1. Listening to Paolo Nutini on the journey up to London and these words stayed in my mind: “If you love the life you live, you’ll get a lot more done.”
Paolo Nutini
2. On Saltash Station there’s an old rowing boat full of Spring flowers, quite delightful.
3 Lucy has landed! Home from the trek up to Everset Base Camp.
I can’t work out how to put up photos from my iPad so they’ll all have to wait until we get home.
1 Today I came across a scrap of paper on which I had written down something I heard on the radio and loved. Checking it out, I find it is from an ancient Iraqi poem, “Gilgamesh”:
” Let your every day be full of joy, love the child that holds your hand, let your wife delight in your embrace, for these alone are the concerns of humanity.”
I found this fuller explanation online: ‘Reflecting on the death of his friend, Gilgamesh decides to search for the key to eternal life, an ultimately futile quest. “Gilgamesh, what you seek you will never find. For when the Gods created Man they let death be his lot, eternal life they withheld. Let your every day be full of joy, love the child that holds your hand, let your wife delight in your embrace, for these alone are the concerns of humanity.”‘
2 Also came across this very old and much loved photo of my twins (sorting again!)
Lucy and Daniel
3 This lovely sleek cat joins us in the garden quite often and reminds me of my growing up days when we always had much-loved cats.
The Neighbourhood Cat
Thank you, Peter
1 Yesterday, too late for my post, this lovely message came on Facebook – “My thank you to Sally Smith – I have made this for her as she kindly gave me 2 large sheets of brass. I have called this the Sally Smith Award Trophy – it is made from Mahogany and Brass.” Thank you so much. Peter Airey. It is a beautiful piece.
2 Went to Eden Reclamation yard to find edging tiles for the new terrace being started today. Found none but took some very pleasing photos of reclaimed stuff.
3 On the way home called in at Pine Lodge Gardens to see the snowdrops.
1 We’ve spent the day at Lanhydrock on a brilliant course on Camera Basics with Helen Morcom and Andrew Rowe, patient and skilled teachers. The morning was in class and the afternoon was spent ‘in the field’. I can now take photos without using the Auto setting! I feel confident using the other settings and some of my photos are quite pleasing but I’ll have to keep practising.
2 We had chips for lunch!
3 John Betjeman on Cornwall -thanks to my singing pal, Sally B. Mum and Dad gave me his collection of poems, ‘A Ring of Bells’ many years ago and, of course, I still treasure it.
John Betjeman
1 On my walk down into Redruth today, this beautiful blossom took my breath away.
Blossom 25:2:2012
2 Mr S has cleared the patch for the new terrace and spread compost on the raised beds, ready for vegetable planting quite soon.
3 Lovely friends brought us some more snowdrops from their place in Wales.
4 + a little extra! Just had over an hour with Daniel on Skype talking about the wedding and all the things we need to know about before we go to Senegal. I have to send my measurements to Ami so that she can get my wedding outfit made up for me before we arrive! It was Ndeye Marie’s 4th birthday last week and Daniel sent some photos while we were chatting.
1 Been to The Hall for Cornwall tonight to see “Reasons to be Cheerful’ a kind of homage to Ian Dury. It’s fabulous! It’s funny and touching, it’s loud and it’s rude and it’s enormous fun! My face is aching from all the grinning and singing! It’s on tomorrow too http://www.reasonstobecheerfulthemusical.co.uk/ Do go and see it if you can! All the favourites are there in this musical/gig – Reasons to be Cheerful, Hit Me with your Rhythm Stick, Sweet Gene Vincent, Clever Trevor…..
2 Today’s piano lesson marked One Year of Lessons and my teacher tells me that she’s really pleased with my progress. So am I; there are pieces that I can play just for pleasure now, simple maybe, but pleasing nevertheless.
3 From a comment on yesterday’s post, I found this new blog which I found really touching. Do have a look.
http://wordsfallfrommyeyes.wordpress.com/
1 Fabulous singing session this morning learning ‘Valerie’ by Amy Winehouse. As the harmonies built up and then the melody came over the top – it was brilliant! And I hadn’t liked it much on first listen. I love the way Claire can do that for us!
2 Came home to find this message from Lucy on Facebook: “Now that was the hardest thing that I have ever done and possibly the hardest thing that I will ever do, I got very sick and nearly didn’t make it, but did and now I’m flying back down the mountains… lots of love to all… Still taking sponsorship…http://fundraise.unicef.org.uk/MyPage/LucyEverestBaseCamp”
We are so proud of her and delighted, that despite being so sick, she made it!
Everest Base Camp
3 There are daffodils in the garden, some open, others just bending their heads ready to burst. There’s a field near Ponsanooth on my way to Penryn that has daffodils all over it and it’s such a delight to round the corner and see them. It’s not commercial growing – they’re just there!
1 Today I have handed over all Dad’s tapes to a beautiful Spanish lady who came all the way from St Germans. She is going to digitise them for me prior to them being transcribed. It will be strange and rather wonderful to be able to hear Dad telling us his army life stories again.
2. I’ve spent the afternoon tucked up, nursing a cold but the beauty of that was that I had several hours to read. I am reading carefully through a manuscript of Dad’s, ‘The Boy with Red Fingers’ which was never published but which he had commissioned a young artist to illustrate, and I am deciding what the picture for each chapter should consist of. What a privilege! Meanwhile, the wonderful Mr S was out in the rain clearing the back corner ready for a sun terrace to be laid very soon.
3 Some more of the brass bits went today, via Freegle, to a lovely man from Falmouth Model Boat Club. He was so chuffed with everything and told me what each bit would be used for which was really pleasing. We had given him an old drill once before, again through Freegle, and he told me that it now powers one of the boats.
Falmouth Model Boat Club
1 Met a lovely man this morning whose daughter saw my ad for the brass sheets on Network Cornwall. He’s taken lots of the brass and is going to make me a weather vane. Even better, he mends instruments for Camborne Brass band so the material will be used in the way it used to be. That will please Charlie.
2 Sallie Grayson of People and Places, through whom we did our Voluntouring in Mapoch, South Africa, sent me this article about the over 50s volunteering and they used my photo!
The children watching the video of them dancing
3 Lucy is due to reach Everest Base Camp today. We should hear from her in a couple of days as they get back down to Namche Bazaar.
1 For Mum and Dad’s Golden Wedding, in 1989, we made some beautiful golden crackers. We, my siblings and their spice who had all come over from America and Germany for the two week long event, had a brilliant evening with Mum and Dad, laughing, sharing stories and making the crackers. I was reminded of this today when, in my perennial sorting of family stuff, I found two packets of the gunpowder strips that make the bang – and they still work! The sound, the smell, both so evocative…….
The Wiseman clan on Perranporth Beach for the Golden Wedding, in our special design t-shirts
2 Tonight , with The Inglehearts, we learnt ‘Cornish Lads’ by Roger Bryant with beautiful harmonies. It’s been one of my favourites since I heard it sung at The Countryman months ago and now we can sing it too. Thanks, Claire.
3 Lucy is now at Lubuje at 18,500ft, having trekked today from Dingboche. I love these names! It’s a splendid vicarious thrill to ‘trek’ with her via the map.
Commentator Award
