Category: Serendipity

#1378 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment
Outside seating at Bufala, Fowey.

I always think the portal between worlds feels a little more open at Christmas time. Occluded only by a gossamer thin pellicule that love passes through and is more tangible . I don’t just mean between those we loved who have passed over but also with those who cannot be with us in person. Divided by miles or circumstance.

I was reminded of this yesterday during our visit to Fowey.

The Tamar Valley has been my practically placed home base for 37 years. Fowey has been where my fantasy heart resides for far longer.

Everyone we hold dear has been with us to Fowey. I went with my parents when we were on Cornish Holidays and it was the first place I drove to when I moved to the Tamar Valley in 1988.

I always think the outdoor seating area at Bufala, and as it was previously known Toll Bar is like a location for some personal Magical Realism. It would need to be much bigger because I have probably sat out there with 40 to fifty friends and family at different times in my life. Sunburn and windchill being seasonal risks. And now mass tourism has squeezed us out to visits only in the quieter months. My apologies to all F&F who have not been there. Your time will come.

I could go on about Fowey but as this is about people and love here are 3❤️ snippets from the day.

Kylie and Dan 2016. Fowey.U.K
Me and Kylie 3 weeks ago. Mount Eliza Australia

Sometimes if we are very lucky work friends become heart-fit-to-burst friends.

The same goes for neighbours.

Seagull perches on Crow, yesterday
Keith, our London neighbour in Fowey Dec 2016. A crow perched on his shoulder.

The last little heart snippet is very hard to explain.

Lola

Regular readers will know that our much loved dog Hugo crossed to another realm two weeks ago. We are navigating the experience of canine mourning. Lola has become a very sleepy and restful woman until we take her to places filled with humans and dogs. Fowey is such a place.  Yesterday she was in full love-a-stranger mode. In particular she overwhelmed two men who absolutely gave her the best tickles and hugs and then sadly told us they were mourning dog loss of their own.  We had not nentioned our loss until after they did.

Then the same happened with a woman in an interiors shop. Visibly upset from the moment of Lolas love bombing she explained that her heart was so broken from losing her dog she could never consider getting another. We were fine with her tears but her adult children, not so much. They ushered her out of the shop. Thankfully Fowey is a confined ribbon of a main street. Lola caught up with her in another shop and created smiles with her new stranger friend.

Lola seems to have developed some sort of doggy empathy. The Season of goodwill in canine form.

#1374 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Advent, Serendipity2 Comments
Exeter City Centre

I found this temporary sculpture yesterday. Doubtless commissioned as a photo opportunity. But beautiful in its own way without humans  posing against it. I love the ambiguity of it. Are they Angels wings or Fairy?

Christmas has become for many of us the most delightful mash up of Sacred and Secular. Consumerist and cozy. Family and friends. Memories and Magic.

I nearly always overthink Christmas. Preparing for the present yet nostalgic for the past.

Studying Fine Art as a mature student, gave me a new mentor as I found the writing of Robert Hughes as an excellent guide to Art Theory. But his famous quote about Christmas baffled me when I first read it. I had completely forgotten my bafflement until I was standing near his plaque in Sydney two weeks ago.

Friends and their feet at a plaque to commemorate a favourite writer and thinker. Robert Hughes

So here I am having given myself renewed bafflement fresh from the sunshine of Sydney. Bafflement caused by a man who had rejected Catholicism for deeply personal reasons and yet mentions God in one of his often quoted quotes.

I suppose my circular counter argument would be that a deep winter celebration was much needed by early humans in the Northern Hemisphere.Short cold days can be relentless. Early Christians saw an opportunity and popped God into the mix by a convenient Birth of Christ Story to coincide with Winter festivals.

Bob is your Uncle and Christianity gets a popularity boost. Whose heart did it start in?

Actually Bob probably becomes your drunk Uncle who always appears with his slightly grumpy partner Sylvia whose family Christmas traditions do not involve being pleasant to anyone.

So wherever Christmas sits in your heart currently. Seasons Greetings.

Fairy or Angel? Whichever is right for you xx

#1368 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

Describe a man who has positively impacted your life.

The obvious answer would be my Dad. A quiet, clever man who avoided conflict and worked hard. He was dependable and wise, a man ahead of his time in many ways and out of step with the masculinity of his generation.

The bar was set quite high, but having a gentle father gave me a natural resistance to toxic masculinity in my inner circle.  Such men are unavoidable in the real world, but I am lucky that the significant men that I have as friends and family are of the same calibre as my Dad.

#1367 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Hugo and Lola, Serendipity2 Comments

I took this photo last week. I was intrigued by the twist on the normal message of  Merry Christmas. Taking Christ out of the salutation and replacing him with love. Millions of people with no Christian faith at all celebrate Christmas, and for them Christmas is all about being with the people you love, sharing food and gifts and most importantly sharing oodles of love widely. I never expected to use this photo, but the sudden death of a much loved dog has plunged us into a Love-mas. Not merry but a Love-mas never the less.

#1366 theoldmortuary ponders

Messages of sympathy and love have flooded in from all over the world. Along with photos of Hugo that we have never seen before and stories of his antics that have made us smile.

Hugo was an Interventionist Flâneur, from the day he arrived.

Having observed, he intervened, fixing people with his eyes, limpid, black pools of love and interest. He looked into souls, searching for a reason to give one of his specialist dominating cuddles.

One hour after a friends Dad and Pops had died.

A dog who knew all about the human need for comfort. He felt the pain of bereavement, heartbreak, hangovers, period pains and sorted things out with long moments of eye to eye contact.

Before collapsing into the cuddle position which was always his unstated intention. If he had been a human therapist he would have been struck off every list that exists.

The therapist struck off for inappropriate behaviour.

For the first time in 13 years he is not around to resolve my sorrow and sadness. But because he was so good at what he did, our family has been flooded with love from all corners of the world. We have loved getting the photographs and anecdotes. They make us smile and they make our eyes leak, but we find ourselves in a Lovemas all of his making.

#1366 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Hugo and Lola, Serendipity4 Comments




From time to time, people tell me, “lighten up, it’s just a dog,”
or “that’s a lot of money for just a dog.”

They don’t understand the distance travelled, the time spent,
or the costs involved for “just a dog.”

Some of my proudest moments have come about with “just a dog.”

Many hours have passed and my only company was “just a dog,”
but I did not once feel slighted.

Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by
“just a dog,” and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch
of “just a dog” gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.

If you, too, think it’s “just a dog,” then you probably understand
phrases like “just a friend,” “just a sunrise,” or “just a promise.”

“Just a dog” brings into my life the very essence of friendship,
trust, and pure unbridled joy.

“Just a dog” brings out the compassion and patience
that make me a better person.

Because of “just a dog” I will rise early, take long walks and look
longingly to the future.

So for me and folks like me, it’s not “just a dog”
but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future,
the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment.

“Just a dog” brings out what’s good in me and diverts my thoughts
away from myself and the worries of the day.

I hope that someday they can understand that its’ not “just a dog”
but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being
“just a man” or “just a woman.”

So the next time you hear the phrase “just a dog,”
just smile, because they “just don’t understand.”

~Unknown Author~

     © 2016 PROFESSOR NOEL FITZPATRICK All rights reserved  – Built by Lightflows Digital Agency

Hugo 2012-2025.

Hugo died suddenly, one day after we returned from our holiday. His last enthusiastic greeting had broken his heart. Heart Failure caused by a sudden rush of love to his heart.

Our world will not be the same without him.

#1363 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Coffee Hunters, Serendipity1 Comment

Holidays, like all good things must come to an end. It is a bummer.

This bum was in our last coffee shop stop in Hong Kong. Kaktus Koffee in Sheung Wang.

The last coffee of our holiday and the last in Hong Kong it may have been, but I had my first taste of a cloud coffee.

My photo opportunities.

And of course I also took a photo of the beautiful floor.

My normal coffee of choice is a simple two shot, short black. However travel is a great way to open the mind. Giddiness in all things is permitted beyond the confines of the day to day.

Coffee giddiness went to some crazy places. Lemon Coffee. Burnt and Salted popcorn coffee, Cloud coffee. My coffee infidelity was rampant. There are others that have currently slipped my mind. Probably because it has become so delightfully open.

December and our travels in Asia and Australia have been punctuated by coffee stops. My winter blogs will be peppered with holiday anecdotes and sunshine photos during January, but the rest of December will be all about Christmas trees in sunny places.

Normal blogging but with a sunshine twist. X

#1361 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Family, Hong Kong, SerendipityLeave a comment
24 hours in Hong Kong.

This time yesterday we were taking a tea and wee break in Hong Kong Airport. Sitting below a pink festive waterfall. Which inspired me to catch the pink dawn this morning .

Moment 01 in Hong Kong

I am not sure pale pink is a colour I normally associate with Hong Kong or Christmas but both worked for quiet contemplation before the hurly- burly, vivid carnival that is family life in Hong Kong.

Let it begin.

#1360 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment
24 hours in Hong Kong.

This time yesterday we were taking a tea and wee break in Hong Kong Airport. Sitting below a pink festive waterfall. Which inspired me to catch the pink dawn this morning .

Moment 01 in Hong Kong

I am not sure pale pink is a colour I normally associate with Hong Kong or Christmas but both worked for quiet contemplation before the hurly- burly, vivid carnival that is family life in Hong Kong.

Let it begin.

#1358 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Australia, Serendipity2 Comments
Ross Jones Rockpool

What’s your favorite cartoon?

A somewhat self-indulgent blog. I like to create poster art out of my photographs. I am currently one week into my first visit to Australia. All the glorious things I have seen or the gorgeous people I have had the pleasure of meeting have made this a memorable week. I know that future visits will never quite put my creative head in the same spin as this week’s first impression. This cartoon captures some of my swirling thoughts. Vivid colours. Expansive seas. First Nations art, whilst remaining respectful and without misappropriation. Awe. The first scintilla of a love affair with a new to me country.

#1357 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment
Leucospermum

Australia gives great texture, there is texture in every direction. The nooks and crannies of life illuminated by  bright sunlight that casts light and penetrates, making  the shadows deeper and more intriguing. The brights more vivid and yet evanescent if cloud or shade passes

Succulents
Cotyledon Undulata

The way a different light distills imagery is endlessly fascinating and challenging. Making me plan new projects and considering different ways of exploring new subjects and old favourites.