When Earth's last picture is painted,
and the tubes are twisted and dried.
When the oldest colours have faded,
and the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it . . .
lie down for an aeon or two,
Til the Master of All Good Workmen shall
put us to work anew.
And those that were good
shall be happy;
they shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas
with brushes of comet's hair;
They shall find real saints to draw from . . .
Magdalene, Peter, and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting,
and never be tired at all!
And only the Master shall praise us,
and only the Master shall blame;
And no one shall work for money,
And no one shall work for fame,
But each for the joy of the working,
and each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It
for the God of Things as They Are!
~Rudyard Kipling
I have always loved the works of Rudyard Kipling. I first encountered them as a school girl in my fifth year reader in the form of the poem Gunga Din. We had to memorize excerpts of it. It was the thrill of my life when Todd and I visited Bateman's, his home near Burwash down South several years ago. As a young girl I could never have imagined that I would one day be able to explore the house that he lived in and wrote much of his work, or walk in the gardens he once walked in.
We visited there several times when we lived down South and each time I was delighted by everything there was to see and drink in.
A beautiful old house and fabulous gardens . . . so much to see and enjoy. It is owned by the National Trust and just filled with many, many of his treasures and writings and illustrations of his most famous work of all, The Jungle Book.
That is one of the things I love most about England . . . these fine old homes and castles . . . all of the history that has been carefully preserved and maintained for us to enjoy . . . the gardens, the characters . . . this beautiful country is just awash with it.
Speaking of characters . . .
I finished ButterCup yesterday, who is BlueBell's bestest friend ever. I have had so much fun doing these paper dolls and all of the clothes so far. So much fun that I cannot stop. I must pursue it further. I have a few delightful ideas playing around in my head. Watch this spot!
Yesterdays silver lining . . . hot chocolate in town and beautiful biscotti shared across a table in a cafe with my man.
A thought to carry with you through Saturday . . .
“The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead; we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future.”
~Jeffrey R Holland
Baking in The English Kitchen today . . . Apple Pandowdy! Deliciously old fashioned!
Have a great Saturday!
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