Catchup on the week's events

First - archery (yesterday afternoon)-a big 616!Anything over 600 (out of a possible 720,being six dozen arrows) is good in my books;over 620 is a cause for celebration.Current performance,as they say,is no indication of future results.
Not a great deal happened in the studio this week:on Wednesday Sydney and I resurrected my salt kiln,which,with the fortuitous intervention of the below-pictured winch and a husky friend who showed up with magical timing to help us manhandle the kiln arch - the last,large and heavy piece -into its place,passed off remarkably smoothly.The kiln has a somewhat ramshackle charm,not attempting to hide its recent deconstruction,various parts bound up with stout rope and builders' wire.We hope to wrap the chimney with foil to compensate for gaps between less-than-clean bricks-at least for the first firing;if we see that the kiln works,we'll mix up some adobe and slap a nice thick layer over the whole job.Finishing off sundry remaining tasks is planned for Tuesday afternoon (after Tel Hai),firing,if all goes well,Wednesday.It's a small kiln,and I'd like to make room for Sydney and Gunmarit to get pots in for the forthcoming Raanana pottery fair,so I made ten faceted bowls of about a kilo each from a novel mixture of French buff stoneware wedged up with a bit (maybe 10%)of Israeli Naaman porcelain (a rare and interesting material,about which I might write some fine day),which I shall slip in various semi-experimental slips,using Sydney's hitherto successful opalescent/white liner glaze for the insides.In fact,the weather having warmed up after Wednesday's unseasonal downpour,and the bowls having dried,I think I'll put some lugs on them right now.Shabbat Shalom!