Summer in Sweden

This morning Kate, Jonathan, Geoff and I walked down the hill to the inlet. It is a stunningly beautiful day. All those photo of Sweden you see in summer that you thought must have been photoshopped are not. The light is beautiful and clear and not harsh like home.

We had a coffee and then had a call from the family to say Petter and Albert were bringing their boat down to the inlet.

The wild flowers along the edges of the roads, the water, and everywhere are stunning. I particularly like the lawn dotted with little white flowers.

The day after

The  party continued with brunch at Håkan and  Birgitta's the next morning with almost the entire wedding party. Lots of children and it continued into the evening with an Aussie barbecue.

Breakfast in the garden

Getting ready to cut the cake

Kids entertained

Aussie's cooking

Michael barbecuing unfamiliar meat.

Freezing by Aussie standards but babies playing in the water regardless, about 18°C.

We think this means big breasted women ahead, or rather the men are hopeful, Kate and I think it means speed bumps.

Wedding at Kolmåden

Michael, Rebecca and Edward. Wedding day.

Mother and Father of the bride, Håkan and Birgitta.

Groom, Michael.

Geoff, father of the groom, speaking.

Mothers and sister Kate of groom.

Dancing til 2.

Great wedding, sorry that there aren't more photos or messages to my friends but my email is impossible to use here in Kolmåden. So hope you are looking at the blog, will be back in touch soon I hope.

Swedish Wedding

Beautiful day for a wedding. Sunny and crisp. The Australians are rugged up and the Swedes are in T-shirts. This morning the Aussies went to the venue to help set up. It is in the lime hut of an old marble mine first mined in the 1600 hundreds. So charming and old, no running water and most of the lighting is candlelight.

Standing on the 17th century brick floor.

Kate having a tea after setting up.

View from outside the wedding venue.

Where the wedding reception is being held.

Edward wrapped in my scarf  waiting for his parents wedding.

We are about to get dressed and go back for the ceremony.

Stockholm

Made it. Wasn't easy in the Airbus A380 I can tell you. It's like flying in a building with seats made for people no bigger than children. But we're here now with Kate and Jonathan and feeling ok considering we travelled for 29 hours (21 in the flying building).

Warm in Stockholm and sunny this afternoon, hopefully will continue until after the wedding. Lunch with K&J in Drottningatan which was full of people enjoying summer. The hotel is also in Drottningatan which is centrally located in the city, ooh the shops are beautifully Swedish. Going down to Korlmorden tomorrow to help with wedding preparations.

K&J at lunch.

View from our hotel window.

80 plates around the world

Finally the plates are finished and being packed and ready for their trip to Sweden.  

They were very slow bisqued and survived, but I found little black specks all over them on every shelf of the kiln. Mild anxiety set in, they brushed off the bisqued ware but I knew I couldn't glaze the plates if they were going to have black dots embedded in the glaze. I thought of firing upside down as the glaze surface would be underneath, what to do? Eventually I called Ray Cavill my "old" teacher and we discussed my dilemma. He's worth his weight, came up with the reason for the black dots. The burners! Because my shed is near the Bay the salt air had rusted inside the burners and when lit the rust was blown through the kiln. He is a genius! I will have to use a wire brush and clean out the rust, vacuum out the burners and spray some WD40 on them between each firing. Big job with four burners.

I didn't have time to do all this before the plate deadline, so brought them to Brisbane and paid to have them fired. All done and dusted and being packed ready to go.

The plates look a bit yellow here but they are white thankfully. They will be used for the starters at the dinner and the next day for the cake. There will be a daylong party on the Saturday morning with brunch and a barbecue in the evening. The guests will take home their plate as a memento.

These little favours are for the children attending the wedding.I have threaded a ribbon through each hole.

This last couple of weeks I have been busy writing a paper for a conference in China in September. It was a wonderful surprise to be accepted but I have had to write like mad to have it finished to submit it for translation next week. It's all go, go, go.

Here's a treat below, five gorgeous boys. Dylan, Leo, Daniel, Edward and Christopher. One soccer player, two basketball players, one circus performer (speciality trapeze) and one future sportsman.

Ready to Fire

The kiln is full, the cones are set, and my fingers are crossed. With a lot of rain, a few plates are still cold and damp I fear. But armed with my trusty heat gun they are drier than they would have been. I also put one burner on and had the flame just luffing for a while and closed the kiln up tightly after I had switched off the gas hoping that it would warm up enough to heat the plates and dry them out before I crank it up tomorrow.

The market at Point Lookout was poorly attended both by marketeers and potential buyers so it wasn't the best day. The music which was conveniently facing my stall was the highlight of the day. Adam Dunn played his guitar and sang while Len from the music stall jammed along on his Ukelele. Wow! They were great and softened the blow of few buyers.

Here's a photo to make you smile. A box of naked Barbies and Ken dolls on sale. The rest of the market looked pretty dull next to this box of naked, writhing, wild haired, orgy-like distorted bodies.

Ta-da

Hot out of the mould!

Plates, plates, plates, work, work, work.

Winter is here. Lovely.

Two weeks without a plate made thanks to a virus. Three weeks today until we set foot on the plane. YIKES!!! Meanwhile the number of wedding guest grows. YIKES again!

I was back in the shed beavering away, making 18 plates, 6 short of my goal today. Tomorrow I will have to complete the new total of 80, so with the previous 46 completed a couple of weeks ago I will make at least 16 tomorrow. Thank goodness for my magic heat gun. 

The goal wasn't reached today as a trip to Main Beach at dusk was a necessity of course. Hmmm it may have been a mistake as the beach was a wreck. Huge seas have eroded the sand-hills to cliff faces and the beach was grey with pumice that is being worn into rounded pieces with the constant wave action. It was a sad sight.

It is not even the highest tide of the week and the waves are already washing up the wheel ruts where the track leads onto the beach. What has happened to all the creatures who live on the beach, crabs, birds, eugaries, and insects with such erosion? Luckily there are no turtles hatching at this time.

My feet getting a pumice and wave pedicure!