"Carved into the high cross at Ahenny, County Tipperary, is a figure of a solitary monk sitting under a palm tree. Was he the founder of that monastery, being shown in the warm climes of Paradise? Possibly; no name is given. Or does he represent all the monks who came to Ireland from Egypt?
In Aghaboe, County Cork, is an Ogham stone near a well. Its inscription says, "Pray for St. Olan the Egyptian." Nobody knows how old it is, and some scholars say Ogham writing began in the first century. Almost all agree that the stone predates St. Patrick by at least a century.
One thing is certain....by the sixth century,... monasticism was sweeping the world.
The term monasticism has picked up baggage in popular culture, and so it may be a good idea to place the early Irish monks in their historical context. First, dispel any mental image of Ellis Peters' fictional Br. Cadfael in his cozy sociable herbarium at his magnificent 12th century Benedictine abbey on the edge of Wales. Irish monasticism began a thousand or so years earlier, and monks in Ireland lived in cold, wet, rocky, isolated, storm-tossed places like Skellig Michael, leading a life of physical suffering, hardship, loneliness, hunger and inward struggle. It was exactly the life that they sought."
- Connie Marshner, Monastery and High Cross
I've been taking too long reading this book, but now am trying to attend. It is very intriguing to think of Egyptian and Armenian monks traveling to Ireland and sharing their techniques in stonework and illumination of manuscripts.
The rhododendron out back looks so pretty; it's so big. They do just grow. I have no problem with that. And there's another further out over the brook.
I can't complain about the views out my bedroom window.
One of the sewing channels I sometimes watch on youtube is an English woman who was recently showing how often she makes her favorite (should I say "favourite"?) patterns, the ones which suit her taste and her lifestyle. She would rather adapt one of her existing patterns than always be buying new ones. She had a style of tank top she's made - I don't know, eleven times? In different fabrics, as well as other colors. There was something about this video that struck me as something I hadn't realized before. I do have an a-line dress pattern I've made at least five times, but I think that's because it's a basic, classic style. It's hard to explain, but I suddenly was looking differently at my sewing aspirations.
So, looking to sew myself something versatile, I noticed on my pinterest page a few sleeveless tops with a slight swingy-ness to them. I actually have a tee shirt pattern, so I adapted it to be fuller.
I think I've had this deep green broadcloth for around forty years? Maybe thirty five. It's a cotton-poly and I don't love it, but it's my guinea pig for this project. I thought I'd make the bias binding rather than using the bought one, and this cotton lawn has the same green in it - a bit lighter - so I've been researching all the simple ways of cutting bias strips. This is a method I hadn't seen before. There are many methods! Anyway, I'm hoping I can tweak this to suit me and then have a few on hand for summer. I feel like I have a new way of approaching my sewing plans.
lovely sewing! and what an intriguing book! please pray for St Catherine's in Mt Sinai, I don't understand exactly what is going on but there is some trouble for them and they are such a place of light in this world...
ReplyDeleteAre you serious, Elizabeth?? Oh, dear.
DeleteI like your sewing approach. I am still working on jacket patterns adapted from an old one I have taken apart.
ReplyDeleteThat's terrific, Mary. You say "patterns" - you intend to make more than one?
DeleteYour quote from "Monastery and High Cross" reminds me of a holiday we took in County Kerry, Ireland in 2005. We booked ourselves on a tour to the Skelligs but when the day arrived it was pouring with rain and blowing a gale. We gamely turned up and got on the boat and were given enormous stinky oilskins to wear and life jackets. We began to journey down the river estuary from Cahersiveen where we were staying but the captain said he thought the sea would be too rough for Elinor, who was eight years old at the time and so called in at another village on the coast and chucked us off. Alice decided to come with me and Elinor but Richard stayed on the boat. I found a small hotel and told them what had happened and they allowed me to phone for a taxi to take us back to Cahersiveen where I bought some food from the supermarket and we walked back to the cottage we were staying in. By then the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. Meanwhile, Richard was beginning to feel a little queasy on the storm-tossed boat and so took a couple of the sea-sickness tablets I had left with him. the journey was awful and a number of people were very sick. One young German man was especially ill so Richard gave him some of our tablets which I think he took once they landed on Skellig Michael. By the time they landed the sun was shining so they had no need of the oilskins, the smell of which didn't help with the sickness! Most people were dreading the journey back and everyones' legs were very shaky but by the time they had finished going over the island the sea had calmed as well and the return wasn't too bad. Richard said the place was absolutely fascinating with the little stone 'beehive' dwellings of the monks and their tiny little walled gardens where they grew vegetables to eat. They used rotting seaweed to build up soil on the rocky island but the wind and rain made life very difficult for them.
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