Missing in Action

It’s been some time since I have felt up to giving some attention to this blog.  Sorry about that.  I’ve missed reading those blogs I follow, and those who follow me.  Things were quite dreary for some time.  I was diagnosed with hypothyroid and located a cyst in my breast all at the same time of dealing with the grief of my dad’s death.  I am now on thyroid medication, it has helped with the depression symptoms, but I am still quite tired.  Another round of blood work at the end of January will determine whether there is actually any stabilization of hormone levels.

On top of everything, we have had snow.  LOTS of snow.  It’s beautiful, serene, pristene, glorious.  It brings extra time in getting ready to go anywhere.  It involves brushing all of it off the vehicle, shovelling out the driveway, the sidewalk (otherwise they won’t deliver your mail), the steps into the house.  December broke the record for snowfall for that month, over 100 cms.  Compound those challenges with only seven hours of daylight and it is not surprising so many people suffer from S.A.D.D.

I didn’t sew much from September to December either.  The interest just wasn’t there.  I did manage to get a small banner completed for the lower hall at the church and two banners and two banner tops in yellow and white for the times in the liturgical year that call for those colours.  I will get pictures up in a future blog.  Promise.

This little project was originally a panel that had a variety of Christmas/winter images.  I fussy cut all the images and reassembled the Christmas ones with some filler colours.

Merry Ukrainian Christmas, btw.

Luke 2:10-11¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹ to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

Planning for Christmas

Whaaaa?  Christmas?  I know, pushing the season conjures the urge to roll my eyes and tata the major retailers.  However, when you are a quilter and have a project in mind for Christmas, it’s time to get at it.  Our quilters at the church are creating banners for the sanctuary.  We start tomorrow.  I am in the process of getting a sample done so they will have something to follow.  Here’s a preview.

Luke 2:1  In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.

 

Definition of Art

That thing which I understand by real art is the expression by man of pleasure in labour.  William Morris

Tulip Surprise

I’m a sucker for those value packages of fall planting bulbs, especially when they are sold by colour, being of course – purple.  I bought two packages last fall.  With those packages you never know what you are going to get, they are just a mix.  A pleasant surprise this spring, beautiful two toned tulips in the front yard.

Admirael van der Eijck from the 1637 catalog of P.Cos., sold for 1045 guilders on February 5, 1637

The introduction of the tulip to Europe in the late 1500’s created quite a stir and within a few decades the tulip became a coveted luxury item.  At one point the price of certain tulip bulb in a much sought after variety cost 10 times the yearly wage of a skilled labourer.   Developed mainly in the United Provinces (The Netherlands) it became a status symbol which resulted in Tulip Mania.

The Canadian Tulip Festival occurs every May in Ottawa, a display of millions of tulips blooming in brilliant colour.  It was initiated in response to the birth of a baby girl during World War II.  In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered Princess Juliana and her daughters for the preceding three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, in the Second World War.

The most noteworthy event during their time in Canada was the birth in 1943 of Princess Margriet to Princess Juliana at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. The maternity ward was declared to be officially a temporary part of international territory, so that she would be born in no country and would inherit only her Dutch citizenship from her mother. To commemorate the birth, the Canadian Parliament flew the Dutch flag over Peace Tower. This is the only time a foreign flag has flown over the Canadian Parliament Building.  In 1946, Juliana sent another 20,500 bulbs requesting that a display be created for the hospital, and promised to send 10,000 more bulbs each year.  While the Netherlands continues to send 20,000 bulbs to Canada each year (10,000 from the Royal Family and 10,000 from the Dutch Bulb Growers Association), by 1963 the festival featured more than 2 million, and today sees nearly 3 million tulips purchased from Dutch and Canadian distributors.

Tulips are the only flower that continues to grow in the vase after being cut. They can continue to grow up to another 3 inches. They also conform to the shape of the container, straight up if in a tall container, twisting to fit into a flat or irregular shaped vase.

The ancient Turks used to brew a love potion from tulips and many cultures consider tulips to be the symbol of perfect love.

In the early 1700s, A Turk by the name of Sultan Ahmed III was the first to begin importing bulbs from Holland. But it proved a fatal attraction. When Sultan Ahmed was brought to trial, his crimes included “having spent too much money on the traditional annual tulip festivals”. The sentence: He was beheaded.

In Japan, certain flour is made from tulips.

In times of famine the Dutch have eaten tulip bulbs when no other food was available.

Hans Gillisz. Bollongier, Flower Piece, Frans Hals Museum, 1644. The top flower was always the most expensive one and in this bouquet it is the tulip Semper Augustus.

William Morris 1875 design printed on cotton

Of course, a nod to my favourite arts and crafts artist, William Morris.

The tulip and the butterfly
Appear in gayer coats than I:
Let me be dressed fine as I will,
Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.
~Isaac Watts

The Liberal Arts: An Education in Cattle Raiding

So grateful for my liberal arts education. More history please!

Reflection and Choice

A few days ago, I was trying to convince the freshmen and sophomores in my Western-Civilization survey to sign up for my upper-level class in the fall. The upper-level class will cover the history of Late Antiquity, roughly the years 250 to 750. We’ll talk about the fall of Rome, the rise of the church, and the formation of the medieval kingdoms of Europe. It’s going to be awesome.

In order to pique their interest, I told the class that we would be reading the Táin Bó Cúailnge. The book recounts an epic cattle raid in Ireland. That’s right, a cattle raid. I like to think of the Táin as the Iliad of the north. The queen of Connacht steals the Brown Bull of Cooley (he’s an exceptionally fine bull), and the men of Ulster have to get him back. It’s epic; it’s heroic, it’s awesome.

I was passionately…

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When it Rains, it Pours

It’s not raining at the moment, it’s snowing.  Grrrrr.  It is not pouring in a meteorological sense but a time management one.

It has been a crazy buzy week!  Three services in three days; a funeral on Friday, Holy Communion at the Presbytery Meeting on Saturday, and Sunday worship today.  The overwhelming workload of Lent/Easter is now behind me and hopefully things can get back to some sort of normalcy.  And holidays are scheduled for the end of the month!  Yahoo.

In the midst of it all, an unexpected honour came my way.  Esther, from ipatch, Made with bits of love! nominated me for the Liebster Award.  I actually had to consider, postpone it for a couple days, tickled by the honour, but realizing I really had no spare moment to attend to it properly.  The thought, “Big deal, you’re to busy to accept an internet award?!” is probably crossing your mind’s electrical impulses at this point.  A bit of explanation, the Liebster award comes with some strings attached, basically it is something of a blogger chain letter without a top of the pyramid, except that it can increase visits to your blog.  It also has a personal revelations component through answering questions asked by the nominator and provide some random facts about myself so that you, dear reader, might know me better.  Then, I’m to nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers, and similarly, ask them to answer my questions upon their acceptance.  I’ve had my liturgical nap, The Amazing Race is on, time to do some multi-tasking!

Esther’s questions

1. What music do you put on when driving?     I rarely listen to music when I drive, usually I listen to CBC radio

2. What colour clothes do you always buy?     I rarely buy clothes.  My sister has a clothing allowance and every six months she purges her closet and hands them up to me.  (I’m tickled over Esther’s proper spelling of ‘colour’) 😉

3.  What sound just “makes your day”?     When my darling say, “Good morning !”

4.  What trip would you like to make whenever you had the chance?     I long to go back to Scotland, baring that I’d settle for the east coast of Canada.

5.  Which artist inspires you?     I am in awe of the work of Quinton Hoover. I would love to try an art quilt in a similar technique.

Here are my nominees, in no particular order.  Well it is in an almost particular order, alphabetical!

JoTokla – an beautiful quilt block journey, some funny picts, and interesting historical posts

A Photographer’s Garden – amazing pictures, one can almost smell the fragrances

basildonkitchens – delicious, in a variety of ways

Blocks: 365 – a year’s journey in beautifully constructed quilt blocks

bloomingreverend – thought provoking theological insights along with great advice on another of my favourite things to do – Gardening

down to earth digs – another of my favourite gardening eplaces (I wish it were spring

lalinsocal – funny and creative

Novascotialocal’s Blog – remember how I answered the 4th question?

The Arts and Crafts Bungalow – because I would like to live in one

thegoodsmeller – because I need someone to live vicariously through

thrumyrunninglens – running and pictures, great combination since it offers someone I exercise vicariously through

My Questions for the Nominees

1.  How many jobs have you had and which did you like the most?

2.  What was your favourite school subject?

3.  What is number 1 on your bucket list?

4.  What do you wish you had more time for?

5.  Do you collect anything and if you do what?

Some Random Facts About Me

I love my husband with all my heart.

In case you didn’t figure it out, I’m Canadian.  I used to play Magic the Gathering: with my sons and their friends for entire weekends.  I owned a horse when I was in highschool and would ride with a girlfriend from a neighbouring farm every night after dinner when the weather was fine.  I have been a registered member of Where’s Willy, a Canadian currency tracking site since 2006.  I own hundreds of books and I have read most of them, some more than once (I’m not quite reconciled to my e-reader).  My first pet was a Cocker Spaniel.  Quilting is a new obsession, I had no intentions of it being the main topic of this blog, my first was cross-stitching – started about 30 years ago.  My favourite Canadian author is Thomas King, Green Grass, Running Water is hilarious.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Hendrik ter Brugghen – De doedelzakspeler

I follow the blog of rprtphoto, wh0 takes amazing photographs. I am rebloging today’s because I think it would make fabulous quilting fabric. Don’t you think?

rprtphoto

Most of Havana’s once stately buildings are decaying to varying degrees.  Whether built of limestone, cement or stucco, the marine environment combined with decades of neglect have taken their toll.  Crumbling facades, peeling paint, rusting iron and decaying wood mar most of these lovely structures, but each building’s character and former grace always seem to shine through, even when the exterior walls are all that’s left.  It makes for a somewhat surreal setting, and some neighborhoods have an almost postapocalyptic ambiance. At times I felt like I was walking through a movie set and not a real city.

One building material that has held up well over the years is ceramic tile.  The buildings that still had tile on their exterior had a vibrance that made them stand out among their faded neighbors.  The image above is a close-up of the tile veneer that lines the bottom of the building…

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Droopy Bells

 

The waxy little flower of the Lily of the Valley is a beauty, surpassed only by its intoxicating scent.  The garden was a little thin on these shy and unassuming posies, to the extent that I was unable to collect enough of them for a bouquet.  They spread through rhizomes and can penetrate garden cloth to form large colonies.  Shade loving they are popular garden plants in areas of little or no sunlight, but can be a bit of a nuisance, spreading into the grass and coming up between the cracks in the concrete.  I’m confident they will return to their dominating selves by next year.  It is a poisonous plant, particularly the bright red berries that form once the flowers are finished.  It has received the Royal Horticulture Society’s Award of Merit.

The flower is also known as Our Lady’s tears or Mary’s tears from Christian legends that it sprang from the weeping of the Virgin Mary during the crucifixion of Jesus. Other etiologies its coming into being from Eve’s tears after she was driven with Adam from the Garden of Eden or from the blood shed by Saint Leonard of Noblac during his battles with a dragon.

The name “lily of the valley” is used in some English translations of the Bible in Song of Songs 2:1, but the Hebrew phrase “shoshannat-ha-amaqim” in the original text (literally “lily of the valleys“) doesn’t refer to this plant.  It’s possible, though, that the biblical phrase may have had something to do with the origin or development of the modern plant-name.

It is a symbol of humility in religious painting.  Lily of the valley is considered the sign of Christ’s second coming.  The power of humanity to envision a better world was also attributed to the lily of the valley.

Lily of the valley was the floral emblem of Yugoslavia and it also became the national flower of Finland in 1967.

To the curious eye
A little monitor presents her page
Of choice instruction, with her snowy bells,
The lily of the vale.  She nor affects
The public walk, nor gaze of mid-day sun:
She to no state or dignity aspires,
But silent and alone puts on her suit,
And sheds a lasting perfume, but for which
We had not known there was a thing so sweet
Hid in the gloomy shade.  So, when the blast
Her sister tribes confounds, and to the earth
Stoops their high heads that vainly were exposed,
She feels it not but flourishes anew,
Still shelter’d and secure.  And as the storm,
That makes the high elm couch, and rends the oak,
The humble lily spares, — a thousand blows
That shake the lofty monarch on his throne,
We lesser folk feel not.  Keen are the pains
Advancement often brings.  To be secure,
Be humble; to be happy, be content.

James Hurdis 1763-1803

The First Day of May 1851

Artist: Franz Xaver Winterhalter 1805-1873

The Duke of Wellington offering a gift to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Prince Arthur, in a scene resembling the Adoration of the Magi. The painting was commissioned by Queen Victoria to commemorate the 1st of May 1851, which held a threefold significance: it was the first birthday of Prince Arthur, the eighty-second birthday of prince’s godfather the Duke of Wellington, and the opening day of the Great Exhibition. Prince Arthur holds Lily-of-the-valley, a traditional 1st of May gift said to bring good luck. The Crystal Palace can be seen in the background.

Medium oil on canvas                 Height: 107 cm (42.1 in) Width: 130 cm (51.2 in)             Royal Collection – London

Pretty in Pink

The peonies are blooming in resplendent glory, so weighty that their faces are surveying the ground.  They are wonderfully fragrant, their perfume wafting through the garden, sweet greetings as soon as one exits through the garage door into the back yard.  I have two plants, both pink.  I prefer the scent of the white variety.  I purchases a white one this spring.  Mischievous nymphs were said to hide in the petals of the Peony, giving it the meaning of Shame or Bashfulness in the Language of Flowers. While the peony takes several years to re-establish itself when moved, it blooms annually for decades once it has done so.

“Ode on Melancholy”

…  But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globèd peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes. …

–John Keats (1795-1821)

The peony is named after Paeon (also spelled Paean), a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.  Asclepius became jealous of his pupil; Zeus saved Paeon from the wrath of Asclepius by turning him into the peony flower.

Frédéric Bazille (artist)
French, 1841 – 1870
Young Woman with Peonies, 1870
oil on canvas
overall: 60 x 75 cm (23 5/8 x 29 1/2 in.) framed: 83.8 x 99.4 x 7.6 cm (33 x 39 1/8 x 3 in.)
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon