From sunshine to impending doom

Well, the title may sound dramatic but it is what I felt as I stood at the top of a hill yesterday bathed in sunshine when I was out for a ride and looked in the direction that would take me home knowing full well that any time int he next mile or two I was going to be engulfed by some dark storm clouds and whatever it was they were going to drop on me. The down pour when it came only had me for a mile or so but it was heavy and hard and cold. However a mile further on and the road was dry and my clothes were steaming in the heat from the sun again.

This piece in the picture above is a bit of a trial run. I was looking at some oft he dishes in the Fitzwilliam the other week when I was down there and there are some that are press molded (moulds or molds? I can't decide) onto impressed molds and I fancied having a go. I threw this and started drawing in it before I went to Devon but it was a bit soft still so I waiting till today to finish it. It's not amazing looking but it's got marks in it that I've made with a number of different tools just to see what worked and what didn't. Maybe none of it will work. We'll see when it's dried.

I got these big slip trailed harvest jugs out of the kiln this weekend. You might remember when I decorated them. These two are to be installed at Midpark, the new mental health development at the hospital in Dumfries. They are to sit with the two large tree chargers that I slip decorated too, I must take some pictures before I send them away.

I'm pleased with them. Unusual for me really, often I'm not entirely pleased with what I've done when it's finished but I do like these jugs still. I take them up to the hospital on friday this week and they will be installed in cabinets on the ward. Amanda Simmons, oh she of wonderful glass creations, is also making work for the hospital.

It's that time of year again where the dragons are feeling slightly braver than usual as they venture out into the open in search of a mate. These two were spotted this morning while performing their ritual mating dance. Watch this space to see if any more dragons appear as a result. These two are the smallest of their species that I have ever spotted, just about 9cm high they are, bless them, but they'll singe your ankles if you're not careful.

Oops, here's the jug again, blogger appears to have gone all weird and different and I haven't gotten my head around it yet.

There is the impending doom in the distance just coming over the hills. Yuck!
Today I learnt more than I feel I need to know about the over night safety procedures on old ships that are sailing in the Gulf of Thailand. Not what you need when your fella has been there for three weeks already and still has another week before they'll let him come home. Today they have docked and he has been asked repeatedly where the "chicken room" was by someone, he eventually discovered they meant the kitchen (which surely is a galley on a ship?). He reckons maybe it's because every mean is based on chicken.