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.

#718 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Birthdays3 Comments

A not so funny thing happened and then I had a birthday when two funny things happened. A few weeks ago, as a diligent clothes recycler, I had created a pile of clothes to go to the Charity/Op shop. All good stuff that I no longer needed. An improptu trip to a small local town gave me the chance to drop the bag of clothes and household items. There was a warm glow of a job well done as I skipped into the shop.

The warm feeling ebbed away over the ensuing weeks as my beloved Levi’s failed to put in an appearance from any clean washing piles. Somehow they had gone with other, much less loved garments to make money for charity. I shouldn’t feel bitter but I do.

Today I am 66 and guess what? A new pair of Levi 501’s popped out of birthday wrapping paper. This is the second time in my life that this has happened. Exactly 50 years ago the same thing was my 16th birthday gift. Those 501’s on that occasion came from a small shop called Len Smith in Sandpit Lane, Braintree. Those jeans lasted so long I know that these ones will outlive me if I can keep a hold of them. Another less traumatic thing this morning was some birthday money from my former mother-in-law. I wrote and phoned her to thank her after I had researched rambling roses to put on our yard wall. Her name is Brenda and I found a rose called Brenda which I will buy along with another called Rambling Rector to discourage our neighbours cats and chickens from taunting the dogs from a six foot high wall.

Brenda

Not everyone can encourage their mother-in-law to scramble on a wall with a vicar to deter pests.

#717 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn dog walksLeave a comment
Checking the morning weather.

What is good about having a pet?

I have had pets all my life so I have no way to judge the merits of pet owning versus not. For me the game changer was becoming a dog owner. No longer able to allow my pets to just be. Dogs required more of me than any cat/ guinea pig/ rabbit or mouse. Dogs do not passively love in return for good food, a clean environment and affection. Dogs actively love. This was a shock to me 10 years ago when I became a first time dog owner. But the biggest benefit of dog owning is the regular and at times tedious walks that they require. I had 42 years of a career in medical imaging. A working life spent often in basements with blackout screens on windows. As a non dog owner I believed that I loved walking. Walking on weekends or days off is not the same as walking three times a day, often on more or less the same routes. I am very very lucky with my dog walking. For a long while the dogs were walked in the epic landscape of London, then for a while on a Cornish nature reserve and now on a peninsula of land surrounded on three sides by the sea. For the first time in my life, dog walking connected me to the changes of the seasons on my daily walks. I am acutely tuned in to the minor changes of my outdoor environment.

I still go for different walks on weekends as a treat, but the daily walks are the foundations of my life. They punctuate the day, make me weather and daylight aware. Sometimes they are the inspiration for this blog. I talk to strangers. I notice things…

#716 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Rituals1 Comment

Like many families mine was reshaped by World War 1 and World War 2. Armistice Day was always taken seriously by my family and Remembrance Sunday marked in some way. Not being church goers our observation was always more educational and thoughtful . No prayers or hymn singing unless we were caught off guard at War Memorials. I continue to observe but not be observant.

5 years ago when we lived at the actual Old Mortuary we decided to plant a small poppy field on an abandoned strip of land that ran down the side of  the Chapel of Rest. It seemed like an interesting way to mark 100 years since the end of World War 1 and would provide an appropriate backdrop to the war memorial that was adjacent to our house. Poppies grow on battlefields because damaged churned up soil are the perfect location for field poppies to thrive. Our little strip of land was not a traditional battle field but had been the dumping ground for left over tarmac or rubble from road repairs. Nature had done its very best to reclaim the land with weeds and grasses.

We just added some topsoil and seed. The project was hugely successful.

We didn’t limit ourselves to field poppies. Oriental poppies also loved the scrappy piece of land.

Poppies make the most fascinating subjects for photography and painting.

Unrelated to our gardening poppies I discovered yesterday that other artists celebrate armistice by making poppy art in November. On a windswept trip to Exmouth I discovered this slightly irreverent but beautifully site specific knitting and crochet post box topper marking Armistice Day.

May your thoughts be with you

#715 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

Yesterday was a day of contrasts. One minute congratulating ourselves on getting out in good weather and the next minute being drenched by sudden heavy downpours. Nothing in this picture suggests that our blissful evening walk was about to be interrupted by another drenching. But by the time we had walked the five minutes home we were sodden.

Our day was about tasks in different parts of the city. An early morning appointment at Mount Batten had all the promise of a bright sunrise but we had failed to notice that the wind was rather brisk. The planned dog walk after Mount Batten jobs were done was a very blustery affair. Despite having to drive for half an hour we were fairly close to home if we had had a speed boat.

The arrow more or less points to our usual swimming area. Viewed from a pier on a very cold and windy day the idea of swimming there seemed like utter madness, but we knew that friends of ours would be in the water as we looked across and that we had already been in at that exact spot two days ago. The mind plays funny tricks when we are wrapped up in warm coats and fully dressed. Swimming in November seems unimaginable. But when a swim is planned and we are already slightly chilly nothing seems more normal. And at 4pm intrepid bobbers were dipping just below the arrow. Things could not have looked more different.

#714 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, autumn, Words1 Comment

I learned a new word yesterday.

I am shocked that I never thought to question what the counterpart to misogynist is. Both misogyny and misandry are pretty easy to spot but it never occurred to me to give the dislike of men a name. Now I am thinking myself  into a circle of over thinking.

Is it misandrist of me to think that misogyny is more commonly experienced in society.

Thankfully my second new word of the day is much easier to get my head around. 

Goodness I love biomimicry. Yesterday a friend was knitting with variegated knitting wool,which was the exact shade of fallen autumn leaves. At the time she was sitting under this piece of art.

©Yan-Feng

These were exactly the colours of the day yesterday.

Two new words in one day!

#713 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Royal William YardLeave a comment

As winter approaches and the effective daylight hours become shorter. I find myself with essential and less interesting tasks squeezed closer to creative and pleasurable activities. In my mind I have started to call essential tasks the ‘crux’ of the day.

The trouble is that the crux is often not as rewarding as the creative and pleasurable tasks. Sometimes a crux gets bounced to the next day . I can be so easily distracted. For instance the photo above where I am hiding behind a piece of fabric sculpture. No need to do that. I was in the building for a completely different reason but was sidetracked by an interesting exhibition.

Other sidetracks of the day were a naturally occurring heart on the floor in the loo.

And the marks left where metal planters have been moved.

How is a woman supposed to remember what her crux for being in the building is when life is so diverting?

On a positive note being quite so sidetracked yesterday did remind me that I had two early morning meetings today, and that sometimes a crux must be taken seriously. Two ticks for crux achievement by midday is a Thursday morning well spent.

#712 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth SoundLeave a comment

Do you need time?

This painting is on a noticeboard near one of my regular dog walks at Mount Wise. I see it so often and yet until yesterday I had never given it time. It is painted in the style of an Old Master and features a rural bucolic theme of a shepherd tending his sheep, overlooking the Hamoaze. For the first time ever I realised that the painting has modern super yachts moored at one of the pontoons. I am going to have to go back and actually read the noticeboard now. Give it some time in fact.

I suppose I was alert to incongruity yesterday.

Yesterday a German warship sailed, as they often do, up towards Devonport Dockyard. Not something that would have been calmly observed in 1943!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_frigate_Rheinland-Pfalz_(F225)

No shepherds, no super yachts, no German warships.

#711 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Friends1 Comment
©Bill Castelo

It was firework night last Sunday which gives me an excuse to share this wonderful photograph by my friend Bill. Bill is married to Polly who I met while working at The Heart Hospital. The Heart Hospital no longer exists except in the hearts of the many people who loved working there. Work friendships are what keep us sane while we are doing our jobs, some of them escape the boundaries of work and become real life friendships. Many of the friendships forged at work go on to be real but only possible via Social Media which is where most of my Heart Hospital friendships continue now. Distance is the problem, where once we were working shoulder to shoulder, saving lives. We are now scattered all over the world. But the threads of friendship are as strong however we maintain contact. Social Media has allowed Hybrid friendships to occur. Sometimes people who were peripheral friends in real life become closer on-line because you discover more interests in common. Sometimes a friendship occurs that will never be ‘ real world’. I find the evolution and maintenance of friendships in the age of the World Wide Web fascinating. I know that for many the internet can be a hard and unpleasant place to be; but good friendships can be embellished and enhanced in a way that would not always be possible in real life.

#710 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Food ( but this is not a food blog)3 Comments
Cake imitating nature in the sun.

Yesterday was a ‘sun’day and this is a frangipane,almond and raspberry brioche which formed an early part of my day. My ongoing symptoms of anosmia ( loss of smell and taste) has made me mad for the combination of almond and raspberry baked goods. I know it is a traditional and even classic pairing of flavours but it was never a favourite of mine.That is until my last bout of Covid, 18 months ago, which seems to have permanently damaged my olfactory system. My grip on taste and smell has always been odd. When I was younger the first sign of an incoming migraine was a hypersensitive smell ability. For about 8 hours before the migraine arrived I had such a powerful sense of smell I could have been a police tracker dog. My sense of smell was so acute. This was not a good thing for a woman who worked in hospitals. Then came the crushing, piercing head pain, for however long it took, and then a few days of total anosmia when I had to stop cooking from scratch and eat food other people had cooked or readymade meals. For several days after I would have to ask my fellow diners what I was eating.

So here I am now with about 20% smell and taste and my lifelong personal preferences turned on their head. Cheese straws my #1 baked goods are just pap and a bakewell tart, about #90 for most of my life is now my new idea of Nirvana. Taste and smell are also transitory and fragile, one mouthful is like a flavour bomb and maybe 20 seconds later there is just nothing. In the bright sunshine of yesterday Drakes Island was just like my flavour experience. One minute it was there.

And 20 seconds later it was gone.

Eating now is about discovering the things I can taste which is, in many ways, so liberating.I can no longer head straight for what I know I like on a menu but experimentation is a whole gorgeous new world.

Frangipane brioche anyone?

#709 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn pondering, Serendipity1 Comment

What are your favorite websites?

32 years ago this was not even a question. The first website went up in 1991.

In 1991 a favourite website looked like this.

In 1991 we would all have been quite used to questions about our favourite music, food or books and any other of millions of experiences. For most of us these questions cause a fair amount of thinking/pondering. Favourite things need placement, timing and circumstance. You could ask me to create a list of my ten favourite things today and I could probably come up with an interesting list. Tomorrow that list might have some different answers. Next year my list may be significantly different. I am fairly certain a favourite website will never feature in my lists. However reliant I am on the World Wide Web I can’t see a time when I would ever bother to have, or even think about having a favourite website. The real world is so much more worthy of being favourited.