Ten things for which I give thanks this week…
We are back from our holiday in Cornwall, which, after all the good weather this year, proved the worst choice of weeks when it rained all but one of the days and one day rained for the whole day! Still we need to be thankful for the rain as we have hosepipe bans in many parts of the UK due to drought, and as it rained back home, my neighbour was spared the task of watering our yard full of container plants (100 literes or ten watering cans full on a dry week…) and yet, a change is as good as a rest, so this is a thankful glance back over the holiday.
1 – between showers, we walked around Charlestown, a port for the St. Austell china clay mining area and heard Cornish fishermen singing a sea shanty…
2 – On the day that it rained all day, we drove to Lands End, but rather than pay to look into the mist and rain, drove down to nearby Sennen Cove to await the promised clearing of rain, eventually giving up and driving back home – but looking at waves is always something to be thankful for…
3 – A garden to be thankful for – The Lost Gardens of Heligan are the largest garden restoration project in Europe – once again, between showers…
3 – We did visit this beach, Porthlunny Bay, and managed a walk on the sands without rain lol…
4 – Thankful for the beauty of boats – this one, converted from a fishing boat to a tourist ride in Mevagissy Harbour…
5 – Thankful for the security guards who allowed us down to the disabled car park at Carlyon Bay without a Blue Badge (we are applying for one…)
6 – On our way home to Yorkshire, we stopped for the weekend in Worcester/Malvern – Barbara to stay with an old friend she han’t seen for years and I to join the annual reunion of my schoolfriends of the class of ’72 – 53 years since we left and friendships still going strong. We spent the Friday morning going round The Morgan Car Company, where they still build cars by hand…
7 – On the Saturday, we visited a tiny two-room museum giving the history of the invention of radar, amongst other things, at Malvern – 2000 scientists were secretly moved to and billeted in Malvern to keep their work out of sight of the Germans during World War 2. The invention of radar and especially the airborne radar in the Battle of the Atlantic was the saving of Britain – for which we are thankful…
8 – On returning home, the weather changed to Fine and as if to taunt us, here is an early morning view from our kitchen window – still thankful to be home safely…
9 – on the door mat awaiting our return, were 10 more cards from the Poetry Postcard Festival, from which I have received 22 out of 31 from my group so far and 16 from the International list. Most of the festival’s participants are American, but everyone wants to exchange cards with someone outside the US and so we Internationals appear on an additional list. There is no obligation to reply to these “bonus” cards, but if people put their name and address on the ones they send, I feel they are dying to get one back, so I have about 4 more to send still…
10 – Back at work again, after a couple of days working at home with a cold, on Thursday, I had to take samples for microbiological testing, over to the labs at Luddenden Foot, and driving back home across the moors, I stopped to photograph this particular landscape, which fascinates me. At the centre you can see strips where the heather has been burned off to let the grass grow through for the sheep, creating a linear pattern at odds with nature. I painted this scene several times for the Postcard Poetry Festival and this day, the clouds were scudding across, throwing different parts of the view into shadow…
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Welcome back home! Wonderful images, Andrew, and it’s so good to see that you and Barbara had an enjoyable holiday. And your postcards! How marvellous! We are off to Avignon tomorrow morning for a road trip (10-days) so we’ll catch up when we return.
Bon voyage Misky
Thank you, Andrew.
When you did not post last week, I was hoping it was because you were having a good time on your getaway, and it seems you did! What fun the postcards would be, if only I had time to devote to such a project.
Thanks Mimi – we made the best of wet weeks! I made a rod for my own back this year with the postcards – by the time I had done a painting, written a poem, scanned it, fixed the painting into the special envelopes I had printed etc. it took about an hour and a half each, but if you just use off the peg cards it need not be an onerous task…
The sea shanty was interesting. The video of Sennen Cove shows nice calming, splashing waves. I like the Giant Head at The Lost Gardens of Heligan. Its a first for me to see photos of a car company that builds manually. Your painted postcards look pretty. Thank you for sharing your holiday snaps and videos.
Thanks for visiting – I am not a real petrolhead like some of my friends on the visit but I found it more interesting than I expected. They don’t use their own engines – mostly BMW and now the chassis frame is manufactured by a third party due to the specialist pressing, welding and glueing, but that still leaves a lot of work to be done by very skilled craftsmen… Oh and if you have a lot of money, they hold their value so a good investment lol.
Welcome back!
Loved the photos of trips to the ocean… waves? how can one ever tire of watch them?lol
Also the photo (from) Mevagissy Harbour… the boat reminds me of the one I spent a few years on (a working trawler), the Before to the above ‘After’ photo. Stimulated a few memories.
A ‘wooden’ car… remember when I first encountered a Morgan. The epitome, imo, of British car making, by hand.
We’re quite grateful for your TToTs. While there is a tradition for using photos to illustrate or augment one’s Grats, such as yours.
Have a good week.
I tried to comment in yours today but it didn’t go through, I will try again…