Disused tunnel, dinosaurs footprints and crescent moon

Hello everyone. Mike is in the middle of his 10-day leave. So Monday is not really Monday to him. It is still to me, but one of my busiest weeks of the year have just gone; I can relax. I should be able to cruise until mid-September unless some major issues arise. They often do!

Yesterday afternoon, we went for a walk to the back of Kent University. One summer I used to take Topaz to this area almost every morning. But it is a deserted place, and there are lots of brambles which cut Pearl’s skin, so I stopped going. There is a public path alongside the old Crab and Winkle Line, one of the UK’s oldest rail lines. It opened in 1930, between Canterbury and Whitstable. It is the world oldest to carry passengers regularly and also the oldest line to issue a rail pass in 1932. The line literally goes under the University ground. Well, actually the University was built over its tunnel.  Because it was a steam train, there are several water reservoirs along the line. You can still see round ponds here and there. 

Disused Tunnel - isolated and desolated.

I also used my newish camera to film the walk for the first time. It’s wobbly and shaky. But I had a good shot of Topaz rolling on a certain stinky spot, and Pearl marking on the grass. Oh dear! ( They are good shots only because they stopped, so I could focus on them! )

While I was taking photos of these trees, Mike and girls walked away. 

The right side is the railway bank.

 At the lowest point, there is a stream. We could hear the sound of  a small water fall. This used to be Topaz's water hole.

Topaz' water hole.

Here is Pearl. Her shadow is securely attached to her, unlike Peter Pan's.

Pearl

 Sky was dramatic.

On the slope.  We have just turned back. Left side is the railway bank.

 There are only wild flowers there.

When we walked back to our car, we found dinosaurs foot prints around the campus. 

Then our nemesis, the seagulls flew over and threatened us, especially Topaz. They always target her. But this time, we didn't get dive-bombed. Thanks for that! 

As soon as he spotted us, he threatens us and making alarm calls on the building!

Back home, we were hoping to see some meteorites. Instead, Mike counted three satellites before it became cloudy! But we were treated with a beautiful crescent moon before dark.
 

 I feel special when the moon is especially beautiful. Some kind of magical feeling. The beauty of the night. 

Waiting for Next Bang and winter walks

Hello everyone. We have been busy listing our ceramics today. Taking photos and listing take a long time. Today's would be the last listing before New year, I think.

Here is the photo of the 'Waiting for the next bang'. I like him. It was an experiment, and I think that all those paintings done by my students friends in our course have influenced me. He is quite tall for my work; 24 cm. 

  

Waiting for next bang

During the morning walk, Pearl thought she saw a cat. Well,  in fact, it was a large leaf being blown in the wind. She became over-excited. So when we came back she was given some time to cool down in the garden. She is telling me that she wants to go back to a warm room with these eyes.  

'Mummmmmy, can I go? My white whiskers will get frozen.'

We went to the campus for afternoon walk. There is a large mulberry tree in the courtyard where Mike's office building is. I love these branches; lots of character.

Mulberry tree

Tomorrow will be busy, Topaz and I will take a small packet to the post office first in the morning. The whippet sculpture I listed last night had been already purchased by a lovely whippet loving lady in Canada when I woke up this morning. Tomorrow is Royal Mail official deadline for Christmas delivery to Canada, USA and Eastern Europe. So if there are any more orders from these regions, I will go back to post office over and over again tomorrow. If there are not any more, I will go to the studio to continue glazing.

Architecture-watching on campus

Hello everyone. We had a glorious day. It was very old ( max. 3C!), but blue sky all day. We took our dogs to the University for a walk around noon. Mike told me that there is a new feature on the newest building, which was worth looking at. I call it architecture-watching.

First stopping point was the living wall. Despite the frosty night, it looked very much alive.

Living wall

There are strange seats near the library. Mike said they are for people playing boules.  I have only twice actually seen people playing boules on campus.
 

Topaz thinks they are not comfortable to sit.

 The new music hall is open now.

New music hall

Next to it, I found this. It looks like a man-made object, but it was a plant.

A branch?

Sky was as blue as it could be in Canterbury!

 Christmas is coming.

 Finally we reached the new building.

I like this cherry picker. It looks sweet!

 They hung lots of metal tiles on the facade. With a breeze, they moved and looked pretty.

Metal tiles

This is the art building. The reflection was beautiful.

Art building

Our dogs got bored. They much prefer going to the woods. But with all mud, we didn't want to take them, especially just after we have shampooed both of them!