Leonore
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leonore2.bsky.social
Leonore
@leonore2.bsky.social
79 followers 82 following 120 posts
Artist, writer, maths teacher, church musician. I occasionally ramble about church music/crafts/mental health/life. Also tailor for a small bishop bear.

Eleanor/Leo (she/they)

https://ruthharwoodtrilogy.blogspot.com/
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leonore2.bsky.social
I realised yesterday that I hadn't bought one... so I got out my paints and spent a while experimenting! It's not beautiful but it'll function... (I actually did a second which was tidier, but gave it to a friend)
White dinner candle with fairly wobbly purple numbers from 1 to 24 painted in it, a prayer book and bible on the table behind
December 1, 2025 at 9:16 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Also I found this book in a chaotic second hand bookshop yesterday, which was incredible luck because it has in it about 150 tunes in playable 3-part arrangements which mostly sound very effective and were perfect on these little village organs with no pedals!
"Hymn tunes for the reluctant organist" by Janette Cooper
October 28, 2025 at 8:12 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
13. Alciston (open)
14. St Michael and All Angels, Berwick (open)
15. St Andrew, Alfriston (open)

Both the weather and the access to churches definitely improved as the day went on. Which was good because for the first 5 hours I don't think it stopped raining for more than half an hour altogether!
+G sitting on the grass in front of the East end of a church with a pink rose climbing the wall +G is in the picture, but in the distance, perched on a pew near the front. The walls are painted with bright images of angels and biblical scenes, and the pulpit is equally brightly decorated. The paintings are relatively new and in a realistic style. +G sitting on a wall in front of a large church with square tower and spire. The sky overhead is a vivid blue!
September 13, 2025 at 4:57 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
9. St Pancras, Arlington (open, I took a lovely picture of Georgina but my phone didn't save it properly)
10. St Bartholemew, Chalvington (open, no sign-in sheet)
11. St John the Baptist, Ripe (closed while they stop it falling down)
12. St Mary, Selmeston (open, with freshly-pressed apple juice!)
No bear in this one. A display for the harvest festival, with a toy tractor between four trays of compost "planted" with "crops" - radishes, carrot tops, pieces of cauliflower, etc. +G on a wall in front of a small church with a rendered wall, tiled gable, and small wooden tower +G balanced on a tombstone in front of a large church, mostly rendered though with some stone brickwork +G sitting on a pew inside a small church with a bright stained-glass window
September 13, 2025 at 4:45 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
5. St Elizabeth, Eastbourne (open!)
6. St Andrew's, Jevington (closed)
7. St Peter ad Vincula, Folkington (open!)
8. St Mary and St Peter, Wilmington (open, no sign-in sheet)
+G quite thoroughly tucked in the backpack this time, in front of a big brick house-like building with "St Elizabeth's" on the sign +G sitting on a wall in front of a flint-walled village church +G inside a church with box pews (many painted white) and prominent rafters on the ceiling. +G perched on the pulpit of another church with distinct rafters, this one with a patterned tile floor and wooden choir stalls
September 13, 2025 at 4:37 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
I was going to post these as I went but it was too wet!

1. St Mary the Virgin, Eastbourne (open, no sign-in sheet)
2. Emmanuel Church, Eastbourne (closed)
3. St Michael and All Angels, Eastbourne (closed)
4. St Gregory, Eastbourne (closed)
Bishop Georgina (a teddy in robes) in front of a large church with tower and gothic windows. It's grey and wet and she's sheltering under a tree. +Georgina on a wall in front of Emmanuel Church, a modern building with the name over the door +G in a backpack on a railing in front of a long flint-dash church. It's still raining. +G in the backpack again, this time in front of a modern Catholic church, mostly yellow brick.
September 13, 2025 at 4:32 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Ride and Stride day! The weather is disgusting, I forgot my knee support, wish me luck..! 😬

Goal is to walk about 25 miles and visit ~16 churches. Georgina is coming too for social media purposes.

Sponsorship:
www.parishgiving.org.uk/donors/find-...
www.justgiving.com/charity/suss...
Sitting on the bus with a walking pole, a map in a waterproof bag, and a teddy in a backpack.
September 13, 2025 at 7:30 AM
leonore2.bsky.social
Somehow managed to accidentally find a portal to a galaxy far, far away...

(No ewoks were spotted. Probably for the best given we know how they feel about visitors!)
A wooden gate and stone retaining wall with woods behind and a sign saying "Moon of Endor - Ewok Village"
August 8, 2025 at 6:35 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Off to march with Christians at Pride in Brighton. Because pride is still a protest and I will take any opportunity to remind the bishops that for some of us, our strongly held theological beliefs are that every human is made in the image of God and that discrimination is a sin!
A straw hat with a rainbow ribbon
August 2, 2025 at 8:44 AM
leonore2.bsky.social
It's clearly a plum jam day! Mine were made with wild plums from a tree I found while out for a long walk today ☺️
August 1, 2025 at 8:13 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Just planned and conducted evensong for the first time and people said nice things afterwards! We haven't done one at church for well over a year so started with pretty much a blank slate.

(Next project might have to be "get more copies of the music"...)
A row of music books and loose sheets on a choir desk, with a small BCP on top. The books are "the Oxford book of easy flexible anthems" and "Common Praise", the sheets are a psalm with plainsong chant and canticles from the Parish Psalter, as well as the RSCM ferial responses card.
June 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Dunno I reckon this could put up a challenge...
Looking up at Chichester cathedral from under a tree in the churchyard
May 31, 2025 at 3:02 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
I made it!

... cathedral is shut all day 😭

The guy at the door says there are no services today but the website says there is evensong. Woo communication!
Me outside Chichester cathedral
May 31, 2025 at 12:32 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
One day I will be able to walk away from a wonky altar frontal without touching it. But not this day!

Anyway this might have to be a candidate for the most beautiful church I have ever visited.
Sanctuary of a church with a roughly draped altar frontal. There is an organ on one side, and above the altar is a vine painted on the wall around the stained glass windows - nature patterns, with local crops and wildflowers, two doves, and a sunrise in the top circle. Altar frontal looking somewhat more symmetrical
May 29, 2025 at 3:59 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Chichester Cathedral here I come! Goal is Saturday evensong, so about 15 miles a day!

(Didn't go in Winchester because it was expensive and I don't approve of expensive cathedrals.)

Thanks to the British Pilgrimage Trust for the route idea:
www.britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/ol...
Me wearing a cap and carrying a backpack in front of Winchester cathedral A view between some trees looking back down the hill towards Winchester. It's very sunny with a few lingering clouds.
May 29, 2025 at 12:29 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Pretty (and very windy) walk ☺️
Small stone church against a blue sky Porch of a small flint church with roses growing up each side of the door A path curving down a sunny valley, in an open area of grass with trees on each side and hills rising back up in the background. The sky is blue with a range of different types of small clouds.
May 26, 2025 at 3:06 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Looking for ideas for the best way to hang a hanging basket here such that it doesn't slide... 🤔
Bent metal bar attached to the side of a house to support a satellite dish
May 24, 2025 at 2:11 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
An icon for tonight.
April 18, 2025 at 4:42 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Lovely chats with people at lunchtime today, including a lot of interest in my icon writing process. Here, while I work on the long process of preparing the boards, is the first design stage, including the construction lines which lie beneath every icon I produce!
April 11, 2025 at 3:56 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
This weekend has involved painting.
An icon of Our Lady of Sorrows, wearing a draped purple scarf with red lining, looking down at the crown of thorns which she holds. In places the thorns appear to pierce her hand, drawing blood. With her other hand she holds a pale purple iris against her chest.
March 30, 2025 at 8:24 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
...and Southease to the handy bus stop just outside Eastbourne today, following the inland variant of the South Downs Way.
Looking down from a hill towards a river, lake, town, and behind them the sea. Looking across from a hilltop over countryside broken up into fields of different colours, with patches of trees and a white tower folly in the middle. Some sheep on a hillside, in the sun beneath a blue sky with a few white clouds and plane trails. Looking along a wide chalk track with long brown grass on each side, a grassy pasture beside it to the right and Eastbourne visible downhill to the left. A very blue sea meets the sky at the horizon.
August 29, 2024 at 5:47 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Last week of the school holidays, last opportunity to get some serious walking in before my calendar fills up. Seaford to Eastbourne along the Seven Sisters on Tuesday...
A teddy bear in front of a view of a white cliff, a red and white lighthouse at its foot.
August 29, 2024 at 5:41 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Time to head home I guess. Funny how the later it is the more I'm able to focus - that was a productive couple of hours' practice, looking at music for Taizé Mass tomorrow as well as sight-reading through a lot of new pieces and working on some more ambitious rep. Now home to bed!
The silhouette of a church roof and overhanging trees against a starry sky
August 16, 2024 at 10:34 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Found a great way to stop myself looking at my feet all the time... 🤣
Photo looking down at an organ pedal board, largely obscured by a floral maxi skirt.
August 16, 2024 at 9:34 PM
leonore2.bsky.social
Joined the techy musician club and got a large screen tablet... And immediately succumbed to the temptation of Anna Lapwood's arrangement of Davy Jones. Overambitious, me? Never!

Can't practice the middle bit at home due to insufficient keyboards. But I do have a Celeste mode for the opening!
A tablet sitting on the music desk of an electric piano, with the sheet music for Davy Jones open.
August 15, 2024 at 8:00 PM