The elephants of Stroud

Busy day. Storm Doris was blowing a hoolie, and as fast as I removed discarded Domino's pizza boxes and other street debris from our garden, a fresh lot arrived. I did, however, notice that our Hellebores are out.

Eventually the recycling team arrived in the street, and I settled down to WEA admin. We are planning our autumn season. I feel quite excited about the possibilities, now that I'm settling into my role of branch secretary.

All too soon I had to battle my way through the wind, rain/snow, and sunshine to Stroud college, where I was booked to model. I was under the impression I didn't have a contact this year, but in fact I am due a long service badge, apparently! Five years. I started working for the college in 1995, but I guess this award dates back to the fifth anniversary of my official induction in 2012.

The tutor was good; I knew half the students, the studio is tiny but in the round, which works well. Goodness know when I last life modelled, but I felt up to doing some very dynamic poses. Maybe the climbing has made me stronger. I discovered my left triceps the other day. It's grown bigger. Just the left...

As for my suprasternal notch, well that's always been the same. If you drop a plumb line from the little notch between the ends of the collarbones, you will see where the weight is being held on the body, and whether the model is about to fall over!
Usually the weight is on one leg or foot, and the arms are raised, when I am doing something that is visually dramatic. I caught sight of one of my arms in the mirror in the studio. It was strongly lit, and looked so sinewy I didn't recognise it. How odd!

Anyway, this hand made elephant and other animals were at the top of the stairwell. I love the art department, it's so expressive compared to the rest of the establishment. I snapped them on the way back from the cafeteria. Notice the black and white artwork on the stairwell.

I walked to Tesco's, then caught the bus to the bottom of the hill, where it was very stormy again, matched home, made gf pizza, had a bath to relax my muscles, then had just enough time to tune into a webinar! Bedtime cannot come soon enough tonight.