Month: Oct 2022

#370 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn dog walks1 Comment

Good morning Arundel. Up and out with the dogs before the coffee shops were open.

The boards being out was a tease,the shop windows just basking in the sunrise was as uplifting as things got, home coffee it will have to be.

It is the castle that brought us here. Visible for miles we had often driven past on the A27, and I had lived nearby many years ago. What we are undecided about is if this is geographically where we are meant to be. For our little escape I chose the county and Hannah the location. She suggested our location should be Arundel, but in her mind was probably thinking of somewhere closer to Brighton.Either way it is a great spot to have landed for a couple of days. Youth truly is wasted on the young. When I was young and living in West Sussex I was busy building a career and a busy life with new friends, beautiful places like this were the backdrop and not the main event. This morning my ageing, autumn loving heart is just bursting with these views. Arrowed is the local Post Office where I will post a gift for our Hong Kong granddaughter. Could there be a bigger difference between the architecture of the departure location and the destination?

#369 theoldmortuary ponders

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Yesterday was our swan song as live- in helpful Nana and Nona to our new granddaughter. For now we have absented ourselves so another set of grandparents can enjoy cuddles and snuggles and disturbed sleep. We flew south to Arundel for a few days so a whole new location for pondering. Somewhere for us to reflect on a whirlwind past two weeks.

Arundel is going to be a fabulous spot to blog from, the dogs have done a preliminary walk round.

Hoping that this is not our actual swan song…

#368 theoldmortuary ponders

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Re-use, re-imagine, recycle. A succulent use for your old, soft balls.

This was a lovely surprise today. We did a street walk with the dogs around Southfields this morning. Coffee at a coffee shop called Drop Shot…

Hard to avoid the tennis connections of this bustling High Street.

More charity shop bargains and some healthy food shopping all before lunchtime. To be honest we are at our grand-parenting best in the mornings. Up before the lark or even the sun with not much to do but admire these small feet while her parents sleep and catch up with box sets on the T. V.

#367 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale, SerendipityLeave a comment
©Sue Rigg Instagram @sdrigg38

Our days in Wimbledon are a blur of activity and stasis. Our adult timetable rescheduled to the needs and desires of a two-week-old baby. Her timetable runs on four hourly shifts, adult activity continues on our 24-hour night and day schedule. The two do not run in an entirely compatible format and the one that shifts is the adult one. Slowly we are gaining more adult achievements. Walks to coffee shops, supermarket visits, a farmers market and yesterday an art exhibition. Charging my phone is one of the adult activities that sometimes gets out of synchronisation, so my apologies to Worple Art Group, I didn’t capture every artist in my hour long visit of a fabulous exhibition.

©Jeanette Carr

There was a good crowd of visitors when we called in and some of the artists were there to talk with. The great thing about visiting a group art exhibition that is completely unknown is the anticipation of what you might see. Not all Art groups are capable of putting on a great show but the Worple Group were showing some really interesting work. The group consists of 20 artists of which 14 were exhibiting.

©Kevin Williams

Kevin was the artist I spent most time talking to, although being an artist in Wimbledon, just 6 miles from central London is a very different proposition from the rural/ urban mix of the Tamar Valley where I live and create art. He expressed the same changes and challenges of being an artist in the Covid and post-Covid world as The Tamar Valley Artists have experienced in Devon and Cornwall.

From being a plein-aire artist he was forced to paint indoors. His subject matter became what he dug out of his garden.

©Kevin Williams
©Kevin Williams

We are a very small family, our other portion of family live in Hong Kong so the painting below caught my eye too.

©Mark F Lodge

Far too soon the needs of our small family member and my lack of a camera battery drove us out into the streets of Wimbledon but I will be sure to be back in time for the next exhibition.

#366 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn London, SerendipityLeave a comment

For a mad moment yesterday, we considered going to the re-opening day of Battersea Power Station. I have loved the hefty 1940s monolith all of my life. For many of my London living years, it was a welcome sign of heading home.

I also liked to sketch it in the years when all the outlying buildings had been knocked down for the redevelopment.

Maybe visiting on the first day of the reopened building was a bit foolhardy but as it turned out we ran out of time and the Evening Standard ran stories of massive crowds.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/battersea-power-station-back-open-40-years-queue-b1032724.html

We were slowed down in other parts of Battersea, by sourdough pizza and Turks Head Pumpkins.

And wonderful retro items, an old phone and a VW Beetle.

Which are both a similar vintage to Battersea Power Station. Which makes the day rather retro. Our afternoon plans altered by a shortage of time took a different and unexpected turn.

Our afternoon dog walk was going to be in Putney Vale Cemetery doing a guided tour of Notable People’s graves, but our early morning care of a new baby grandaughter combined with the convenience of a bed in our camper van meant that as soon as we arrived in the cemetery an afternoon nap occurred, honestly the first time we have ever slept in a graveyard.

Who Knows Where The Time Goes.

Not just a random quote but a rather appropriate lyric for this blog from Fairport Convention.

Sandy Denny is one of those notable people who is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery. Her lyrics on this song are also poignantly appropriate for an afternoon spent kicking autumn leaves around in a peaceful corner of Putney Vale.

#365 theoldmortuary ponders

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Just a regular day with a walk in the village. For Wimbledon this flamboyant cyclist is just a regular cyclist. You can see his London adventures on his Instagram page.

https://instagram.com/bondwimbledon?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Flamboyance can be the picture theme of the day, although the rest are totally natural. There is nothing like the pleasure of Charity Shop shopping in the more affluent areas of London. With three hours to spend out of the house we were very happy shoppers. A brand new cashmere scarf for £20 and the same price for a Cos dress we were very sartorially satisfied.

The vegetables also felt a little flamboyant.

Along with some very prickly chestnuts.

Breakfast of Champions or in truth the Cheese Straw that all others are judged against.

Even the fungus on the way home got the flamboyance memo.

#364 theoldmortuary ponders

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I love the buttery grubbiness of a London Clay brick. I could bore you all with my love of these things. Of course, this beautiful autumn weather makes everything look glorious.

My second week of new baby care has slightly wider horizons. Not that Wimbledon Common has exactly been restrictive. Yesterday there were many firsts.

A trip to Gails on Northcote Rd for daytime snacking to do a first breastfeeding in public session and the inevitable first nappy change in a cafe toilet. Then it was off to Battersea for Miss B and her mum to visit work colleagues. I had a few moments alone to enjoy Battersea Art Centre. Link below for you to do the same. The many pleasures of Battersea were all basking in the sharp, warm sunlight.

https://app.cloudpano.com/tours/tCEK0wHX_6

There were also some repeated experiences. Cannazaro Park with the curvaceous, hospitable, sculptured, water fountain turned on.

This autumn appears to be a vintage acorn season, there are hundreds of them littering pavements and parks. Lola is mostly on squirrel tracking duties. We have tried letting her run free but she almost seems overwhelmed by the richness of nature in her London walks out. She is torn by her hunting urge and her need to be very near us. She almost looks grateful when her lead goes back on. Not so for a whippet called Tommy, whose owner we met yesterday. We never actually met Tommy. He was just the flash of an accelerating dark shape in the autumn undergrowth. His owners plaintiff calling getting more and more desperate as fifteen minutes passed and we and Tommy got further and further away.

#363 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Friends and FamilyLeave a comment

On Reflection. One single sentence brought me up with a jolt yesterday. I was settling down for a quiet hour with the leftovers of the weekends newspapers. The sun was streaming in through the windows and I had just returned from a satisfying walk on the common. I had gathered cushions and was feeling pretty comfortable.

” This makes me feel like the Queen”

A sentence that is no longer relatable. Unless of course I was cosied up in a lead box. Just like the rest of the world, feeling rather special should, now, correctly be ” Feeling like a Queen”

A friends mum, who married in the same year as the Queen, died last week at the age of 96 having been pre deceased by a beloved husband. Achieving a rather unusual imitation of a life imitating a life.

I have been lucky enough to rehome some of my friends parents collection of coloured glass. Such a practical way to reflect and remember lovely people, as we use these glasses nearly every day.

#362 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn dog walksLeave a comment

Bright sunshine illuminating a water bottle on the morning dog walk. Fascinating round shapes are the common theme of this blog. Walking the dogs on Wimbledon Common in October is such a pleasure on these sunny days. I am keeping them on their leads as it is acorn season and the squirrels are very busy packing away their winter stores. Lola is the tracker dog of our family and really cannot be trusted when there is a lot of squirrel activity. Apart from squirrels Wimbledon Common has some famous creatures, that have featured in books, films and TV series. They even had a chart hit once. It also has some creatures I have no desire to meet.

As yet we have not tracked down a Womble, but we found the home of someone who is probably best left to the imagination.

The bright red sawdust made me notice this hole in a tree but closer inspection revealed an interior design that made me not want to meet the designer.

Monday mornings !

#361 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, Family, Serendipity2 Comments

There are many different ways of marking time with a new baby. The traditional ones of time, meals or sleep, slip their responsibilities and shape-shift into tiny fragments of moments or infinitely extended versions of themselves. From the generosity of others there are new markers like flower arranging or cake eating and tea making. Gifts to be unpacked and WhatsApp groups to be kept informed, photographs to be taken and shared. The familiar world takes on a temporary and unusual shape. Bewilderingly everything looks the same and yet feels very different.

We do still have one unchanged routine; dog walking, which was done yesterday in Canizzaro Park where this sculpture is the centrepiece of a fountain, commissioned to mark the millennium. I’m not aware of the brief for the sculptor when this was commissioned, but in our break-out from the baby bubble, it seemed like a great metaphor for our days. The soft shape and multi handled, multi spouted form really resonates with our current daily routine. Punctuated as they are by the need to rehydrate, welcome, comfort or recover with a cup of tea (other drinks are available )

As luck would have it a fresh cup of coffee is just being served to me, and I am in no position to do anything useful.

I can research the sculptors motivation and vision for his Millennial Fountain. For me though it is about these, current, shape shifting sensations of newborn baby days. Welcoming, homely and slightly surreal.

There will be a PS later in the day…

Here is the somewhat disappointing PS. It seems impossible to find the original brief for the Richard Hope sculpture in Canizzaro Park. Costing £50,000 pounds in 2001 it attracted mixed reviews, of course it did!

What it had failed to do on Google is attract any half decent photos of it with the water turned on that isn’t copyrighted. I will go back on a sunny day and do one myself. Below is one from the Guardian and some links for further reading.

©The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/apr/06/richard-rome-obituary

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/millennium-fountain-313877