Wednesday 18th February

The oak tree at the bottom of the garden

Yesterday was bright and sunny, appropriate for Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival day. Also good, because it was dry, and not too cold. 

Today is a complete change, cold, grey and raining. Very suitable for Ash Wednesday!

For Lent, I've decided to follow 'The Jesus Trail' on the Conqueror virtual walking app. It's a 39 mile route around the places Jesus would have known, although 2000 years have changed most of them beyond recognition, thinking about it!

This is the church of the Annunciation in Nazareth where the Angel came to Mary with the message that she was going to bear a son... how hot and sunny it looks! This is where the route begins... this church was built much later, of course.

....

I succumbed and sent off for this stitchbook, sold by hobbyart.uk

It's been appearing on my newsfeed for ages. I watched the price come down, and eventually I chose the small book. It's a dinky little thing and I wanted to love it. Each page is set up to be stitched as a sampler of all kinds of embroidery stitches, something to go into an 'analogue bag' along with some needles, thread and thread cutter.

BUT, and it's a huge issue, every page, every single page, is solid with spelling mistakes. What is going on? How could this happen? So, sadly, I'm going to request a refund. 

Ah well. I did consider trying to make my own version, but I think I really don't want to invest that much time and effort. 

Some reflective music for Ash Wednesday... Andras Schiff playing the slow movement from the Italian Concerto by JSBach.