Category: Easter

#1386 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Easter1 Comment

We tapped out of Easter 2026 with an Easter Egg hunt. Sharp, bright sunlight and winter clothes against the biting winds.

A good time was had by all , our cheeks rosy from wind burn and sunshine.

I was protected from the wind by one of my very lucky accidental purchases at an airport. Singapore is a very hot country and I was transferring to the early summer in Sydney . However a lunchtime snack had blobbed Chilli sauce on my clean travelling t-shirt. Not wishing to hug friends with a chilli stained t-shirt in Sydney. I went to an airport shop in the hope of finding a cheap replacement. My eye for a bargain was caught by a most unexpected garment. A cotton and cashmere blend long sleeve T-shirt. Very seriously reduced.

Now I have no need for any more thermal garments but the t-shirt felt incredibly soft and aircraft can get chilly. So why wouldn’t I ? I could hug on arrival with no chilli shame.

Which brings me back to the Easter Egg hunt. It turns out that in a colder than average April exactly what I needed was a cotton and cashmere blend T-shirt. What puzzles me is why anyone would ever need such a thing in Singapore but maybe that was why it was a bargain.

#1385 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Easter, Serendipity, Spring1 Comment
In the Pink.

Easter weekend has been a mish mash of weather. Sometimes very greige other times bright. Storm force winds, heavy rain and other times bitterly cold bright sunshine. As people with no religious bones Easter still has traditions, some linked to Pagan times and others to Christian Traditions. Four days of doing what we fancy really.

A highlight was the sudden blooming of Cherry Trees in the city.

Sun setting through Cherry Trees

Another was some glorious rust and graffiti in bright sunlight.

The closest we got to eating Lamb was to visit a small local harbour called Mutton Cove.

Mutton Cove.

I have no idea when or how it got its name but I think it is safe to assume that Sheep were involved.

The first Ice Cream of the season was enjoyed in the comfort of our car.

Right now we are prepping for an Easter Egg hunt. Like all events this weekend, warm coats will be required.

#1384 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Easter, 2026Leave a comment
Natural tulips  never hit a bum note.

Yesterday’s blog featuring a rant about plastic flowers, touched quite an International jangled nerve.

#1383 theoldmortuary ponders

So much tied up in overthinking for those of us who really dislike plastic flowers.

” Am I being snobby”

” They are the things of horrific thoughts”

” If they were put on my grave I would be turning in it for eternity”

I can only really take a deep dive into my own thoughts.

I am almost certainly judgemental and snobby about plastic flowers. While absolutely accepting that in some circumstances artificial plants have their place.

Instagram is responsible for a lot of grim plastic fakery.

My response to plastic flowers is somewhat physical . Seeing them, particularly, if they are faded or dusty gives me the shivers. In the same way chalk squeaked on a blackboard used to.

Love is a beautiful pebble.Dappled with shade.

Putting them on graves seems more disrespectful than nothing at all. A simple beautiful pebble* shows so much more thought.

Natural flowers are not a prickly subject.
  • And just like that another rant is born.  Whoever decided that painting pebbles with Acrylic paint was a sustainable and environmentally acceptable art form, especially for children. Adults should know better. Acrylic paint is plastic, yes it will wear off over time. But that paint has to go somewhere as a microplastic.
Pebble ‘painted’ by dappled shade.

Ranting over, I hope. Although that depends on how many more plastic flower haters there are out there this Easter, or indeed those who loathe a painted pebble.

Happy Easter

Chocolate eggs on the other hand are an entirely acceptable form of fakery. I am both snobby and shallow.

At long last I am active on Substack.

Link below.https://substack.com/profile/181071656-theoldmortuary-ponders/note/c-238477304?r=2zszs8

#1383 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Easter1 Comment
Tranquility Bay on Good Friday.

As long as I can remember I have been fascinated by religious buildings and religious art. Never really the subject matter but the endeavour and embellishment. The colour palates and at times the curious juxtapositions of immense wealth and poverty just inches apart*. Our Easter Bob at Tranquility Bay was blessed by the greigiest day you could imagine.

Bobbers Bobbing on Good Friday

The conversation though was as colourful and wide ranging as ever. Dog harnesses to Kylie Minogues Nipple covers were touched on in some depth whilst clothes were fumbled on and hot drinks revived chilly women.

The day was certainly greige but the bobbing occasion was not so I borrowed the colours and drama of classical religious paintings to illustrate Tranquility Bay at Easter.

I used a variety of image manipulation Apps and a little bit of analogue Medical Imaging know-how to create our little swimming bay in Easter Colours,when in real life she was in a proper greige sulk.

A line of bobbers stretched out from shore to buoy.

Beyond this point is a rant, please feel free to leave the blog early if a rant might offend.

  • Plastic flowers in churches or indeed on graves are the Devils work. Especially the unnatural colour ones that always fade to a murky mauve colour and attract grubby dust. Nobody ever needs to be remembered by a plastic flower.

There is a point to my plastic flower rant and Tranquility Bay.

Lots of people have their ashes scattered here. Lots of friends and family like to overlook the bay, some like to toss flowers in the water all lovely things to do. But sometimes the Devil does his work in the hands of the foolish. Tossing plastic flowers in the sea is about as stupid as it gets.

Blogging and pondering with the occasional rant are deeply satisfying when I am forced to research. Today I learned the delightful phrase  ‘aesthetic lifespan’. Possibly the only joy a plastic flower has ever bought me.

I cannot wait to use that one in conversation…

My apologies, the inner bitch was out and proud this morning.

The Passion for Tranquility Bay

#1379 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Drear, Easter, Spring, Words2 Comments
A dreary valley in Spring

I first met the word ‘drear’ in 1977. Raymond Briggs used the word in Fungus the Bogeyman. A graphic story book.

Of course before that,the word dreary  was commonplace in my thoughts. Who could not have been young in Britain in the sixties and seventies and had the once a week experience of dreary Sundays. No shops open, no cinema. I could add to that no pubs/ bars open but I was too young for that and my grandparents owned a country pub so actually Sundays there were not so dreary. A time when a little more freedom was allowed without worrying about the paying customers or patients who attended their G.P in a curiously formal room at the front of the pub.

The word dreary has always made me feel a bit sad, melancholy even.

Taking the ‘y’ off  the end is curiously liberating for me. 

I can use the word drear quite happily as a descriptive and not feel plunged into a gloomy, fog-like head space.

A drear planting scheme.

The Spring of 2026 in the West Country has , so far, not failed to disappoint. It is drear but not dreary. There have been glorious bursts of sunshine but they are accompanied by colder than usual temperatures and are unable to sustain themselves for too long.

Yesterday we planned a Spring walk in cold sunshine. By the time we got to the location, drear had set in. We were not at all dreary though.

Just losing the ‘y’ makes my head so much happier. Drear has an acceptability that dreary will never have.

#864 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Easter, Serendipity3 Comments

The four days of the Easter Break, have slipped away. So much texture in four days. Most of it  weather-related. Unlike Christmas there is not a big build-up nor enough left over food to sustain us for a few weeks. We were a small family gathering this year. Only four adults to indulge. Only four humans to dodge snow, torrential rain, and traffic to find the occasional sunbeam.

Sometimes the sunbeams were metaphorical. Dodging into a pub to avoid the rain and playing card games, or finding an unintentional embellished egg.

Family favourite food.

And the last Hot Cross Bun.

And for once, April Fools Day without getting caught by clever, witty friends.

Onward into April…

#862 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Easter, SerendipityLeave a comment

Easter morning and the sun wakes us up. Some chocolate eggs have appeared and we have some wallpapering to do. The perfect Easter job with perfect rewards.

A small person will be very happy in her jungle room when she gets back from her holidays.

Taking our rewards as the sun slips away and is replaced by rain. One more day of the Easter holidays to go. Fingers crossed for good weather. But not holding my breath.

#861 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Easter1 Comment

Easter Weekend plays tricks on us. A Friday that feels like a Saturday and bright sunshine that heralds heavy rain. The photo below is in colour.

Just an hour or two after these colour photos were taken.

Bobbers bobbed, and pain au chocolate’s laminated.

We were constantly in the wrong clothes and all day we kept thinking of the regular Saturday jobs we should have been doing. Today should be a breeze, we’ve done most things already.

#436 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Easter2 Comments

Our Georgian style, Victorian house has many original features. One of which is Anaglypta panels in the hallway. In 1889 when this house was built Anaglypta was the Metro Tile of the era. Anaglypta was invented in 1887 and bespoke panels were set into the plaster walls. In any house this would have been a hard job, getting the panels shaped to run in line with Dado and picture rails. This house is built near the peak of a hill. The front of the house runs up a hill north to south and down a hill front to back. Getting anything straight was a miracle.When we looked at the house and decided to buy it,  the panels were painted a bold mustard colour with a honey cream background. At some point during a very protected house sale the previous owners were going to take the house off the market and repainted the hall in a blander style for the rental market. Having seen the hall boldly painted we decided to make a feature of the lower panel and paint it dark grey. Hannah is on this now she has finished the doors. Right now we are wondering if we have gone too dark. Trepidation is a regular feature in our interior design journey.

Just as soon as we are done there will be a big reveal blog, but this morning with the early sun pouring in things are looking good even though everything is embellished with Canary yellow masking tape. One last push from me and the spindles up to the first turn of the stairs will be finished later today.

In between spindle painting I made some digital repeat patterns of the work in progress photo. I might print one out, frame it and hang it in an Anaglypta, panel a sort of infinite homage to Victorian craftsmen…

#180 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn EasterLeave a comment

What is Easter for those of us without a faith? 4 glorious days to do faith based things with friends and family. Where would the hot cross bun be without a crucifixion? Would we have Chocolate eggs without the Pagans? More relaxed than Christmas and with better weather. We ticked all those boxes this weekend. Persistent Sea Mist even gave us an egg shaped sun while it slightly compromised the better weather aspect of our outings.

Goodness we had some glorious meals and some fabulous walks and conversations. Extra time to read weekend newspapers and books. The sun even broke through a few times for some brief basking in the back yard.

After all the feasting what better way to end the day than with left overs and a chip butty.