Saturday 3 April 2010

Saturday.

 


Photo above is of the simnel cake I spoke of in yesterday's blog.
Been a nice, pleasantly busy day spent mostly in the workshop and forge. Been repairing a couple of tinder boxes, and case hardening the fire steels in both, ready for Wednesday's antique fair at Long Melford. No scrabble this afternoon as it's Easter Saturday (or Holy Saturday, as I believe the correct name is). Went to an Easter Vigil service this evening. It starts with the Church in darkness, and everyone in the Church porch holding an unlit candle, then one candle is lit, and the flame transferred very swiftly to all the others. I had been asked by one of our Church Wardens if it would be possible for me to light the first candle the traditional way with a flint and steel. It went even better than I had hoped. The weather was kind, the first decent spark dropped onto the tinder, was blown into a glow,and transferred by a sulphured splint to the first candle. The whole business from the spark to everyone's candle being alight took only a few minutes, and was quite impressive in its way.
To be honest, I'd been breaking flints from the garden to get a good sharp edge, and practising with flint and steel earlier. Been a tinder boxy sort of day. Got back from the service about twenty past eight. It's now nine o'clock, and time for a drink and an early night, I think. Goodnight all.
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6 comments:

Lori Skoog said...

Yum!

Mustafa is not totally sound as he was jumped too much. Barb should be able to ride him but needs to take it easy. So far he has been a very sweet boy.

Crowbard said...

The significance of eggs at OEstre is clear enough, but why 11 eggs, Mike? Do they represent Christ's surviving disciples? Or does it perhaps have some q'abalistic Pashcal implications?

Crowbard said...

I note you have arranged the 11 eggs to show 9 different lines of 3 eggs (3 vertical lines, 3 horizontal lines and 3 diagonal lines each of 3 eggs)as well as one diaagonal of 1, 2, 5, 2, 1. That has to have a q'abalistic origin, surely?
Pootatu suggestss 'never mind the symbolism bake me a cake' with the v-word "catera"

Unknown said...

Hi Lori. Yes, he looks it.
Hello Crowbard. I've always assumed the eleven surviving disciples, but I don't know.
Regarding the arrangement of the eggs, it seems the only visually satisfying and symmetric possibility for eleven eggs. I just don't know about figures. They seem unsympathetic things. I prefer words. They make far more sense.

Unknown said...

P.s. If the cake had been a round one, I would have arranged them in a circle round the edge, large ends outwards. For easier cutting into segments.

Crowbard said...

Numbers can be quite inflexible, but I'm sure they are as sympathetic as they are able. I quite approve of their stalwart immutability in an unpredictable environment while despising their abuse by "Statisticians".
Words only appear sympathetic, but their accomodative qualities give the Humpty Dumpties of our society (The Meedja! - the Politicos - the Advertisers - the Spin-Monsters - the Pundits - The Commentators)the mechanism to lie, mislead, misdirect and misinform the rest of us.
Pootatu doesn't care, she just sends you all a "koolkiz" as the v-word.