Using a prompt today, not because I was lost for a subject to ponder, but more because there is always something to ponder.
Early morning pondering in the van, waiting for coffee. Two dogs on my lap.
What are you good at?
I’ve always been a ponderer and on the whole pondering is a private occupation, unless a daily blog is written. So with some self judgement I would say that I am a particularly avid and accomplished ponderer. Being good at something carries responsibilities, I have been accused of having too vivid an imagination or being lost in my own world. Well I adore vivid, that’s why some of my images are over-saturated and trust me,I have never been lost in my own world. I know exactly where I am.
So after all that self-justification here is todays ponder which is a little late and ludicrously vivid.
A chance encounter with a patient took us to Buckfast Abbey early this morning.
It was the most peaceful spot for an early morning dog walk with friends.
So peaceful that, beyond the vivid stained glass,I forgot to take photos.
The whole place is rather overwhelming and the Stained Glass is certainly a show stopper.
But coupled with an organ recital of some contemporary music the whole experience was quite other worldly.
Yesterday we started a day of dull chores with a free gift of coffee. Just enough for four double espresso. Our gift came from Monmouth Coffee in Borough Market.
And before that it came from Bolivia.
We needed something pretty perky to make a day of chores magical.
As it turns out Finca Floribondio did not do a bad job at all. Our first Industrial Estate of the day, yes, it was ‘that’ kind of a day, turned out to be not what you might expect at all. Commercial Road in Plymouth was an Industrial Estate long before such things were invented. We go there to get our car and van tyres fixed or replaced. That was job number one of the day. Me and the dogs walked while Hannah took the van. The magic or dreamlike powers of Floripondio gave me a great view and water for the dogs to play in.
View of the Citadel from Teats Hill slipway.
Some time had passed since the first dose of coffee so we made a plan to rendezvous at a coffee shop in a Motorbike Dealers. Once again the magic of Floripondo made things a little dreamlike.
A motorbike showroom where bikes are allowed on carpet!
Window view to prove we were in an Industrial Estate.
Now with full disclosure I must say I know nothing about motorbikes beyond an artistic love of sprockets.
Motorbike cafes have a dress code which we only just fitted by accidentally wearing dark colours. Leather is de rigour. Fabulously engineered leather to keep its wearers safe in case of incidental or accidental damage. Human skin and tarmac or gravel at high speed is not a good combination, neither is collision good for bones or internal organs. Motorbike leathers are phenomenal. However they can make their wearers look like a cross between a storm trooper and a lizard/insect. As we enjoyed our coffee and a bacon sarnie every one of these beautiful lizard insects stopped to pay homage to this beautiful object.
Now the coffee at this cafe was also wonderful but without the hallucinogenic properties of Finca Floripondio we were returned to normal humans who had chores to do in utterly banal and dull industrial estates. The magic of a freeby wiped out by normal life.
The magic only returned when we started researching actually buying some Finca Floripondio beans.
The first hit on Google was a surprise and took us straight back to one of our favourite Hong Kong coffee shops. Internet cookies are powerful things, no calories though!
However nothing could tempt us to pay HKD 468 for 200g of beans even as a holiday treat.
Our coffee treat will come from London, when we deserve it.
Every now and again Facebook memories jogs me into a realisation that there was a time in my life without daily blogging. Pondering before blogging was an entirely personal and private dialogue. Often occuring in the commuting time between work and home.
I had completely forgotten the quote from 2014 or even the work based incident that made me find it and post it on Facebook.
The quote is quite brutal in its takedown of the value of an apology. I don’t think the world of an apology is quite as black and white. Post-Covid in Britain the value of apologies has been utterly besmirched by the governing Conservative Party, who managed to be quite possibly the worst users of the hollow apology in history.
The broken plate analogy is perfect for this ponder. Because I believe the Japanese have a way of mending plates that demonstrates how a good apology can build back a beautiful broken plate into something different, maybe stronger, definitely a valuable transition.
While a bad apology, a missed apology or a failure to change just creates fragments of plates. Fragments that can echo down through history .
So, somewhat late to considering my 2014 quote, Facebook has prompted a good old ponder which I can share.
The gold standard of apologies is Kintsugi while Roman Pottery is of no value in the world of good apologies.
I always aim for Kintsugi but fear that at times I have taken the Roman Pottery road.
On the receiving end I have wonderful Kintsugi apologies that have strengthened and enhanced my life. Life has also dealt some Roman Pottery style apologies or non apologies. Things to step over and move on.
How good would it be to fix all of lifes broken pots with Kintsugi.
Ponder over, thank you Facebook 2014. I’ve managed to programme in a bit more wisdom since that post.
Yesterday was a mix of plans coming together and plans falling apart. Up to 3pm things pretty much went to plan, two art projects were finished in enough time to get me to Wembury for dog grooming. I even managed to get the best parking spot above the beach .
After top grade parking the plan was to swim and read while the dogs were being pampered. Tide and weather slightly changed that plan. I hadn’t checked the tide and the clouds occluded the bright sunshine.I found myself a warm rock and basked on radiated heat while reading my book. Other beach goers provided unexpected entertainment if I allowed myself to drift away from my novel. The beach was full of teenagers away from school for the exam season. There was also a group of mothers planning an after school party. I was in awe of the amount of stuff they transported onto the beach, sadly most of it,very environmentally unsound. The tide was going out and making the beach huge. They relocated three times, each time having to move enough stuff for a mini festival. Time ticked away while I listened to teenage drama, George, Lauren and an anonymous girl were particularly good value. Eventually though, and after an unplanned snooze it was time to collect the dogs. The beach had reached peak business and the smell of barbeque was overwhelming.
Our evening plan had been to swim after collecting the dogs but we had failed to remember the seasonal ban. However a coastal path walk took us to a rocky bay not too far away.
We were the only people there and the water was warm. My swim was essential. During the unplanned snooze, or it may have been a deep sleep. I had managed to squirm off the warm rock and onto fine sand. The sand was everywhere, absolutely everywhere. Driving home to sort things out would have been an exercise in whole body exfoliation. Not an experimental beauty treatment I was prepared to trial.
While I sorted myself out, Hannah basked on non invasive rocks and the dogs had a whole new beach to explore, without sand ruining their newly primped good looks.
The usual early morning view, but photographs don’t tell the whole story.
Out on the horizon and beyond there are warships taking part in Thursday Wars. A weekly Royal Navy plus others, event when war-like scenarios take place all around Plymouth Sound. What these tranquil views can’t show is the sound of rapid fire gunshots and weaponry being practiced out at sea. Conversely they also can’t show the amazing and constantly changing fragrances that were floating in the early morning air.
On mornings like this the dogs push for a longer walk than usual, if I am enchanted by the fragrances they are overblown by the smells of late Spring. Without dogs I would have been tempted to swim, but that is scheduled for this afternoon. But our extended walk did present a long anticipated treat.
A cinema is nearly ready to open close to home, no more schlepping out to a character-less box, on an entertainment park or going to the new but disorientating cinema in the city centre.Time to enjoy films and the experience of being at the cinema.
And after the dog walk, breakfast of a spinach smoothie while doing some window-box care.
Holidays are not just about the human members of the family. Hugo and Lola go on their holidays too. To somewhere they consider their second home. They have different responsibilities on holiday too. Hugo is an under gardener and Lola is security. Where they stay has sweeping views of the Tamar and Lyner River.
Are the dogs aware of the views, probably not. but they are very aware of their own geolocation in that landscape. They are also unaware that they holiday in the shadow of a castle.
Sometimes it is refreshing to just follow them round and photograph their significant places. In May every pause for a sniff is surrounded by wild and often overlooked plants.
Ten minutes in the Bracken gave me these two abstract and glorious images.
Being on holiday for the dogs is exhausting but exhilarating. The first night at home they sleep as if they have been working at optimum for two weeks. Then they swiftly return to normal home behaviour, just like their humans really, but without the washing pile.
There is no doubt that they absolutely love their holidays and their holiday family. We are very lucky that they have such a happy place to stay.
This quote appears on the back of a book that I am about to read. Just reading it exercises me greatly. What would be the purpose of my three hearts if I were so lucky.
One would certainly be my actual anatomical heart, working hard keeping me alive.
The second I think would be a super resilient heart to house all heartbreak, sadness and grief that life serves up.
But number three, well that would be the heart of love, the one that makes every day special, the one that expands as required. The one that looks into a sunset and concludes that another day has been well-lived.
6 bobbers and their dogs slipped anchor from Firestone Bay and camped and swam at Talland Bay over the weekend. It feels a bit like a superpower to walk, untroubled into the sea when all other beach visitors are tentatively dipping in their toes and squealing as an incoming wave splashes up their legs.After swimming we basked like reptiles in the afternoon sun.
There was a beach cafe too, that took card payments, which is quite a luxury for us. So cups of tea and a gooseberry ice cream followed our sea immersion.
When it was time to leave the beach we had a lovely late lunch to enjoy, cooked by an apostle of Ottolenghi. Wonderful Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food made with love and flavour. Humous so silky that it could be a beauty treatment.
Fresh lemony cake followed, and with that the most fascinating conversations. Bobbers follow eclectic topics of conversation on a normal day, but fueled by good food and sunshine we were off down more fascinating rabbit holes than the average rabbit explores in a lifetime.
Suddenly May has turned the temperature up and banished the rain. Clothes, now, reliably dry in half a day when we hang them against our white painted, stone wall. I treated our highest patio with white vinegar and soapy water and the sun has done some magic there and bleached away all the mildew that formed over winter.
The van is ready for our first good weather excursion and there is some spottiness about.
I was also impressed whilst in Hong Kong by some stools that we saw in a museum cafe. Not something you can tuck under your arm when travelling with hand luggage only but global giant Google has provided the exact thing now I am home.
Too bad that we no longer live in the actual old mortuary which had the most beautiful untreated concrete walls. Let’s see how this gorgeous shape fits into a Georgian house when it arrives from Shenzen. Yesterday evening was still full-on sunshine, we walked the dogs before going to a birthday party and the sounds of happiness coming from,what was left of the beach, were so uplifting.
Still in full sunlight we set off for a birthday party and were transported back 20 years with ex colleagues from Plymouth. What a fun night and it seems 20 years have passed by in the twink of a glitterball and we all looked fabulous. Below the birthday woman on our bobbing beach.
We were both early to the party and late to the party. We were there as the doors opened on the last day of the exhibition.
I was overwhelmed by the experience. Ordinarily if this exhibition had been in a home city I would have booked at least two further visits to fully absorb the significance and depth of what I was seeing. For this blog I am just going to ponder the large installation that was in the basement of the art gallery.
Her work is immediately joyful. When I walked into the installation I felt like I had symbiotically absorbed more champagne than would be conducive to steady walking. A smile appeared in my soul instantly. I could quite happily have laid in a great big bean bag and stayed there all day. The perfect thing would have been to be dressed all in black laying on a black bean bag watching the instant pleasure playing out on every visitor in the room. I realise, of course, that I would have been a hazard, slips, trips, and falls magnet and completely forbidden by the Health and Safety Axis of power. But a woman can dream.
As you can see in the picture above I was dressed to impress. Largely an accident of very minimal packing and a fortuitous find of earrings in Zara.
Every moment in this installation was a feast for the mind.
This was the moment a door opened.
I may stop wittering at this point and just share some photos. Have a fabulous Saturday.
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