Mentally so....up at 10 for coffee, sourdough wholegrain toast and chocolate spread...
Now I know why we'd been splitting long journeys!! But I also know that I CAN do it if needs be. Just don't expect to do much the day after!!!
I took some full moon photos last night.
It is a bit better when you set the camera to Night!!! (as in the first photo)
French conversation was good, although my concentration left much to be inspired!!
Off before 7am this morning I missed the message that I was sent by the vendor...so he thought that I might not be going today!
I arrived at 11.30...after 2 traffic jams going through Glasgow...and a mile of single lane roadworks a little after Stirling...and dualling roadworks by Pitlochry...then at the last minute driving past the pottery (closed) ...twice !!
Then there was noone in....so I had some of my packed lunch....and his daughter arrived..and phoned him!
Coffee and a nice chat all round...and I chose some shelves and prop connectors
There is no WiFi there....so I had to learn how to use data in order to pay!! Every day a schoolday!
The ex-pottery was near Nethy Bridge which is below the Cairngorms fires...fortunately for the village, the wind changed direction.
Apparently the smoke can be smelt in Aberdeen...
I carried on a little way north to Grantown on Spey before heading back south...so could see across the valley....
Still burning....today's rainshowers will help..but the high winds will not.
Retrace wheeltracks to Perth then down and across to Fife to call past our friend there. Unasked for...I was presented with a salad supper ! I was ready for that, and a break from driving. Plus catching up on news.
Having a break also meant a bit less traffic going through Glasgow..but with the Games on it was bound to be busy.
With fuel getting under ¼ tank left I thought to get fuel at Sainsbugs...which would mean a shorter journey home....Apart from the fact that the fuel tanker was there....it was £1.61.9 a litre!!..…back on the motorway to Prestwick....and 20 miles on the warning light..but still ⅛ tank left...408 miles!! and the fuel cost the same as yesterday. £1.51.9
There is not usually THAT much difference...but the Games are on....
When I think how much they are new...and how much carriage costs..today was worth doing
All last night it rained (I woke every so often..as usual..) and through the day we have been having fairly long steady showers. Nothing heavy, thankfully.
The garden has heaved a sigh of relief....and the water butts have been refilled just a little.
This morning was the time for the weekly Scottish Potters' Association webchat.
Four of us having a good blether!
After lunch I just happened to browse fb marketplace..on the offchance....a pottery in the Highlands has closed and is selling everything. Unfortunately I've missed the glaze materials....but there are kiln props and shelves.
Road trip tomorrow !!
This morning my joiner friend brought roof and wall insulation for the inside of my studio ..an special waterproof stuff to wrap it!!
This afternoon I worked from a 2011 photo of the kiln to work out how I did it then.....
Then on getting shelves in found that I'm short on shelves and props....four moves in the past 14+ years could mean that the small props and connectors have gone AWOL....
and things went bzzzz
The weather is warmish and we are having some showers... But not really enough yet.
I was glad that I'd packed my car ready for the cowp (tip/recycling) run.. And also that the shower finished just before, I left home!!
Green waste and scrap wood and old pallet put in their respective skips, I filled my regulation four bags, with municipal compost. It isn't as composted down as much as usual, there are a lot of woody bits, but it does depend on the green waste they have had in the skip. It will do fine as part of the compost lasagne!!
Back home I put two bags on the compost... Which is nice and hot already!
That has been breaking down very nicely with the warmer weather and, I'm looking forward, to getting that on the garden when it is ready.
The after lunch tidy all the preserving equipment, label the bottles clean the kitchen.... And wash my hair.... When you have long hair you have to think more, about when you'll deal with it as of course it takes, longer to dry.
I don't use, a hair dryer... With fine hair I'd end up with a, mass, of frizz!!
After that I did more "hunt the pyro".... All that time, ago I put it safe..... Too safe!!
I'll have to get another set... The first place to check is, secondhand, but I have my doubts on that. Then check what the prices are of new equipment, taking into consideration that with some companies I will get a discount as a member of a potters' society. Then having acquired new equipment the old one will be bound to turn up!! No bad thing if it did that as it would be good to have a backup if one failed during a firing.
So, tomorrow's job is to pack the kiln with shelves and props to get them ready to air. After being stored since 2012 they may well be damp!
Half done!
Blackcurrant jam made yesterday (12½ jars ..ten pounds) and five bottles of cordial today
Mainly blackcurrant with added sloes and brambles.
I had a small parcel to return, so I took the chance to go small saucepan hunting in more places. Still no real joy. One will turn up, eventually!
Still no sign of the thermocouple and pyrometer. I know they are in a small but long cardboard box, the thermocouple wrapped in bubble wrap as it is fragile.
I know I saw it in this house....and I know that I consciously put it in a safer place....
I'll keep on looking ....
And in the meantime I've loaded the car with an old pallet and laurel prunings to go to the cowp, and the bags are in to fill with municipal compost.
I found some photos this morning from 2011 when I joined in on a kiln firing with South Wales Potters.
The first day attacking old pallets for kiln fuel!
We had a grand time firing that!
There is actually rain forecast for the next three days...but no promises as to how much or exactly where and when!!
That meant that garden tidying couldn't be postponed any longer...and it also meant strimming... Around the edges at the front and tidy the elder. I wish to be able to reach the fruit!!
Then after coffee, round all the edges and paths in the back garden, including to the back gate. Openreach should be here tomorrow morning to fit a fibre broadband cable. The main pole for 12 properties is by my back gate!...the one that the birds take turns canoodling on it...
and after all that....late lunch and rest!!
A bits and bobs unsettled morning.
At least I found gate hinges in the agricultural supplies shop by the mart and priced up a decent extension lead to go from house to studio/kiln shed.
I still can't find the pyrometer and thermocouple..I know I put them safe...too safe. Having checked the price again it us even more important to find them!
I made the decision to have an afternoon out ...so why does it take nearly two hours to actually spring (?!!) into action?!!!
The view on my way out..the knapweed is looking good and attracting plenty of insects
So off in the car, Just Because! I find doing things that are frivolous very difficult.
I never was any good at playing or doing things just for fun....
I need a bit of practice driving to prepare for any trips. It has been a while!
Down to Galloway to see a photographer friend who runs a gallery in Lauriston...
Coffee, Craic, Cake and Craft!! Although being mid afternoon a decent hot chocolate fitted the bill!
Then as they weren't too far away, called past potter friends..luckily as they were about to have a teabreak in preparing for Potfest in the Park near Penrith this weekend.
Good to chat .
And the long way home via lanes we'd cycled over some ten years or more ago..
and sadness too. Daughter's cat was falling down and failing. so she was put to sleep in Daughter's arms. She was 21 years and 4 days old...almost half daughter's life...she is 44.
This morning I made a lust on a post it note of things that need doing...even with small writing that little square was full!
So what got done? A modicum of kitchen tidying ...washing,, drying..very quickly on the line! ironing and keeping everything tidy.
unearthed my small dough mixer in the workshop to find what weight extension lead I will need ( must measure the length needed)..found that the company us still going in Bolton!
started moving timber around the studio out of the way of the stove...ready for its return after refurb. With any luck this timber will soon be used and out of the way!
Pinned the hem of a fitted sheet ( n.b....look for corner elastic) and spent a long time trying to get the handraulic machine sewing correctly. Tension problems as ever..
Different colours every night..last night
After yesterday's exertions I went to the gallery by car instead of by bus.
This gave me almost an extra two hours in the morning....the luxury of a lie in to the time that I usually leave the house!!
At last I'm back on my bike!!
With the bike in the back of the car ...shopping in Prestwick, park by the Sailing club....and off up the National Cycling Route..NCR 77 I think...
A beautiful sunny afternoon, I could hear the gorse seed pods popping as I rode. along by the golf course ( another good reason th wear a helmet!!!)
and the aim of the ride?!
It is worth every penny!!
Then back past the Twa Dug ...
I was glad of an almost tailwind back to the car....and I'm thinking of adding some pipewrap to my handlebars to cushion my hands. In some places tree roots across the path are lifting the surface in ridges, making riding hard (and painful) work.
Defrosting day for the tall freezer...which fortunately didn't take long.. What did take time was sorting the contents!!
Repacking some in boxes that would fit better, and finding just how much fruit is in there!!
Not only have I not baked properly for two years I've hardly preserved anything properly, just froze it.
We always had a fruit crumble in the fridge for dessert too.
All the currant crop from the past week has been processed and is in the freezer before it was lost.
3 pounds (it is an old recipe book!) of gooseberries and half a pound of onions are now a very hot and spicy chutney!
ha!..in reverse order just to surprise me!!
There is over 3kg of blackcurrants to deal with tomorrow!
Ayr...on the way to French conversation group in the Carnegie Library.
I wish that it was every week instead of fortnightly.
just before 10pm this evening. It is still a little light half an hour later.
Pirate would have been 87 today.
It isn't easy without him, but his memory is strong and I can imagine what he'd be saying about what I'm getting on with!!
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