Cheers

I was inspired to post this picture after reading Kendallishere's latest Blip about her grandmother, who was born in 1900. My grandfather was born in the same year. He was a talented amateur painter. On the wall of my grandparents' house in Coventry there was a colourful rural landscape he painted in 1926, whilst taking part in the General Strike.  He didn't paint much in the years that followed.

In the 1970s, when he was ill and cooped-up at home, his doctor suggested that he start painting again. This he did, using his many photographs as subject matter.  In the final years of his life, he painted dozens of pictures, mostly landscapes. This one is unusual for him - a portrait of a brewer inspired by an image in an old book of black and white photographs.

My first listen today also comes from the 1970s. I saw Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts a few times - enjoying their brand of Mississippi Delta blues with home-made percussion - notably a "zobstick" which was a long piece of wood into which were inserted rattly bits of metal and on the foot of which was a large boot. It sounded like a bass tambourine. Today's album is Unchained and the favourite song is I'm Ready.

Today's painting is an indoor scene by Peter Bruegel the Elder - Peasant Wedding Feast (1567).  The festivities are taking place in a barn, which contains a huge mound of harvested grain - a sign of good fortune in an age when a successful harvest was the key to the survival of many people.  Hoarding is nothing new.