Monday 17 November 2014

Not Only But Also

Hello there!

Firstly thank you for your wonderful response to my last post. When I started writing it, I had in mind a kind of tips for raising boys kind of affair. But lets be honest here, the best thing to do is throw away the manuals when you have kids. They scupper any attempts to try and label them or put them in a box. The minute I think "gosh my boys are so thoughtful and lovely" they immediately do something vile. Likewise when I'm literally at the end of my tether and would quite happily list them on Ebay, they disarm me with acts of kindness and love. Such is the way of the child.

.........

Apart from some ridiculous weather, things have been trucking along here. My daily business is unassuming and routine. I am swimming more, and enjoying being able to swim further and faster every week. I met up with Antonia and we had a rather lovely wander and natter and coffee and lunch. I think it's the start of a great friendship. And my friends, she wore a blue polka dot coat. I wonder if she heard my inner self covet it?

There have been huge flocks of Starlings congregating in my road. They appear between the heavy showers, and gorge themselves on the white seeds of the many palm trees in mine and my neighbours gardens. I have a massive palm tree. I had been toying with the idea of cutting it down. But watching this murmuring has made me wonder whether I should embrace it's bird feeding capacity, and just accept that I will be constantly picking up palm leaves forever and ever and ever..... I ran up and down my road trying to get the money shot of these birds in flight en mass. Sadly I just wasn't quick enough.

 

I have enjoyed walking Honey along the beaches once more. She seems to have got over her eye ailment, which is a relief for both of us. I am always struck by the amount of surfers in the water on a week day. Perhaps they are postmen, or chefs in between shifts. They are nearly always men at any rate. There was some particularly good surfing displays on Friday. The waves were good. Three feet and clean, I believe. I haven't made good on my promise to learn to surf. But I am a step closer to donning a wet suit. You just never know.


I pass this working studio every week on my way to my gardening job. It enchants me. I find it romantic. Look at the works in progress on their easels. Look at the tools of the painters trade; the brushes, the paint smeared cloth, containers of turps. The smell emanating from the open door was quite intoxicating. You are invited to come in, but I am very shy - almost intimidated - by such places. What must it be like to have a space such as this to work in? Are any of you lucky enough to have a space such as this?


I have been very taken with the pared back forms of the plants that border hedgerows and coastal paths. I am a fan of Angie Lewin. Her lino prints are out of my price range, but I can reproduce a little of her talent by taking a snap of the real thing. They are so beautifully sparse, don't you think.


 And I think I found a mermaid's purse on Lelant beach. I've never seen one before. Of all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) things that get washed up on that expanse of beach, it has somehow eluded me. There were razor shells in abundance too, and some may have found their way into my pocket and home.


Oh and Samuel has decided to accept the offer from Liverpool University. He will be a long way away from St Ives this time next year. I'm trying not to think about it too much.

Leanne xx

18 comments:

  1. Hi You .. you could pick some of that dried/semi dry foliage for a display at home .. put dry into a bottle/vase/pretty tin against a plain wall.. it should dry nicely and you will have a piece of art all of your own. A sense of the summertime throughout the bleak winter months.
    Liverpool is supposed to have a great Uni vibe .. he will have a ball .. and you will be fine!
    All my boys went away to Uni ... its awfully scary .. and you will cry .. but its great for them .. and you will be fine!

    Vicky x

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  2. What a coincidence, I was watching some starlings this morning picking the while berries off a palm today too. I'd never noticed them do that before! I stood watching for ages. x

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  3. Congratulations to Sam. He will be fine, but I understand how you must be feeling. I am sure that is a mermaid's purse. Lucky you for finding it, I've always liked them.

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  4. Leanne that is the strangest coincidence. My brother who spends half the year at least in St Ives. Living in Bunkers Hill actually went all the way to Liverpool University from Devon. He same straight back to Devon when he got his degree so maybe Sam will be the same x love the sound of the polka dot dress !

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  5. There aren't many places in the UK where you can have a proper palm tree in your garden. Embrace it. Well, not literally...

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  6. Congratulations to Sam, I've heard good things about Liverpool University. No doubt he will be back often with a bunch of friends, you will of course be very popular. We had wonderful murmurations of starlings a couple of years ago. It was fantastic watching their formations every day at dusk, then that amazing moment when they all suddenly descend into the trees. They have been gathering this year, I'm hoping we will see them doing their thing soon. CJ xx

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  7. I love shells. That's what I miss most about the beach, living so far away I can hardly ever gather shells. Congrats on your sons Uni place, can't imagine mine ever getting to that stage (eldest is 11) but I'm sure it will go in the blink of an eye. CJ is right, he'll be back with loads of friends, the draw of Cornwall will be too much for them all :)
    Jillxo

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  8. Love the Mermaids Purse as I'd never heard of this. Good luck to your son, big adventure but good times to be had. I vote keep the palms.

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  9. Congratulations to Sam!!! How great is that! I hope that he has a wonderful time and that the future will bring only good things for him. I love the studio, it must be lovely to have such a nice walk to your gardening gig and to see things like this on the way. xx

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  10. Right back at ya! It's such a treat to finally meet a blogging friend, we're lucky that we live so close. We've got a palm tree out the front of our house and starlings nesting in the roof, so I vote you keep it. I love their chatter, they sound so comical sometimes. I think they are one of the species that has struggled in recent times so good to hear that they're doing well in your neck of the woods. See you soon, Antonia x

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  11. Ooh, Liverpool is a great place though. If you're ever up this way on a visit let me know and I'll gladly make the journey over.
    And (I realise I'm probably risking alienating Mancunians here) it is a far friendlier city. Not that he was going to Manchester (was he?) but I'm just saying. The people are very nice and he'll love it, I'm sure.
    I too love Angie Lewin. The prices of her prints are out of my range as well, but I do own a nice bag and her book. And you could always frame some greetings cards... Those structural seed heads (great to photograph) are apparently called Umbellifers, which is a fantastic name in my opinion.
    The starlings in these parts are into fat balls. They get quite annoyed with each other and scrap and the feathers fly...
    S x

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  12. The starlings at Marazion Marsh are amazing apparently, I haven't managed to get down there to see them at dusk yet. Congrats to your son, lovely excuse to visit Liverpool, my son was at Cardiff so I got some nice trips up there :) Yes it looks like a mermaids purse to me.

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  13. Have had very little blog time recently but have just been enjoying a good catch up here, Leanne. What a lovely post, the last one too. And so recognisable. It will be quite a change to have your son go to Liverpool next year. What does he want to study there? xxx

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  14. Mermaid's purse for sure :o) And I envy you the murmuring starlings. Have been toying with going to Avalon Marshes to see them but it's a two hour drive. Glad Sam has his place sorted. J is in France this year and enjoying it and growing up. x

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  15. Hi Leanne. I lost my comment, where did it go??? Routine is nice, however unassuming it may be. I am adjusting to a new one just now, working full time (just for a short while, phew)... suddenly not working seems so much more appealing. Liverpool is a great place, we nearly went to live there instead of Glasgow. Have a lovely rest of the week. Christina xx

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  16. Hi Leanne, we're being grouped together with the Five on Friday by Amy :) Thought I'd pop in and say hello and am now following you. I've read back a few posts, and really enjoyed them! I totally understand your mornings with your boys. I have one boy at home and our morning routine is quite similar (and didn't I have to run his lunch money up to him at noon?!). So funny. Loved the little clip of your dance routine too btw. Wendy x

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  17. Hello lovely. Cracking post, you sound very happy and chilled, pottering about and noticing the small things. I like the look of that studio very much and also covet Angie Lewin's work. I have a bit of a thing for seed heads. How wonderful that Sam was offered a place at Liverpool, he'll love it I'm sure. x

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  18. Ooh, that studio ... wouldn't it be devine to be a painter painting there. Life eh, so many possibilities but we get the mundane everyday version ... or maybe to the painter, or the surfers, what we have is covetable.

    He'll have a ball at Liverpool. If he needs any studenty tips re. the place just shout, I think I told you my daughter did her MA there a couple of years back.

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