Pottery, cream tea and a walk through the park

My candle holder! Yes, it is a tad uneven. But it was made in my first session and entirely freehand without planning or templates or anything. If I were to make another I would make a template to get it all even and perfect. 

I think the carved scroll-y bits worked out very well. I used waaay too much glaze which ran down and kind of puddled on the base.  But I think overall a good effect and I am using the scrolled carving idea on some other pieces. I love the way the glaze kind of "burns" on the edges.

It's annoying that the people who run the studio offer very little help on the glazing and I fear I may end up ruining many other pieces due to glazing problems. I made a little "organic" (read *lumpy* there) vase and dipped it in a matt white glaze which I then splattered with pink. The glaze turned out to be far too thin (and the pink couldn't be seen at all) - yet I had done it under the direct instruction of the guy who runs the studio. The end result just looks like an extremely lumpy grey thing - the lumpiness accentuated by the too thin glaze.

I was unhappy about it and I don't have room at home for, err, such ugliness, so they said they'd put it up for sale in their gallery ..... I told them I'd pay for someone to take it away lol. I forgot to photo it before I left, but I'm sure it'll still be there next week (no-one will be mad enough to buy it) so I'll try to remember to get a photo then. I think it will be headed for the bin anyway.

Said vase was the second thing I made. The firing and glazing processes all take a looooong time. The item has to completely dry out before it can go in the kiln, which takes time to fire up of course and several days to cool down before they can open the door. Then the item is treated with glaze and fired a second time. They do alternate first firing and glaze firings as they have to be done at different temperatures, and only one firing a week on average.

Pottery ain't quick folks!

Waiting for a first firing at the moment I have two bowls - one of which has butterflies impressed on the interior, the other with scroll carving on the inside. I also have two square planters I'm working on and a shell sculpture which may turn out to be a vase - I haven't decided yet.

On my way to the studio I passed these lovely Oriental Poppies which are some of my favourites though they are so fleeting, so I paused to capture them.

View from Debenhams cafe where I went with the Bear this week. You get a fair view of the Cathedral from here. You can see the hills in the distance that surround us.

We had a cream tea (I'm a sinner!) which, for those who don't know, involves a pot of tea (or coffee) with scones and jam and clotted cream. Unfortunately it didn't occur to me to take a photo. So here's a photo someone else took taken from this page (by a hotel about 5 miles from here) where you can read all about cream teas if you're a total masochist.

Bear loves clotted cream and always buys some when it's reduced. He rarely buys scones though so I don't know what he eats it on. I am not a big cream fan, so it's rare for me to eat it.

After that of course he wanted some fish and chips! As Bear wanted to avoid the traffic we walked there via a park. I haven't been in this park for a long time and was pleasantly surprised by some really beautiful planting. There were frilled Oriental Poppies, lupins, luscious roses ....

 

 

 

 

And finally, photos of the merry fish and chip shop where Bear is a regular customer - The Dolphin Fish Bar.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Bearfriend xx

Edge of the city walk ... and a few chips :(

Hi Friends. I've got out every day so far this week! On Monday I got a couple of jobs done in town, then I met up with the Bear. He was straight to the fish and chip shop of course. He got large chips and battered sausage and we each got a tea and went to sit in a park. "Eat the rest of these chips before they go cold" he said and I did, damn it :(

We went on a bit of a walk after that - along the path I showed you in the last post and through the uni grounds.

On Tue I did my laundry and hoovering and then went into town for another errand. I met the Bear again and we went to the pub (the converted chapel) and had tea. Luckily (!) he was in too bad a mood to eat anything so I escaped the dreaded chip shop.

That's the thing - I'd never go into a chip shop on my own. I would never buy myself fish and chips. It's only when I'm with the Bear and have to watch him eating it, that chips start moving in my direction (ok ok I'm not claiming involuntary movement here. Well maybe.)

Today I accompanied Mrs Bear to the dentist - only the seventh (or is it eighth? but whose counting) visit in the last 3 months. She is done now, we hope. Then I did another errand in town and got to pottery for about 3pm. I did 2 hours there - finishing a vase, glazing my candle holder and working on the pinch pot for my healer. Then I went to a cafe. I used to love going to cafes on my own and just watching people go by and reading a book or the newspaper. But these days I feel quite stressed in there and don't enjoy it.

I want to enjoy it again.

I don't feel stressed in a cafe with the Bear of course. I can go anywhere with him. I have some sort of special protection when he's there. It's called Love - my love for him. It's strange that this one way love makes me feel so safe - you'd think I'd need some reciprocation.
***

Continuing my walk (and just let me know when you've seen enough trees) ....

Just behind me was this and an opening onto a path

Then a track

Then out onto this field

Which has views to Dartmoor in the distance

Someone was having a bonfire in the valley

Walking along to the top of the field (and a sudden shot of sunshine)

These houses have amazing views

I walked next down the road on which those houses are on - but didn't feel comfortable taking photos of private houses. I took the one below of someone's hedge - beautiful combination of blossom and berries - and I felt guilty even doing that!

The end of that road peters out into a farmer's track

A border from someone's garden that spills onto the track

Looking up the track from this point

Continuing down in evening sunshine

A curious tree!

The track comes out onto one of the main roads into town 

To be continued next time (if you can bear anymore).

Hope your week is going well so far.

Bearfriend xx 

Wot no Bear?

Hello friends. I've had a few days when I've unusually had quite a bit of energy. On Friday I was able to do some decluttering and threw out 3 bags of recycling, took 1 bag to the bottle bank (mainly jars!), and had four bags of books and a bag of old sindy stuff to go to the charity shop. The sindy stuff was given to me by the Bear as someone was throwing it in the bin, but it was mostly TLC and from the 1960s and I collect only late 1970s up to mid 80s. There were also a number of Pippa dolls, clothes and shoes in there. All could have been sold on Ebay - but I decided a whole year ago I would sell it and still hadn't done it. I've never sold anything on Ebay (though bought plenty of stuff!) and it just seemed like too much stress for very little money given that the doll stuff was in poor condition and I find parcelling things up takes hours. Then there is the stress of having to go into town to the post office. And the worry about the buyer being unhappy with what they've bought. So I decided to just give it away to be rid of it.
In my decluttering I sorted through a MOUNTAIN of mail which was mostly junk, so I'm totally caught up on that. I also cleared the kitchen table - I can now see my kitchen table!

On Saturday I wanted to get to the bank, but spent so long sorting papers - and the inevitable fear of leaving the house - that I was too late. So I took as many bags as I could carry to a charity shop. While I was there I spotted a butterfly stamp - just the very thing I wanted - to make a bowl in my pottery class with impressed butterflies on it for my healer's birthday present. I can't remember when exactly her birthday is but she's cancer so not too far in the future. Sadly I have only seen her once in the last 4 or 5 months due to various problems her end.

Anyway, while in the shop I FORCED myself to have a look through the clothes, but there was nothing I was interested in. I must have been fired up a bit because next I went into BHS determined to get something so I wouldn't have to wear my thick jersey trousers all summer.

A depressing experience! But that is why I have very few clothes. I made myself act AS IF I was one of those people on a "How to dress yourself" show. You know, if you're big get something that's fitted, shows off your curves etc etc etc. Well all the tops seemed to be fitted so I selected a few and tried them on. Not a success! They made my bust look ginormous and I looked as though I was about to topple forward at any moment. One top, that gathered in under the bust, made me look heavily pregnant.

I decided my straight down t-shirts are the best option as long as they skim and don't cling to the fat. They make me look less like a giant blob on legs than the fitted tops.

I couldn't get any proper trousers as I need a short fitting and I couldn't find a large enough size in the short range. I did manage to get a couple of pairs of cropped trousers. After trying on about 10 pairs.

All in all a sobering experience. But it might just give me the kick up the a*se I need to reduce my eating.

Yesterday I was supposed to be meeting the Bear. I rang him about 6 times with no answer and at 4pm gave up. I have been out very little in the last couple of weeks as he hasn't been out much. I realised I'd become reliant on him to be able to get out. And getting zero exercise for two weeks actually made me feel ill. I decided I had to get out on my own and have a walk. So I did.

And 100 yards from my front door I was caught in several minutes of VERY heavy rain - with even a few hail stones thrown in. I stood under a tree and my umbrella. But by the time it abated I was soaked up to the knees because the rain was bouncing off the pavement so much!

I was cursing and thinking things were against me as the one time I head out for a walk it's the heaviest rain ever.... But I carried on. The weather was very temperamental that day. There were showers but also periods of intense heat and sunshine.

To give myself some purpose in being out I took a load of photos for your enjoyment. I ended up wandering around for 3 hours. I felt good at the end of yesterday.

This path is a few minutes walk from the high street (split into cycle and walking)

View looking from path over to the University

 

Then I walked through the University grounds

 

 

 

The beauty of weeds!

 

View from a field behind the University. Between the University and the far hills lies the town.

 

Next time I'll continue the pictures of my walk from this point. 

***

I was given this lovely award by Rainbow Dreaming. Thanks L! And an appropriate ending to a happy post!

Hope you've all had a good start to the week!

Bearfriend xx