Friday 9 December 2011

Don't Worry I Can Take A Bit Of Stick.

I'm 64 years old. I shouldn't really be thinking: I should have gone out tonight, it's Friday. I had intended to go out tonight. Nothing planned, just maybe a drink or two in the local pub. Talk to people. Tell 'em how I would change the world for the better. That sort of talk. Inane chatter really. Or more likely I would be the one listening. Listening politely to someone spouting off about something or other. Something the speaker wouldn't normally have an opinion about. But he has on a Friday night, because the drink has given him a voice.

Oh well, never mind, I didn't go out. I was too lazy. Too lazy to put on a clean shirt. Too lazy to tidy myself up. Too lazy.

Anyway, as I say, I'm 64. What do I want to go out for on a Friday night? Really I ought to know better. The truth is I do know better. Just that occasionally, I feel the world, and life, is passing me by. Although how I think a night in the local pub is going to help resolve that issue, I have no idea.

So I stayed indoors, by the fire, and painted a stick. Painted a stick! What an exciting life I do lead. Actually it is the second stick I have painted this week. Two sticks! In one week! Yes I know. There is no stopping me once I get started.
A finished stick, and a stick in progress.
I painted a stick, a couple of years ago, and I use it every day on my walks with Sadie the German Shepherd. It is the stick that can be seen leaning against the wall in the side photo of the lady saying hallo to Sadie. Have you spotted it yet? Impressive eh? Oh, and look! There it is again in the header photo, next to the tractor. It gets about that stick.

So since the day two years ago that I finished that stick, the idea has been germinating in my mind, that I should make another one. Now I do realise that two years is a long time to spend thinking about painting a stick. But I did also think about other things in that time.

For instance, I spent several months thinking about painting a door, and quite a few weeks deciding whether or not to paint a gate. Neither of those thoughts came to anything. At least not yet. But there is always the possibility that something will happen eventually if I spend long enough thinking about it. Some people take up extreme sports for excitement, I think about painting things. Nothing wrong with that. We're all different.

Also, I would like to inform you that the stick I started painting today required some carving to be done. Now that was exciting! I was working on my lap, whittling away with a sharp knife, when it suddenly occurred to me that if the knife should slip, I might possibly cut myself in the leg. Wow! What an adrenaline rush that thought provoked! It didn't slip though, so I was all right. But it might have! That's all I'm saying. It might have! How much excitement do you want?


I have taken a few photos of the sticks in question. If the excitement is too much for you though. Please feel free not to look at them. They're not very good anyway. The photos I mean, not the sticks. The sticks are amazing!

By the way, I do realise that some of you, having looked at my photo, find it hard to believe I'm 64. I'm just lucky I guess!

8 comments:

  1. Well now I'll know how to identify you if I ever visit the UK....I'll recognise your stick!
    Very nice by the way...bugger the pub.
    Maa

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  2. Are you feeling your age or something?
    I've just had an idea... if I brought my stick over you could paint that as well. How long would you need to think about the idea?

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  3. A very interesting hobby indeed. My father in law is 83 this year and had just asked for my son's oligamy (the Japanese folding of papers to form animals etc) book. Going to pass it to him today, but my mum in law will be making some noise soon as after folding those papers I wonder where is he going to keep them. There are about hundreds of stuffs in that book that he could fold and have fun. Lovely stick by the way. Maybe I should get my hubby to do that too when he retire. He loves carving etc too. Happy blogging and carving to you.

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  4. Well I can certainly understand wanting to paint the sticks. I can also relate to thinking about painting them before you do it. I have many projects that are still in the thinking stages. Maybe one day I'll dust them off. Maybe I could wait until I'm 64 :)

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  5. Don't be an ol 'stick in the mud'. There's budding business here. On second thought, it's bit o' work. Sit back near the fire with a glass of ice and old Jack.

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  6. I think that going out on a week-end is a good thing to do! Take one of your sticks, branch out, and see what you can see!

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  7. I sympathize with not wanting to go out. There have been many times I have made plans to meet friends and when I start to get ready it is just easier to put on my nightgown and curl up with a good book. Sometimes getting ready is just too much work. At least my friends still invite me in spite of the fact that I sometimes don't show.

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  8. Got a chuckle out of this post. Very nice.

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