a basket full of happiness

"May young minds and hearts here find:
bodily strength for work,
inwardness of soul,
and clarity of spirit."

A basket full of Sunday supplies: lunch, mug, tea, scarf, cardy, scissors, pen and paper. And Bernard Fanning's Tea & Sympathy cd. I was all kitted out and ready for something interesting.
Interesting I found...

near the bush surrounds of Manly dam at a Cordage and Basketry workshop. O warm and pleasant Sunday! I spent the day learning how to weave a cord from natural fibres, raffia to begin with. Would you have imagined cordage to be meditative and a treat for pondering? Well, I did - and I wasn't disappointed.

Next time you have a question that needs an answer, you'd do well to try bringing it to the fibres. First, come to the fibres with a question. Select 2 fibres. Close your eyes and begin the meditation while your fingers start a'twistin'. Twist and walk. Walk and twist. [ask me for more on the meditation sequence we used if you're keen] See what comes to you. And when the meditation is done and dusted, stop your handwork, tie a knot in the cord and there you have it: the healing cord. And maybe, just maybe, the answer you needed.

For the afternoon, we moved on to basket weaving. Creating with jute. Nothing but jute! O how small delights inspire and calm and excite me all at once.

The weaver leading our day was a beautiful man named Lee who had spent many years studying the way of earth-living, living with and from the earth. He was warm of spirit and very generous with his knowledge and time. And he sounded just like my friend Jules when he spoke, which I found just a tad amusing because I've never heard Jules speaking of the plant grandfathers and grandmothers. But, you never know.

Just look at all that woven magic. It takes many hours to create a collection like this. Weaving is rather time consuming. Of course. All beautiful things are.