Winter

We are now well into winter and have had a couple of sharp frosts so far, in this part of the Cotwolds, which has seen me put out the suet balls, peanuts and seed mixes for our local birds - yes, even the rooks and crows who live in our very tall trees across the road. I have some squirrel proof feeders for the small birds to make sure everyone gets their share. As we live in a village about six miles from our larger town, Cirencester, the colder weather has seen me making more trips to our local Post Office in Northleach with parcels.
In November we went on a day trip to Worcester with a local Arts Society group and the highlight of the day was a visit to the Royal Worcester porcelain museum where we had a very informative talk by a senior mould maker, now retired as the models are no longer made in Worcester but have been taken over by Portmeirion. He showed how a model is created using liquid slip, a mould for an arm and a complete white model of a famous local footballer. He was involved with the work on many limited and valuable editions, including spending months in Vienna working on a special piece for Goldschneider. We spent the rest of the morning looking round the museum which had some rare pieces from the eighteenth and nineteenth century, including some pierced work by George Owen and beautiful examples of hand painting of fruit and cattle by the Stinton family. There was also a small collection of 19th century art pottery which looked very contemporary. Unfortunately, my companion caught a cold at the event which was passed to me thus causing me to miss my Poetry Circle meeting that month.
Prior to that I attended a meeting of the Scandinavian Interests group of a local U3A (University of the Third Age to younger readers!). The morning session included a talk about, and display of, Scandinavian glassware from Iitalla to Holmegard and more, with a collection of decorative tableware which included candle holders, decanters and vases.
On the Etsy front, I have been working through my stash to add more items to MillCottageRetro and have yet more waiting in the wings to be added. I work more indoors these days, though I heat my Outside Studio (shed!) during the winter months - now our youngest has moved out I am utilising a small corner of his old room for a desk and PC! (It remains his room, though!). I also do my packing inside - in the kitchen - though the packaging materials are also outside in the Stationery Store (another shed!). I don't have any pictures to add, as yet, as I took the photos of the Worcester visit on my phone and haven't yet added them to my PC. I can add some, however, when I put the posting URL on my Etsy Facebook page.
At the beginning of December we went to an exhibition at The Wilson in Cheltenham on the craftsman and designer, Ernest Gimson, who settled in the Cotswolds along with a team of like minded people, some of whom were based in the village of Sapperton, a few miles from Cirencester. There were some interesting exhibits, especially a pair of firedogs with a squirrel design and various items of furniture. Earlier this month we went to a lecture at our own Arts Society branch which was about the depiction of glass objects, usually vases, bowls and glasses, in paintings by old masters - the aim was mainly to illustrate the virtuosity of the artists but it also included something on the history of glass which was most interesting.
This past weekend I took part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch and, fortunately, as I usually put out food for them in various containers hanging from an old tree that I can see from my desk, there are quite a variety with goldfinches, blue tits and great tits being the most numerous and lesser well known visitors, such as a greenfinch, nuthatch and coal tit putting in an appearance, along with a jay.
We have had a few more days of frosty weather but, as it is now the end of January we might not being getting anything worse - but who knows!