Mooooo!

When I moved in, I didn't realise I'd be cleaning cow slobber off the windows!

Seal spotting

Kim's still on his school break , so we decided to do a bit of seal spotting on the north Cornish coast earlier this week. It was a grey, blustery day over at Gwithian but we were well rewarded for our little effort of getting to the top of the cliffs, where we saw around 50 grey seals lounging on the beach below us...



Okay, so from this high up they look like slugs, but they certainly sounded like seals! I was sorry I only had my rubbish camera phone with me and no binoculars, but it was still a sight not to be forgotten. And it certainly got Kim all excited - and away from the dreaded video games...

Need to clear your head?

Well, how about this for a location to do it in?! This is Gwithian on the north Cornish coast and luckily it's only a short drive away. I spent an hour or so beach combing for driftwood with Chantal this afternoon and it was the best cobweb remover going - and it's free! Well, that is apart from the council's plan to fleece everyone: "Oooh, it's Easter let's make a load of money out of the tourists and charge an arm and a leg to park a car for a couple of hours, that'll pay for the dustmen for a few years".

Then it was back to the cottage on the cliffs for lunch - and evidence that spring has well and truly sprung... Chantal was not amused. The frolicking lambs had breached the hedge into her garden from the neighbouring field, again, and munched their way through all her lovingly tended seedlings. She's considering eating meat once again. Personally, I think she ought to consider cannibalism and taste the farmer...mmmm!

Stomp

Today I feel like a badly behaved teenager coming back down to earth with a bloody big bump. Do you ever look back at your own behaviour and wonder who the hell was in your head at the time, with the distinct feeling that it wasn't entirely you? Or if, in fact, it was entirely you and that it scares the living daylights out of you? Well, these are the kind of feelings I've been wrestling with today, and the more I've thought about it the more subdued I've become. I've been hiding under a duvet most of the day, between bouts of sleep and angst, until I decided that it was no good and I had to get outside and go for a stomp. I didn't go that far, probably only about 4 miles, but here's a few snaps of the typical Cornish scenery on the way...

Red Admiral - no I didn't stick a pin in it and take it home...

Far left: Falmouth Docks from Flushing. Middle and right: Mylor Creek looking very atmospheric in the fading sunlight.

Unfortunately the two hour 'stomp' (more a kind of sulky walk really!) didn't have the desired effect of injecting any life into me and I just want to go back and curl up under the duvet again - and hope it all goes away.

Tearful memories

The weather wasn't so bad today, so Kate and me decided to set up at Mabe car boot sale, after last week's washout, to try and get rid of all our junk. I hate car boot sales: they're tortuous and full of strange people that like to buy junk! Today though I had a pleasant surprise and met someone that used to work for me about 14 years ago. She was there with her 10 and a half year old son and she introduced me to him as her "first boss after I left school". I told him I was a nightmare boss. She said "no you weren't you were lovely. You're the only boss that ever cried when you fired me!" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So true...


Photo: Kate (on the right) doing her stuff.

Looking for a bit of peace

This was the brooding sky at Trelissick this afternoon, very grey and full of the promise of rain. It was windy too. I rode over on my bike to try and get rid of rather a lot of pent up energy that seems to have been building lately. Don't ask where it's all come from, but I suspect it may have something to do with laying in bed for days on end doing bugger all, except wondering when the world will come to an end. Since that obviously hasn't happened yet, I thought I might as well force myself to go and take a look at it. When I left the front door I had no idea where I was going and just seemed to end up here. I was anticipating the bucolic scene you might expect in a country park, but forgot it was a Sunday afternoon and would be full of people walking their dogs and noisy infants. There were also rather a lot of those strange people called 'elderly folk'; god they can be slow. I suppose you'd expect to find them at a National Trust property so I don't know why I was surprised to see so many en masse, but it felt like they'd all crawled out of the woodwork at once. Scary. The thought that I may be one one day is even scarier, so I've decided to make sure that doesn't happen: I really don't want to do what's expected of me and follow the crowd any more (did I ever?) . Bugger that: do I look like a sheep? (Rhetorical, just in case you thought you might answer that!)

Anyhow, I chained up the bike, wandered off down the hill, looking at the spectacular view out across the river to the sea, until I eventually scared off enough of the scary woodworky things with scowling, murderous looks you would die for. Then I stole their bench and laid down on it from end to end, just to be sure that one of them didn't come and bother me. Then, I peacefully went to sleep... Er, that bit's a lie: I suspect that while I was there I looked like I would fit in perfectly well with the peculiar old bunch, mumbling away to myself in a fluorescent yellow windproof. Either that or someone should have gone and got me a straight jacket. God knows how long I was there, but I did notice one of Kim's teachers pass by and give me strange smile...she had a funny looking little dog with her. When I finally 'came round', I realised I was beginning to get very wet: soaking. It was pouring a fine rain at an oblique angle and all those little critters had been driven back into the woodwork whence they came, and finally there I was all on my lonesome. The trouble was that by this time I was beginning to feel cold and the light was fading fast. Back up the hill, on the bike and back home: that hour or so's ride, that was perfect peace.

An afternoon's cycling

What a day: so many men kicking balls around, so little time (the cuter ones were of course driving pretty McLarens round and round). I decided I'd stuff the housework and escape the numerous tvs in the house flashing fit men at me in all their youthful glory, and would bugger off for the day on my bike. As it turned out I buggered off for the afternoon, having got embroiled in some rather tedious washing and a search for our errant bunny in next door's garden beforehand. He's still errant by the way: he sneakily ran under a shed and set up home there the moment he saw me. I finally managed to get away just before midday, somewhat agitated by this point.

I have been "in a mood" of late, which means I can barely be arsed to talk and have a propensity to listen to melancholic music over and over again. Sometimes the same song for hours, like a lovestruck teenager. Joy Division is a particular favourite, as it was when I was a lovestruck teenager. Of the few things I decided to take with me on my ride, music was a must - but I thought I ought to try and enforce a lift in mood and left the depressing stuff at home; although it was impossible not to bring along at least a couple of depressing ditties, should the mood take me, which it surely would. I also packed a sarny, oj, a Swiss Army knife and a load of allen keys; they look useful even if they aren't. I had a map too, which I pretty much ignored in favour of following my nose.

I decided I'd head over to Stithians Reservoir for lunch. It's a pretty bleak place about 8 miles from home I guess, maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more - I'm too slack to get out one of those wheely things and measure it precisely for you - as if you cared anyway! In my cycling reverie I sailed past the turning to the reservoir and couldn't be bothered to go 'backwards', so carried on through Stithians village, looking in vain for somewhere pleasant to sit and eat. The sun was beating down and I was actually beginning to enjoy myself. When I'm in "one of those moods" I love to be on my own with space to think uninterrupted and untimetabled. I carried on past the village until I found a little triangle of green grass where three roads converge. I leaned the bike up against the signpost, sat down and got out the cheese and salad sandwich, which tasted sooooo good by now. The longish grass and the sun made it impossible to resist a short lie down; I was woken up 3/4 of an hour later by a bloody noisy car. One look at my arms and I realised I'd forgotten to pack the sun cream: red as a lobster, urgh.

I headed off again towards Constantine and Porth Navas (left), all the time thinking about where I'd stop next to catch up on more sleep! I decided on the Helford Passage, yet another creek, but this time with a sandy beach and a nice pub (The Ferryboat Inn). I finally got there around 3.30 and crashed out on the beach with the tide literally lapping at my toes. There were the final dregs of holiday makers in this particularly attractive spot and I tried hard to ignore them and get some much needed rest. It was too hard though: they're a noisy bunch. I managed to find a spot near some beached kayaks, which for a while was absolute bliss, until the teenager from hell turned up. She parked herself in one of the kayaks and did nothing but whinge about how small it was and that she was heavy enough to sink it. I wholeheartedly agreed with this last statement, she was large enough to sink a U boat. She did nothing but whine, whine, whine for at least 15 minutes and I vowed that if, miraculously, the boat didn't sink I'd sink the bloody thing for her with her in it. She must've got it afloat though, because I drifted off to sleep and when I woke up all the kayaks were gone, thankfully. It was time for a refreshing drink before the last leg home, so I meandered up to the pub. I was horrified to discover that since I last visited they'd replaced half the comfy sofas with a tv screen the Plaza would be bloody proud of. And what were they showing? Bloody FOOTBALL, which was obviously so exciting the barman couldn't take his eyes off it while he was supposed to be giving me his undivided attention. I decided to take my drink outside, only to be spotted by an old work colleague, who I would rather not have been spotted by. It's so hard when people ask you "how are you?" not to reply with "as miserable as fuck actually", so hard in fact that I've given up trying. I've found that the honest truth cuts conversation short and you can just get on with your life! After exchanging a few words I pushed the bike up a hill San Fransisco would be proud of and continued with my homeward journey until I saw a dead badger, which I just had to stop and take a few snaps of. So, for those of you that may have thought I'd gone soft with the ducklings, here's a couple of pictures!

He (maybe it was a she, I couldn't tell) was just a baby, small and plump and killed far too early. I thought it's paws and claws were just amazing. Shame it was too big to get into my handlebar bag...

Lands End

Dr Who takes a holiday from Cardiff and comes to Lands End...

The cliffs are always disappointingly low!
But it was at least clear enough to see the Scillies today

Blots on the landscape!

A little bit of Eden

Kim and Dan take a rubbery rest

Starfruit

Green stuff in the tropical biome! The picture on the right makes the elixir of my life -
any guesses as to what it might be?!!!! (answers on a comment!)

A picture just for Tim...

'Seed' made from the largest stone ever quarried in the UK

The Eden Project, Cornwall, UK

Bank holiday

The sun's been shining for a couple of days and it's HOT - I'm so not used to it, I keep expecting the heavens to open any second, look up and all I can see is blue; confused I check out the BBC weather forecast and there's a little sunshine symbol there - for days! A bit of sun and all is right with the world! That's a complete lie, nothing is right with the world... Anyhow, my brother's down from London for the weekend and here's a couple of photos of what we've been up to so far (not a lot!)...

Drinking coffee (we've done lots of that)

Mingling with the tourists on Maenporth beach

Last night I took Dan to his first Private View;
this is Alexandra and Paul getting ready for a performance.

People were invited to write down things they wanted to purge themselves of, some of the text was then writ large via computer and publicly shredded (you can see the texts hanging up behind them). Probably not a good idea to ask a clinically depressed person on the edge what she wants to purge herself of...

I thought I'd just throw this picture in. I came across it when I went for a run yesterday. I think it's beautiful. Today we're off to Eden, so I better go and sort myself out or we'll never get there!

Sulking

Yes, I am. Instead of relaxing in the Wateringhole while Kim did his cub thing this evening, I was coerced into going to Tesco instead. Not high on my list of wonderful ways to pass an hour or so. And apart from a few olives there wasn't even anything interesting going in to the trolley... Today's smile (cheshire cat-type grin actually) faded fast :(

Kim (in red) plays a game of football with his friends
(the Wateringhole is in the distance!)

When I got back from said supermarket Kim
and his friend had been busy digging a hole...when I asked
him if he'd had a good time he said "no, all we did was play
rounders". Grrrrrrrr!

A bit of hedging

This morning I spent a couple of hours at the Stithians Show building a Cornish hedge (don't ask me why, 'cos I don't know!!!). Okay, so I was just shoveling soil and tamping it down while the craftsmen were sorting and laying the granite, but it still counts! After a bit of hard work I think I deserve a glass of cider and a long sleep, but all I've got time for a is a shower!!!

Feeling hungry

Feeling flat as a pancake this afternoon (I said feeling, not looking!).

Been over to the wilds of Illogan to deliver some flyers to the local school for a series of workshops next month... I had no idea where the school was and decided I'd follow my nose when I got there; the trouble with that of course is that it leaves you open to the possibility of getting lost. In rural Redruth. Where they eat their young. So I'm told. Something I always thought rang true. Of course people from Redruth will tell you that it's people from Camborne that eat their young. But now I have friends that live over that way, so should be careful what I say in public and on a public forum such as this. I should like to mention also that Illogan school looked to have a healthy population.

Kim gets wet

Wednesday is Kim's cub night and last night they went sailing and kayaking - Kim's first time. We trundled off to Loe Beach near Truro for two hours of fun and water games, half expecting it to be cancelled because the weather had been pretty poor. When we got there though the water was calm (freezing!) and there wasn't much wind so there was nothing to stop them. They played all sorts of games, including kayaking-man-over-board - it was good to note that Kim didn't need any practice at that, since he'd already been man over board three times by then... Rather than go home while he was getting wet I decided to stay and wait/watch, but realised too late that I'd forgotten several things: a decent book to read when they'd gone so far out you couldn't see them, a flask of something hot (it was sooo cold for June), an umbrella (there were some very heavy downpours), and a towel (probably a bit obvious that one!)...

L: Kim gets in some practice. R: The cub pack take to the water!

L: bit of a traffic jam! R: Kim soon gets the hang of it.

Trying to ignore the cold!

Watching the rainbow before going sailing.

Mucking about in a boat!

Deja Vu!

Trelissick, 2001 (age 3)

Trelissick today (age 9 and a very important quarter!)

Felt the need to blow yet more cobwebs away this afternoon so went for a wander in the woods over at Trelissick. Kim found some blackbird eggs; one of them hadn't hatched and was at the bottom of a tree. The plan was to bring it home, but Kim decided to see how strong it was instead - he gave it a squeeze and was most disappointed to discover it wasn't very strong at all! He got covered in yolk, incidentally. Something tells me I may have passed on some of my less bright genes...

Talking of less bright genes... on the way home Kim, sitting in the back of the car pipes up "Mummy, you know the gremlins on Stupid [kids' tv programme]?" "yeees", says I, "When King Stupid [he really is called that; I think they took inspiration from Captain Pugwash...great names!] presses their noses they fart. Just like I do." I do love him.

Been to Bodmin

Another couple of days running around like an idiot... Yesterday I was wiped out by 30 primary school children, who their class teacher describes as being "very hyperactive". They neglected to tell me that before I agreed to spend the day with them. They also decided to tell me at 3pm the day before that they were "doing Spain" and could I do something with a Spanish theme (all to be whipped up by 9am the next morning you understand). Of course my brain atrophied in an instant. What do you do with a bunch of 7 - 8 year olds that could be termed remotely Spanish? Picasso: no. Miro: no. Dali: possibly. Goya: definitely not. Then I had a brain wave: Gaudi. I printed off a load of pictures of his Barcelona buildings, told them to design their own organic house inspired by nature. Then of course we designed a tile for the house that was, wait for it...a plaster relief! Nothing like adapting something you've done enough times before to a new theme. Trouble is it gets boring after a while...for me at any rate, they loved it.

Today was a reccie to a venue that we'll be using for some art classes in the autumn. These will be for the Cornish Hedge Research and Education Group (CHREG) - all art to be inspired by the Cornish hedge. Sounds crazy, but offers lots of possibilities - flora, fauna, geology... Anyway, it meant a lovely drive up to the wilds of Bodmin Moor to the Stone Academy (pictures below), for a cup of coffee and a wander round the quintessentially Cornish grounds.

A Barn at the Stone Academy where we'll be running workshops this autumn, with members of CHREG doing a good impression of doing some work!

View of the grounds with one of them there Cornish hedges in the middle distance.

After that it was a mad dash back to Falmouth for another art club. I feel like I could sleep for a week now, but what I need to do is have a look at plan B for the August exhibition. With £450 to find just for hire of the venue and insurance, it's beginning to feel a bit of a nightmare - well, I've been waking up in the middle of the night thinking about it anyway. Not good. Doing, not thinking, that's what I should be doing...

I don't know what to call this post

I got restless earlier this evening, as is my wont, so took off round the village on my bike for an hour and a half. Not much changes. The tourists have arrived in their droves and have displayed their boats in the marina to prove it. I hate boats. More precisely I hate the attitude that comes with most of the people that own them. And by boats I don't mean Swallows and Amazon dinghies, I mean the gin palaces and penis substitutes that permeate the creeks around here every summer (that paints a pretty metaphorical picture in my head, how about yours?!). Thinking about it, I'm feeling quite restless to get out of this place altogether. But to where?

I was reading a book on motivation the other day; as an exercise you're asked to imagine your perfect day. In my perfect day I wake up early in remote mountains somewhere, go for a stomp in them thar hills (amazing of course) before retuning to my beautiful, light filled (large) studio where I spend the rest of the day making masterpieces. I won't divulge what happens at the end of the day for fear of complete ridicule, but obviously I'm already fulfilling part of the fantasy and whip off masterpieces at the drop of a hat. The rest of it though seems sadly lacking. Especially the mountain part. Anyway, the point is that maybe I should head for some mountains somewhere; there certainly aren't any around here... Maybe what I need is that gap year I never had?

Surfin' USA?

There's a themed exhibition at Tate at the moment called 'If Everyone had an Ocean', which I think aimed to bring the 1960's Californian beach scene into the gallery. Don't know about that, but after a visit inside we tried to take the theme back outside! Pity the water temperature wasn't a bit more Californian though...

Heading into the Porthmeor surf!

Heading for a Porthmeor icecream...

Typical Cornish beach scene - not a bit Californian though :(

Missing you already!

I dropped Kim off at his first cub camp yesterday; he's camping away from home for three whole nights, his first time away from home 'alone'! It's a big jamboree celebrating 100 years of scouting and there are going to be 1700, yes 1700, cubs at the event! Can you imagine being surrounded by thousands of 8 - 11 year old boys (and a sprinkling of girls!)?! My answer is no and my instinct is RUN FOR IT!!!! Still, they're only about 8 miles away on the top of a very windy hill in Stithians, so if we do get a call from a desperately homesick child it won't be too far to go! But with all the amazing activities on offer I doubt very much that we'll hear a peep out of him all weekend!