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.

#1349 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Stonehouse1 Comment
8 a.m

What’s your definition of romantic?

My mother, who was in most ways a very pragmatic person, had a guilty secret. She loved a romantic novel.

I have inherited her pragmatism but not her taste in books. Romance books are not my thing unless the romance is just one facet of an engaging narrative. Romancing, romantic gestures etc, just feel a little icky and coersive in specifically romantic novels. There is nearly always a power imbalance or jeopardy involved in the interactions between the people involved, there would be no story without such things.

However, as a woman whose glass is habitually half-full there must be a huge dose of my mothers love of romance residing in my soul, because life is sometimes shitty and yet I always try to find something positive in whatever situation.

Noon

The tidal pool was my destination for the morning dog walk and later I swam from the beach beside it.

For both visits it was rather a seaweedy experience.

8 a.m and noon.

But my glass-half-full, romantic head will only ever remember a beautiful morning walk and a delicious lunchtime swim, not the weed that made the pool unusable and stuck on my skin. Romance is seeing beyond irritation, embracing the moment and finding the golden nuggets in every experience. However mad that seems.

Not paying too much attention to the seaweed of life.

Reality of a good day.
Romance of a good day.

Harold S Kushner* emphasized the importance of finding good in every situation, stating, “If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul,”.

*

Soul nurturing, that is pretty romantic in my opinion.

#1348 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Van Life1 Comment
Johanna Lucretia.

For tide-time reasons we have moved to another bay for our evening swims this week. The peaceful arrival of a Tall Ship was in marked contrast to the business- like Naval vessels or Ferries that keep us fascinated at Firestone Bay.

Mount Batten was a prehistoric trading port, dating back to the Iron Age. It has been a key location for the defence of Plymouth and was an Air Force Base where Lawrence of Arabia was stationed. It has, over time,  developed into a water sports hub since the  Air Force moved out. All a bit hotch potch with no clear development plan. The area is currently in the process of being upgraded and made more attractive to tourists and visitors of all sorts. I suspect I have never mentioned it in a blog but it is a regular spot for us to dog walk and sometimes camp overnight. Free parking by a beach is always a good thing.

The sea temperature this week is a balmy 16 degrees C. Last year the waters of Plymouth Sound never reached such heights, even during August or September so to do so by July 1st is quite lovely.

Another lovely thing is to swim , drink a cup of tea and then go straight to sleep after a gorgeous sunset. No shower, just lovely salty skin and slightly damp hair. The damp dogs are less appealing.

Sunset at Mountbatten

#1347 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Van Life1 Comment

Farewell June, you were a funny month. One moment too hot to handle and the next, raining so hard that unusual places flooded. And then in the middle of another heatwave a sea mist rolled in and we could barely see which way to swim.

Swimming with fog horns.

Welcome to July 1st,🌞lets see what interesting weather you have in store for us.

#1346 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn domestica, SerendipityLeave a comment
Wood and coffee stains.

We popped to a coffee shop and bakery during the weekend drizzle. Slightly damp, the outdoor, rustic table showed signs of many a coffee spill. A hard working piece of wood, but nothing like as hard working as this similar looking piece of wood which I photographed supporting the jetty for the Statten Island Ferry in New York.

Decades old wood still working hard, long after its life as a living thing is over.

And now just bystanders to coffee and commuters.

Interesting though that if I  digially abstract the cafe table the image can look exactly like a forest clearing.

Nature is a wonderful thing.

In other news I am continuing with my Glastonbury supported summer clear out. Doing the non day to day Domestic Admin that builds up behind the scenes.

To be frank, on day 3, I am at the point with my domestic admin that I am beginning to feel lethagy.Not unlike attending an actual music festival, I don’t much care who is on the stage I just want to lie in my tent and commune with nature,I am done with the whole thing. The summer clear out is over for now. Who knew domestic admin could fill a festival weekend quite so pleasurably? Until the moment when you know.

“I am so over this.”

#1345 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn domestica, Serendipity1 Comment

What does a woman who loves music festivals do when she does not get a ticket for Glastonbury. This one plans a weekend of  ‘jobs’ that are vastly improved by the background sound of the BBC livestreaming the music aspect of the festival.

And just like that the futility (utility) room was stripped out tidied and put back together. Our store of Covid restriction ‘essential’ baking and cooking ingredients have gone in the bin.

Farewell inert dried yeast and sumac + many others well past their best.

Tidy Cook Books

Hello tidied camper van too.

And as a reward, a little live night music. Shanty singing in a Cornish Village Hall.

https://stunsls.com/

A fabulous evening out with some of our bobbing friends and friends of friends.

And now on to Sunday, what  satisfying jobs will we get on with to interesting music?

Tidy Kitchen Drawer

#1344 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Words1 Comment
©Glastonbury 2025

I pinched this poster from a Glastonbury Festival web page. Something about it caught my eye, but for the life of me I can’t quite identify what it is.

My best guess is the stylised butterfly and the designs similarity to a Brasso tin.

Brasso was my paternal grandparents idea of a good time for their only grandchild.

“What shall we do with her while she is here?”

“Lets get the Brasso out and then after that we can play Scrabble”

Hours passed, spoons were shined. Scrabble was played with no consideration given to the differences in our ages or vocabularies. Beyond that I read books that I had brought with me or lost myself in the concise encyclopaedias on their bookshelves. They had a television, I never experienced it being turned on. At the end of their period of caring I was either collected by my dad or sent home to walk home via the roads or via the fields of two conjoined farms that were between their home and mine.

I was taught to achieve this journey, safely by my grandfather who would accompany me to start with and then gradually once he was confident that I knew where I was going he did less and less of the journey with me. Ultimately just waving me off either at the front gate or the style at the top of their property which led to the meadows and pastures of the countryside that circled the small market town where we all lived.

Their ‘no frills’ grandparenting style taught me the power of one.

I can’t say that beyond that I have achieved the promise of the poster. I have only ever made little things happen and any movements I have started have not changed the world significantly. But also I don’t think I have done too much harm. Which is a good thing, but hardly the sort of statement that sits well on a poster.

#1343 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

I try wherever possible to buy second-hand things. Clothes, books and items for our home in particular. More so in the last 20 years, to a lesser extent for the last 50. I also buy canvasses for my large paintings from charity shops. The large box canvasses that retailers sell in their thousands for people to adorn their walls with instant pre-curated art which are then abandoned for the next easy home switcharound.

I have been doing it long enough to be confident in my purchases. I would say that my success rate is slightly higher than it was when I used to buy more new items.

The world has caught up with me and passed me by. Second-hand, thrift, vintage, pre-loved are the current trending trends. There are a huge variety of new ways of doing what I have been doing for decades and yet I stick to the methods that work for me.

1.Charity Shops. Giving wisely and receiving all in one transaction.

2. Ebay- used with caution and learned wisdom.

3. Gifts or swaps with friends. One woman’s error is another woman’s gem.

Fast Fashion teases and traps me on occasion, and I feel no shame because however fast it is at inception I know that the garment will be with me for the long haul and will be styled with something from the last century. On a woman from the last century who sometimes puts pockets in things that didn’t start life with pockets.

Today I commented that two of my friends looked fabulous. Both whispered the word ‘Primark’ and then the word ‘Pockets’.

Will I be able to keep away..

I will try.

Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

Sometimes I can be very trying.

#1342 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Yardening1 Comment

Woman and Snail, both doing a balancing act.

Summer is officially here and a job needed doing. We have a large parabolic sun parasol. Something was not quite right with the parasol last year but we put it away regardless. In my experience over-wintering a problem never improves the situation.

Me and the parasol resolved our differences after a few hours of relocating the base and replacing some nuts and bolts. All a question of balance and diligence. I think last year the parasol base was not level which caused a slight imbalance and nuts and bolts do need attention at some point.

On balance all is well that ends well.

Balance was certainly on the mind of this snail who really had no need to take himself along the yard-long stalk of an Agapanthus. Snails do not eat Agapanthus blooms.

On balance all was well that ended well for the snail too.

#1341 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn YardeningLeave a comment

Yesterday it rained and a scrappy old rose that persists in the tropical bed in the yard put on quite the show against the water butt. I am not quite sure why we allow the rose to continue. A misplaced belief that it marks the spot where someone unknown, a previous owner of this house, had buried a beloved pet. It is a very old gnarly thing that has survived against the odds. It blooms throughout the summer, but not really in a meaningful way. The buds are neat and a fresh bloom can be beautiful, as this one is. But within a day the flower will open fully and fall apart. Just looking tatty and ugly.

The bush is mostly hidden beneath ferns. Out of sight and mind. Apart from yesterday when this perfectly pink bloom properly perked up a wet summer morning .

#1340 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Words2 Comments
* see below

How important is spirituality in your life?

I would say spirituality is one of the great intangibles. It presents in so many ways. I have no idea where I sit on the spirituality spectrum. Nowhere near the elite end, but probably more spiritual than a broad bean.

Proof of how intangible spirituality is I looked up the broad bean only to discover that it is quite the Spiritual Legume.

Broad beans, also known as fava beans, have a complex symbolic history, particularly in relation to death and the afterlife. While not universally considered spiritual, they have been associated with funerary rituals and the belief that they contain the souls of the deceased in some cultures. However, other traditions view them as symbols of resurrection, good luck, or even royalty. 

Here’s a more detailed look:

Symbolism related to death and the underworld:

  • Ancient Greeks and Romans:Believed broad beans were linked to the underworld due to their long roots and the black spots on their flowers, which were seen as a connection between the world of the living and the dead. 
  • Funerary rituals:Broad beans were sometimes spread over tombs to provide peace to the deceased. 
  • Fave dei morti:In some traditions, like those in Italy, small cakes shaped like broad beans (but not actually made of them) are eaten on All Souls’ Day, symbolizing “beans of the dead”. 
  • Soul wind:Some believed that eating broad beans released the soul wind through the body. 

Symbolism related to resurrection and reincarnation:

  • Growth:The bean’s upward growth from the earth can be seen as a symbol of resurrection and spiritual awakening.
  • Rebirth:Some traditions view beans as symbols of reincarnation, where the seed contains a dormant soul waiting to be reborn. 

Other symbolic meanings:

  • Good luck:In some traditions, like 17th and 18th century Britain, broad beans were associated with good luck, sometimes found in cakes like the Twelfth Night cake. 
  • Royalty:In traditions like the Portuguese king cake, a bean inside the cake signifies the person who gets to provide the next cake. 
  • Magic:Broad beans are also mentioned in folklore as having magical properties, such as warding off ghosts or even being connected to witches. 
*See below

Research is a fabulous thing. I have just learned that Fava beans are Broad Beans. I had no idea, but I also discovered that spirituality-wise I am exactly a  broad bean.

  • Broad beans are not considered universally spiritual.
  • Sometimes I suffer from ‘Soul Wind’
  • Will I ever be able to say the Lord’s Prayer without thinking? ” Our Fava”.

I have been enlightened.

*See below

*The Buddha with the fractured skull lives in our yard and has lived in my last three gardens.

She was a regular,uninjured, deity until a freak mini tornado in South London picked her up and tossed her against a garage wall. Her left Temporal bone was caved in. An earthly rather than spiritual injury.

Instantly she was turned from a peaceful piece of garden adornment into a unique planter. Her scars and missing bits of skull are covered by plants as she lays serenely in our yard.