Midsummer: Psalm 121

Mmm, how to celebrate midsummer's day? I didn't have any trouble: it came to me that I must do a bike ride, though it didn't help that I fell asleep in the evening until 8.45! But I set off, thinking 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills; from whence cometh my help(?)' which no doubt is a bit of a mishmash of versions. But that '?' is crucial: it is not found in the KJV, but the revisers of the 1880s decided that it ought to be there, as is correct. The difference it makes is huge! (Actually, my help comes from an 18-speed gearbox on the boybike.)

1) KJV, no question mark: implies that it's the hills that are friendly, that help comes from there. "The ramblers' psalm."

Catbells across Derwentwater

2) With question mark: If one wonders where help comes from when one looks up to the hills, it implies that the hills are to be feared.Some think the psalm is relevant to pilgrims to Jerusalem returning home through mountainous terrain.

 I think my recent experiences have a bit of both in them! Lake District hills do bring help, refreshment etc; but they are also to be feared. As someone said, there are old mountaineers, there are fearless mountaineers, but there are not many old, fearless mountaineers: mountains are rightly feared, however friendly they may seem. That pointy bit at the top of Catbells had me worried when I got there.

It's the top of a hill, honest!

I got down the pointy bit!

But tonight in North Lincolnshire, hills? Well yes, actually! We have our little bit of the Wolds tapering down to the Humber bank; an excellent ride if you like puffing to the top of a hill in order to ride down it. Psalm 121 was probably in my mind because I'd done the talk on my Psalms Skirt last Wednesday, and one of the ladies present said she was hoping I'd have done a square to illustrate Ps 121, as she tended to fall a lot, and that psalm comes to her mind. I haven't got to that one yet, but I assured her that I would do one that made some reference to her. It was so easy to think up how this will be done, as it will depict hills, with a zig-zag path that makes a 'Z' shape, and her name begins with 'Z'; look no further than to the right! I hope that everyone who sees their path through life in any way as forming a zig-zag will see it as for them too. Praise be for the zig-zag path that gets us there.

The Ruth 'object' awaiting fleshing out.

It was one of t'owd man's perpetual joke-themes that the only contribution I made to preparing for the camino was to work out which coloured pencils I was taking; in fact I didn't take any! But next time I will. So the sign to the pencil museum is not to be sniffed at by me. Some of us find coloured pencils essential, and tomorrow I'll be colouring in a printout of the book of Ruth in order to illustrate its symmetry. There are so many echoes of that book in the here and now, for example in the recent news that funds do not allow all old people to receive the care they need, so that carers sometimes have to make a hard choice as to whether to wash them or feed them. But see how Ruth and Boaz both make sure that there is plenty of food for old Naomi, even though they are busy courting one another. How to get across that aspect in the Ruth 'object' I'm making... a challenge to find generous-looking colours, shapes and textures. I'm thrilled to be participating in a symposium '7 Strands: Challenging the Boundaries Between Fine Art and Making" at "Grimsby Minster" (the re-vamped Grimsby St. James; and doesn't that phrase just remind you of the catchphrase in that Tony Hancock episode '"Grimsby pilchards!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja4gHvDKEwM for background see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strand_%28cigarette%29) in July in which I hope I'll gain some extra oomph to help me in all of this psalmic and Ruthic enterprise. See http://www.womanwithafish.com/Home.html and click on '7 Strands'. Witty Jewish Netherlands textile artist Tilleke Schwarz http://www.mrxstitch.com/2009/07/23/the-cutting-stitching-edge-tilleke-schwarz/will be taking part; I'm soooo excited!