Visit To The Beach

Sunny But Boy It Was Cold

   Last night we decided that this morning we would take a trip to the local beach which is around 35 minutes from us, the idea was to have a good walk and to collect seaglass and pebbles but to be honest I really wasn't feeling that great, my IBS was playing up and with the strong cold wind it wasn't the best trip to the coast I've ever had. For the last week I've been feeling a lot better, watching what I eat and trying to get a good amount of exercise, it's just sods law that when we plan a beach trip it decided to make things uncomfortable.
   Well I tried to enjoy it but in the back of my mind I just wanted to go home and sleep, I know it's a cowards way out but that's how I felt, I guess when you put up with something for so long you have a right to get a bit down, but hey there is always tomorrow and I'm sure a full day working at my torch will take my mind off it.
   At least the kitchen garden always seems to cheer me up these days, there is so much going on out there, today I noticed the Alpine (wild), strawberries have at least doubled in size since I cleaned off all the old growth from last year, I love these little plants and always remember watching my mum collect their tiny fruits in an eggcup, tiny sweet little strawberries that to be honest are too small to use in any cooking but make a great treat picked on a warm summer day, better than any sweet.
   The greenhouse in groaning with seedlings, some very near to being ready to plant out, Cabbage and Cauliflower will be set in the beds this week followed by the french bean plants the week after, I'm trying not to get to carried away and put them out too early as knowing my luck we will get a late frost and the poor things will be lost.
   Earlier in the week I made a bench on which we can sell all the unwanted veg and flower plants at the gate, just need to give it a coat of weather treatment, screw on the money tin and fix up a sign on the fence, then we can start putting a few plants out. It's the first time we have sold any plants but after wasting so many each year I felt it was worth a go, plus any bit of extra cash will be very welcome.

   The ponds are full of life and as you can see the first of the king cups are in flower, I love these little plants they are so colourful and a great sign of summer, I just wish they lasted until the autumn but I guess we can't have everything. When I think about how much we all like yellow flowers like a lot of the spring plants, daffodils included, it always makes me wonder why yellow beads are so difficult to sell, I know other bead makers who are often left with the yellow beads at fairs even tho they can be made with great detail and skill, maybe I'll make a few sets this coming week and we'll see if I'm right, I'm sure I will be.
   Ok I'm off to get some dinner then it's ceramic pendants for me this evening, I'm playing with the stoneware clay and having fun too, some larger pendants made so it will be interesting to see the feedback. I'm looking forward to my first pit firing in the new garden fire pit, I want to fire a few pots plus some beads and pendant so I'm eyeing up next Sunday for that, I'm sure Yvonne will be standing by with the fire hose just in case I get carried away !
 

Stoneware And Glass

Another Day Exploring

   It may be a grey dull start to the day here in the flat lands but it doesn't stop my enthusiasm and excitement of trying some stoneware ceramic pendants this afternoon. The few pendants made last night look great this morning and after they have been cleaned up and sanded down I'm sure they will look even better with some rustic look glaze, I'm finding it all very addictive working out what shapes work with what colours, it's very different to my lampwork beads, with glass I love to let the glass and flame work out which way they want to go, but with the ceramics it's all down to me and the kiln, I'm guessing there must be thousands of combinations that I can play with, do I stick to organic more natural colours and forms or do I try the brighter more sharp textures and colours, I'll see but I think you all know which road I'll end up taking.
   When I try out something new be it bead ideas or any other craft I always think back to my school days in Ashwell, a small Victorian style primary school with the most amazing friendly caring teachers like Mrs Taylor and Mrs Bath. The classrooms had these amazing high ceilings with timber beams and walls of white paint, around the walls there were shelves that help rows of large glass jars filled with paint brushes and pots of crayons and pencils, in one corner there was an old Belfast sink with large wooden draining boards where we used to wash the paint from our hands and clean off the brushes before replacing them into their jar.
   I remember looking forward to those afternoons when we could draw and paint and would enjoy every second, the only class in which I would never dream of messing about, for me it was head down and pictures to produce. Some weeks were would do other crafts such has making seashell pots to take home for our mums to use as flower holders or vanish small pebbles that we picked from the local stream and make them into jewellery, I guess this was all the start of my love for art and crafts and what a wonderful start it was too.
   Well this morning I'm working at my torch producing focal beads ready to list in my ebay shop, some with the more brighter summer colours, I think the warm weather has given me a good kick up the backside and I know it's those cheerful colours that people are looking for this time of year, yes they never were my favourite of colours but I guess they will grow on me and to be honest at the moment I feel to get through this bad patch we are all suffering then I need to make what people want as well as what I love making, I'm sure there is a solution to be found where I can keep my rustic look yet using these summer type colours.
   Ok, cuppa time over and time to return to my torch and those bright rods of glass, fingers crossed the sun will return later in the day and I get an hour working in the garden this evening.

A Very Mixed Day

Good And Bad

   A very mixed day here today with another beautiful sunny morning starting it off, to wake with the sunshine pouring through the window is such a treat after the cold dark mornings we have all endured over the winter months, there is something special about those bright early summer mornings when the streets are silent and all you can here is the music nature gives.
   After a long morning working at my torch it was time to get on my bike and see what new signs of summer I could spot in the countryside that surrounds our village, but then what sometimes seems like the daily piece of bad luck occurred, the metal casing holding my gears onto my bike frame snapped, the steel sheared giving no hope to getting it repaired, so it now looks like my bike riding days are over for this summer, maybe next year we can afford to replace the bike, the trouble these days is that to have things repaired (in this case welded), would cost the same as replacing the bike itself.
   It looks like it will be garden jobs and walks for my exercise this year, it's a real pity as I won't get to travel the miles I did on my bike, getting out into the wilds of the fens where the small narrow lanes are silent from traffic and all the hedgerows are full of wildlife, I'll really miss that.
   Anyway that's enough bad news for one blog, now it's time to tell of the magic that is happening in the kitchen garden, the faint rows of tiny seedlings that are breaking through the soil, seedlings that will feed us through the summer, some on into the winter months. This time of year is such a special one for the veg grower, the ground starts to warm and what seems like every seed wants to be part of the spring show, after all the hours of hard work we can now sit back and await the gifts that mother nature hands us.
   This evening I've been making ceramic pendants, some unusual but then that's me and I must admit my mind really is starting to run wild with these pendants, just hope I have the bottle to list them haha ! I managed to obtain a bag of stoneware clay that arrived today so I'll be trying some out tomorrow tho it is really for me to use on my wheel. I want to give the stoneware a go as the more rustic looking glazes work really well on this kind of clay, so touch wood I'll get to at last produce some pieces that I'll be happy to list in my etsy shop.

Sunny Sunday

What A Fantastic Day

   Well, what a great day it's been, a stunning misty morning was followed by some wonderful warm sunshine and we just refused to spend the day working, they say Sunday is the day of rest and we decided that's what we were going to do, well if you call walking around a giant car boot sale for two hours followed by digging a fire pit in the garden resting !
   To be honest it was so good just pottering around all day doing greenhouse jobs such has sowing yet more seeds and potting up seedlings along with the odd job in the garden like fixing all the rustic frames ready as support for the runner beans and digging that fire pit ready to start pit firing some of my ceramics, a great day all round and the first of many to come I hope.
   After a little visit to the doctor Friday I need to say that the last two days have been the first days in over 2 years that I have really and truly felt like the old Rob, after trying to manage IBS myself over that time it's a real pleasure to feel at last I'm getting help and feeling ok again. I think we all try not to bother doctors if possible and I'm one of those guys who will only go has a last resort and believe me, I had over the last year or two had enough so knew it was time and touch wood most of those days will now be behind me.
   Tomorrow is another full day at my torch and when I think of all the years that I hated Monday morning, going back to work after enjoying the weekend, it's nice now that I really look forward to them and getting down to more work, I guess the way we work where most weeks the weekends are spent at our benches means there is no difference from Sunday and a normal week day, I does mean we seem to be working far more hours a week but if you enjoy it then I can't see it doing any harm, I just feel very lucky that we love and enjoy our work.
   Ok, I'll leave you all to get on with your evening, I'm off to make a few ceramic pendants as I'm looking at ways to incorporate my ceramics with my beads, I have two ideas that I want to try this evening, so wish me luck.

Summer Memories

Ashwell Fair

   With this nice weather here at last it brings back so many memories of my life growing up in my village of Ashwell in Hertfordshire, the Ash lined country lanes down which we rode our bikes and the small woods where we made camps in the summer holidays, all part of growing up as a village boy. I think one of the highlights of the summer was the arrival of the fair on the village green, for us kids it was a great time of excitement and we would spends hours watching the men set up the rides and build those small stalls where we could win a goldfish by throwing darts at playing cards or throw wooden rings over prises, it was such a huge thing in our young lives then.
   One person who stands out in my memories from those years is" Robert The Bouncer", Robert was a real character, a kind friendly man, young in mind but very strong, some would call him the village idiot, but most of us village people knew him as a kind man he was just different to the rest of us. Robert had a habit of standing under some of the great trees in the village picking leaves from the branches and stripping them down to the vain, also he was always walking the streets of the village in the evenings, winter or summer closing garden gates to keep them looking tidy, he also would bounce a rubber ball has he walked, hence his local name of "Robert The Bouncer", I would often lay in bed as a child and hear the sound of Robert's ball as he walked by.
    When the fair arrived Robert was to be found there every day from dawn helping the fair families who all know him, they would make him meals, give him gifts, really treat him special as for most who knew him he was special.
   Below is a poem I wrote last summer about Robert, I often write about my village and the childhood I spent there, so I hope you enjoy it and any of you who indeed grew up in Ashwell I'm sure will have nice memories of him.

Robert The Bouncer

A million leaves picked and shredded under great Chestnut and Ash,
Gates of a hundred houses closed and bins positioned so neat and tidy,
That big weathered face covered in grey bristles, teeth so worn and coloured greet you with such huge smiles.

Those old worn shoes, walked a thousand miles through lane and path,
Loud cries of laughter sound with every mention of the fair,
Photographs appearing from jacket pockets, photos of his pal Henry.

Dark winter nights so still, then the faint sounds of a rubber ball thudding on the cold street,
Nearer they come only stopping for the rattle of oak gates,
Nearer and louder until they pass and sleep takes over.

Sunny Fens

Early Starts And Lots Of Sunshine

   So far this weeks weather has been great, early mornings filled with sunshine here in the fens and warmer days in which to work, Lets hope the days trying to get warm by the kiln have left us for a few months and we can start to enjoy the long warm days that summer brings, life in the garden is really starting to take shape with green leaf buds starting to come alive on every tree or shrub, the ponds are full of life after those long days covered in thick ice and in every corner of the garden you find courting doves doing their head bobbing dance.
   Yesterday I had a few hours off to visit the coast, camera in hand it was so enjoyable just walking along the beach, I've really missed that smell of the sea and the sound of gulls, silly really as we are only 35 minutes away so we really should go there more often. I think those walks are the only time I really relax these days, there is something special about the sea that I could sit watching it for hours.
   It wasn't busy with only the odd dog walker and a few people getting their beach huts really for a new season, those small wooden sheds always seem to look so welcoming with their bright colours and rustic charm, I often imagine sitting in one such hut working away while watching the sea, not having a care for the rest of the world just spending a few weeks there working among the smells, sights and sounds only the coast can produce.
   A full day at my torch today followed by another evening making ceramic pendants, I have beads to list on etsy and ebay so they need to be photographed lunch time and of course there are a few small jobs to fit in in the garden, which is always a pleasure in this weather.
   After the cold winter months I think it's time I started my bike rides more often, not just the odd time each week but maybe every other day to start with then back to every day through the summer months, the exercise is great but also I get to see how the countryside around me is changing.
   Ok cuppa time over and back to my torch, I have focals to make and some pebble bead sets that I want to list in the etsy shop, enjoy the great weather and if you get chance of a trip to the coast then go for it and enjoy the salt air.

Ceramic Shop Open

At Last My Ceramic Shop On Etsy Is Open

   Well at last I've managed to list the first beads and pendants in my new etsy shop, as I mentioned the first listing are mostly beads but I'll be adding new items every week, I know a lot of you are not really interested in ceramics but as I stated I just wanted to keep the lampwork and ceramics apart.
   So if any of you are interested please feel free to go take a look and I hope you find something that may be useful in your jewellery.
 www.etsy.com/shop/FenlandCeramics
   Was a funny day here today with the sun out all day yet still being really cold here in the fens, most of the day I spent photographing beads and listing, tho to be honest I did enjoy it. I wish those sunny days of summer had arrived when we can sit out and have lunch in the garden, not sit in jumpers and coats with hot coffee, I guess I'll get my wish soon.
   Ok I better get back to making ceramic pendants and just maybe Yvonne will have the kettle on, enjoy your evening and any feedback on the ceramic beads is always very welcome, I have so many different shapes and designs sitting waiting for the next bisque firing that I think I better get a bigger kiln haha !

Treasure Your Mum

A Day Off, The Least They Deserve

   It's once again that time of year when mums all over the country get a day of rest, they I hope get spoilt rotten and treated like princesses, it's the least they deserve after all they do the rest of the year. I think we all know how important mothers are in our lives and being one of many who lost their mum I know that every day feeling of loss when they are taken away from us, in my case my best friend and teacher in life was taken from me, that one special person who was always there to support me and advise me when I most needed it, I for one wish I had the chance to shower my mum in chocolates and flowers again.
   Today is a mixed day for me, lots of ceramic beads to glaze ready to fire over night and lampwork beads to clean, photo and list also, I have more seeds to sow in the greenhouse and we have Nicola visiting as it's mothers day, so all in all a busy Sunday in this house as always.  I must admit it's nice to have a later start to the day this morning, no hurry , no rushing out to get my torch lit ready to make those first beads, I think I need a easy start the odd morning and no better than on a nice quiet Sunday when there are no cars roaring by on the way to work, just the sound of the garden birds and the gentle sound of water from the ponds.
   Last night I found myself making more new ceramic beads, I know it will be a good week before I get to list them but it was exciting trying a lot more my forms and some worked out really well, Monday I hope to start listing in the new etsy shop, it will be the normal type of beads to start with and some pendants but as the weeks go on I'll be adding more different work, I just want to start slow and add new designs as I go. I have a number of bowls, pots etc all waiting to be glazed or pit fired so I should be having fun with those this coming week too, but bare with me, you know how I worry about people not liking the vessels so I'll only list them as and when I'm happy with them, but they will be listed I promise.
   It's funny but when I'm working with the clay my mind goes back to the days spent in Ashwell as a kid and the little shop there run by two sisters, one of which made and sold ceramic pieces, they were figures and buildings all connected with the village and we used to stand at the shop window looking at the different buildings on display, the church, museum, the odd village inn and figure groups of say the cricket team or the football team, they were something that us kids loved to look at always stuck in my mind. She was a nice lady who would show us school kids the home made brick kiln in her back yard and how she used it, I remember there was always a great pile of plastic bags full of clay in one corner of her yard and always I wondered how many years that clay would last her, still to this day some of the older members of my family have some of her pieces in their homes, it's strange who that one lady living in a quiet little village making her own little Victorian world still to this day 40 years later brings back such great memories for me. Next time I visit Ashwell I'll see if the yard is still the same and if those bags of clay still sit in that corner waiting to be used.
   Ok, it's time to start getting those ceramic beads glazed so I'll leave you all to enjoy your Sunday and I hope all you mums out there gave a very special day with your families, nobody deserves it more than you.

Wet Saturday

   Busy Day Ahead

   We managed to miss most of the wet weather but did get some gentle rain over night leaving this warm Saturday morning very damp, too wet for any planned garden jobs this afternoon but I guess the greenhouse jobs can still be done with yet more seeds to sow.
   This morning I'm working at my torch making more earring pairs and trebles as I've had a few enquiries for them, I used to list them but forgot how useful they can be to customers so they haven't been in my shops for a long while. I think when you make such a wide selection of beads you do have months where you tend to let some designs slip to the back of your mind and until people remind you they seem to stay settled there. A lot of bead makers work on one type of bead weather it be floral, hollows or encased silver glass, they tend to stick around their chosen area of work and are happy to do so. I find it impossible to work that way, I guess I'm a bit of a butterfly going from one type of bead to another, for me to make the same kind of bead for weeks let alone months would drive me up the wall, so I try to make a wide range of beads, yes I do love some and always find time to make those (rock effect focals), but over the course of a year I do try to cover most types and I guess that's why I get customer who like different beads.
   Some buyers will be happy to buy when I'm making the more rustic plain beads, others will only be around when I list the more different kind of bead such as encased quarry beads or mine beads, some customers like myself love working with the more natural colours others seem to enjoy the brighter loud colours, so to me the point of making different beads is one of common sense, plus you know me by now, I want to stroll the country lanes that cover all directions passing through very little interesting hamlet and turning every corner to find what waits there, for me to be on the motorway in lanes of traffic all heading in one direction, heading for that one end without getting to experience all those great little places that set our minds working, well that just ain't for this bead maker, I think I would rather turn my flame off forever.
   The ceramic bisque firing went great, now this evening I'll be forming bead sets and painting them with glaze ready for their final firing on Sunday evening, I hope then Monday I'll be photographing and listing in the new etsy shop which fingers crossed will give customers somewhere else of interest to spend a little time. I must just say tho, I know the ceramics won't be to every ones taste and that's very understandable, it's just somewhere I can sell and show what I'm doing with clay, I'm not a potter I just enjoy making forms that I can't manage with my glass that's all and maybe, god willing, over time you will see my ceramic work improve  and maybe understand some of the things I'm about.

   Ok back to my torch, this cuppa as long since been cold and I'll be getting told off if I don't get back next to that kiln soon, enjoy your weekend.

Ceramics In Kiln

Beads, Pendants And Pots

   At last I got to fill the ceramic kiln this afternoon ready for a bisque firing over night, bowl after bowl of beads were loaded followed by around 40 pendants and a dozen or so pots and bowls, it's nice to know that I can get the first of the beads glazed this weekend along with some of the pendants ready to list on etsy.
   I've been playing with the idea of sell my ceramics in a new etsy shop so I can keep the lampwork beads separate, yes I want to work on both but it would be nice to keep them apart, Ive seen sites where people are selling both and to be honest they look a bit crowded, I would rather sell them from two shops as the ceramics will not just be beads but also pendants and vessels including pots bowls cups etc. It also give me the option of selling more different ceramic items in the future which may overwhelm my lampwork.
   So if all goes ok I should be listing on Monday and I hope every couple of weeks there will be more added, I have a funny feeling the next couple of months will be busy ones for me, I have a lot to make, weather they sell or not, well thats a different story but you all know me well enough by now to know I'll give it a good go.
   I picked up the new batts for my wheel this week so now I have no excuse for not throwing more pots and I just hope the saying "practise makes perfect" is true as I'm sure there will be a lot of pots filling the clay room over the next few weeks.
   Once again this afternoon I managed to get a couple of hours in the garden, Yvonne had a bonfire while I did some digging and started setting up the runner bean frames, it was great being out there in the sun again with the sounds of spring in the air, sometimes I think we have every bird in the country here in our garden, finches, tits and of course my old mate Mr Robin, all singing their hearts out.
   Tomorrow is another full day on my torch but if I'm really lucky and the weather holds then I might just get in the garden before an evening with ceramics, fingers crossed !
 

A Different Village

The signs Of Spring

   You can't help but notice the changes in nature this time of year, every day seems to bring more signs of spring tho many people hurry by without even knowing they exist. Just ten minutes sitting in the garden is enough to see what I mean, this morning after turning on the kiln I sat in the garden just for a few minutes and the signs were everywhere, from the two goldfinches feeding on seed to the sound of frogs in the ponds, not to mention the courting dance of several pairs of collard doves. The air was full of bird song which is always a great sign and in every border there seems to be spring bulbs showing off their strong rich slender leaves, some in bud, some already in flower such as the spring daffodils. A few snow drops hang on to their last flowers under the cherry tree, happy to make way to spring after their winter display and the banks of the pond look green with new life, yes it really is changing here alright.
   Today I have a full day of bead making ahead of me then an evening playing with ceramics, it may only be Wednesday but already I'm looking forward to the weekend  with pots to be thrown and pendants to be made, I hope it's the last big push ready to start listing on etsy, it's been a long few weeks getting enough beads, pendants and pots to fill the kiln for the bisque firing, then I get to sort beads into sets, glaze and fire before listing.
   Maybe it's not just nature that is changing here, maybe this old beadmaker as new ideas and designs to make, fingers crossed some work out ok.

Now It's Spring !!!!

Mr Johnson, We Are Here To Tell You It's Spring

   Now I know spring has arrived and not because of the wonderful sunshine we have had here in the fens, but because a few little friends arrived to let me know, every year they manage to get here and what very welcome guests they are too.

   It's March the 11th and after a very enjoyable afternoon working in the kitchen garden I took a few minutes to sit and have a cuppa bedside one of the smaller ponds, then I saw the best sight of the year so far, the first little patch of frog spawn sat nestled in the surface weed, but an even better sight was that of my favourite spring visitors sitting watching me with those stunning magical eyes that seem to read your mind, tiny beads of golden stone that no lampwork bead maker on this earth would ever reproduce.
   I think if I tried to explain how happy I felt seeing these little guys you would probably think I was mad but to me this is the best sign of spring and one I long for every year after the cold months here in the east of England. It points towards summer mornings when the sunshine pours into the bedroom window at 5am and those cooling July evenings when I sit by the pond reading after a long warm day at my torch, sitting outside eating fresh salads with home baked bread and those sharp summer puddings with thick cream. So you see those little visitors may not be noticed by everyone, but this old beadmaker thinks the world of them and thanks them for their time every spring.

   Tomorrow is a ceramic day for me and I hope to collect some batts for my wheel in the morning, a friend from my landscaping days who is a carpenter has cut me some which to be honest as saved me a small fortune and also means I can make a good amount of pots at one session, now I just need to get more beads sold to buy clay, it really gets my back up when I think I pay more for the delivery of the clay than I pay for the clay itself, but I should just be greatfull I can afford it in the first place.
   I hope you all enjoyed the weather today and fingers crossed it's the first of many nice weekends ahead. I managed to get lots done in the garden with more seeds being sown and the early potatoes all set and covered with fleece, I even managed to get the garden clock hung up after spending the last two years still in it's box, now I have no excuse for being late for dinner in the evenings, as if I would !
   On the bead side of things, I had a very productive morning making focals that will be listed tomorrow evening along with more sets on etsy, I seem to be playing around with the rock effects more this month and after getting some great feedback from new customers I feel they are worth making. Sometimes when sales are slow or one type of bead doesn't sell you need some nice comments to pick you up, in the back of your mind you always wonder if your making the wrong beads, should you be making the same as all the others, are your colours not bright enough, all those things go through your head, but when you get people giving you great feedback or sending you emails thanking you for their beads it reminds you that you are doing the right thing and sod the rest, if you enjoy making them then there will be others who will enjoy using them.
   Ok, dinner time here then an evening watching tv and doing nothing, enjoy your evening and get out there and find those little spring visitors, you know you want to !
  

Cold Winds Return

Back To Normal Here In The Fens

   Oh yes, it was far too good to be true, spring was on it's way, the sun is here at last, my god do we ever learn ? After the snow and sleet here yesterday we today have the most amazing cold winds, the trees here in the fens are bending and the wet soil from the weekend is already dry, when we get wind boy do we get it, no hills or mountains to slow it down, just mile after mile of flat farmland over which the strong breeze can play.
   This morning was a late start on my torch as the first job was to change my oxygen tanks, one job which you all know by now is by far my favourite, as the years pass the tanks seem to weigh more, of course it's nothing to do with this beadmaker getting older haha !
   I've been thinking of the move this summer into the clay room and I'm playing with the idea of going back to the use of an oxycon instead of tanked oxygen, but we'll see how things go in the months before, the cost would be a big one, yes I know I would save around £400 a year if I went back to this way of working but like everything that saves you money, you need to be able to afford it in the first place and I'd be looking at around £400 to get one set up.
   I enjoyed a good day on my torch today making a good mixture of beads some of which will be listed tomorrow evening in the etsy and ebay shops. It's strange how having the weekend away from my flame  gave me that hunger back, I guess we all become stale at times yet not really knowing it until we return after a rest.
   Now I have a week of work and peace to look forward to, lots of beads to make, seeds to sow in the greenhouse and ceramics to play with in the evenings, what more could I want.

The Call Of Ceramics

Looking Forward To The Weekend

   Well it's nearly here, the weekend of ceramics is soon to start and to be honest I can;t wait !. Its been over three weeks since I made a pot of any kind and I really have missed that feeling of wet clay between my fingers, there is something very primitive about working clay that gives you a real sense of history, yes you also get it when working with glass but it's not the same. When I work with clay my mind is full of those early ancient potters making simple beakers or cooking pots furnished with plain finger decoration, not decorative pieces but just every day wear that was so new and important to them.
   With beads I think more of them being just a symbol of wealth, a way for those ancient peoples to show off their position in life, a bit like today, still jewellery is worn for show and always will be, those who can afford diamonds will wear them and those who can't will wear less precious metals or glass, just like those of centuries passed.
   On the ceramic side of things, well yes we can do just the same, we can buy stunning ceramic pieces with ornate designs and we can collect very beautiful pots or vases but I would guess 90% of ceramics we own are those we need and use in every day life be it in cooking, eating, drinking or storage.
   I'm not really sure which road I will take on my journey in ceramics but for now I just love trying to find a road I feel comfortably walking, one with interest in every hedgerow would be nice allowing me freedom in design like that wonderful country lane I've walked with my beads these past years, no motorway of money making boredom for me, no crowed roads where everyone goes in the same direction, just small lanes and footpaths that wonder through history, those tiny roads that can teach me so much and cost me only time.

   Now for the garden news, yesterday I managed yet another hour setting up bed number eight so now the kitchen garden is starting to take shape, as you can see from the picture there is still so much work to do but enjoyable work, nothing is hard when you know there is a special gem waiting at the end and mine will be somewhere that will share those summer evenings not to mention the wonderful produce that will I hope fill out plates, healthier food plus a calm peaceful place to relax, what more could one need.
   There are still more beds to lay and strewberry benches to build as well as runner bean frames and trenches not to mention sorting out the paths between beds and a huge tidy up, the list seems to go on for miles but hey, it's fun and keeps me well out of trouble.
   I started listing beads in the etsy shop last evening and there are focals to list in the ebay shop tonight so it looks like yet another long busy day ahead. Well cuppa time is over and it's back to my flame, I'm hoping my oxygen lasts the day then with the ceramic weekend planned I won't need to replace the tanks until Monday, but we'll see.