Category: Serendipity

#689 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

When I moved to Cornwall in the 80’s from Brighton, life was not quite as idyllic as I had anticipated. The job I came to do was kicked into the long grass and rather than having a month to find my feet in a new area I had 6 months. 6 long, wet, lonely months. November is not the best time to move house and home many hundreds of miles from friends and familiarity. Luckily I had a small companion, a two year old son who could accompany me on my winter adventures in a strange land . The town I moved to, like much of Cornwall had an unhealthy reticence about welcoming people from ‘ Up the line’ In November toddler groups are part way through their term and our little team of two was turned away. Sometimes with the promise of being put on a waiting list. 35 years on I am still on more waiting lists than I care to think about. Undefeated I joined the National Trust and we set off on a two person adventure to learn about the history and geography of Cornwall in the short daylight hours of winter. It was an adventure and one that gave me the foundation for a life that I have mostly lived in the South West of England. The trouble is that sometimes I have missed a gem because back in the eighties certain places failed our not-too-high standards. Basically anything Pixie/Pisky related. Witchy the same and to a degree Smugglers if Wreckers were not included in the narratives. Poor cafe facilities or being over priced also got a bad mark. Some places I have never returned to.

Yesterdays trip to Golitha Falls is a case in point. From my recollection both Pixies and a poor cafe were involved.

What a chump I have been, not to have given the place a second chance until now!

No Pixies in the 21st Century and a fabulous cafe. Free parking and the most beautiful woodland river walk. Golitha Falls perhaps suggests a rather grander drop of water than exists but the area is beautiful and despite the carpark being full, really quiet once we were in the woods.

Golitha Falls is the location of the drowning of the last King of Cornwall.

King Doniert, not a name that has ever come back into fashion ,died in 875 either from fighting in the river or frolicking. Nobody knows. What is rather unbelievable is that these ancient woodlands would have looked pretty much identical to what we experienced yesterday.

Serendipity took us there yesterday. My, rather daft, prejudice against decades old tourist tat has denied me some rather lovely walks. Maybe I need to revisit some of the other places that were crossed off my list more than 30 years ago.

And how lucky was I to have 6 months exploring such a fascinating county with a 2 year old in his wellies.

#688 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Music, pondering, Serendipity1 Comment

Striking images make you think. Two striking images this weekend have provoked widespread pondering. Despite being musically aware throughout the career of Black Sabbath, their music has largely been an outlier for me.Breakfas today, with Black Sabbath was an easy way to reconnect. Although there is a lot to like, my somewhat flimsy reason for limited knowledge is that Heavy Metal gigs were uncomfortable places to be, with sweaty leather and testosterone laying heavy in the air. As contemporary ballet goes this one was somewhat patchy but with moments of unforgettable beauty. For the reasons above I can’t be knowledgeable about the music choices but my favourite snippet was included,so it gets a ✓from me. The audience was wild for the performance by the time the final curtain went down. Despite the fabulous image on the programme this scene did not exist in the performance we watched. We were rather disappointed, but not on the scale of disappointment that many people felt when there was no moment of joy when an actual Black Sabbath band member appeared out of the orchestra pit. Maybe that happens in Birmingham.

On a sartorial and olfactory note the atmosphere of the theatre was not filled with too much sweaty leather or testosterone.

©Banksy

Banksy, of course, made everyone think this week. Two hours of googling and research cannot make sense of a subject that makes no sense. But refreshing knowledge always shines a little more light. Madness for me, that the history homework where I first tried to understand the history of the Middle East would occasionally have had Black Sabbath as my background music of choice.

My dad would have shouted up the stairs ” How can you possibly understand what you are studying with that noise on”

My response now would be. ” Tell me what music makes any of this understandable”

#687 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn history, Serendipity1 Comment

Meet the neighbours. If our neighbours were in any way’normal’ I would not take photographs of the stuff I saw in their home. Our neighbours are the Royal Marines and we live exceedingly close to their actual and spiritual home. So close in fact that when their guests arrive by helicopter our house trembles a bit. As a significant military establishment the area is not open to the public and is guarded night and day by armed guards. Yesterday their neighbours were invited in for a tour. Three hours of fascinating facts and historic architecture. Since I love both those subjects I was fully engaged and could have listened and learned for many more hours. Rather than regurgitate all I learned I will share a link to two useful websites.

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/bases-and-stations/marines-base/stonehouse

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehouse_Barracks

Leaving me to natter on about two things that we can all relate to. A chair and a sandwich.

I had no expectations of this visit beyond getting to look beyond the gates of something I walk past every day. We were very well informed and entertained by Charlie, an avuncular Royal Marine with many years service and much love for the organisation he represented. As a civilian I have always struggled with the military being a mirror reflection of the British class system. See below.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/feb/24/privately-educated-elite-continues-to-take-top-jobs-finds-survey

It will come as no surprise that the Officers Mess was a very grand building but it was here that we met a fairly normal chair. That once was the place where Napoleon Bonapart placed his bottom for three years of his incarceration. With its original upholstery.

It is said that Napolean died at the age of 51 from a gastric ailment. Oh the things that velvet may have had to endure.

Moving swiftly on,to the upper end of the gastrointestinal tract, we come to the 4th Earl of Sandwich. A man, who as First Lord of the Admiralty was not a fan of the many formal meals that Officers were obliged to attend and socialise at. Instead he liked to have working meal breaks and had cold meats, cheeses and bread brought to his office. Where he assembled what came to be known as a sandwich.

Here he is presiding over the grand dining room. Somewhere he avoided in favour of a humble sarni.

#686 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn pondering, SerendipityLeave a comment

What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.

An interesting prompt from my blog hosts. One that is easy to answer as my definition of failure is a wonderfully flexible beast. I would buy a lottery ticket for the Euromillions. Knowing that winning any amount of money from the top life altering prize of many millions to the lowest £10 pay out is technically a success.

A £10 win would definitely be the easier of the prizes to receive. No moral conundrum with that amount of money. £10 would very nicely provide post bobbing chocolate for our swimming friends on Friday morning. Bigger sums would give more options and the biggest prize, whatever unthinkable amount of money it was, would give so much scope for thought, philanthropy and fun.

I am not someone that believes money guarantees happiness but it undoubtedly increases the chances of creating happiness and the power to make changes that allow happiness to be an option.

Money, wisely used makes the wheel of life run a little smoother.

#685 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn pondering, Serendipity, Words2 Comments
Battersea Power Station ©theoldmortuary

‘There are some losses that change the trajectory of your life’ P.Diddy

Puff Daddy, P.Diddy, Diddy or even  Sean Combs  his real name, is talking about the death of a woman he loved and shared three children with.

Significant losses or negative events do change the direction that life takes.

As an optimist and someone who likes to reflect on my half-full glass I am guilty of skimming over negative outcomes and always trying to find the best in people and situations.

Reflecting on the negative is not somewhere I feel comfortable but just acknowledging that negatives and positives have equal power to change the direction of life is somehow a quite relaxing thought. Just as the planned and unplanned have a similar capacity.

A ponder is not what I expected when I read an article about a Billionaire Rapper. Just one thoughtful sentence. Of course I have lived the reality of loss altering life’s directions. As has every human. But until today I could not have expressed that sensation so eloquently.

#684 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn pondering, SerendipityLeave a comment

#682 tholdmortuary ponders.

Ponder #682 was a tragic historical blog about Slapton Sands but we had a fab time in the sun on the eponymously named Sunday. It was a vanlife day that started at 8am with breakfast.

There was also a Sunday newspaper to be read. Walks to be had and for Hugo some basking

Lola takes things a little further, or maybe less far, and lounges in a sunbeam.

For the humans days like this are about catching up and nattering. We have a friend who is going through a very raw grief currently. We have both been through that journey and seeing friends hitting such a life changing event is hard to witness with grim personal experiences to recall. But we are fine and imperfect examples of getting through both sudden, traumatic, grief and the slow destruction of terminal loss. It is good to talk of love and loss on a sunny day, on a beautiful beach with some dark history. Because we all need to know that the sun will come out again, even in dark places.

#680 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn archive, art, Art for sale, Serendipity1 Comment
Autumn in an Arsenic Mine

Facebook Timehop keeps coming up with old friends. Not the human sort but artwork that I have entered into exhibitions and then sold. October is traditionally the beginning of my artistic hibernation. Last exhibitions have been entered and the unsold works return to the studio. My work is not particularly gift-worthy so unlike many artists my exhibiting season does not extend towards Christmas.

I have got into the habit of having an experimental phase for a few months from November until February and then I knuckle down to create some new pieces to replace those that have sold the previous year. This year has been a little different in that some large works that had been leased/ loaned to a company that had huge white walls, were returned to me when the company moved locations. The last one of these pieces was sold last week.

Deadheading

I miss paintings when they are gone. Just as dog breeders probably miss puppies.

The one below was given a high gloss resin coating so the farewell picture also features a self portrait of the artist. (Me)

Dive

As paintings are sold and others return the studio gets a bit of a reshuffle. I’m not entirely sure how a reshuffle differs from a tidy up but this year there is a distinct difference. The tidy up meant I completely lost two monoprints that have an interested buyer. The reshuffle of this week has found those monoprints and an original watercolour which I need to make some cards.

Nearly there trees.

One more original to find. Pumpkins also needs to be turned into cards but somewhere between the tidy up and the reshuffle he has gone missing. So missing that there is not even a photograph!

In contrast to these pictures my experiments are quite different and may never see an exhibition. Yesterday I painted Storm Agnes in Tranquility Bay. A slightly strange mix of reality and imagination, but that is the point of experimentation.

Storm Agnes in Tranquility Bay.

It does me good to reconnect with sold pieces of art. I had almost decided to stop painting bigger pieces as they are so difficult to store, but seeing these has galvanised me into future action on bigger canvases. They, at least, never go missing.

#678 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Family, SerendipityLeave a comment

What skill would you like to learn?

My daytime yesterday was a series of jobs. Intrinsically with not a jot of anything worth blogging about. Apart from the evening which was fab. But sometimes the prompts that my blogging platform puts out each morning hit a nerve. This morning was such a moment. Yesterday I ran out of sticky tape to wrap a parcel. I had also run out of a specialist tape used for framing pictures. It made logistical sense to buy both from a specialist art shop. But as you can see there are four items in the above picture. Nowhere on my mental shopping list did a rose gold highlighter or an off-white marker feature. My exact thought as I walked out of the shop was .Why can I never just buy the two really dull items? Why does every trip to an art shop tempt me to buy more materials?

So with the two additional items in hand I then ponder where the fault lies. The culprit I decide is the specialist framing tape. I could have popped in anywhere and picked up parcel tape and just picked up parcel tape. But Loxley Gumstick Handy Artist Gummed Tape is a very dull looking product. I had to search it down . Past every known and unknown art product.

Then my pondering attention turned to the parcel tape. Had I not needed it to wrap a birthday gift, I would not have needed to be anywhere near the art shop because the framing tape was not a super urgent need.

Is not buying unplanned items a skill?

Is it even possible in an art shop ?

Two questions worthy of a ponder…

Maybe the blame lies with the birthday girl whose parcel needed wrapping.

Maybe I should just accept that for a trip to an art shop, only two unplanned items was not such a bad result and that the fault is all mine.

#677 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn dog walks, Serendipity1 Comment

My little corner of the southwest of England has emerged from a few days of low cloud. Not exactly our familiar greige but just very low cloud, making life a bit damp. Another unwelcome side effect is that all the brightly coloured autumn leaves become a rather dull shade of brown as soon as they spend any time on the ground.

Autumn is a tricksy time for dog owners, hunting a poo, even one done at the end of a lead can be so difficult even in brightly coloured leaves.

This beautiful leaf was in Dulwich Picture Gallery Park. Somewhere I have hunted autumnal poos often. There is a wonderful sculpture by Peter Randall-Page that celebrates doggy defecation in the same park.

Walking the Dog I, II, III by Peter Randall-Page

No chance of missing those doggy dollops. But real life is not like that,so my autumn will be spent peering into piles of leaves. I don’t always find my target, so by way of reparation I pick up a less diligent dog owner’s abandoned poo. There is something slightly uncomfortable about picking up a cold anonymous poo. Community spirit is not always comfy.

#676 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

What’s your #1 priority tomorrow?

Rather a lovely but not interesting answer. My Grand daughters first Birthday. However if we roll back a year my response would be different. The tomorrow of exactly one year ago was my daughters first day of her maternity leave. She was in London and I was as far west as it is possible to be in Devon. My priority for that day was to pack my Nana bag.  A bag that would be grabbed some time in the next month or so when I would be needed as number 2 birthing partner.

There was a mental list , thank goodness, because at 2a.m my granddaughter decided to start her arrival. Some of the mental list made it into an actual bag and I made it into London in time for her grand entrance. Despite the A303 doing the overnight closure thing and the London rush hour doing its daytime thing.

So if I am ever asked on the second of October what my priority for tomorrow will be. The answer is likely to always be the same.