QuinnAinsley.com

Quinn with Reverie 2 Harp, Oct 2012

Hello there!
After taking a month-long Permaculture Design certification course in the Spring, I was rarely on the computer because I was in the garden or up the mountain. Fall found me preserving food and sanity in a house with three teenagers, and this winter I made a Reverie harp recording, and have begun to learn to play the clarsach.

There’s been even more than that going on in my inner and outer worlds, which you can find out a bit about at my new site Monk and Bard.com. Some content from here will be migrated there I expect, and you’re invited to keep an eye on my progress in many things of a Monk(ish) or Bard(ic)nature.

Thanks for visiting!

By the gentle mercies of the Kindly Creator of wind and wave and star and stone,

Quinn

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Painting by Carol May

Dolphins are fast, everyone knows that.  They do not swim in the same way as fish, but rather glide through the water.  Their skins actually shed once every two hours in order to maintain the least possible friction in their water environment.

I feel like I’m hanging on to a dolphin and racing, not mindlessly but quickly, through so many things in life right now. Read the rest of this entry »

The following was written seven or eight years ago, when I was homeschooling three children who were just starting to need me a little less.  It was the first thing I’d written in ten years, and expressed another heart passion long denied.

“Can you hear the music?”

Matilla frowned at the baby she was jostling to peace on her hip and glanced quickly out the kitchen window.  Grey light and branches of what once were lilacs offered no sign of the speaker.  Her brows drew together.

She knew Michael was behind her, standing in the doorway.   But she didn’t turn.

His bright presence would fill the postage-stamp kitchen.  Not with harsh light, exposing the grime and other shortcomings of her less-than-stellar housekeeping.  The light that accompanied him was golden and Alive, kissing her common possessions like the touch of Midas, revealing a beauty that would never have been guessed.  But she didn’t turn.

The question hung in the air as she forced herself to stare out the window.

Could she hear the music?

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello dear ones,

It seems my technical difficulties have been set right.  I started drafts of a few posts could not complete them before.  Not sure if I will go back to them or continue with something new, but I thought I’d let you know I’m back on line!

Blessings!

Image via Wikipedia

Imagine the experience of the Apostle John who lived, ate, worked and rested alongside Jesus in so familiar a way.  He knew the true humanity of the Son of Man. Both his gospel and  his letters of instruction centre on love, but also attest to the Oneness of God the Son with God the Father.   Then in his exile, he was given the visions he recorded in Revelations; cosmic in scope, breathtaking in wondrous detail Read the rest of this entry »

Caswell Sweetharp

When you find something that makes you come alive, gives joy and is attainable for you to actually in fact do, why wouldn’t you?

Or more to the point, why don’t I?

Read the rest of this entry »

Last night was the full moon.  At four a.m. its light glinted off frozen raindrops on the wild plum trees before streaming over my bed.  The cold light was bright enough to cast shadows, fashioning an inverse-daylight I found enchanting. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the first Christmas Eve in several years that I have not lead worship for an evening or candlelight service.  My family and I celebrated Christmas early this year, and I traveled to the city to help my Dad through a major surgery.  I truly love Christmas carols, the awe and joy, especially anything written in a minor key.  But today had its own special moments.

At the hospital I played two long harp sessions for my Father, door open, and gained a few more fans on the tenth floor (it always puts Dad to sleep, but that’s a good thing).  When Mom and I went for a break down in the cafeteria, I got to ferry around a lady in a wheelchair who had no one to help her.  Her name was Angel – Read the rest of this entry »

Marjorie's Tree of Life by Kimmie 028 at DeviantArt.com

There was the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, and also the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, whose forbidden fruit brought about mankind’s fall from grace.  “As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous,” says Romans 5:19.  Celtic Christians also liked the the duality of one tree leading to separation from God, and a second tree, the cross, bringing salvation. Read the rest of this entry »

Masked Identity, by Marcia Babler

I recently ran a character workshop for a group of students who are putting on” Les Miserables” in February, at the request of their director.  A lot of preparation went in, and the day itself was wonderful.  I start by warming them up, helping them to understand they are in a safe place and can release inhibition, then helping them connect to the character’s identity.  I go through steps of how to get into character once the character is understood, (also, how to get out of character again!).

Read the rest of this entry »