The Simple Pleasure of Discovering New Places
Somehow I forget how simple the joy of discovering places and roads and houses and people can be and how all it takes is walking around and not always knowing where you are going or even why. Today I had a goal in mind but yesterday and in the evening I just wandered in the general direction of beauty I could see in the distance. Falmouth is a city on a few steep hills and in my quest to get some added exercise on this trip, it wasn’t hard to do today as I started off in search of an art store that would sell double sided tape or a glue stick. I guess that I am probably the first and maybe the last customer at the spa to ask the concierge where I could buy a gluestick. Anyhow, I was successful this morning with not only buying a glue stick but also buying a white gel pen! The art store I went to was very small with minimal items for sale and yet, there were the two things I needed!
But first, I can’t really describe the day without mentioning the incredible breakfast arrayed in the dining room this morning which included of course, very healthy options like pineapple, fruit salad, yogurt, granola, but also croissants both plain and chocolate, actual melted chocolate sauce alongside containers of Nutella and a can of whipped cream (a child’s dream) as well as myriad coffee and tea options. Sadly I am trying to eat as little as possible on this trip for all sorts of reasons and so I had to pass on the chocolate sauce (maybe tomorrow), but I throughly enjoyed a croissant and some yogurt and tea. I have never stayed at a spa before and although it feels somehow decadent, I can’t help but admit how nice it is to be in a quiet room with a comfortable bed and the seagulls outside my window. I am a bit obsessed with seagulls at the moment because they have been just about everywhere I have visited so far, including Totnes. I can see how many seem constantly hungry and I wish they would all just be eating clams and fish on the waterfront the way they did before people started feeding them (me=guilty).
After walking up and over a huge hill to the art store, I went to the Falmouth Booksellers to pick up a copy of My Cornish Sketchbook. Since I have been sketching in public, two different women at different places have told me my work reminds them of Susannah Garland’s work who wrote My Cornish Sketchbook, and Sue Lewington’s paintings who is also a Cornish watercolor artist (and quite good!). In the bookstore I marveled at the work of Jackie Morris, one of my favorite watercolor artists especially for her soul-filled depictions of animals and birds. She collaborates with Robert McFarlane, the poet and writer, and often uses gold leaf to surround her watercolors.
On the way back I discovered some people were leaving water out for the wildlife or maybe dogs and many people had little gardens in their 6 by 6 foot front yards. I came back from the art store in time to sit in the beautiful wildflower garden and peruse My Cornish Sketchbook and read some interesting observations and history of Newlyn and Penzance before my massage with Maizie who is a gentle and compassionate soul. I emerged from the massage covered in coconut oil and was directed into a relaxing room where there were massage chairs that are unlike the ones I’ve used in the states. These are reclining and you push some controls and the entire chair grinds and vibrates in a very nonrelaxing and also non-massaging sort of way. It feels like a lot of gears are working very hard under the chair to little effect. The other woman in the room left, probably because of the sound.
From there I decided to have a small lunch and do some sketching from the patio overlooking the gardens down to the ocean. There are all sorts of tropical plants and trees here that are so enormous and so flamboyant and many of the palms have extremely sharp and hard points to their leaves. The scene I chose was not one that most people would choose to paint, but it was where I was sitting and I was too lazy to get down to the beach or go back in town until later.
I seemed to get some “cred” with the wait staff with my sketching and painting and it was fun talking with them about their own art and creative ventures. Shay is a psychadelic rock musician when he isn’t at the bar at St. Michael’s and he told me he had learned a lot from his ex-girlfriend who is an illustrator. He told me to check out some specific galleries in town and I decided to walk there and get more exercise before dinner.
I meandered into town a different way this time, heading back towards where I’d come from the train station and then after ogling a dachshund dragging some people behind it, they admitted that she wasn’t their dog; she belonged to the mother who was up ahead. I strode down the hill towards the docks and a ferris wheel that seemed to be calling my name. I think maybe the last time I was on a ferris wheel was when I was possibly ten years old so it felt like a good time to get in line for a ticket. The man at the booth had a spaniel sleeping on the table through the window and as probably countless people had asked him daily, I said “Could I pat your dog?” and he said sure. The dog seemed to be completely comatose but after I came off the ferris wheel he/she was leaning out the window with one soft adorable ear dangling forlornly down. I only noticed now looking at these photos that the sign said “dogs are welcome to ride with their owners” and I wondered how that has gone with some dogs who presumably get vertigo and fear of heights like people do? And then are trapped in a tiny car with clear glass dangling hundreds of feet up in the air? I kept trying to photograph the seagulls as they were flying around the ferris wheel and completely failing at capturing them with the iphone.
On the way back to the hotel I passed some amazing looking trees and some very busy bumblebees. I’m happy to have two more nights here!
