The Pattern of Three

This blog isn't supposed to be wordy, or about me - but yesterday was such an unusual day I can't resist writing about it.

My mother always used to say things happened in three's.  When I was very much younger I was fascinated by the ancient Welsh Triads.  Before the written word became widespread and few people were able to read - knowledge, ideas and folklore were grouped together in threes with a common point of likeness.  It is quite an effective method of remembering something.  I can recall quite a few of these triads after more than 30 years.  Here by way of example are 3(!) of them:

Three things no man can rule : a baby's crying, a woman's tongue and the rumour that runs in the market place.

Three things no man can alter : the stars in their courses, the flow of the tides and the pattern that unfolds from the given word.

Three things hold the secret of life : the corn in the earth, the child in the womb and the dream at the heart of the harp's song.

Yesterday morning three strange things happened to me on the way to work:

Because I live in the Wicklow Mountains but work in Dublin I have to leave home just after 6am in the morning to get to the office on time.  My journey starts with my husband driving me to a train station (roughly half an hour away by car) and then I commute into town by train.

Yesterday we got into the car and the battery was stone dead.  I have no idea why - it has not happened before and since then it has been fine again.  It was far too early to think of disturbing any of our neighbours so my husband said we would have to push start the car.  He is recovering from a snapped tendon so my teenage son and I had to do the pushing - me in my business suit - I must have looked a picture! Then we had to run down the hill to catch up with him after he managed to get the car going!

We had not gone very far before we came across a small herd of ponies that had somehow escaped from the field they were supposed to be housed in and were milling about on the road.  A few other cars were already in front of us and someone was clever enough to whistle at the ponies, get them into a straight line and encourage them to turn off into a side road so that the traffic (all 5 or 6 of us!) could continue unimpeded.

When we reached the station there was not a car in sight.  Usually at least a dozen or so are parked there and by this time I was much later than normal.  The only time this has ever happened before was a day when the trains were not running.  I asked at the ticket office and was told everything was ok so my husband dropped me off and drove away.  I felt a bit apprehensive - especially when the electronic board changed from 4 minutes to 3 and then back to 4 again.  But eventually the train arrived and I was on my way - definitely the most unusual start to the morning I think I have ever had!


Then when I arrived home from work in the evening I had three lovely blog related surprises:

First there was a parcel waiting for me from Kylie at Lucy Violet Vintage .  When I published a post about Carlotta Edwards a few weeks ago I mentioned I was looking for a print that had hung on my bedroom wall when I was a very young child.  Kylie had a framed copy of the print in question and she very kindly sent to me (at great expense all the way from Australia!) so I can have it to enjoy.  I'm absolutely thrilled and want to do a proper post by way of thanks but this is just an initial show of appreciation!!

Then I visited Barbara at March House Books Blog and discovered she had drawn my name as the winner of a lovely embroidery transfer and skein of thread (the story behind this is interesting in itself but I won't go into all the details here!)  I'm not usually lucky with this sort of thing  - it felt like this was turning into my birthday!

The third blog related surprise wasn't done especially for me but I was really thrilled to see it all the same. I was scrolling down my reading list and noticed Donna at Donna's Designs had just published a post including the Rose of Sharon.  I've always been curious to know what the rose I am named after actually looks like - and now I know!  Finding this was a perfect ending to a truly amazing day.

Emailed to me by my sister