Tag: Dog Walking

#974 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Life Admin, Serendipity1 Comment

When I found a tree with buttocks last week I used the image to share with a choir who had been singing about the Green Man. I quite enjoyed tinkering with the image at the time but had forgotten about it, a week or so has passed. But then Instagram gave me this little mind twister this morning.

This sort of madness makes me laugh. Just a little bit of a wry smile during such moments is such a private, magical, but life-enhancing thing. If tree bottoms were this morning’s ‘private smile’.Yesterday gave me one for different reasons.

Yesterday there were many early morning jobs to be done but the weather was not encouraging .

A free parking space in the city centre and a cup of tea in a local outdoor cafe were two reasons to celebrate early tasks achieved and success in all areas of the dog walking.

In two of the 4 grey seascapes above, there is actually a cruise ship anchored up in Plymouth Sound.

While I was enjoying my cup of tea and the concept of free parking at 8am. Passengers from the cruise ship were being landed out of sight but straight ahead of me.  Out of the mist rose lively, welcoming Military Band music. Honestly, what a lovely sound to perk up a grey early morning. Another private smile moment.

©Plymouth Waterfront Partnership

#652 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn ponderingLeave a comment

Here I am doing a bit of foreshadowing on my morning dog walk. Literally, foreshadowing which is probably not the world for casting my shadow ahead of me and literarily foreshadowing. If I consider my blog to be low grade literature

This morning’s walk was a whole bunch of anticipatory foreshadowing by proxy. Seeing things and projecting what might happen in the same place or situation for other people.

I have never travelled by ferry from Plymouth to Europe but every time I see a ferry, big or small, it gives my heart a little frisson of the pleasure of travel. Likewise paddle boards resting up before adventures on the high seas.

Brightly coloured swimmers also predict what my day holds at the next high tide.

Yesterday’s morning walk was quite a different experience. I set off in reasonable weather that fairly soon changed into the sort of light summer rain that switches the senses with a light touch and released fragrances. As often happens at the furthest point from home, summer rain transformed itself into a deluge and my summer dress and sandals were overwhelmed. I was a very wet dog walker on the return and I looked quite mad in comparison to all of the proper walkers who had swiftly whipped out rainwear from their rugged and capacious back packs. Their walking shoe clad feet took a very dim view of my inadequate footwear. I excused myself by saying I had been out a long while, there was an element of exaggeration in that statement. But sometimes in the land of extreme long distance coastal path walkers an amateur needs to save face. No such saving face tonight, I will be an adventurous sea swimmer being wet will be the norm.

One other off the wall ponder. Wouldn’t it be fab if moss grew in big enough patches to lounge on.

#497 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

I am the green message. The subtext was “I’ve just had a shower and I’m really warm and snug, a bob is the last thing on my mind but the dogs do need a walk so I will come for a natter”

This was the Bobbing zone. It was very persuasive.

Do you call this a dog walk?

As luck would have it there was no one else about. My coat came off and soon after it all my clothes. With a rising tide and a super quick submersion no one was any the wiser. The rising tide did cause a small problem.

Nothing that multi layers and deft dressing couldn’t cope with, the sunshine was very competent at drying me off and the reward was iced gems for all.

Where is the ponder in that I hear you all asking. Well…

Just about every local dog walk takes me past the sea. The only walk I do that doesn’t feature actual water is the Ferry Port and Royal Marine Barracks where there are security cameras and men with very big guns to dissuade casual water entry, casual anything really. In the winter, on a dog walk, my mindset is always one of gratitude that I am not about to plunge into the sea. This morning was no exception. I was fresh out of the shower and wrapped up very warmly against a bracing walk in 4 degrees centigrade. A natter with bobbing friends while doing the dog walk was as close to bobbing as I was prepared to get, until the sun lured me to take my coat off while they were getting ready to swim. We were in a sun trap and there were very few people about. The dogs were preparing to bask on the warm rocks and before I knew it my socks and boots were off, quickly followed by everything else. A very quick entry into the sea and my fate was sealed, I was bobbing. It was high tide so even getting out was easy to do unobserved. A moment in the sun, unplanned and lovely.

Temptation at 4 degrees

#445 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn StonehouseLeave a comment

Early morning and no rain! Monday shows promise. Yesterday was a proper drencher, probably due to my own bad planning. On a positive the rain chased me into a newish coffee destination near home. Block in the Royal William Yard.

Loads of lovely texture to enjoy while drying out and enjoying a plain chocolate, hot chocolate. The dogs and my feet dried out ready to carry on walking, swamp foot avoided for another day.

#140 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn StonehouseLeave a comment

Daily blogging started as an exercise between two parts of a blogging course. Covid 19 stepped in and the exercise stretched from 8 weeks to being indefinite. Doing something daily for just a few minutes for 18 months becomes a habit. If there was a plan it was always to record the mundane in a ‘normal’ persons life. After blogging for 18 months during the height of the Covid 19 pandemic I saw little reason to stop daily blogging once the ‘advanced’ part of the course was completed. The picture above may well have been in todays blog, simply because the ship and its tugs were very close to our swimming area. As usual in a blog about the mundane I would have told you that I missed a really great picture because I was picking up a dog poo, which was true. Yesterday was different though, Russia invaded Ukraine and the story takes a twist. Normally I would check which ship I was seeing on a Marine Tracking App. Yesterday the tracking App told me my eyes deceived me. There was no ship, just a big gap between two tugs.Big world events reflected on a very normal dog walk.

Pandemic Pondering #509

On By theoldmortuary.designIn choresLeave a comment

If the sun doesnt put in appearance then the time is right to get on with the jobs that have been on the back burner. Todays jobs were dull but a rare shaft of sunlight on this glass collection brightened up the journey to the tool box. A Chrysanthemum also lit up the kitchen, an imitation sun.

Todays jobs really were too dull to mention but they were achieved by lunchtime and my reward was a good long dog walk before returning home to do other dull stuff like going to the Post Office and the Hermes drop off. The post office trip was to send properly kitch shoes to our grandaughter. Crocodile Crocs and sandals with motion activated LED’s . Gloriously silly and just what a two year old needs to make life even more wonderful. The nights are getting darker so we need to chose our evening dog walk with some consideration of good lighting. Tonight we more than achieved that by finding Fibreglass cows ruminating under a twinkling tree.

Lola found this location very much to her liking and as soon as she had sorted herself out we headed for home. A dull day completed succesfully is quite an achievement.

Pandemic Pondering #482

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Hugo and LolaLeave a comment

A shameless dogblog. Low tide this morning and an empty beach gave the dogs a rare chance to scamper on the beach. Lola is perfectly camouflaged on her new local beach.

Hugo, of course, would only be camouflaged at pure white tropical beaches, which are not local to us.

It’s not only our swimming hobby that stops them visiting the beach often. They have very low respect for other people’s activities. The peaceful activities of strangers are their main interest, book reading or yoga are activities to step away from the hurly burly of regular life. Neither experience is enhanced by a furry nose and whiskers snuffling extremities, however unthreatening the intention.

They also snuffle limpets who do not react.