Tag: Festivals

#533 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, WordsLeave a comment

Alliteration is everywhere in Social Media, blog writing, marketing and life. I believe a little alliteration goes a long way. My heart does not skip a beat at the thought of always having a W thought on a Wednesday or Thursday always being Thrown Back. I know that many people love it as a pattern for creativity. A blog writer that I follow always had a mid-week rest with Wordless Wednesdays. A beautiful or interesting picture is published instead of words. Having said that I only like to use alliteration sparingly, today turns out to be a rare example of a possible alliterative adventure. Wordy Wednesday. But in a twist the illustrations will just be out of my archive and left wordless. And so with all that waffle off we go.

Wordless Wedneday

A school friend and I have a love of all things wordy. Not that we knew that at school because hormones and teenage awkwardness spared us the problem of actually speaking to each other. Despite that we shared geographical proximity, an Oak tree and a friend called Fred.

Wordless Wednesday

Our recent correspondence has included nattering about a Literary Festival, nearish to his home. The Queenscliff Literary Festival. In all respects this festival has become something of a fantasy for me. Particularly because in a lucky past life there were two excellent literary festivals near here that were always fabulous to visit. Port Eliot Literary festival at St Germans and Ways With Words at Dartington. The first closed in 2019 and the latter last year.

Wordless Wednesday

Queenscliffe has a micro fiction competition open only to Australian citizens. A narrative expressed in only 50 words. Of course I had to have a go, what was the point. None really, but sometimes a gauntlet is thrown down and must be picked up. My International entry, not wanted or required follows.

©theoldmortuary

https://www.queenscliffeliteraryfestival.com.au/

P.S the joke is that today is Thursday! In a world where I am only painting staircase spindles the days are beginning to blurry…

Pandemic Pondering#493

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Camp Bestival, Concatenation, Serendipity4 Comments

I love this image from a set yesterday. The colours give it the quality of an Old Master. Yesterday the fickle Covid fairy had once again been looking over my shoulder to see which acts I had ticked on my festival running list. And Ping! Just like that some of my selected acts were zapped by the test and trace app and unable to perform.

My location at the main stage last night pretty much sums up the weekend. We use What3words to relocate one another after the inevitable trips to the festival loos or food and drink consessions.

© What3words

Offstage- self explanatory really, our chosen acts were off for Covid safety reasons.

Modifies- there is always something else at a festival. Yesterdays unplanned events included Joe Marler talking rugby and mens mental health and Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi talking Medical Grade Music. Which in turn led us to the Bollywood Stage at Camp Bestival just after midnight where we danced and had the surreal experience of watching drunk men mime a snooker match on a picnic blanket.

Sleep- an essential of Festival life.

Just like attending last Saturdays gorgeous wedding, this weeks festival has had us mingling with strangers, this time at a festival. Listening to people talk with real emotion when they describe their joy at our slow re-emergence into a more normal way of life and yet always reflecting on the losses and sadnesses that we have all experienced, appears to have given me my own version of Long Covid. My emotional carapace is not so tough. My eyes don’t normally ooze at weddings and certainly not at festivals. Every time someone makes a heartfelt soliloquy my newly sensitised and accesible soul makes my eyes sting and my heart feel a little sad. Just like Long Covid, I fear my sensitised carapace may be with me for some time.

Mindful of this feeling I tried to create an image of barely there festival goers to represent the millions for whom mingling with strangers is no longer an option at any venue at the festival of life.

Advent#23

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity

http://www.dulwichdiy.com/

Tinsel

Is Tinsel ‘ camper’ than Christmas. Is it set to return to Christmas in the next decade?

Tinsel was invented in 1610 in Nuremberg. It is a twinkly metal garland invented to reflect the flicker of candle light on Christmas trees, it is intended to mimic icicles. When the shiny strips are not tethered to a central thread it is known as lametta. Tinsel has been adopted around the world as a festival decoration. It is Tinsels role as a garment or prop in the theatre that has raised its ‘camp’ credentials and given it year round legitimacy. In particular, Drag acts and Pantomime are never knowingly underdressed. Tinsel and lametta are a staple accessory to bring a pop of sparkle to an outfit or even provide a stage name.

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allevents.in New Hope

Tinsel was hugely popular in the fifties, sixties and seventies. I remember the skinny cheap stuff that came from Woolworths, however by the seventies trips to London exposed us, as a family, to lush, dense, luxurious garlands, from Liberty or Harrods. Tinsel in our house was used year after year , being stored between each Christmas in the loft . It developed a musty dusty smell that became a familiar fragrance of December. As tinsel fell out of favour it stayed in the loft, gathering more dust instead of draping the tree.The skinny Woolworths stuff became stiff and brittle but the luxury version , supple and glossy rested in the roof waiting for it’s retro return.

My parents died in the nineties, the dreadful job of clearing their house was an absolute nadir of life. In the context of Tinsel it was also tinsels lowest point of popularity, without a second thought it went on the discard pile.

Rumour of Tinsels resurgence started on-line in about 2010. 400 years after it was first invented. I realise some people never abandoned it. However it seems to have taken another 10 years to see Tinsel stepping back into the limelight on domestic Christmas trees rather than magazine illustrations or commercially decorated corporate trees. Shops have started offering wide selections of tinsel and I bitterly regret binning my inherited luxury swags.

http://www.dulwichdiy.com/

Coincident with my Saturday ponderings on Tinsel a post appeared on Instagram from an Editor I used to write for. . #nakedforchristmas on Instagram shows Tinsel at its resurgent best.

#nakedatchristmas Instagram