroma of Camembert wafted through the boat!? Strange as we don’t have soft smelly cheese on board at the moment!

First sketch

It reminded me of when I went on an exchange trip to Dijon in my early teens. My host family kept a very ripe Camembert in a cupboard in the kitchen, whenever the cupboard door was opened you fought to stay upright. The poor York lad who had ended up in the same house as me really couldn’t cope with it and Monsieur Boulot made the most of the situation.

At least the aroma on Oleanna meant one thing, neither of us had lost our sense of smell, a new symptom of Covid -19. But just where had this aroma come from?!!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 toasted cheese scones, 2 birthdays, 10 hours shore leave, 9 pheasants, 6 more poses, 1 new neighbour, 1st sketch, 1 puncture, 1 wet day, 1 soggy cat, 1 oak tree, 0 yellow ribbons, 0 veg boxes available this month, 1 cheesy smell, 1 look to my left … Mick!!!

Poses. 17th April

Lockdown Mooring 4

A chilly towpath today

This outside is almost completely worn out! It is exhausted and so am I. She says it’s because of Lockdown. But we used to do that all the time (apart from when we did Lockup) and that was how they moved the outside up. I know because I used to sit in the window to see them raise it. I may be given 9 10 hours, but I’m starting to not be able to use all those hours. Please will someone come and move the outside for me! I’ve run out of friends!!

The Garden model packed up for storage

Time to start my illustrations for The Garden. Amy the director had filmed rehearsals, and has pin pointed certain moments that would be good for my pictures. This morning I started the process by working my way through the footage and taking snap shots to work from. The angle of the film isn’t that great and it being a physical theatre piece with all the actors wearing black it is hard to make out forms, but it’s a start.

Firielle and Meghan in rehearsals

It’s a long time since I did any life drawing, I get away with basic human beings in my costume designs. These are always standing figures, looking this way or that. What they are wearing is the main interest. But with the illustrations I need to be able to have people seated, dancing and look reasonably human, rather than disjointed. How to draw someone sitting cross legged?!

A touch disjointed

I had a hunt around on the internet for a program the other day that might help. I’d found a couple of programmes, but today I came up trumps.

Adult Male
Baby

JustSketchMe is an on line program where you can choose one of several figures. Male adult, Female adult, children, teens, dogs and cats (if you pay for it). Each figure is jointed, so you can manipulate their limbs in three directions to whatever position you like. It takes a little bit of getting used to, which arrow works which direction of movement, especially when you are at an odd angle. You can move around the figure to see it from different angles, this helps to make sure they are sitting comfortably.

Each dot is a joint that you can move in three directions

As I worked on set ups, I started to add a second figure, a web grid helps you to ground them and then move them round to face each other. A form of perspective. I got quite into it all and worked my way through nine of the fifteen set ups before my shoulder was aching and I needed to go outside and have a game of stone with Tilly. A good start though.

Virtual Firielle and Meghan dancing

Whilst checking on delivery slots this morning Mick had spotted another one. He jumped in and secured it with some wine. Marvelous, three deliveries around a week apart. Except the first one, next week had vanished! Try as we did there was no sign of it anywhere. Mick tried cancelling the last slot to see if it would come back. We got an email through saying that one had been cancelled, but we heard nothing about the first one. All we can think is that the website decided to amend our first order and move it. So we now need to think about shopping for next week again!

One thought is to try having a second account, so as to keep orders separate. When we can get another slot we’ll give that a go.

All the stones need sending back

As I worked Mick spent much of the day accompanying Michael Palin around the world in far less than 80 days and Tilly came in for a long afternoon snooze. Out on the canal there seemed to be far more movement than we’ve had for days. Some familiar boats heading into Nantwich for shopping and water, others new to us, some heading up the Hurleston flight. Are the extra movements due to the lockdown being extended? People finding excuses to move?

Thank you for all your messages of support. It’s very lovely to hear from you. Life has it’s problems, twists and turns, we’ll get through ours, but sadly we’ll have to make changes. Anyhow, we’ve three months at least to think them through.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 lost slot, 1 new programme, 9 poses, 4 hours not 80 days, 1 bored cat, 7 boats, 1 stove, 1st none chicken meal for almost a week, 273 stones moved to the stern.