Hello today I felt like posting a few of my latest pictures.
 I have been taking some Chinese brush painting classes and enjoying them. Meeting new friends and learning a new style

I also did a few for the Weekend Drawing Event on Wet canvas and did this on Yupo

and this is just a watercolour from this week

Hope you enjoy looking at them

Life

LIFE

When I was little,
days were so long,
As I got older,
that was all wrong.

Now time is precious,
there's never enough,
Guarding each moment,
is sometimes tough.

Life now seems long,
but not quite like before,
Will that all be wrong,
when I go out its door.

Eternity now
I can't quite comprehend,
Where is the beginning,
and where's its end.

When life is eternal,
why do we fuss,
We're not disappearing
just leaving this muss,

Christ is the doorway,
To things not yet seen,
Things more wonderful,
than even our dreams.

We'll be there forever,
and life is so short
It may be tomorrow,
when we too are caught.

Why do we worry
when loved ones go on
It'll only be moments
till we are the one.



Astrid Beyleveld

This is one of the poems I wrote sometime back and thought I should add them here as well

Free Painting give a way

Give a way

I am having a giveaway

Here is an original watercolour painting done by me it measures 7 ½ by 6 inches without the mat and was matted in the picture to fit a regular 5 x 7 holed mat.

The give a way will take place on September the 5^th.

 

To be in the drawing please leave a comment that gets you one chance

Become a follower and let me know gives you chance number 2.

 Placing a link to my blog/ give a way on your blog gets you a third chance.

 Have fun and hope you enjoy this. There will be a small surprise added when I mail it. So that will be an added bonus.

 Hope you enjoy this

Micro cruise

The micro cruise

Well it was time to escape and well he couldn’t take enough time off for a cruise sooooooo

We did a micro cruise.

We went to the IHOP which is of course the International House of Pancakes so was not surprising to find our server was from Belarus. His name was Andrei and he had a few friends that obviously worked there too a guy from France and a young lady who I presume was his girlfriend sitting at a table near by cruising the net. I think they are part of the international school thing that seems to happen with the restaurants in Galveston.

 Yes we had pancakes or crepes as the American folks know them and yes they were very yummy, all while looking out at the beach and pretending I was in the windjammer or Sur le Mer on the ship, looking out over the port.

 Then we went and did a shore excursion next. We went and played in the rain forest, ok it was the rain forest pavilion at Moody Gardens in Galveston but still.

 As we entered there were gorgeous orchids to greet us right at eye level, three of them then we roamed along the tree top level and looked down at the gorgeous Macaw’s and plants as we looked for the sloths I had heard were in there. And I had missed them on the Panama canal cruise sooo. A very colourful bird blessed Mark poor dear. We roamed among the butterflies and got some cute pictures then out looking for sloths again. I was so excited to find one sleeping on a bar right next to the walkway and took some lovely photo’s and was very excited. Then we raomed a bit more and went through a few exhibits of delightful things like itty bitty frogs that were bright orange and poison dart frogs and such fun weird things. Then downstairs right next to the alligator I noticed the sloth was now sitting up on the railing soooo

Back up we dashed and the poor girl in the display was totally confused at people goignt he wrong way. None the less we dashed upstairs and took some more photos and then another couple came looking for the sloth so I showed them and they said um no that is a white faced Saki oops my bad but he sure is cute. Anyway they had seen the sloths earlier and were tracking then so we followed and nope they were hiding so back down we went.

 This time the poor girl was still there and we said oops it wasn’t the sloth so she said well maybe Rose is here where she often hides so we searched a bit and Mark found her and took pictures and then the lady says you only have 15 minutes left oops. So on we went and I stopped and turned around and there was another sloth. He finally got up and moved and Mark got some more good pictures and I was very happy. Then we saw the ocelot who when he saw us went and hid silly thing. I was kinda fascinated by the scarlet Ibis’s

 Well they were closing so out we went.

Then we went on the cruise part

We had to stand in line to get on and wait for them to open the gangway. Then we had to present our entry cards and have our bags searched. They then allowed us to go up the gangway and lo and behold there was the photographer waiting to pounce hee hee so we did the photo thing. Then onto the “ship” WE checked out the dining room  and then went up on deck. WE strolled the deck and sat up there for sail a way. Then I went to browse the shop but didn’t buy anything. Then I tried doing a painting and made a mess but hey it was fun. And we sat on deck and watched the fireworks  from the beach at Moody gardens. Right after that the photographer came around selling his photo packages and a young man had a “Special” glass with flashing lights in it.

 Then back to the dock for debarkation.

 We laughed so hard at our micro cruise that had all the usual elements of a cruise yet lasted all of 45 minutes.

 Well we drove home and crawled into bed having had a fun evening.

What more could you ask for Foreign servers, good food, exotic animals and a fun cruise with fireworks. It was a delightful day all round. Too bad the painting was a mess oh well there is always another day.

the sloth that wasn't

the real sloth

our cruise "ship"

Tea Time

Tea

 What it is and what it isn’t

Tea is different in many cultures and countries but for me this is Tea.

Some of my earliest memories are of tea

 Being allowed to finish mom’s tea that she didn’t have time to drink before heading off to work. Cold lemon tea it would be by then but oh so sweet and special as it was “mom’s” tea.

 Then there was Tea with Gran. If we went to town we might just might stop at the T room and have tea and a toasted bun. Oh my, that was a special treat.

 Gran would order a pot of tea and a toasted bun and ask for an extra cup and plate. My tea would be mostly milk with a “drop” (That was what Gran called about a ¼ cup) of tea in it and sugar, hers was always black like she liked it, but with sugar. We would share the toasted bun and oh how wonderful it was with the butter dripping off it and down my chin and the slightly sweet taste and the raisins here and there.

 Sometimes we would go to a friend for tea. Gran and I would take the bus to her friends house and we would have tea with her. This was a very special occasion.

Later there would be tea time at Diana’s house. We would all ( Diana, Jeremy and I and sometimes Glenalea too,) be out and about playing in the “woods” Yes there was 27 acres for us to play in and with the dogs we were quite safe. Sallie the Doberman and Snappy  hmm wonder what Snappy was. Anyway we would all be out and about playing and suddenly think it must be nearly tea time and off we would go back to the house where tea was to be had. Always in china cups and always with a snack of some sort. Maybe some cake or a biscuit. Mom would always laugh that Jeremy, although the youngest was also the biggest and fastest, but he would be in the lead and would screech to a halt at the door and let the girls go first and then follow at break neck speed.

Gran had tea every day at 11am and 3pm. She would say what is the time? and I would later say Gran who cares lets have tea anyway. Gran would not have “dry” tea. There had to be something with it even if it was dry bread she would say.

 When Gran was at Aunty Billie’s we would go next door to Tannie Marta for tea at 10am and we would have to be quiet while Gran and Tannie Marta listened to the Radio. It was the equivalent of the daily soaps for about 30 minutes. Funny thing was Tannie Marta could not speak English and Gran didn’t speak Afrikaans but they had tea together and listened to the radio ever morning. Then back to the housework for both of them. Some days Tannie Marta was busy mopping and would stop mid mopping to have tea and listen. I wonder which language the program was.

Then there was the visiting family and friends for tea. If someone stopped by the first words after hello were, do you have time for a cup, and the kettle would go on and tea would happen.

 Sometimes it was organized before and was a real visit, sometimes it just happened that way.

Special occasions were often marked by tea.

Baby showers were almost always a tea and of course there was the Kitchen Tea.

 This was a magical time when the bride to be was surprised with a shower by her mom and her bridesmaids. It was the equivalent of the bridal shower in America. There are a few differences of course like the way they would not list who the gift was from but would give a clue as to what it was and the bride had to guess. Someone would take notes and read it back later. Obviously there were just words taken here and there to make it sound funny and entertaining. Like of it is soft and squishy and then they would stop and never finish the sentence but leave it hanging.

 Birthdays for grown up were usually teas. Then there was the tea party, a good excuse to just get together with friends and have a good visit.

 When you moved to a new neighborhood tea was there. Often if the neighbors were kind they would appear soon after the “truck “ or cars and say Hi I live over there and my name is and it would be a way of introducing themselves but usually accompanied by a tray with a pot of tea and maybe even coffee and sugar and milk and some cups and maybe some “biscuits”. They would say I’ll be back in about half an hour so don’t worry about washing the cups or such you have way too much to do today. This was a sure sign that this was the neighbor you could count on in a crunch. Occasionally it was also the nosy neighbor who would drive you crazy later.

 When we were young and a moving truck arrived our job was to count people so we knew how many cups to take over. We always added a couple in case.

When the guys had headed to work and you were hanging out washing or watching for the “postman” a neighbor might lean over the fence or gate and say would you like to come and have a cup of tea, I just made one? This was often the beginning of a great friendship. You would usually end up being back door neighbors here and would spend many an hour sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of tea and solving the problems of the world.

A real friend would arrive at your door with something evil to eat or a wonderful bit of news like a new baby that was expected or a wedding and would say put the kettle on and tea would be had.

 When the world was coming apart you would call your neighbor and say put the kettle on and you would put your shoes on and when you got there the tea was half made and she would sit and listen and cry or whatever was needed.

It also worked when you thought you were going to have to kill someone, you know like when your hubby was helpful and cleared out the boxes of your stuff to the “Rubbish”  (garbage) yesterday and the “rubbish men” had just been when you found out. Or your oldest child just cut the lace off your wedding dress to make grandma’s card. Tea would help with that.

 When you were sick in bed and someone brought you a nice cup of tea it was the best comfort in the world. In fact should any disaster happen to happen someone close by would immediately say has someone put the kettle one and tea would be made. Sometimes you needed to make the tea yourself as the ritual of doing the usual things to get it made was in and of itself calming and soothing.

 One of the most amazing treats of all was “ tea in bed” to awaken you this is usually saved for such momentous occasions as Birthdays or Mothers day. There is no better way to face the day than with a sweet person handing you a nice cup of tea just ready to be drunk. Armed with that you could face the world and conquer it.