A nice day's Troc'ing - with a little bit of teaching thrown in...

I had a lovely day teaching in different parts of Toulouse today - in a chateau this morning (now part of a modern business) and in a second French company this afternoon. In between the two lie various Troc Shops... It seemed to be vintage china day. These pleasant pheasants have been used as a sugar bowl - there is still sugar inside!!! It's soaking in the sink now...

This is an art deco-type shallow bowl with a small pedestal -

here's a bit more detail!

This is a copy of a vintage American milk bottle - frankly, I've just always wanted one and it was 1€...

A tile from the owner's parents' home in the mountains, I'm told...

This beautiful stand was very cheap, because the base is sadly crumbling. I think I'll be able to use it with care, though.

And even the dog is interested!

La chienne qui chine!

As sure as eggs is eggs...

Our friends' hens are laying again... What shall we make with the eggs we've been given, boys?

"Omlette!" says Son 1. "Crèpes!" insists Son 2.

And something for my packed lunch tomorrow, thinks mummy, delightedly...

Three little maids...

On my wardrobe hang three little white tops - two antique and one vintage. Above them are my wedding shoes, an antique bonnet, a Gucci scarf, two straw hats and my grandmother's crocodile handbag. (Inherited vintage - as ethical as a dead reptile can get.)

They are all under the watchful eye of Aunt Selina (Ben's side of the family). At first I thought she was quite severe but now she is my ally - the only other woman in a house full of males. See her slightly knowing smile? I find her quite supportive.

The blouse above came from a braderie in a Toulouse suburb. My dad gave the jade beads to my mum after a visit to China.

I bought this antique broderie angalise blouse in the late 1980s and wore it ceaselessly. I was not a normal student.The jade beads were another Chinese gift from my father to my mother.

And finally this is the antique shift I wore under my going away outfit when we got married in 1990! Look - you know what I was wearing underneath!!
The jade beads on it now were my father's gift to me after that famous visit. The fair trade bracelet was a gift from my sister and the green stone heart came from Ben's sister.

j

None of it new, little of it bought by me, but a collection to brighten our bedroom and cheer my day.

j

I freely confess that I'm not a very communicative blogger at the moment - sorry that I haven't commented on more of your posts, especially the Pause in Lent ones! I am reading them when I have the time, but life seems to be a full-time occupation at the moment, with very little spare for blogging. Perhaps that's as it should be, though?

A Pause in Lent - Routines and Rituals, Part 1

I'm a Nonconformist, by nature, nuture and religious tradition.As a child, I showed my nonconformist nature in positive ways (refusing to join in bullying, swearing etc) and in absolutely stupid ways (refusing to try horse-riding just because other girls liked it).
My parents brought us up to challenge contemporary wisdom and to think for ourselves. It was odd, that as very 'establishment' people, they managed to do this, but now I look back on my mother's life, I think I can see a very strong streak of protecting us from people who would make us conform to outside influences.

And by religious tradition, my mother's parents (who lived with us) were Welsh Nonconformists and fiercely proud of it - my grandma had been a Calvinist preacher in the Welsh valleys of the 1930s. They joined the Methodist church when they left Wales, and so we were Methodists too.

All of this nonconformism matches my childhood experiences - some of it is really positive and some of it is absolutely stupid! The positive stuff is a real emphasis on personal knowledge, understanding, and committment, of and to Jesus. The silly stuff is exemplified by my grandmother's refusal, all her life, to attend the supurb Methodist Convenant Service, because 'It Comes Out Of A Book'.

So this is what brings me to Routines and Rituals. My nonconformist nature (small 'n') means that I spent my entire life hating to be constrained by routines such as rotas for household tasks, and as a consequence I have lived in a messy house nearly all my life up to a few years ago. Our home is still messy by some people's standards, but not by ours, so that's what matters, I've finally twigged.

My Nonconformism (capital 'N') taught me that the noun 'ritual' had to be prefaced by the adjective 'empty' or 'meaningless', because a relationship with the Living God was new every day, individual to each believer, and could not be replaced with ('meaningless', 'empty') repeated habits of worship.

I imagine you've noticed that both of these are on the 'silly' side of nonconformism? Whilst true, they are only part of the truth, and paint the idea of 'rituals' and 'routines' in their most negative light. In fact, both household routines and spiritual/religious rituals are part of a happy discipline that keeps me going though good times and bad.

This last week, when I had a migrane and the boys were struggling under mountains of homework, I felt so happy to face a basically tidy house because I'd kept up to date with some daily household routines even when I didn't feel like it. Letting the work really pile up (obviously it did a bit...) would have made me feel far worse.And I hardly felt spiritually top-notch either, but because I have a routine/ritual of thanking God for five things each night in my Gratitude Journal, and because my Lent book has daily readings simply set-out, I kept on going with these things too. It wasn't either my Cleanest or my most Godly week, but both cleanliness and godliness kept on going thanks to the fact that I've overcome much of my fear of routines and rituals.And finally...

j

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness..."

"But only in a very abridged dictionary!"

Details here.

Vintage hearts, flowers and buttons...

I think my title sounds suspiciously like someone else's blog name, but my apologies to the owner - it just perfectly describes what I've got to show you today! Last year I won a lovely giveaway from Della Grace, when she encouraged the arrival of spring by giving away some beautiful spring-like fabrics. As I was ill, I never got round to making anything with the fabric last spring, but this year, when I was seriously in need of some spring colours in the sitting room, her fabrics gave me the inspiration I needed! Above right you can see Della's rosy fabric with another heart made from my teenaged-bedroom fabric from the 1980s.

And her second gift-fabric is on the left, above, next to a heart made from some vintage patchwork that I finally dared to cut up and turn into something! I think the mixture of new, vintage-style fabrics with actual vintage 1930s and 1980s (!!) material works well.

The leaf on this heart is from a 1980s necklace of mine and the ribbon was a gift from Sarah at Red Gingham.

Here's a glass/plastic button with some vintage tape. For another bloggy connection, the shape of the hearts is based on some fantastic repurposed shirt-fabric hearts that Maria from Me and Ma sent me in a swap!

Another pressed-glass button on the other side.

And finally a really scrummy hand-carved mother of pearl button.

j

For extra marks (what marks???), can you guess why a corner of one of Ben's planting trays appears in these photos?

j

And thanks so much for your kind comments yesterday - I'm feeling a lot better today.

It's March, so it must be...

...migranes? No I'm going to ignore the fact that I've spent the day in bed with a splitting head, and instead show you THIS for March! Inspired, of course, by Niki's Nostalgia Calendar page for the month:

The vintage-style postcard was sent to me recently by Lucey from Lemonade Kitty, when I won a little giveaway by leaving a comment about buttons! You can see the pretty brooch I won on her post here, and her original, very yummy, button post is here.

So I've put together a vintage postcard, some pieces of embroidery and a few buttons for March, inspired by two lovely bloggers!

j

I now have one phone lesson to teach, and the migrane is staying away, so I think we'll make it through the Present Perfect tense OK!

A first Pause in Lent 2011 - Are you listening?

Well, of course you're not listening, you're reading! However, that question is the one I've found helpful so far this Lent. I'll write more about that in a moment, after reminding you that there are now a good number of bloggers joining this weekly Pause in the run-up to Easter, and that you can find their names and visit them via the list to your left on my sidebar. Thank you very much to everyone who is joining in and those of you who are visiting - if you'd like to join, just let me know in your comment on this post.

So, I started this week with very little idea of what I might do during Lent, apart from blogging! I had bought a book, called Oh God, Why? from the Bible Reading Fellowship, but wasn't too sure if it was the right choice - it was pretty much a random selection from their Lent books listed on their website.

Things started coming together last Sunday, when Joanne, my father's minister, preached on the subject: 'Are you listening?'. Following the service, Son 1, my dad, and I pieced together these memories of her sermon points:

j

Are you listening at all?

Are you listening enough?

Are you listening selectively?

j
We think there was one more point, but we couldn't remember it. Son 2, who was clearly there in body but not necessarily in mind or spirit, didn't contribute to this discussion!

So I think that listening to Joanne set me off on being just a bit more receptive to listening to God, and I certainly needed that. Firstly, a passage that I've been given hundreds of times but never really appreciated came to my attention:

j

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is praiseworthy, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

j

Paul wrote this in his letter to the Philippians, chapter 4 verse 23.

I have to be honest - I've always found it a slightly irritating verse before, kind of akin to the songs 'Keep on the Sunny Side' and 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' (which at least is ironic). It just seemed to say: 'don't think about what's real or even about what interests you, just think of sweet pretty pointless nothings'. Whilst I knew in my head that this wasn't what it meant, that was the reaction it created in me.

But when it impinged on my consciousness last week (through a novel Elizabethd loaned me - thank you!) it seemed like I should write it down in my Gratitude Journal, and then that evening, when I came rather depressed and worried to write a list of things to say 'Thank You' for, the real meaning (or A real meaning) of that verse came through loud and clear:

'You are worried that your father is still unwell, but instead look at how he is getting better every day of your visit.'

j

'You are anxious about how he will cope when you go, but instead look at the physical and moral strength he shows.'

j

''You are dwelling on the practical challenges of your visit, but instead look at how the boys are having a wonderful time, full of new memories, with their grandfather.'
j

There was, of course, nothing changed in the situation, but I had been dwelling quite single-mindedly on the things that worried me, and completely ignoring the things that were noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. So for me, this verse became not an exhortation to ignore reality and think of fluffy stuff, but a challenge to see what is good in real life.

Last night my Lent book, Oh God, Why?, had the reading where Moses tells his people to 'Choose life'.

j

The author of my book commented: 'The message is being given to us on our journey: "Choose life, not death." It seems an unnecessary piece of advice, for what sane person would choose death?

j

He then went on to suggest:

j

'It is a very useful exercise to take a piece of paper, divide it into two columns, one headed 'Events which bring me to life', and the other 'Events which deaden me', then scribble down whatever comes to mind. Keep the list, and add to it whenever another item occurs to you. If you persist, the list will lengthen, and you may discover that you give more time and attention to the things which deaden than to those which enliven.'

It seems that things are coming together as I make a rather disjointed attempt to listen. I am pretty sure that as I visit the other Pause in Lent bloggers today and tomorrow, I will learn more!
Why not visit other bloggers who are on a spiritual journey via Spiritual Sundays?

Join up for a Pause in Lent

Next Sunday, March 13th, is the first Sunday in Lent this year (and that means pancakes for us Brits this Tuesday!). Last year I ran a very open-ended Pause in Lent, to compliment the admitedly much more popular Pause in Advent that we've enjoyed for a few years now. The Pause in Advent has quite a broad appeal - we all feel the need to take a break and think about why we're doing all this, as Christmas approaches. The Pause in Lent is really different, as fewer people are going crazy with activity in the weeks before Easter. It therefore tended last year to be a more specifically Christian 'Pause', as Lent and Easter are more specifically Christian than the mid-winter celebrations which include Christmas. However, you are welcome to join in this year whatever the focus of your spirituality - I hope that we can all learn from each other again, which we certainly did last year!

I made this Wordle last year using key words from comments people had left about their hopes for Lent 2010. Will you join those of us listed on the sidebar in posting about your ideas and thoughts for Lent 2011? If you'd like to get involved, do let me know in your comment below. We'll post on Sundays or Mondays in Lent, whichever suits you best. Any further questions should be answered by clicking on last year's post here.

Edit: Thanks to you lovely people who are joining up. I've decided that my monthly 'signing off for the week' is going to run for a week from now until next Sunday - the first day of our Pause in Lent. Please carry on signing up and do email me if you have any questions about this or otherwise want to get in contact - I won't be reading my blog or yours but I will be in email contact, and will be preparing for the Pause in Lent. Pop back next Sunday and you should find my first post, and the blogs of all the participants on the list in my sidebar. Looking forward to seeing you then!

love

Floss