Post 14/2024 Cornwall UK. BBC Breakfast weather presenter on Friday noted “There’s a storm coming.” Kathleen, the 11th named storm of the year. Friday: Flashes of rain, some sunshine and showers, cloudy, windy. Saturday: strengthening winds 60-70 MPH, same for gusts on Sunday.

The good news: temperatures of 17-19 Celsius, 62-66 Fahrenheit.

Unsettled, spells it out. Not a washout. Just persistent weather patterns that keep one guessing. Depressing for farmers and gardeners, disconcerting for all things out-of-doors (unless you’re a duck). Much more than a trivial matter.

So, for another week I continue, like a broken record, to open with the weather. Beats politics.

Easter morning, a week ago

Nineteen people gathered for a 6:30 sunrise service on Carbis Bay beach. Clouds obscured the 6:59 rising sun, though the setting proved right for reflection. We had a brief liturgy, hymn and prayers, surrounded by the sounds of waves and birds. In the distance an individual walked into the bay for a swim, two dogs came to greet us, and a solitary gull stood at sand and wave edge as though ready to address us. Mike said the gull was more likely waiting for food. All creation’s waiting voices join the chorus. Christ is risen!

Out and about

Monday. We took a longer walk to the St Ives Library and lunch. No rain until later in the day. In third photo the sun highlights St Nicholas Chapel on the Island at St Ives.

Tuesday. A trip with Ann to two farm markets for lunch and shopping redeemed a rainy day. The road into Hayle turned to river on the way home from Trevaskis Farmhouse Kitchen and Richards Farm Market.

Wednesday. A trip with Steve and Marilyn to two National Trust sites on the English Channel capitalized on a sunny day. We started at Kynance Cove on The Lizard, the most visited National Trust property in Cornwall. We first walked through there on the South West Coast Path 18 years ago–more sure-footed and google-eyed. We did not climb to the top of the cliff this time.

We had lunch at Lizard Point. Engaging day out. Rained on the way home.

Thursday. Dinner at our cottage with Noel and Lynne was all about, like the rest of the week, feeding body, mind and soul.

Friday. After a day in, we hopped, skipped and jumped–figuratively, to Becks Fish & Chips for dinner. Becks serves more than delicious food; they are a place that delivers community. People don’t wait idly for a table, they are engaged in conversation with each other and staff, meanwhile having a drink. You go for food and convivial company. As we were waiting, Tim and Margaret were leaving. Chat with them brightened our day.

The places where community regularly happens includes church, library, pub, friends, family and other social gatherings, group walks, sports events, and other occasions. The key is face-to-face interaction. I remember the day way before the internet and even common use of the telephone when we visited family and friends without being invited or calling ahead.

Goodness, I shutter today at my thought of the times in the early 1960s when I hitched a ride with a trucker moving a family from southwestern Ontario to New York City. I went to visit, unannounced, (yes, unannounced) an uncle and family living in New Haven, Connecticut where Uncle Ross was completing PhD studies at Yale. Such a memorable journey and visit it was; with my first (propeller-prop) flight home. Family, community, discovery, face-to-face adventure home from home in a bigger world. Yikes and yay!

Be well. Lift the fog. Do something together.

-John