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| Hannah, Paul and CAKE! |
You might want to avert your eyes from this post
(Caution: contains 22 photos. That's 22,000 words if each is worth a thousand!) So, I'm back at my desk on Winchester Street in the good ol' US of A. I've been back home for a week now and I'm just now getting my bearings. So much to digest from my travels and so much to get underway here AND trying to get some momentum in the studio takes a bit of aimless wandering at first. But the fog is lifting and all systems are go. Before I move any further I need to put this 5 weeks of adventure and conviviality on record. It is short of all the stories that should accompany them, but you'll need to track me down in person for all the inside scoop.
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| This is the view down into Ulswater. |
To pick up where my last real blog left off... I left Jan and co. in Blairgowrie and headed west to visit Hannah in Dumfries.
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| Her wee studio |
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| ...and her wee self! |
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Inner Sanctum
From Hannah's I drove down to the Cotswold, loaded up the van and drove back north to Penrith for a great Pottery Festival. We also visited the Lake district for a day. Way too brief a visit.
(The photos keep jumping out of order, so I'm sorry about that. I thought it was my old computer. Maybe it's a flaw in Mr. Google's system?) |
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| These delightful fellows provided the Dixieland music! |
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| Only in England... |
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| Lots of British potters make animals and birds, much more that in the US. And many of them are wonderful. |
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| Inside the walled garden at Hutton-in-the-Forest. This is the site of the festival! |
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| More Hutton |
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| This is Ashraf Hanna with me. There will be a prize for the best caption! |
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| Ulswater, in the Lake District |
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| I had my first proper English beer here in the winter if 1978. It is still my favorite...SBA, please?! |
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| The old hearth in the pub |
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| Cousin Vernon's cider works, brewed in used bourbon barrels! My highest recommendation... |
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Toff's stand at Hutton.
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| Choosing between ancient standing stones and the history of pencils, I took the pencil history and that has made all the difference. Maybe I'll tell you more about it one day |
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| Ray Finch in his greenhouse, fretting over his tomatoes. He always does. Kind of like his pots...never quite satisfied. |
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| I always take pictures of the old bottle kiln. I'm sorry that I never got the chance to fire it. |
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| This is where I learned to throw lots of pots. A shot of the showroom. |
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| I love a good stone wall. |
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And, of course, a few English birds!
If your still with me, what's up with photos that run off the page. Have I pushed it too far with too many photos? |
12 comments:
Looks like you had a great trip. Mr. Google often gives me fits when I am trying to do layout too.It may be nothing that you are doing.He just seems to have a mind of his own.
Great post Dan! We noticed all the bird and animal makers when we were at Hatfield a couple years ago. It's really cool, wonder why we don't see that here. Loved the pics of Hannah and of Ray in the greenhouse. I'd love to have that cute little van too. Hope you'll share more.
"At last! The beard from heaven!"
What an amazing trip you had ,Dan! Beautiful pictures.
I'm just amazed that you got to meet Ashraf Hanna, a real clay badass if there ever was one. Definitely in my top three favorite ceramists, along with David Roberts and Duncan Ross.
Now, back to making your great birds!
I envy you! What fun! Thanks for sharing these little morsels from your travels. I like the formatting/captions on your pics. They seem to be fine on my monitor!
Thankyou for some wonderful pictures of your adventures! Could have viewed many more. :)
..I think bird and animal makers are rare here as well..
So nice to see and read about your trip, looks like you had a blast!
There are never to many photo's in my opinion. :-)
Never too many photos! Looks like great fun.
Love all the birds...
You just lived my dream. Thanks for sharing. I'll never get there, but I get to see some of it this way.
John
Blimey that seems like years ago Dan. Great pictures, Ullswater is lovely don't you think. We've just booked a week in a cottage near there later in the year. Love the birds, will they be salted courtesy of Toff? Who won the competition by the way? Lovely pencil museum van, that's a cracking place too. Glad you're back safe and sound.
h
Love Hannah's studio...wonder if I can get my garage to look half as sweet.....love the pencil truck (Wallace size it seems) as for the picture with Ashraf Hanna "I see great things in your future young man!" (Spoken by what appears to me the reader of beards.....) See you next week maybe...
what a great stash of images Dan looks like you had a fine time!! yep google does seem to have some image issues.. i get a few error messages sometimes..all good though looks like you had some fine weather too :))
I enjoyed the account of your trip, and loved all the photos. It was really good to meet you and now I will be able to follow your blog with renewed interest. 'Haste ye back' to use a good Scottish term.
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