Christine wanted to see the Christmas lights in Bourges - such as they were.

The rue Moyenne is decorated in blue and silver this year. Not exactly the Champs Elysées!

Two old boys with a better idea than walking in the freezing cold.

 One of the south face entrances of the Cathedral of St Etienne.

Looking out over the town.

Someone once asked me if my photos were HDR. Well, I am afraid I had to say no. From that day on I have thought that it might be an interesting thing to try. I have been playing around most of this weekend trying different things. The fun is that there are no rules that I can see for the moment which is just up my street. Obviously there will be more images to follow in due course.

We have just returned from a pleasant week exploring the mountains of the Haute Savoie - which Christine has described in her blog.

I'm showing a few of the new photographs in our pottery gallery that we took while we were away.

I was asked to photograph the latest exhibition at the La Borne pottery museum. It is called Les Soins du Corps - Care of the Body - and it closes on 11th November. The photographs are needed for the Museum's catalogue.

A stand-up bath made in 1871 and measuring well over a metre. A clever saving on water - but how the hell do you get into it?

I love the shaving bowl's simple shape. At art school we were asked to consider whether beauty must be sacrificed for function (or the reverse). I have always skated between the two.

This is a display of bed warmers, the hot water bottles of the day. In supermarkets nowadays we have a choice of red, blue or yellow rubber.  Those old potters must have had fun, especially Marie Talbot whose handbag-shaped bottle bears the inscription, "made by me marie talbot". It's the most moving piece I've seen for a long time - her message touched my heart.

Water 'fountains' by Marie and Jean Talbot. Exquisite elaborate pieces made for washing hands.

The great pot on the left is a real tour de force, made for washing clothes with hot water. Rinsing took place in the village's lavoir, much further away in the forest. An old neighbour of ours, Mme Lili, remembered that her husband had to come down the sloping paths to help her haul the clean laundry back in a wheelbarrow!

This water pitcher demonstrates the potter's skill at applied decoration. All these pieces were wood fired and had to be robust to survive rigorous firing. No firing patterns for those latter-day potters!

I am preparing pieces for an exhibition near Paris at Le Lavoir from Friday 20th November to Sunday 13th December.

The theme of the exhibition is 'Bowls' and I am one of 16 ceramists from France taking part. I cannot show all the bowls I am exhibiting but here's a sneak preview. These were fired yesterday. One of them has been put back for the show, 5 are on display in the showroom and I have smashed another 6. I have a long way to go to make the 10 bowls I need for Le Lavoir!

If you would like to attend the private view, please contact me and I will send invitations.

Click on the pics!

Iris, at only 15 years of age, has to decide in which direction her studies will take her: the arts or the sciences.

She came here from Nice for a holiday with a friend, determined to find out whether she has the makings of a potter. At first I was very reluctant to give time for teaching but Iris wasn't easily put off and I finally agreed to take her on board for a week.

Since she had never touched clay before, I got her to start by making some press-mouded pieces. Then she moved to the first of my three wheels, a Seamus Walsh falling momentum wheel, and achieved some respectable cylinders. I was very surprised by how eager she was to progress and how quickly she learned by her mistakes.

After the discipline of throwing cylinders, I thought it would be a good idea to give her some freedom on the Korean wheel. This totally different technique is fun but challenging. She managed very well to beat the clay to an even disc before making her first plate.

Iris took to my electric-powered Shimpo wheel with enthusiasm. She had thrown beakers and straight-sided pieces. Now she was ready to create curved shapes. These closed bottles, which she later cut and decorated, were impressive.

Nothing seemed to defeat her and she used her initiative to solve problems. Trimming came easily, or so it appeared, and she enjoyed cutting the clay, designing patterns as she worked.

Even handling from a clay stump presented little problem. She made two espresso cups for her mother.

Iris has obvious talent - for a student of any age. Compared with many mature ceramic students she showed surprising skill and awareness of her materials. It was an eye-opener for me, a breath of fresh air, to teach someone who has no need to bullshit!

Once the pieces have been glazed and fired, I'll show photographs of the finished pots.

Click on the pics!

Having just bought the latest Tamron 18-270mm lens for my Canon 40D, I was keen to try it out when the Tour de France passed near our village today. On too many occasions I have taken the wrong lens and regretted not having a one-suits-all lens.

This lens is fun to use, very fast, and lives up to its reputation. However, under today's circumstances the quality was not as good as a bagful of lenses would have given but i felt much freer and more relaxed and could concentrate on the photographs themselves.

Today was really good fun, waving to the publicity cars, being showered with gifts, albeit made in China. People were out in numbers, enjoying the parade before the real spectacle.

Remember that these guys have already pedalled 80 kms in one hour 45 minutes. They look as fresh as though they were out for a picnic.

Suddenly they were all gone, followed by their teams' cars carrying spare bikes. God knows how much money these represent what with all the security (see below) and the four helicopters overhead.

Cool cop - look, Maman, no hands!

All in all I had good time, am pleased with my lens and came home the proud owner of four caps, one carrier bag, two fridge magnets, some cloths for cleaning specs, a newspaper and a bag of jelly sweets. What more could a Scotsman ask for?

Click on the pics!

We've had long spells of dry weather lately. Wood worm is attacking a supporting beam above the window of my showroom. I immediately bought a spray to kill anything boring holes and making dust.

To my horror, I also found that a colony of bats is using the same beam as a nursery for this year's young. Hold the spray! The bats are saved and so, for the moment, are the woodworm.

This week, checking the bats and waiting for them to move off to find a hibernation site, I was delighted to find that the numbers had dropped from 46+ adults and 25 babies to only 7.

Brilliant! I can spray in a few days. But no - a swallow has chosen to build her nest on the boarding directly underneath the beam. At first I thought she would give up, since it's been so dry, but living in Central France it doesn't stay dry for long and a downpour yesterday enabled her to collect mud to build. She was helped out by 2 other swallows. They must have a barter system between themselves. I am absolutely delighted that this little bird has decided to lodge with us. Swallows are among my favourite birds.