Mines, Shrines and Packing my Bags

Geoff's brother and his wife came for a couple of days, so there was catching up to do, eating, drinking and putting the world to rights. On Monday we all went out for a walk calling at Honister slate mine first of all to pick up some pieces of slate for some tenuous plan of mine to incorporate it into sculptural pieces. However the rest of the week has intervened in this plan, the slate is still in the back of the car and I know for a fact that by the time I get back from Petra all knowledge of what I had in mind will have vanished ( recurring theme this - see blog Feb 13th )

Tuesday saw us lurking in a local churchyard seeking out photo opportunities to illustrate a press release on this year's competition theme of "Shrines, Altars and Markers". As it was my camera Geoff had to be the poser

And very nice he looked too. Wednesday was taken up with glazing for a last firing before my trip, and the third or fourth reincarnation of packing my bags. Luckily it seems to be cooling down a bit in Petra, and next week's forecast is for mostly the low 70's F - still positively tropical for a Cumbrian though.
Today has been a Cumbrian grey day with rain - hopefully the last I'll see for 10 days. Below are some of this weeks large tea bowls: