foreshore walk

We went to Ayr by bus today as it was snowing...but we ended up having every kind of weather!

We crossed the River Ayr to Newtown on Ayr then along the foreshore to the nearest end of Prestwick.

This was after high tide...so the Travelling People in their (immaculate, clean) caravans would have been covered in spray at high tide.....

lino experiment

 Tools!  Marigolds are the kitchen gloves..good protection,along with apron and specs.

 Recipe, and sample blocks...time in minutes...

I need better wax crayon to resist.. cheap £1 packet wasn't going to be brilliant!
However buying stopping out varnish this early on wasn't a good idea.

Possibly a stronger caustic solution, possibly a longer etching period....and more patience! Some people use spray on oven cleaner!

I think I can call this a qualified success.

escaping cabin fever

Despite the weather...very wet and very windy again..we went to watch a local cyclo cross at Rozel Park in Ayr. The rain held off for the two hours we were there!
Followed by a carryout chip supper and a shopping bag full of reduced items from the next door coop to the chipshop!

bloggers, weather, life, printing

I've just added another new blogger to my reading list.  I ought to weed a few out, especially those that are decidedly defunct and inaccessible..but....

We've just had two dry sunny days...loads of washing done and dried,house aired and cleaned.

However we're both a bit stretched and "growly"...

It is a relief to see more daylight at both ends of each day,and we have a full moon coming up, which often causes restless sleep..Moon children both of us!

Apparently it is a special moon of a sort not seen since 1886,the year my maternal grandfather was born.

Pirate has picked up the baton of establishing an 80+ age group for track racing...it is a struggle, even though there are enough riders...and four more at least to add to the group next year.
 If you offer the events at the National Masters Championships they'll enter...the authorities say,if they enter we'll run it...and in the latter case with no promise of an event,they'll give up, thereby scuppering the chances of the next group of up and comings....
It would help if the people in authority would actually reply to emails and return phone calls...

Meanwhile Pirate is feeling mentally smashed due to the stress...luckily there are willing youngsters (early 70s !!) to back him up and give assistance.

I'm gathering braveness totry a new technique with the linoprinting...using caustic soda !!!...Glasses, apron and Marigolds at the ready,of course!

dying bees

We neglect our environment at our own peril and all on this Earth

selling!

going colourful and going small!  The rooster is on 18x13 cm card, the bridge on 15x10cm. 
Its taken an hour to get them photographed,photos up...or is it down...loaded to the computer then onto my page and other places on fb and into the etsy shop.

This is the worktime that sometimes gets forgotten, but needs adding into costing!

fresh air!

Still icy after more snow, then a couple of hours of rain...but good to have a change of air in our lungs.

Good to get out after a printing session too.  I'm learning much by experience, not always easy,sometimes frustrating.  The Middle Road print isn't perfect, but at least its consistent!!

Onwards and upwards....

printing result!

Garden Gate, Blackhills..
the lino block was rubbed down lightly with 400 grade wet and dry abrasive paper,then cleaned with surgical spirit. This has hopefully solved the problem of uneven printing!

Next to print the Lon Werdd/Green Lane block.....

icy day expedition.

The Amber alert has been reduced to Yellow, some of the snow has gone but it is bitterly cold.
We decided not to go to town yesterday, so went this morning...by bus.  The frozen slush in our village was slippery and where it had been cleared off it was icy!  The 400 foot altitude difference between home and Ayr was evident...no gloves needed in Ayr and almost no hat needed either!

Even in the bus you could feel it getting colder as we travelled home.

After a quick lunch ,time for today's walk...

 Goat Fell on Arran is completely snow covered

 Tonight's snow on the way?

Back to watch the penultimate stage of the Tour Down Under on television, looking at the parched countryside and vineyards...and thinking of friends there.

Now I'm off to a warm studio for some printing....

still working

I've had a lot of helpful suggestions from the Linocut Friends group on fb.
Not wanting to try them out on the latest bigger block, I'm doing a smaller one to follow up suggestions from the beginning.
I need some smaller images as well as even bigger ones!

Keeping busy while we have an amber warning for snow and ice.

We need to get provisions, more than I'd get in the village shop, so we'll be going by bus..if that doesn't go,we make do!  The chosen direction is Ayr...only a yellow warning in that direction!!

still walking

Ladies Walk, one of the original roads around Taiglum...now Drongan since the 1930s

and yet more snow

It sounds like we'll be having a week's worth of snow at least, with more warnings coming our way from the Met Office.
There is plenty to do indoors and we can do our best to walk in between showers.
Only the postlady had been when we started . The car was abandoned there late last night.

 Snowman and his dog...

 We had a slight thaw this morning, so the walk was slushy in the village. As we headed out of the village at 2pm, the temperature dropped.

 You can see the next hail cloud...the tail of it caught us a quarter mile later

 We have a model of this on the mantelpiece..the tractor that the Pirate started his tractor life on, age 9...(but not this one!)
These are in the sheds at a local farm where there used to also be a corn mill

 and back up the hill to home.