The top of Canterbury!

Yesterday late morning, Mike and I were on the Kent Eye, a Ferris wheel at the University of Kent campus. That's the highest hill in Canterbury. You may wonder why the Ferris wheel is on the campus. This Wednesday is the 50th anniversary for the University, and they are celebrating in a big way! Mike and I both studied here, well, in different years on different subjects. Mike works there since, and we live close to it.

I had never imagined that a Ferris wheel comes so close to us! One good thing about living in Canterbury is that interesting things would come once a while. We had the Tour de France, the Olympic torch relay and so on. Also the Archbishop and the Royal family, as well as the former governor of Bank of the England would come once a while. I saw him in a local restaurant!

Very tall! 

The little tower is the Cathedral.

 Eliot College and the labyrinth. There is also our house, well, the roof of our house!

Eliot college

There are mainly children with adults. They looked mesmerised. We both behaved like children!

Blue sky! 

Well, that was my a half day off. After lunch I did my witchcraft! Glaze making! :D 

I added the legs of daddy longlegs. Joking! :D 

Then we did more work. But about four, we suddenly decided to pick apples. Look at them! They are from one tree! It's a bumper crop, the best ever!    

   

Mike baked an apple tart, the 4th of this season, in the morning. I expect we will have loads of apple tarts to enjoy! :D

Mike's apple tart! I'm glad I have married him! :D 

Out of sorts revisited, angels and Butchery Lane in Canterbury

Here in UK, we are having May Day Bank holiday weekend. Today, the second day of a long weekend, warmth has finally returned, thankfully. While I was in Japan, bank holidays could be on any day of a week.

Here in UK, all bank holidays are on Monday, except for Christmas. Even the Queen's birthday is moved to the nearest Monday, for the convenience. It is called the Queen's official birthday. To me, it should be celebrated on the day she was born. But I think peculiar British rationalization and unique logic of convenience rule here. So if they have moved Her majesty's birthday so that they could have a longer weekend, it was just the most natural thing for them to move May Day to the nearest Monday.

After I left Japan, the then Japanese government made an unspecific holiday to make a long holiday from late April to early May. Bank holidays used to be the 29th of April (the Late Emperor's birthday),  the 3rd (Constitution memorial Day) and the 5th of May (Children's festival). Now the 4th of May is also a bank holiday. Unlike here, in Japan, sadly workers still find it difficult to take a long holiday because of social pressure, so this was the a bit of a solution from the then government. Two countries and two solutions to make longer holidays.

Although I am not under such pressure, I seldom take a break from ceramics. If I do, I tend to get bored. I have to find something else to occupy my mind. Last night, I loaded the kiln and started bisque firing after finishing this chicken totem! I did some sgraffito on her body.

Out of sorts (2012). Sold  

About 18 months ago, I made this chicken, Out of sorts. An art tutor purchased her on the first day of installation of the MA show last September. Since then I have had requests for her from a couple of galleries. I had enjoyed making them, and I would like to expand on this series more.

My latest Out of sorts

I do a mock-up of loading, and take photos before taking them to the kiln in the cold garage so that we wouldn't have to spend unnecessary time there. When I did for this shelf, they reminded me of terracotta army! :D Mine are all hand-built from a scratch; everyone has his own character. They are angels.

Five angels and three chickens

This is as tight as I could load in this kiln. There is also a lower shelf with porcelain wreaths and a few wings. The tallest boy only had less than 2 cm above his head to the lid; mine is a top-loading kiln. Having said that I was amazed that this small kiln actually can fire as many as these.

It's full! 

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Late this morning, we popped into Ecco to buy me a new pair of walking shoes. I have worn some Reebok's nubuck walking shoes for several years. But they are discontinued now, I had to venture to find a replacement. Well, I had to thank Reebok. Ecco has my size, 3.5, as a standard, and the pair I bought are very comfortable, light and soft. What else could I want? My dog walks would be much easier on them. (Our dogs pull a lot!)

Here are some photos of the city centre this morning. There were lots of European tourists, especially French. First, we decided to have some cakes before shopping. We found this new Turkish cafe.

Turkish coffee house with Turkish deserts. 

 From the window seats, you have a glimpse of the Cathedral.

Upstairs

******Edited 21/07/2014

We bought 4 baklava to take out. We were charged £9. We will never go again!

£9 for these! 

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It is on Butchery lane. It is a narrow lane with several independent shops and cafes.

The sign from the past is still here. 

Some shops still uses old signs. Charming! 

There is also Roman museum. You can see the excavated Roman mosaic in here. Canterbury used to be one of the important cities since the Roman period.  

Canterbury Cathedral gate is just there. This place used to be a cattle market. Tourists were queuing this morning. 

Cathedral gate

 On the way to Ecco, we saw these peculiar Morris Dancers. They are all in black and covering faces!

Next to them, ordinary Morris dancers were waiting for their turn. I love their cheerful costumes! 

We had fun today. I hope you had good weekend!

Yet another glaze-firing!

Here is our new porcelain bowl. I say our because Mike made it on a potter's wheel and I decorated it. It is now in my shop. Two more to be listed soon! Watch the space!

Porcelain bowl made by Mike and decorated by me. 

After loading the kiln about eleven o'clock Wednesday night, I caught a cold. Ah, it was predictable. I had stayed in the sick bed for one and a half day. I wanted to stay longer, but in the next room, Beaper, the grey parrot, was wolf whistling as well as whistling the tune of  the Merry Christmas song so loud that I gave up on napping. Since then, I have done more glazing in the studio (and remotely loaded the kiln and started another glaze-firing!). A strange thing about glazing is that I usually reluctant to start, but once it is started, it is difficult to stop until all are glazed. I kept at it for two days, and now only three pieces left.

I still get a sore throat and headache when I go outside; it has been cold lately. I put all pieces on kiln shelves in the studio last night, and politely asked Mike to carry them to the kin in the garage. They are mostly re-firing pieces.

Lower shelf

Top shelf

I had a small rabbit mask to be fired, but forgot about it. That's why the lower shelf has space!

When I am doing glazing, I feel a small kiln is more suitable for my work than a larger one. I like to fill the kiln quickly and see the result soon so that I can get feedback from what I have done. If my kiln were a bit taller it would be perfect. But I can't have it all.

Although I have been indoor bound, Mike has been out and about.

Ducklings

River Stour in the city centre

Moorhens

Our animal family are also doing well.  

Pumpkin is bathing. 

Dogs are sleeping in tandem. (Pearl chews her blanket!) 

 In the garden, apple blossom is in bloom.

Apples

 And Camassia is showing its beautiful blue spike.

Happy Easter to you all. We finished our first Easter Chocolates on Friday, and we are working on the second one. They come from Madame Oiseau chocolaterie. You can get her lovely chocolates in either Canterbury or Selfridge.

 

Midori made a friend with a swan

Hello everyone. I have lots to share with you, but today I will write about the swan I met in the weekend. We walked to Westgate garden on Saturday.

Our girls have been sulking a bit because I had been busy in my small studio.

Why should I get up?

I will make myself art!

 So when my back started aching, we thought we will go for a good walk.

Let's go! 

We walked all over and found the places we had never been. How exciting! But it was not that exciting when Pearl decided she saw a cat. She made such commotion; Mike had to carry her...

Shame of the family! :D

We walked more and more, and went to Westgate garden.

Late afternoon sun

 If you watch Bargain Hunt on BBC, this is the place they often film at the end of the program.

The child is not related to us. :D

 Then there was a swan. I called him and cooed him. He came!

He didn't stop. He got out of the water and started walking toward me. I was already very close, in arm's reach with beak to nose. I was a bit worried. When I waved my hand, he wagged his big tail. I know that is friendly gesture. But as I didn't have anything to give him, I said good bye to him, and decided to return with some food next day!

He came closer and stood up!

Next day, Sunday, we went back to visit him after eating a cake, Mike bought for himself, but I ate sponge part!

The river was still very full and there was still flood in some areas.

The swan was there. Current was fast, and he struggled to follow me, but I found a place I could feed him ... organic chicken pellets! 

What are they?

 If they are good for chickens, I thought they are good for swans, too!  But when I showed him, I could see some disappointment on his pretty face. : (

I left some on the wood, then he started eating them! Yeah! A passer-by told me that they have to dunk them to eat. And that's what he did. I was so happy!

I prefer bread...

Floods in Canterbury

Hello everyone. Yesterday it was a lovely sunny day. In the afternoon, Mike and I took Pearl and Topaz to River Stour to see the flooding in Canterbury. We have had one or two typhoon-like storms a week for the last two months. The level of ground water is high and there have been lots of floods in Southern England including Kent. Luckily flooded area in Canterbury is limited to parking and parks.

River Stour  after diverge

Water level is high and current is strong. 

Water was hitting the point the river diverges hard, 

Westgate Gardens was closed due to flooding. So we headed for Sainsbury's where Mike saw flood in its car park earlier that day.

Riverside path

 Path is under water.

'Mum, we can't go farther!

 The reflection of the trees was beautiful. It is a bit strangely magical despite dotted rubbish bins!

Path is under water

The ray of sunshine was pointing at the bench.

Pearl and Topaz were not impressed.

'We can't walk. There aren't any squirrels. Boring.'

We went to the other side of the river. Trees were uprooted here and there.  

A big tree fell.behind swimming centre

Despite everything, crocus started flowering in our garden and everywhere. I love them. They are the herald of spring.

In the raised flowerbed at the river side