Pandemic Pondering #512

A day of sweet and sour. Three hours in an actual physical bank and the transaction still not completed by the time we left. Not a businesslike bone in the building! The sweetness that started the day came out of boredom as we waited and waited. I had bought some sunflowers and noticed that there were beads of nectar. I also marvelled at the Fibronacci Sequencing of the seed head. The bank was very dull!

Overwhelmed by Fibronacci excitement and curiosity and with plenty of time on my hands I decided to taste the nectar.

Tiny, twinkling beads of sweetness but oh so sticky!

If banks still had piles of money I could have covered my hands with nectar and plunged them into a pile of money and run around the corner and delivered it in person to the bank we were trying to make the transfer to.

Flights of fantasy and Fibronacci wonderment can only get you so far and there are no longer piles of money, obviously waiting for sticky fingered clients, in banks. After three hours we failed to transfer any money from one account to another. Legally or illegally, with or without nectar . Time to head off for afternoon tea in a barn.

Fully charged with sugar and tea there was only a couple of hours of downtime before an evening of questionable entertainment.

Four bobbers went to an outside performance of Jaws. Screened at our local Lido we were surrounded on three sides by water as we visited Amity Island for the 4th of July. We still jumped and screamed. Tomorrows bob will have an extra texture of frisson.

Pandemic Pondering #511

Another day finished off with fireworks at Firestone Bay. The late night dog walk was a little more glamorous than usual. Not so many boats out in the Sound tonight but the sea was still twinkling and bustling as people dropped anchor to enjoy the show.

There was a gorgeous illuminated Jellyfish hanging over Tranquility Bay at one point.

The dogs were transfixed by the spectacle of bright lights in the sky. It is hard to imagine what their canine brains made of it all. They had already had a great morning of running in one of their favourite gardens and then an afternoon of padding about in the yard as I strung lights in the plants.

It was another day of chores, errands and yardening , enlivened by a cherry and almond slice and a good natter with a friend while Hugo and Lola chased imaginary squirrels around her garden. After today I’m pretty much through all of the house moving chores now, so the return of proper summer would be greatly appreciated. One last firework and this little blog is over. If this dull summer continues I’m going to start baking cakes again, my weight has only just recovered from the 2020 Cake season!

Pandemic Pondering #510

©Kim Bobber

The Bobbers were out and about around Plymouth Sound last night, watching rather than swimming.

The British National Fireworks Championships are held in Plymouth every August. After a Coronovirus hiatus last year there was some doubt if the event would happen this year after the recent murders in Plymouth. It was decided the competition would go ahead with the two evenings events dedicated to those whose lives were taken. A minutes silence with a torch vigil, ended by heart shaped fireworks took place 15 minutes before the main event.

There were hundreds of small boats out in the Sound twinkling while they waited for the fireworks. Paddle borders too were illuminated.

Then the fireworks started and boats on the water were transformed into silhouettes.

©Debs Bobber

We spent the evening at Tranquility Bay the normal location for Bobbers. Not quite such grandstand images but only five minutes walk from home.

Hearts and conversations are very much at the centre of everything in Plymouth right now. Snatches of the same conversations are heard wherever people gather, as the city tries to comprehend the events of last week. Catching a heart in the sky seemed quite fitting.

Pandemic Pondering #509

If the sun doesnt put in appearance then the time is right to get on with the jobs that have been on the back burner. Todays jobs were dull but a rare shaft of sunlight on this glass collection brightened up the journey to the tool box. A Chrysanthemum also lit up the kitchen, an imitation sun.

Todays jobs really were too dull to mention but they were achieved by lunchtime and my reward was a good long dog walk before returning home to do other dull stuff like going to the Post Office and the Hermes drop off. The post office trip was to send properly kitch shoes to our grandaughter. Crocodile Crocs and sandals with motion activated LED’s . Gloriously silly and just what a two year old needs to make life even more wonderful. The nights are getting darker so we need to chose our evening dog walk with some consideration of good lighting. Tonight we more than achieved that by finding Fibreglass cows ruminating under a twinkling tree.

Lola found this location very much to her liking and as soon as she had sorted herself out we headed for home. A dull day completed succesfully is quite an achievement.

Pandemic Pondering #509

It is not often that a cup of coffee makes us sad, but yesterday our coffee was accompanied by a minutes silence to mark the five lives lost in Plymouth recently. The sunshine put in a brief appearance too which added to the mood.

A good long walk around the Stonehouse Peninsular before a morning of yardening kept us busy.

Moving many of the plants from the previous garden into pots and containers has for the most part been a huge success.

The notable exception being an Acer who currently poses as a Georgia O’Keefe painting in her Adobe period.

The one inherited plant from the previous owners is doing its best to show off to its new companions.

The moved plants are still huddling together near the back door. Settling into their new environment with plenty of rain ( Thanks Summer 2021)

6 weeks in and we are starting to plan the changes we need to put in place to make the yard more effective as a growing space. We need to spend some time on You Tube learning bricklaying skills!

Somewhere is needed to let this new person show off these milky white leaves to their best advantage.

This is a first backyard for both of us there seems so much to learn!

Pandemic Pondering #508

©Ricky Fenn Mazie Shalders

Last week a favourite piece of Plymouth Street Art got a sad addition and at 11 this morning there will be a Silence held across the country to remember and reflect on the events of last Thursday.

©Hutong

Yesterday evening nature also marked some time in Plymouth. A dense sea fog briefly cloaked the city making everything grey and a little more silent.

Overlooking Plymouth from Down Thomas. ©Kevin Lindsey

Pandemic Pondering#507

©PlymouthHerald

Smeatons Tower on Plymouth Hoe turns purple in remembrance of those who lost their lives on Thursday.

We were planning to go to The Hoe this weekend to see a World Premier of The Hatchling. A massive puppet requiring 14 human puppeteers to move it. From the Director of The Warhorse puppet,Mervyn Millar.

https://www.thehatchling.co.uk/

https://www.thehatchling.co.uk/

For obvious reasons an Uplifting Symbol of Freedom is hardly appropriate in Plymouth right now so the Puppetry/Kite event has been cancelled.

We still took a trip to the Hoe last night with friends/bobbers to take an evening dip.

The sea was extraordinarily kind to us and we swam to the new platform for some diving and jumping into the sea. It is pretty hard to see in this picture so below is a close up. For a while we had this great expanse of safe sea swimming and the platform to ourselves.

There was a reward for swimming in the evening. Fish and Chips and this beautiful sunset.

Sunsetting over Plymouth

Pandemic Pondering #506

This gorgeous bunch of hand tied garden flowers arrived yesterday in the hands of our friend Sophie and her lovely boy Billy. It was good to see them both. Our home was a revolving door of friends yesterday and that really is the loveliest feeling. The shared horror of the previous evenings events in Plymouth was obviously the main topic of conversation. It is strange to realise that the name of your home city will now be linked with the horror of a mass shooting. Having lived in London and Brighton during terrorist attacks, the familiar feeling of proximity and dislocation from the scene of the crime alongside huge gratitude for not being involved is becoming familiar. It is a struggle for me to understand how this crime is not also terrorism. Not that the category of the crime alters the impact on anyone but the conversations, at any level, change. On the day after a horrific event it was good to have friends, flowers and meaningful conversations.

Pandemic Pondering #505

This image is the beginning of an art project for an exhibition in October. The blog that went with it can be written another time. Last night there was a serious crime in Plymouth. It involves people, guns and death. Beyond that,as I write this,no facts are known. The story will unravel and reveal itself as today progresses. Containment unraveling and revealing was my planned blog for this photograph. Words, I’m sure, that we will hear very frequently as Plymouth wakes up this morning to the information that is released by the Police Press Conference. Speculation, sadness and sorrow will be a communal act today.

Pandemic Pondering #504

©Leonor Antunes – The Box, Sequences, Invertions and Permutations

Today was a serendipitous colour concatenation. I spent some time peacefully in the beautiful space that is St Lukes, part of The Box museum. My two periods working in this space had moments with no visitors.

©Leonor Antunes

This particular installation will be leaving the museum soon so I took the chance and took some photos with no people about. I also took some close up photographs of the glass lights.

Imagine my happiness when a friend posted the picture below of Compass Jelly Fish captured briefly in a blue bucket.

© Jess Rippengale. Compass Jellyfish at Portwrinkle

The colours are identical. That’s this blog done. Colour happiness.