ABTIK #1

I said a few weeks ago that this year I planned to reread some of the older books on my shelf, and see if each one was still "A Book That I'm Keeping". I began with a book from the mid 1980's- Gordon MacDonald's "Ordering Your Private World". When it was first written, many of the great preachers and scholars declared it to be brilliant, helpful, inspiring...
At the time of my first reading, I was a stay at home Mum with two very small children. Both our mothers were unwell, we'd had to move unexpectedly within a few months of Steph's birth, our tiny income had fallen even further. Bob was coming to the end of his theological studies, and we were starting to look for the church where he would be the Pastor [yet another house move] and there were just so many things causing external stress. I really was struggling with all the pressures of life.
This book helped me to get things into perspective, to realise that if I got myself sorted out and back to some sort of spiritual equilibrium, I would be able to cope better. 
I looked forward to reading it again - these last two years have seen major upheavals for me - giving up my various teaching posts in Leicester, moving house, leaving old friends and making new ones, helping my daughters through significant changes in their lives...So yes, it was probably time to dust off this book and read it again.
MacDonald divides his way of ordering one's Private World, maintaining a strong and healthy 'Inner Life' into five sections

1 motivation  2 use of time  3 wisdom and knowledge  4 spiritual strength5 restoration

The book is peppered with quotes from Christians and non Christians alike, and full of anecdotes about those who have succeeded, and those who admit to failure, in managing themselves.

I don't think I disagree with any of the points he makes, or feel they are not valid. It is good to remind ourselves that we need 

• to step back sometimes, to say NO to the demands which others unfairly make on our time, [I have to realize that there is nothing wrong with laying aside other work for the purpose of enjoying Godʼs gift of special time]
• to listen for God's still small voice directing our actions.[Make a commitment to have time with God early in the morning and do not compromise it]
• to take a Sabbath, [A rest-less person is a restless person.] 
• to be intelligent, thinking people.[ Some Christians appear to be afraid to think.] 
• to develop habits of Christian Mindfulness [God wants us to be mindful people, not mindless people. Mindfulness is a matter of discipline and hard work. Mindlessness is the result of laziness and fear]

BUT My big problem with the book now is that it is so dated. Written at a time when Yuppies,Wall Street and Thatcherism were the big news, it now feels aimed at those striving to be successful AlphaMales, or liberated Superwomen who had it all. 
Which I suppose it was. It was telling the reader to step back from the relentless 24/7 treadmill and get some peace with God, inner calm amidst the raging turmoil.
And the contemporaneous anecdotes he shares reflect that - but he also has a penchant for quoting old hymnwriters, missionaries and preachers from a century or two ago. In some sections it feels almost 'quaint' now. Too many of these names would seem irrelevant or unknown to people today. I suspect he is also aiming at preachers and Bible students who would be more tuned in to the references to characters from Church History. 

Furthermore MacDonald was writing in a pre-Internet age. He doesn't cover the impact on our inner calm of social media, easy access to inappropriate websites, or the relentless tones of the mobile phone, tablet or laptop, telling us someone wants our attention through text, email, or Facebook. Because those things just weren't there when he wrote the book.
The book was updated in 2003, again to good reviews. It would be interesting to see what the author has added [although I note from here that the chapter titles remain unchanged] But even the update is 14 years old now, and life [and technology] has moved on even further.
There is an excellent piece [based on the original book] which summarises the chapters and gives salient quotations. Read this  if you want to get a better idea of the book and its contents.
CONCLUSION -  I think I would want to rate it just **** - back then I might have said 5*. I am not sure that now it would be my first choice to lend to someone. So this one, whilst it is good, and did prove helpful to me 30 or so years ago, is actually not going to make the ABTIK list after all.

Bubbles, Biscuits And Bags

I have never done this type of quilting. Known as biscuit, bubble or puff quilting, it involves sewing a large square of fabric onto a smaller square and filling the inside with wadding.  Ones from the USA seem to be very stuffed, British ones are less so!
A friend at church gave me some bags of fabric which had belonged to his late wife- and inside were 4 panels of these squares.
Not quite enough to make a baby quilt - but I didn't want to waste them. I sewed them in pairs, and lined them with some of the white sheeting from another of the bags, then put lace round the top.

And here are two pretty 'sleeping bags' for the American Girl Dolls.

I am so glad I could put these pieces to good use. I am sure the lady who originally made them would be glad they were not just staying in a carrier bag in the back of the wardrobe.

Ooops!

 ...I completely forgot. I meant to do a post about this little chap's birthday on Wednesday, when he turned 40, and it slipped my mind. Morph - the lovable little Plasticine character created by Peter Lord in 1997 has reached middle age. 

Back in 1977, Aardman Animations, run by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, was a very low budget outfit. 

They made their little models and painstakingly moved them and took a picture, then moved them again...Stop - Go animation was a slow and incredibly tedious process. No computer animations and CGI back then. 

Morph was a feature on the brilliant long-running "Vision On" art programme, fronted by the gifted and inspiring Tony Hart. In brief film clips he delighted and amused us [I used to watch the show in my student digs, with my landlady] 

Aardman went on to great things and win Oscars, and Nick Park [Wallace and Gromit creator] joined in 1985.
The girls loved Morph too - we had a Morph Bendy toy - but eventually his squishy rubbery skin perished and sharp wires protruded and he was reluctantly removed from the toybox.

Bleated best wishes - I hope you had a great birthday Morph! Thanks for all the years of laughter you've given!
Below is the video released by AA in celebration!

Quel Plaisir!

We studied the medieval period at school, and were given a project for half term; "choose one aspect of life in the period 1000-1500 AD and make a display about it on this piece of paper". 56 or so girls struggled to get an A2 sheet of cartridge paper home without damage [on the bus or on the back of our bikes] We brought them back completed and they went up on display all round the history room [just in time to impress parents at Open Evening] Our them,es were many and varied - although we all felt desperately sorry for one girl who had done an impeccably neat, beautifully illustrated poster unfortunately entitled "The Everyday Life of the Pheasants"
I knew that Needlework would be my topic the moment the task was announced. I divided my sheet into 4 rectangles- and on one of them I recreated a section of the Bayeux Tapestry. I found an old piece of sheeting, and drew out the picture from the front of my Dad's copy of Churchill's book.

This was the famous 'one in the eye for Harold' part! Back in the 1960s, we couldn't just click on the internet and instantly find information. If I couldn't find what I needed on the bookshelf at home, it meant a trip to the town library on my bicycle after school.
But I discovered that William's brother, Bishop Odo commissioned the tapestry and it was probably designed by a Norman but stitched by Englishwomen [it's an embroidery not a tapestry, which you knew already] There are depictions of 600 men, 200 horses, 50 dogs... and just three women upon its 70 metre length.  
William Morris helped fund a project to make "England's Bayeux" - a replica now on display in Reading Museum, and three years ago, a man in Norfolk [where else?] carved a half sized wooden replica after the death of his son.

I should love to see the original in Bayeux sometime - the intricacy of the stitching, the detailed work, it all fascinates me.
But, what a delight - last week friends lent me a French jigsaw puzzle of the BT! It shows the part where William is sailing across in his ships to England. If you watch this BBC video clip, with Clive Anderson, it comes in after about 21 seconds!
Inside the box, I found a bag containing all the edge pieces neatly sorted, and a photo of the completed jigsaw. 

This was extremely useful, because if you look closely at the finished puzzle and at the box, you will see another boat with 5 soldiers on the right, and at the bottom, the birds feet and another fabulous creature. French people clearly don't expect to get the whole picture.
Another interesting thing was the different shaped puzzle pieces.

In all the British puzzles I have done recently, there is always a point where the corners of 4 pieces come together. On this French one, there isn't the same matching up of corners - which adds an extra challenge to the completion.
I had loads of fun with this one, especially marvelling at the stitchwork - showing the expressions on men's faces, and the lovely waves on the water, splashing up onto the sides of the boats.

That's 3 jigsaws completed recently - Ambridge, The London Underground  and now this one

Once I have completed them, I have no desire to keep them or do them again. What sort of picture should I go for next....

In Search Of Hygge?

 According to the RSPB Website, "The waxwing is a plump bird, which is slightly smaller than a starling. It has a prominent crest. It is reddish-brown with a black throat, a small black mask round its eye, yellow and white in the wings and a yellow-tipped tail. It does not breed in the UK, but is a winter visitor, in some years in larger numbers, called irruptions, when the population on its breeding grounds gets too big for the food available."

These attractive birds arrive here from Scandinavia [and Russia] hoping to find food - they are particularly fond of berries like rowan and cotoneaster.



These ones were spotted last week not far from here [in Halfords Car Park in Poole ] but they have been seen in Norfolk, Cardiff, Buckinghamshire...all over the UK. 

I think they are so attractive- look at the lovely black and yellow patterns on their tails and the glorious soft shades of brown and beige across their backs, and the tiny little bright flashes of red, matching their berried diet.



Here is a useful information chart about them - I have been looking, but I've not spotted any in Ferndown itself yet

This one was spotted in Norfolk, not that far from Cornerstones. 
According to one article I read, a third of the British population feed the birds in their gardens, and the positive effect of their action cannot be underestimated. The RSPB gives helpful advice if you want to do this

And who knows, in return, you might just see a waxwing from you window.     

[Pictures from the Bournemouth Echo and Eastern Daily Press]

Cutting Things Short

During Steph's pre-move wardrobe sort she discovered this garment - which was too a little too short to be worn as a dress, too long as a tunic. Could I hem it at hip length, please? 

No problem - and I ended up with a strip of black and white knitted fabric.

That's now become a little jacket for Isla the AG doll.

Over the weekend I discovered that Isla's owner has a good friend who also received an AG for Christmas. I expect I shall be making a few garments for her too.

I received a lovely parcel in the post from another blogfriend on Saturday

Two books of knitting patterns for dolls' clothes- and a selection of floral fabrics. How very thoughtful! The riding outfit is great fun. Isla's owner often goes riding with this charity, so I suspect this one will be high on my want-to-make list

Thanks to everyone who provides me with the resources for these projects!

If You Care...

On Sunday, Bob read a "Carer's Prayer" in Church - and I thought of all the people I know who have responsibility as carers

• elderly folk whose partners are disabled, or caught in the cruel grip of dementia
• young wives whose soldier-husbands have returned from the fighting physically and emotionally scarred
• parents [and grandparents] caring for crying babies and recalcitrant toddlers
• charity volunteers providing respite care, who struggle to push wheelchairs round the supermarket or down bumpy kerbs 
• professionals working in homes, hospitals and hospices 

I know that many of you reading this blog will fall into one of these categories- the work you are doing, and the love you display is appreciated - even if it sometimes feels that it is not noticed or acknowledged.

This is for you

A Carer's Prayer

Let me be kind 

when tiredness overwhelms my weary brain 
and turns my legs to lead
let me brave 

when truths must be conveyed,
confronting the past and all things left unsaid;

Let me fight on for the one I am caring for 

when various rules make nonsense of personal rights 

and reinforce the fears;
grant me the stamina to speak and treat with fools,
remaining calm when biting back the tears.

Help me to know somehow that life goes on
beyond this time of stress and sleepless nights;
and help me to smile and love 

in the midst of endless pointless and exhausting fights.

And when the caring ends, 

help me to be kind, 

in my guilt and weariness, 

to me.

For Valentine's Day - A Promise, And A Challenge

The Dud Avocado

Confession - I have been intending to read this book for about 39 years! Katherine Whitehorn quotes from it in her book 

"Cooking in A Bedsitter" [utterly brilliant, Bob proposed after he had cooked me one of the recipes therein] When I was helping Steph move, there it was on top of a box of books, so I borrowed it. Half way through so cannot comment yet!
But we had a ripe avocado, lying lost and forlorn in the fruit bowl, so I decided to make something interesting for Saturday's lunch.

Stripes of green avocado and white soft cheese, garnished with chopped sundried tomatoes, strewn with basil leaves, on a slice of seedy brown toast.
All very artistic 
I have been experimenting with the cheese thing lately. After decades of avoiding cheese because it makes me feel nauseous, I am coming to the conclusion it is something to do with the process of 'ripening' the hard cheeses like Cheddar. I can manage smallish quantities of fresh 'farmhouse' type cheeses like cottage cheese, ricotta, paneer etc. So I have been making my own cottage cheese by straining home-made yogurt.
On the internet, I was reading about Skyr, the trendy strained yogurt from Iceland [country,not foodshop]  and this guy said he had a Salter Yogurt Maker like mine which he had modified. He'd bought a second inner bowl and fitted it with a little rubber plug at the bottom. When the yogurt was made, he lifted out the bowl, removed bung, and let the whey drain out. Simples! 
I thought I would try this theory out using a large plastic yogurt pot - I made a row of holes along the bottom with a skewer and put my batch in, to let it drain.

Epic fail!! at first nothing came through the holes, and then when I enlarged them a tiny amount, lots of yogurt as well as whey drained out. I have returned to my original system of coffee filter in a funnel in a large pyrex jug. That works extremely well, and is quite fast too.

And I have a good amount of whey left for scones etc. So I am not going to bother spending £5 on another plastic inner bowl, when I have the kit already.
In case you are wondering, the passage from the Dud Avocado which KW quotes is

“Any moron can cook a steak, I kept saying to myself…. Everybody was terribly kind and co-operative at dinner and it took all four of us ceaselessly moiling and toiling from kitchen to studio and back again to organize and consume a simple meal…” 

Personally I don't mind boiling, but 'moiling and toiling' is not my idea of food preparation. This is the picture currently on my fridge!!

Easter And Eagles

28th February is Shrove Tuesday [do call in for a pancake, if you happen to be passing our house that evening] and Lent begins on 1st March. 

Two years after I started blogging, I got involved in the great Pause In Lent blog-fest originally organised by Floss. 

This will be the 8th year I have done it. Floss is very busy with other important domestic matters at the minute, as well as doing sterling work helping refugees in France, so I know she's happy for me to facilitate it again.

The aim is just to spend a quiet moment during the weekends of Lent to reflect on what this season is all about. You could say it's a bit like our Pause In Advent, but without the chocolate!

If you are interested in joining as a contributor, please comment below- or you can just read the other bloggers [I'll put a list on my sidebar] The dates are the 4 weekends in March plus the first 2 in April - but don't worry about doing all 6 posts [Easter Sunday is 16th]. Last Sunday I blogged about the Albanians and their eagles. My friend Andrew has sent me a picture of his Albanian Eagle. 

He did not give me any details, but I imagine this is on display in his church in Beckenham, reminding the folk there to pray for their friends far away.

Bob is currently preaching a sermon series on Abraham - so this week I have been singing an ancient hymn to myself, "The God Of Abraham Praise" [you can listen to it here] That has a verse about eagles in it...

He by himself has sworn;
I on his oath depend.
I shall, on eagle wings up borne,
To heaven ascend.
I shall behold his face;
I shall his power adore
And sing the wonders of his grace
Forever more.

Roots and Fruits

From last night to this evening, many Jewish families will have been celebrating Tu B'Shevat  which is the New Year Festival for Trees. No, seriously - it is! Part of the reason for having a specific date for the trees is to enable the proper calculation of due tithes. Children will make tree-themed crafts, and there will be tree-shaped loaves.

People are expected to eat lots of fruit in this 24 hour period, 
particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah, in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. 
It's considered to be a time for trees to engage in soul-searching. Not ‘New Year Resolutions’ but ‘Old Year Reflections’ – thus using wisdom learned in the past to inform future behaviour in the future. Here is the Tree's New Year Checklist:

● Did I grow towards the sun as a tree should, reaching up higher and higher towards that which I can never grasp, but which nurtures me all the same the more I strive towards it?

● Did I make sure my roots remain firmly planted in the soil that nurtures them, and did I drop my leaves there in the autumn to give back life to that which sustains me?

● Did I ensure that my fruits were sweet and nourished all that came to enjoy them? Did everyone walk away from me with a smile?

● Did I shelter the seedlings that live in my shade - so they will grow up to be a next generation like myself?

● Did I bend gently in the wind, accepting what God sends but never breaking or giving up hope?

● Did I grow in strength and wisdom during this past year?

New Year Resolutions are quickly forgotten - but it strikes me that there is a lot of worth in Old Year Reflections.

What do you think?

Peas On Earth?

I am used to the idea of being given an Inventory when you move into a new rented property. But this is a new one on me... The documents for Steph's latest place included notes of the condition of the apartment when she moved in, and a note saying "There was food left in the dishwasher" - and a photograph of said d/w filter, with a sad green[ish] pea lying on it!
Sure enough, when we arrived and opened the d/w door, there it was, forlorn and shrivelled. And- because the door had been firmly sealed for a little while, there was rather a lot of nasty black mould too.

I took all the loose parts out and gave them a good scrubbing in the sink [photo shows nasty scumminess floating around] and ran the empty dishwasher through one cycle to get it cleaner.
We are all wondering why the person who checked the d/w for the agents didn't at least remove the offending pea after they took the photo, and why they closed the door, sealing in the damp vegetable so it could sit there in the dark and multiply the bacteria? Even if the photographer was grossed out by someone else's leftover legume, at least they could have let the air and light in?
We have a dishwasher, washing machine and fridge at Cornerstones, which are often switched off and left unused for a few weeks at a time. Unfortunately these have sometimes been left in less than ideal conditions, which has meant they needed immediate cleaning on arrival. 
So here are my Top Tips for Neglected White Boxes.

1. Switch off the electric sockets
2. Turn off the water supply to Washing Machines and Dishwashers, in case of unexpected drips.
3. Ensure these boxes are emptied, cleaned and dried before you depart. The odd sock in the washer, pea in the d/w filter, or bit of cheese in the fridge door will breed smelly bacteria. The next user will have to sort that out before they can use anything. 
4. Leave the doors open.  Not wide, just ajar, so there is clearly an airspace for ventilation. Drape a folded towel or teatowel over the top of the door, so they cannot get accidentally pushed shut. 
5. Don't forget that if the fridge has an ice-box, that needs to be dried and left propped open a little too.

I used to subscribe to the 'keep a dish of bicarb in the fridge to absorb bad odours' theory. Then I decided it wasn't a good idea. If there is something 'going off' in there, then the bad smell is the way that I am alerted to its presence. 

Surely it is far better to keep the fridge clean and checked regularly, than to mask the smell until the mouldy carrot is just about ready to crawl out of the veg drawer by itself?

I note that they are still called 'white boxes' or 'white goods' even though many of them are different colours, or hidden behind fascia panels. 

I am glad to have left Steph with a pristine d/w, anyway - and fortunately her fridge and washer-dryer were OK. We have quite hard water here, and in Norfolk, so I use a descaling tablet in my washing machine very occasionally, and run a cleaner/descaler through the w/m and d/w about once a year. [useful article here]

Moving Along

It has been a busy week. On Monday, Bob cycled to the Industrial Estate and collected a van from Enterprise Van Hire [it is the most efficient way to do it - he then put his bike in the back and drove it home]
Then we drove to Wimbledon and loaded up Steph's stuff. 

Those vaccuum bags are very useful!















Steph found her Wonder Woman outfit when she was packing - but fortunately decided not to wear it on the journey!

It was like a bizarre game of Tetris. There was an awful lot to pack!
Then after a lovely evening meal at Liz and Jon's place, we went to bed, getting up very early next day to drive to Manchester. We left at 7am
The journey was rather long, but we got to her lovely new apartment at lunchtime. And we unloaded it all

Somebody appears to have caught me relaxing [briefly] with a book and taken a photo on my phone! 

Steph's new place is built in one of the converted Mills by the Canal - the redevelopment of some of these old Victorian premises is fantastic. It was lovely to see how they had retained lots of the original features, both outside and in. I intend to research more of the history of the building.

Then Bob and I left her to all the unpacking, and drove back home to Dorset. 



We got home at 10.45pm [total round trip around 550 miles]
Wishing Steph every happiness in her new home, new job and new life up in the North.

Going, Going, Gone...

... back to the Charity Shop! I  picked this up the day before my trip to Albania to read on the plane. In the end I was busy knitting and chatting and looking out of the window down.  I finally read it when I got back. 
I'm pretty late to the party here.  I imagine lots of you have already read this one and/or seen the Ben Affect and Rosamund Pike film. 
"A book you'll be begging other people to read,  just so you can discuss it with them "says the blurb on the back cover. 
Well,  no.  I  am not! In the beginning I thought it was a an intriguing read,  with a clever bifurcated plot. Then I got irritated by both main characters. Then I ceased to care!  I understand the author rewrote the ending for the film.  
Some parts were just a bit too contrived,  other sections not at all credible. Maybe the film is a little better.  
Perhaps you enjoyed it.  But I  am not sure I'd recommend it, if you haven't read it.  Rating this one just **

The Buyerarchy Of Needs

You're probably familiar with Maslow's Pyramid in which he sets out the needs and motivations of human beings. In his 'hierarchy of needs' the most basic requirements of life are at the bottom [food, water, warmth, rest] and at the top the needs for self-fulfilment.
Sarah Lazarovic, a Canadian artist, has re-imagined his pyramid in terms of our need to purchase things.

I think this is an extremely clever idea. Sadly her blog seemed very short lived [3 posts a few years ago] but the principles in her pyramid are good ones. How often do we assume that when we 'need' something, then we should just go out and buy it?
I'm presuming that 'thrift' is used in the TransAtlantic sense, that is "to obtain cheaply/2nd hand/Charity Shop etc"
I suspect that in this house 'make' would come a lot nearer the bottom of the pyramid, and that the bottom line would be amended to 'use/repair what you have' 
Case in point - when I got my sewing machine out last week, the plastic spool holder on the top had snapped. I loked online, it would cost around £4 and take 3 or 4 days to get a replacement. It took me a few minutes to find this youtube clip. Bob looked at it, said "I can fix that!" and went off to the garage. He was back after 10 minutes - so within half an hour of discovering the broken part, my machine was whirring away again, good as new.
Now I know I am extremely blest to have a brilliant DIY man around. Not everyone would have an instant repair like that - but I am glad that I have saved money and resources. 

 

Have you been able to solve any problems lately by using the ideas at the bottom of the pyramid, rather than getting out the credit card?