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.

#1128 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn 26 Days to Boxing Day, Serendipity1 Comment

23 Days to Boxing Day.

Pondering efficiency. Hmmm, Tuesday turned out to be rather efficient. Some Wednesday things were achieved a day early. Dawn today saw me with the realisation that I had some free time. The Bobbers had a morning swim planned which I realised I should no longer avoid.

©Debs Bobber

I’ve been 5 weeks without a cold-water swim. 5 weeks also without putting the world to rights with my bobbing friends. 5 weeks without bobbing cake.

©Debs Bobber

My early morning consideration was to wear a wetsuit or not. A wetsuit is a tedious adjunct to a bob so the decision  was made to go into the sea in skin. A great decision as it turns out. Chilly for certain but a real mental and physical boost. Bobbing friends are one of the great positives of the COVID years.

©Debs Bobber

My efficiencies of yesterday were largely centred on the tennis club that I help to run. I was there very early and took the photo below.

The tennis club has two grass courts, a fabulous garden and a spectacular location. I found a lovely piece of prose about gardens last night. Written by Derek Jarman in 1990, a favourite Punk Polymath of mine. The two needed to be put together.

So D for 26 Days to Boxing Day has emerged. D for Dawn.

#1127 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn 26 Days to Boxing Day, Serendipity1 Comment

24 days to Boxing Day. 3 days into Meteorological Winter. The sun is shining. Some dates are more memorable than others.

The birth date of my children is always memorable. Today is one of those days. In 1988 my son was two, we had recently moved to Cornwall from Brighton. We had lived in Cornwall for almost a month, I knew nobody and I had spent most of that month waiting for the rain to stop. The rain stopped and on the 3rd of December we spent his birthday at Cotehele House, kicking leaves and eating tasty soup to keep warm. More for me than him we were at Cotehele to see the Festive Garland. But for a small boy,  armour, swords, and candles were the best bit.

Cotehele is a small Manor House, little altered in 500 years. Lit only by candles or daylight.

I no longer spend time with my son on his birthday but by coincidence I took his two year old niece to Cotehele on the same day 36 years later. She is not a great leaf kicker but she is a pebble hunter . The armour didn’t thrill her but a box of unused flowers were very engaging.

So I have become a serial parent/ grandparent who plans a day trip in December not so much for childrens entertainment but my own. Knowing that their fascination with small details will keep them happy and interested.  500 years ago when Cotehele was a thriving home and country estate,children  would  have loved the small details of leaves and pebbles and the sensation of open fires and sunlight. 2 year olds have not changed so much. Neither have adults. Every sense gets a tweak on a visit like this.

In the gardens I found the perfect C for Day 3 of 26 Days to Boxing Day.   Cornish Language Christmas words.

There were also some fabulous winter colours in the garden. C pretty well covered I think.

#1126 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn 26 Days to Boxing Day, Serendipity1 Comment
To sit, perchance to dream.

25 days to Boxing Day.

Life has been a little bit on hold while Hugo had his jaw wired. The wires were removed last Thursday . He needs less close supervision. Not that he believes he needs us less. Two new toilet seats were fitted yesterday. Despite having no D.I.Y skills or opposable thumbs he was fully involved in the process in a very confined space. Yesterday was supposed to be a beach day, where he and Lola could run and chase one another. Let off steam in exactly the same location as this picture from last year. It was the weather that turned this blog from this⬇️.

Harlyn Beach

To a blog where my highlight of the day is two new toilet seats. But a blog that celebrates the mundane and ordinary is definitely the richer for a bit of bad weather D.I.Y. The new toilet seats have an extra little seat built in for small bottoms.

While otherwise engaged we can dream of other beach days.

Day 2 of 26 Days to Boxing Day.

B is for Bright Branches.

#1125 theoldmortuary pondered.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn 26 Days to Boxing Day, Markets2 Comments

And so it begins. The December countdown.  We went to a Christmas market in the shadow of Exeter’s Medieval Cathedral. The market was charming, we arrived early, before crowds and bad weather turned the grounds underfoot into a Medieval re-enactment of normal muddy life in the 14 th Century. The piped music was recordings from the Cathedral Choir singing sacred music. The sights and smells were timelessly festive and wintery.

Open fires.

Smoky tents.

A previous visit to the Cathedral gave us the bauble to beat all baubles.

Gaia at Exeter Cathedral.
Gaia in a mirror showing the Mediaeval vaulted ceiling of the Cathedral.

There are 26 days until Boxing Day. 26 letters in the Alphabet. The daily blogs in December will end with  an alphabetical snippet. A is for Arriety.

Today , The Laminations of Arriety.

Sounds like a suitably Cathedral/ Religious text-like story, but is in fact, a sumtuous Pain au Chocolat served in a cafe not far from the Cathedral.

#1124 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity4 Comments

Here we are at the scrag end of November. A month of  30 short days and long nights. November starts with All Saints Day on the first. I have a huge curiosity about Saints, the lesser ones in particular. Some of them don’t really check out as particularly saintly and the crazy names and biographies are entertaining.

Horned Bovine on Dartmoor
No mention of Lovers

My own particular Saint,Cornelly or Cornelius was a Roman Christian Martyr whose death was either caused by hardship or beheading. There are two ways of looking at this. Being beheaded is a hardship and extreme hardship might make a person lose their head.

What is certain in the uncertain world of saints is that head and body were parted in some way and his head found its way to Kornelmunster in Germany.

The lives of Saints are, at best, s somewhat far fetched. Cornelius is considered to be the Patron Saint of Horned Cattle but no reason is given. But  there is rock solid evidence ( she says with tongue firmly in cheek) that he is the Patron Saint of Lovers. St Valentine might disagree.

Two star-crossed lovers, who suffered parental disapproval were in the chapel of Cornelius in Neuss, Germany. The carved stone sculpture of St. Cornelius bent at the waist towards them signifying his approval.

I love a saintly rabbit hole.

November transitions from All Saints Day(1st) to Saint Andrews Day(30th) He is rather too mainstream to interest me. I treasure obscurity.

Mackeral from a Fishmonger

November from All Saints, represented by St Cornelly to St Andrew. Short Days/Long Nights. Onward to December.

#1123 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Friends3 Comments
Reverse Blue Sky thinking.

What technology would you be better off without, why?

I have no idea which technology I would be better off without. I believe technology is a scientifically invented force of nature and selecting one type to remove would have unforeseen and unwelcome consequences elsewhere.

I had an online natter with a friend yesterday which shows how technology evolves

I discovered when we moved to our current house that without the communication technology that we were accustomed to, organisational life slowed to a snail’s pace.

A first world problem so easily demonstrated by the fashion pages from the year my house and Polly’s were built. I would have moved house in the 1880’s looking like this.

I could only have written to Polly to commiserate with her new house communication woes. I could perhaps have sent a telegram. I presume her only woe would have been how far the walk was to a post box or post office.

I would have been unlikely to even have a landline.

And Polly would have looked like this in the 1930’s and may have had a landline. She could also have sent a telegram.

How times/technology change.

First World predicaments on the subject of nattering.

P.s Writing this made me look at the house deeds . It is actually 20 years older than we thought.

The dresses just get bigger!

#1122 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Traditions1 Comment
Hearts and Minds.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the U.S readers of the blog. A time to gather with friends and family for a fabulous meal without the pressure of gift exchanging.

I have always envied Thanksgiving celebrations mostly because I love a celebratory roast dinner. The next day leftovers are also another favourite of mine.

This year, for the first time in more than forty years, I will not be hosting Christmas Day or hosting sleeping-over guests. Covid years excepted.

Thanksgiving is my traditional day for beginning the thinking process of Christmas prep.

Today will come and go as normal but with no big thoughts of festive planning. No Christmas clutter in my head.

Last night I caught the sunset near to the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth. The view to Plymouth Sound and the Atlantic beyond is much more cluttered than it would have been 400 years ago for the Mayflower settlers.

However much I love a busy Christmas I am quite excited to have an uncluttered head on evening walks for the next month. I might even seek out uncluttered views of the Atlantic.

#1121 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

Overnight I pondered how to finish the ongoing painting. My observation of yesterday’s blog, that bright sunshine on water made me select similar colours for my photographs to those that I was painting with. Using the ripples above I wanted to turn my fantasy moon flowers into a flood plain with some digital tweaking. I use a load of photo editing apps and never really know what will work and jump from one to another to get the effect I think I need.  The thought of turning my painting into a floodplain came from the news during the week that Storm Bert did not treat many areas as gently as he did us.

Moonflowers and Daffodils

Two things have come from my digital tweaking, combining photos from yesterday walk. The floodplain I was hoping for and an interesting image of a boat .

Floodplain and Daffodils
Boat with steps.

In other, less colourful news, I have made mushroom soup today. It tastes fab but is the colour of sludge. How do commercial soup makers create a mushroom soup that is a gorgeous pale cream but still bursts with flavour?

Moonflower Floodplain.

#1120 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn abstract photography, art, blogging1 Comment

Does my blog affect my art. I wonder if it does? The map above is the map of a very regular walk.  Today I am not so sure if my art and my walk are in some way linked. I have never noticed this map before. It could be new. I was rather charmed by the little footsteps as they reflect my regular circular walk.

The walk this morning was fabulously colourful.

Domestic admin/yardening followed the walk, planting roses and garlic, but later I put some finishing touches to an ongoing painting.

I can’t help feeling that the centres of my final fantasy flowers look a little like footsteps.

And my choice of colours are pretty similar to the boats I chose to photograph.

#1119 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

Name your top three pet peeves.

I know I couldn’t stop at 3 pet peeves and more would seem rather ranty. So I will just offer one peeve. And there is a sting in it for me.

I think this saying would also cover micromanaging which is also unforgivable.

I like to think just a withering look quells any egg sucking educators. But the truth of the matter is that no matter how much I dislike micromanagement and any other unsolicited advice. I actually have no idea how to suck an egg. All eggs in close proximity to me will remain resolutely unsucked.

But try to teach me how to suck eggs and you will be  rewarded with at least a withering look. And believe me if my thought bubbles could  actually be read you would realise I am not quite the person I present as.

Just 1 peeve is quite enough.