Category: 26 Days to Boxing Day

#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.