Category: Serendipity

#1349 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Stonehouse1 Comment
8 a.m

What’s your definition of romantic?

My mother, who was in most ways a very pragmatic person, had a guilty secret. She loved a romantic novel.

I have inherited her pragmatism but not her taste in books. Romance books are not my thing unless the romance is just one facet of an engaging narrative. Romancing, romantic gestures etc, just feel a little icky and coersive in specifically romantic novels. There is nearly always a power imbalance or jeopardy involved in the interactions between the people involved, there would be no story without such things.

However, as a woman whose glass is habitually half-full there must be a huge dose of my mothers love of romance residing in my soul, because life is sometimes shitty and yet I always try to find something positive in whatever situation.

Noon

The tidal pool was my destination for the morning dog walk and later I swam from the beach beside it.

For both visits it was rather a seaweedy experience.

8 a.m and noon.

But my glass-half-full, romantic head will only ever remember a beautiful morning walk and a delicious lunchtime swim, not the weed that made the pool unusable and stuck on my skin. Romance is seeing beyond irritation, embracing the moment and finding the golden nuggets in every experience. However mad that seems.

Not paying too much attention to the seaweed of life.

Reality of a good day.
Romance of a good day.

Harold S Kushner* emphasized the importance of finding good in every situation, stating, “If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul,”.

*

Soul nurturing, that is pretty romantic in my opinion.

#1348 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Van Life1 Comment
Johanna Lucretia.

For tide-time reasons we have moved to another bay for our evening swims this week. The peaceful arrival of a Tall Ship was in marked contrast to the business- like Naval vessels or Ferries that keep us fascinated at Firestone Bay.

Mount Batten was a prehistoric trading port, dating back to the Iron Age. It has been a key location for the defence of Plymouth and was an Air Force Base where Lawrence of Arabia was stationed. It has, over time,  developed into a water sports hub since the  Air Force moved out. All a bit hotch potch with no clear development plan. The area is currently in the process of being upgraded and made more attractive to tourists and visitors of all sorts. I suspect I have never mentioned it in a blog but it is a regular spot for us to dog walk and sometimes camp overnight. Free parking by a beach is always a good thing.

The sea temperature this week is a balmy 16 degrees C. Last year the waters of Plymouth Sound never reached such heights, even during August or September so to do so by July 1st is quite lovely.

Another lovely thing is to swim , drink a cup of tea and then go straight to sleep after a gorgeous sunset. No shower, just lovely salty skin and slightly damp hair. The damp dogs are less appealing.

Sunset at Mountbatten

#1346 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn domestica, SerendipityLeave a comment
Wood and coffee stains.

We popped to a coffee shop and bakery during the weekend drizzle. Slightly damp, the outdoor, rustic table showed signs of many a coffee spill. A hard working piece of wood, but nothing like as hard working as this similar looking piece of wood which I photographed supporting the jetty for the Statten Island Ferry in New York.

Decades old wood still working hard, long after its life as a living thing is over.

And now just bystanders to coffee and commuters.

Interesting though that if I  digially abstract the cafe table the image can look exactly like a forest clearing.

Nature is a wonderful thing.

In other news I am continuing with my Glastonbury supported summer clear out. Doing the non day to day Domestic Admin that builds up behind the scenes.

To be frank, on day 3, I am at the point with my domestic admin that I am beginning to feel lethagy.Not unlike attending an actual music festival, I don’t much care who is on the stage I just want to lie in my tent and commune with nature,I am done with the whole thing. The summer clear out is over for now. Who knew domestic admin could fill a festival weekend quite so pleasurably? Until the moment when you know.

“I am so over this.”

#1345 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn domestica, Serendipity1 Comment

What does a woman who loves music festivals do when she does not get a ticket for Glastonbury. This one plans a weekend of  ‘jobs’ that are vastly improved by the background sound of the BBC livestreaming the music aspect of the festival.

And just like that the futility (utility) room was stripped out tidied and put back together. Our store of Covid restriction ‘essential’ baking and cooking ingredients have gone in the bin.

Farewell inert dried yeast and sumac + many others well past their best.

Tidy Cook Books

Hello tidied camper van too.

And as a reward, a little live night music. Shanty singing in a Cornish Village Hall.

https://stunsls.com/

A fabulous evening out with some of our bobbing friends and friends of friends.

And now on to Sunday, what  satisfying jobs will we get on with to interesting music?

Tidy Kitchen Drawer

#1343 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

I try wherever possible to buy second-hand things. Clothes, books and items for our home in particular. More so in the last 20 years, to a lesser extent for the last 50. I also buy canvasses for my large paintings from charity shops. The large box canvasses that retailers sell in their thousands for people to adorn their walls with instant pre-curated art which are then abandoned for the next easy home switcharound.

I have been doing it long enough to be confident in my purchases. I would say that my success rate is slightly higher than it was when I used to buy more new items.

The world has caught up with me and passed me by. Second-hand, thrift, vintage, pre-loved are the current trending trends. There are a huge variety of new ways of doing what I have been doing for decades and yet I stick to the methods that work for me.

1.Charity Shops. Giving wisely and receiving all in one transaction.

2. Ebay- used with caution and learned wisdom.

3. Gifts or swaps with friends. One woman’s error is another woman’s gem.

Fast Fashion teases and traps me on occasion, and I feel no shame because however fast it is at inception I know that the garment will be with me for the long haul and will be styled with something from the last century. On a woman from the last century who sometimes puts pockets in things that didn’t start life with pockets.

Today I commented that two of my friends looked fabulous. Both whispered the word ‘Primark’ and then the word ‘Pockets’.

Will I be able to keep away..

I will try.

Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

Sometimes I can be very trying.

#1342 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Yardening1 Comment

Woman and Snail, both doing a balancing act.

Summer is officially here and a job needed doing. We have a large parabolic sun parasol. Something was not quite right with the parasol last year but we put it away regardless. In my experience over-wintering a problem never improves the situation.

Me and the parasol resolved our differences after a few hours of relocating the base and replacing some nuts and bolts. All a question of balance and diligence. I think last year the parasol base was not level which caused a slight imbalance and nuts and bolts do need attention at some point.

On balance all is well that ends well.

Balance was certainly on the mind of this snail who really had no need to take himself along the yard-long stalk of an Agapanthus. Snails do not eat Agapanthus blooms.

On balance all was well that ended well for the snail too.

#1328 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Firestone Bay, Serendipity1 Comment

Summer Solstice started with a burst of colour over Firestone Bay as two bobbers and about 100 other swimmers took to the sea at dawn, the conditions were perfect.

Then the Solstice took a more practical turn as twenty volunteers, including two bobbers, took on the annual task of painting the Tennis Club Clubhouse with preservative.

Then it was back to the sea for more swimming at sunset.

So much exercise in one day and not a gym in sight.

A day painted perfectly.

Painting the Summer Solstice at Stonehouse Lawn Tennis Club.

In other news, the Solstice was celebrated in the local Tinside Lido.

©Tony Batty

And, of course, at Stonehenge.

Celebrated as a timeless place of worship with peace, love and traffic holdups.

#1327 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Summer1 Comment
Summer Solstice Double Dipping. A.M

For four years the bobbers have celebrated both Summer and Winter Solstices by dipping at sunrise and sunset. Summer takes more dedication with early and late starts. Winter takes more grit because the weather is disgusting and the water is very cold. Summer has not always been kind to us but in our collective memory the event is always magical. These two images of the early morning dip and the evening dip are entirely fake. Created by stitching three actual magical dips together. The location is accurate, as are the conditions and the swimmers. But they never actually occurred all at the same time in the same place so perfectly.

But in our recollections Solstice swims are magical. And I have the photographs to prove that.

Summer Solstice Double Dipping P.M

May Summer wrap her arms around you whilst the sun gently warms your soul.

The Solstice morning bob 2025

#1324 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, WordsLeave a comment
Our yard. Sharp Shadows from washing on the line.

Pondering, mulling.

Obviously I am an addicted ponderer. It is the beating heart of this blog and for me is both creative and endlessly fascinating.

Mulling on the other hand is a much less lightweight, pleasurable task. Mulling however is every bit as essential for me.

The two thinking techniques are closely related. I have always been a ponderer, I started young, in Reference Libraries. As I edged into adulthood, worries and problems could not always  be pondered into a solution. Sometimes more serious and better targeted thinking is required. Mulling moved into my life.

Recently, away from this blog I have had to do a lot of mulling on the behalf of an organisation that I help to manage.

My Mulling team, confidentiality guaranteed.

All organisations, whatever their title are essentially about people.  My recent mullings have taken me to places I never imagined I would need to explore. Despite the importance of mulling it uses much the same mental muscles as pondering. And for me the creative, familiar places where I choose to ponder have proved to be equally suitable for mulling.

1.Dull domestic tasks.

2.Dog walks

3. Yardening in the yard.

Staring at the laundry whilst thinking.

Just one stark difference between pondering and mulling.

Pondering rarely keeps me awake at night.

Mulling in the Dark. Weather permitting.

#1323 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment
Summer Breeze makes me feel fine, blowing through the Holly Hocks of my mind.

Early summer is a fragile thing, a million things need to come together, in June, to create fragrant blooms and buzzy bees, with legs and fluffy bottoms all dusted with pollen. I love a Hollyhock but growing them eludes me. A minor success this year in the yard was quashed by the voracious appetites of our slugs and snails. Not for us the gentle hum of bees going about their business, just the inexorable chomp of a chorus* of slimy mouths feasting on our tender and tasty single Hollyhock survivor.

These Hollyhocks survive proudly, on the edge of a busy roundabout. Cared for by volunteer urban gardeners, they survive where mine cannot. Despite slightly obsessive attention. And yet, crazy, wild self-seeded Hollyhocks look down on me from cracks in rock walls and cliffs by the sea. Seemingly immune to the chomp of slugs and snails and happily hosting buzzy bees with dusty bottoms.

You may wonder where this ponder is going. The * is  the answer. A recording of a single slug having a chomp, imagine what a choir of them would sound like in a back yard.

* https://youtu.be/ByTLXNwe27M?si=7HdoA-ghu95wC4Qz