Happy New Year and the last walk in 2014

Happy New Year! In Japan, New Year's Day is a big thing! It is the most important day in a year. Until the third, most places used to be closed expect for shrines where people visited to pray for their family's happiness for the year. There is special food prepared, so that nobody has to cook for three days.

As I'm away from my country, we don't do anything special here except for eating mochi, special rice cake, my mother sent me. We had champagne and Tempura in the evening. I finished the trilogy by Pullman. We watched Tin tin on TV. I rang my mother just before going to sleep due to the time difference. We had chatted for about an hour. Last two years, I haven't had time to tell her what exactly I was doing in detail because I was either too busy or too unwell. So it was a good catch up.

****************
On the eve, we had a long walk. It was cold but bright.

Pearl the whippet had been bored and when we saw her face like this, we got up and said 'Let's go for a walk!'

I'm bored....

This is an unusual little post box!

We walked down to Westgate garden.

There was renovation going on, but still Westgate looked nice!

Mike is taking photos and dogs were keen to chase pigeons! 

Let us chase pigeons and ducks! 

I noticed there is an apartment for pigeons! 

A bit damp, I imagine! 

 There are old trees there.

Rumour has it that this tree swallowed a bench.

Outside the garden, there is a nice Georgian house.

On the way back we bought double cream to do cream tea with Mike's scones, which spoiled our dinner! It's a pleasure to be grown-ups.

Origami, glazing and walk in the woods.

How was your weekend? I had a good one! Yesterday morning, my friend, Sandra, came over to learn how to make origami cranes for her art project. I haven't made cranes for a long time, but I soon remembered how to do. We had good laugh, too. I probably distracted her from origami by my perpetual chatting! Poor Sandra! She needed six cranes, but we made eight together. It was fun!

Origami

After that I worked hard. Since Thursday I had been preparing for glaze-firing.What exactly do I do, you might wonder. I paint underglaze, oxides and glazes on my sculptures. Then I wipe some of them and wax them to make resist, and repeat all painting again until I feel there would be enough depth in colours. It requires concentration and attention to details. Delicate parts are likely to be damaged during this process. I can't remember how many times I have almost cried! I held my breath and concentrated on dropping glaze with a cocktail stick on 2mm gap between hair part and face part. I was exhausted by six' o'clock, and slept before ten!

These three are going to be glaze-fired tomorrow.

Angel - on commission. The clients like the hair to be strawberry blonde.

The first boy to be glaze fired

Hair is very difficult to do a neat job! 

Today I finished preparing most of sculptures before lunchtime and loaded the kiln! How nice! Then I had my first half day off of the month! We went to the Blean woods for walk.

Blean woods

I like walking on unofficial footpaths at random, avoiding people. Then I can feel the woods!

Scabiosa

 There are lots of various mushrooms, green chestnuts and some scabiosa.

Oak

 The most beautiful things was the the green light coming through leaves.

Beautiful green light

There are decayed trees. They go back to the soil.  

Really big decayed tree

We had walked about an hour. The woods has a steep slope, and when we climbed to go back to parking, we were tired. But you don't need to pity on us. The apple tart Mike baked from windfall apples was waiting for us! Yummy! I was so happy to have married Mike! :D Happy autumn, everyone!

Mike's apple tart

******

'They went alone! Pearl and I were left behind! I wanted to chase squirrels! I'm sulking....'

Saturday walk in Canterbury

Hello everyone. Thanks to the early night yesterday, Mike and I both felt much better this morning. I had a lie-in, one of my most favourite pastimes. Just before lunch time, we went to the High street to get sourdough bread in the market.

It was a grey day. But Canterbury festival banner was cheerful

A typical grey day in late October

Sidney Cooper gallery was still closed. They open at 11:30 on Saturdays. Both are listed buildings. Yes, the painter Sidney Cooper used to live and paint here. 

Sidney Cooper gallery before opening time

 The library was open. The building is full of character!

Library 

I checked my poster is in the library. I had asked a receptionist to put it up about one week ago.

I liked this decoration! So cheerful!

In front of a cafe

Then I found a dog sitting on a chair in a different cafe!

'Who do you think you are?'

The Cathedral from a quiet back street.

Peek at the Cathedral

The baker who sells sourdough bread we went to get was not in the market. A bit of disappointment. But never mind. Pearl was pulling power. She got lots of attention from whippet lovers!

'I was very popular!'

After lunch, Mike went to hairdresser. He came to my room to show his new shorter hairstyle. I told him that he looks like an acorn! After that he went to parrots' room. Beaper wolf whistled, and Scooter beeped. Perhaps alarmed! I heard Mike talking for parrots 'Poor guy, he was plucked by another bird! Look at his head.' Do you know he talks to parrots (that's ordinary), and he replies to himself for parrots? That makes me laugh!  At least he didn't bother to ask sleeping dogs to give comments on his new hairstyle.

I have worked for about five hours to build Breeze and Cloud II's bodies. It was fun, but that's maximum length of time I could concentrate on. 

Breeze 

Tidy up is needed on my table!
 

St Martin's Church, the oldest church in England

Hello everyone. It rained today. I realised how much I enjoy listening to the sound of rain while I glazed in the studio this afternoon. The studio is a glorified garage and the roof is made by some cheep sheets, which make quite loud sound when rain falls on them. I like the rhythm of rainfall. In Japan where I was brought up,very heavy rain comes every afternoon during the long hot summer. It is probably the memory of that, which made me feel happy. Canterbury is too north and too cool to have real storms so often. The violent sound and shock of thunder storms became a distant memory to me, but I guess it is still in me.

Today, I am going to show you the photos we took when we visited St Martin's Church, the oldest church in England, after we left St Augustine's Abbey on Wednesday. I hope you like gravestones because there are lots of Celtic crosses there.

The wooden gate

The church stands near the top of the hill. From the St Augustine's Abbey, it is only about 3 or 4 minutes' walk, but felt longer because of the climb.

The notice board tells the history.

It was built by King Ethelbert of Kent in 580 or sometime near that time. 

The church yard had smell of death. The old decaying smell.

Narnian lamp post

 The church was closed, but we were allowed to take Pearl into the yard.

Beautiful Celtic crosses

Grave yard is on the slope.

Elaborate Celtic cross

Some of them were leaning. 

Others lay.

 From the top of the yard, you can see the Cathedral.

A view of the Church from one of the benches on top of the yard. 

I wonder what inside is like. 

On the high ground, the smell of decay is gone. The sun is shining.

On the way back, I noticed the beautiful coffin. It is so dark that the camera didn't focus well. There was carving. It reminded me of an elegant key to a glass cabinet. It was at the foot of Narnian lamp post. My imagination was aroused.

Who lies there?

After leaving the church, the first thing I wanted to do was having lunch in the city centre. But Mike said it could be near two o'clock (neither of us had watches or mobiles) so that we should head back and ring the vet to check about Topaz, and Pearl looked tired so she should go home and sleep. So we trudged on, but when we came two third of the way, my feet stopped. I got sore feet and blisters. So we rested on a bench in medieval orchard park. After about 15 minutes, we got up again, and walked back. When we came home, it was near 2:30.  Mike soon rang the vet. We were told she was fine and to collect her after 4: 30.

We are two third on the way back!

I was so tired that I couldn't eat. I just wanted to lie down after drinking a glass of water. It was all my stupid suggestion that we could walk. We ended up a marathon walk about four hours without lunch or drinks except for strong coffee and slice of cake we had at 11. (Pearl had fresh water all of the time!)

Next time, we will drive.

P.S. Topaz came home safely, but she was very drowsy. I don't think she recognised me when she came home. We waited until 10 at night, but she didn't drink or eat. So I spoon-fed a tiny piece of Italian ham (that's only we had in the fridge on that night). Then she perked up. I opened a tin of Royal Canin, chicken and rice, sensitive, and spoon-fed it to her. She licked the spoon. We knew that as soon as she starts eating, she should start recovering.

She regained a full control of her tongue and feet by Friday morning. I have heard these skinny dogs get hit by general anaesthetic. It's true. Only her shaved leg is left as a sign of her ordeal now. Love your dogs and clean their teeth!  

St Augustine's Abbey - The world heritage site

Hello everyone. Yesterday Mike, I and Pearl visited St Augustine Abbey and St Martin Church in Canterbury; both are the world heritage sites. I stupidly suggested that we could walk. It is about 30-minute-walk each way. In the end, we had walked four hours, from 10:30 to 2:30, without lunch! Ehm, we had a cake and coffee on the way. Mike wanted his birthday cake (it's today, actually), so we detoured a bit, and had what English called Elevenses. 

By now, you might be wondering where Topaz was. She went to a vet to get a dental job done. Mike dropped her at the vet before nine, and we were told to ring them between two and three to check if she is ok. We were worried because she has never had general anaesthetic. Skinny dogs like her sometimes have trouble with GA. The last time, some years ago, when Scooter, our parrot, had an operation, we were worried so much that we had paced for several hours until we could phone in. So this time, we decided to get out, and spend time more positively. It was also one day before Mike's birthday. So we wanted to do something interesting. Besides, we can't leave Pearl alone at home as she has never been alone. So, we chose these sites where dogs are allowed, to visit.

When we arrived at The St Augustine's abbey, it was about 11:30.  It was a gorgeous day. It was a larger place than I had ever imagined.

Taken from a mound. Canterbury cathedral is in background. 

This is interior wall. The original Anglo-Saxon building was founded by St Augustine, who was sent from Rome by Gregory the Great to bring Christianity to the Saxon kingdom of Kent, late 6th century (about 597 AD). It was demolished by the Normans in 11th century because they thought it was not good enough for the saints to be buried in. They built The Abbey which was as large as the current Canterbury cathedral. That's huge!

The yellow stone part was built by the Normans, and the red bricks above were added after Dissolution by Henry VIII, as he used it as a palace for Anne of Cleves. Elizabeth I and Charles I also used it as a palace. Charles I hired the famous John Tradescant the elder as gardener. He made a formal garden here for the king.    

I like reading all boards!

    There was a beautiful stone pillar with iron on the surface in the ground.

Magical looking stone

On the ground, there are lots of signs. 

Here was St Augustine's grave site. There are ancient Anglo-Saxon kings and queens were also buried in the site. 

Under the roof, there were ancient archbishops' graves.

I am looking at the archibishops graves.  From the Nave

Nave - Mike and Pearl

In the Nave

In the dome, there are some floor tiles. They collected from other places and put all here for display.  

Can you spot the lion in the circle in the wall? Original wall decoration. 

Our little lioness was happy in the shade. 

'I am not lioness, I am girl trapped in a dog's body!'

There was a cloister here. 

At the farthest end, there is St Pancras church. This was separated from the abbey, it, therefore survived The Normans' destruction. They were original Anglo Saxon remains. Red bricks came from Rome. I touched them. They were warm in the sun. I felt the time, about 1400 years' human history.  

Original building from the 6th century. 

It was a narrow church. 

St Pancras Church

Arch is intact. Amazing!

As we returned the visitor centre. This tree caught our attention. It used to be a giant, I imagined. 

We spent an amazing time. if you like history, this is a must. the £5 admission is cheap. I recommend you carry your drinks with you. If weather permits, you can enjoy picnic on the ground, too.  We were lucky to visit there on such a beautiful day. It doesn't look Kent, does it?  I could almost fool people that these photos were taken in Italy!  

As we were close to St Martin's Church, the oldest church in UK, we went there despite being already tired. But that's next time.

'They ate praline cakes. I was given biscuits!  : ) '

St Augustine's Abbey - English Heritage site

St Augustine's Abbey- Unesco World heritage site