Claire Cullingworth

I love the post you've quoted here. It often pops up in my head as a reminder to commit fully to what I'm making, and stuff what "normal people" might think

That sounds weird. But in a very good way

FINAL book giveaway of the year.

To enter: reply below & repost this extract.

Up for grabs:

THREE signed Villager paperbacks with free art (bookmarks & postcards) by my parents.

Enter if you enjoy
Folklore
Nature
Rivers
Hills
Social history
Lost art
Ghost
Tangled psychedelic narratives
Silliness

Actually, sometimes the most lovely thing is words. Clergy get discouraged. It can be a thankless, stressful role at times. A card that says thank you and actually says why you appreciated us in a non-generic way can be something we return to, to be encouraged by, in harder times.

Something eatable or drinkable is always welcome, or a voucher for somewhere. Book tokens or the modern equivalent are always good. Slightly less obvious food gifts like fancy jams or chutneys can be really nice or posh candles, if they seem that sort of person.

I haven't done so far, but I'd definitely be up for it if somewhere invited me!

A close up photo of some brightly coloured knitting. There's grey wool in the middle, used to sew across a hole. The caption reads "On this day, 12 years ago. The cardigan lives again!"

I'm pretty sure this was my first attempt at mending a hole in knitting. Not a skilled or pretty mend, but it did the job and it helped to keep my favourite cardigan in regular (and frequent) use for another 10 years after that.

#visiblemending

I'm not surprised. We were too.

Such good news! Well done. I supported one of my kids through a PIP appeal - such a stressful process.

This is heart breaking - that poor kid.

I'm half way through the audiobook of this and loving it. I can't predict where the plot is going at all, which is fun and I love the mix of strange characters and their assorted gods and hang ups.

It's already got a lining, so that wouldn't add anything it doesn't already have. That's an interesting idea that I'd consider for a different garment, though.

By the time I finally retired it, the cardigan had at least 20 mends on it. It became a sort of history of my mending journey and increasing skill.

It finally got a bit too fragile to wear regularly, but it now gets the occasional outing as a visual aid for mending workshops.
#visiblemending

A close up photo of some brightly coloured knitting. There's grey wool in the middle, used to sew across a hole. The caption reads "On this day, 12 years ago. The cardigan lives again!"

I'm pretty sure this was my first attempt at mending a hole in knitting. Not a skilled or pretty mend, but it did the job and it helped to keep my favourite cardigan in regular (and frequent) use for another 10 years after that.

#visiblemending

I find that such a powerful phrase. I can feel the tug of wanting to live like that, and seeking to shrug off the hold of "But what will other people think??"

Great job!

Good luck!!
The best part of Christmas in my previous parish was the moment when we all blew out the Christingle candles and we'd managed not to set anyone on fire for another year!

a cartoon of alice from alice in wonderland in a blue and white dress Alt: A cartoon of Alice from Alice in Wonderland in a blue and white dress, doing a curtsey

Thank you so much

Thank you! I feel like someone ought to award me a medal or something for my achievements this morning

That's worked for me, for the last decade or so. He refused to come into my work and put this one up for me, though. Which I thought was most unreasonable of him.

I would buy one
#TheArchers

I survived, but heck, it was a complicated Christmas tree. Every single branch was colour-coded and needed adding to the trunk individually. I was grateful to one of our service users who was enthusiastic about helping put the whole thing together!

The only effect it has on me is to make me peckish for a nice bowl of ice cream. Which I don't think it their intention

"Deeply amused and entirely unsympathetic", that should say.
😁

For years I've spent Advent telling my family "You're welcome to pinup Christmas decorations if you want, but leave me out of it. I'm not having anything to do with them"
So they are all deeply amused that I've ended up with the job of decorating the community centre where I work this morning.

Yes!

That's glorious!

No, I'm in the North East of England. Interesting that there's a glut of Archangels down on the Welsh borders. Maybe it's a good habitat for dragons, so it makes sense to keep Michael nearby

I was being entirely facetious (as I'm sure you knew), but that's fascinating and yes, a very plausible reaction to that cozy, lovable, well known character.

James Herriot clearly took a dark turn after I stopped watching it! 😂