Lent starts tomorrow, and I am looking forward to the Great Fast this year. I don't know why, but I'm really glad it starts so early. Usually I dislike Lent because it always shows me up for the failure I am. But this year I feel almost excited about it! (I'm sure that this won't last long, when I sniff the coffee packet that has to be consigned to the fridge for the next 40 days).
The Station of the Cross above is one that I have been restoring for a local Catholic Church, which was recently renovated, and does look very beautiful, so the Stations now need to be done too. I've just been patching up 5 of them which were damaged whilst being taken down. (So much unneccessary damage is caused to pictures through bad handling!). I tested this one to see if they would benefit from cleaning, and quite clearly they will look much brighter. So the Parish Priest may commission me to do the rest. It is very time-consuming work, so I'll have to do them one at a time, in between my housewifely, and homeschooling duties.
This picture shows a detail, during cleaning, where it can be seen how much dirt has been removed from the Magdalen's cloak.
Now, I may be good at restoring pictures, but to my endless shame there is one thing I can not restore:-
Yes, these are close-up details of my attempt at pancakes!!! I hate "pancake day", it fills me with angst. I can cook cakes, scones, biscuits (ie cookies, to my overseas readership - if you're reading, Alexa!), and a few savoury dishes well, but I NEVER succeed with pancakes. What did I do so wrong this year? I used self raising flour (at least, I think that's what went wrong). My lovely son was very forgiving, and didn't mind that I gave up and chucked them all in the compost. Still, the replacement pudding was eaten so fast that there was no time to take a photo - shop-made meringues, with cream and tinned pears. (Well, it all needed eating up!).
Bye Bye......
4 comments:
You have to tell me how you learned to restore paintings, Elizabeth!
That's some difference in the cloak too!
So, you're giving up coffee for Lent? Cool.
By the way, once you said you didn't have an ounce of English in you - didn't you? If that is so, what nationality ARE you?
You may have told me, but I forget.
God bless.
Did a Fine Art degree (MA from Edinburgh university) then did a Conservation of Fine Art degree(MA from Newcastle university)(I used to joke, before my husband eventually came along, that my degrees were the only way I was going to get to be a "Mamma"!
Giving up wine, cakes and puddings too, but for me, the enormous cup of strong Italian coffee that is my inspiration for getting out of bed in the mornings, is going to be the hardest to deny myself!
I was born and bred in England, but my Mum is Welsh, and my Dad is Scottish/Irish, so I'm a Celtic mix up!
Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving the wonderful information about Math homeschooling resources !
About the pancakes..... it looks like the pan was maybe not hot enough when you started to cook the pancakes.
Let it heat up really well then turn the heat down to medium.
I always use a small amount of cooking oil to grease the pan, heat it up well, then drain the fat off into a small cup, leaving only a thin coating in the pan, before adding each and every pancake. For best results, try using plain flour.
Hope this helps !
Mmmm, thanks, Elizabeth, definitely think you're right, but I might not get the courage to make more for another year now!!!
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