Frittering away a bit of time on YouTube I came across this
'O salutaris hostia' by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds, sung by Voces8.
TEXT
O salutaris hostia,
Quæ cæli pandis ostium:
Bella premunt hostilia,
Da robur, fer auxilium.
Uni trinoque Domino,
Sit sempiterna gloria,
Qui vitam sine termino,
Nobis donet in patria.
Amen.
TRANSLATION
O saving victim,
Who opens the gate of heaven:
Hostile wars press upon us,
Give strength, bring aid.
To the one and triune Lord,
May there be eternal glory,
Who gives us life without end,
In our heavenly homeland.
Amen.
Just, just glorious. Even without the video you can hear the joy in the sound.
I've finished reading 'The Egg and I" by Betty MacDonald. I got it because of a mention in Jane Brocket's newsletter (you can follow her on substack') two Sundays ago. It's an account of the first years of her marriage to a marine who decided to be a chicken farmer, and bought an old farm up in the mountains in the Puget Sound area. It's back in what must be the 1930s, there's no running water or electricity. Be warned though, she has a shocking opinion of the native Americans living nearby. I hope things gave changed since then... it's a very backwards, backwoods community. Some of her stories are hair-raising, others plain hilarious.
I'm now about to start Brian Bilston's "Diary of a Nobody", and I've also been dipping in and out of "My Family and other Animals" by Gerald Durrell for a bit of sunshine, for there sure ain't any change in the weather round hereabouts!
New month, new moon, (we should really call it the Rain Moon, not the Snow Moon), new week...
Same weather, same routine,
It's quite reassuring, I suppose, when life is just a series small surprises, rather than humongous upheavals.
Today's happy little surprises; listening to the dawn chorus while I was having a bath this morning as it was still dark at about 7.30, and spotting daffodils are for sale on Ocado.
That will do me nicely.
Snow, Moon, Flowers by Peter Sculthorpe, played by Jill Morton
The actual date of Candlemas is 2nd February and there are many traditions associated with it.
This picture is hauntingly familiar to me. I managed to track it down to a book called 'My Book of the Church Year' by Enid Chadwick and Peter Kwasiewski, written in 1948. Did I have a copy as a child? Grandmother might have had one, but it's published too late for her children, all born in the 1920s and early 1930s. A mystery.
All the people in my family who could have shed any light on it are now sadly gone. You can find the whole book and all the charming illustrations here.
It's the day for particularly remembering when Jesus was brought to be presented at the temple by Mary and Joseph as their firstborn child.
Simenon, a very old prophet says,
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation;
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentile and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
(Luke chapter 2, verses 29-32)
This brings me straight back to the phrase I have chosen to sustain me through the year;
'Arise! Shine! For the light has come into the world, and the glory of the Lord is upon us'
Here's my 'following a tree photograph' for the end of January. It's a little witch hazel called Arnold Promise, showing exactly why I wanted a witch hazel;
Isn't it pretty? All those gorgeous little yellow spidery flowers. I couldn't get close enough today to see if they had any scent.
I've left sewing up the brightly coloured cardigan for today - I need time, and physical space, and brain space to do a decent job. So instead I started knitting a new pair of slippers yesterday evening. It's a delightful pattern and I enjoy making them once I have reacquainted myself with the mysteries of 'ssk' and 's1, k2tog, psso'. Not as complicated as they sounded, and very easy after looking at a youtube video. This must be my fifth pair...
Today I finished the uppers.
The garter stitch rows will form the sole and heel, with a seam down the centre of the foot and up the back of the hell. The orange/pink knitting is the top. Like this;
All done, with the assistance of a cup of Jasmine tea. Now to start the next one, while I can remember 'psso' and 'ssk'!
The knitting abbreviations sound like magical charms, like "Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee" from 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' - remember that film? I loved it. I've no idea what that meant but it was on a par with 'supercalifraglisticexpiallidocious' as a great thing to be able to say.
I've succumbed to the Flash advertisements and bought some 'Spray,Wipe, Done!' Chanting that as I cleaned the bathroom and kitchen sinks turned a chore into a rather silly game. Whatever works, whatever works... little things please tiny minds...
I skipped ballet exercises yesterday. They were the last thing on my mind when we got home. But I think I will let myself off; one of the most cross-making things of that day was watching, appalled, as the woman in front of us waiting for the lift to go up to the lung department, or maybe one the respiratory wards, suddenly started sneezing and coughing about ten times without using a handkerchief or even her elbow to cover her mouth and nose. She obviously wasn't thinking about this;
BB and I looked at each other, and headed for the stairs. It was a long climb; the lung function unit is on the 2nd floor, and the rooms in a Victorian hospital have very high ceilings. Coming back down was so much easier. So I reckon that was my leg-strengthening exercise for the day - maybe she did me a favour?
Neck and shoulders today and that will mean 4 weeks in a row completed (Sunday is a day off). Three cheers.
Looking back, yesterday's post was one incoherent mess of typos and unfinished sentences. Heigh ho, and on we go... it's amazing what a difference a good night's sleep and a quiet day can make.
Spring Song, No 2 of 4 Short Pieces by Frank Bridge, played by Yuki Ito, accompanied by Daniel King Smith
Yeah, I'm being ridiculous, I know - Sunday will be February and everything with be different just the same. This week has been long and choppy and literally indigstible.
The last, because scleroderma can affect the body's digestion, making you prone to fairly savage heartburn if you eat too late at night, or the wrong food (creamy food, too much food, etc) later at night. Many years ago we started the pattern of proper lunch somewhere between 12 and 1, and a light supper around 6pm, and very little after then. The latest addition to the meds I (more or less) cheerfully consume everyday is something to be taken around 6.30pm WITH FOOD. In capital letters, stressed by the clinic. Or face the consequences.
BB has been to the dentist three times this week, for two different crowns, which means eating unreasonably early because the appoint was at about 1 (the dentist is an hour's drive away) or unreasonable late when he got back. I'm adding extra strong peppermints to the grocery order - by last night (lunch at 3pm, supper at ugh-I-really-don't-want-to-eat-again-this-side-of-Easter-but-I-suppose-I-have-to-eat-something o'clock).
I 'merely' had blood tests at the beginning of the week and lung function tests in London today.
Hence low visibility in blogger-land this week, both posting and commenting. I have had enough compos for reading posts, but not enough mentis for commenting. Sorry!
I have done some knitting... it has had its moments; when I wasn't paying attention (I think some bloke on the telephone was interrupting me to try as sell a complete refresh of our double glazing... I kept on saying 'But we've already but we've already but we've already' over and over again on top of his continuous patter until he stopped for a moment and I was able to complete the sentence 'got fairly new double glazing everywhere, good-bye'. I suppose I could have just put the handset down with a firm clunk.
When I got back to the cardigan, I nearly tripped over this;
which I eventually resolved into this;
Since then I have picked up the stitches for the neck and completed it. Something isn't quite right; the picture shows a loose, fairly low neck line and this may well be a snugger fit round my neck, but I'm happy with that. Sleeves to add, and side seams, and dealing with all the myriad loose ends, and sewing on buttons. I'll be finished by Easter. You'll be able to see me coming alright!
This week, and next, I'm trying to limit myself to 2-3 'events' per day. Having a bath is an event, as is a zoom, or an outing, or going to my father's flat. Today's trip to London, walking up to the hospital, doing the tests, walking back to the car, stopping off for a late lunch and mooch around the gift shop and a breath of air at Polesden Lacey (National Trust) must count for half a dozen! We fortuitously took the wrong exit at a roundabout just outside Leatherhead, and found ourselves just 20 minutes away from coffee and a toasted sandwich. Considering it was 1pm, there was no need for discussion!
What bliss, to have a break from the noise of travelling and the noise of London. There were three most beautifully behaved dogs in the cafe, a delight to watch.
View through window of cafe
Now it's nearly 6pm, and like it or not, I will have to eat something soon and I guess BB is more than ready for something more substantial than soup.
So, toodle-oo - and hopefully I will resume my normal hither and thither and here and there life very soon.
Oh, Lynda was first to ask about the book 'Maiden's Trip', so it will be on its way to Canada shortly. And the 2by2 stitching will also be en route for Norfolk!
'For Now I am Winter', omposed by Olafur Arnals, lyrics by Arnor Dan, performed by Voces8
Oh dear oh dear oh dear! Where has all my get-up-and-go gone!
I am lamenting the lack of biscuits and chocolate in the house. I know exactly why this is - I ate the whole lot yesterday while I was flopped on the settee. Thank heavens the biscuit tin and chocolate o'clock tin were both heading for empty already.
A high spot of Sunday morning reading is the weekly newsletter from Jane Brockett ('the gentle art of domesticity' author, and creator of the persephone books posts). She writes on substack.
This Sunday she wrote on kettles, and this was one of the pictures she chose;
I love it, for it's casual, higgledy-piggledy character, both in the arrangement of the kettles and pans, and in the loose scribbly appearance of the drawing.
.....
One reason why life has become the consistency of treacle at the moment is the weight of the form filling required for selling the flat. But today, frabjous joy, my brother came round (a three hour drive for him) to do last bits of sorting. He's found some paperwork mixed in with previous house and flat sales which is going to help, and carried everything away to hopefully fill in the gaps and sign them off. He'll post them back, we'll sign them and hand them over to the solicitors.
I'm hoping I'll wake up all bright and energetic and ready to go-go-go-go tomorrow!
(BB has just walked round to the corner shop and come back with chocolate digestive biscuits... especially for me...)
I've not got nothing done... plenty of reading, hemmed some trousers, cut the too-tight ankle cuffs of my fleece lined leggings, ordered wool to finish the cardigan, tidied my sewing basket after finishing 2by2
I don't think the pictures give any clues about my stitching!
....
Does anyone else to read this book written by one of the many young women who stepped up to take cargoes along the British canals during World War 2? It's a cheerful account of her experience; itsounds like a tough life. If it weren't for the fact that canals are, on the whole, relatively shallow, I'd say they were certainly thrown in at the deep end.
If you send me your address in the comments I won't publish it, but I can stick the book in the post to you.
....
I got myself together enough to attend zoom church on Sunday. There's usually one phrase that sticks with me (it was an excellent sermon too which I'm still thinking about) and this time it came from one of the prayers, something about knowing, or remembering that
'...in our weakness is His [God's] strength...'
it's certainly not by my own strength I've got through last week.
