Positivity and learning are a fabulous way to express gratitude. Even when something seems all bad there must be a tiny nugget that can be a point for learning and some sense of positivity can be found. A deliberately delayed blog as I knew this morning would feature dog walking, doing the laundry and white painting the grubby white outdoor cooking area.

My reward for doing the laundry and the painting was a delayed sit down to write the blog. The dog walk was, as always mostly positive. Laundry is kind of meh. Although the top picture of white washing, white walls and white Agapanthus was my nugget of positivity.

I am very much over, painting white walls white. My own fault for extending the original project but this little rest is the nugget I can be positively grateful for.

I’ve been nattering on about Syneshesia with a new friend. We met, but in the way of the current world, we have not actually met, in the most negative of spaces. The death of someone we had in common and a Zoom Funeral. In nattering on-line we have discovered that we are both synesthesic and have followed very similar career paths. Finding someone to natter about synesthesia is definitely something to be grateful for even if it came  from a sad space. Quite how to formulate a natter  about synesthesia as an interesting blog subject is something to ponder while I return to white painting. Who knows if I will get there. Pondering positively is my daily gratitude for  being here.

Although here is currently a white corner.

My morning holy trinity of tea, coffee and blog. A relatively low maintenance morning routine. This mornings coffee however, has raised the intellectual bar somewhat. A challenge I am without the necessary tools to compete with. Having broadened our minds with travel yesterday. Today will certainly cover less miles. A whole holiday book/ bookclub book has been finished.

3 more brought with me, from my book piles and then I am off to the lottery that is the hotel library.

Today we are having an extreme weather event. Not for us screaming winds, rattling through our chimney pots. Scorchingly high temperatures. Which this 66 year old will not be clambering on coastal paths in, at the peak of the day.  Another life lesson, tragically learned from Michael Mosley.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jun/09/body-of-man-believed-to-be-tv-doctor-michael-mosley-found-on-greek-island-authorities-say

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jun/15/from-cold-showers-to-hot-tomatoes-michael-mosley-top-health-tips

Apart from Bloganuary I don’t tend to use prompts from my blog hosts more than once or twice a week, but I have used 6 prompts in 8 days. Of course I have to twist the narrative of the question,slightly, to fit the blogs that are bubbling under the surface, but  todays was particularly apt

As long as no one expects to be super excited by my definition of  notable.

I have been catching up with Tennis Club admin, and prepping a Social Media campaign to celebrate 100 years of Tennis and gardening by the sea.  The angle of June sunlight is becoming just a little awkward for my phone camera so yesterday I charged up my digital camera, ready to use for the next couple of months. Usually I clear the memory card but for some reason 3 pictures from significantly different locations had been left on the card. These form my notables for today.

We lived in the actual Old Mortuary and the tulips had just had their water changed when a bright shaft of sunlight pierced the window of the room that was  originally where the bodies were stored. Once the sunlight hit, the room warmed up at a ridiculous rate. With no refrigeration we always wondered quite how appropriate that was.

These majestic old pieces of wood were endlessly fascinating and have stuck in my mind far more than the Statue of Liberty which was the point of the ferry journey.

A huge percentage of the pilchards caught off the Devon and Cornwall coast are exported to Europe, where they are presented in traditional fish baskets and are all the more charming for it.

I have no idea why these three were left on the memory card but when I say that the rest of the day was spent painting white walls white again you can see why I would consider them ‘ notable’

Below Hugo posing for my ‘white-balance’ set up shot yesterday.

Not notable but infinitely more interesting than painting an old rock wall.

Not to be outdone Lola posing for the beige set up shot.

A notable day.

I love fresh air moments. Early summer mornings in a park or by the sea before the day has fully got going.

Time to make tiny inconsequential pleasantries with fellow early morning souls.

What I would question is my passion for fresh air.

Passion seems such a hot, engulving sensation. I feel a little odd attaching the word passion to such a mundane activity as taking a walk in a park.

But walking in fresh air several times a day is something I really enjoy.

Why am I required to be passionate about doing something so simple ? I prefer to hover somewhere below passion and well above hatred for most of my daily activities. I suppose it could be said that I am passionate about moderation. No giddy excesses or plunging desperation involved with moderation.

Defining passion, it’s just a walk in the park.