Eugene Delacroix, The Good Samaritan (1849)
We are never alone on the road...
'There is this atmosphere of sacredness about your blog. Like entering a monastery from a busy sun-lit street' ~ Altijd-Lente
7 March 2014
Random 5 Friday
Linking up with Nancy over at A Rural Journal.
Five random facts/events from the past week...
1. Had my botox injections on Monday - 2 in my right bicep, 4 in the forearm... hurts like billy-o for a couple of days, but the muscles in the arm are already starting to r-e-l-a-x = bliss...
2. Had pancakes for dinner on Tuesday - of course! And learnt stuff about Shrove Tuesday, you can read the post here.
3. Had hydrotherapy on Wednesday - no sessions for over 2 weeks as the pool was being repaired/cleaned - so I was a tad desperate. It brings such relief...
4. Molly-cat is getting better, but her experience (whatever it was!) has shaken her, and she's barely been outside :(
5. This week's Giveaway - a handmade sketchbook
More photos and info here where you can leave a comment if you want to enter the draw to win on Sunday.
Sorry it's not a very exciting Random 5... this week has been hard...
6 March 2014
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Paul Gauguin, Christ in the Garden of Olives, 1889
The Gospel reading for today is from Luke 9 and Jesus' saying, 'whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will save it'. I'm immediately reminded of Joseph Campbell's great quote
You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.
Sometimes, we and our great Plans, just get in the way of living the life we have!
If at this moment, this life bring pain, breathe through it...
If at this moment, this life brings joy, cherish it...
If at this moment, this life brings loss, sit with it....
If at this moment, this life brings triumph, savour it...
The fact that life and death are 'not two' is extremely difficult to grasp,
not because it is so complex, but because it is so simple.
Ken Wilber
Life is never either/or, it's always both/and...
5 March 2014
Ash Wednesday
While I don't attend church services in Lent, I do find the concepts raised in the 40-day period important...
Yesterday was all about living, feasting and making merry, and today, the main focus of Ash Wednesday is to remind ourselves that we are made of dust, and to dust we will return...
I know some find this morbid/difficult, but it's a universal Truth. The Japanese call it wabi-sabi, Buddhists practise the truth of impermanence, and spend any time in Nature, and you'll see it all around. All things live and die...
The book I'm using shows this painting by an unknown French artist from the 17th century. Painted in the tradition of vanitas - popular in the 16th and 17th centuries among still life painters. They took their inspiration from Ecclesiastes 1:2: 'Vanity of vanities... all is vanity'
Knowing - and accepting - that all things live, flourish, then die, is an important Truth to live by, I think. The West has trouble accepting this with its elevation of youth and beauty (though there are signs this is changing...)
To me, there is a different beauty to be found in impermanence...
Yesterday was all about living, feasting and making merry, and today, the main focus of Ash Wednesday is to remind ourselves that we are made of dust, and to dust we will return...
I know some find this morbid/difficult, but it's a universal Truth. The Japanese call it wabi-sabi, Buddhists practise the truth of impermanence, and spend any time in Nature, and you'll see it all around. All things live and die...
The book I'm using shows this painting by an unknown French artist from the 17th century. Painted in the tradition of vanitas - popular in the 16th and 17th centuries among still life painters. They took their inspiration from Ecclesiastes 1:2: 'Vanity of vanities... all is vanity'
To me, there is a different beauty to be found in impermanence...
Nothing endures but change - Heraclitus
Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to delight in it while we have it.
W. Somerset Maugham
WOYWW 248
Still busy art journalling like last week... Got a bit carried away layering the pages - I've always loved 'lift-the-flap' books!
Here's some completed pages - and yes, I did stick down the page spread I showed last week :)
Here's some completed pages - and yes, I did stick down the page spread I showed last week :)
(Inside the front cover)
Lift the flap...
(Next spread with several flaps!)
(No flaps on this one - just pasted whole page of Words of Wisdom from a copy of Harper's Bazaar - some great quotes!!)
(Inside the back over)
Realized I didn't show you the back of the journal last week...
I think that's enough photos for this week - I know Julia likes the posts to be short...
But I just want to point you to this week's Giveaway - a beautiful handmade sketchbook
You can find more photos and comments here. Leave a comment over there if you want to enter the draw...
Now to visit some crafty desks xx
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