A Week of Days

Hello, thank you for calling in, and thank you if you left a comment on my last post.  I was surprised to see how many of you had never heard of a mermaid's purse, but then again, there are lots of things I have never heard of until I read about them in Blogland, it's one of the reasons I like it so much.

 

So, today I am linking up with Amy at Love Made My Home for Five On Friday so if you have time, please hop over there and see what everyone else is sharing this week.  Here are five days of this week:

  

1.  Shrove Tuesday

On Tuesday evening, the Best Beloved called in at the supermarket on his way home from work and arrived home bearing...a packet of pancakes.  Never before has a ready-made pancake crossed my threshold and I was, shall we say, extremely surprised.  He said that he had bought them because he wasn't sure what my plans were!!!!  So, we heated them up in the microwave oven, on the plates off which we then ate them.  It was quicker, easier and much less messy than making them, for all of which I am grateful, and they tasted perfectly acceptable...and at the same time, felt all wrong.  After all, the whole point is to use up the luxurious butter and sugar which are in the house before the onset of Lent, and buying a ready-made pancake doesn't really fulfil the brief, does it?  Still, the Best Beloved's pancake need was met and he was happy.  But honestly, I can't show you a photo of a shop-bought pancake, can I?

 

2.  Ash Wednesday

 

Do you give up something for Lent?  Like many people, I used to give up something indulgent like chocolates or biscuits, but a few years ago I decided that I wanted to do something which demanded more discipline and give up something which I have every day so I gave up bread.  I found it very difficult and took some satisfaction in that.  The period of Lent lasts for forty-six days of which forty are fasting days: the Sundays of Lent don't count because in the Christian tradition, the Lord's Day is always a day of celebration.  Honestly, it's true, not just a cop-out!  This made my "deprivation" bearable: no bread from Monday to Saturday but on Sunday, scrambled egg on toast for breakfast and sandwiches for tea, for six weeks.  The Best Beloved ensured that the bread was homemade so it really was a treat.  In a perverse sort of way, I enjoyed the rhythm of it so I did the same the following year.  Last year, I decided it was time for a change so I gave up...tea.  This was very challenging for a person whose name, it is joked in our house, means "Grumpy 'Til I've Had A Cup Of Tea".  Fortunately, I was surrounded by sympathetic people who understood how difficult it was, but I was surprised by the number of people who suggested alternative comforting, delicious drinks and while thanking them, I reminded them that my denial was supposed to be a bit difficult. 

 

On Tuesday evening I said to the Best Beloved, "I'm thinking of giving up tea again for Lent this year.  Was I a nightmare last year?"  "Yes," he replied, a little too quickly, "I think you should give up smoking."  I was nonplussed.  "But I don't smoke,"  I said.  "Exactly!"  he replied.  Hmmm.  So, after a lot of thought and discussion, I decided that as I already have quite a lot on my plate at the moment, and adding in a physical challenge might just tip me over the edge, I will instead participate in one of the online Lent photo challenges.  This will give me a daily discipline and rhythm and perhaps help with the reflective process, too. 

 

3.  St David's Day

 

Of course, Wednesday 1st March was also St David's Day.  I think I like St David; I certainly like the fact that, unlike the patron saints of England, Scotland and Ireland, he was a native of the country which adopted him as its patron saint.  He lived a simple, frugal life in the sixth century and his last words to his followers were,  "Lords, brothers and sisters, Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. And as for me, I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us."   Do the little things.  I like that. I don't think I can do big things but I can do little things and make a difference that way.

 

By the twelfth century, St David was considered to be so important that the Pope declared that two pilgrimages to St David's  Cathedral in Pembrokeshire were equal to one pilgrimage to Rome and on a gloriously sunny day in 1990, I made half a pilgrimage to Rome.

 

4.  St Chad's Day

 

St Chad died on 2nd March 672 AD.  A humble, devout man who is said to have always travelled on foot, he became the first Bishop of Mercia and was given land in Lichfield on which to found a monastery.  Now, there is a cathedral there and it and many churches in the Anglican Diocese of Lichfield are dedicated to him, as well as the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Birmingham, while he is represented in stained glass and in statuary in many others - including my own parish church, as much of Shropshire lies in the Diocese of Lichfield.  In England, St Chad's Day is said to be the best day of the year on which to sow your broad beans!

 

5.  FriDay
 

I LOVE Friday evenings, at least, I have done for the last nine years or so, now that neither the Best Beloved nor I work at weekends.  Friday evening is a time to light the fire and the candles, open a bottle of wine and get excited about the weekend ahead, two whole days of being on our own time rather than somebody else's.  I love it.

So now it's almost 9pm on Friday, the fire is lit and it's time to light the candles and open the wine.  Cheers! 

 

See you soon,

 

Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x