Build Up - We Wish You a Merry...NOT YET!

 

Christmas is coming. Commercially, the big build up began around September, as always, and started to wind me up immediately. I can’t stand it. As a Christian, I look forward to Christmas and celebrating the birth of Christ. Non-believers please respect as I do you. This year, the build-up seems to have annoyed me more than ever. I felt brain washed into thinking I was behind with my own preparations. I’ve grumbled at every TV advert and moaned about decorations being displayed early. Bah humbug. December 1^st is soon enough. My whole year has been a roller-coaster ride consisting of more downs than ups with no end in sight to balance things out. Everyone, well, nearly everyone wanted me to address my 70^th birthday with bells and whistles. I didn’t, but anyone who wanted to celebrate on my behalf was welcome to go fill their boots – at their own expense. There were some special moments. Thank you for the fine dining, you know who you are. I was so glad to go and hide and hibernate for a couple of welcome weeks at our favourite lodge in Dumfries & Galloway, out of the rat-race and with a fabulous view.

Of course, the Christmas build up was also under way in Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright, but in a nice way and I could cope quite happily. I’m better suited to the pace of life there.  We’d missed the arrival of Santa who made his annual sail into Kirkcudbright harbour the week before we got there. It is a spectacular event and great for the children. We’ve seen it before and filmed most of it, still on a camera somewhere. As I fretted over Christmas and not being ready, I did some gift shopping as calmly as I could, keeping panic mode at bay. I enjoyed a quiet afternoon using my new, birthday present pen to write the cards that required posting. Anyone receiving my card through the mail can be forgiven for thinking we’ve moved, at last. I wish.

The build up to Christmas continues at home, now that we’ve returned. With four excited grandchildren still of an age to be enchanted, I can’t be too ‘humbuggy’. Our tree, old faithful that I intend to replace and say so every 12^th night, was hurriedly put together so the kids could hang their chosen decorations. It’s since had a small tidy – sorry, but I had to – and looks okay, if a bit askew.

This week, I’ll return to the school library and enjoy the company of more excited children in Christmas jumpers, and some naughty elves, I’m informed. My eyes will be moist as I hear their carols and Christmas songs coming from the hall, and I’ll put maudlin to one side for a while.

This is a poem from a Christmas card I have in a frame and bring out every year,

Christmas Memories

Christmas memories stir the waters of the well of thought –

And reflect the best of what the passing years have brought…

Past and present mingle when we hear the Christmas chimes.

Names come back as we recall good things and happy times.

Patience Strong  1907-1990

 

Thanks for reading, Pam x

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A Favourite Painting - Matilda's Trees

 

Trying to choose a favourite painting, like a favourite book or piece of music is so hard it is almost impossible. I like the work of lots of artists. Yesterday, travelling home from an adventure, the journey, thanks to the sat nav, took us over the Pennines and through Mottram in Longendale where the artist,  L.S.Lowry used to live. I love all of his work. I remember feeling quite emotional when I saw his paintings for the first time. This was in Salford, long before the gallery bearing his name was built.  His painting ‘Going to the Match’ was in the news last year when it was purchased and saved for the Lowry collection. Going to the match is what I plan to be doing later, so the painting might have been a good choice, but instead,  I’ve picked ‘The Cripples’.

Lowry painted ‘The Cripples’ in 1949. It’s one of my favourites of his work. I have a print and a fridge magnet and it always makes me smile. I’m slightly worried that my admission to being amused by it makes me a bad person. I am amused by Lowry’s humour in the painting. I’m not mocking the subjects.  Apparently, there’s controversy about the content and the title and I’m a bit shocked about that. I’ve got disability issues, so does my husband. The painting isn’t about us or anyone else. Cripple is not a term in use these days when we refer to people with disabilities but I’m not sure if it should be considered offensive.  I feel sure that Lowry didn’t paint anything with the purpose of upsetting anyone. As a Christian should I be upset by paintings of Christ’s crucifixion reminding me of His suffering? I will admire the work of the artist.

Steven Robert Bruce is a local artist who has produced excellent paintings. He has a website showing a collection of his work. One of my favourites is his painting of Ian Holloway celebrating Blackpool FC’s victory at Wembley, going into the Premier League. I don’t know where the actual painting is. I wish it was at the stadium.

My favourite painting of this week – it might be replaced before weekend if we’re looking after her – is the latest work of art by our youngest grandchild, four year old Matilda.  She was painting, freestyle, and created a fabulous tree scene from her own imagination. I’m amazed and enchanted as I often am by my grandchildren.

My poem, from the archives,

Salford

Industrial landscapes
Where nobody escapes
From human desolation.
Salford, grey and worn-out
Drab people hang about
Seeking some consolation,
Painted as matchstick men
Back in the decades when
Lowry found inspiration.

Shelagh’s taste of honey,
Tony Wilson’s money
Invested in the city.
High-rise in Broughton Park
Poems of Cooper-Clarke
So sharp and smart and witty.
A gentle, summer breeze
Wafts around Salford Quays
Modern style simplicity.

Pamela Winning 2015

Thanks for reading, Pam x

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