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Category Archives: photography

Storm, Buttermarket and Our Town Crier

It should have been the Mining and Pasty Festival today but some of the day had to be cancelled and the rest moved indoors as there was the most tremendous storm turning our main street into a river. There was thunder and lightning throughout Cornwall and a local photographer gave me permission to show you his amazing photo taken looking over St Ives.

Photo by Gary Phelps – who managed to get this picture this morning 😁 St Ives, Cornwall, UK 21st September 2024

Our ancient Butter Market is undergoing renovation and should be opening next month. We were allowed a walk around today and it is looking very good indeed.

Our Town Crier Max was about town doing his thing and kindly stopped for me to get some photos.

Max, our young Town Crier wearing the Story coat, showing my patch of Gracey Briney

One of my “Gwennap’ patches, at the bottom and my Gravestone patch

Bottom two are mine too, using some Senegalese fabric from my stash.

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 21, 2024 in Celebration, community, Cornwall, craft, embroidery, environment, nature, photography, Postaday 2024, Redruth, sewing, St Ives, Uncategorized

Tags: Gary Phelps, Kernow Captured, lightning, storm

More Photos from LiveWire 4

27 Aug

Zorro in the garden

Zorro walking to the fence

Zorro going back to his garden

Oil blobby droppy thing

Goldfinches eating seeds together

Orange rimmed slug on Nasturtium leaf

Thank you for all the lovely comments made by readers.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 27, 2024 in environment, garden, nature, photography, Postaday 2024, Uncategorized

LiveWire 4 Guest Blogger

26 Aug

We went for an early morning walk with my camera.

I liked these leaves because they look like the night sky with stars on them.

The moon was still up

Carn Brea Castle

Unidentified pink flower

We saw a cat

After breakfast at the Blue Bar , a treat to celebrate Granny and Grandad’s 57th wedding anniversary, I went for a walk up the cliffs with Mummy.

Flowers on the table in the Blue Bar

Turquoise sea with chocky waves

Cliffs

Caterpillar walking across the path

Gorse and heather

We decided to make tasty Choc Chip cookies this afternoon.

Biscuit the Hamster ready to eat a cookie.

Cookies ready to be cookiefied

Baked cookies ready to be eaten

Special heart cookie for my Mummy and Daddy to share

I found these in the garden later.

8 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 26, 2024 in baking, caterpillars, Cornwall, flowers, garden, nature, photography, Porthtowan, Postaday 2024, Sea

Tags: Blue Bar Porthtowan

Storm Kathleen and A Photo

06 Apr

Storm Kathleen has been pretty wild today but a photographer friend caught a wonderful photograph of Penzance. Thanks to Kris, for letting me share this with you, dear Readers.

As Kris wrote: “It feels like it’s been ages since I ventured out with my camera however I made a big effort this afternoon and it was somewhat blustery out there, here in Penzance. Strong south-westerly winds brought ‘Storm Kathleen’ into Mounts Bay with severe gale-force winds of 50mph plus creating massive waves over the promenade. It was also a little warmer as the winds dragged in very mild air from the tropics. I hope you like my picture!”

10 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 6, 2024 in Cornwall, environment, Penzance, photography, Postaday 2024, Sea

ShelterBox, Swans and Alan Brownjohn

29 Feb

A representative from ShelterBox came to choir today to collect the money we raised from our gigs over 2023. It is always moving to be brought up to date with their activities. They are working with MAP to get help into Gaza. Thanks to Mandy for the photo.

The tide was in this morning as we were rehearsing and the swans are back. I loved the contrast of the white swan and the colourful reflections in the water.

The poet, novelist and humanist, Alan Brownjohn, died last week so I thought I would share one of his poems,
The Director, with you. The format of the poem is four line stanzas but for some, irritating, reason, WordPress chooses to squash them all together. I hope this doesn’t spoil your enjoyment of this poem.

We get bored, we get restless. We feel there is more

Than merely existing – eating and drinking and dying,

The daily, the trivial round. We feel we must matter,

That somehow or other our presence in the world must count.

And then there are those with this urgent need for self-

Expression, the wish to put something out into the world,

To put down, for the record, what it was like to be them,

To be this self and no other and alive at this time.

Some find a medium, a skill with words, paint or stone,

(Though often enough they seem to mistake their need

To make for a gift to make something) while others remain

Frustrated, and find destructive ways of expression.

These are the difficult ones, the ones who can’t see

A possible pattern to things, order in all the disorder,

The sense of a journey, with somewhere, perhaps, to arrive,

The end, or the goal, which might justify it all.

So what can be done? It is tempting to preach and advise,

And point to the ways that others have found and followed,

The patterns which worked for them, the things which helped them through,

But that, of course, is exactly what they want to avoid.

So there really is nothing for it but kindness and patience.

Hoping, as always, that time will work its wonders,

That growing older may bring a kind of peace,

A slow-dawning recognition that things happen and pass.

He will be sorely missed. But we will always have his poetry.

And an extra one for you today, February 29th, a new word, courtesy of my SIL Bissextile

Remarkable Sunset and A Poem

21 Feb

The beautiful photo, the words and the poem are all by my poet friend, Kim Ridgeon and I thank him for allowing me to share the following:

“The colour was astounding this evening. The sunset reflected on the flooded fields of the Levels. Taken from our window with no mucking about with the result at all. Words couldn’t capture the scene.”

After publishing the photo, several of his followers asked for a poem.

“Earlier this week I posted a photo of the most remarkable sunset I have seen. One or two thought a poem would have been forthcoming. I felt (and still feel) that words would be inadequate in relation to such a glorious sight.
Anyway, here are a few thoughts on the matter on such a rainy day as this.”

Wish I’d seen that amazing sunset. Thanks again to Kim for, in effect, being my Guest Blogger today.

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on February 21, 2024 in environment, nature, photography, poetry, Postaday 2024, Uncategorized

Tags: Kim Ridgeon poet, The Somerset Levels

Cake, Roots and Spring Blooms

20 Feb

The cake I made for Valentine’s Day last week, for the volunteers at Community Roots, has been in the freezer as we couldn’t go. It went down well this morning!

Plenty of happy volunteer workers today and lots of salads being harvested.

Happy volunteers

Salad harvesting

Just look at the onions I sowed only 3 weeks ago!

Quite late this afternoon we decided to go to the gardens at Trelissick to see how things had changed in the ten days or so since we were last there. The Magnolia over the bridge was absolutely lovely, still some buds to open. The Daffodil Walk has lots of bright, open nodding daffodils (and on one, a bee! A rather blurry photo as the wind was blowing.) We managed to find all that were advertised on the Welcome board. Click on any photo for the bigger version.

The Welcome board

Part of the Daffodil Walk

Bee

Reflection

Magnolia over the bridge

Primroses

Snowdrops

Pink path

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on February 20, 2024 in art, baking, community, Cornwall, environment, garden, nature, photography, Postaday 2024, Trelissick Gardens, Uncategorized

Tags: community roots, volunteering

Exciting Find in the Garden

19 Jan

I found two strange little fungi in the garden today and two family people have helped me identify them as Collared Earthstars – such a lovely name for a delightful little thing. I had thought it might be a Puffball because when I touched it, it puffed out a little cloud. Here is the info from the link I was sent by C. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/fungi-and-lichens/collared-earthstar/

The Native American Blackfoot Confederacy called collared earthstars ka-ka-toos – meaning ‘fallen stars’ – and believed them to be indicators of supernatural events – just one of the lovely things I have learned today. Another is that just a raindrop landing on the dome is enough for the spores to puff out, such delicacy, such beauty.

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on January 19, 2024 in environment, garden, nature, photography, Postaday 2024

Tags: collared earthstar, Geastrum triplex

Community Roots, Cake and Sea View

16 Jan

What a delightful day I have had! This morning we worked at Community Roots with the best of people and I planted seeds for onions and shallots. Our youngest volunteer washed leeks with help and others planted beetroot and spinach in one of the poly tunnels.

Washing leeks

Working out numbers needed

8421 seeds planted!

Planting out baby spinach, baby beetroot plants

Winter salads

Salad tunnel

This afternoon I have baked cakes for tomorrow’s Community Roots AGM – an English Cherry Cake and, my favourite, a Victoria Sponge. I learned a new trick to stop the cherries all sinking to the bottom but I won’t know if it has worked until it is cut tomorrow evening! I’ll let you know.