“Some people open their eyes in the morning, groan and put the pillow over their head. They are not very zesty. They are cosy-toed. They are not ready to welcome the day.”
This is the first paragraph in chapter two of Pip Lincolne’s book Craft for the Soul. And it is talking about me.
Which is why this chapter, titled Wake up and improve! also makes me groan.
Put very succinctly, it extols the benefits of getting up early and having a morning routine.
I get it. I WANT to be one of the zesty morning people and love mornings, like Pip. Just like I WANT to love exercising, and I WANT to love gardening. But I’m just not a morning person, and I’m not sure I want to try not being not a morning person! I love my bed. And I never get enough sleep – there’s this slight problem with insomnia I have.
Making : A plain length of white knit. The local police have asked the community to help them create Australia’s biggest white ribbon – more than 2 kilometres worth, to be exact. The idea is to get people talking about domestic violence. Once finished, the ribbon will be made into blankets to give to women and children affected by domestic violence.
Cooking : This week – NOTHING. I have been so overloaded and under stress (good stress and not-so-good stress) that I chose to lighten the load by taking it easy this past week and eat easy ready-made meals.
Drinking : Cafe au lait, in bed!
Reading:Lambs of God by Marele Day. I chose this book for our current book club read. It’s an Australian literary novel (my fave genre), published in 1997. I’m LOVING it. It’s about three nuns lost from the world in seclusion on an island. It’s quirky, it’s lush, it’s sensual – and there’s LOTS of knitting and fairy tales. Win.
Lying in bed one cold morning, keeping warm and being cosy-toed (I thank Pip Lincolne for that term – it’s perfect and one I have co-opted for myself), I was gazing at my bedroom bookcase, as I do. It gives me happiness. Often. In it are many, many books I have bought or been given but have not yet read.
Quite a few of them are books on creativity, and this particular morning, feeling cozy and homey, it was Craft for the Soul that caught my eye. Written by Pip Lincolne of Meet me at Mikes, the tagline of the book is “how to get the most out of your creative life”.
Pip is one of my favourite bloggers – there’s lots of crocheting and other crafty things to attempt on her blog. It’s a comfortable place to be, like sitting at a kitchen table with a friend gossiping over coffee.
I bought this book two years ago, and like most books on creativity, I never worked right they way through it – I’ve dabbled here and there. I don’t know why – yes, it has exercises in it, but nothing like The Artist’s Way or Fearless Creating which require actual work.
So, I am restarting my goal (and I am committed this time) to work through all of the books on creativity I have on my shelves but have never worked through, starting with Craft for the Soul.
It’s a gorgeous book to look at – each chapter has at least one recipe – not fancy ones, but nice homey ones. There are inspiring quotes by herself and others scattered throughout, and at the end there is a bunch of crafty projects to try out.
Happiness – where does it come from?
The first chapter of Pip’s book is titled Have nice times, and is essentially about happiness and how it has become a “fairly lofty aspiration”. (It also has a recipe for raspberry and coconut tarts in it – YUM!)
It’s been the most stressful three or four weeks that I’ve had in a long while – with a lot of stuff coming at me from left field, suddenly and without warning. A lot of “where did THAT come from?” Some of it life changing (workwise) but when and what will happen is anybody’s guess. Another cancer scare (to find out I’m all good – 10 years cancer free and no recurrence but shit, it was terrifying there again for a while). Some outright bizarre stuff, and some good stuff.
One in the good list is where I’m going with singing.
A couple of lessons ago, my teacher threw this one at me. “You’re going to start doing exams and entering eisteddfods.”
I’m WHAT now?! Bring on the beta blockers. Singing in a choir is one thing – surrounded by others, the focus isn’t on you. You can hide the occasional running out of breath moments. Singing solo, that’s a horse of a different colour.
I’m beginning at AMEB (Australian Music Examinations Board) grade five and I’m doing classical voice. Vocally, that’s easy enough. But my musicianship is rusty. I did grade five musicianship at year 10 (many decades ago now) and haven’t studied it since, except for a brief semester at uni.
Actually am excited by it. I am grateful my teacher thinks I am capable enough – she says I have the perfect timbre for a classical repertoire. I’m looking it at an opportunity not to miss – if I don’t I KNOW I’ll regret it further on down the track.
When I was going through chemotherapy 10 years ago, I remember sitting in an audience at a concert, glowing bright red, thanks to the drugs, and wearing a hideously itchy wig. The concert was given by a couple from Armidale – a woman who plays recorders, and a man who makes his owned stringed instruments, both heavily involved in the music department of the university.
I went home from that concert writhing in existential angst, feeling my mortality and despairing that I had squandered my musical talent. That should have been me, I thought, if I had done things right. I could have had a life of living and working music.
Curiously, one of the songs I will be preparing is so apt it gives me chills. Ralph Vaughan William’s The Sky Above the Roof is a hauntingly melancholy song, and the final few lines are perfect.
Why dost thy weep, o heart, poured out in tears?
What hast thou done, o heart, with thy lost years?
Listen … it’s beautiful …
So, yes, it’s a journey of many years to come. I hope you allow me to share my progress, and enjoy the ride with me!