Storm Barra delivered a Sea Heart this morning.
An unusually high tide made these liquid hearts on the rocks that litter our swimming beach. The steps further along also got a little magical drenching.
And for now the sun is out. On days like this, wrapped up in lovely warm clothes I wonder why I choose to whip my everythings off and swim in this exact location. But when I’m in it it is the best feeling in the world.
The calm before the storm. There is another named storm on its way. This is todays weather forecast. Last nights dog walk was a very peaceful affair.
Nativity and resin cows peacefully twinkling in a landscape with no wind.
Overnight the mood of the weather has switched from benign to malign and there was just a small window of opportunity to walk the dogs today. Serendipity and the forecast sent me out to the beach at the exact same time as some friends. So todays blog has four doggy companions enjoying Tranquility Bay before they are confined to the house by Storm Barra
So far so tranquil, lets see how peaceful tomorrow looks.
I love neon signs.
Neon signs are rarely created to encourage quiet optimism, which is exactly the sensation this statement evokes in me. But if I felt commanded to feel good, invoke would be the correct word.
If I had commissioned this sign I think I would have added the word ‘again’.
I’m only pondering this because neon signs are expensive so you want to get them right. On the other hand googling ‘It’s time to feel good’ has given me an earworm for a Monday morning which it would be unkind not to share.
“It’s time to feel good” is a commonly misheard lyric in ‘Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves. The actual lyric is ‘and don’t it feel good’
So there we have it, a classic ponder to start the week and a pleasing earworm, have a good Monday
Evening dog walks are getting a lot more twinkly. I love this completely contemporary festive home. Nothing tacky about this house
This festive property takes a more traditional approach, and diligence to lightbulb placement. At home we have gone for something a little less ostentatious.
Our home window is a work in progress, the next stage is baubles in every shade of garish. Lime green and pink anyone?
It is not all about dog walks in lovely places and comfortable places to sleep. Sometimes Hugo and Lola believe that they are doing actual work. Here they are on car duty while we have a wee and grab a coffee.
Yesterday was pretty full on for them. Early morning house guarding duty while we went, with other bobbers, for what turned out to be the most disappointing ‘ bob’ of recent times. It was a really low tide so there was a good bit of rock scrambling before we even hit the water and then it was all a bit sea weedy for a while until we hit water deep enough to swim in. The dogs, of course, had to offer counselling and support when we returned.
After the car journey there were more dog responsibilities. Urban Squirrel watching.
And minor hangover care after a Christmas party.
These illuminated winter trees warm up my late afternoon dog walk. I try to get the second dog walk of the day done before the sun starts to dip below the horizon. There just seems to be something wrong about having two or even three walks of the day done in darkness. Again yesterday I missed the dimpsy twilight and hit full on dark just by delaying our departure a tiny bit. These trees, recently illuminated, perked our walk up marvelously.
The dogs have the unique experience of having a wee while illuminated. Something that they are completely indifferent to. Were the same thing to happen to me I might also struggle to see the beauty of the moment.
Trees are not the only thing to have taken on some festivity. The tunnel that leads directly to the sea is a bright arc of colour.
Wonderful as this all is I really need to get out earlier if I want to catch the last hour or so of daylight for the next couple of months. Maybe I should set an afternoon alarm!
I’ve spent the last couple of days with fellow Gallery Guides at The Box in Plymouth. The picture above is three of us standing in the North Hall of the museum within a video installation which is part of the Songlines Exhibition.
One of those unusual moments when illumination does not make something easier to see. I haven’t really written a blog about Songlines yet, I am still finding more to learn and appreciate every time I spend a few hours in the galleries. By the end of February when the exhibition closes I will have distilled my thoughts. For Gallery Guides it is not just about the installed artwork, the reaction and questions from the public also forms a vital part of our perception of the exhibition.
Yesterday I had many different interactions with visitors and some of them really do set me thinking. This exhibition has brought people from all over the country to Plymouth, some of them with vast experience of world travel and Indigenous Culture.
https://www.theboxplymouth.com/events/exhibitions/songlines
Talking to strangers is something I took for granted before March 2020 when Covid shut the world down. Now it is something I only really get to do at Art Exhibitions. Thank goodness art expands the mind.
When I was a teenager growing up in North East Essex, absolutely not the ‘cool’ or ‘trashy’ Essex of modern urban myths, I thought I lived in the Boondocks.
With only a few people of my own age,and even fewer of them that I actually knew, I imagined I was having the dullest adolescence ever. My internal imaginary life was vivid and full of colour, teenage passion and adventure. Real life not so much.
Travel, maturity, and now a lived experience of a Killer Pandemic, has made me recalibrate my thoughts on my adolescence and life in general. Some of my travel has taken me to actual Boondocks, making me realise my teenage years were actually giddy with opportunity. Only a few of which I took.
During the Pandemic many of us have lived a bit of a Boondocky existence, for various periods of local or national lockdowns.Venturing out only to take exercise or undertake essential tasks. People who actually live a Boondock life have possibly been the least affected.
Writing a daily blog since November 2019 has stretched my mind in all sorts of curious ways. If I were ever to find myself in an actual boondock or when I find myself in a mental boondock, I am obliged, to myself,to find something to ponder, this has been a valuable and enriching experience. Not one I am keen to give up any time soon.
1st of December 2021, welcome December. Who knows quite how you will shape up pandemicwise or in general, something to ponder on, I’m sure.
New handrails to the sea. There have been some refurbished steps through the rocks into the sea for a couple of months. Yesterday the steps were fitted with new and much improved hand rails. Despite only being a small walk from our usual beach this access point can sometimes be safer if the sea is rough at high tide. The new handrails make it an even safer option. Yesterday Spearmint the seal also chose the safer option for her morning swim.
Flipping things even further a diver had to get out of the sea in order to take underwater photos of her.
For all of us winter swimming has properly started now. The cold water buzz is back.
A life before Covid-19 or a ghost of Christmas past? Both really. Carnaby Street in 2018. We had recently returned from South Korea and Hong Kong. In both countries mask wearing in public was a fairly common occurrence but beyond the fastidiousness of some Asian tourists mask wearing in public was unimaginable in the joyous throng of people enjoying the Bohemian Rhapsody, themed lights,of London’s Carnaby Street.
Two years on in 2020 and the World is in full Covid-19 swing and we are one month into,experimental, Winter cold water swimming. A ghost of Christmas future, or more accurately future winters.
As it happens exactly that. One year on from that sunny November beach scene and this is the pot of hot coffee that is pre- warming us before this mornings swim, the croissant is already gone. We are discussing the ‘Are we mad theory’ the same theory that we will discuss this weekend when we return to London to see Christmas Lights.
Were we mad?
Yes we were and it was one of the most tranquil, gorgeous swims of the year. Will we be mad enough to visit some of London’s Christmas lights this weekend. I really hope so.
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