I painted a picture

 A watercolour painting teacher-artist (Andrea Nelson) came up on my FB/Insta feed a few months ago. I followed and have enjoyed her simple, creative and colourful projects. I just watched and didn't do, despite her encouragement of followers to just give it go.

The other day with friends, the one says that she gets together with another one or two friends every Monday and they paint - watercolour - for about 90 minutes. Of course I said, "I'd love to come" and the other two with us said the same.

On Monday, we joined the painting group. I only had an hour but I did complete this flower. I'm no good at thinking up things to paint myself (yet) so I found a picture online of something that I liked and did my own version of it.

My first watercolour painting probably since primary school!

I've got a way to go in learning how to use watercolours - strong, dilute, water first, how it spreads etc. It is fun and creative, and I look forward to improving.

As far as yarn crafts go, I have had a crochet hiatus for about two years. Sure, I have made a few odd items, but no proper projects. I just do not know what I would like to make. I have had an itch to embroider flowers. I saw a booklet at a fabric store a few weeks back with 100 embroidery stitches and took it as a sign. I started at 1 and worked my way through to create a sampler.

The first 40-ish embroidery stitches. A lot can be done with these
plus French knots and bullion stitches.

There are some lovely floral designs that I have seen online. I need to choose one and a colour palette and give it a go. Handcrafts like this go well with listening to audiobooks and podcasts, and watching shows on streaming.

My years of blood donation posts have done some good

I have been a blood donor since I turned 16. I had a gap of about eight years when I was often in malaria areas with adventure races, which is cause for deferral. I regained my regular donor status in 2008 and have retained it since.

I usually post here and on Facebook after donations, encouraging friends and readers to only donate if they intend to go back again at least three times within a year. The reason for this, in South Africa at least, is that your plasma (the other components are discarded) is quarantined after your first donation if it passes various tests - like for HIV and hepatitis. When you return and the tests on your second donation are clear, the plasma from the first donation is used and the second is quarantined. The same happens when you return a 3rd time.

It is only after you are clear of various transmissible diseases three times within a 12-month period (you can donate up to six times a year, every 56 days) that your red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma are used.

As such, once-off donations are a waste of time, resources, labour, testing, freezer space, money, and blood because your donation will be discarded after a year if you do not return. The marketing around blood donation always says that each donation saves three lives. It only serves this purpose if you donate regularly so that all of your blood components are used.

I went to donate yesterday.

Watching Olympics at the George Western Cape Blood Service branch. My timing wasn't great as I got powerlifting instead of something like athletics, but it was interesting to see. 

My oldest friend David - we met at nursery school when I was 2 and he was 3 - responded with this:

"You’ve successfully persuaded me (after 20 years of making these valuable posts) to try again in the UK - they didn’t want it when I first moved here but this time they did - been used at Charing Cross hospital already. Just saying so you know your adverts work."

He is booked for his next donation in three-months time.