Leighton Moss...Autumnwatch...

I was only 15 when I first came to The Bay...

 ..that's me looking like a tomboy rather than the glamorous two beside me!

...the Bay of course being...

...Morecambe Bay..

..with the most amount of sand in any of the British bays...though often...deadly....100 sq. mls of it!!

...it's quick...very quick!!

Skirting the bay is a wonderful nature reserve called ....

...Leighton Moss.

Up on a twitter site came the information that the BBC Autumnwatch  series this year was to be based by the bay.

So we went... and loved it...

...not so much because of the birds...we are not birders let alone twitchers..

...nor the deer just entering their rutting season...

..also interesting..

...and we didn't catch sight of the beavers...bah...

..no we just went to be nosey I suppose, and then got caught up in it's otherworldliness.

I took the Lumix Panasonic DMC-FZ45 with me to take some pics...

...but my tiddling little camera was as nothing compared to the whoppers owned by the serious snappers..

...why some even had a sort of structure on their back to hold the length of the thing!!

So I resorted in the end to my Apple ipad and took some views on Instagram...which I have to say is such fun!!

But you know me...I haven't yet worked out how to transfer them to my blog...

one day!

So here are a few pics taken with the camera..

and edited a smidgen on Picdeer, beavers, birdsMonkey.

..you can see that it's well worth a visit.

Maybe catch you there one day...who knows!!

Weekend at the Bay...that's Morecambe!

What a contrast a day makes ...could be a good song in that...change the words a bit...make it more poetic...

...well Saturday was bright and ...yes...windy...but sunny... and what an evening sky...

This pic is from Dave Brown of Wainwright Wanderings...a fantastic photography site . 

...well worth a viewing..

...I was in the house in front of a cozy fire and snuggled up in a blanket...well I said it was windy and the wind was cold.

The potter packed the car this morning ready to set off for Prom Art....

...we got to the front and looked at the Bay...

...and turned round and went straight back to the house! Unpacked the car again...sat and thought about things...and then went out to Red Bank for a coffee and toasted tea cake each....you have to be positive in this weather!!

So on the way back from the cafe...I made the potter stop a few times to take these.

Call them "elemental!...I like elemental actually...just glad of a home to go to and dry out afterward!

 

Lots of eager fishermen out at the Bare end of the Prom...no pun intended!!

...not bare at all in fact...very well covered up against the howling wind!

...this "craw"...viewed the outlook ...

and a lone fisherman got down in amongst the rocks....

...I'm facing into the wind and rain here and one walker braves it on the west prom......

....quite jolly actually ...he gave me a friendly wave...

...then along comes a mad cyclist head into the storm and pedalling like crazy ...

...going nowhere!

...it was like this...

...but you know it can be like this too...

...if it wants to!

Prom Art at Grange over Sands....Sunday.

Another year gone and April has come around so quickly.

Prom art on Sunday.....such a great place to see northern English artists and crafts folk.

We will be there ...unless the rains start again.

I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and making new aquaintances.

The potter has rather less to show this month due to the winter blip!!

But we go and set up and watch the world go by...especially the dog walkers!!

It's a time to dream as well as the view is stunning.

The car is packed and bulging at the seams...

I've been food shopping to stock up for a picnic...just to make a special day of it.

I'll let you know how it goes!!

...new pots in the studio!

...did you hear about the man who walked the beach at west end Morecambe and found some whale vomit?

They call it "Ambergris"...and the perfumers of Paris use in in their wares!!

Well we walked the same beach this week, our local beach......I have to say, not knowing at that point about the "Ambergris" and found this!!

The "Ambergris"...is said to be worth up to £100.000 ....

...what the!!!

This driftwood is to become the potter's next conceptual piece...with figures all along it...

...will let you see it when it's finished.

Some more stuff out of the kiln today made by a couple of people in the classes....both very talented...

 

Marcia's pot with dragonfly and irises... 

 ...and a close up of the glaze...

...this head of the cockerel by P.W. with a really strong finish...red glaze is hard to use ...

 

I noticed this on the bench...an order for one of the potter's harvest pots...

...the fields ready for gathering...

Hurray....!

The First of Many...

"Boats on the Bay"

...well at least I hope so...

managed to work out the photoshop routine for this...

...it only took me all afternoon !

Some pics from the Bay.

I took these this week on one of those soft, still autumn days that I love.

.

I like this grass ....but it has swamped Grange...and now it is "over grass"...not "over sand"!

We need the sand for the children to play on.

harbour wrack...

 

...lime and cherry...two trees in the street getting ready for the big shut down...

(still playing around with editing and trying to get my own style!...it works sometimes I think!)

it's true...summer is over

We're back from the wet north ...and no Grange Prom Art yesterday.

This year has been the worst for the kind of weather that causes openings to be cancelled...

...although we masterfully kept going last month...even though the rain came in bursts...we simply gathered the paintings  up and waited 'til it stopped.

 However on Sunday we met up with the buyer for the tankard and she was really happy with the outcome!

So...can't win 'em all but won one today!

The trees up by Grange are already tinted with reds and golds and looking like fire blazing even in the downpours that have flooded the fields.

I have some seasonal indicators here at the Pottery... telling me that  summer is over...

.

...the virginia creeper outside the window of the lounge.... spreading downwards like a morrocan veil coyly hiding the worst of winter from our summer blinded eyes.

 ...and of course ...the delicate webs of autumn interlaced with trembling raindrops and turned to crystal as the sun breaks through for a brief moment....

joint work

We were asked to make a tankard...and paint the landscape that can be viewed from the Promenade at Grange-over-Sands....oh and then put a sinking man in the bottom of the pot!...well it's all to do with the treacherous sands on Morecambe Bay.

The potter made the tankard and I painted the landscape with slip and glazes......we're quite pleased with the results....hope the order is acceptable!

"not waving...but drowning"...(with apologies to stevie smith!)

Sunday at Grange-over-Sands

It was Prom Art again on Sunday ...gosh it comes around so fast I can hardly get my breath.

Well... we love Grange and The Prom Art...but not the rain that stopped the people from promenading with their families and dogs!

So it was a matter of covering up the stall and in the heavy showers hauling in the paintings while the ceramics could look after themselves!

    

  The stall looked good..

...even in all the wetness!

.and Robert....chief organiser, if you don't count his gorgeous wife !...

was to be seen as usual, walking up and down the prom encouraging us.

 yellow hat glowing... so we would know that he was around.

We had some new tiles on the stall...         
               hares......!

 yes... I know you all realise I'm besotted with them at the moment...

                       but there you go!

...you must blame Derek Jarman's cottage for it all!













There's always a bonus at Grange.....
...the bay was glorious with massive rain clouds  hanging over the hills around Arnside...
I just had to take loads of pics...

Then just to be seen away in the distance at the oppposite side of the bay...

...leading his people like a modern day Moses across the treacherous sands....

the Queen's Guide, Cedric Robinson

I listened to two little girls discussing the sands...

..." If you fall in there the sand will swallow you up"...

...unbelieving look..."Really?"

Well it could have been a Dr. Who moment!