Author: theoldmortuary.design

theoldmortuary has been a blog for about five years. It has evolved into an almost daily event. Pondering on the things that are inspired by my daily life. Often mundane, sometimes repetitive I swerve from hyperlocal activity to big and small thoughts without blinking an eye. I am an artist and writer. My hometown is Plymouth in South West England, part of me will always be connected to London and another part loves to travel.

#623 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn pondering, Serendipity2 Comments
2014

Every now and again Facebook memories jogs me into a realisation that there was a time in my life without daily blogging. Pondering before blogging was an entirely personal and private dialogue. Often occuring in the commuting time between work and home.

©theoldmortuary.com

I had completely forgotten the quote from 2014 or even the work based incident that made me find it and post it on Facebook.

The quote is quite brutal in its takedown of the value of an apology. I don’t think the world of an apology is quite as black and white. Post-Covid in Britain the value of apologies has been utterly besmirched by the governing Conservative Party, who managed to be quite possibly the worst users of the hollow apology in history.

The broken plate analogy is perfect for this ponder. Because I believe the Japanese have a way of mending plates that demonstrates how a good apology can build back a beautiful broken plate into something different, maybe stronger, definitely a valuable transition.

While a bad apology, a missed apology or a failure to change just creates fragments of plates. Fragments that can echo down through history .

So, somewhat late to considering my 2014 quote, Facebook has prompted a good old ponder which I can share.

The gold standard of apologies is Kintsugi while Roman Pottery is of no value in the world of good apologies.

I always aim for Kintsugi but fear that at times I have taken the Roman Pottery road.

On the receiving end I have wonderful Kintsugi apologies that have strengthened and enhanced my life. Life has also dealt some Roman Pottery style apologies or non apologies. Things to step over and move on.

How good would it be to fix all of lifes broken pots with Kintsugi.

Ponder over, thank you Facebook 2014. I’ve managed to programme in a bit more wisdom since that post.

#622 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment
Wembury

Yesterday was a mix of plans coming together and plans falling apart. Up to 3pm things pretty much went to plan, two art projects were finished in enough time to get me to Wembury for dog grooming. I even managed to get the best parking spot above the beach .

After top grade parking the plan was to swim and read while the dogs were being pampered. Tide and weather slightly changed that plan. I hadn’t checked the tide and the clouds occluded the bright sunshine.I found myself a warm rock and basked on radiated heat while reading my book. Other beach goers provided unexpected entertainment if I allowed myself to drift away from my novel. The beach was full of teenagers away from school for the exam season. There was also a group of mothers planning an after school party. I was in awe of the amount of stuff they transported onto the beach, sadly most of it,very environmentally unsound. The tide was going out and making the beach huge. They relocated three times, each time having to move enough stuff for a mini festival. Time ticked away while I listened to teenage drama, George, Lauren and an anonymous girl were particularly good value. Eventually though, and after an unplanned snooze it was time to collect the dogs. The beach had reached peak business and the smell of barbeque was overwhelming.

Our evening plan had been to swim after collecting the dogs but we had failed to remember the seasonal ban. However a coastal path walk took us to a rocky bay not too far away.

We were the only people there and the water was warm. My swim was essential. During the unplanned snooze, or it may have been a deep sleep. I had managed to squirm off the warm rock and onto fine sand. The sand was everywhere, absolutely everywhere. Driving home to sort things out would have been an exercise in whole body exfoliation. Not an experimental beauty treatment I was prepared to trial.

While I sorted myself out, Hannah basked on non invasive rocks and the dogs had a whole new beach to explore, without sand ruining their newly primped good looks.

A day that survived planning errors rather well.

#621 theoldmortuary ponders

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The usual early morning view, but photographs don’t tell the whole story.

Out on the horizon and beyond there are warships taking part in Thursday Wars. A weekly Royal Navy plus others, event when war-like scenarios take place all around Plymouth Sound. What these tranquil views can’t show is the sound of rapid fire gunshots and weaponry being practiced out at sea. Conversely they also can’t show the amazing and constantly changing fragrances that were floating in the early morning air.

On mornings like this the dogs push for a longer walk than usual, if I am enchanted by the fragrances they are overblown by the smells of late Spring. Without dogs I would have been tempted to swim, but that is scheduled for this afternoon. But our extended walk did present a long anticipated treat.

A cinema is nearly ready to open close to home, no more schlepping out to a character-less box, on an entertainment park or going to the new but disorientating cinema in the city centre.Time to enjoy films and the experience of being at the cinema.

And after the dog walk, breakfast of a spinach smoothie while doing some window-box care.

May is my favourite month.

#620 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Holidays2 Comments

Holidays are not just about the human members of the family. Hugo and Lola go on their holidays too. To somewhere they consider their second home. They have different responsibilities on holiday too. Hugo is an under gardener and Lola is security. Where they stay has sweeping views of the Tamar and Lyner River.

Are the dogs aware of the views, probably not. but they are very aware of their own geolocation in that landscape. They are also unaware that they holiday in the shadow of a castle.

Sometimes it is refreshing to just follow them round and photograph their significant places. In May every pause for a sniff is surrounded by wild and often overlooked plants.

Ten minutes in the Bracken gave me these two abstract and glorious images.

Being on holiday for the dogs is exhausting but exhilarating. The first night at home they sleep as if they have been working at optimum for two weeks. Then they swiftly return to normal home behaviour, just like their humans really, but without the washing pile.

There is no doubt that they absolutely love their holidays and their holiday family. We are very lucky that they have such a happy place to stay.

#619 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Books, SerendipityLeave a comment

This quote appears on the back of a book that I am about to read. Just reading it exercises me greatly. What would be the purpose of my three hearts if I were so lucky.

One would certainly be my actual anatomical heart, working hard keeping me alive.

The second I think would be a super resilient heart to house all heartbreak, sadness and grief that life serves up.

But number three, well that would be the heart of love, the one that makes every day special, the one that expands as required. The one that looks into a sunset and concludes that another day has been well-lived.

#618 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn BobbingLeave a comment

6 bobbers and their dogs slipped anchor from Firestone Bay and camped and swam at Talland Bay over the weekend. It feels a bit like a superpower to walk, untroubled into the sea when all other beach visitors are tentatively dipping in their toes and squealing as an incoming wave splashes up their legs.After swimming we basked like reptiles in the afternoon sun.

There was a beach cafe too, that took card payments, which is quite a luxury for us. So cups of tea and a gooseberry ice cream followed our sea immersion.

When it was time to leave the beach we had a lovely late lunch to enjoy, cooked by an apostle of Ottolenghi. Wonderful Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food made with love and flavour. Humous so silky that it could be a beauty treatment.

Fresh lemony cake followed, and with that the most fascinating conversations. Bobbers follow eclectic topics of conversation on a normal day, but fueled by good food and sunshine we were off down more fascinating rabbit holes than the average rabbit explores in a lifetime.

#617 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

Suddenly May has turned the temperature up and banished the rain. Clothes, now, reliably dry in half a day when we hang them against our white painted, stone wall. I treated our highest patio with white vinegar and soapy water and the sun has done some magic there and bleached away all the mildew that formed over winter.

I think a little Yayoi Kusama madness has penetrated our minds. See yesterday’s blog.https://theoldmortuary.design/2023/05/20/616-theoldmortuary-ponders/

The van is ready for our first good weather excursion and there is some spottiness about.

I was also impressed whilst in Hong Kong by some stools that we saw in a museum cafe. Not something you can tuck under your arm when travelling with hand luggage only but global giant Google has provided the exact thing now I am home.

Too bad that we no longer live in the actual old mortuary which had the most beautiful untreated concrete walls. Let’s see how this gorgeous shape fits into a Georgian house when it arrives from Shenzen. Yesterday evening was still full-on sunshine, we walked the dogs before going to a birthday party and the sounds of happiness coming from,what was left of the beach, were so uplifting.

Still in full sunlight we set off for a birthday party and were transported back 20 years with ex colleagues from Plymouth. What a fun night and it seems 20 years have passed by in the twink of a glitterball and we all looked fabulous. Below the birthday woman on our bobbing beach.

#616 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, SerendipityLeave a comment

One week on, from our trip to the Yayoi Kusama Exhibition in Hong Kong.

Yayoi Kusama (草間 彌生, Kusama Yayoi, born 22 March 1929) is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation, and is also active in painting, performance, video art, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, Art Brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism, and is infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content. She has been acknowledged as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan,[1] the world’s top-selling female artist,[2] and the world’s most successful living artist.[3] Her work influenced that of her contemporaries, including Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg.

We were both early to the party and late to the party. We were there as the doors opened on the last day of the exhibition.

I was overwhelmed by the experience. Ordinarily if this exhibition had been in a home city I would have booked at least two further visits to fully absorb the significance and depth of what I was seeing. For this blog I am just going to ponder the large installation that was in the basement of the art gallery.

Her work is immediately joyful. When I walked into the installation I felt like I had symbiotically absorbed more champagne than would be conducive to steady walking. A smile appeared in my soul instantly. I could quite happily have laid in a great big bean bag and stayed there all day. The perfect thing would have been to be dressed all in black laying on a black bean bag watching the instant pleasure playing out on every visitor in the room. I realise, of course, that I would have been a hazard, slips, trips, and falls magnet and completely forbidden by the Health and Safety Axis of power. But a woman can dream.

As you can see in the picture above I was dressed to impress. Largely an accident of very minimal packing and a fortuitous find of earrings in Zara.

Every moment in this installation was a feast for the mind.

This was the moment a door opened.

I may stop wittering at this point and just share some photos. Have a fabulous Saturday.

#615 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Firestone Bay, Serendipity1 Comment

Returning from holidays means that normal routines need to be re-established. The dogs have been away at their second home. A rural idyll with more than an acre of beautiful landscape to scamper in.

This morning it was very much back to work for them. Hugo hunting seaweed and Lola wrestling sticks. Yesterday I was back bobbing in 12 degrees of Atlantic sea after 42 degrees in Bangkok. Yesterday was a birthday bob for a friend and ex colleague.

It was a significant birthday, marked as they sometimes are with hair growth in all the wrong places.

It was a fun time with catching up on all sides with old friends and making new ones. Bobbing is a very social activity. There has been a massive development, involving our favoured area to swim, Firestone Bay. It has been incorporated as an Official Swimming Zone. Which means the water has to be tested for quality and safety and that certain amenities must always be available close by.

My morning dog walk started at Firestone Bay this morning and it was as beautiful as normal. A film crew from the BBC were there to report on the successful bid to become a designated swim zone. Below is a video of the news clip that will be on National TV for most of today, unless a big news story bounces it into oblivion. The dogs were unable to keep quiet for the whole 6 minutes. And I fidgeted a bit as I didn’t expect the segment to be quite so long.

Have a good day.

#614 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Family, SerendipityLeave a comment

Such a solid piece of good sense. This popped up on Facebook yesterday. Mostly these positivity posts leave me a bit cold, particularly if they have a religious or new-age vibe. But this one just feels like a pragmatic way to cope with the tough stuff. My dad was a pragmatic, kind person who always stated the obvious in a way that was instantly useful. Although he has been dead a while I still rely on many nuggets of his wisdom and am reminded of him often.

Museum of Modern Art. Bangkok

This painting which I met for the first time last week made me want to walk this path with my dad. I Imagine many people viewing this for the first time would instantly think of their fathers. So often parental relationships are complicated or difficult to explain but this simple straight avenue of trees looks inviting and calm, a place of great conversations no matter how insignificant or indeed life changing.