Posts By Margot Krebs Neale

The making of my ring #TrinityStreetJewellers 2

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Trinity Street Jewellers in Cambridge invited me to witness the making of a ring I asked for. I sat with Nish through every stage of a rather moving process from black and rough to smooth and shiny and finally setting the stone. I am very thankful to not only have a beautiful ring but to have seen it being fashioned by the hands of a very talented craftsman. There was definitely something to make me think of Tolkien.

Holy Cross Day

I am borrowing Malcolm Guite's description of Holy Cross Day and one of his poems from the Sonnets of the Cross in Sounding the Seasons; seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year Canterbury Press 2012

"Today, is Holy Cross day. It originally commemorated the day when Helena the Mother of Constantine was believed to have found the true cross, astonishing the inhabitants of Jerusalem by searching the rubbish tip of Golgotha and, on unearthing this discarded sign of shame, exalting it as the greatest treasure on earth. But this festival has become since then a day when any of us can again find the cross, still a discarded sign of shame, and find in it the greatest treasure and the source of grace."

The painting is by Alexandra Drysdale

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A sonnet by Malcolm Guite on Holy Cross Day

I JESUS IS GIVEN HIS CROSS

He gives himself again with all his gifts
And now we give him something in return.
He gave the earth that bears, the air that lifts,
Water to cleanse and cool, fire to burn,
And from these elements he forged the iron,
From strands of life he wove the growing wood,
He made the stones that pave the roads of Zion
He saw it all and saw that it is good.
We took his iron to edge an axe’s blade,
We took the axe and laid it to the tree,
We made a cross of all that he has made,
And laid it on the one who made us free.
Now he receives again and lifts on high
The gifts he gave and we have turned awry.

p1030799smMalcolm Guite, the poet and Alexandra Drysdale, the painter. Michaelhouse, Cambridge, Easter 2011

Marché aux Andelys

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Moving: things are beginning to shift

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Restore calm

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The thought of moving house

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Eglise Saint-Joseph, Le Havre

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St. Joseph's Church, Le Havre, France was built between 1951 and 1957/58 as part of the reconstruction of the town of Le Havre, which was entirely destroyed by the British during World War II. It is a memorial to the 2053 civilians who died or disapeared.

The church was designed by the chief architect for the reconstruction of Le Havre, Auguste Perret, teacher and mentor to the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. The tower is 107 metres tall and acts as a beacon visible from out at sea, especially at night when illuminated.

The layout of the stained glass by artist Marguerite Huré is geometric with the basic seven colours (orange, yellow, green, purple, red, green, white) declined in fifty shades. The colours, darker at the base of the bell tower become lighter towards the summit ending with white at the top sublimating and highlighting the verticality of the structure as desired by Auguste Perret.

Equanimity

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Les Années-Mémoire

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The making of my ring #TrinityStreetJewellers

Trinity Street Jewellers in Cambridge invited me to witness the making of a ring I asked for. I will try to make a page to share this very moving experience. From rough and dark to smooth and shiny. The hands of the crafstman, his tools and the changes in the jewel: beautiful images of creation.

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