It was Trevithick Day yesterday and the celebrations went on in Camborne. In the village of Beacon near Camborne, a magnificent postbox topper was seen, celebrating Richard Trevithick, Cornish mechanical engineer and inventor who successfully harnessed high-pressure steam and constructed the world’s first steam locomotive, the “Puffing Devil”![]()
Our cooker hood has been broken for a while and today our eldest daughter came for the day to help replec it. It’s looking very smart and now I have light to cook by!
I have shared poems by Billy Collins before. I love his work, have done since we went to a poetry reading by him last century! This one is for P to mark his birthday.
Today
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,so uplifted by a warm intermittent breezethat it made you want to throwopen all the windows in the houseand unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,a day when the cool brick pathsand the garden bursting with peoniesseemed so etched in sunlightthat you felt like takinga hammer to the glass paperweighton the living room end table,releasing the inhabitantsfrom their snow-covered cottageso they could walk out,holding hands and squintinginto this larger dome of blue and white,well, today is just that kind of day.




















nrhatch
April 28, 2025 at 11:42 am
Love the poem! We’ve had a few days like that recently.
Do you know how post box toppers are coordinated? For example, what if several people did a Christmas topper . . . whose topper would get top billing? Or did people sign up in advance for certain weeks? I looked on line and couldn’t find the answer.
mybeautfulthings
April 28, 2025 at 7:13 pm
I don’t know at all. I think the same person does ours and changes it whenever she feels like it. I don’t know about the others that I spot around the place. 🙂
nrhatch
April 29, 2025 at 11:34 am
That could be it. Someone “adopts” the postbox and keeps it outfitted for every occasion.
Heyjude
April 27, 2025 at 10:54 pm
That is a very impressive topper! And a lovely new cooker hood. I could do with a new one too as my lights don’t work.
mybeautfulthings
April 28, 2025 at 7:16 pm
Isn’t it? Clever idea and beautifully made. It was the lights that went on our hood and we couldn’t replace them! Built in obsolescence I think. I’ve been without lights for a few years and finally, now, I can see what I’m cooking again. 🙂