A greige Sunday with two colourless dog walks at either end of the day. But our evening walk was brightened by still water between the current fish market looking over to the old location which is now a thriving area of bars and nightclubs.
This is one of our favourite circular walks around all the commercial harbours. Almost never in the dark but there are plenty of lights and it is a safe enough area.
Here is another still water shot from November.
Fishing boat on the nightclub side. Bars on the Nightclub side.
Clearly I love still water and colour beats greige any day.
Being taken by surprise by February 1st gave us a curious Saturday morning of shuffling things around. The afternoon was rather greige so we set off to a favourite town. We arrived a bit late to visit the castle but by walking there we were propelled towards the back streets which I have not explored for more than 20 years when I worked here. The main streets were bustling with the tail end of a busy Saturday market.
17th or 18th Century Door Knocker
Rusty women became a little bit of a theme.
Encased in an air vent.
Our theme was just to enjoy walking the back streets looking at many centuries worth of lovely cottages on interlinked lanes and passages that spread like cobwebs from the Castle.
The castle dominates the town from its prominent hill as it was designed to do.
All our wandering was at dog pace. The peemails left by centuries of dogs always fascinate them in historic urban areas. But they are small dogs and we had been doing walking jobs with them all morning. The cafes in the High Street were calling the dogs but were all still buzzing at 4:00 or buzzed and already closed. But in a back street, we found this glorious turquoise paradise. Busy but not too busy.
We were on 10,000 human steps. Goodness knows how many dog steps. This cafe was one that Lola was not prepared to pass the door of. So happy was she to sit down and share a cheese scone that she agreed to a photogenic photograph.
When I wrote yesterday’s blog I had no idea it was the last one of January. Somehow I missed the anticipation of the end of the longest month.
Which is a sign, I suppose, that taking a more positive attitude to Winter is having some effect.
On a positive note we are 2/3 done with the official winter months.
I know I am not alone with my slightly dismal attitude. People wouldn’t write books and articles about positive winter attitudes if winter was all ticketty boo for the majority.
A SouthWest English winter does not look like this.
Fictional/Fantasy Devonport Park
What can I say about switching my mindset from endurance to tolerance?
Seasons are a bit like work colleagues or club members or any other group of humans. There is always one that has to be tolerated, made allowances for and most importantly celebrated when they leave.
So good morning February let’s get this winter malarkey over with.
I may even sign your leaving card with a cheery message wishing you well with your future in the Southern Hemisphere. I will watch and make sure you leave.
My day is shaped though by the aftermath of Storm Éowyn.
Monday I needed to contact some old friends to help me solve a problem in another friends garden. A playhouse had been lifted into some trees that bordered on a road. I couldn’t solve the problem immediately but they were able to sort things out. They have a weakness for buns so it seemed entirely appropriate to reward their efforts with baked goods.
Although I did check out all things tree related in my friends garden in case I needed help again. The weather gods had been kind, so our bun* eating was unfettered by any actual physical labour today.
Buns, tea and immense amounts of chattering were interrupted by my dogs testing their dog-proof fencing. One Bantam and one chicken were quick to alert us that the dog-proof fencing had a design fault. Poodle crosses and poultry are not a peaceful or particularly safe combination but the novelty of the moment kept the chooks just one step ahead of the dogs.
Very exciting times for January.
Spell check keeps correcting bun to bum. Why did I not use the word cake?
Here I am awaiting a little Pride and Prejudice ( Sort of).
Jane Austen, it has been a while.My reading schedule is impossibly full so revisiting the reading of my youth is unlikely.
I was briefly youthful this afternoon, as I explained to comfortably seated theatregoers that I was 19. My seat number, not my age. But in that moment I identified as 19. At 19 I was much more familiar with the works of dear Jane. I have always wondered why she didn’t write a novel called ‘Judgement’
Review of the play from a proper reviewer below. I was too busy enjoying it. Not that I enjoyed it as much as others. Proper Austenites got every clever joke milliseconds before me. I am an unashamed laugh out loud kind of woman but I was in the presence of people laughing and whooping to a whole new Tena Lady level of mirth.
Chinese New Year. The Year of the Snake. The sun is up and I can share fabulous red themed photographs on the blog.
One of my most serendipitous photos was taken a few steps further west from our local tidal pool. One December day I found a man practising his moves overlooking Plymouth Sound.
December 2017
This seems the perfect day to show off his skills and my good fortune on witnessing this.
May your Wednesday be full of colour and not too many actual snakes.
The normal order of things has arrived in our house out of the normal order.
Bunches of daffodils arrived over the weekend. Normally the first cut flowers of January, they were overtaken by beautiful blowsy tulips who arrived en masse for a birthday just over a week ago.
The weather of this curious winter is doubtless to blame. Tulips come from elsewhere and are grown in controlled greenhouses for the early part of the year. Daffodils come from just down the road and suffer the same weather as I do.
The daffodils in our kitchen probably started life as cut flowers a week or so ago in fields near Penzance. Then travelled in temperature controlled luxury to London, were distributed to Marks and Spencer, where they were purchased and then driven down to us over the weekend.
Normally we can reliably buy daffodils by the roadside from early January . Everything is a little bit late and battered by the storms that keep rolling in. Even snowdrops seem a bit behind their usual schedule.
These clumps of snowdrops are usually much more open to posing for photographs. The green stripes of their underskirts are one of my favourite shades of green.
Flowers in January bring a twinkle to the listless, slightly unfocussed days of mid-January. Arriving out of order is a discombobulating experience. But now the daffodils are in the kitchen and everything should fall into place. Onward to the second half of winter. Bring it on and let’s get it over with.
I have migrated from the East of England to the West with some long term living in London and the South East. On this map I grew up in pale blue and have lived on both green and dark blue areas. I currently reside on the cusp of red and grey my words for the evening meal have never altered.
Lunch occurs between noon and 2pm.
Tea is almost always just a drink unless it becomes an event with cake and sandwiches and is called afternoon tea. Small children have a late afternoon snack which I could call tea but never do.
A meal after 6 pm is supper unless I am in a restaurant choosing from a ‘dinner’ menu but I would still call it being ‘ out for supper’
All this written before breakfast which seems pretty secure in its identity as the first meal of the day unless it slips rather too close to lunch and becomes brunch. Actually my favourite meal.
One calendar month since Christmas Day. I am very aware that the last vestiges of the festive season are ebbing away. We finished the Christmas cake this week and yesterday I made some very fancy cheese straws from the last of the hard cheeses. We still have some festive lights up to twinkle during the remaining long winter evenings.
I expect my Christmas books and shower products to last until the summer. Christmas chocolates might make it all the way through February or even March. A whole winter’s worth of small treats.
Time shape shifts for me in the winter. 25 Nov to 25 December the days hurtle past,while clocking up a whole month after Christmas has seemed like a slow plod through porridge.
So much for me taking a new attitude to winter. Is it OK to say that I have certainly addressed each day with a positive attitude and that has greatly improved my journey. But winter still lags at the back in my list of favourite seasons. Maybe I should try harder next year or maybe I just shouldn’t worry. In every list there is always a least favourite.
Winter Day at Mountbatten.
Hibernation would suit me very well if I could do it in a snug place with my Christmas Leftovers and my books. Is that too much to ask?
Positive Languishing in a cozy spot. Winterization goals.
theoldmortuary.design 