Biodegradable Kisses?

I'm as confused as you are!

It’s been a slippers by the fire sort of a week

Hello,

My mind has been uncharacteristically quiet, usually fizzing with thoughts and ideas it has been dulled by congestion and lack of sleep for over a week now. I have shuffled around the house moving from one task to another unproductively, the only thing I’ve made any progress on is a jigsaw puzzle that I actually bought for Christmas. It’s been a long time since I felt this unwell and while I’m grateful that it’s nothing more serious or enduring than a cold I’d be glad if it buggered off now!

Like many I’m sure, I use the reminders app on my phone in an effort to try and capture and recall some of the many things that pop into my head at inconvenient moments, enlisting Siri’s help if I’m driving. Lying on the sofa and idly scrolling a few days ago I found this reminder - ‘Biodegradable Kiss’ - and am utterly mystified. I have been pondering it a while now but am clueless. Any suggestions?

I also stumbled across this YouTube video which I found kind of inspiring. A young woman who has spent three years developing a foldable coat hanger. It sounds so simple yet it clearly wasn’t, in fact it’s quite ingenious and I very much wish they’d existed four years ago when we moved into the barn and struggled to create hanging space. Have a watch here.

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The ‘Big Empty Border’ is empty no more

I can’t pretend I’ve done much (any) gardening in the last couple of weeks, but with the gardeners help the first bit of structure for the new border is in. I tried grouping these yew balls in various ways and of course it simply depends on where one stands as to how good they look - perspective is everything. I’m really happy that they’re in though, I had imagined I would design this border on paper, order the plants and watch it grow, and while I have sketched things out it is feeling easier to envisage it one bit at a time. After a small crabapple v eating apple order confusion the crabapples are in too and next up will be some grasses I think. I’m aiming for repetition of fewer plants but let’s see how carried away I get over the coming months.

I have been repeatedly checking our local library in the hope that they will eventually stock Winter Gardens by Andrew Montgomery and Clare Foster, it looks such a beautiful book with so many helpful illustrations of the ‘skeleton’ of various gardens. I’m sure getting this part right is the most important for these are the plants that take their time to grow and require the most investment and I feel certain it would be useful in helping me figure out the garden here. I adore Andrew’s photography and also that of Eva Nemeth whose first book I am hoping may find its way to me for Christmas.

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Boom!

Creativity is all about risk taking and learning from failure right? My studio is not terribly warm during the colder months, in fact I just popped out there and it’s absolutely freezing today, and as a consequence it can take a very long time for vessels to dry enough to bisque fire. If pots are not completely dry the water particles within the clay sadly cause explosions! I spent an afternoon a couple of weeks ago creating a drying programme on my kiln which I had hoped would solve the problem, and to be fair other than the pot above it worked, but I guess this one was a bit bottom heavy and still damp. Shame as it was a nice shape, but I’ll be more careful next time.

I have made a new glaze to test which I’ll do in the next week or so, so fingers crossed I followed the recipe correctly - there is a lot of maths involved - and that it will look as I hope though glazing remains a dark art as far as I’m concerned.

Walking in the field with Gertie recently I have been checking out the hazel and willow with thoughts of cutting some of the whips and making something. Last year (or was it the year before?) I received a ‘Make a Basket’ course and kit from My Own 2 Hands. I thoroughly enjoyed doing so and while I won’t pretend my basket looks exactly like the one on their website it’s not bad and I know I’d enjoy making another.

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Conkers 0 : Spiders 1

In case you too had fallen for the myth that conkers keep the spiders at bay I think I can comprehensively disprove it! It was a nice idea and a good excuse to go conker collecting in early autumn - walking along rolling conkers around in one’s hand within a warm pocket is very satisfying. There is one part of me that feels I should clear up this little corner of the boot room, but actually it’s been like this for weeks as there is something about it that keeps drawing my eye and frankly it’s causing no harm.

Right, having promised myself I would write this today I will press ‘go’ and retreat to the sofa where I can tuck up under a blanket and a dog. Hoping you and yours have not succumbed to anything horrid, and that despite all the unnecessary sadness and misery in the world that the next couple of weeks will be happy and fulfilling ones for you.

Vx