Ceramic Sales...David slays Goliath/ NHS slays coronavirus19

The year 2002 was quite a year for us at The Potters House Penketh.

Alan's dad..Sydney Snape died.

We bought an old guest house in Morecambe 5 minutes from the beach.

We went to Spain for the first time and stayed in the beautiful apartment owned by our niece and nephew... up the hill from Marbella.

Alan made this large bowl with his typical comic aproach to some of the Bible stories.

I loved it.

I didn't want it to go.

He often stashed it on the top of a storage cupboard in the back studio.

In that way ...it wasn't going to sell.

Until today.

The buyer asked about Gath...was it local?

So the potter told the story of the small David and the great big hulking giant Goliath.

She'd never heard it before.

I think Goliath is "coronavirus 19" and David is little NHS...that defeats it.....chops of it's head!!

This year...back to Morecambe one day soon I hope.

Next year back to Spain..I hope!

Ruskin's Library ... Brantwood..

Brantwood

This  for me is the most interesting room in Ruskin's home at Brantwood on the banks of the Coniston Water.

We were given the prompt by Geraldine Green to write about several of the curiousities in the cabinets.

I like a cabinet or shelf of curiousities...I have quite a few...the family would say.

Ruskin's Library

The moths are dead and lie under a protective glass dome
no danger to the carpets now         a wasps nest is empty
and the buzzing occupants have fled       to a foreign field
though the hover fly hovers no more              in my mind
I still hear his song of summer       by the specimen chest
it's closed drawers                         and locked cupboards
invite  illicit exploration                or maybe the bookcase
dusted and locked securely                  against the moths
will  reveal the truth              truth about the Turner copy
did the grand man know the artist            was he thrilled
to be chosen to reside in Ruskin's library               where
the Madonna still comforts her holy crying child
now fixed in stone         colour glazed       Liverpool style
over the fireplace            at a window seat there is space
enough     to hide       behind a long green velvet curtain
instructions tell me                I must not touch or horror
of horrors play                with the Armillary sphere     or
woe betide me     if            I  use the ornate writing tray
with its inks to pen my  inktober poems           better far
to find my own curled leaf   out      in the gardens where
freedom  reigns                        and rain brings freedom.

A Shelf of Curiousities with the potter's ceramic clown at the front.

A Box of Vanitas....Broken Bird's Eggs found in the field

Venus of the Bay...vanitas

Have fun this week everyone. x

Day five of the potter's art challenge....and this camel seen in the window at the Buckenham Gallery in Southwold...is ready, willing and able to paaarrrtay!!

Where do the ideas come from?...I dread to think!

I think this sweet camel is long gone...off partying somewhere classy...but others will follow where he has lead no doubt.

You can always pop into the Potters House here on Heath Road Penketh to see what the potter is conjuring up at the moment.

Looking in  and...

...he's looking out!!