Apple frangipane tart, thought on school fee and calming whippet

Hello everyone. I hope you are all well. Mike and I caught a cold last week. It's the time of the year when students come back and all sorts of infection go around. Apparently sitting out for six hours in the clod studio to do workshop course yesterday didn't help. I had a heat pad, four layers for top, two layers of socks, and a pair of boots. Even with these layers, I felt unwell. Frankly speaking, my body is not made for this type of cold for such a long time.

Mike is as nice as usual, of course. He baked an apple tart with frangipane from Pumpkin's eggs and our own apples from the garden for me. My favourite apple desert. It is very delicious. We have already finished a half. : )

Can you see a slice? I stopped him serving it because I wanted to take this photo!

Today I recalled my days at Kent University. I took MA in social anthropology about 20 years ago. There were about a dozen of us, and academic staff were twice as many as us, including researchers. They were from Oxbridge and University of London.

My current art course has also a dozen students; two thirds are part time. There are two staff to look after us. Ummm. What a difference! After yesterday, I became a bit suspicious how I would be able to get value out of this course. Degree itself sounds good, but it won't make my art better. Every month they charge me about £315. So imagine I joined a club with £315 monthly fee. Practically I am paying £10 a day, including weekends. I would expect a lot from the club with this fee. My guess is that I will lose on this. In order to reduce a loss, I will make sure I would go to the ceramic studio whenever I can, and use their equipment and materials, which I don't have access at home. I will buy clay at a cheaper price from them. I will borrow books from the library (and read them!). I will find a hair salon with student discount!  Mondays are usually my studio day, but not tomorrow. I will rest at home and try to get better soon.

I made this whippet last night. I was stressed from the course (cold, long and not time-efficient) and felt miserable with a cold. I tried to calm myself by making this whippet. I was trying to be positive. It usually works, but not last night. Nonetheless, I liked her. When I saw her this morning after a restless nigh with sneeze, sore throat and blocked nose, I felt better. Her calm posture made me settled. I used a sample porcelain white stoneware grogged clay. It wasn't suitable for making this particular shape, so I struggled a bit, but I could manage in the end.  At this moment, I am thinking to use their white crackle glaze or my own clear crackle glaze.

My new whippet

It was a tiring weekend. Now I know why lots of people don't like the end of the weekends. I hope Mike and I can get better sleep tonight. Take care, everyone! Don't catch a cold!