Category: Spring

#1399 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn chores, Spring1 Comment

A sunny morning kicks off the 2026 Vintage Marmalade Season in our house. Marmalade by Gill (a bobber) makes its first appearance on breakfast toast.

The sun was everywhere this morning. But we are living in a ghost town. Nobody is visiting. Dreadful for local businesses.

The traffic situation was apparently terrible yesterday . Not that I experienced it as I walked or used public transport for my Wednesday Adventures.  The traffic situation is even keeping the swimmers away.

A more reliable one way system is being considered to ease the Ghost Town effect. Until then I think most people who can avoid coming here will. Yesterday a coach caused a prolonged traffic jam but apart from odd incidents the traffic is only really bad at predictable times. It is the sun that is keeping me at home today, not a fear of traffic. Some yardening needs to be attended to.

Sunshine also filled our yard today. These beautiful roses are turning their heads to the sun and I must take the winter lights off the washing line so it can be used for actual drying of washing.

Just a couple of hours of tinkering in a sun filled yard makes  all the difference. Although there are no areas that look particularly pretty it won’t be too long before I can sit out with a coffee and not feel compelled to do yardening. I just need the sun to warm up enough to dry out the last damp vestiges of a very wet winter.

But for now more wandering in our Ghost Town.

#1397 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Spring, StonehouseLeave a comment

Sticking my neck out I would suggest that Spring has arrived on the Stonehouse Peninsula. Three days of sunshine but the temperature and wind are nothing like Springy enough yet.

The strong breeze certainly took my Giraffe off his feet for every one of his morning poses.

This one had him tumbling into a rockpool. But in clambering down to retrieve him I found a sheltered sun trap, where we could bask and harvest vitamin D for a few minutes.

Sticking my neck out predicting the arrival of actual Spring might come back to bite me on the bum tomorrow. The current ten day forecast  has not a single drop of rain illustrated. So for now that is good enough 

#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.

#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.

#1350 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Spring1 Comment

St David’s Day.

As many blog readers know I have a fascination with lesser known saints and the often flimsy accounts of how and why they became Saints. Today I discovered that even the big hitters in the Saints world have their Saintliness based, in part on less than credible miracles or all but pointless selfless acts.

Growing up in a non-religious household, St David was the first saint of my acquaintance. On my first day at primary school I was put into St David’s House (Team). Good behaviour and Sporting prowess were rewarded by points awarded to  St Davids House, one of four Saint led groups that every child in the school belonged to.

St David is a Welsh Saint and by pure co-incidence my genetic make up includes a lot of Welshness mixed up with East Saxon. ( North East Essex)

Back to Primary School. On Sports Days and Celebratory Days I wore a yellow sash or yellow badge. On March the 1st the ‘ Yellows’ led the school assembly. Sport dominated the House system at my school, the good behaviour points largely forgotten about by the competitive types.

Diligent and nerdish, and a natural loner. I only gained house points for good behaviour, reading and creative writing. I turned up for sport, never excelled, but I was loyal to St David.

Every March the first I give a little nod to St David. This morning I sent a Happy Saints Day message to a partial Welshman. And for the first time ever I googled St David…

You might think for a big hitter in the Saints World there would be something  fabulous about him.

He is as flimsy as any other saint. His bones are contested and his miracle! I am surprised anyone ever noticed.

When St David was addressing an outdoor audience, preaching perhaps or just doing stand-up . Who could possibly know? A small hill appeared beneath his feet. Now if there is one thing Wales does not need it is another small hill. Apart from all the big and small hills that litter the land there are the industrial piles of slag, left over from a highly successful mining industry.

Happy St David’s Day. Do not read the P.S if you are squeamish.

P.S

My small obsession with Saints started when I discovered my grandparents collection of encyclopaedias. To be honest I have always read anything  and retain the oddest things.

St Christopher the Patron Saint of Travellers caused me an awkwardness when I was about 14 or 15.

A girl in my class was missing from school for a few days following the death, in a road accident, of her sister. She returned to school wearing her sister’s St Christopher charm necklace. Not exactly a boast but among her close cohort of friends it was said that you could still see the blood on the charm. I was not in her inner circle but commented that surely that was a sign that St Christopher was not very effective on that occasion. Maybe not my finest hour of being intrigued, but not in awe of Saints…

Happy St Davids Day

#1232 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Spring1 Comment

Pondering the Spring or Vernal Equinox with a dark image of  Spring while listening to the dawn chorus with the first caffeinated cup of tea of the day. I hardly have a rock and roll lifestyle, but I am nursing a small lack-of-caffeine headache, so there is a touch of angst in my early morning perfection. But with proper darkness into a light celebration of the Vernal Equinox, I have another vase of spring flowers to illustrate this blog of the changing season.

Aesthetically the womanliness of this vase is the star of this image.

Happy Vernal Equinox to those in the Northern Hemisphere. Happy Friday to all.

#1231 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Concatenation, Spring1 Comment

It doesn’t take much consistent Springiness to make me adopt Springlike behaviour. No coat for most dog walks this week, sometimes regrettable.

Early morning bud watch in the yard. Coffee in hand. Page turning moments while reading pruning guides with the last cup of tea before bed.

And the urge to book tickets for outdoor events.

After last week’s success at a Silent Disco, the bobbers are planning another Dry Bob at the Tinside Lido soon. A Silent Disco at a swimming pool. How appropriate is that?

Spring is really in the air.

#1226 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Spring2 Comments

I sense that I have hit visceral Spring in the last couple of days. Caught between  Climatological Spring on the 1st of March and Astronomical  Spring on the 20th of March. I am both behind the game and ahead of it at the same time. Actual Spring Cleaning occurred yesterday. I am on the steps of pastel colours and fresh greens that ultimately lead to summer.

Summer and Winter Solstices are the big ticket events but I think I prefer the softer transitions into Spring and autumn.

Visceral Spring is an entirely emotional and personal response. The point when layers of clothes become intolerable and my feet protest at the thought of socks and boots. Visceral Spring is not without discomfort. Toes in sandals are nipped by 1 degree temperatures and cold winds find their way into spaces where thermal underwear is missing but that discomfort is my small celebration that winter really is behind me, and that is a good thing for a winterphobic soul. Even one who has done her very best to find the positive in the dark months.

Time to lay a tribute on the steps towards Spring, Summer and Autumn. Longer days and sunlight.

#1228 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Spring1 Comment

Two weeks ago we bought two bunches of tight budded daffodils at a  reduced price of 49 pence each bunch because they were past their sell by date. Two weeks on they are in full bloom and are gorgeous double headed daffodils. Not past their sell by date at all.

There were no such delightful bargains to be had today.

#1225 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale, Spring, StonehouseLeave a comment
Drakes Island, Firestone Bay. © theoldmortuary

We said farewell to some neighbours yesterday. The weather was kind for their last day of having a home near Firestone Bay. They are headed for Yorkshire. A place with a very different sort of beauty.

Meanwhile we have discovered that we have some foxy neighbours who have taken to visiting our yard at nighttime. Leaving a pungent calling card of foxy odour.

Foxy neighbours and their fragrances are not unknown to us. The picture below was a regular occurrence in our London garden .

Some neighbours are more welcome than others.