A thought

If there were people living on other planets, they'd probably call their planet 'Earth' (or the equivalent in their language).

Mary's Song

I like this version, because it's sung by someone the right sort of age (Randall Goodgame's daughter Liv, who would be about 16ish at the time)

Emoji people

 Oddly, if you're a Google emoji person with a specified hairstyle (curly, red, bald, blond), you also have shoulders, whereas if you have generic hair you don't.

This is annoying and untidy. 

It also means there will be no gingers, bald people or curly haired people in the New Jerusalem.*

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*As depicted in my Sunday School lesson

Unlikely music

'Minimalist German Techno' doesn't really sound like it would be a musical genre that would appeal to me.

But I came across a playlist called Techno for Working Hard a while back. It says it's 'for when you need to focus on getting things done' - and it really does work!

Crochet centre

Did you know it's possible to replace the centre of a crochet square without taking the whole thing apart?

Neither did I, but I thought I'd try and see.

I'd somehow managed to make one of the scallops with only two trebles, and it looked weird 

(I also, oddly, had the first scallop of each row with a chain and three trebles, so I had enough spare wool).

So, first I unpicked it and unravelled the centre.

Then I started as usual, did the first scallop and the following chain.

Then, with a narrow crochet hook, I pulled all the long tail of wool through the two corner scallops of the next row (helps to hold the loop at the end of the chain on another crochet hook while you're doing this), and then pulled the chain through as well.

I then carried on with the next scallop and chain, pulled it through, and so on...

And here's the finished result - much more balanced!

It was obviously rather more complicated than redoing the whole thing, but I think it was quicker. And it certainly was more interesting.😄

Fun logo

Saw this today.

Digital wellbeing

Google has randomly added this app to my phone - and it's a good one.

It allows you to keep track of screen time, and also you can set timers on certain apps - though stopping in the middle of a song when the timer runs out is a bit unnecessary!

When the standard answer backfires

In church we have worksheets for the kids, to help them engage with the service. I was picking up those that had been left on the seats.

One of the questions said 'draw or write something from the Bible reading'. One child had written 'God'.

I suppose it seemed like a safe bet. However I'm not convinced the child was actually listening. You see, we're going through the book of Esther at the minute...*

---

*Esther is the one book of the Bible that doesn't mention God even once!

Google's birthday

 Apparently Google is 22 years old - and he's having his party on Zoom.

Very cute :-)

Tengwar

 It's to be hoped none of the elves in Middle Earth were dyslexic.

 

Quote

 All the things that we create, whether you have a big audience, or whether you're just making stuff for the folks close to you. Sure - maybe those things you make will be forgotten. Or maybe the things that you create will get laid down as someone's long-term memory, and affect them a lot later in their life. So, make nice things. Try to give people something they'll be nostalgic about, not something they'll flashback to. You never know what impressions you might be making for the future. 

~Tom Scott

Foolproof

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools

~Douglas Adams

Only words

What others say to us and what we say to others can last a long time, for good or for evil. The casual sarcastic or critical remark can inflict a lasting injury on another person. The well-timed encouragement or compliment can inspire someone for the rest of their life.

~ David Guzik

This is terrifying.

And true.

And we don't know which of our words will be quickly forgotten, and which will have a lasting effect.

Lord, set up a guard for my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.

~Psalm 141v3

Caffeine

No caffeine for an entire month! 😯

Wonder how long I can keep this up.

Expensive design?

If I were to spend considerably more than my year's income on a watch, I would want the text on its face to be somewhat more professionally designed than what looks like Zapf Chancery (a ubiquitous off-the-peg font) set in all caps (which swash capitals should not be).

Wood 🌳🌲🌳🌲🌳 Tree 🌳

It's not good to be unable to see the wood for the trees.

But nor is it good to be unable to see the trees for the wood.

A balance is necessary.

 

(I tend to lean towards the former, I suspect) 

Culag Wood, Lochinver

Illustrator credit

I was reading the back of my popcorn packet, as you do.

Never seen this before:

Never tried that before!

The pot pourri in the church toilets was looking rather dusty. Not the easiest thing to dust, and I wanted to deal with it fairly quickly. 

So I washed it.

And it worked!

Obviously would depend on the pot pourri - don't blame me if you try this and it goes horribly wrong.

[Edit: It ended up getting mildew, so if I did it again I'd want to dry it thoroughly]

We do not know what to do...

A passage I keep going back to just now is 2 Chronicles 20, especially verse 12:

"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you”

And this song which goes well with it (I know it's based on the Red Sea passage, but it still fits).

That's better

Just managed to get the I AM pictures in this post to show big when you click on them. Not sure what was wrong before.

LEGO Introduces Braille Bricks to Help Visually Impaired Kids

This is so cool!

Evening prayer

"Father in your mercy dispel the darkness of this night,
and let your servant sleep in peace,
that at the dawn of a new day I may wake with joy in your Name,
through Christ our Lord.

Amen"

~ From a Daily Prayer App

Robots

Wow!

The odd things I notice

I have not seen the new TV series The Chosen, although I've heard good things about it.

I have seen a few clips, though, and one thing I noticed that pleased me - you can see Jesus' knees!

I don't think I've ever seen that. But he's a first-century working class man - he wouldn't be swanning about in impractical long robes. They were for important (or would-be important) people.

Wild garlic and prawn sandwich

 

Same recipe as here, but prawns.

Movie adaptions

A director cannot fairly make his money of the writings of a man long dead while simultaneously warping the substance of that work into something the dead man would never have agreed to.

~ Travis Perry

Future

"So if my eyes press forward in fierce alarm
Just turn my head back to see
To see how we got this far

And I'll be alright"

from Take this Slowly ~ The Gray Havens

The importance of cover design

This is a girl's book.

Actually, it's not.

If I remember right, all the characters - and certainly the hippo - are male. The author is male. There's nothing girly about it.

But, as I discovered a few years ago, if you're a 7-year-old boy, it will look like a girl's book (and you will delight to point this out to your friend who recieved it).

Here's a colour tweak which would have made a huge difference:

Although I think these old covers are better still:

I AM illustrations

Realised I hadn't posted this yet. Finished a week ago. Jesus' last three I AM sayings. (resurrection & life, way/truth/life, vine)

It was nice to illustrate some stories I've never done or seen in Go Teach before. I thought they explained complex ideas like 'abiding in Jesus' well. And we've never had a lesson that focusses so much on heaven before (plenty on how to get there, but not on why you would want to!). Although it's based on John 14, it also gets into Rev 21 themes.

Though with the current situation, when they'll actually get used is another question...

I tried to use complementary colours as I did last time, but I feel it was less successful - possibly because there aren't borders to bring out the colours. And I was doing it in rather a rush (partly my fault, partly not).

For your amusement, this is the original 'rough' I sent them, just to give an idea of content. A cobbled together mixture of my old illustrations in various styles, googled images, and clipart!

Uplighters

Uplighters are basically like whited sepulchures, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of oose, burst balloons (not shown), mysterious objects that may be sweets or small crackers, and everything unclean.

Bulb temporarily removed

(Spring cleaning creche room)

The right order

Why, when you buy felt tips, do they often come like this?

A quick sort...

That's better!

Lydia craft

Here’s an idea for a simple, fun craft that brings out a lot of things from Lydia’s story.

All you need:

• Paper towel - I found that cheap stuff is best. If you don't have any plain paper towel, toilet paper works too!
• Felt tip pens
• Water 

What to do:

1. Make sure you are working on a surface that is OK to get wet, and to get pen on! You could put the paper towel on a plate, or on newspaper.
2. Draw rough circles of coloured dots. You can do different sizes - the space in the middle shouldn't be very big, though - 3-4cm max.
   
   I tried a heart in the middle, but you might find that too difficult.
   
   
3. Dip your finger in the water, and touch the space in the middle of each circle.
   
   
   
4. Watch as the water spreads out.
   
   
5. Larger circles will need a few more drops, but wait until it stops spreading before adding more. Use as little water as possible, or the colours will all wash out!
6. Leave to dry.
   
   

Links to the story:

• The dye from the pens reminds us of the dye that was used to make Lydia's purple cloth - but use other colours if you prefer.
• If you draw a heart, that reminds us that the Lord 'opened Lydia's heart'.
• Water reminds us of Lydia's baptism.
• The colours spreading remind us of the good news of Jesus spreading.

The vital component

If you're teaching on Lydia, and you prepare the best lesson in the world, but neglect to pray that God will 'open their hearts to respond' you've kind of missed the point of the lesson you're teaching...

I need to make sure to practise the latter, without leaving the former undone.

A problem with illustrating the Bible

Many persons suppose he was on horseback, and painters thus represent him; but this is utterly without foundation. Painters are, in almost every case, wretched commentators.
~ Clarke*

He's right - but I do try very hard not to do this. 

But at the end of the day, you have to draw something. And unless the Bible spells it out, your choice does say something. If you draw him on a horse, you're saying he was on a horse. But if, because it doesn't say so, you don't draw a horse, you're not leaving it open to interpretation - you are saying that he was not on a horse.

Actually, in this case, the fact that Paul was later led by the hand suggests to me that he was not on a horse - and personally I avoid drawing horses whenever possible anyway!

But there's so many things: was the person old or young? fat or thin? tall or short? brown or black or white**? And if we avoid any of these extremes, are we saying that the Bible is about boring, characterless people instead of real-life people like us?

What colour were Adam & Eve? Did Mary & Joseph ride a donkey? Were there three wise men? Was Mary Magdalene the same person as Mary of Bethany? Was she the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet? Was 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' John? Do angels have wings? ***

Every picture you draw makes a statement.

---

* Sorry, I have no idea this guy's full name - it was a quote in the commentary on my Bible app 
** Not such an issue in the OT (though there certainly was more racial diversity than we tend to imagine or draw - which is also saying something). But by the NT - especially Acts - with the racial mix of the Roman empire...
*** My decisions for illustrations:

• Adam & Eve were mid brown, with all the genes necessary for the whole human race
• No
• Not necessarily, but three is a nice number, so I often draw three
• Yes
• No
• Yes
• Probably not - I tend to draw them glowing instead. But I have no objection to including wings, and I have done so if needed to make it clear these are angels

And all these may be wrong!

The weight of the world

I'm liking this song just now.

Truth

Just sorting through Sunday School photos for our virtual prizegiving. These two crafts, done earlier in the year, seem particularly relevant now...

Flour!

For the first time in weeks, there is flour in Morrisons.

The reason there has been no flour in the supermarkets has, apparently not been that there is not enough flour available. They're running the flour mills 24/7, and there's plenty flour. The problem is that usually most flour is packed in bulk, for commercial use. With the increased demand for home baking, the flour mills don't have the ability to pack large enough quantities of consumer-sized flour packets.*

So Morrisons has evidently hit on a solution: pack their own!

 I wonder what those bags were originally intended for.

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*I read this in an article, but I have no idea where.

"Is everything sad going to come untrue?"

I wonder what Tolkien would think if he knew how many Christian songs allude to Sam Gamgee's question from The Return of the King.

Probably be chuffed.

Jesus is alive!🌖

Rainbow crosses

People are putting rainbows in their windows to symbolise hope. So here are some crosses that our Sunday School kids made to remind us that our true hope comes from Jesus.

All done in an appropriately socially-distant manner: They made them at home, photographed them, and WhatsApped them to me. I printed them at church, cut them out and stuck them up.

I love how different they all turned out.

Take, eat

This is beautiful

Windows

Lots of arty people in our neighbourhood 😲

(Apologies for photo quality - my phone camera's not great)

Watching a video while working

I do this sometimes (if it's a video you don't need to concentrate on, just glance at from time to time), but it can be awkward because you need to make both windows narrow, beside each other.

BUT I've just found a function in Firefox which allows you to pop the video out into it's own little window which you can place on top of everything else, and move around to wherever suits you.

That's handy!