Tag: Abstract thoughts

#386 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn abstract photographyLeave a comment

It will come as no surprise to anyone that @theoldmortuary has no experience as marathon runners or other extreme sports. So we have never experienced survival blankets. You would never expect to be introduced to a survival blanket by a five week old grand-daughter. Rather intriguingly in her sensory box there was a whole adult sized survival blanket. Who knew that a collection of sensory toys could exhaust her accompanying adult to the point of exhaustion.

I rattled things and twirled ribbons with caution being really quite unaware when fatigue might overwhelm me. The small person was not remotely interested in having her senses stimulated at any level so there was no chance of me deserving the survival blanket. Deserving or not I donned the survival blanket and was amazed at how quickly I became very warm.

On a practical level I might but some survival blankets for winter swims, just in case we get too chilly. On another practical level the blanket is in a baby sensory box so she can enjoy it’s silvery crinkly surface. And on a last practical level I am writing about a Survival blanket because nobody wants to read about a long rainy journey with many detours. There was no rainbow at the end of my travels but there was blue skies and a small girl with a Sensory box.

#374 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn choresLeave a comment
Autumn morning, Wimbledon

Early mornings have a special quality in October. Not so early as summer early mornings and not as late as winter mornings. Obvious really. Polls suggest that most people in the Northern hemisphere love May the best; for me, October comes a close second as my favourite month of the year. It is something about the quality of light, the sharper shadows formed by a more steeply angled sun. There is also a sense of preparing for a hibernation of sorts. Warmer clothes that have been hiding away in cupboards and drawers start sneaking out. Boots replace sandals.

Soup becomes a food choice and coffee cups start to be hugged.

In a habit formed during the Covid years our herb and spice collection got a freshen up yesterday and was relocated. Not a ‘Spring’ clean, obviously but maybe an ‘ ‘Autumnal’ Den prep. Prior to Covid lockdowns our spice cupboard was a mausoleum of out-of-date products cleared out only during house moves and always containing something long dead. The tedium of living through lockdowns made us much better curators of all things domestic.

After nearly three weeks from home there was another more urgent sort-out. The indoor plants have suffered from neglect. There have been casualties, two fatalities and some remarkable tales of plants that survived near-death experiences.

Everyone in the plant family has had 24 hours of proper care and been moved about a bit to show them the love they so visibly need.

If it is true that plants talk to each other I suspect there is nothing good being said about us currently.

#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.

Pandemic Pondering #42

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Pandemic ponderingsLeave a comment

I’m not normally a lover of alliterative phrases linked to days of the week or names of the month, although I do quite like cleverer, less trite, alliteration. Today though #ThrowbackThursday, works for me, as the glasses featured are very retro.

Today the weather in Cornwall is strange. It’s been windy and stormy overnight and the heavy rain of the early morning, interspersed with bright glorious sunshine, was at one point replaced by icy hail. I realise that this scenario is just local to us and it set me thinking.

It is said about Covid- 19, Coronovirus that we are all in the same boat in the storm.

But we are not all in the same boat , we are not even all in the same storm.

We all share a storm in common, but we also all have our own storms and boats that determine how we cope with the shared storm.

In common with many, we are cooking a lot more, remembering dreams more vividly and are craving coffee and curiously bright colours.

Which brings me to the point of this pondering. I got caught in the Hail storm this morning whilst walking the dogs, it’s not what I expected in late April, but I also didn’t expect a sharp bright shaft of sunlight to give me such pleasure this morning.

We’ve been using some 1960’s or 70’s glasses to brighten up our water drinking during the lock-down. They were a gift from our friend Steph who gave them to us as a keepsake from her parents house.

They go in the dishwasher just like any other glasses. When I got in from the hailstone walk, sunlight was pouring through the window and then onto these freshly clean glasses. The Abstract patterns that illustrate this blog were created on the work surface for about five minutes between showers and absolutely illustrate why a slightly quixotic decision was a good one.

We are not all in the same boat

Or even the exact same storm

Surprising things will happen

Sometimes fresh out of the dishwasher.