#678 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

It was a strange and mournful day, first thing this morning. Grey with sea mist and slightly damp. But then I walked past a memorial bench with a sad bunch of flowers marking someones 60th birthday.

How lucky am I to have passed that milestone and to pass this bench every day when the person commemorated never got that far. So out of a strange and mournful day came so many reasons to be cheerful.

Paul Simon drearful v Ian Dury cheerful.

I am somewhat lost in selecting my tracks for a private Desert island Discs event This is a project some years in the making. The list stretches beyond the 8 tracks allowed by the original radio programme.

The list has stayed substantially the same but if I could dictate I would like twenty tracks. I may try to negotiate. Today I made some brief notes for each of the twelve tracks.  Unknown until now I think there is a theme that reflects my glass half full attitude to life.

In my life a fair old bit of rain has fallen and, as for many of us, some days can be dark, but my music choices show that I have always allowed optimism and a certain degree of pretence to be my tools of choice when dealing with the tough stuff.

But 8 tracks to reflect a lifetime. Impossible

#677 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, Serendipity1 Comment

Psychogeography and Pirates. Monday found us mingling with Pirates at a childrens book day and wandering with other peoples memories in a park. The success of a book day/ meet the author event is easily measured in our house. We have our own, newly designed Pirate Flag in the kitchen and as a family we are encouraged to greet one another with a single word salutation delivered in the gruffest of voices.

” Hearties”

We spent the morning with Childrens Author Claire Helen Walsh. The location, next to the sea at Stonehouse Lawn Tennis Club was the perfect setting for her two chosen books that took Piracy to new levels of surreal.

We played tennis with biscuits to test their relative aerodynamic qualities and then built a rocket.

Planks were walked and survival was rewarded with eye glasses and dubloons. Unicorns, dragons and aliens arrived and our glorious sequined, pink Jolly Roger Flag was designed and created and now hangs in the kitchen.

Later in the day we went to Devonport Park where the adventures of the mind continued in an adventure playground full of cargo nets and timber. The timber, of course, would have previously been ‘Shivered’

Devonport Park is hugely popular but has only recently become a regular location for us. But historically Hannahs grandparents met there, the park was known as a place for chance encounters of the old fashioned sort. For Hannah it was always a family favourite location. The many memorial plaques found in the flower beds record the many other people whose lives and loves were touched by the peace and tranquility of the park. I suspect the cargo nets and timbers will call us back more often now.

Surely the sign of a good book event, we are still living in the imaginative world of Surreal Pirates who briefly took over a tennis club.

#676 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Lost Gardens of Heligan1 Comment

Describe one habit that brings you joy.

We have a family habit that has brought joy for more than 30 years.sAnd We are lucky enough to live within easy reach of all of the great tourist attractions of Devon and Cornwall. The place we visit most often is The Lost Gardens of Heligan near Mevagissey. We go so often we almost certainly don’t take the iconic pictures the location deserves but we do get some quirky shots most times we visit.

Today the mud maiden looked very relaxed.

And the Head Gardeners office never fails to charm me.

There are places to find peace, like this simple white greenhouse.

But for the most part today we did what a small person wanted to do and that meant hide and seek in all of the varied garden areas and dog walking on the beautiful lawns.

Somewhat amazingly we were there, almost when the doors opened until closing time.We would actually have been there at opening time but we had a traffic hold up on the way.

Action shot of us overtaking a steam engine on a narrow Cornish lane. It all added to the joy of the day. Link below to the Website of the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

https://www.heligan.com/

#675 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Drawn to the Valley, Drawn To The Valley Artists, SerendipityLeave a comment

What are you curious about?

This is the very best sort of reading to start the day with, curiosity in book form. Since leaving the committee of Drawn to the Valley last year, I have had very little to do with the nuts and bolts of organizing the current programme of events. For local readers there are two more days to visit the Summer Exhibition in Tavistock.

This book is a joy to read and shows exactly how far Drawn to the Valley has come from those dark years of the Covid and post-Covid complexities of running a fairly large arts organisation in a geographically widespread location.

After 5 years as a member of the organisation these pages are now filled with the work of artists that I have met and shared creative journeys with. Many of them are my friends and teachers.

The page below shows how successful one of my projects has become.

Creative Tables has spread over the length and breadth of the Tamar Valley. Started to bring artists back together after the isolation of the Covid Lock-down in Plymouth. Creative Tables now operates monthly meetings in several different locations.

This book also shows how one life feeds into another as some of the people in the exhibition photographs are also bobbers and one artist has painted gig rowing the only team sport I have ever loved.

I was never quite so glam in my rowing days. Another curiosity for me is which piece of art will tempt me at Open studios.  There are many walls in my house with work by Drawn to the Valley artists.

Curiosity is a superpower, it can take you to the most fabulous places even when sat in bed with a cup of tea and a fabulous brochure.

#674  theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity2 Comments

Write about a random act of kindness you’ve done for someone.

I find this to be rather a curious prompt for Jetpack to set. A random act of kindness, in my opinion, is an anonymous and unheralded event. I absolutely believe that kindness is a super power and that a little bit can go a long way. People who are inherently kind,are my kind of people, the other, opposite sort of people are best avoided or treated with caution. I also believe in kindness to myself, and that perhaps is the only random act of kindness I am prepared to go public about.

Toxic people with their own agendas are a sad fact of life. No amount of kindness can dent their self-belief or carapace of malevolence. Often they wear a cloak of charm or even generosity. The older I get the more I give myself the permission to mitigate their behaviour by simply disengaging. This is one of the absolute bonuses of being a self-employed artist rather than a salaried person in a big organization.

As a kindness to myself avoidance becomes a positive.

#673 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

Here I am on my regular, dog grooming day, spot. Wembley Beach on a day with sunshine, the first day of good weather for weeks. To celebrate I bought an unusual but gorgeous snack to accompany my habitual cup of tea.

This product is an unctuous flavour bomb. I may start making them at home. It went down very well with a cup of tea.

The tide was out so rock pooling was the activity of choice. The trouble with rock pooling is that discovering creatures hidden under rocks is not the most photographic experience, as any right-minded sea creature quickly shuttles under a different rock very quickly. Sunbeams, however, can easily be trapped for photography.

Photography was on other peoples minds too, as a wedding party arrived to take some memorable images on this beautiful stretch of coast.

But first a more pressing problem, where could the bride and bridesmaids have a wee? The public toilets were a quagmire of sand and other detritus from a busy beach day.

Plans were made, there was a significant delay and then photographs were posed.

And finally a lovely long distance shot that looks like a figurative abstract.

Not a single page of my book was read.

#672 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging1 Comment

What traditions have you not kept that your parents had?

My parents were young people with a small child in the sixties. Traditions were thrown out of their lives with the same enthusiasm as many of their generation. Christmas was perhaps their most ‘traditional’ time

One tradition was my dads desire to gift both business and personal diaries to family members on Boxing Day. In the United Kingdom that is the day after Christmas day. Whatever would people think in 2023 if I kept that tradition going.  Diary and calendar use has truly fallen off a cliff with most people keeping an electronic diary. The Filofax was the first death blow to traditional diaries and that was quickly passed over for electronic memory jogging.

For some years I managed with an electronic diary but once I returned to doing complex shifts and on-calls I really needed a paper record, the chance of running out of a phone battery at the point someone wanted to swap a complex set of shifts was more common than you might think. At that point I returned to the flexibility of a filofax and have stuck with it. No risk of battery failure but a big risk of being not to hand at the exact moment I need it.

There is a poignancy to diaries and my dad. He died unexpectedly and suddenly from bowel cancer in the middle of treatment. His treatment plan carefully plotted two months beyond his life. I still have that diary. I now know that it was his decision to stop treatment when the odds of it giving him a good quality of life were slipping away.

On a lighter note, as you see from the only photo my filofax is not a thing of tidyness or order.

#671 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing1 Comment

Was today typical?

If today was yesterday, it was not completely typical. The long distance swimmers,who are also bobbers, took off from our usual bobbing location, but for a longer distance swim with very little chatting. What was not so typical was that a bright red Royal Navy ship sailed past the bobbing zone making the whole thing more colourful.

Normally bobbers are tiny orange dots swimming in the sea with military grey ships sailing past. Not so yesterday. HMS Protector sailed past as they were swimming out. Link below for information.

news/navy/onboard-hms-protector-royal-navys-ice-patrol-ship

If we think our waters can be chilly at times, this ship spends most of its working life in the Antarctic. It has just been in Plymouth for a bit of a spruce up and training. The bobbers were not the only bright things in the sea yesterday.

#670 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn HomeLeave a comment

And just like that the rain has stopped. Juggling grandchildren and rain is one of the great unknowns of a British Summer. This slightly explains the erratic nature of blogging over July and August.

Not that rain is completely a bad thing, every morning a small bowl of garden strawberries is served to a happy 4 year old. This lunchtime the first red tomato was cut in half and shared as a snack.

The tomatoes in hanging baskets are behind in the colour stakes but ahead in fecundity.

Other jobs like recycling and rubbish removal into the outside world are infinitely more pleasant without rain.

But what has caused this sudden break in some truly shocking weather? Almost certainly the delivery of a really long Dryrobe for a small person apparently it will fit her from age 5 to 9. That is a really long dry spell if this coat really is the weather charm we hope for.

#659 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

This is a sign of a good Saturday. The Saturday newspaper is still virtually unread on Sunday morning.  My only print copy of the week when it remains unread until Sunday. If, by chance, it has been read fully on Saturday then a Sunday paper is purchased. I probably am a typical Guardian reader and am as comfortable with that as any other stereotype. Sometimes people I know personally are written about or contribute to the Guardian. In recent months two colleagues have been featured. One was Maggie Jenkin who does invaluable work solving human mysteries.

ttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/27/the-wembley-point-mystery-who-was-the-woman-who-jumped-to-her-death

Today another colleague is in the spot light. Naming herself as Dr Biscuit.

I have had long letters to the letters page and had them published and art exhibitions reviewed in the pages of The Guardian.

The guardian also has an alternative Obituary service called Other Lives.

The obituaries are of notable but normal people. The Obituaries are written by friends, colleagues and family members. Far from sadness these essays on a life are life affirming. The power of being under the radar of celebrity and yet contributing massively to the positive aspects of society and culture.

I can’t link directly but should the lives of normal people inspire you just google – Other Lives The Guardian.

Let me be honest, the Sports pages get recycled with the pages unmoved in this house but Feast often feeds us for a week.

Other newspapers get read occasionally. Last week the Guardian was sold out so I slipped to the Dark- side and read a Rupert Murdoch product. The Times, it is no bad thing to sometimes go for change but the behaviour of News International Journalists and management makes the Times only a real emergency read. Not because it isn’t good because it is but my moral compass spins uncomfortably as I read it. Also the quality of their paper for their cooking pages is glossy and fragile, barely surviving one cooking moment in my kitchen. Feast goes on for years.

As could I on a Sunday…