Is it a problem?.........no.....it is a parable............ie."The Parable of the lost.........."!

Dear Everyone
It is difficult to believe it is almost a week bar one day since my last St. Hils' blog.  It is so corny to say but so true..........time really DOES fly by too quickly.  I so remember as a naive fifteen year old at school when I and a few others used to visit an old people's home not far from our secondary school and help out in the kitchen making the tea for the residents and then serving it to them aftterwards.  One lady made the self same point to us (ie  time will fly by very quickly for us as we grow older .....just as it had for her!)  but of course, being just teenagers at the time, we really couldn't see it at all!  However I do NOW!

Whoops - sorry about that digression.  Where was I?  Oh yes.  My title relates to a brain wave of a new idea/story for St. Hils which came to me only a few days ago whilst my husband, Andrew, was driving me home from work.  It is amazing how creative I can be once I LEAVE my office - lol!

If you remember, those of you who have kept up with my recent blogs, that I managed to lose one of my most beautiful Mike Sparrow silver teaspoons whilst "playing" in my dollshouse teashop, "Aunt Sal's Teas".  I lost it the once whilst lifting tables and contents from the teashop on to the nearby ironing board but did manage to find it on the floor with the use of Andrew's handy torch.  Fortunately I recently cleaned all my miniature silver cutlery and it shone at me from the carpet!  You would think that, after that fright, I would have been more careful the next time I decided to shunt things about but NO!  As I let you all know at the end of my last blog in my "PS", Andrew found it on the ironing board whilst I was at work so was able to give me the good news when he picked me up from my office.

Jesus used to tell stories to His followers when He was alive.  These stories or "parables" as they are properly called, were used by Jesus to impart a message about God.  So St. Hils' Sunday School children should be pretty familiar with them because Esther, their Sunday School teacher, loves to tell these stories/parables to them when they are in Sunday School.  It suddenly dawned on me as we were driving home for a well earned cup of tea and relax that there was NO reason why we couldn't have a modern day "parable" in St. Hils.  So a new storyline is almost born.........ie............."The Parable of the Lost Teaspoon!"  I hope you like the idea because it really grabbed me big time.  My only problem is......HOW to play it?  So I have began a photo shoot and want to share my "work in progress" with you.......................

As you can see above, Miss Enid is just about to enjoy a lovely cup of tea after the Sunday morning service.  After all playing the organ can be very thirsty work and there is nothing better than a "nice cup of tea" to rejuvenate you!  However, she is not very happy because she is missing something.  She KNEW she had it not so long ago when Ambrose had filled her very own bone china teapot with hot water from the urn on the church trolley. It is........................her very old and trusty silver teaspoon that came with a silver service cutlery set which had been handed down from her father and his father before him.

 I can let you into a secret but PLEASE don't let on to Miss Enid because she may tell her off!  Sepp, Homer's pet rat, thought she would help Miss Enid by putting a spoon of sugar in her tea because she knows that she won't drink it without.  However the spoon slipped out of poor Sepp's grasp and fell............well.............somewhere on the floor!  GP, Grace's pet guinea pig, has decided to look for the teaspoon for Miss Enid which is so kind of him..........

Sepp and Miss Enid join Sepp to search but fail to find the teaspoon............ even though GP  was SO close as you can see to where the teaspoon had fallen to the side of the organ console...............................but didn't see it.......  (note - the teaspoon really DOES look old doesn't it? - and that is after dunking it into silver cleaning solution for a a few seconds and then rinsing it all off)

Fortunately, as you can see above, Priscilla Jane comes to the rescue here! She was NOT going to give up for one moment until she found the teaspoon and here she is presenting Miss Enid with her treasured and much missed teaspoon when she found it............  I am sure that Miss Enid is SO relieved. 

It just goes to show..............even my accidents, losses temporary or otherwise....ALL become fodder for my storylines.........NOTHING is ever wasted...................and so from a "problem" comes a "parable".....................

I would like to tell you that the church is looking "spic and span".......but sadly it isn't...................................as you can see above.............................. We have to keep the church covered up with a pair of towels because of our free range and hand reared cockatiel, Pebbles, who loves to watch the birds visit our bird feeders and bird baths in the garden. Currently we are having quite a visitation from the local starling population courtesy of our hanging fat bar so Pebbles is not particularly happy about that and has the occasional mad flap around the lounge and kitchen in protest even though he WILL insist on perching on the church to watch the garden......I have warned him not to but he never learns..........!

Whoops - sorry about that digression but sadly Pebbles tends to make himself an integral part of my photo shoots however hard I try to keep him away!  Even my photo shoot of today hardly went smoothly because balancing Miss Enid on that organ stool is a complete nightmare.  WHY I had to have her balancing her cup and saucer on her lap as well I have no idea!  I think it is just a challenge to be achieved.  I can't remember how many times either or both Miss Enid and Priscilla Jane fell off the stool and the tea service went flying as they ALWAYS manage to knock the table over at the same time......amazing that!

Priscilla Jane is probably my most "tacky waxed" doll of all..........let me explain!  I commissioned a "praying doll" from Jane Davies years ago and Jane agreed to make me one which was wonderful.  I left the gender choice to Jane so I had NO idea how my "praying doll" would turn out.  However I was NOT disappointed.  Jane presented me with "Priscilla Jane" and I was just thrilled to receive her into St. Hils. As to the name, Jane suggested "Priscilla" and I just had to add "Jane" to it!  I consider myself pretty fortunate because Jane told me when I picked her up that she had broken at least two sets of legs in the kiln.  The extreme bend of the legs to create the praying position was more than Jane had ever had to do and it proved quite a difficult task.  HOW lucky am I?  I suspect Priscilla Jane is a unique doll don't you?

Priscilla Jane's pose has proved very versatile within many of my storylines.  She may be "praying" but in reality she has still been able to play and draw too.  In fact her "praying position" has proved very useful on many accounts.  As you can see above she does have some tacky wax on her hand so that they will stick together.  Sadly there is no other way to get her to "pray" or hold things effectively.  I like to think that our Priscilla Jane is a deeply thoughtful little girl and so, in this story, as she finds the teaspoon, suggests to Miss Enid that this lost and found teaspoon is just like the parable of "The Lost Sheep" that Esther loves to read to them on Sunday morning. 

I hope you like my new idea/storyline for St. Hils.  I can also vouch for the fact that it is not a far fetched storyline at all given how easily I missed my missing miniature teaspoon even though it was literally staring me in the face.....ie...on the ironing board ALL of the time.........and there I was hands and knees on the floor with said torch..................................................arghhhhhhhh  I think I have heard it called..........DOMESTIC BLINDNESS!
Till the next time..