Friday 13 February 2015

When is clutter not clutter?...

When it's display...


So, recently I got around to two tasks that had been on my 'to do' list for a while.  That mirror at the top of the photograph?  Yup, that's been leaning against my bedroom wall for about two years.  I have now hung it on said wall (no scrutinising the angle at which it hangs, or its dusty state, please) and no longer have to stoop to see myself in it.

I also managed to nail up two strips of moulding and thereby got six pairs of shoes off the shoe rack in the hallway that was filled to overflowing.  It was a very simple job, and here's how I did it:

  1. Buy 2.5m length of pine moulding
  2. Leave length of moulding leaning in the corner for a while to acclimatise
  3. Keep meaning to get around to putting up that moulding
  4. Finally determine that today's the day
  5. Measure the width of a pair of your shoes - remember to this across the widest part and with the heels a little way apart, I didn't and it's only by sheer luck that each end shoe squeezes on
  6. Assess how many pairs of shoes you will be able to fit in the available space
  7. Take your moulding and saw lengths of (width of shoes) x (number of pairs)
  8. Do a lot of strange holding up shoes and lengths of moulding to figure out how high to put them.
  9. Figure out which nails will be short enough to go all the way into the wall without bending
  10. Position the moulding as levelly as you can (lesser mortals use spirit levels for this sort of thing) and tap in a nail about a quarter of the way in from each end
  11. Hang shoes!

Post-Advent post IV

Now I can't remember which words I took these for, but I thought it wouldn't do any harm to pop them up on the ol' blog
Wake Up
It's time.  Light is dawning.


Expand
I've always liked the first line of the second verse.  The image of the universe straining at the seams to contain God incarnate.

Focus
In pulling right down into the detail, we find yet more beauty and interest.  The delicate tracery that blurs into non-existence from afar.

Delight
Even in the mundane and things that we don't like there can be space for delight.  Even we're not feeling delightful, we are delighted in.

Become
We are works in progress.  Some places you can see the scaffolding, some places right to the heart of the core structure.  Still others are screened by the workman's barriers.  Some places the outer finish is complete but the interior needs finishing.

Heal
And allow yourself to heal.  Christmas is one of those times when things come to a head.  When families are fractious and news is shared and it's easy to let the stress get to you and make you ill.  Take the time to heal.  The time to let hurts slip away.

Receive
 Have an open heart.  Don't declare yourself unworthy.  Receive because you don't deserve.  Can't deserve.

Beautify
This is a very utilitarian building.  All harling, glass and concrete.  The shadows make it a canvas.  That scene doesn't exist in 3D because of the distances and the perspective but it condenses onto the wall together.

Risk
Cinderella didn't show up in her carriage this year.  She was a bit scary-looking and the carriage wound up on the lawn for months.  That was a risk not worth taking again.  Not all risks are like that.