getting organized?

More pots are going into the shop-selling the first pair of mugs almost straight away was a good spur to get moving!

The shop is getting organized...but the house isn't!! What with me sorting pots, making up boxes, doing the maths and slaving over a hot laptop....and The Pirate sorting and cleaning items for the next Bike "Jumble" and keeping the woodburner fed with wood...the living room is anything BUT organized!!
     All this and finding time for us both to train on the bike on the turbo-trainer, plus helping the local cycling club organize activities for the Youth Section.....
Life is never dull!! 
       Good thing, perhaps, that it isn't good enough weather to do any gardening!

more mugs...and more weather....

The green mugs sold this morning!...So these are some of the ones that will be going in the shop today.

Today's weather is.....no more snow yet, just ...ice.

We'll be doing some indoor jobs and indoor training to let it hopefully thaw a little before we venture out. 
We have to go out..I've a cheque that must reach Glasgow by tomorrow and,of course, a pair of green mugs to post....

mugs....and weather...

 posted on Etsy...today was mainly an indoors day,thanks to the snow...

Not as much as other places...but enough to make the walk to the village shop for my volunteer two hours a little icy and slushy.

at last!

Pots back on Etsy!

Now the joys of re-packing , weighing and pricing other pots, as the sizes and weights and cost of sending parcels has changed, so it isn't possible just to re-list items with one click.

another day....

Today started slowly,thanks to last night's cycling club circuit training!
I'm learning to pace myself a little more and can now almost manage the full hour...when my stomach muscles begin to seriously complain, I finish by just walking!   I need it....we have a World Record to consider and a World Title to defend in October.

The promised snow showers started at 9am..just those little pellets..and in between the sun tempted us....but we mainly stayed indoors!

The stove was warm from last night, and the Pirate brought it back to life with ease.   We had a gift of wood today....local contractors were cutting branches back to keep the road and phone/power lines free....and instead of just chipping the wood.....
Now we have some apple, cherry and ash to keep us warm!

I posted another pack of notecards in my Etsy shop..keeping it live!...

It does seem a bit odd,a ceramics shop full of cards.....so after supper I must get some pots back in!

We did some errands in the next village where Vic used to live, and in our local town...and by 5pm we were on the way home as the snow was beginning to "stick" on the roads.    Nothing compared to the Eastern USA at present, or the Highlands of Scotland but we don't have so much snow here, due to the effect of the sea.

laughing while reading

John's latest post on Going Gently.....

more new cards

I'm posting more new cards on Etsy...lets hope people see them,with blogger's problems disrupting our sharing!

It is interesting how different these look to my eyes, in comparison with seeing them in my drawing book

annoying!

Blogger seems to behaving problems again, not showing the Reading List of the blogs we follow....seems to be an intermittent problem that has been rattling about for quite a while.

re-stocking the Etsy shop.

New cards are gradually going into my Etsy shop...one is pulled two ways...to gradually fill it up...but that means a lot of stock is tied up , capital just sitting there.
You then need to make even more to have saleable work in hand and to take to other physical (as opposed to virtual) places.

 There will be cards from my photographs going in soon.

Every day we take a break  and collect windblown firewood...mainly ash

 A chance for a breather, get half a day's wood and some exercise together.

 Looking over the local barley field, across Ayrshire fields to the Galloway Hills, which will possibly be white with snow again on Wednesday.

The cafe cards went down well with Murray's cafe owner...lets hope they are selling too!

I've tried out a few more shots of their Salt and Pepper pots...great fun!
An indoor shot taken in our village cafe, Jock's, has gone there as a card too-can't say I'm not trying!!

Meanwhile we've been knocked back on a possible site for the workshop caravan. That project is running out of time as soon the owner will need it off his site to prepare the ground for a new van.   Something will turn up....I need to get back to pots!!

maths

I'm busy weighing and measuring, calculating how many note cards or greetings cards I can sell together.   
The postal charges have been examined...and found to be going up again,this time by 2.5%.  I think that this is "in line with inflation".   That is fine if your income is also rising accordingly....i.e. if you have a large income.....

printing!

I've printed a batch of cards this morning, getting used to the new printer and 250 gsm card...very nice indeed!  Even on the lighter card this printer gives a better finish because of different ink.
We delivered thirty to Murray's Cafe Restaurant in the High Street in Prestwick.
They've started selling there, and I've taken a few photos there to use as cards.
As you can see from a couple of the cards, they have different pepper and salt pots on each table!  
It is worth going there...and a good excuse....no, reason!..to have lunch there!!

Now to print more and get the Etsy shop re-stocked.

making time

We're back, but sorting after the cycle jumble ready for the next is taking time.
There just seems too much to do keeping the basics going and getting up in the morning is hard!

I've managed to source some nice 250gsm card for printing cards and possibly linocut prints too. I'm trying to buy locally but it isn't easy...it would probably be cheaper to buy online and pay for several hundred sheets instead of buying card priced per sheet.
Still, it isn't too exorbitant and does help keep an art/craft/office supplies shop going in Ayr.  At best I can just walk to the village and catch the (2 hourly) bus in using my free bus pass...so I can get supplies within an hour and a half of leaving home!

No hope yet of a site for my workshop caravan -

This has been offered to us free...yet no-one will consider renting us a small patch to site it.  Probably it is the bias against Travelling folk and it isn't being seen as a shed on stilts....

I MUST this week re-stock my Etsy shop and get printing....

meanwhile it is nearly time for my turn on the turbotrainer.  We are not risking bumps and fractures by going out on the bikes when there is ice on the roads.

gardening in The Skye

This is on the way up from Tyndrum, going up to Rannoch Moor...after catching the 7.15 bus from our village and changing in Glasgow with twenty minutes to spare, we waited in Tyndrum for over an hour until the snow ploughs had worked enough and the police opened the snow gates.    The traffic was mainly lorries and those having trouble were those travelling unloaded.

The Pirate was glad of his "Movember" and "Decembeard" keeping his face warm!!

On the way down to Glencoe, after several stops....

We eventually arrived at the Kyle of Lochailsh, not at 4.15 pm, but at 9.30pm!!

Early next morning.........

and in the afternoon we set to!

The Red Cuillin

Across to Scalpay and Raasay

The second day, despite the sleet and wind....it was enjoyable working well together, and the job was done.   Brambles cleared.

On our day off we had a lift to Broadford.
We saw the view....

and then we didn't !

We had a good walk back along the path and roads near the coast, about 5k. We had the wind behind us,fortunately, as three squalls of light hail followed us home!

We had booked to catch the bus again in Kyle, just in case the Skye Bridge had been closed to high sided vehicles. The morning came frosty but clear,and we were heading back...

The journey back was....eventful....

luckily the bus dropped off a hill walker just after Glencoe...and near Spean Bridge we arrived just after a car had aquaplaned, hit a bank and flipped over!
Driver and dog OK, car definitely not!.....Moral....watch your speed and the state of your tyres!!
Then going along by Loch Lomond on a new straight stretch of road the bus arrived as the police and fire engine were clearing up after a car had spun into the road edge...not much left of the front,but driver fine.   No-one else involved....

The bus change in Glasgow was seamless....off one, walk a hundred yards, and join the queue for the bus to Ayr.   In Ayr we had half an hour, time to buy supplies of paper for printing.

Back to the village to pickup the car, time to give it a short run to refuel and charge the battery before going out to the Ayr Roads Cycling Club's annual dinner and prize presentation.....it's all go some days!!

success!

The bike jumble was a great success,enjoyable,hard work and profitable.
We were so busy I took no photos!
Incentive to clean what we have even further, dare we say polish it up!!  We're looking forward to the next one, and at least that will only be ten miles away.

Now we're preparing to travel to a gardening job, a few days bramble clearing........The Pirate has just heard on the radio of snow blocking roads.....so we'll get as far as the nearest city and review what is happening......at least we're traveling by bus (free bus pass!) so not risking the car or our pockets.

bike jumble

Not as in rubbish....but as in the centre of the Manchester Velodrome full of stalls selling bikes and parts, some trade but mostly not. Some newish,some real retro and history stuff.

The Pirate has been busy sorting for days, despite the atrocious weather we're having, and the leaky shed he has been using..now we're cleaning and pricing in front of the stove.
We have "only" 70mph winds forecast and despite things being tied down there are ominous noises outside.

Maybe we'll see one of you there?!!

Ayr Roads Cycling Club, club hut first footing

 After making soup and bread rolls and cheese biscuits on Saturday, I was only just in time to get some soup when I rode to the hut!  
The Pirate took the provisions and his bike in the car.
Other people added more cakes and biscuits....

 The Pirate lit the stove before they all arrived, and set the table.

Some had to leave early....

 Most of the rest left together, and neighbours came out for the photocall

 The last four left standing...Pirate in his orange jacket from New Zealand,still going strong after five years...

They rode home and I brought my bike back in the car,along with what was left of the feast,and the washing up!

new work- running hare

relief!!

I tried taking a new image....still it didn't show...

Tried a new SD card...bingo!   We're back in business.

At least I now have a file on the computer with all the images from the SD card.

But that doesn't explain how a two-thirds full SD card suddenly starts taking the photos on,as far as the camera is concerned....but not the laptop.

I've only got to re-take two images, thankfully!!

more tech problems...and some art success...

Took photos before the end of 2014...you've seen them!  

Took two more today...I can see them on the camera screen, but when I go to download as usual, those two only are missing ....

problems with changing years? Who knows...no-one else seems to yet

So no photo of the latest linocut of a running hare.....I've almost completed it, not doing much more , as it is getting late and you make an overcut in lino, you're stuck with it.
It is A6 size, good for a small print on nice paper to be mounted, or as a card.
As my confidence grows and skills return I'll be doing A5 or even A4 prints.
However I'll have to be selling some to afford that.

WE have found a good art supplies shop in Castle Douglas (sells lovely yarns for knitting and suchlike too...must not get sidetracked!)  lino there was £7.99 for A4 size....and a tube of ink was nearly £12.....must sell plenty to get the next lot!!

Now how do I get work on here, fb or etsy, if the pooter wont see the photos????