discovery...and commenting

 With help from a knowledgable friend I have worked out that I'm allergic to penicillin....muscle and joint pains kicking in after two days...consequently walking was a bit difficult today..

But I did it!

Concentrating on the lesson wasn't easy either...after a sleepless night...despite that I got much work correct.

I'm having difficulty commenting (even on my own blog!) The method to use when it just sits there saying "publishing" is copy the comment, reload the page, paste the comment..and it usually works. 

If you get the sad face instead of a comment box, reload...or go back later.

It was frosty again this morning...and I found a good sign the the Glasgow School of Art..and the old building still smells smoky as you walk past 🙁

Ayr today

 Shopping and French conversation today...not a lot of shopping...and never enough conversation!

Concentrating again on those little words that say nothing but are very useful in conversation!

Bah, Alors...Bof !!! Pfft !   Enfin..,Donc....

Every language has them!!

some building details on the way to the class...and sunset after getting home.

steady garden progress

 I'm making best use of the warmer weather before it leaves again!! 

I did what I could out of doors today..boosting my vitamin D naturally! I was a joy to see a blue sky.

Kale has been potted on, broad beans planted out, carrots and radish sown together. one patch mulched with cardboard, another hoe-ed over. A quarter of the polytunnel weeded.  No rushing, just steady work..with stops to appreciate the weather!!  If the weather holds tomorrow morning I could weed the strawberry bed...

The antibiotics seem to be working on my sinuses and chest...that wasn't the intended target!! The swelling is still on my finger...but looks to have stopped spreading.

I hope that this hasn't been triggered by getting back into throwing!!

Onions !

 Steady gardening has been the order of the day. Planting out 120 red onion sets (and protecting them from Jackdaws and cats!!

getting the last of the compost from the compost bin...I could have used twice as much. 

I trimmed the shrubs in my front garden by my neighbour's wall. Gradually pulling everything together.

Her funeral is a week on Thursday. Hopefully one daughter will buy her siblings out. 

Nothing much after that!  Antibiotics aren't very good for one's Get up and Go.

It does feel like these are clearing my

back to front photo order..I haven't had that for a while!!!

sinuses.  It may not be the reason for taking them, but they are at least helping in one direction!

just when you think things are going ok

 I had the sad face when I tried to publish a comment  so I just went back to the blog following list and returned to that blog. Occasionally I hit Publish and it just sits there saying "publishing"...copy the comment, out and back again , paste and it goes through ok. which it is doing right now 🙄...

Only it didn't....I'll be back again later!

I went to the local surgery yesterday..one of my fingers started being red and swollen at the tip on Friday morning.  The pharmacy's advice of anti-inflammatory gel didn't work...and it was spreading.

No obvious damage, so I'm on antibiotic meds. Something I rarely take.

Meh!!!!

But on a positive , it is warmer and actually feels like Spring, the sun is shining (between showers , yesterday!) and the pelargoniums on the windowsill are flowering .

The one on the left is a quince grown from seed.

Getting Things Done

 

First job this morning was to paint my plinth in the gallery..it has drawers that others can use, I painted the fronts of them out of the plinth body...I didn't want to have them painted in and stuck!!

Then to sort out broadband..so fortunate that EE has a shop on the high street...far easier to deal with. That got me a reduction.

Shopping next...spotted a few reduced prices and loyalty card offers on things I usually buy...and then feed the car!!

Then to the big box DiY store for drawer knobs. and glue, a countersink bit (cos I can't find mine 🙄) and plastic screw caps to hide the screws in my little plinth (which will go on the big one) Plus a tub for shifting compost...my wheelbarrow is propping up the back gate after all the storms.

Next to another supermarket..a couple of small good deals including organic milk reduced...and lunch! 

Then home...escape from all the rushing...

and tonight a phone call from EE..to improve my phone contract and further tweak the broadband.  It shows that it is better to deal with people instead of doing it online...it took a while for EE man to look through all the contract variations to find the right one. What chance would I have to get it right!

Even better, he found special offers on top of the good deal..saving more. Plus the timing means that I avoid the inflation price rise...

Not bad going!!

Then 2 pints of the milk started the process of of becoming yoghurt , and 2 pints went in the freezer. I've been lucky being in the right place at the right time...there are now three boxes of milk for yoghurt in the freezer!  You can't turn down a good deal when it us something you regularly buy anyway!

a sad day

 Now I know where yesterday's sadness came from.

Our good Aussie friend Larry Hickmott..cyclist, photographer, journalist and all round good and kind bloke..died this morning. 

A shock to the worldwide cycling community. Watching reports of his health problems over the past 6+ and more months has been heartbreaking.  But at least he managed to visit family in Oz recently.

I finished the basting (tacking) of Our Shirts quilt.  Remembering the kind words from Larry when Pirate died.  

One and a half hours to do one quarter...so about six hours in total on this process.

Next step, design the quilting, which should be relevant to both of us.

coffee to start the morning as usual...in my mug from Peter Gregory, the potter in Waikouaiti, north of Dunedin on SH1 

The bowl and vase will be going to a group exhibition at another small gallery .

a good Saturday

My phone has been rather reluctant to add words after pictures..possibly a combination of phone , me and blogger not getting it right! So this time I'm writing first and inserting photos after...

Anyway, to start with, the bigger bowls...I'll work on even bigger possibly tomorrow if it isn't too cold.

The snow we had yesterday..this was at 6.30 am. Not a lot...but enough! 

There was more by the side of the motorway on the way to Glasgow this morning...and black ice on the pavements in the village!

The dawn was pretty though...seen through a fence so that the sun didn't just glare out the image!

I had time for an extra wander....and found more wall art...not a Banksy I think?

and gradually left the canyons of central Glasgow!!

There was even time for a decent café avec un croissant!...but I didn't expect to see a Taco Bell over the road.  Mind you there is every kind of food establishment along Sauchiehall Street from all around the globe!

Just before I arrived at the Alliance....

What else?!

The lesson ..on the futures, simple and conditional..went ok..and conversation is coming. 

Then the walk back to the bus station.

A new variant on older style. I'm not sure if it is that successful.

And a gate. Sadly closed.

I found another op shop....and found a book!!   Then on arriving home, there was a card waiting for me from The Carpenter and family (son#3)

So all in all...a good day.

cold front

 As the cold front moved across Scotland (and points South as well) we had high winds and rain bucketing down.

I videoed it....on my old phone....bother!!

Today started indoors...no escaping house cleaning!! Towels and suchlike got washed and put on the rack..as the dehumidifier was on anyway to help dry the latest bigger bowls.

Homework was written out and submitted..I wonder what the tutor will think,?!

Fettling the small berry bowls after lunch.

When I can get the timing right they will need less "tidying up"....

and then the rain stopped after tea...

Time for some gardening...

The bed that will have onions...it has had cardboard over winter which is nice and wet and the compost goes over that.

and there is more in the compost bin to spread.

homework!

 or, Les Devoirs!!

I have to write 120-150 words using the simple future tense....what Iwill do this weekend (ie the one  just gone), during this week, where my next holidays are and what I'll be doing next year.

First draft has scraped up to 120 words...I'll get that right and submit it tomorrow. 

At least I have to write about facts...nothing imaginary, or respond to a question about anything hypothetical!!

The weather has been definitely dubious today...we don't need more cold wet and very windy, thankyou!!

The bowls I threw yesterday have dried nicely...with careful wrapping of rims in clingfilm and turning over to dry the feet.

I took them down to the studio two at a time to finish ..I didn't want to be caught halfway with a ware board full of pots!

I haven't quite got the moisture content right for drilling holes to make berry bowls..but near enough.

One job I do need to do is to sort all my tools so I'm not hunting for the right tool..which I know is somewhere....

slow start

 I didn't feel enthusiastic atall this morning...back to wet and windy....well this IS the West of Scotland!!

But the forecast was good for later...so washing on, and organise the kitchen. ready for the next batch of pots.

The weather changed to sun and breezy....with rainclouds going either side of us..so I risked it...clothes on the line and me with clay on my hands as I threw some bowls..living dangerously!!

When it starts flowing...you just go with it...half a dozen smaller bowls that could end up as berry bowls (colanders)....two more 2 pound bowls that may be yarn bowls...and two three pound bowls.  Gradually working up towards what I was throwing before.

I finished...as it started raining gently..lunch was at three!! 

Now after nine it is raining steadily...and the kitchen is full of pots!!

Weekend

 Saturday morning started with a frost. I was safer to walk down the road to the bus stop than the pavement!

The lesson went ok..getting our heads around the subjunctive tense...

the one you use when you say

"that I did...."

I thought of lunch in Kelvingrove....but baulked at the cheapest being £15 for 

Macaroni cheese!!

A view of Glasgow university from the top of the park

A "Puffer"

This is by the entrance

A grand pile..but the mid section of thep front of the building has scaffold and sheeting over it...mending needed.

I found a fish and chip shop over the road..with a few bar stools so that you could eat in..Proper chips and mushy peas..with a side of freshly fried veggie pakoras!

Followed by a walk along quieter back streets back to the bus station..

Sunday was finishing pots day

This and That day

 I could have done without going out from home today ..but needs must. 

The vase necks and bowl rims got cling filmed...packed lunch made....and out!!

Shopping...I'm glad that I can do that at the most once a week ....then eat lunch sitting in the car. Drive two miles and park in a convenient place..that is also free and unrestricted and pointing in the right direction !

Enquire at the bank about my travel insurance as I haven't been able to phone or go online...no, I don't need to say that I'm going....no change in health and it is less than a month. No extra payment needed!

Waterstones bookshop for a hot chocolate...relax!!!

Then French Conversation..discussing such words as Bah! Alors! Du coup!...en  fait ! Bof!

words that sound similar..but aren't..

Boeuf....Bof....Beauf.....how to learn a language...have fun!!

I had to leave half an hour early to travel to the Artists Collective AGM...which was relatively painless and was over in an hour and a half!! Aided by homemade cake of course!!

I came out of the glass artist's home..an old school..and the sky was dark and the stars shining brightly...it is dry tonight and will get down to freezing. Over to the East it will get to about -5⁰

The vases and bowls are totally wrapped now as I wont get to them before Sunday.

Getting on with it

 Back to cold and wet..so I wasn't exactly enthusiastic to get out there!!

One wee moon vase and six bud vases thrown this morning..and after a decent lunch, I increased the weight of clay to two pounds (normally I'd work in metric ..but these scales are imperial measure!) and threw five bowls.

Thinking of the shapes I'd like to make, practicing techniques. Getting used to this clay again if nothing else.

I'll have to watch that they don't get to the right stage of drying when I have to be busy doing other things!!