St David's Day!
We had a short break in Tewksbury back in 2012 (I think) and this dragon was siting just inside someone's garden, yearning towards Wales, across the River Severn where the curlews call to it.
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The next '52 ways to improve my spiritual life' idea is to Just Show Up. I'm so ready to pick and choose whether I go to things; 'oh I'm feeling a bit tired', 'oh I'm not in the mood', and even 'oh, I don't really like that person's style in leading church'. And so I talk myself, all to easily, into not going. Dare I even say into not bothering?
It's different if I'm taking an active part, or hosting the event, I'll surely be there then, but it's not enough. Communities, be they swimming sessions, choirs, book clubs, church services, home groups, all need people to turn up on days when they are just part of the group.
So, starting from today, this morning in fact, I'm going to push Just Showing Up higher up my list of priorities.
Obviously if I am actually unwell, or on my knees with exhaustion, or have a really unavoidable conflict in the diary, that's a different matter.
Today I Just Showed Up to zoom church - well, I was reading the first lesson, so I had to - and I felt all the better for joining the other two dozen regular members of our online community.
I do have a terrible tendency to doodle in the reflection though...
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I'm glad I took a picture of my witch hazel tree in the middle on the month. It has been a bright blaze of yellow to fill the gap between the snowdrops and the daffodils. Here it is on 14th February
And here's the picture I took yesterday. You can see why I notes that the flowers were like yellow spiders earlier, and have now turned brown.
You can see some of the daffodils, and if you 'embiggen*' the photograph, you can make out the buds on the hazel. (* embiggen is a word Granny Marigold shared on a recent blogpost - I love it!)
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Here's Benjamin Brittten's arrangement of a traditional Welsh Folk Song, The Ash Grove.
As soon as I saw the words, The Ash Grove, the music came into my head. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteAnd a deceptively simple accompaniment too...
DeleteIt looks delightfully Springish in your garden! Happy First Day of March.
ReplyDeleteEspecially in sunshine 🌞 Happy second say of March
DeleteOh, thanks for The Ash Grove. I know it as the tune to two well-loved hymns, Let All Things Now Living and Sent Forth by God's Blessing. Was just talking about this with my husband, who asked me what this thing is, with the Welsh and singing. Wikipedia has an interesting entry on this, with both my Methodist chapel theory and his coal mining theory (he comes from Northern Ontario gold mining country), both underlain by bardic tradition. There may be other theories, I remember a facetious newspaper piece, when I lived in England, positing something to do with leeks.
ReplyDeleteI'll be hunting up the hymns and Wikipedia soon! Glad you liked it.
DeleteWell done for showing up. Sometimes it does seem easier not to bother, but like you say, some things need people showing up even when they don't feel like it!
ReplyDeleteYou're a bit of an example to me with your Asylum Lake and your photography group...
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DeleteI love your dragon!
ReplyDeleteThank you! He's metal, withstand glass wings, as I recall. We met the lady who lived there, she commissioned it as a memorial to her husband who was Welsh and missed living in Wales.. Lovely but piquant story.
DeleteWe used to sing that at school 60 years ago
ReplyDeleteSo did we, along with the Nightingale, and Oh no John, and Oh soldier soldier..... memories....
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