Logan to Heathrow to Totnes
Wednesday July 22 - Totnes, UK.
The first day of travel is always the most challenging because of sleep deprivation and getting my bearings, but I've had a very full day despite not getting more than 3 hours of sleep. The serendipity and chance encounters of getting outside one's usual routine started right at Logan Airport where a man sat down next to me at Legal Seafoods and instantly started talking animatedly about his travel plans to Devon for a cousin's wedding. I asked him what he did for work since he had been talking about preparing for a show, and he said he was an artist. It turns out he knew the same family friends I did (the Braces) and that I had actually seen his work at a fair at the First Parish in Concord a few years ago. He does woodcuts in the japanese style and they are very beautiful - all landscapes in elongated proportions. He has two assistants and one who custom makes frames for his prints out of his studio gallery in Lime, N.H. His name is Matt Brown and his website is: https://ooloopress.com/index6/
As the conversation progressed over an hour and a half, we started talking about sketchbooks and then he and I pulled out our sketchbooks and talked about the importance of drawing and doodling to experience more fully the present moment. It turns out he is also a tenor and sings with a choir near Thetford, VT. He asked about my Mom because I needed to call her for our nightly spelling bee redux, and after I got off the phone with her he told me about his Mom and how much it meant to her to stay in her house until the end, and also how sad it was for Peggy Brace to be in a "nursing home" in West Concord where she had no connection to place and people she knew.
Bantering with Matt before the flight helped me relax on what was a fairly turbulent ride across the ocean, meaning that I wasn’t able to get much sleep at all. Instead of trying to sleep, I distracted myself with the first few episodes of 30 Rock (it seems so dated now) and then a documentary about David Bowie and how he was always trying new genres and reinventing himself. I learned that the first time he sang the famous song “Changes” in public was at a music festival in the British countryside at 5 am as the sun was coming up over the fields and the campers, and that his girlfriend who was there said it was as if a spell was being cast over everyone and that he had put in words and music the zeitgeist of the time. Apparently the 5 am slot was all they could find for the relatively new-to-the-scene Bowie.
Getting through customs was easy, as was getting to Paddington Station, and then a train to Totnes was leaving just a few minutes later so I was soon zooming past hedgerows and very drought-stricken fields with cows in clusters, which were sometimes in the streams along the sides of the fields. It was alarming to see how dry the foliage was. And then a woman pushed a cart piled high with sandwiches, drinks and potato chips down the train aisle and climate change was suddenly forgotten for appetite. The train seats may have been as hard as concrete, the the food service made up for it.
I bumbled off the train with my heavy bulky backpack and my small but heavy suitcase (with broken zippers) and found my way to the airbnb at 17 Smithfields after asking a couple people for directions since my google maps didn’t seem as capable with the medieval street structure here in Totnes. I hit it off immediately with Maria the host, who among other things is a ceramicist, a hat designer, a grandmother, a gardener and owner of Solomon the cat who she said may have fleas, so I will give Solomon wide berth. The room is lovely with french doors opening onto the garden (very dry) and a nice array of teas and granola and fruit.
After a much-needed shower I walked into town and explored the main street and a few of the side alleys and shops, although most were closed or closing at 4 PM. I went into a bulk health food shop full of delicious and healthy spices and dried fruits and nuts and had a fun conversation with the guy behind the counter. It seemed that as soon as I told him I was a musician he started using a lot of swear words which struck me as funny because he probably thought I was a rock musician and not a church organist and was somehow talking “my language”. I went into St. Mary’s church and talked with one of the musicians setting up for a 3 hour improvisatory cello/synth meditation happening and thought it would have been fun to go but that I likely wouldn’t have the energy for it. After walking down the hill and back up in the heat and humidity I was ready for a light dinner at the Red Bull Restaurant near the top of Main Street, where I indulged in mussels in white wine and garlic with focaccia bread and a delicious lemonade/lime drink. On my way home I noticed a new species of bumblee with white bums all over lavender and the passionflower plant outside the airbnb, the rooks and the seagulls flying around and two very beautiful cats.
While I was exploring the streets of Totnes, I kept seeing large paper mache animals on buildings. I asked some women I met on the street about them and they told me it is part of what is called the Totnes Safari. A man in his 80’s makes them and donates them to people who will display them in their yards. He just asks that they make a donation to their favorite charity in exchange. I love that this whimsy exists and that the town has embraced it. Here is a whole article about it
https://thisismydevon.co.uk/2025/01/16/an-invitation-to-the-totnes-urban-safari/
and some of the photos I took of the animals I found today..
and there are wonderful bookshops here full of books I would love to read!
I did a couple sketches from my photos at night and hope to do some on location tomorrow. I have booked a guided boat trip along the river Dart to Dartmouth and back which should be fun!
