Month: Feb 2025

#1217 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

Yesterday was the most predictable of days. Chores, errands and dog grooming.

A publicity poster for the National Trust ( A Charity in the U.K that protects beautiful places and spaces) did not reflect my lived experience of a late February Thursday with chores to do.

I knew exactly where I would find myself and the list was not thrilling. But the sun came out, a gap appeared in my to-do list and,the somewhat dull, life admin was achieved early. Thanks in no small part to the parking deities who were endlessly kind yesterday.

After the dog grooming I returned to Wembury beach car park, where the poster was and took my pristinely clean dogs for a walk on the beach. A treat rarely available to them due to beach restrictions for most of the year.

Where will I find myself? Back in the same place.

And in finding myself in exactly the same place as I had been two hours earlier I had two delightful moments of serendipity. A hug from a friend and fellow club administrator who was cliff path walking. And an encounter with an off-duty witch. She was astride her witches broomstick by the sink in the public toilets.  Not a word of explanation as to why she had a broomstick between her legs but being English we made pleasantries about the weather and the tragedy of a closed cafe. She said cake was her downfall and affected the brooms performance. So in some ways she was grateful.

In an alternate realm perhaps.

#1216 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

A little extra blog with a prompt.

If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?

Not for a whole day . Just a morning or afternoon or evening would be enough.

I would love to experience actually being the conundrum of humanity that is an Alpha male.  Potus or Putin perhaps if I were aiming for infamy or more humbly, any regular Joe who just sees women as inherently inferior. I could wear the invisible Stag Horns of a person who actively seeks out confrontation and domination in the tiny details of life as well as the more significant ones. Actually, any horn would probably do.

Just a portion of a day would be enough to start with, to give me some level of understanding. It would also give me plenty of time to make my apologies and relax my jaw from all that jutting both real and metaphorical.

Meanwhile the Alpha male I have briefly inhabited could perhaps enrol on a Lambda ( Lovely) man course and we would both have been enlightened.

#1215 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Firestone Bay1 Comment

Silhouettes and sunset. 5 people are filming and recording an interview on the tidal pool slipway as the sun sets.

I’ve been lucky this week, my late afternoon walks have rewarded me with vivid colours, although these are enhanced, and dry conditions. The morning walks much less predictable. My feet have been quite giddy. Two outings without socks and boots. The omens for the end of winter are good, in my humble opinion.

I feel that any moment the need for thermal underwear will arrive and that soon after that the winter coats will be sent to the cleaners and then stored in the roof. Not exactly picturesque signs of a winter retreating but for a winterphobe like me every step towards Spring is a step in the right direction.

#1214 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art1 Comment

Starting with my palm tree I drew a simple sketch on watercolour paper.Then traced it and made a copy on more water colour paper.

Then I photographed the first painting as each colour was applied.

And finally made lines and cross hatch to improve the depth.

The second painting was much simpler and quicker. I just painted everything in its corresponding complimentary colour.

Then the fun of using all the techniques I have been practicing this month double and sometimes treble exposing photographs. But this time the photographs are of quickly rendered water colour paintings.

Two clear favourites emerged after an afternoon’s digital tinkering.

#2
#1

So much serendipity is built into these images. #1 narrowly wins because I love the sharp shadows that have been created by being off-registered. The image suggests a hot summers day.

#2 more perfectly aligned is like a different time of day.

I have two painting days scheduled for this week. I think the next one will be spent doing either a portrait or a nude. All that from a potted palm in February.

And saving the most exciting fact until last. The sunshine made its way into the studio for several hours today. That is certainly a sign of the ‘S’ word creeping up behind late winter.

#1213 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, Serendipity3 Comments

Far too late in February I have realised that I usually enroll on a creative course of some sort. Three years ago it was a mindful watercolour course with Tansy Horgan which really shook up my way of working with colour.

https://tansyhargan.bigcartel.com/category/in-person-courses

At the time I was working at an art gallery showing an amazing exhibition called Songlines featuring the work of Indigenous   First Nation artists from Australia.

https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/songlines-touring

©theoldmortuary

This was an abstract image inspired by my last day stewarding at the exhibition, created to express what I had learnt and felt about the experience of being submerged in the art of a significantly different culture.

I realised this morning that both learning mindful colour mixing with Tansy Horgan and being drenched in the colours and mark making of  Indiginous Australians has informed my recent hobby of digitally altering  deliberately dull and uninteresting photographs

So much so that I have not painted since Christmas.

I have had a painting project bubbling in my head for some time.

It’s too late now to register for a course in what is left of February. Time to get my bubbling project down on paper and resolve to be better organised next Winter.

©theoldmortuary

For now the Songlines painting combined with the rainy palm tree in my back yard.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18jx1HKCKe/

#1212 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity3 Comments

What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?

A WordPress blog suggestion I am happy to respond to.

Having lived for more than 130 six month periods I know with some certainty that what I imagine my biggest challenge may well be eclipsed by a bigger but unexpected one. I would also not bore you all with my greatest challenge on an open public blog if I could identify one, which I can’t.

But it is one of life’s great mysteries that what we perceive as challenges often turn out not to be remotely challenging and yet seemingly mundane or benign moments can suddenly be challenging.

Sun setting through a skeleton leaf.

#1211 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment
This is not Olympic Bunny

In the summer we raised the height of our perimeter wall to deter the cats, chickens( and their associated r**s) from our neighbours city backyard crossing into our yard. The deterrent has largely worked until a new creature was added to their menagerie. He bounces onto our garage and balances along stone walls. A rabbit with Olympic skills in high jump and escapology. He has been rescued from the back lane and a local car park. This week he may have made his final escape. He has been missing for four days. His last rescue attempt on Tuesday evening when he was returned to gis own back yard. A rabbit with the 9 lives of his cat companions. Maybe this weekend he turned left and joined the Nuns who run Nazareth House just a hop and a skip from his home.

But for now, no more Olympic Bunny. But if you ever see a handsome rabbit in a wimple and a sturdy pair of shoes…

#1210 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn London, Love, SerendipityLeave a comment

Following on from –

#1209 theoldmortuary ponders.

Aerial views with love involved.

The Heart Hospital and Barts

What a gift to a love of places blog, is a workplace called The Heart Hospital, under the small arrow. So much love for many of the people I worked with there, who are now spread around the world. Love for Marylebone the London village where it was located. Love also for Selfridge’s on Oxford Street which was always on the way home. A corner shop to beat all corner shops. The big arrow is Barts Hospital. The location of my seventeen-year-old self starting a career and also where I finished my professional life 43 years later. An unplanned circularity which is strangely satisfying.

The next picture is looking south to our London ‘home’s’. Dulwich Village, Brixton,Gipsy Hill and Crystal Palace. The greige makes them impossible to point out, but trust me they are there.

Similarly, on a greige day my daughter’s home village of Wimbledon is lost in the mist.

As is the destination of Harrow-on-the-Hill where my son began his international teaching career below the red arrow.

The large green space which is also below the red arrow on the north riverbank is the Chelsea Hospital, home of the Chelsea Flower Show.

And so to conclude my day trip to London. The Shard and the man we surprised there, photographed from Lift 109 at Battersea Power Station. The Shard is on the horizon above his head.

Farewell London Day trip.

Fortunately art can create colour out of greige.

And our friends got giddy and bright after we left. An evening with Abba while we sat on a train.

#1209 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Friends and Family, London, Serendipity2 Comments

I was unsure if I could squeeze another blog out of our midweek trip to London. Not because we didn’t have a great time and the usual laughs with our friends but because our photographs from high up places,The Shard and Battersea Power Station, were, like the weather, somewhat greige.

But first with feet firmly at ground level some serendipity.

While organising ourselves and the Shard security to enable us to execute the ‘surprise’* element of our trip we spent a lot of time in the reception area, watching the moving floral photo opportunity. Countless people had their photos taken against the colourful display.

The mirrors and neon ‘love’ signs were constantly moving, reflecting the flowers and lights so the display was intriguing.

In a rare moment with no humans about I took a picture of the assemblage. This morning I discovered that I had unintentionally created a self portrait.

This gave me the poke I needed to explore our greige aerial cityscapes inspired by the word love, not in the romantic sense.

But I can show you the aerial view of places I love or love to blog about when I am in London. With luck the WordPress algorithm will link this blog to others written about the same places.

Tower Bridge.

I have loved Tower Bridge all my life. Small me could never have imagined her older self driving over this bridge at night for the on-call journey. South London to the City. An extra bit of love because the Dad of a friend used to operate the bridge for his job. How cool is that? Also in this picture the Tower of London. Ten year old me fainted there once when listening to a grizzly tale of public executions. Nothing compares to the fear I felt coming round in a mediaeval building surrounded by concerned men in very fancy uniforms.

Borough Market and Southwark Cathedral

Look for the semi-circular space just above the end of the blue pool. Bustle and serenity. I have shared time at Borough and the cathedral with so many friends and family. A wonderful part of London to love.

Borough Market.

And just like that a 2-year-old arrived !! To be continued…

Watch this space.

#1208 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Friends1 Comment
The Chimney view at lift 109

It has been quite the week of nattering in the real world. My head is spinning from the snippets and gems of conversations I have had with work friends who become real-life friends. A fiftieth birthday and a retirement party in the same 48 hours were the source of my natterings.

Work friends are an interesting concept. Some slip away when jobs change others somehow transfer into longer term friendships.

Social media has helped me keep some of these friendships alive and relevant,for others there are personal connections.

I have observed the ex-colleagues from hell rarely feature at retirements or other informal gatherings of past work colleagues. Is there some other place where they all gather and share grief, gloom and gossip with as much  enthusiasm as lovely colleagues?

Even as I write this my head is laughing at the shockers I could put in my Reunion Room of undesirable colleagues. The threshold of which I would not cross.

And that is the beauty of time moving on. Lovely people remain lovely. While the less-than-lovely have their toxicity depleted and diminish over time to be irrelevant or laughable.

There may even be another reunion room for the blands. Those people who barely register on the workplace eco-system. I might cross that threshold, in case I missed a gem of a person while I was working or enjoying the company of the lovelies.

Catching up with the lovelies is a great way to spend 48 hours.