This week I am spending a few days at one of my very favourite places: Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden near Chester.
It is a residential library, with books mainly on theology. The library stays open from 9am to 10pm and there is a restaurant on site, as well as bedrooms. When you get here, you choose a desk to sit at and then you can keep it as long as you stay, leaving the books you are referring to piled up on the desk ready for when you get back. The reading rooms are silent, so all you can hear are the occasional noises of people turning pages or typing on their keyboards. Heaven!
Since I last posted a general update, I’ve done quite a few things. I went to Devon on a retreat to the Community of Mary and Martha at Sheldon. This was really helpful – mostly because of the strict no clergy shop-talk rule. When you are banned from talking about work, you can rediscover who you really are. It was a place most conducive to rest and prayer. The week I was staying, there was a resident artist, who encouraged us all to play and create. I heard God speaking more clearly that week than I have in a long time (not that I was totally pleased with what I heard Him saying).
There are field-trip posts to come on:
- Exeter
- Newcastle
- Beverley and Market Weighton
- Chester
- Hawarden
Knitting
Some finished projects:
These socks were my first attempt at a genuine afterthought heel – I knitted a tube and then cut into it and put the heel in.
The lace poncho is finally done! It was a marathon of a piece, but I’m really pleased with it. The final 8 rows, 4 of which were beaded, needed full concentration and perseverence.
I’m now working on some items requested by family members, including socks for Phil and gloves for the boy.
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