A bit of a mishmash of things this week with no particular theme. On Saturday we went to the National Theatre in London to see 'The Light Princess' a new musical. The sets were absolutely amazing and the choreography stunning. The music however was pedestrian, sounding like pretty much any other modern musical and certainly no tune you came away humming. However I would recommend it as a stunning visual performance and the lead Rosalie Craig was superb.

Another of the leading actors was Clive Rowe who my son and I met at a restaurant in The Cut about 10 or more years ago. The tables were very close together and both Clive and my son were reading Terry Pratchet and struck up a conversation. Turned out we had seen him in Peter Pan when my son was four and that he was currently in rehearsal at the Young Vic. He was absolutely charming and we have followed his career ever since!

Sunday saw the start of the Brene Brown e-course Gifts of Imperfection. It combines the material from the book with art journalling. Three key words from this week's intention are 'courage, compassion and connection'

One of the first exercises was to take the perfection pledge - the idea was to write it on your hand and then take a selfie but this went a bit wrong in my case and I ended up with a rather messy hand so I made this heart instead!

Another course I am taking is Sebastian Michael's photoshop artistry. This week he challenged the group to make something special for Kim Klassen and her husband John who is seriously ill with leukaemia. It was Kim that introduced me to both Photoshop and Lightroom and guided my first faltering steps in her classes, so it was a pleasure to work on this piece which I also dedicate to a dear friend I have learned this week is fighting cancer.

I do realise of course that I am in grave danger of over-using the Scarlet angel - but I can't resist!

Finally we have been starting to think seriously about where we might move to when we retire in a couple of years. At the moment the top hit is Salisbury which we visited last weekend, but watch this space!

This week's post is part of a brave blogging link-up that's part of Liv Lane's How To Build a Blog You Truly Love e-course. As a participant, I was challenged to step outside my comfort zone and share something with you that felt especially brave.

This is a problem for me as I have just returned from a magical weekend in Cornwall where we went for the weekend to celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary with friends who were celebrating their fortieth on the same day.

Everything about the weekend was fantastic. The weather was fabulous (sitting out on the terrace in a swimsuit in Cornwall in October!), the hotel as near to perfection as I could ever have imagined and I feel full to the brim with joy and love at the wonderful weekend I experienced.

We have not stayed at many expensive hotels over our 40 years of marriage and I fully realise how lucky I am to have spent a weekend in this wonderful place of both natural and man made beauty. This has lead me to ponder on the nature of beauty itself and the different types of beauty that fill me with joy.

Natural beauty is perhaps the easiest place to start. The hotel had direct views over the beach at Mawgan Porth and the view from our bedroom was just stunning, with the light changing at different times of the day.

The net curtains in the bedroom took on the colour of the sunset and turned from a pale gold into a vivid orange

The design brief of the hotel was 'to create a unique and sustainable building that blends with and enhances the local environment, utilising the spectacular cliff-top location and views to construct a feeling of space and light.' This it has surely achieved. I have not taken photos of the outside of the building as it blends in with the environment rather than standing out as an architectural statement. it is rather the interior and the outdoor landscaped areas which stun with their beauty. The fusion of the hotel with its environment is evident throughout but I loved the outdoor natural swimming pool and the path down to the beach.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the hotel was that there was not one jarring note throughout the place (even the rubbish bins were attractive) and that everything was designed to be brilliantly functional. The chairs were comfortable, the balconies slanted to catch the sun (not always easy on the north coast) the lighting design amazing - I could go on - and all of these areas looked absolutely stunning as well! I'm not sure how beautiful I think things are if they look nice but don't perform the function they were intended to effectively. Something that looks beautiful and is well designed is a joy in all ways.

Another feature of the hotel were the works of art, some of which belonged to the owners and some of which were for sale. My favourite was this angel but there were plenty to choose from.

Most spectacular was the beauty of light and space, whether looking out to nature or in to the building

There are of course other types of beauty than the visual. The beauty of celebrating our 37 year friendship with our co-travellers (we are godparents to each other's children) and of the forty years of love and companionship that we have had as a couple.

I 'm not really sure how much this qualifies as a brave post, but it is what is in my heart this week. I hope you have enjoyed sharing our celebration weekend.

““Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” ”

— Franz Kafka

Pot Pourri

A Cornish Interlude - Thoughts on the Nature of Beauty