What day is it now....?

Sorry, I have a poorly kid at home, so I've kind of lost track of things a bit. She's poorly in the nicest possible way - snuggly, sleepy, cuddly - but is only happy cuddled up to me, so I'm not getting much done.

I'm still working on the church windows in any precious spare moments - but this is also going quite slowly - due to the presence of rather nasty and toxic "red lead" in the old cement (substance between the glass and lead). This means I have to be super cautious while handling the panels and pulling them apart to repair so that the dust doesn't get all over the workshop - the effects of lead poisoning are not pretty...

"When inhaled, lead tetroxide (red lead) irritates lungs. In case of high dose, the victim experiences a metallic taste, chest pain, and abdominal pain. When ingested, it gets dissolved in the gastric acid and gets absorbed, leading to lead poisoning. High concentrations can be absorbed through skin as well, and it is important to follow safety precautions when working with lead-based paint.

Long-term contact with lead tetroxide may lead to accumulation of lead compounds in organisms, with development of symptoms of acute lead poisoning. Chronic poisoning displays as agitation, irritability, vision disorders, hypertension, and also a grayish facial hue.

Lead tetroxide was shown to be carcinogenic for laboratory animals. Its carcinogenicity for humans was not proven."

Mmmmm, nice...

(From Wikipedia)

Anyway, back to Every Day in May (I think I might have missed a day, but we'll overlook that...)

Today's artist is Dorset-based Gillian McCormick

Lots of goodies on her site - and as she has very kindly granted me permission to use her images, I've chosen a few of my faves:

I love that mermaid.


Clever the way the countryside in the distance becomes part of the window.