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.
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.
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.
Ancient statuary and accidental comedy, who knew they could be blogging partners.
We went on an Easter Egg hunt at a favourite National Trust Property. The formal gardens are often the location of themed events for children.
Our granddaughter has a cover-all word for all types of genitals . Mooeee
No matter what we are doing in the gardens she is always amused that Mercury managed to remember his hat but not his trousers. The sculpture is a copy of one in the Uffizzi, Florence.
My accidental trip to a Comedy Club last night featured a twenty minute monologue on the discomfort of a blind man attending an ultrasound examination on his Mooeee.
It was pretty funny for the whole audience, more so for me because I used to do ultrasound examinations on all sorts of Mooeees. There were points when I laughed too hard, but how freeing to laugh about the absurdities of mooeee scanning without having to behave professionally. And to laugh in a room full of people laughing about the same absurdities was just lovely.
The comedian described the probe used as a small hand held device. It is actually called a small parts probe. Not something any gentleman was ever pleased to hear in a clinic!
What a great coincidence to see Mercury without his pants one day and then experience comedy about his exposed parts the next day.
A classic illustration of Mooeee for the blog.
P.s Mercury also seems to be looking at a microphone. Perhaps he was considering comedy as a career.
The temperature and wind however were quite another matter.
An over large and over optimistic deck chairNormal sized deck chairs acting as windsocks.
Deck chairs had been put out but their only useful function was to act as windsocks.
On reflection and protection from a bitterly cold wind Lola dragged us into a warm cafe.
Lola staring into a cafe mirror.
Now the truth of this blog is that Lola is always a cafe dog. Even on our late night walks she is known for resting her brown nose on the door of any cafe that we have ever visited.
So a bit of very cold, very strong wind was absolutely in her favour. She doesn’t always get her own way. Today she did.
So much for me being inspired to be creative yesterday. There were good creative intentions but there were some tedious domestic tasks that also needed attention. Somehow they became the focus of my need to be creative. And when I say tedious they were really very dull. Stuff needed to go into the roof space. Other stuff needed to come down. Car detritus from the old car needed sorting and put in the new car or the camper van. Along with daily domestica. However all those dull things achieved gave me a power burst and I framed some pictures, which is not the creativity I aspired to but is actually creative in its own way.
Two paintings are the illustrations for today. Done on 26th March in years past when my muse did not direct me to domestica. The 27th has not bloomed either, maybe the muse was just teasing me.
I don’t always know where a blog will take me, in the same way a dog walk can be an entirely different outcome from the one I imagined. So off we go with illustrations that were already chosen but a blog that will wander off a bit.
I chose sunflowers because today’s blog was going to be about thermal underwear. Because the sun is really making a sterling effort to turn up, bright and joyful in the sky. The temperature outside however is bone chillingly cold. Springlike clothes seem appropriate but layering is essential. The Covid years have given me a supply of thermal underwear that will outlast my lifetime.
I chose sunflowers because thermal underwear is not exciting and because one of my all time favourite photographs turned up on a time hop.
This simple bunch of sunflowers were laid on an altar in Havana 10 years ago. I was attracted to them for many reasons. At first glance they look a little like a sleeping person. Something that was all too obvious in the back streets of Havana, but also because their wrapping was simple newspaper, still bearing the crumpled hand print of whoever had laid them.
Sunflowers, although not flowers of Spring, somehow represent creativity to me because they are robust and vivid and Springtime seems to be the time to reset a creative phase. There is nothing fragile or whimsical about a Sunflower.
This one photo never fails to spark my creativity, which is where I go off on a tangent.
While walking the dog in my Springlike clothes with thermal underwear underneath, I met a friend who is a composer. Unlike me she has spent the winter months being creative, writing music and lyrics on a theme of Witches. Spring for her has seen the culmination of her creativity. I was quite put to shame by her productivity. She offered to make me a coffee and then shared two of her compositions. Singing to me as we sat in her light filled room.
I was immediately inspired to come home and get back on the creative borse.
This earlier Green Woman painting was inspired by her Green Man Song Cycle a couple of years ago.
I am now quite excited to discover what her Witch Song Cycle will inspire.
So many lovely thoughts from a sunny dog walk in thermal underwear.
How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?
I am not someone who habitually says ‘no’ to things that interfere with my goals.
Primarily because I am not hugely rewarded by goals being achieved in a pure and prescribed way.
Of course, goals, targets or intentions need to be achieved most days, But I am a lover of the serendipitous outcome generally being better than a perfectly planned one.
I like to allow chance a chance to improve calculated outcomes. The word ‘no’ may well be useful to hit goals reliably . Predictability is, for many people more than enough. But predictability with the embellishment of just a little jeopardy can bring the most astonishing and interesting results. Always have an open mind.
Getting from A to B with even a tiny detour is so much more interesting. Sometimes a moved goal, caused by serendipity turns out to be a much better goal in the long run. And a missed one can be much the best outcome.
Lola is in the midst of her busiest family gathering as the only dog in the family.
Lola sleeping
Ordinarily at family gatherings she and Hugo worked the room together. Him all showbiz, a confident white male, shmoozing people with his glamour and eccentricity.
But Hugo left the building in December. Leaving Lola the enormous responsibility of attending their human Great Grandmothers funeral alone. Where normally she just requisitioned cuddles, she has been obliged to both Schmooz and Cuddle.
With an age range of 3 to 95 she has had her work cut out. Cuddles remain her priority but also gratefully accepting smuggled snacks from the mourners who attended the Funeral After-Party on the day. And then helping the family to eat left over After-Party food for the next 24 hours.
Her world has been primarily consoling and accepting compliments. The very mature mourners from her Great Grandmothers Dance clubs obviously waited to share kindly words with family members before they left the After-Party but Lola had her own queue of departing well-wishers.
As her minder I spent a lot of time saying farewell to peoples knees while keeping lola on her very best behaviour with quiet tickles.
Saying goodbye to people predominantly from the knee down was an illuminating experience for me Women who are over 80 and still dancing have not given up their heels in the same way many other women have. Shoes that would not look out of place on the dance floor queued patiently to say farewell to the great grand dog.
No rest for the only dog, the next day her closer family set off to the depth of the New Forest for some Forest Bathing. A long walk in bright sunshine amongst massive trees.
Which is why this morning she is very determinedly sleeping.
theoldmortuary.design 