Bayeux today, Caen tomorrow! In love with Normandy

This summer the Ty Siriol Clan all drove to France for a week in a little village, Le Molay Littry just outside of Bayeux. It was the first time Mr TS had driven on the right hand side and I have to say that he did so well that by the end of the week it was completely normal to us. We are very grateful for Sheila, the sat nav though even if her pronunciation of French completely destroyed a beautiful language! Even so we still got lost several times with my family following loyally behind us in their car! Grancha simply grinning!

The farm house that we stayed in was fantastic and full of French charm. It truly was a country retreat. I loved sitting out in the evenings watching the sun go down and listening to all the wild life. Nearby ducks made me laugh every night at what I guess was feeding time. It sounded like they were having a domestic dispute! Maybe I shouldn't have found it as funny as I did! 

This is the back of the farmhouse from next to the stream that slowly trickled across the bottom of the garden. This is only about a fifth of the grounds. They had loads of little places to explore for the kids. 

I think that one of my favourite parts of holidaying with the extended family was that we could all sit around a large table like when I was a child (I'm one of four!). It was really funny after a few bottles of wine and trying to converse in French. Somehow we understood each each. L'il Miss knows how to ask for various foods across the table now in drunken French. 

And when in France... It had to be done!

Something else that I love about being abroad is food shopping. I love to look at all the local foods and guess what some of it means. Of course, being gluten free and having allergies might have presented a problem but it was easier than I expected. There were even dedicated areas in the supermarkets for gluten free foods. 

Some local produce was somewhat puzzling though. See the pic below. Does anyone know what part of the pig it is because we had a good laugh and my mum was tempted to bring some home!! 

My favourite day was in Bayeux when we went to see the famous Bayeux Tapestry. We couldn't drive all that way and not show it to L'il Miss. She loved it and surprisingly said it was also her favourite day. Bayeux is a gorgeous medieval town and wonderful to stroll around and explore. Below is a photo of me and Missy next to the river, the building that houses the tapestry (as you are not allowed to photograph the tapestry) and Bayeux Cathedral. 

We were local to the D-day landing beaches so visited several of them over the week, including Omaha beach (my fave), Utah beach, Asnelles beach and Arromanche. The men went off to the museums while the ladies (umm) relaxed on the beach. 

Dad with his trousers rolled up! Missy sensibly in a wetsuit.

 In the water at Arromanche where you can still see some of the break waters from D-day.

Found a sun trap

My beautiful girly

This last photo is at Omaha beach where it is hard to believe the water ran red. The beach is stunning with miles of golden sands. We needed the water to cool off this day as well as it was 30 degrees. It was actually the day we drove home and it was 18 degrees in Poole when we got back. Madness! 

No French holiday would be complete without seeing a chateau. This one is set in beautiful gardens and had a tour guide who walked us around outside explaining how different features were built or lost over the time. Sadly we only saw two rooms inside and we were keen to see more. 

Daddy daughter moment, caught cuddling!

We managed a brief tour of the outskirts of Caen when we got lost and saw the Garden of Birds (Jardin aux oiseux, if my French spelling is any good!) This is a public garden that was built on top of the city's rubbish dump. It was cleaned up over a number of years and has now been sculpted into beautiful gardens with lakes and a petting zoo. 
There is a lookout point at the top where you can see over Caen. This was the perfect place for Missy to meet her twin with the help of the panoramic function on my camera. She ran behind me on to the other side of the shot where I captured her a second time and hey presto, she has a twin! 

I really hope that we can get the chance to go back to France with Missy. It was a fantastic experience for all of us and I love introducing her to new cultures and languages. I guess I'd better start a holiday jar!!! 

If you don't know where to go next year and haven't tried France then I can highly recommend Normandy. It's peaceful, uncrowded and has so many things to do and see on the doorstep. What are you waiting for? Go get your passports!!

www.facebook.com/TySiriolCeramicsandCrafts
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCeramics  
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCrafts
Twitter: @tysiriolceramic

Incense burners and mindfulness meditation

For the last couple of years I've been learning and practicing mindfulness meditation. It's all about being present in the moment. Don't worry about the past, as you cannot change it, and don't worry about the future as you don't know what will happen. Instead it's all about living in the present moment and taking the time to slow down or stop and see the world around you in all it's wonderful glory. 

It took a little practice at first to really slow down and I often find my mind wandering even now. But that's ok. I just observe that my mind has wandered and guide it back to where I want it to be. I don't scold myself but rather the key is to observe in the third person. I do this for other situations as well as I can work out what happened without any emotional involvement. 

I've even taught my daughter how to do it and she tells me that she often does it on the school bus looking out the window at the sky after a difficult day. By the time she comes in the door she has grounded herself again and is happy. We like to meditate in the garden when we can, just the two of us. 

While learning meditation I've been thinking about what others use to help them focus. I love to be outdoors and smell the grass and flowers, even the rain. Others like to burn their favourite scents, such as lavender or sandalwood. I'm highly sensitive to artificial smells so I don't burn scented candles or incense. Even so, I have started making incense burners for others and I'm selling a batch on Etsy. The first batch are all keeping in touch with nature and are leaves in various finishes. If they prove to be popular then I will look into other more organic styles. 

Incense burners shaped as leaves by Ty Siriol Ceramics

A selection of leaf incense burners by Ty Siriol Ceramics

I've sent another red one off just this morning so they do seem to be in demand. The red is also my favourite of them. Do you have a favourite colour? If so please post it in the comments. I do love to hear what you think. 

If you would like to see which ones are left in stock my Etsy link is below. 

Thanks for reading,
Cathy x

www.facebook.com/TySiriolCeramicsandCrafts
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCeramics  
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCrafts
Twitter: @tysiriolceramic

Cardiff Food Festival

I recently went to the Cardiff Food Festival with Mr Ty Siriol. Even though as a coeliac sufferer I can't eat anything there, Mr TS love, love, loves his food and the more exotic the better! 

So off we went in the drizzly rain, me in my really unattractive bright purple rain coat and Mr TS looking normal and blending in well. At least he could find me easily if I wandered off! 

See! I told you it was bright!

Thankfully, it's not only food at the festival. There were also an array of art and craft stalls with their owners wrapped up warm and sheltering as best they could from the endless rain. 

There were a few ceramics stalls. I really loved the stoneware and their glazes. Sadly, my kiln doesn't fire to those temperatures... but Mr TS did say that maybe next year we could save for a new kiln. :D He's so wonderful. Love him to bits. (Sorry about the soppy bit. ;-) ) 

There was one stall where children were being shown how to throw their own pots on the wheel. It was lovely to watch the children getting involved, despite being in the rain. I did take a sneaky photo on my phone. Aren't they wonderful?

We went for a walk down around the bay area and found even more food stalls. The smells were wonderful. It's a good thing I'd eaten or my will power might have failed me. 

It was a good day out even in the rain so it would be great in the sun shine. I would recommend it. They also have various bands playing with the beer tents around the stage if food isn't your thing. ;-) 

I'll leave you now with a photo of some boats that were moored up in the Bay and a mummy swan with her cygnets. 

Take care.
Cathy xx

www.facebook.com/TySiriolCeramicsandCrafts
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCeramics  
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCrafts
Twitter: @tysiriolceramic

It's been a while

I've been neglecting my poor, poor blog for a while. Life seemed to keep getting in the way. So what have I been up to? Well, I am rather pleased with how my yarn bowls have come out recently. So far I have made 4 and a 5th is waiting for the kiln. One had an accident as well but we won't dwell on these things. So here are some pics showing the new yarn bowls. Enjoy! 

My signature on the bottom, CAW.

Again, with signature.

Thanks for reading,
Cath xx
www.facebook.com/TySiriolCeramicsandCrafts
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCeramics  
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCrafts
Twitter: @tysiriolceramic

A little treat for me

I've been making a few little things for me recently. These all wall pockets! I'd never heard of them until someone asked me if I made them. A quick google search and I now know what they are. Isn't Google wonderful! So I got busy and me and my daughter had a go at making our own versions of wall pockets. 

This one has a sprig of a flower from my garden impressed into it and painted. I forget what the flower is called now though but I think it starts with a G! :) 

Now this flower I do know! Lavender! Also taken from my garden. 

This time I played with dots from my piping bag full of slip. I was thinking all the lines of a fern. What do you think?

I also have some photos of the stages of production. 

Here I have several wall pockets that I made with my daughter. She also impressed leaves into hers. I do love her butterfly on the far left that she created completely! 

A close up of L'il Miss' wall pockets. These were made for Nanny. They were finished in white with a pale green glaze painted on and wiped off the leaves to bring out the veins on the leaves. I'm afraid I don't have photos of them finished. 

The top wall pocket sadly met it's doom in the kiln but the bottom one is shown above finished. 

This is the brown wall pocket in it's greenware stage. 

So now that I have these wall pockets on my garden fence I need to think of a good hardy plant to put in them. I'm really not green fingered so I'll need one that can withstand my neglect! I'm thinking of ivy at the moment. Do you have any ideas for me? Answer in the comments and remember that the plant needs to be tough to survive me! 

Lovely to have you, as always. If you'd like to see more from Ty Siriol them you can follow us on various social media. See below. 

Thanks for reading,
Cath xx 

www.facebook.com/TySiriolCeramicsandCrafts
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCeramics  
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCrafts
Twitter: @tysiriolceramic