Off to Thornhill...flue bends ordered, secondhand flue collar bought....
Card Backs bought from the marvellous emporium in Castle Douglas....
A lot of driving done on a lovely day....but very tiring. Practice for the Family Visiting Trip whenever that will be.
Evening clouds.
Tidying, sorting... hunting for things...
Yesterday's weather was wet cold and windy...again....
I managed half an hour on the turbo trainer...which warmed me up nicely!
Last thing Saturday night some news arrived on fb..... confirmed on Sunday morning..
One of my best cycling buddies in the women's masters track cycling died on Friday after four days in intensive care...one of her daughters found her unconscious at home on Monday.
Someone in her 50s with everything going well...a caring partner, new legal partnership (family law solicitor) . A person who cared, and danced, and worked hard on her fitness and enjoyed her racing.
Two daughters growing up well...it is just tragic.
Today started sunny but with high winds...I put extra pegs on the washing and it dried at high speed!!
After lunch I drove to Ayr.... recycling light bulbs at B&Q ( like Mitre 10, Tigger's mum...but not as good!)
Recycling batteries and water filter cartridges at Sainsbury's...and picking up reduced things there and Asda...six packs of kiwifruit looking rather lonely...I will slice and dry them,that makes a nice nibble.
And going to The Range where I usually buy blank cards and envelopes for printing.... nothing...and in the Kilmarnock branch just four inch square brown ones...which I have anyway. The staff member I spoke to was very apologetic..she remembered it as it used to be too, with a good selection of all sorts of art stuff.
Home again, going a longer way just because, on a sunny afternoon in a warm car!
I didn't have a brilliant night's sleep....so was running late with everything in the morning..guess who trotted after the green waste lorry to ask if the wanted me to bring my wheeled bin to the lorry?...towel around wet hair and sandals on feet!!!!
They took pity and reversed three houses back to mine !!
It has been cold all day, with strong winds and heavy squalls of rain...even the ferry service to Arran was disrupted...despite sailing from Troon which is usually a better harbour in rough weather than Ardrossan.
I raised my laptop to a better working level...
But it still refuses to communicate with the printer (which does work with the tablet) despite having what should be the right printer driver installed.
It was definitely a stay in and keep warm day...hang the expense!!
I got on with Our Shirts patchwork a little...two of the four central big blocks are now together and I've started on the fourth.
At four the district nurse who cared for Pirate in his final weeks called round .I had texted her at the beginning of the week...
She is in need of bedding plants and I have geraniums!! Plus some primroses and snowdrops.
She hadn't been sure if I'd want her to call..the association with Pirate's demise...but we get on so well, so it's a good friendship both ways.
It is still getting dark quite early...I'll be glad when I can have an early supper and do things afterwards!!
So it was a good time to be in contact with our Friend in France and plan my visit there in September!!
So much I want to get on the way before then !!!
Today started with sorting the cook books for next door's granddaughter to look at, the over the road for Paddy Over the Road's funeral, starting in the house.
As we left the house I picked up a carnation head that had fallen from a wreath...one of his four sisters said "that was meant for you"...she didn't know that Paddy had given me a wee bunch of Carnations when Pirate died...as he remembered Pirate talking about his (Pirate's )sister taking cuttings when given carnations...
Instead of walking to the graveyard as it was raining she insisted that I go with another sister and her husband in their car...and that meant we followed the hearse on the lap of the village..before going to the graveyard where the pipes were playing and even more of the village people standing there..plus a grey Fergie tractor..,at one time Paddy had three...I only knew two of them...and he used to go on the annual tractor runs...
His cousins arrived from Ireland in time, thankfully, then Daniel O'Donnell singing Danny Boy was played.
Then down to what used to be the Bowls club in the village for chat and funeral spread.
I walked home...the rain had eased a little..with a mutual friend who lives along the road from me..he is a mere sprightly 89 years old...nine years older than Paddy was..
The afternoon has been more than a little frustrating...wanting to phone an artists organisation for insurance....they are only there from 10-1...
Going to cut a window in mounts for prints to be set behind....I thought, metal patchwork template, ideal....if I could find it....
The small label printer that I purchased...I can't print the tax invoice off the phone or the tablet, has to be the desk top version ...but the printer is refusing to talk to the laptop even though the driver was installed for it....
The card backs that I need to print are on the laptop as well....
I need an office / tech organiser in house!!!
I could also spend a couple of months concentrating solely on sorting reducing and tidying....but then I wouldn't get anything done....but.... because that needs doing I'm not finding things that I know I have..... somewhere!!!
Infuriating at times...
Not as much as a CV....
"I have been making in clay for nearly 60 years, on and off.
I studied ceramics at Cardiff College of Art. I have worked for several potters including David and Margaret Frith.
I established my first clay studio in 1981.
I moved to Scotland from Wales in 2012 and returned to relief printing as until now I had no facilities to work in clay"
Short and sweet.
Today's gallery set up went well.
Meeting half a dozen other members of the cooperative...having lunch at staff prices in the café! Pricing my work....not easy!
Easier when you can do the sums...
Materials + Time + profits = wholesale price.....
Courtyard door looking towards Culzean Castle
And sunset tonight
Night all...its been a long day!
A busy couple of days.... nothing unusual!
On Monday after getting two washes on the line I went to see the dental hygienist who gave me a clean bill of health! I started sorting the stock of prints...
Monday afternoon then bread machine got busy...
Results tried for lunch today..a nice change from soup..tasty plain or toasty!!
It was nice and sunny this afternoon, so I had lunch sitting on the garden bench...then potted up (and repotted some) plants for a friend.
Someone I used to know put a query up.on fb, looking for an older bike to ride on the Tweed Run...ridden in retro style tweed clothes on older bikes ... unfortunately the one I have to sell is too big for her...but it is an incentive to get all the modern equipment off it and sell the frame.
I'll get a proper price for it all that way.
So I ran out of time to go out on my own bike....
This evening I've been doing the most difficult things....my artist CV for the gallery, and pricing my pots...
I met three of the committee after lunch today, plus a blacksmith who makes sculptures from recycled materials...and Damascus steel Sgiain Dhubh!!
We are both "in" , provisionally for a year ..then hopefully carry on.
They like my prints..but really want my pots as well, so I have to sort what I have....
And the Oily One has had a nudge regarding the flue.....the person who will be welding it for him is away this week.. ironically in Scotland!
Cue more sorting in the study....
And they wanted a photograph of me, preferably working.
There is only one, from a long long time ago.
I've always been the one behind the camera!!
But I don't look too different now.
Prints and pots sorted for tomorrow....and I started on sorting the study... didn't get very far. What should I keep? All the working drawings, test rubbings, test prints....
We had some nice gentle rain overnight..I'll wait until we've had a bit more before covering the bare earth. It had stopped by lunchtime, so I had a walk around the village just as the football games on the rec at the centre of the village were finishing.
I've started sorting books ...cycling walking and cookery to start with. I've offered them in a few places and some are promised to their new homes.
Supper over and it has gone dark outside...I must start getting up earlier so as not to waste daylight!!
Early bedtime now, to stay warm with a book and good music on the radio.
The aim was for printing this morning....
I wanted to use a stamping pad, easier with small blocks....so everything was prepared...but then the stamp pad disappeared...I was sure that I'd seen it yesterday.
I checked everywhere...three times...and even the other colours that I'd used in November were hiding....
That meant a quick dash into town on the bus.
At least the Works had one black and one red..and I picked up a blue and a green ink pad as well. Not as big as the ones I already have... somewhere....but they came from a big box store at the edge of town....half a day spent on buses or go by car.
Back home for a late lunch, get the print things out and a couple done...then I had to be by the door to receive a delivery...
The parts for the stove have arrived!!
I needed some fresh air after all that...
Now all the beds are weeded apart from the fruit bushes beds.
And I lifted some leeks...there are still more after these
And saw the first ladybird of the year
Tomorrow I must finish putting together work to take with me on Sunday.
If I can find it I'll include the exhibition catalogue of the print exhibition in Santander (I think it was there) that I had three prints in. I can find two of the prints....
I ought to organise and tidy everything...but...
A very cold night but a pleasant warm day once it got on with it....but still cold in shade.
Workshop sorting and making a start on the garden today
The green manure had died over the winter, so nothing to dig in..I must find a hardier sort for next winter. The soil is loose and fairly dry, so the weeds came out easily. The garlic is coming along nicely at the far end.
You can see the polytunnel beds the other side..and to the right is a shorter bed waiting to be weeded too. That one still has some leeks still standing.
I have a large bush..or maybe it is a small tree...a severe haircut this afternoon. It is still big enough to disrupt the "wind tunnel" effect between my house and next door...but now Nan over the road can sit in her front room and almost see my garden and the front of the workshop.
I have threatened to add a flagpole and run up a flag when I'm in there !!
Paddy over the road died early yesterday morning..he had been taken to a care home a week ago, and ironically had been moved to the same unit where Pirate died. It is a lovely spot to spend your last days, with the sound of birds, the water flowing in the river and the breeze in the trees....
I'm meeting with the chairman of the art and craft group on Sunday, plus one other committee member.... here's hoping!
Yet another cold morning after a freezing night!!
It was warm enough by lunchtime, and I gave the car a run to Ayr..it is running nicely! Shopping and feeding the car done, I did some research at builders' merchants...I have a decent price for heatproof boards.
I've been doing some research as to how to site and install the stove, ie how far from everything in the workshop...you have to trawl through a lot of words to find what you need. You'd think that it would be simple!!
I need to think if there is anything else I need , to bring the bill up to £100, then I get free delivery...saving £20.. possibly paint for the outside of the kiln shed ...
What I do need to do is to talk to my friendly wood stove man to get the details right and buy some fitting "bits and bobs"...
Gradually getting back into gear... remembering that I'd put opened jars of jam and pickles in a cupboard that stays cool even in hot weather (I turned off the fridge while away)...of course after I'd opened fresh ones ....
The garden is looking a bit sad. The greenhouse growing side is clear..
But the things on the bench need a different home. No rush yet as it is too cold to start anything.
The green manure looks like it didn't survive the winter temperatures...it looks a little warmer tomorrow so some weeding and covering ground could be on tomorrow's list.
All these jobs....lining up to be done...and it feels that you need to find the first one, then things fall into place, like a row of dominoes!!
So many different jobs calling for attention and I can't concentrate on too many at once!!
It is 11am now and I've just ventured out to measure the kiln shed and workshop for the heatproof board that goes on the wall behind a flue.
Yesterday's list..
All crossed off!
Parts ordered for the workshop stove, much rubbish cleared from the workshop and greenhouse, and car sorted.
The latter cost more than I had hoped..and I could have saved much haf I gone down to see the Oily One and had him do it...
But this is backing a trustworthy business in the village.
And now the car has four new all weather boots, the front brakes have new discs and pads so that all the brakes are now up to standard. The service has been done....so hopefully the car will be fine until the MoT test at the beginning of May, after a couple of long trips. I think they will be in April... hopefully!!
The nights here are well below freezing point....it seems a waste of daylight not to be out walking or cycling in the mornings.
I don't need to find an icy patch...or be struggling to be warm...
This was the sunset sky last night...
Beautiful...but even this looks cold!!
And it is the Equinox tomorrow, coming up to the celebration of the Spring goddess Eostre...I wonder if I'll see her beast, the hare?
I decided to stick with Michelle YoungHares' demonstrations as her techniques were nearer to my own. Although what she does with them is mind blowing!...she also makes her standard tableware!!
(Blogger got these right!!)
Saturday night's ceilidh included the annual fancy dress...this time with a fishy theme!
It was good to be somewhere quiet and calm..thanks to the weather gods!!
And have somewhere quiet to sit and think when sitting in a crowded room got too much!
After lunch on Sunday those who wished could join in and add some growths and tendrils!
Then everyone came together in the lecture room...about 100 attendees... before the general clear up and dash for the bus to the ferry.. which went straight past as it has filled up in Millport!!
I was lucky to get a lift for the two miles to the ferry and just managed to get on !!
Just a ten minutes sailing to Largs, then by train to Kilwinning where I met friends for a lift home.
And today?
Catch up on ten day's washing....and all the other jobs that get in the way of doing anything constructive!!
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