blog 10

July 2010: ...and still no great website revamp....and I still can't seem to maintain or update it via the laptop....which
was one of the main justifications for buying it! In fact all it does is make me (more) antisocial in the evenings, and
tempt me into buying stuff I don't really need on ebay.
Having said that, my last major purchase - the hydraulic punch, continues to be a godsend-don't know how I did
without for so long.
I finally got the 9 floral panels finished for Middlesex and installed them - it was a great job to get and to do, but also a
mighty relief to move onto something new....and for a complete change the current commission is for four BIG planters
in stainless steel for one of the Oxford colleges - I'm also hopeful they might end up buying the iron man. He's become
a bit of a local landmark over the last year or two, but he's ready for a change of scenery, and a bigger audience. The
planters are essentially a fabricating job, but I don't mind that at all during the warm weather - especially as I've been
doing a lot of forgework over the last few months. I'm particularly pleased with myself for having made my own folder
to fold the 2mm stainless steel sheet the planters are made from...It's worked a treat, and saved me money and space.
On the downside I underestimated the number of sheets required which will eat into the profit somewhat.
The tragic, and non work related news is that we lost our beloved Irish Terrier, Molly, at the tender age of only 20
months. She was plucky and indomitable to the end - every inch a terrier (or uber-terrier as I often described her)
But the combination of a mind bogglingly rare blood disorder, and the massive doses of steroids she was given to treat it
with were more than even she could cope with....or more than we were prepared to watch her struggle with any longer.
She was like a cartoon dog. In profile she looked like the dog on a "no dogs" sign.She chased her tail. She dug holes in
the garden.She emptied rubbish bins. She chewed the furniture. She chewed the walls! She swung from the sideburns of
our ever patient deerhound. She never ever submitted to anyone or anything under duress - even the disease that took
her. She was the naughtiest dog I've ever owned, and in the brief time we were privileged to share with her she
completely stole my heart. The world is a duller place without her, and my world has a terrier sized hole in it.
We buried her beneath an apple tree at the far end of the garden...where things start to get a little wild and untamed...
She'd have liked that.
I've spent a bit of time up there recently watching over her, and the brood of young kestrels in the nest above her.
The kestrels have flown now, and Alex and I are coming to terms with our grief, but I still miss that little dog every
damn day.