Musical Memories - barba, ba barba, ba barba poux, barbapoux, barbapoux...

Y' avait dans mon village
Un homme qui  appelé Poux
Il avait une barbe
Qui était pleine de poux.
Barbapoux, Barbapoux, Barbapoux, Barbapoux. 

Tout au fond de la mer les poissons sont assis,
Les poissons sont assis, ah! ah! ah!
Attendant patiemment qu’les pêcheurs soient partis
Qu’les pêcheurs soient partis ah! ah! ah!
Ohé du bateau, du grand mât, de la hune,
Ohé du voilier, du grand mât, des huniers !

Il y a des vétérans tout barbus, tout fripés
Echappés par hasard des ham’çons, des filets

Et les jeunes poissons sont là aussi souvent
Egayant les bas-fonds de leurs cris, de leurs chants.....etc etc etc!

Help!! Took a trip back down memory lane to our our childrens' childhood (son is visiting this weekend), found a bumper version of  Chansons et Comptines -  a staple of many a journey down the autoroute - the track sampler is on a continuous loop in the bowels of my machine, there's no escape. Rescue me, somebody!

It's strange how evocative music can be, isn't it?  Last time daughter was home we unearthed another old favourite from way back: Jil Caplan's La Charmeuse de Serpents and were instantly transported back 15 years or more, to lazy, hazy, hot summers, (those French school holidays were looonng),  the people carrier stuffed to the windows with all the clobber needed to make a tent home from home for a fortnight, three weeks, longer... (who's counting?).

 Back then modern technology consisted of the in -car cassette player, no hand held video games, (the GP offspring were kept busy with their Hoopi Club colouring and quiz books..."Spot a man in a black beret...a field of corn....a registration number beginning with...") We listened to Times Tables tapes, Jeeves and Wooster, CS Lewis' Narnia tales. Lest readers think we were just too Good To Be True, I'm sure less "worthy" stuff eventually appeared on the playlist (Spice Girls, anybody?). I seem to remember making valiant, if half-hearted attempts to infiltrate slightly more "worthy" material into the running order - this was back in my more evangelical days, as a result of which I'm now unable to listen to any Matt Redman (actually there are other more theological reasons for my aversion but we'll not go there), without experiencing waves of carsickness. Oh and not forgetting "Delirious,"same problem there, and the rest of the family always maintained that it wasn't possible to hear these last two over the roar of the car engine on the autoroute.  Poor Matt and Co were generally reserved for the last , hot, grumbly, tense few miles on country roads, as we tried to find the campsite without coming to blows over the mapreading. This was before sat navs, don't forget.  Hence I'll forever associate worship songs  like "Undignified," with cries of "Are we nearly there, yet?" and the sickly taste of Riccola boiled sweets, before that glorious moment before we finally  drew up at our  little orange and blue tent, our home from home.  Happy days...

Funnily enough, on a camping holiday a couple of years ago,  son and his pals ended up at one of the sites that he remembers visiting with us. Funny old world. Though I suspect they didn't drive through the gates to the strains of Barbapoux! 

Fingermaze Meditation

Thrilled to re-discover this Fingermaze animation, courtesy of Beyondchurch.co.uk; I've been searching for it for ages!

"Tis the Gift to be Simple" - Daybook

Thanks to LLM Calling for pointing me to a wonderful way of reflecting on your day - The Simple Woman's Daybook.  Great for somebody like myself whose middle name is "worry." Here's mine:"

Outside my window- It's been overcast and dim all day. I can see the garden path glistening with rain.

I am thinking - About my latest DIY project and wondering how I'm going to get all the paint off my fingernails!

I am thankful - For the gift of creativity.

In the kitchen - Melon, oranges, yoghurt, spaghetti bolg and soup. I love my soup!

I am wearing - Paint stained navy  cargoes and old blue T shirt.

I am creating - Just finished day one of painting the study  bookcases. Also in progress - a prayer meditation on the Ignatian movements of consolation and desolation  in my art journal using one of the psalms, the labyrinth and the poetry of TS Eliot.

I am going - Nowhere today. I've been home based apart from walking the dog.

I am wondering - Whether the paint is ever going to dry.

I am reading - The Cat, a Complete Guide, by Claire Bessant, a beautifully illustrated hardback guide and Christmas present from DH to all things feline - 70p at the animal protection shop for a good as new, book which is worth nearly £20 new. The best 70p ever spent!

I am hoping - To turn the study into that quiet, Shaker-like sanctuary I always wanted! Hoping...

I am looking forward to - Going away on retreat in a month's time.

I am learning - To be brave and step out without worrying what other people might think about me.

And the house - I'm getting there - apart from piles of books from bookcase one strewn all over the study.

I am pondering - 'Ponder' the pyjama case, hero of "Ponder and William," a favourite childhood book.

A favourite quote for today - "Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free..."

One of my favourite things - O dear..."Smooth Radio 70s." I've had it on all day as background while I've been painting.

A few plans for the rest of the week - A couple of local spirituality network events, time with Mr GP, painting project, prayer group at church.

A peek into my day - Camera lost under a mountain of books, so here's an old pic of GP cat

Just Listen

Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God, either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God, too.This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and in the end there will be nothing left but spiritual chatter...

                                                                                               - Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

The Long and Winding Road - Greenpatch Pilgrimage

All ready to tackle Hadrian's Wall - GP Ted  on our Durham to Iona Pilgrimage, April 2011

If you've been reading Growing Greenpatches for any length of  time, you'll have  spotted references to pilgrimage scattered here and there, especially to our Durham to Iona trip in 2011.  Now you can learn  a little more about what we got up to  on Offline Greenpatches, (think of it as an old, rather dusty, ramshackle conservatory) - home to some of my more confused meanderings, originally  inflicted on readers of "OldChurch"  parish mag. 

All Creatures of Our God and King

St Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Sun   (original Umbrian dialect)

Altissimu, onnipotente bon Signore,

Tue so le laude, la gloria e l'honore et onne benedictione.

Ad Te solo, Altissimo, se konfano,

et nullu homo ène dignu te mentouare.

Laudato sie, mi Signore cum tucte le Tue creature,

spetialmente messor lo frate Sole,

lo qual è iorno, et allumini noi per lui.

Et ellu è bellu e radiante cum grande splendore:

de Te, Altissimo, porta significatione.

Laudato si, mi Signore, per sora Luna e le stelle:

in celu l'ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle.

Laudato si, mi Signore, per frate Uento

et per aere et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo,

per lo quale, a le Tue creature dài sustentamento.

Laudato si, mi Signore, per sor'Acqua,

la quale è multo utile et humile et pretiosa et casta.

Laudato si, mi Signore, per frate Focu,

per lo quale ennallumini la nocte:

ed ello è bello et iucundo et robustoso et forte.

Laudato si, mi Signore, per sora nostra matre Terra,

la quale ne sustenta et gouerna,

et produce diuersi fructi con coloriti fior et herba.

Laudato si, mi Signore, per quelli ke perdonano per lo Tuo amore

et sostengono infirmitate et tribulatione.

Beati quelli ke 'l sosterranno in pace,

ka da Te, Altissimo, sirano incoronati.

Laudato si mi Signore, per sora nostra Morte corporale,

da la quale nullu homo uiuente pò skappare:

guai a quelli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali;

beati quelli ke trouarà ne le Tue sanctissime uoluntati,

ka la morte secunda no 'l farrà male.

Laudate et benedicete mi Signore et rengratiate

e seruiteli cum grande humilitate.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Oh Pooh! - Earthy Spirituality

Or hearkening back to one of our son's favourite reads when we were living in France - Crotte!  Literally -  on the landing - ready to greet Mr GP as he came downstairs this morning.   GP cat has 'Toilet'  issues.   My morning 'time,' quiet or otherwise, is beginning to take on a whole incarnational dimension I'd not bargained for; half of me communing with the Almighty, the other watching out for signs that our resident feline is about to commune with our wood flooring instead of his litter tray.  (Note to self: What we thought was a regular dawn 'mad moment,' with Tigercat hurtling himself up and down stairs at 90 mph is something else entirely). Thus it was that my musings on the integration of my inner and outer landscapes  post spiritual direction visit yesterday were abruptly cut short. There's nothing, but nothing, like animals for keeping you grounded, is there?