Category: Words

#602 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn abstract photography, Serendipity, WordsLeave a comment

We had a little lunchtime trip to Mount Edgecumbe on Wednesday. A day off from house moving stuff, exhibition stuff and tennis club stuff. The weather around the Wisteria was deceptive. We were blown about when we later walked on the parkland but none of that is the subject of this blog.

The glorious Wisteria sent me searching in my photo archive for a series of photographs of a special Wisteria spider that I photographed on my own isteria some years ago. My apologies to spider haters but I was really thrilled to get a photo of the spider actually making the silk for her web.

This should have been the focus for the blog, but while searching for the spider I found a cat.

I have been looking for this image in my archive for years and never been able to find it, despite using all the right key words. I took this picture a few years ago in Brixton Market and couldn’t believe my luck in getting such a brilliant piece of visual wordplay. No words can express how happy I am to have finally found this picture again.

I knew this photo had to be somewhere, I am so very pleased to have located it again. Suddenly Thursday has been gingered up!

#533 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, WordsLeave a comment

Alliteration is everywhere in Social Media, blog writing, marketing and life. I believe a little alliteration goes a long way. My heart does not skip a beat at the thought of always having a W thought on a Wednesday or Thursday always being Thrown Back. I know that many people love it as a pattern for creativity. A blog writer that I follow always had a mid-week rest with Wordless Wednesdays. A beautiful or interesting picture is published instead of words. Having said that I only like to use alliteration sparingly, today turns out to be a rare example of a possible alliterative adventure. Wordy Wednesday. But in a twist the illustrations will just be out of my archive and left wordless. And so with all that waffle off we go.

Wordless Wedneday

A school friend and I have a love of all things wordy. Not that we knew that at school because hormones and teenage awkwardness spared us the problem of actually speaking to each other. Despite that we shared geographical proximity, an Oak tree and a friend called Fred.

Wordless Wednesday

Our recent correspondence has included nattering about a Literary Festival, nearish to his home. The Queenscliff Literary Festival. In all respects this festival has become something of a fantasy for me. Particularly because in a lucky past life there were two excellent literary festivals near here that were always fabulous to visit. Port Eliot Literary festival at St Germans and Ways With Words at Dartington. The first closed in 2019 and the latter last year.

Wordless Wednesday

Queenscliffe has a micro fiction competition open only to Australian citizens. A narrative expressed in only 50 words. Of course I had to have a go, what was the point. None really, but sometimes a gauntlet is thrown down and must be picked up. My International entry, not wanted or required follows.

©theoldmortuary

https://www.queenscliffeliteraryfestival.com.au/

P.S the joke is that today is Thursday! In a world where I am only painting staircase spindles the days are beginning to blurry…

#461 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Words1 Comment

Tranquility creeps up on me in surprising places. Our evening dog walk coincided with the exact point when the sea was still. High tide before the tide started to ebb away. There have been a few tranquil moments in recent days. These steps, leading to a soft sandy beach, showed signs of immense human and dog traffic but they were from the day before, preserved by neap tides and calm weather. Looking out at the beach there was no-one to be seen.

Similarly in this very complex photo from the Barbara Hepworth exhibition at Tate St Ives there was not another person in my eyeline.

Tranquility, even the word makes me want to relax. I looked up an on- line Thesaurus to check other similar words and reciting this list would have me nodding off in moments.

Should you feel the same I have one last picture to fit the mood. Glass bricks at Tate St Ives.

#442 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale, Words2 Comments

Procrastination gets a bad rap. I absolutely am a procrastinator. I have always felt that procrastination, done well, is a force for good. In the exact opposite of current psychological thinking I believe procrastination is a force for good in my life.

Yesterday I definitely procrastinated, deliberately and mindfully. There was a small list of things that needed to be achieved but I delayed starting them. Then a whole new task arrived which required action and the use of old skills. The task was completed in a couple of hours. That squeezed the required tasks into a more compact time-frame, which made me sharper and more effective. Art got done, the washing was done, the dogs were walked and I felt like I had achieved.

There was also a bonus for someone. My delayed dog walk meant that they stopped a little earlier to poo. In a pile of leaves they have never bothered with before. As I rummaged around collecting their morning offerings I found a small gold ring. Someone else’s lucky day.

Positive procrastination, positively powerful!

#350 theoldmortuary ponders

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©Anne Crozier – Golden Hills. This image can be seen at Drawn to Cotehele Art Exhibition.

My early morning walk had gusts of biting wind and brilliant sunshine. This whole blog could have been about the early signs of autumn getting a firmer grip on our daily lives, but between then and now I have attended a committee meeting and one word that I heard there knocked fading summer out of the blog for today.

Salmagundi in the context of our committee meeting was used as a word for a potluck supper. A meal or feast,for many, created by everyone attending bringing a plate of food to share.

Google suggests that the primary meaning of Salmagundi is of a mixed salad. But the words use to suggest a mixture in many different scenarios is also well established.

This, in a funny way also describes the weather between Summer and Autumn arrivng from all directions and a huge variety of textures; and the process of holding committee meetings, the opinions and experiences of a variety of people. In both cases different things come together to create a group experience.

A new word, for me, is a huge excitement, one that I am happy to share.

#341 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Ten Days of Mourning, WordsLeave a comment

I did not anticipate some observations on class today. The Queens coffin is resting on a purple catafalque- a decorated wooden structure supporting the coffin of a distinguished person.

When we took over the mortuary, prior to renovating the space, we had a very similar catafalque, same colour everything. But of course the good people of St Stephens in Cornwall were not distinguished so their coffins rested on a bier!

Some sources say the two words are synonyms with no mention of any distinguished differences.

The bier or catafalque of St Stephens held a secret. Beneath its purple drapes there was an old chest of drawers with a door nailed on top.

What lies beneath the purple drapes of the catafalque in Westminster Hall is likely to remain a mystery to those of us not involved in distinguished funerals. It is unlikely to be an old door and a chest of drawers, but you never know.

#249 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Hugo and Lola, Words5 Comments

It is Glastonbury weekend and, without tickets to the real thing, we are into the Festival Spirit by having a Tee Pee in the Studio. It makes viewing the festival on TV a little awkward but maybe that adds to the authenticity of our experience.

This is a really rare weekend, in our house, when the TV is on in the background, just in case we catch an ear glimpse of a band or performer that we like but have never heard of. ( What is the word for a fleeting aural experience?) I’m not certain that we will get to a festival this year so we are going to need to keep our ears to the ground to experience fresh music from other sources. Hugo of course has no idea what a festival is and got quite giddy at the thought of our little bit of fakery.

Meanwhile I have completely spooked myself with the idea of an ear glimpse. Whatever is the hearing equivalent of a glimpse? Answers appreciated. I had no plans to tease your minds to search for a word for me but what else is the weekend for if not a little gentle pondering?

#112 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Home Towns, WordsLeave a comment

Not a lot going on here. Some days or weeks are a bit becalmed. Not a huge amount going on or achieved. Those of you who actually know me would, quite rightly, never use the words elite athlete in the same sentence, paragraph or, quite frankly in the same room as me. But when I’m feeling a little bit becalmed I try to apply the sports or business philosophy of marginal gains.

The marginal gains philosophy approaches specific weaknesses as opportunities for growth, not points of criticism, improving the emotional wellbeing of athletes and employees alike. With marginal gains, a team can grow and develop in a way that best suits their needs.

Really there were no specifics for my becalmedness, just a list of not exactly thrilling tasks for a couple of days. I realise that I could also use the word doldrums but that word always suggests a slight dispiritedness which is not the case at all. My marginal gains of the week feel very marginal but a gain is a gain, regardless of its scale.

The cure for this state of mind would normally be a quick dip in the sea, and that is precisely my plan for today.

#109 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn WordsLeave a comment

Here is another gorgeous doorway from St Ives. Once again I am using a door as a way of introducing a topic that would only provide very poor visual content. The gate is open which is a fine excuse to open up about my latest addiction. Like many addictions someone introduced me to this new pleasure. It was almost a throw away comment as he left the house.

“Have you tried Wordle?”

https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/

I doubt he had even got to the end of the street before I had found Wordle, done a Wordle and needed more Wordles!

I texted frantically asking how I could get the next one.

He replied that I would have to wait until tomorrow.

Who in their right mind introduces anyone to something they can only access once a day for pleasure?

Well , me actually. You won’t regret it.

https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/

#59 theoldmortuary ponders

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I love neon signs.

Neon signs are rarely created to encourage quiet optimism, which is exactly the sensation this statement evokes in me. But if I felt commanded to feel good, invoke would be the correct word.

©Merriam Webster

If I had commissioned this sign I think I would have added the word ‘again’.

I’m only pondering this because neon signs are expensive so you want to get them right. On the other hand googling ‘It’s time to feel good’ has given me an earworm for a Monday morning which it would be unkind not to share.

“It’s time to feel good” is a commonly misheard lyric in ‘Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves. The actual lyric is ‘and don’t it feel good’

So there we have it, a classic ponder to start the week and a pleasing earworm, have a good Monday