Chickens and herons and cream jugs

When I want some fresh air I can go up the road to my friend Felicity's garden and talk to her chickens, who are very interesting and very pretty, and don't they know it.

I think here the hens are dancing.... bit of dosey doh going on methinks..

Otherwise I can go down to the river and

admire the herons - who can't be better described

than by Mary Oliver:

'On the leafy banks

an old Chinese poet

hunched in the white gown of his wings'

was waiting.

The water

was the kind of dark silk

that has silver lines

shot through it

when it is touched by the wind'

and

'The preacher

made his difficult landing,

his skirts up around his knees'

When I am not out, I am often
in the workshop bashing away
with a hammer and generally
making a lot of lovely noise

without annoying anyone..

My next project in silversmithing is a cream jug - this is one of the very early stages, when I am raising and doing a bit of planishing - long way to go.