Love this! I only recently heard of St Dunstan, and it was actually through an ambitious project a group of Anglican priests and dreamers are pursuing in Virginia: St Dunstan's Academy, a residential school for boys (https://stdunstansacademy.org/). My husband connected with the founders shortly after we moved to this area (my husband is an Anglican deacon at a church in north-central North Carolina), and he has gone up to St Dunstan's several times to participate in their work days. They are timber-framing and building their own offices and dorms as they raise funds -- a project that seems even more fitting now that I know more about their namesake.
I use so many good tools during the day: an antique sickle in the garden, hand-knitted washcloth for scrubbing mountains of dishes, but the tools I'm most attached to are those I use for textile work: a good pair of fabric scissors, the knitting needles my foster brother gave me, the 1973 Kenmore sewing machine--once my mother's--that I use for all my sewing. These are the things I'd want to load in the wagon if fortune ever drove us into exile.
This post also reminds me of the way Japanese craftsmen treat their tools--for example, they don't toss out bent sewing needles, but save them up and then, on a special festival day, bury them with thanks and honor. I've often thought that I"d like to have a day for thanking God for tools with similar care -- maybe a day that I pull out all the tools and give them all a good shining, or display them on the front porch draped in ribbons. After reading your reflection, I think that St. Dunstan's day might be the best day for such a celebration. Let's use the tools of our trade to take the devil by the nose! Amen and hallelujah!
P.S. I'm also sitting here thinking, SHUCKS! I should have had Bezalel & Oholiab, our Exodus craftsmen, in my printable. But I'm pondering them now, anyway!
Oh Bethany, thank you SO much for sharing that link and all of your ever-beautiful thoughts! To know that this academy will be built by the very people who will be serving and living in it...well, that's a real balm to my hopeful soul. With all our modern conveniences, it's easy to forget the difference made when we engage in the actual, physical process of more pieces of our life. I'm surely grateful for the conveniences I enjoy, but there's a loss of somatic awareness embedded in that, too!
I love your antique sickle. Ours is less antique, more vintage, and terribly rusty - but it's a favorite of mine for rushbearing season! What a special, beautiful collection of favorite tools you have. (I also love this image of what to load into the wagon if fortune drives us onward - I've got to think about that!)
I also now need to go in search of this tradition of Japanese craftsmen! Tools are so impactful in every way, and the idea of caring for them as a way of celebrating St. Dunstan warms my heart. Amen & hallelujah indeed, sister!
I just read about St. Dunstan’s Academy in The Living Church and was intrigued! The connections between the saint and the school are fascinating. (Also, so happy to see you on Substack, @Bethany!)
As a musician, I have my instruments: guitar, flute, conga drum, and a few others. There are times when I get too busy with other things, and don't give enough time to the music. Consequently, some of the instruments get neglected. Perhaps I should consider passing some of the less-used ones on to someone who can give them more time. Good instruments are made to be played, after all.
It's such a tough dilemma. Sometimes, I'll find that some of my art supplies or projects will come and go seasonally, usually coming back around after morem time passes. But when I find suppiles stuffed in a drawer, and I'd forgotten they even existed... that's usually my cue to let them move on to someone else! It must be especially challenging with instruments, though.
Love this! I only recently heard of St Dunstan, and it was actually through an ambitious project a group of Anglican priests and dreamers are pursuing in Virginia: St Dunstan's Academy, a residential school for boys (https://stdunstansacademy.org/). My husband connected with the founders shortly after we moved to this area (my husband is an Anglican deacon at a church in north-central North Carolina), and he has gone up to St Dunstan's several times to participate in their work days. They are timber-framing and building their own offices and dorms as they raise funds -- a project that seems even more fitting now that I know more about their namesake.
I use so many good tools during the day: an antique sickle in the garden, hand-knitted washcloth for scrubbing mountains of dishes, but the tools I'm most attached to are those I use for textile work: a good pair of fabric scissors, the knitting needles my foster brother gave me, the 1973 Kenmore sewing machine--once my mother's--that I use for all my sewing. These are the things I'd want to load in the wagon if fortune ever drove us into exile.
This post also reminds me of the way Japanese craftsmen treat their tools--for example, they don't toss out bent sewing needles, but save them up and then, on a special festival day, bury them with thanks and honor. I've often thought that I"d like to have a day for thanking God for tools with similar care -- maybe a day that I pull out all the tools and give them all a good shining, or display them on the front porch draped in ribbons. After reading your reflection, I think that St. Dunstan's day might be the best day for such a celebration. Let's use the tools of our trade to take the devil by the nose! Amen and hallelujah!
P.S. I'm also sitting here thinking, SHUCKS! I should have had Bezalel & Oholiab, our Exodus craftsmen, in my printable. But I'm pondering them now, anyway!
Oh Bethany, thank you SO much for sharing that link and all of your ever-beautiful thoughts! To know that this academy will be built by the very people who will be serving and living in it...well, that's a real balm to my hopeful soul. With all our modern conveniences, it's easy to forget the difference made when we engage in the actual, physical process of more pieces of our life. I'm surely grateful for the conveniences I enjoy, but there's a loss of somatic awareness embedded in that, too!
I love your antique sickle. Ours is less antique, more vintage, and terribly rusty - but it's a favorite of mine for rushbearing season! What a special, beautiful collection of favorite tools you have. (I also love this image of what to load into the wagon if fortune drives us onward - I've got to think about that!)
I also now need to go in search of this tradition of Japanese craftsmen! Tools are so impactful in every way, and the idea of caring for them as a way of celebrating St. Dunstan warms my heart. Amen & hallelujah indeed, sister!
I just read about St. Dunstan’s Academy in The Living Church and was intrigued! The connections between the saint and the school are fascinating. (Also, so happy to see you on Substack, @Bethany!)
Likewise, @Elizabeth Ross !
As a musician, I have my instruments: guitar, flute, conga drum, and a few others. There are times when I get too busy with other things, and don't give enough time to the music. Consequently, some of the instruments get neglected. Perhaps I should consider passing some of the less-used ones on to someone who can give them more time. Good instruments are made to be played, after all.
It's such a tough dilemma. Sometimes, I'll find that some of my art supplies or projects will come and go seasonally, usually coming back around after morem time passes. But when I find suppiles stuffed in a drawer, and I'd forgotten they even existed... that's usually my cue to let them move on to someone else! It must be especially challenging with instruments, though.
Really needed to hear this.
Thank you, Kristin.