Advent 4 - Stars

It was inevitable really,  my first Advent post was about circles, and then I had to find different shapes for the next 3 Sundays, and after squares came triangles...but the most common Christmas shape has to be a star, doesn't it?

The Bible is full of references to stars - the one we'll hear most this week is from Matthew's gospel

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and asked King Herod “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” [Herd had no idea!] And they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him, giving gifts of gold , frankincense and myrrh

But from the very beginning, stars have been important, and Jewish tradition has referred to the Messiah as the Star of Jacob.King David chose a star for his royal seal, and the Star of David has long been the symbol of the Jewish people.
In the old Testament we read about God's creation of the stars [in Job 38 and Amos 5]
Where were you when I created the earth? …While the morning stars sang in chorus and all the angels shouted for joy? 
The Lord made the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into daylight and day into night.

The Psalmist is overawed by the beauty of the night sky, and marvels that the One who created the galaxies created and cares for mere mortals

When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places—what are human beings, … that you care for them? And yet you crowned them with glory and honour. O Lord, our Lord, your greatness is seen in all the world!  

In the book of Revelation, Jesus is called the Bright Morning Star

And,here's a challenge, we too are called to be like stars. Paul's letter to the Philippians says...

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may be innocent and pure as God's perfect children, who live in a world of corrupt and sinful people. You must sparkle among them like stars lighting up the sky, as you offer them the message of life 

How many references to 'Star' can you find in the Christmas carols you've heard recently? Here is John Rutter's lovely "Star Carol" 

Fun At Felbrigg

Last Tuesday we spent the day with our very good friends Peter and Jenny, who were having week's holiday in Norfolk. We visited Felbrigg Hall [P&J are NT Volunteers down in Dorset] The gardens are amazingly well laid out

This clever construction has a central pyramid structure protecting a cucumber plant, and then the end of each pole holds a string to support a tomato plant [I think] You need a lot of space for something like this!

We did like the wall of plants - a simple construction of wooden slats and black fabric. Bob took many pictures and is considering building a similar, smaller one at Cornerstones.

There were lots of clever artworks - Bacchus and his grapes stood at the end of the path to an arbour seat. Bob and Jenny dashed ahead, to save a space for our picnic in the sunshine. Around the corner was a stone with a thought-provoking Kenyan Proverb

There were some fun sculptures inside too

And in the servant's quarters, some of the old household items. A box from Harrod's labelled "Knightsbridge Sperm, self-fitting ends". You would not immediately guess that referred to candles for your dinner party!

The NT is very concerned about the environment - there was an interactive water display of a Riffle. You could move the stones and see how the water flow was affected [clever lighting reflected the ripple patterns on the ceiling.] Here is Peter rearranging the pebbles.

Here is William [Mad] Windham [1840-1866]. He was the heir to Felbrigg. His father died when he was 14. His mother's family had a reputation for eccentricity. As a young man, he was expelled from various schools for laziness and extreme behaviour. He was finally sent to Eton, where he had a reputation as a buffoon, fond of feasting, and dressing up in crazy costumes**. He came into his inheritance aged 21, and three weeks later married a woman named Ann Willoughby [she was living with a Mr Rogers at the time, and the three formed a menage a trois]

But William's uncle brought a lunacy claim, in the hopes of disinheriting him, and getting the Hall for himself. 140 witnesses were called, and the case lasted 34 days - the longest, most expensive lunacy case in British legal history. Windham won the case, the public were thrilled, and uncle slunk away, disgruntled. But William had £20,000 in legal fees to pay, and frittered away the rest of his inheritance. He had to sell Felbrigg and declare bankruptcy. He moved to Norwich and became a coach driver [the horse drawn sort, not Shearings Holiday Tours!] He died, a dissolute wreck aged just 26. A popular ballad of 1862 did the rounds of the music halls, recounting the Great Lunacy Case.

Here are just a few of the verses...

The Ballad of Poor Windham

 Because he had a jovial life,
and squandered lots of money
Because he married a buxom wife
and made things seem quite funny

It is a shame and what’s their game
To a madhouse try to send him
Money, money, that’s the thing
But they won’t get over Windham
 
His uncle has sons and daughters too
At Felbrigg Hall a grumbling
And people say their hearts are hard
As hard as Norfolk Dumplings

**Possibly in this day and age, someone behaving like this would end up in Downing Street...

Thank you Peter and Jenny- it was so lovely to catch up with you. Come back to Norfolk again soon!

My Green And Yellow County

 As I drove across to my craft session on Tuesday, I was very aware of the signs of spring all around me. And especially the colours of fresh green and sunshine yellow everywhere. 

Daffodils on the verges

Dandelions in the grass

Tiny paler primroses

Oilseed rape in the fields

Later in the year there will be mustard [this is the Sandringham estate]

Our county is a riot of green and yellow - it is even the colour of the Norwich City* Football Strip. They are nicknamed "The Canaries", not just for the colours, but because canary breeding has been a popular pastime here for centuries. Many Belgian and Dutch people settled in Norwich over 350 years ago- refugees** fleeing religious persecution, imprisonment and death in their homelands. Norwich became their City Of Sanctuary, Known as "The Strangers" many were weavers, whose little yellow songbirds kept them company during their long hours working at the loom. At one point, almost one third of the population of Norwich were people from the Low Countries. Their contribution to the life and prosperity of this county cannot be measured.

NCFC has the oldest football club song still in regular use - Dating back to Victorian times, "On the ball, City" is sung before each game.

Kick it off, throw it in, have a little scrimmage,
Keep it low, a splendid rush, bravo, win or die;
On the ball, City, never mind the danger,
Steady on, now’s your chance,
Hurrah! We’ve scored a goal. City! City! City!

I LOVE MY BEAUTIFUL GREEN AND YELLOW COUNTY !!

Do you connect the place where you live with a particular colour?

* Norwich City FC is owned by National Treasure Delia Smith [although she herself lives in Suffolk]

** they came in little boats across the North Sea, without proper passports or identification papers. And were welcomed and supported. How times have changed.

Heartsease

Having abandoned snowdrop stitching in favour of Oxburgh last month, I was determined to do something floral for March in our CCC. We invited a friend for a meal whilst his wife was away - and he bought me a lovely bowl of violas. Violas have been growing in the wild here in the UK for centuries - and from them we have the cultivars which we can buy in the garden centre and they are also the forerunners of the larger pansies. 

He advised that I should keep the bowl inside till the frosts had passed, so there they were, on the coffee table, bringing much joy.The blooms were so delicate and tiny, some barely one centimetre across. I looked into their story.Throughout history the viola has had many names, including heartsease, love-lies-bleeding, Johnny-jump-up, and pansy.

An old Herbal I read says It was formerly in much repute as a remedy for epilepsy, asthma and numerous other complaints, and the flowers were considered cordial and good in diseases of the heart, from which may have arisen its popular name of Heartsease as much as from belief in it as a love potion.

The name love lies bleeding is said to refer to the inseparability of the pain of living and the love of Christ. The poet Christina Rosetti speaks of this in her poem Balm in Gilead - she is struggling with growing older, with the awareness of the stuff that is wrong in her life, and realises that divine love, and the Good Friday/Easter story brings her heartsease, and peace of mind, 

Heartsease I found

where love-lies-bleeding

empurpled all the ground

I ignored my computer stitch programme, and just drew out a picture of one bloom and did everything 'the old way' with pencil and paper. I enlarged it to fit one of the sections of the fabric. And I restricted myself to a handful of five colours.

Kirsten and I have marked out our sections with running stitch borders. I counted wrongly, as I thought the horizontal green line was the top of the section. 

I'd completed three petals when I realised my mistake! The green lines were edges and the centre line. I shortened the stem of the bloom, and added four rows of stitching above and below to 'balance out' the flower in the centre of the section. I used running stitch, chain, feather stitch and herringbone.

These rows remind me of the sampler in my school needlework book. I must try and find that, I am sure it is here somewhere! 

Shakespeare was fond of violas- in Midsummer night's dream, they are used in Puck's love potion, and Ophelia in Hamlet refers to Pansies for thoughts [a pun on the French pensees]

Waiting with great anticipation for Kirsten's parcel...