JULIET'S MUSINGS

Have you heard of a thing called extreme ironing? Its when people iron in the most bizarre of places, like on top of a mountain or whilst riding a surfboard!  Then take a selfie and post it on social media. So there's ironing (which I quite enjoy) and there's extreme ironing... ...And there are blessings (of which I have received so many) and there are extreme blessings. I count giving birth and being mother to my two children extreme blessings.  But let me tell you about something in the 'deep blessing' category I was pondering this morning. When I was a young Christian I was very inspired by the life and writings of a man called Floyd McClung.  Especially a book called 'Living on the Devil's Doorstep' which described his and his family's experience of living in an apartment in Amsterdam, right by the Red Light district.  How, having been part of Youth With a Mission (YWAM) for some years by then, he spent his life and energy to show the love of Jesus t...

The tales of Narnia by CS Lewis are written in my DNA. And as I was contemplating how on earth my experiences of life could be used to bless others, I remembered about Lucy's special cordial.  "In this bottle there is a cordial made of the juice of the fire-flowers that grow in the mountains of the sun. If you or any of your friends are hurt, a few drops will restore them". Given to her by Aslan, Lucy the Valiant carried with her this little phial of powerful medicinal potion everywhere she went. To produce most essential oils, a  large amount of flowers or leaves, roots or berries are needed to be boiled and distilled to produce a tiny amount of potent liquid. Once created though, only a few drops can have a wonderfully deep and wide effect. Like our lives, my life...looking back at the days/weeks/months/years that have been spent in painful emotions/challenges/loss/stress, I worry that those times were wasted.... But also, how do I pass on the joy, the love, the fulfilm...

  This is a sketch that I did of a farmer we met when he was walking home from his work in the fields one evening. The location was Cantabria, Northern Spain where we ( my ex hubby and I)were exploring the Pics D'Europa and surrounding area. Beautiful. It took you back in time to see this farmer! I asked him politely if I may take his photo, which he agreed to. The other day I found myself reading Isaiah 2 v 4 'And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks'. I suddenly found myself really moved at this description of weapons of war being transformed into farming implements. I found myself imagining tanks being turned into tractors, bombs being changed to combine harvesters, artillery being made into a plethora of garden and farm tools. These thoughts made me happy. God the Farmer! I love our farmers and honour them highly for what they do for us. Find myself blessing them when stuck behind a tractor.... Imagine a Day when all people wi...

  God's love is meteoric His loyalty astronomic His purpose titanic His verdicts oceanic. Yet in His largeness Nothing gets lost: Not a man, not a mouse Slips through the cracks. Eugene Peterson (Psalm 36 v 5,6)

  Jobs! I seem to be in the mood for overviewing my life at the moment and this blog is a good place for me to think out loud!  So, after summarising places I've lived in, now for my work history, starting from age 17 when I left home as a fully paid up hippy :D (so Saturday/holiday jobs as a cleaner, box making factory worker, boutique not counted!) Nanny to young children (live in) Nursing training (3 years) Staff nurse  Commercial insurance underwriter for Eagle Star ( yes, honestly, for 10 years!) Insurance broker Practice nurse - 2 GP practices in the West Midlands Practice nurse - 4 GP practices in Northamptonshire  Agency nurse in local hospitals and nursing homes (Moved to France) Care Assistant in Old peoples home x 2 Started my own business in Greetings cards (Return to UK) Practice nurse in one surgery for the last 12 years before I retired ( best job of my life!) It's been interesting. I was a square peg in a round hole when working in insurance, but...

  I adore the patchwork quilt I gave myself for my birthday in December! It came all the way from Jaipur, was a very good price and beautifully made. Since returning to the UK I've been so blessed to reconnect with dear friends and above all to be nearer to my daughter. But I've also enjoyed renewing my relationship with the lovely Northamptonshire villages that surround me - visiting, photographing and painting them gives me great pleasure.  And I got to thinking how my life has been  a bit patchwork in terms of the places I have lived ... In summary ( with some locations left out or the list gets too long) 😃 : - Born in Sweden, Surrey for 18 years,  London for 4 years (nursing training and job after), Northampton 1 year, Pattishall 5 years, Birmingham 7 years ( 3 different locations), Black Country 1 year ( 1st year of marriage), Bugbrooke 2.5 years, Northampton 7 years (2 different houses), France 4 years (2 houses), Cornhill nr Pattishall 4 years, Pattishall 1 y...

  AS KINGFISHERS CATCH FIRE... As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame ; As tumbled over rim in roundy wells Stones ring ; as each plucked string tells, each hung bell's Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name ; Each mortal thing does one thing and the same : Deals out that being indoors each one dwells ; Selves - goes its self ; ' Myself ' it speaks and spells, Crying 'What I do is Me :  for that I came. Gerard Manley Hopkins

  A few days ago I had a bit of a revelation - one that I think I've had before, but this time it went a bit deeper.... It was about the denial of self.  If you're christian, you will know well the scripture where Jesus says 'Deny yourself and follow Me'. Being someone who wanted to be all out for God and become closer to Jesus in my life and ways, I tried to put this into practice for many years. I also lived in a christian community for nearly 20 years where there was much teaching on holiness and self-denial.  But it was mixed with a cultural practice that subjugated women and elevated men, the church and 'building the kingdom' above all else.  Everything in life bowed the knee to maintaining 'the brotherhood', which had slowly devolved into a controlling, empire building, cult-leader-led church. Within that setting, I learned to deny everything that was uniquely me, anything that didn't fit into the paradigm I was in, all opinions, most self expr...

  What do you see when you look at this painting? I was trying to express a few things about my life through the use colour and texture and wasn't unhappy with the result...but I was thinking... I don't think I'm on the 'autistic spectrum' but I'm definitely on the 'Artistic Spectrum'! Here are a few symptoms - check and see if you are a fellow 'sufferer' : D you can be depressed when a painting is not going well and joyful when it is kind of hold your breath until the next inspiration comes you suddenly stop when walking along (causing people to bump into you!) because you've seen a sight you want to capture for a future painting you find yourself analysing colours you see around you, ie 'that's Payne's Grey' or 'that would be Cerulean Blue'! you get inspired at the least expected moment, sometimes not in keeping with the social situation you're in - a bit embarrassing for people with you! you can stare at a paint...

  I've always loved archways... Walking through cloisters for instance,  or whilst wandering through ruined abbeys with arches that have survived wars and weather, or crossing the threshold of an ancient doorway, I get the same feeling when passing through a cascading purple wisteria arbour in an old garden, or little gateways with a sweet sweep of an arch overhead. Somehow they convey a blessing that I love to experience. Some people speak of their experience of portals, spiritual doorways that lead you from one dimension to another, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad... For me there is but one Portal and I found it in the One who says 'I am the Door, if anyone enters by me he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.'   When Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago, he opened the most cosmic and life-changing portal that there is.  He opened the way for man to have a real relationship with God, instead of trying to meet Him from a distance, ...

  All things by immortal power Near or far Hiddenly To each other linked are That you cannot stir a flower Without the troubling of a star. Francis Thompson 

  I love watching my antique spinning wheel turning,  even though I   have no idea how to use it! And I love pondering how everything in life goes round in circles, not in straight lines... In fact we're going round in circles the whole time, the earth spinning every 24 hours, whilst its circumventing the sun every year. Some say that the whole universe is turning! And every single created thing is made up of atoms, within which a circle dance between proton, neutron and electron is endlessly being performed - the trinity Life Force of God stamped deeply into His creation. In our lives too, we travel in seasons and circuits, whereby we pass through similar situations and experiences again and again. The scenery looks familiar but with each revisit we hopefully gain more understanding of ourselves, of others and of life. We notice something different in the landscape that we hadn't seen before, gain new perspective. Like a pebble thrown into a pond, each ripple widens...

  I've just finished this painting, inspired by the thought and anticipation of Spring. I hope it lifts your heart out of any winter blues you may have been having...xx Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –             When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;             Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush          Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring          The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;    The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush             The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush          With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.         ...

  ....OR UNIQUELY YOU? Something I just read in a book by Eugene Peterson got me thinking, and feeling uncomfortable at the way the term 'Dysfunctional' has become common usage for people/families/behaviour of human beings and/or cultures that are behaving differently or unusually from what is considered the norm.  What is normal anyway? Obviously, this is not to affirm destructive and abusive actions and ways of life - those things should be named as such. I only feel a bit sad when it is applied to our fellow human beings, whose patterns of behaviour or communication is different from our own, perhaps caused by negative, traumatic or abusive things that have happened to them, or simply just the way they are. Dysfunctional is a term more suited to a machine, not a complex human being. The term seems to overlook all the different reasons that a person is unique in their life, a lack on our part of looking deeper. I've been quiet for a while, getting over the loss of my dear...