Lever harp

My harp is here! :D It arrived last Saturday. I'm so happy and grateful to have it, and really look forward to starting my lessons in May <3

It's a 22 string lever harp - just the right size to start on, I think :) Strung with nylon, and it has a lovely, dreamy sound. May cannot come too soon!

If you'd like, please listen to these recordings from the Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient:
Anne Postic in 2008- the first piece in the session is composed by her and is my absolute favourite!
Virginie Le Furaut, same year
Lina Bellard in 2010, on a wire-strung harp - a very different sound but equally amazing artistry (the music in this video lasts only until ~min 7).

Many thanks to my dear husband, aunt and mother, for their support in following my dream of learning the harp! <3

In closing, another photo, of a pearly bookmark I made last week as a little present for my mother-in-law on her birthday. I was so pleased with how it came out, that I went and ordered some more findings! :) Some glass beads or semi-precious stones I think would look very nice, or how about mixing it up with some felt beads, crochet and fabric? Can't wait! :D

Listening

I had so many different ideas during the week about what to write here next, that I haven't been able to develop even one of them properly! :) Maybe I should let myself be more free to say things here even if they are not all rounded, with a beginning, middle and end, but just put them down and allow them to live on their own terms. Even if it's not a Thursday night :)

Reading this quote by Henri Nouwen today - about listening, rather than talking - has made my decision for me though, as I found it too important a thought and too beautifully expressed not to share:

Listening as Spiritual Hospitality

To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept.

Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.

                                                                                   - Henri J.M. Nouwen

It reminded me of a day, many years ago, when I was at a church, listening to Michael Card, the songwriter. He is also a wonderful Bible teacher, and one summer in Bucharest, after he had given a concert the previous evening to a packed huge venue, he wanted to have a morning of Bible teaching. Contrary to my expectations, the church hall where we were was far from full - there were maybe twenty people gathered there. The translator was a good Christian man from another town (and I had no idea then, but some years later he would become my pastor).

Michael Card wanted to begin by answering people's questions. There were many questions, and he answered them with knowledge, grace and humour. Time was getting on, and his translator said, 'Shouldn't we be starting on the message you prepared?' (which, judging from the previously announced title, seemed very interesting). But Michael replied: 'The people still have questions, let's continue with that'.

I was so amazed and touched that he left aside the message he had chosen and worked on, in order to devote the full available time to any questions that were asked by the people present.

I had prepared a few questions too, but there's only one I remember now. The answer he gave is also an indelible memory, such was its impact on me at the time. I asked, 'What do you think is the greatest need of young people today?'. He answered: 'The greatest need of young people is the same with the greatest need of old people, children and adults alike: their need is to be listened to'.

It took me totally by surprise, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised how right he was.

As someone who usually feels I've got a lot to say, all this is a precious reminder of how important it is to listen. People will feel accepted and treasured if I listen.

And all the more will God feel so too. He is the ultimate Other, and listening to Him is probably the most difficult exercise in silence, attention and readiness to understand, ever. Because He is holy, everything in my fallen nature is striving to distract me and lead me away from just remaining in each other's presence.

It reminded me of a song by Michael Card, inspired by words from the Old Testament prophets, Will You Not Listen? I need that song. You can find it here, with lyrics.

Two little projects

Hello! Just a couple of very quick notes today, about two little projects that are, happily, finished! :D

The first one is a little mug cosy I've crocheted for a lovely friend:

The stitch is out of Erika Knight's Crochet Workshop book, which I've taken out of the library for the second timetime: I just need to buy it, really. It's the Ripple Shell Stitch, so pretty!

The second one is a little terrarium that I've finally managed to put together into my beloved Socker mini-greenhouse!

Although I read many posts about how to make a terrarium, I'm not sure at all if I've done everything correctly, so it will have to be a wait and see if my plants will survive and be happy, but I know that at least so far the moss is loving it! :D

I wish I could have posted one other photo today, of all the lovely postcards I received from The Pile of Postcards exchange, as yesterday I received my final one, all the way from Canada! :) However, I somehow managed to put away the first one somewhere safe, as you do, so I'll need to find it and take a picture of them all for next time! :D

Tomorrow is a special day: together with my friend, we'll be going to the Hobbycraft & Creative Stitches fair at the SECC in Glasgow! Hooray! :D I wonder what crafty goodies we'll come across.

Finished!

This is what happened last week:

I finished my Lucky Bear! :D He is adorable, and I'd love to stitch some other brothers and sisters for him from the lovely bunch from Kirikí Press.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of Mollie Makes gift kits from the past issues to keep me occupied!

The bear is too big to easily turn him into a brooch, but I'm still thinking of ways I could wear him (he's too cute not to be taken out and about), so if you have any ideas, please don't hesitate to give us a shout! :D

He is a small triumph in a different way as well: as a textbook ENFP, I am not a natural finisher. I can get lots of enthusiasm for a new idea, and start a new project with a lot of eagerness and vision, only to jump ahead into the next one when the idea strucks, often without taking the time to wrap up my previous endeavour.

Recently, things I've been reading have reminded me of this and I realized this aspect of my personality still needs a good amount of intentional work, the urgency of which is augmented by the fact that I am now a parent, and finishing things well is definitely on the list of habits, or character traits, that I would want to instill in my child. This is also most surely one of those matters in which a child will unconsciously 'absorb' her or his parents' way of doing things, over and above anything they might say about it.

A little (?!) challenge for me then: how many projects, crafty or otherwise, big or small, will I be able to finish by the end of this year? They can be things I've started a long time ago (affectionately known among crafters as WIPs or works in progress), or new things. If you'd like to join the challenge, you're more than welcome! Please let me know through comments of any newly finished projects, if you'd like us to spur each other on, and at the end of the year we can compile our foot-long lists! :D

I think I'll add a new blog post tag: finished!, to keep track of them. 'That's a good idea', as my Bee would say. Please feel free to adopt it as well if you want! :)

Another little thing I finished this week was my very first scrapbook layout, yay! :D
Here it is:

I'm super excited about doing scrapbooking, it's very satisfying when a layout is coming together! Too bad the living room floor ends up inevitably covered in supplies, but the time spent creating and then clearing the chaos away is well worth it!

I'm aiming for at least 10 different pages for this particular scrapbook, and the plan is at least one new layout per month. Here's to a post about it tagged finished!, at the end of the year! :D

Spring is near

Our lovely snowdrops have faithfully shown up a while ago already, but they are now at the height of their graceful and modest beauty. We found them growing by the back fence of our back garden in the first spring after we moved into our house four years ago, together with numerous daffodils in various corners, and a couple of primroses. But the snowdrops were almost hidden, behind other shrubs and plants growing there, so the following year, when they had finished flowering, I carefully lifted the clump of bulbs and split them among the four corners of the small lawn in our front garden. (Don't ask me why I chose those spots, cos I have no idea! :D ) Three of the four clumps have been coming out ever since, and it does lift the spirits, does it not, to see the wee lovely flowers appear to give encouragement and promise of the spring to come.

No leaf yet on the trees, and I think we have a way to go waiting for them, but I do still love the winter trees, bare but beautiful, and revealing more of the landscape through their interesting branches. The ones that draw my eyes again and again are of course the silver birches (I never tire of taking photos of our own one in all weathers), and these were growing in the park near the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Ayrshire, where we were last Saturday:

 

Speaking about uplifting and joyful moments, it's been so sweet receiving postcards in the mail this month! I took part in the Pile of Postcards Valentine Exchange, organised by the lovely Sian at From High in the Sky. It's been great! :D I'm enjoying so much the surprise of receiving the different postcards, and reading the lines on the back, and thinking of all the good people who sent them. I still have two to come - anticipation! :)

What was also a great surprise was how much I enjoyed picking my own postcards to send, and writing them out! :D The theme for the exchange was 'things we love'. For quite a while I was pretty nervous about what I was going to choose, and where I could find anything suitable, and I most of all I was anxious about the fact that the days seem to go by, but there was no opportunity for me to go out. Then, finally, two weeks ago, I was able to go to Glasgow on the Friday morning!

Where to for pretty postcards of things I love?! Paperchase, of course. Paperchase, my home from home, my little paradise. Oh how I love thee. I could (and do!) spend hours there, looking at all the adorable illustrations on their products, and admiring the design of everything.

When I was younger, I used to think I was a little odd for being so entranced by paper and writing instruments, then fortunately I discovered I was not alone in the world, indeed far from it, and that there are wonderful occupations devised so that the sufferers of this craving can indulge their passion unimpeachably: such as scrapbooking and its ilk.

Without further diversion, here are the ones I chose, and the reasons I picked them - with names blurred out, in case some people have not received them yet! :D I should maybe have waited longer to show you these photos, but just couldn't, so here I am chancing it! :)

 

 

It was a rare time of joy, sitting by myself in the Tinderbox café on the upper floor of Paperchase, with the light of the sunny morning streaming in through the window, thinking and writing about things I love! 

It has inspired me to choose more often to explore in my mind the things I'm fond of, and intentionally get close to them and ponder and appreciate. 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

P.S. An update on the pain: after a harrowing weekend, I was at the doctor's on Monday, and he put me on pregabalin - which works!! Praise be to God. I am now pain free. Amazing! :D

Living with pain

This title sounds a bit dramatic, but it is the one that kept coming back to me when thinking about this post, so in the end I just decided to go ahead with it. It's nothing too big, really, just the fact that since last summer I have had pain in my right ear, and, over the months, it has waxed and waned (if you'll pardon the pun), but to this day the cause is not clear and the pain persists.

I have made several visits to my GP's, and they are still investigating it - I've recently been refered to ENT, and hopefully I'll have a diagnostic and a treatment some time in the near future.

In the past few weeks however the pain has been constant, day and night, somewhat alleviated by painkillers, but never totally away: and in the last few days, it has become quite intense. Yesterday was the most painful day in a long time, but paradoxically it has been a day with much more joy than usual as well!

Thankfully I was on my own for the most part, as my darling little Bee was away with my mother-in-law. When she had left, at about 10 a.m., I went back to bed, as I felt exhausted. One hour later though, I was still not sleeping, and the pain was almost unbearable. I gave up and after a dose of painkillers picked up the phone and called a lovely friend whom I get to talk to much less often than I should. One more hour and a half later, when we said goodbye, I was feeling so refreshed, in spite of the pain (which fortunately did subside a little), and in much better spirits than if I had slept, I'm sure! "A sweet friendship refreshes the soul" (Proverbs 27:9, The Message).

One of the side effects of constant pain is a sort of 'mind fog', a lessening of one's ability to gather and organize one's thoughts, to make a plan of action and then execute it. Trying to prioritize and then make my way through all the housework tasks that were waiting for me seemed totally overwhelming, so what did I do instead?

I picked up my current embroidery project, I put on some videos on YouTube to listen to while stitching, and I set to work. This is the little piece I'm working on: a delightful plushie designed by the wonderful Michelle Galletta from Kirikí Press - a little bear with a basket of flowers! It came as a gift with the latest issue of my favourite magazine, Mollie Makes.

~ work in progress ~

And these are the videos I listened to: first, a lecture on Imaginative Fiction by Malcolm Guite, given as part of a C.S. Lewis Symposium organized by the Westminster Abbey Institute in 2013. Then, another lecture, by Alister McGrath, part of the same symposium. (A couple of weeks ago I had listened to the great panel discussion held at the end of that event, with guests such as Michael Ramsden and William Lane Craig. Yes, it seems I watched these in reverse order for some reason! :) )

If you are at all interested in C.S. Lewis, Christian apologetics, or Christian writing in general, and haven't listened to these lectures and discussions yet, please do - they are so rich and wonderful, I'm looking forward to hearing them again a few more times, in the hopes that I'll be able to absorb more completely all the insights imparted there!

After listening to Alister McGrath (for the first time ever, I admit!), I was very keen to hear more, so I also watched two more lectures by him, "C.S. Lewis: Reluctant Prophet" (about his recent biography of Lewis) and "Why God Won't Go Away" (in which he engages with the main propositions of New Atheism). I would encourage you to watch them as well if you haven't yet come across them! (I was especially impressed with Mr McGrath's gracious attitude, and with the seriousness and compassion with which he approached his subjects, and all the questions asked of him. All the videos I mentioned have very good Q&A sessions at the end.)

In short, it was a feast for the soul, and I don't know why I've let almost twenty years pass before returning to the double pleasure of listening to masterly words while doing needlework, but I certainly do not intend to wait too much this time before repeating the experience: I might not be able to have as many uninterrupted hours for it soon, still it is worth it at any opportunity.

Then, with only about one hour left until my family returned home, I crammed a load of washing into the machine (isn't it wonderful when machines do many of the most difficult house chores, while we get to keep the satisfaction of a job well done?), and also made a batch of marmalade! :D Again, with gratitude to the amazing modern convenience of purchasing a tin of prepared Seville oranges, adding a bit of water and a lot of sugar - and half an hour later, voilà! Eight jars of super tasty, perfectly set sweet marmalade, with perfectly suspended, very thin pieces of dreamy bitter rind.

Love it! ^__^

I had been craving marmalade for a long time, and last Saturday and Sunday morning's pancakes, while delicious, missed it terribly, so now I'm really happy I've got plenty to last us for a while! Maybe some other day I will tell you a bit about my previous adventures in marmalade, with the Polite and Rude variety (both lovely, really! :D ).

So, this is how in the end the pain mingled with a lot of pleasure: and I know which of yesterday's experiences I'll be remembering for the longest time! :)

A difficult day

Today has been a difficult day. And even though it has drawn to a close and it's now time to sleep, I'm still all worked up in a knot. I'm hoping it's going to be better tomorrow.