Pandemic Pondering #418

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Home Towns, SerendipityLeave a comment

A wet day out. Today we went to Fowey, a town we regularly visit but it is almost 2 years since we last were able to come. Many old favourite shops and cafes remain closed, maybe for ever, which is very sad. New kid on the block, North Street Cafe, looked very fine.

The weather was not kind to us but the occasional bursts of sunshine encouraged us to walk much further than usual and we found a secret garden on the site of an old Grammar School.

And watched sail boat racing. The day took on a dark turn , not only with the weather.A new sculpture has arrived in Fowey.

The sculpture celebrates the work of local author Daphne Du Maurier and in particular her book The Birds.

On a personal level the Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name scared me silly when I was a young Human. I’ve  never really felt an affinity with birds since , particularly when they accidentally get trapped indoors. I’m not so daft that the sculpture bothered me but at the end of our walk we sat by the Boddinick Ferry slip way to eat ice-cream and enjoy a rare moment of vivid sunshine. We were opposite Daphne Du Mauriers house. As the sun burnt through the rain clouds a huge cacophany of Crows calling and squarking filled the air behind us in the Rookery near by. The valley was filled with the sound that Hitchcock so effectively used in his screenplay. Right opposite the authors house, it must have informed her original writing.  Anyway it unnerved me so much I failed to take a picture of her old home. It is easy enough to find it on the internet.

https://www.visitcornwall.com/about-cornwall/blogging-cornwall/daphne-du-mauriers-cornwall

Instead I took a picture of the cottages she would have seen from her home and made them look a little nostalgic.

Despite the weather and ‘The Birds’ a good day out.

Pandemic Pondering # 417

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Fitness, flowers, Friends and Family, Serendipity3 Comments

The May weather is so shocking in Cornwall this year that my poppies are ravaged. I can show their purple loveliness inside but their outsides are not photo worthy. The insides though are a velvety pleasure zone, too bad the weather that is battering them is also keeping the pollinators away.

In contrast the dreadful weather is not keeping us out of the sea and miraculously the storms have not stirred the sea bed too much so the minute the sun comes out everything looks pristine.

©Debs Bobber

The sea temperature has started to edge up a little so the rush to dry off and dress quickly after a swim is getting less desperate.We can even feel some warmth from the sun as we stand around enjoying our flasks of hot drinks.

©Debs Bobber

After some thought the Bobbers have decided to take their relationship to the next level. With temperatures rising slightly the need to dress like arctic explorers, post swim, is less essential. Water bottles have mostly been discarded already, along with wooly bobble hats and one layer of thermal underwear. Some time soon there will be a post swim photo of Bobbers posing in their new team hoodies, a ‘ Next Level’ sign, I’m sure, that ‘ bobbing’ is set to continue as the Pandemic restriction ease off and we could all be off doing different things. Two years ago this location was just somewhere to walk the dogs, a year ago, at the height of restrictions we dreamed of being able to get here to walk the dogs. Now after restrictions eased and exercise was a valid reason to travel short distances we swim here at least 3 times a week and mark special occasions with a dip. Something none of us would have considered until Covid-19 recalibrated our lives and mindsets.

Pandemic Pondering #416

On By theoldmortuary.designIn The BoxLeave a comment

A late email changed the shape of Thursday. The Box in Plymouth was ready to re- orientate Gallery Guides. I signed up for the Thursday morning training session. It is 6 months since the museum closed to visitors. Opening next week in a ticketed controlled way there is also some optimism that the museum can open fully, very soon and function in the way it was designed and planned for.

Yesterday was about Health and Safety and continued Covid precautions but along the way some new exhibits were glimpsed. The new Wompanoag Gallery will be one to spend some time in.

© The Box

In the nearby Mayflower exhibition there have been some tweaks. I especially liked the new position of these words on the hull of the Mayflower.

©The Box

On a different level it did feel strange to be in a room with a group of mostly unknown people. This last period of Lockdown has really messed with my head, I’ve grown accustomed to the strange, reserved, way we have all been living as isolationists. Switching back up to relatively normal sociability is the next adventure in these unprecedented moments.

Have a fine and fabulous Friday.

Pandemic Pondering #415

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Food ( but this is not a food blog)Leave a comment

This popped into my in box this morning. At the time I was thinking of one of the small things I appreciate and have been denied again because of Covid restictions. Eid sweets, tiny morsels of sweet tastiness.

https://media.googleusercontent.com/tenor/Cf7wxrX-CiEAAAAd/minar-moon.gif

Eid al-Fitr was called last night and with Covid restrictions still in place the special foods of celebration will not be shared as widely as they should. There will still be the wonderful smells of home cooking wafting from the kitchens for the restricted gatherings to celebrate the ending of Ramadan. Eid sweets are one of the small things I have learned to appreciate over the years, colleagues bringing them into work or finding them on the counter or reception of Muslim run businesses.

Will Eid sweets shared to the public ever reappear in normal life , in just the same way that bar snacks are unlikely to make their way back anytime soon.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/may/08/recipes-for-ramadan-three-sweets-for-eid-from-maamoul-biscuits-to-turshana

I’ve just put a link to some recipes, although they really are for sharing so maybe not such a good idea to make a batch for lone snacking!

Pandemic Pondering #414

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, SerendipityLeave a comment

Yesterday was a drawing day. A chance to sit out at a beautiful location and sketch. May in Cornwall has been a bit lack lustre. Cold and wet. By now I should be boring you all with pictures of vibrant poppies growing wild and wilful at the side of @theoldmortuary, it has not yet happened. Similarly the Wisteria at Pentillie Castle yesterday was pretty much still in bed when I sat at the arch, pencil in hand.

Sleeping Wisteria

I managed to sketch in the bare bones of the arch before two, or three forces of nature sent me scuttling indoors for shelter. Two beautiful dogs took a huge liking to my fat Posca Pens and joyfully stole them, only to return them , directly onto my sketchpad with the addition of copious amounts of dog slobber.

https://www.posca.com/en-uk/

A fine sketch of weaving, mostly bare, Wisteria branches and metal supports was never going to happen on a sketch pad pre soaked with dog juices. Then the rain arrived! Time to retreat to shelter and deploy a vivid imagination.

Time also to consider an alternative strapline for Posca Pens.

Posca Pens.

Work well with dog dribble.

Link to Pentillie Castle website- https://www.pentillie.co.uk/

Pandemic Pondering #413

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity3 Comments

My ‘ bonus track’ day. My parents both died at the same age that I am now. Yesterday I outlived them both by one day. So from now on every day will be something more than they were able to experience.

My mum had a long terminal illness and spent her last day on this earth ” Taking a turn for the worst” By contrast my dads terminal illness was brief and he spent his last day deliberately enjoying one of his favourite meals with family and friends before snuggling into bed never to wake up again. Obviously I always hoped to reach this milestone day and mark it in some way. I imagined a gathering of my nearest and dearest enjoying communal eating and celebrating my good fortune. As has been the habit of the last 16 months the pandemic has obliterated long term plans and made even short term plans unpredictable. Better perhaps to have no plans and live life as it is rather than as we hoped it might be. So no gathering today.

The eve of my new ‘bonus track era’ was spent charging up my life batteries with a swim in fabulous waves.

And finding new paths on the ancient byways of Cornwall.

My actual Bonus Track Day will be spent very much living life as it is, with domestic admin, dogs, lovely companions and an evening swim with the Bobbers.

Tranquility Bay was in quite a lively mood when we arrived. A quick dip for some and a longer challenging swim for others gave the day a sparkly, fizzing finale.

Pandemic Pondering #412

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

Life on a beach and on a ramble. Same beach different weather today set us up for a swim in conditions that were more appropriate for surfing, but we were not going to be stopped two days in a row.

We found a secret path and a hidden river. But mostly we just found big, crashing, exciting waves.

And beautiful spume. The swim was exhilarating.

The morning swim and the bacon bap that followed were the fuel for an afternoon of footpath rambling in Feock.

https://www.feockpc.com/feockparishwalks

Spring Flowers were the main feature of our walk but these stepping stones were the stand out image of the day, caught, as they were in a brief moment of sunshine.

Perambulating and pondering the plants and the pandemic with friends filled a lovely afternoon of delicious earthy smells.

And a surprising, little known, fact. Kissing gates are not for romance.

Kissing Gate near @theoldmortuary

On the footpaths that follow the ancient paths around Feock there are many ‘Kissing’ style gates. Primarily this style of gate enables easy access and egress to a heavily laden human using only one hand while keeping livestock safely enclosed. The word Kissing could simply be a descriptive of the mechanics and structure of the gate where moving the gate allows the movable part to touch, or kiss, either side of the boundary. Almost certainly the name is not historically used for the meeting of lips. More prosaically the name is most likely derived from Kisting, an old word for casket. Kissing gates were originally designed to allow coffins to respectfully be moved across boundaries without the need to place the deceased on the ground. Old kissing gates are found on footpaths near to old grave yards, in all directions, which makes the original purpose a much more plausible one than a chaste place to lock lips.

The funny things we talk about.

Pandemic Pondering #411

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Cornwall, open water swimming, SerendipityLeave a comment

Saturday was not a day for swimming, so great were the winds and the rain that it was not a day for beach huts either. Which is why I managed to get this shot of beach huts uncluttered by the human form.

All started well enough.

But the weather was just not going to permit safe sea swimming so dog walking on the South West Coastal path was our substitute activity. We explored the area around Swanpool in Falmouth and ate picnics in the car while the weather swirled around us. The photography owes a lot to filters and this delightful seaweed which has been ripped from the sea floor by the storm.The seaweed provides the colour which is picked up in some of the shots.

I used the silky water filter and saturation filters to put some colour into a very grey day. I also accidentally created this double exposure which has quite a retro feel.

So off we go into a Sunday Celebration of the Silky Water feature as applied to a raging sea.

The good news is that the sea is less raging today so swimming is back on the Sunday agenda.

Have a restful Sunday.

Pandemic Pondering #410

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Van Life1 Comment

Its a campervan kind of weekend , our first for at least 6 months. The van has been switched around for sleeping rather than day trips. Our night was the best sensory experience Cornwall could offer, 45 mile an hour winds and torrential rain. We’ve swapped the River Tamar for the Carnon River. We also woke up this morning to our granddaughter singing Moon River to us which was charming if not entirely accurate.

We walked to Devoran yesterday and flowers were the highlight of the walk.

No country walk is complete without a ramble in the churchyard where we found some bluebells.

We brought our wetsuits with us to swim but the wind might not make that very sensible. Coffee shops and Charity shops might well be a suitable alternative. Although Lola may not consider getting out of bed for that.

But Hugo is already up and exercising.

Pandemic Pondering #409

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, SerendipityLeave a comment

Things are warming up on the creative side of @theoldmortuary . This cunning device is squeezing the air out of greetings cards that I packed yesterday , ready for the Spring Exhibition of Drawn to the Valley. Who could have guessed that a fan annual from the seventies would create the perfect size to support a heavy weight to exclude air in the wrapping envelope. In the interest of honesty and with respect to Mr David Essex this annual has not been under my pillow for ever. That would just be very strange.

An old friend sends me gems like this from time to time. I could also have used a David Cassidy Annual from the same era and source but yesterday I chose David Essex to spread the load.

Added to my current domestic admin, of which there is lots, I now have Exhibition Admin, which is much more pleasurable.

#mayinthevalley

The closing date for the exhibition has passed and now myself and the rest of the organising team have the pleasure of sifting through the entries. Some of which are featured on the #mayinthevalley Instagram posts above from the artists_of_the_tamar_valley Instagram page.

All this activity and business is an exact replica of the work we did last year only to have to cancel the exhibition at two weeks notice.

This years exhibition will be unimaginably different . 50 artists who have lived through a pandemic. 50 diverse experiences of love, loss, isolation and change. There is an amazing energy exuding from the works we are unwrapping ( currently in the digital sense )

The Spring Exhibition is always about new beginnings but the Spring Exhibition of 2021 is promising to be an altogether more zingy new beginning than usual. On a more self interested level I still haven’t got the gold leaf on my little pictures or even started the large one. It is a theoretical picture right now.

New beginnings are one thing, just getting started is the current problem!