Month: Sep 2022

#333 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn fashion, SerendipityLeave a comment

September in my part of the world is Second-hand September. I have had a personal second hand two years. I made a bit if a pledge to buy mostly second hand clothes at the turn of the century. Definately not a New Year/New Century resolution and something I doubted I could stick with, so kept on the down-low until now. New things allowed in my little pledge were underwear and leggings and, of course, gifts. I also had a stock of good clothes from living in London with a plethora of great independent clothes shops in addition to the chains. The reason I’m celebrating Second Hand September is to get my mojo back. For the most part my experiment has worked, maybe one or two bad purchases but nothing too serious and the items were recycled back to a charity shop. Covid, of course, helped, I should probably do a clear out of things I have not worn for a while.

For the most part the project has been easy, I have always loved clothes but been intimidated by clothes shops, especially the overstimulating ones. E-Bay and selected Charity shops are my suppliers of choice and I just research and search for the brands I loved when I had a London salary.

I fell off my second hand wagon a little this summer which is why I am glad to be reminded. When buying new garments this summer I realised that I have become much more observant and know my own style far better than I ever did before, I also have a much better tolerance of shopping as the process no longer bamboozles me into making expensive mistakes. One lovely second hand gift took a trip home on our recent holiday. My friend Kathy gave me a leopard print scarf from her deceased, Canadian, mothers magnificent cache. I wore it in Chicago and Toronto knowing that it was very close to home. Similarly I stood outside Saks 5th Avenue looking at their fall collection of tweed coats, knowing that my own winter coat started out life there so many decades ago that it looks current.

https://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/second-hand-september/

#332 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn artLeave a comment

Yesterday was National Book Reading Day, but because I was behind with artwork my book reading was the standard half hour before bed. Hugo however had plenty of time to get his teeth into the Nick Cave Exhibition book that I had ordered after our visit to the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. By a strange twist of timings my time at The Box, Plymouths museum and art gallery will not be fully utilised today as many of the galleries are in transition. Plenty of time and cozy corners to read an arty book but I left it at home with the dogs.

In truth I wish I were back in Chicago to revisit the exhibition with only two chapters of enlightenment from the book. So many layers of everything is my initial opinion, just so much to learn.

A good excuse to share more pictures and encourage anyone who can to get themselves to Chicago and see the real thing before it closes on October 2 nd.

https://mcachicago.org/exhibitions/2022/nick-cave-forothermore

Link above to Exhibition

#331 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale1 Comment
©theoldmortuary

Back to work. I’m showing work in a month long National Trust exhibition soon. Three paintings of four were completed before the holiday, although not yet framed. This one took shape today, it is not an accurate landscape but is a reflection of the landscape around the National Trust property. The area on the borderlands between Devon and Cornwall. For the most part views are obscured by Cornish/ Devon hedges . Tall hand built dry stone walls that are topped by0p small trees and other hedging plants. But every now and then the walls dip and the landscape falls away towards the sea or the River Tamar. Then drivers or horse riders get a peep of distant views, on this occasion at sunset.

#330 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, Coffee Hunters, PlymouthLeave a comment

Back in the ( time) zone. A day of homecoming chores. Getting our composite door serviced and a new handle fitted. Prescriptions collected and electricians contacted. Honestly the Tim Horton coffee was an unplanned Canadian throwback. As it happens, Hugo and Lola, who will never visit Canada, rather like a small portion of traditional ‘timbits’

In other throwbacks of the day I visited the trusty Abebooks, secondhand book store to catch up on two book purchases which travelling with only hand luggage had made conpletely impossible during our travels. First up the Chicago Diner Cook Book.

And secondly the book published to accompany the Nick Cave exhibition that we went to at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Our Toronto catch up purchases were supplied by John Lewis who sell the brand Atheleta, even better all items were in the sale. So now we have compression leggings which would have stopped our feet getting plump and puffy on our flights. Back to normal now.

And a blog written before the midnight hour.

#329 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn HolidaysLeave a comment

Our first 24 hours in Plymouth and the rain has not stopped. This gives me the chance to stitch together three unrelated rain stories of the last couple of weeks.

Rain Story 1 comes from Chicago. An epic storm heralded our first full day in the city. Since self guided walking tours were the flavour of our city visits, some compromises were required. Let me just say, the worlds largest Starbucks was not on our original itinerary, nor was it somewhere we aspired to visit. But when rain is running down necks and saturating hems, making even the most effective waterproof ineffective, desperate measures must be taken.

As Starbucks go it was huge and as a customer I was somewhat difficult. I am much more of an independent Coffee shop kind of woman. When in the biggest Starbucks in the world I drank iced tea.

Which leads me rather nicely to Rain Story 2, later on the same day. We took ourselves off to a district known, most recently, as ‘Boys Town’ now rebranded as a more inclusive North Halsted,not in search of boys but on a quest to find the Chicago Diner, a strictly vegetarian restaurant established in 1985. The Diner deserves a blog of its own but the rain that fell just after we left the diner was of biblical proportions, so much so it drove us into a ‘Boys’ bar. Not exclusively so but predominantly. The only reason for not letting us in was a lack of ID for age purposes. The barman however allowed us in because we looked every inch of 22, Ice Cocktails were bought and we settled in the window seat. Maybe not our best move for the bar to attract clientele but we were shameless in grabbing the best seat to people watch. It turns out that complicated cocktails including tequila in their blend are awfully good for weary feet and knees. They also set you up remarkably well with the Chutzpah needed to use the gender neutral/inclusive washrooms including both urinals and cubicles. There were very stern words about two persons not using the cubicles at the same time, but for some reason I got no offers to share and could go about my comfort break in solitary confinement with no fear of rule breaking.

In other rule breaking news, we made no attempt to take guns into the bar. May I say that in Toronto we were also well behaved and made no attempt to take cannabis into bars that requested us not to.

Which brings us to Rain Story 3. The return to Plymouth. For the last two weeks the big decision of the day has been where and when to get submerged in water. T-shirt, shorts and flipflops. First full day in Plymouth, DryRobes, socks! DM boots and steamed up spectacles, how to not get submerged in water!

Phew! Back in the right time zone but only just sneaking this out just before midnight…

#328 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, TravelsLeave a comment

Leaving Chicago, and then, suddenly, not leaving Chicago. The book planned for my return flight, titled ‘The Paris Wife’starts off in Chicago. Set in the first chapters, somewhat unexpectedly, on the exact streets that my over used feet walked their daily 20,000 steps last week. I bought the book in Toronto because it promised to take me to Jazz Age Paris. 20 pages in and I am in Chicago and in Chicago. Two weeks ago the streets would have just been abstract names but now I have a real feeling for the geography of the early plot. This is the most delightful surprise and, as so often happens will take this blog somewhere entirely different to the planned destination.

The funny thing is that the book was chosen because it is a book written about Ernest Hemingway and his time in Paris, two subjects I am familiar and comfortable with. Already I am hoping the characters will make a visit to the Drake Hotel, a beautiful survivor from the Jazz Age.

And just like that the characters have moved on to Paris and I am in an Uber to Wimbledon.

No trips for either of us to The Drake.

#327 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Travels2 Comments

Flying day. Toronto -Chicago-London. More paperwork and electronic permissions than would be imaginable pre-Covid. No matter how much we have there is always more needed. 3,000 very slow steps in a variety of queues. Once again crossing borders is easy. Curiously getting onto the beach at Crystal Beach on Lake Erie took far more effort and paperwork. This is so not a moan. Lake Erie was our destination of choice we plan to swim in all of the Great Lakes, 4 out of five done, then we start on the Finger Lakes. North America you have been fabulous. Normal blogging will resume very soon.

#326 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Family1 Comment

And just like that, August is over. We saw August out immersed in Canadian family. Having spent our entire North American experience taking daily swims in lakes, today we had a pool day. It would have been a tremendous shock if this had happened at the beginning of our holiday because we have become very used to swimming in the salty water of the sea over the last couple of years. But 8 days of fresh water lake swimming has made us used to not being able to float so easily.

Swimming in a pool is a fabulous place to ponder, I was as immersed in water as we have been in family for the past 5 days.We are very lucky. The cast of individuals has changed every day but there has been chatter, reminiscing and food ever since we arrived on Saturday evening. It will continue until we leave. Just being with people who are kind and generous of their time and homes is so very good for the soul. Soon enough we will be standing on our own two feet again nurturing our own family on the other side of the Atlantic.

Covid robbed us of so much family time on both sides of the Atlantic, and further afield. This summer we have had some wonderful moments, lets hope we never have such big gaps between visits ever again