Autumn Colours

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I love living in West Penwith but I do really miss Autumn colours. Where I live we're not over-burdened with trees in the first place and the leaves on these tend to turn dark brown in Autumn and then fall off without the beautiful yellows, reds and oranges that can often be seen in woodland. When I regularly travelled to Devon at the end of October, I was really overwhelmed with the beauty of the tree colours there and used to spend time just looking at them and enjoying them. I've promised myself that, sometime in the future, I'll spend a period in Autumn near a beautifully coloured woodland and maybe do some sketching and painting. It would certainly be inspiring.

August Bank Holiday

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I have an ambivalent feeling about August Bank Holiday. On the one hand it is a bank holiday but on the other it marks the end of the holiday period and, on this occasion, the beginning of September immediately afterwards. The days now are quite obviously getting shorter - it's getting lighter later in the morning and darker earlier in the evening. And September is so much connected with Autumn and a new academic year. Autumn can be very beautiful with the variously covered leaves and often crisp mornings but I do miss the declining light as we move forward to the Equinox.

Housework

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I have to admit to not being very keen on doing the housework. I think I may just enjoy gardening a bit more and I'm no real gardener. At least in the garden I feel that I've accomplished something after I've done some work which I don't feel to the same extent doing housework. It all gets untidy and dusty again too quickly especially if you have a pet or live in the town. I'm waiting for the day when there is a nice house robot which will do all the routine jobs like the housework and the more ordinary shopping. Well, I can wish can't I?

Catching Up

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Today is one of those days when I felt that I needed to catch up on outstanding work so have spent the afternoon doing so. Haven't even had time to have lunch so am feeling a bit hungry. Felt that the catching up was necessary. Also feel good for doing it too!

Exercise

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I have just read an extract of an article which suggests that exercise can be as addictive as Heroin. I have to admit, for myself, that when for some reason I can't do a particular form of exercise I usually do, I miss it. For instance, I always feel really good after swimming and if something happens so that I can't go to the pool, I do feel a bit edgy. But as adictive as Heroin . . .?

World Cup Status

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Was fascinated to read today that a consortium which includes Plymouth Council plus Plymouth Argyle are looking at putting the city forward as a World Cup site for 2018 or 2022. This would mean enlarging Argyle's current stadium at Home Park which can now seat around 20,000 to accommodate seating for 40,000. I wish them the best of luck with this venture as the West Country is often under-represented when it comes to hosting such important and spectacular events.

Morning Pages

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When I first started to write, I was recommended The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron, which suggested that to get more in the flow for words and thoughts, the best thing to do was to write 3 pages every morning, uncensored and spontaneously. When I first started this, I felt very strange not knowing what to write and also mentally making excuses not to do it. I certainly had difficulty, first of all, filling 3 pages. That was several years ago. Now my morning pages have become part of my life and allow me to express my feelings on many aspects of my life as well as acting as a kind of diary. I can really recommend this process for getting thoughts and ideas started as well as for plumbing unknown depths.

Sunday Evening Concert

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One of the choirs that I sing with had a concert at Carbis Bay yesterday evening. We were lucky with the evening which was dry and had an attentive audience. We were rewarded for our musical efforts with tea and snacks. Altogether a very pleasant evening.

New Football Season

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Yes, it's back again - football. I can't say that I mind as it can be quite entertaining particularly when the team you're supporting is doing well. As a Plymouth Argyle supporter, though, I'm a bit nervous of its chances this season as it barely survived relagation last time. There are new players who've been signed, some of them quite good. But one player who looked really hopeful went and got injured during training and won't be back for another six weeks. So far it doesn't look brilliant but there's plenty of time yet for improvement. It would be really good for the Pilgrims to do well this year.

Holiday Time

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Have just received an e-mail from a friend who has suggested that this month really is a holiday month for us all whether we are physically on holiday or not. This is the chance to relax and enjoy ourselves before things start to hot up again next month.

I D Cards

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As most people in the UK know, the govenment has been trying to introduce ID cards against quite a large opposition and numerous problems, not least the cost of introducing them. The latest attempt is to introduce said cards on a voluntary basis in the future. What is interesting is that someone managed to get hold of a card and was able to hack into it within 12 minutes using quite basic tools. Oh dear . . .

Experiments

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It's amazing how much of my life is an experiment. Quite often that is the case where cooking or writing is concerned. There's a kind of excitement to do something which goes beyond the pragmatic approach and it can be well worthwhile to find out what works in the various situations although this can often vary to some extent the next time I try it. Perhaps it is part of the creative process to look at quite mundane objects and activities and find different uses and procedures for them. It certainly beats boredom and allows me to look at my life with a new eye.

Car Repairs

Have been without my car since yesterday morning when I took it in for repairs which needed to be done after the MOT. I've been lucky in that it's been dry and sunny for both my walk back home and for a walk to the local town that I needed to do for a meeting in the evening. The view on that first occasion was particularly beautiful looking over the sea. But now my car's back and I enjoyed the drive to get some petrol. The view was beautiful as I drove towards Penzance and could look out over Mounts Bay.

Travelling

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There was a time in my life when I really looked forward to travelling to different places and having new experiences. Perhaps the trouble (if that is the right word) of living in a beautiful part of the world is that mentally you're always comparing the place to which you have travelled to home and so often the holiday place comes up somewhat short. Then there is the business of travelling between places which seems to have become so much more complicated with often busy roads and a less efficient rail service than in times past. Finally, if you're flying anywhere there is all the business of the security procedures. Perhaps it's a sign of age but all of the above complications, to my mind, take the shine out of travelling anywhere now.

There are still places that I would like to see, Australia and New Zealand, for example and some of the countries in South America as well as the areas around the Rockies in Canada and America which always look so stunning in photographs and travel programmes. I'd also quite like to visit some parts of California and San Francisco. So, you never know, perhaps I could be persuaded to be excited about travelling again in the future.

Lucid Dreaming

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I have just been reading an article on lucid dreaming. Apparently there is a strong similarity between this and some mental disorders in the way in which the brain behaves. This is likely to start some more interest in the phenomenon of dreaming in general and lucid dreams in particular, in therapeutic practice. I've always been interested in the ability to dream lucidly and have had occasions when I've been aware that I was dreaming and was able to more consciously control the dream I was in. It was a wonderful experience and sadly doesn't happen that often and certainly not recently. I think the whole area of lucid dreaming should be researched more widely and techniques for teaching people how to do it made more widely available as it can help a lot of mental illnesses, for example depression.

Self Image

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It's probably amazing how much time we all take to bolster our self-image. We always want to present the best possible appearance to other people, to be acceptable and accepted. Perphaps the problem comes when the self image takes over and the real person hides away behind it. It's so easy to do, isn't it, to pretend to be a certain way when it's not entirely your own truth. It's like a kind of social camouflage, which allows you to become part of the group without too much trouble or too many questions. The more difficult part is to learn to differentiate between those groups with whom you feel you are being yourself and others where it's often more pretence than is comfortable. Perhaps the latter case is one that needs to be reviewed. It takes courage to be oneself in the face of so many conflicting demands from friends, family and the media and so easy to 'play the part' to avoid problems. But at some point the conflict between the pretence and the real is likely to spring up and make you choose. An interesting paradox that we all have to face sooner or later!