Hi there,

Thanks for popping in. Did you read Grace’s excellent blog about Gratitude Lists yesterday? It was good to be reminded; in the daily chaos that has enveloped Clarity in recent times, I have been neglecting to do that simple task every morning, and reading Grace’s sage words placed me firmly back on track. Thanks Grace. If you would like to check it out, go to yesterday’s CLARITY MATTERS Blog. A worthy read indeed.

In fact, at the very top of my gratitude list this morning is MY HANDS.

I want to talk about hands. Yesterday, my Dave was talking to another Dave about carpeting. My Dave has a lot of problems with his hands, mainly due to extreme arthritis. His hands often rob him of sleep, his grip is diminished and he really struggles with them. The cold weather doesn’t help. Never gives in though. Eats raw turmeric and black pepper daily, avoids tomatoes like the plague, plays his guitar faithfully every evening. Says it stops them seizing up altogether.

The other Dave, Carpet-Dave, also had quite deformed hands – he was born with them. There are operations and procedures which might help both of them, but neither can really afford to take months off work. Ahh. The working man’s lament.

Standing observing these two men, with their gnarled fingers which were obviously painful, I was quite humbled. I have nice, long, straight fingers, my knuckles are fine, free of pain (except for when I was doing my bit for the Billy Bookshelf Construction earlier, missed the tack and wacked my finger with the sledgehammer yesterday!) I take my hands for granted, when actually – I shouldn’t. So I started today’s gratitude list with them.

When I came into the office, I asked all the guys n girls (Youtubers, graphic artists and designers) Jim, Lucy, Saffron, Jordan, Stuart, Steve, Simon – to make a circle and hold out their hands – their beautiful, normal, soft, creative hands:

It felt really powerful. All those strong, healthy hands attached to all those young, creative heads.

So before I shoot off to Pottery – another thing which you really can only do with a pair of strong hands – I just wanted to stop and reflect a while.

I know that many of you don’t have hands, only have one hand, are crippled with arthritis, endure unspeakable pain. Yet you keep crafting. You make beautiful art, you create fantastic original pieces. And I have so much respect for you. SO MUCH RESPECT. Brilliant inspiration.

Tina Cox – Parchment Artist Extraordinaire – is my friend and my shero. She only has one hand, but look at her art, look at her designs! Her work is bafflingly beautiful! I know we don’t usually talk about it, and I know Tina will blush. But it is true. When I see her parchment work, I shake my head in disbelief. We all do, don’t we?

So I think today, when I go on the pottery wheel, I shall look at the process from a whole new angle – one of humility and gratitude.

Wednesday’s blog – more about why we craft than what we craft.

Love and Hugs,

Barb xxxx