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Monthly Archives: December 2018

Penzance, Montol Festival and St Michael’s Mount

We went to Penzance to do some shopping after saying goodbye to a very dear friend of the family about whom I have written many times. It was a lovely ceremony which summed up her beautiful character very well. RIP Dear Margaret. In Penzance my eye was caught by the small electric boxes up and down Market Jew Street. Looking them up, I think they are called feeder boxes. I love how they have been individualised.

Watch out for seagulls stealing your ice-cream

Fish

The Egyptian House

Dragons

We hadn’t realised that today was the Montol Festival when we set off for Penzance. We did know that it was Winter Solstice….. What a magnificent parade that was! Click on any photo for the caption and more detail.

On her way to the start

The parade begins

The violin player

Drumming

Sea colours

Beautiful costume

On the way home, St Michael’s Mount rose out of the mist.

St Michael’s Mount

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 21, 2018 in art, Christmas, community, Cornwall, painting, Photography, Postaday2018, Uncategorized

Tags: Christmas in Cornwall, Cornish traditions, street art

Winter Trees, Concert and Door Latch

20 Dec

I love seeing the structure of winter trees.

Winter trees

The Suitcase singers have done the last concert of the season in the beautiful old Male Church. This photo was taken by a member of the audience.

The Suitcase Singers

Mabe Church dates from 1400, the stone work is fabulous and the door latch heavy and dramatic.

Old door latch on the Church door

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 20, 2018 in architecture, blacksmith metalwork, nature, Photography, Postaday2018, Uncategorized

Tags: Mabe Church Cornwall

Embroidery Silks, Pillow Cases and Cato

19 Dec

I needed more embroidery silks for finishing off the pillow cases so went to my favourite shop, Redruth fabrics which is an Aladdin’s Cave of gorgeousness.

Beautiful silks

This afternoon I finished off the pillow cases which each say ‘Goodnight ******’ (Insert name of Grandchild here). As I was doing the embroidery, I was thinking about my Mum who did the same for our four children nearly 40 years ago. Two, at least, of our children still have their much loved pillow cases!

Pillow cases finished and ready to pack

Our children and their children love the picture story book, ‘My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes’ and visiting next door this afternoon, I was reminded of it when Cato came to sit near me, not on my lap or on the settee but in the box lid.

Cato

Our much loved and much used copy of ‘My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes’ by Eve Sutton

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 19, 2018 in art, Christmas, craft, embroidery, Photography, picture story books

Tags: cats, Eve Sutton, Lynley Dodd, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes

Mele Kalikimaka, Dog and Horizon

18 Dec

Last night, thanks to our brilliant organising committee, was the Ingleheart Singers’ fabulous Christmas party, the best yet! After the most delicious bring and share supper came the cabaret and we all laughed and laughed! One of the acts was a Hawaiian Christmas where a lovely song was introduced. Claire, our leader, remembered that my kid sister lives in Hawaii and had the idea that we should wish her a Happy Christmas and sing a carol for her. Here it is, with love.

We had to go to Newquay this afternoon on a mission and on the way back followed this chirpy dog who, I’m sure, would rather have had his head out of the window!

Dog in a van

As we come home from Newquay we drive West into the sunset. I have been trying to get a photo of this particular engine house for years and today, it worked! It’s on a very long zoom and taken from a moving car but I caught the moment.

Engine house

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 18, 2018 in community, environment, family, nature, Photography, Postaday2018, singing

Tags: Hawaiian Christmas greeting, sisterly love

Dawn, Rose and Kindness

17 Dec

Pink skies greeted us this morning.

Dawn sky

I wore my best scarf this morning to say goodbye to one of our choir members. Black and red are The Ingleheart Singers’ colours.

Embroidered scarf

As always, top of my list – be kind.

Be kind

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 17, 2018 in friendship, Kindness, nature, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: The Ingleheart Singers

My Glass Decoration, Paddington Bear and Daffodils

16 Dec

Here is my completed glass hanging so that you can see the design more clearly. I have incorporated one of a pair of earrings that I no longer wear though they were much loved so now my piece contains memories too.

The piece I am very pleased with

We found this commemorative 50p in our change yesterday – Paddington Bear at Paddington Station. It is strange how the photo makes it appear see-through.

50p piece

One of my readers and a good friend sent me a photo of some daffodils so here they are, one of today’s beautiful things thanks to A. They are locally grown.

Spring in December from Anne

12 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 16, 2018 in art, friendship, glass, nature, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: Cornish Daffodils

Glass Class, Stars and Ivy

15 Dec

I am so enjoying my Glass workshops with Lisa Macfarlane! Today I went for something without a template and created a design that I am delighted with. Here are the pieces with their copper foil, awaiting the solder and tomorrow, when I can photograph it against the light, I’ll show you the finished hanging piece.

Beautiful pieces

Other people made some lovely decorations too. Click on the image to see the whole.

Stars made by a Mother and her 12 year old daughter

Tree

Outside, on the wall of the car park, the multi-coloured Ivy caught my attention. It’s a bit fuzzy as I took the photo through the windscreen.

Ivy

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 15, 2018 in art, Christmas decorations, glass, nature, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: Lisa Macfarlane, the craft collective

Special Cake, Light Show and Christmas Tree

14 Dec

What a day today turned out to be! A dear friend called in for coffee this morning and then we were invited to a special showing of Bill Mitchell’s attic. Sue had made an attic cake and after each person had seen the film (See below) and Bill’s amazing attic full of remarkable things and inspiration, we were invited to make a cake decoration of something we had seen. This is the cake as we left and I will show you the finished cake later.It was a beautiful tribute to a wonderful man. You might like to read my tribute to him written last year. https://mybeautfulthings.com/2017/05/03/bill-mitchell-our-friend-next-door-2121951-1442017/

Attic cake

Partly finished cake

After that we ventured into a very cold town for a brief visit to Redruth’s Old Tyme Christmas Market in the newly refurbished Butter Market. Clare Summerson’s Light show, ‘Spirit of Light’ was fabulous, truly beautiful. They were hard to photograph they were moving so only two here.

The Christmas Tree was lovely too.

Christmas tree in the Butter Market

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 14, 2018 in art, Christmas, Christmas decorations, community, friendship, Photography, Postaday2018, Uncategorized, Wildworks

Tags: Bill Mitchell, Clare Summerson, Redruth's Old Tyme Christmas Market, Spirit of Light

The Suitcase Singers, Decorated Trees and An Angel

13 Dec

My choir, The Suitcase Singers, were due to be recorded for a TV programme this morning. I have missed so many of our choir events this Christmas and did not want to miss that! Our lovely choir leader gave permission for me to go along and mime so that is what I did! The lovely Mr S dropped me at the door and picked me up at the end. It is to be on ITV at 6pm on 21st December as part of a programme about typical Cornish Christmas celebrations. Here we all are in Penryn Town Hall.

The Suitcase Singers – thanks to J for taking the photo.

The lovely Mr S had a plan when he picked me up and I was whisked away to have lunch at Falmouth Pavilions where the annual Christmas tree event was in full swing.

A long line of trees

A tree decorated by a local Nursery

One Angel caught my eye.

Pretty angel

A question for my fellow Bloggers – has anyone tried the new editor, Gutenberg? I am about to renew my (expensive) subs to WordPress and am concerned about the complexity of the new editor. I’ve given it a run-through and didn’t take to it though that was just a brief try. If it’s going to be a pain rather than a pleasure, it may be time to call it a day or maybe I just need to spend some time re-learning! I’d love to know what other Bloggers are thinking.

11 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 13, 2018 in Christmas, Christmas decorations, music, Penryn, Photography, Postaday2018

Tags: Christmas trees, Falmouth Pavilions

Recycled Glass Workshop and Roses

12 Dec

This afternoon I went on another glass workshop to make Christmas trees from recycled materials. I took some old earrings along and we used recycled glass, other old jewellery and wire out of cables. Here are three of mine – still to finish another. It was a brilliant encouraging class and I am delighted with my trees!