Today was changeover day, and we have once again come up in this world! We had come up last week too, as you recall, and it just seems to keep getting better. This time it's soft carpeting of a Rosamunde Pilcher kind of color (creamy rose), two bedrooms, tons of books and DVDs, and yet (dare I mention it?) NO WIFI. Help! Well, I guess we came up in this world in other ways. But even so, we are happily placed.
Yesterday had been a day of tidying, for changeover was coming and we knew we had to get our skates on. There were so many bits to pack! You just can't fathom them until changeover day is upon you. They just aren't real, somehow. Well today, they became real.
Uppermost in the SconeLady's mind was the refrigerator. I had concocted a Shepherd's Pie for our dinner last night and was appalled this morning at how much of it was still there. What was I to do with it? The trouble is having things to cart around the town for such hours. There was milk, jam, vegetables, ham, butter, and more. I am averse to tossing stuff out, regardless of 'carting'. But in the end, the Brotherly Traveler was really rather smart. "TOSS," he declared. And so I (mostly) did. And then, we:
Clementina
- got everything packed into suitcases and grocery bags
- made a lunch (croissant ham/cheese/tomato sandwiches, bananas, grapes, and yogurt, for my inquiring sisters)
- locked up the sweet cottage that had become our home
- dragged the bags/grocery bags up to the cottage office to dump them with the long suffering female staff there
- walked a mile uphill to the Leach Pottery studio
- sat down
- enjoyed the Leach Pottery lecture and demonstration and drank tea and coffee out of Leach Pottery mugs!
The demonstration and lecture were smashing. It was done by Clementina, a splendid potter from South Africa who has been earning a living as a potter since the 1980s and who has two studios there. And a staff. And two assistants. But she is so humble that one would hardly have dreamed of a staff and two assistants. And two studios.
She showed us slides of other South African potters' works, which were interesting and lovely. But not a fraction as interesting and lovely as when she began showing us slides of her work. I couldn't take my eyes off it, as she humbly explained what motivated the pieces and why they mean something to her. As she came to an end of the lecture and asked if there were questions, I blurted, "Are there pieces one might - ah, purchase?"
My favorites, above
It became quiet (of course an American would ask something like that), and no one really ever did answer the question, except to murmur something about 'finding it online'. It occurred to me then that the pieces might be at rather a higher place than the SconeLady might be able to procure. But I am looking into it, dear Readers, and I think it was a reasonable question. It happens whenever a person walks into the Leach Pottery studio. Their fingers itch to pull out a charge card and - well, charge.
We said our goodbyes and started back down the hill, to be given our cottage keys and to drag the bags/grocery bags over to the new abode. It was a thrill to discover that the Norway Store is now mere steps away! You can see the Norway Store from our door stoop!
Bliss.
So, we will begin another week of walking, touring, concerting, eating, and enjoying every single moment of it.
See you along the way!
the SconeLady
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