Category: blogging

#672 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging1 Comment

What traditions have you not kept that your parents had?

My parents were young people with a small child in the sixties. Traditions were thrown out of their lives with the same enthusiasm as many of their generation. Christmas was perhaps their most ‘traditional’ time

One tradition was my dads desire to gift both business and personal diaries to family members on Boxing Day. In the United Kingdom that is the day after Christmas day. Whatever would people think in 2023 if I kept that tradition going.  Diary and calendar use has truly fallen off a cliff with most people keeping an electronic diary. The Filofax was the first death blow to traditional diaries and that was quickly passed over for electronic memory jogging.

For some years I managed with an electronic diary but once I returned to doing complex shifts and on-calls I really needed a paper record, the chance of running out of a phone battery at the point someone wanted to swap a complex set of shifts was more common than you might think. At that point I returned to the flexibility of a filofax and have stuck with it. No risk of battery failure but a big risk of being not to hand at the exact moment I need it.

There is a poignancy to diaries and my dad. He died unexpectedly and suddenly from bowel cancer in the middle of treatment. His treatment plan carefully plotted two months beyond his life. I still have that diary. I now know that it was his decision to stop treatment when the odds of it giving him a good quality of life were slipping away.

On a lighter note, as you see from the only photo my filofax is not a thing of tidyness or order.

#648 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging, SerendipityLeave a comment

Which activities make you lose track of time?

Pretty much anything can make me lose track of time. My most popular time to lose track of time is between 10 am and 3pm.

There is a standard list of things that are usually completed by 10 am, including writing this daily blog. Then I can lose myself in a task for a solid 5 hours until the need for a cup of tea and a snack pulls me out of concentrating, sometime between 2pm and 3:30pm. After the snack I clear up whatever the task was and begin my regular late afternoon plans. A dog walk tends to book-end my productive phase. What puzzles me about the productive period of the day is how variable my output is. There are days when I am shocked at the level of my achievement and others where I wonder what an earth I achieved in those 5 hours. One of life’s mysteries I suppose.

Another place to lose track is cold water swimming, or bobbing as our group of friends call it. There was nothing glam about last night’s bob but three of us bobbed about in this grey and misty environment for more than half an hour last night. The clocks of mind and body were stopped, recalibrated and refreshed by effortless chatter and some swimming. Dressing was particularly challenging as it was raining. Skin that is coated with seawater just gets really sticky when touched by rainwater. Before I realised I had been out of the house more than a hour and a half. The beach is only a five minute walk away.

In conclusion losing track of time seems to be something I am very good at.

#641 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging, pondering, Serendipity1 Comment
Dandelion at dawn

What do you think gets better with age?

Before deciding to use this prompt I read a few other blogs that had also chosen to go with this particular flow. Wisdom, Sex, God(s) and Acceptance all get a good going over by bloggers with mixed results, in my opinion.

I have no such certainty, in the few hours I have pondered this thought I have been going round in so many ponderous mental circles that I feel even more uncertain as to my definitive answer.

Dandelion at noon

Right now at 08:13 I have settled on being both less conscious and more conscious of being my genuine self. Society moulds us in many ways. Always an introvert I have moved through life being self-effacing* hiding behind so many self-created masks.

* Someone who’s self-effacing is shy and likes to stay out of the spotlight, shunning attention and praise. To efface something is to erase it, so to be self-effacing is to try to remove yourself from various situations, especially ones that draw attention.

David Bowie with his multiple stage personnas or Drag Queens seem to me to have the perfect way of being.

Dandelion at night.

A lovely, big, public personality that can take praise and adoration easily and humbly. A personality that can be slipped off at the end of the show, leaving the real person to slip out of the stage door anonymously without the need for dark glasses and an upturned collar.

Much as I would have liked to go through life in the style of Ziggy Stardust or Lily Savage that was never appropriate. So my characters looked exactly like me but with more Chutzpah*

*The positive aspect of chutzpah, which is more likely to lead to positive outcomes, revolves primarily around being confident, daring, and brazen.

I realise now, with age that self-effacing is a fairly daft way to go about life. But even as I write this I realise that being a brash ‘ out-there’ person was an impossible lifestyle choice for me. I so dislike the aura around Alpha Humans.

What has got better with age is knowing my own worth and finding somewhere in the middle ground. Not so self-effacing, more sequins and twinkle.

Less Dandelion; more Firework, occasionally!

#654 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging, Serendipity3 Comments

On what subject(s) are you an authority?

Today marks 7 years of owning theoldmortuary.design domain. Before that my blog was called the garden painter because that is what I was. A part-time artist who painted in the garden often with a ginger cat as muse.

My blogging in thegardenpainter days was sporadic and not hugely effective. I didn’t know why I was writing a blog but the concept fascinated me in an abstract and unfocussed sort of way. A house move and renovation/repurposing of an actual old mortuary gave me a new title but no greater insight or efficacy at blog writing.

By now I was writing and reviewing for an arts magazine, no closer to actually being an effective blogger. A much younger and replacement editor suggested that I was perhaps too old for a publication that had him as an editor. Exactly the inspiration I needed to create my own publication/blog more effectively. I found a blog writing course by the wonderful Gentle Author who writes a fabulous blog.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/

Between the beginners and the advanced course, Covid 19 stuck and I was caught writing a daily blog for considerably longer than was planned. At some point I did the advanced course. Pandemic Ponderings filled the space between the two courses. theoldmortuary ponders was devised on the last day of the advanced course. Not exactly a diary or journal but just a daily reflection of an ordinary persons life with all the mundane aspects, repetition, chores, dullness set against abstract thoughts inspired by words or pictures. I try to look for the positive or quirky and having that daily need to find something to write about actually makes me observant and better tuned in to each day.

So in answer to the above question.

I am somewhat of an authority on the blogs of my own creation. From pretty useless blogging to daily blogging on the mundane parts of life, via a daily personal record of an International Pandemic.

I can track the development stages that bring me to this point. A little late on a day when I have bobbed, entertained a grandchild, done some Social Media work and right now luxuriating in watching tennis on the TV. Later I will dog walk again, listen to some live music and then tomorrow will be another day. Who knows where that will take us…

What is an authority anyway?

HMS Kent sailing past as we bobbed this morning. Friends and family on the deck. Frigates passing us make the most wonderful artificial waves. A bobbing bonus with thanks to the British tax payers Defence budget.

#645 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging, Serendipity1 Comment

What’s the oldest thing you own that you still use daily?

The answer is, beyond myself, almost certainly my house.

Built in the late 1890’s. So firmly of the Victorian era but with many Georgian era neighbours.

This week marks 2 years since we moved into this house. It definitely takes a while to settle into new homes.

Things that seemed essential works when we moved in, have faded into insignificance. Other,more pressing, projects have risen to the to-do list.

The yard surprises us every day with its fecundity. We have had strawberries every day for about 6 weeks and the tomato crop are forming beautifully in the outdoor planters. Our gifted courgette/zucchini plant is beating its brothers and sisters who are still in their original home on a farm. Our courgette lives on the garage roof, we learned last year how spiky their stems can be against naked ankles in a yard with limited space.

I have to say that only owning the house for two years makes this answer feel a little like a cheat as it just involved exchanging money for something old that has been looked after by other people.

Old things I have had longer to be responsible for include a Sandalwood Chest of Chinese origin which was owned by family friends of my parents,and was in their possession as employees of the East India Company during the Indian Uprising. Last seen very recently on this blog while we watched Glastonbury on the TV this weekend.

The other daily use of an old thing is a bit tenuous but my Facebook profile picture features a fake fur tiger-print jacket that I wear in the depth of winter. But as this blog is posted daily on Facebook I can probably get away with this. The jacket was made about a decade before I was. So here are two other old things I use every day.

My Facebook profile and myself.

#633 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging, Serendipity2 Comments

English Summer Sunshine is a fabulous thing. When sunshine is as predictable and reliable as our current spell of good weather, even busy days slip by as is if smoothed by some sort of magical ingredient. My busy day was punctuated with a visit from my daughter and grandaughter. Will I ever get used to that casual remark ” We are just popping in” . After 4 years of being a virtual or zooming Nana to small people half a world away. Now I am a real hands on Nana to an 8 month old recently relocated from London. When Nona gets home from work now she sometimes gets a sticky welcome to accompany the first post work cup of tea. I’m sure we would both be charmed regardless of the weather but an hour in late afternoon sun with a small person is a great post work recovery mechanism.

Sunshine also smooths the sadder aspects of life. Yesterday Hannah heard that a colleague and mentor had died.

https://www.bsecho.org/Public/News/Articles/2023/2023-06/202306-Mark-Monaghan.aspx

For her he was the reason she moved to London to become better at her job. For me he was a man I met at conferences and barbeques. He danced and laughed, at both, with great enthusiasm. Talking about him in evening sunshine over a bowl of mussels was a good way for us to mark his passing.

#632 theoldmortuary ponders.

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A very late blog with the working title of, the morning after the night before.

Nothing bad happened but long summer evenings segue into early summer mornings with barely a gap to natter. This bollard clearly had had quite the night. In two minutes the pedestrians passing by didn’t even notice his predicament.

South West Coastal Path walkers.
Royal Marines heading for a PT session.

Mr Bollard was just chilling in the long grass.

Anyway enough of Mr Bollard, I was at a lovely summer party last night and then up at the crack of dawn to walk the dogs before going off to do some research in the most idyllic settings imaginable.

Life has eaten up my time today. The few minutes when I could have blogged I dead-headed our lavender bushes. Surely one of the most fragrant jobs on earth.

Normal service will resume tomorrow.

Ps. I have only just realised that the coastal path walkers were part of a celebratory walk for the 50th Anniversary of the South West Coastal Path being formed. Two teams walked the entire North and South Paths meeting at The Royal William Yard which is where the Headquarters are.

© Lynette Selbie

#625 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging, pondering, Serendipity2 Comments

Using a prompt today, not because I was lost for a subject to ponder, but more because there is always something to ponder.

Early morning pondering in the van, waiting for coffee. Two dogs on my lap.

What are you good at?

I’ve always been a ponderer and on the whole pondering is a private occupation, unless a daily blog is written. So with some self judgement I would say that I am a particularly avid and accomplished ponderer. Being good at something carries responsibilities, I have been accused of having too vivid an imagination or being lost in my own world. Well I adore vivid, that’s why some of my images are over-saturated and trust me,I have never been lost in my own world. I know exactly where I am.

So after all that self-justification here is todays ponder which is a little late and ludicrously vivid.

A chance encounter with a patient took us to Buckfast Abbey early this morning.

It was the most peaceful spot for an early morning dog walk with friends.

So peaceful that, beyond the vivid stained glass,I forgot to take photos.

The whole place is rather overwhelming and the Stained Glass is certainly a show stopper.

But coupled with an organ recital of some contemporary music the whole experience was quite other worldly.

Which I suppose is the point of an Abbey.

#484 theoldmortuary ponders

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Today was a big day for the blog. I swapped to a new platform for publishing. Pushing the button and uninstalling the old system was a moment of anxiety. But guess what happened? Nothing, everything slipped smoothly into the new format and off I go. Everything is pretty much the same except every day there is a spunky little suggestion as to what I might like to write about. I may not take their suggestions seriously, the first one thought I might like to discuss what my parents did at my age. Well let me think..

Their ashes had, at this point, been buried in a country churchyard for two years. Idyllic in many ways but I am sure they would rather have been living and laughing. As it was they had been moved from their last resting place by a very industrious mole. This does not make for a great travelogue or even a great blog. So this is the first and last time I will seek my inspiration from spunky suggestions from Jetpack. WordPress was never quite so frivolous. I prefer raking through my own thoughts for these ponders. For reading to the end of this transitional blog I gift you an earworm. Answers tomorrow.

#458 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Beach Life, blogging, Bobbing, Serendipity1 Comment

Some blogs are slow burning, ripening slowly over many days, weeks or months. Others present themselves in a moment. This one is a hybrid, the Pondering has been bubbling away for a couple of months, the moment today, was perhaps 60 seconds of decision making. That moment is the top picture. After a small amount of walking, the coastal path at St Ives, we came upon this idyllic beach. After a moments paddling the decision was made to throw caution to the wind and strip off completely for a swim. Confident that my weekly sea swims, or bobs, as they are known, have equipped me with the ability to quickly submerge in any chilly sea temperature.

It would not do to fanny about, frightening fellow walkers, with my nakedness. The long, slow, ponderous part of this blog has its inspiration from a comment made by a fellow course member at a blogging course.

” Your blog would be better with more of you in it”

Since November I have tried putting a little more of me into the blog. In truth I have always been there, peeping from behind words or hiding in pictures. Trying to find my voice, or style, while nattering on about not very much. I wonder, sometimes, if anyone has noticed the slight changes since November.

Ten or so minutes of swimming in a cold sea, off the North Cornwall coast was just fabulous this morning. I could be evangelical about the benefits of cold water immersion, likewise the buzz of not giving a moments thought to just taking my clothes off in a public space. Put the two together and the skills of fully clothed camera- wielding friends and the blog gets all of me for one time only.

.

I got a life boosting, energy creating, moment. Fizzy as a firework, giddy as the giddiest goat, happy as a human hippo. Naked, cold and loving life. All time stood still, the sun was out and I was feeling elemental.