birthday

Celebrations for the 13 year old

| poppypeach

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What an epic week of celebrations with a last minute cake bake inspired by the Great British Baking Show. The bowl of the week was a Yakisoba inspired recipe minus the chicken and subbing in smoked salmon, which was a winner, winner chicken dinner for everyone – the things you do when you check out the back of a packet of soba noodles. I added in shitake mushrooms and some pickles, it was delish.

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We found this great book at the library called Bakeland jam packed full of inspiring baked goods with a Nordic influence. This is the cake we made but…

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This is the cake after we tweaked the recipe by making 3 layers and added a chocolate mousse cream topped with a raspberry icing. It was incredibly rich and fell apart when cut due to the dense cake of the brownie, what a great experiment.

The celebration is captured on video with the gang of 3 our overnight guests for an intimate sleepover doing things teens do like play computer games, watch Spaceballs, play computer games, eat chips, play computer games!

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As the cake was super rich in even the tiniest slice, the next day I put the cake in the food processor with some hemp seeds, dates and coconut to make the richness bite-sized. I rolled them up and put them in the freezer and they are now little pocket snacks of chocolatey goodness to keep you going during the day. Today I shared them with my friends for a sewing prep party and we got a lot of work done – yay!

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And to top off the good times of the weekend with the teens taking over the house my hubby made this crepe stack from Bakeland with blueberries – absolutely divine to indulge for a Sunday morning brekky.

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And there’s the soon to be 13 year old who has lived his whole life in California and is soon to live his teenage years back to where he was born – in Melbourne. Some fun times ahead for him though I can see that he will miss his buddies who we have all known for so long.

 

Celebration & good times

| poppypeach

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Monday was my hubby’s birthday so I got rid of all the crap on the dining table and created this lovely posy of plants from the garden.

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This is one of my fave quiches to make for a special occasion – the Spinach Impossible Pie with crumbled feta, spinach, cheese and egg custard, made with a base from the pie book below so that was meatless Monday dinner.

I had to stop briefly in amongst my assessment writing over the weekend to get some celebrations happening for my hubby! I always love preparing a good feast for birthdays and the menu started on Sunday with a Strawberry Crumble pie – made from scratch with my kitchen helper Missy with a lemongrass cream, so divine!

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Heres the surprise birthday cake on a relaxed Sunday morning – well for some of us who did not have to get up early to make a birthday pie!

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This was hot out of the oven which is why there’s a piece of bread with candles to celebrate, it was super tasty and from my favourite pie book – A Year of Pies. The pie was meant to sit for an hour before we ate it but it was so good we tucked into it straight away!

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Oh, I always love a cocktail for a party so I made this watermelon fennel cocktail, it went down so well – the kids loved the juice, hehehe they had no idea about the fennel.

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This has been my number 1 drink for focusing, a nice cup of Matcha tea – discovered in Queensland with my sister. This is a coconut matcha which is probably way high in fat but if you are into Paleo this is the biz for you.

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The countdown has begun and as of tomorrow, I have 3 months left in the United States. I am getting rid of so much stuff and giving it away to neighbours who I don’t even know which is excellent as they are going to people who are happy to enjoy it. The shelves are emptying when I get need a brain break from study. My sewing and study room is slowly getting rid of fabric – I have a couple of projects before I put the machine and fabric away for the year. Our bedroom is getting rid of pictures and excess clothes – I still need to work on that space! The kid’s room is slowly getting there – though I have a plan to get rid of more stuff! The lounge needs to get rid of furniture but that will come later before we sell up and go. A plan is really starting to develop and I scored a great flight with taking myself and the kids back in December and my hubby will come for a trip in 2019 and then sell this place and come back for good.

So much stuff to do after living here for 12 years and it is strange to finally say I am going home to Melbourne FOR GOOD! It is so exciting as I am happy and things are falling into place. I have the kids enrolled in schools that I really like, one in primary and one in high school. The house remodel is still moving along and scheduled to start as planned. Once everything is a little settled maybe I could do a practicum for University at a primary school, it may have to wait another year until we have our house. I am so happy to be going back and finally be at home with my family and friends, the future is looking bright again!

 

A lovely birthday week!

| poppypeach

It was a quiet week last week as I was busting my free time to write a paper for University plus it was my birthday! It was so fun to go to school and have the kinder kids give me their wishes they had made and present a beautiful bunch of flowers to make my day.

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At my work – Ventana School, it was the week of stories, so that gave me a great excuse to wear my owl costume from the Owl Diaries book series – I am a bit of a fan of Eva the owl ever since my daughter bought it home from the library. Since then I have moved onto any book by Raina Telegemeier and the Phoebe and her Unicorn series. You know I need to read the stories to understand what the kids are getting into these days.

Recently I listened to the book The Wild Robot, and I absolutely love it, and as a birthday gift, I bought myself The Wild Robot Escapes, book 2 and it is so good! The audiobook is so well produced and well read I cannot wait until book 2 is out so I can hear the narrators voice again. The story is incredible with the friendship connection from a new being (the robot)  stranded on an island, meeting sea otters :D, combined with the futuristic sci-fi element where the island became an island from the rising sea levels, so all types of animals live there. The characters are lovable, and you feel for the robot as she begins life as an outsider and soon becomes loved – it is full of such grand adventure! I have not enjoyed a book as much as this for ages. I have a copy at the bookstore so I can add it to my collection for a classroom read aloud (it is recommended for grades 3 to 6).

Speaking of books, we had a Hicklebee’s book fair at school as a fundraiser, and this was a book bought into the classroom. I love the illustrations in this book and by Lemony Snicket. Our family favourite is A Series of Unfortunate Events audiobook series which we listened to on our way down to the Joshua Tree. And now Netflix has a TV series of all the books which we love watching on the weekends.

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So for my birthday, I had a very delicious dinner of a middle eastern salad topped with grilled fish at Dish Dash in Sunnyvale, and over the weekend we enjoyed family time going to the Aquarius cinema in Palo Alto to see Isle of Dogs by Wes Anderson. I am a bit of a fan of his films as one of my faves is Fantastic Mr Fox, actually looking at his filmography I really enjoy most of his movies! My husband and I met volunteering at a film gallery so going to the cinema (mainly to see an arthouse film) is a special time for us.

The rest of the weekend was lovely with hanging out at the park in the sunshine after I had done enough writing in the afternoon. On Sunday was a bit of a write off for the ladies enjoying too much wine on the picnic blanket (the picture above says it all!) and singing our afternoon away… I was even thinking of getting out my ukelele?!?

Bit of a busy week!

| poppypeach

So I am supposed to be writing a paper at the moment, but it is so hard to get anything done with the week I had! It all began with a stuffed animal sewing workshop with Kinder and 1st-grade kids at my work as an auction prize. Here are a few of the animals made by these first-time sewers and I was really impressed with their perseverance and creativity.

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After the workshop, we had a call with our architect in Melbourne (our friend) who completed the design drawings for our house, and we absolutely love it! Our block is not huge so we are using the space very effectively. We just love the addition of colour and the skylight to bring in light to the addition at the back of the house. The front is a cottage that will be the master bedroom and downstairs bathroom. The extension on the back will be the living and dining all open plan – which I love! And the upstairs is the kid’s bedroom and their bathroom. I am so happy about this house and am so looking forward to seeing it built! Waiting patiently is hard, but I know it will all be worth it.

Thursday we had an open house at Stevenson Elementary for our 4th grader and saw her beautiful artwork and stories on pioneer times from her trip to Fort Ross. This week they are off again to Coloma for the gold rush overnight field trip with other parent chaperones which she is looking forward to doing, away from her parents :/

Friday night was Missy’s birthday, so we went out for sushi together as a family for her choice of dinner. Afterwards, I had a date with some friends to celebrate a March birthday with lots of cocktails, delicious Mexican food and dessert – check out the volcano cake from Agave.

At work we created a lovely craft for the kids to do with an invitation to write a personal narrative about their family using various materials, they crafted them to discuss experiences, their family and pets and it is such a great way to encourage writing through art.

Saturday was the big party for the 10-year-old! We were lucky we had beautiful sunny spring weather – the plan was a sewing felt animal picnic at the park but the kids really just wanted to play together, which was fine! The cake was a vanilla bean bundt cake with sprinkles inside to make it the funfetti version. I had made a funfetti cake a couple of years ago with natural sprinkles which did not really work and I realised what the secret was – it is the sprinkles from Safeway that are unnaturally brightly coloured.

We set up the craft table for the kids to choose their cat or dog – Missy had asked her friends beforehand so we knew what to cut out and they were ready to go! What ended up happening was the parents were sewing and drinking, and the kids were playing – so we had to call them over to stuff their animals so they could take them home as their party gift! I love the button eyes on the dog with the multicoloured floss.

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And then Sunday was Easter day, and the kids had their egg hunt inside the house as the garden was a mess from the chicken sitting.

And to come to full circle to the end of the week, we have another open house for the middle school tonight, and this is where we see what the mysterious tweens get up to at school! We showed our appreciation for the teachers and the communication they share, as the kids are not very good messengers!

I really love the quilling of Victini the Pokemon, and the owl – the scary teacher pic at the bottom is a bit dark for me. So it makes me happy that my son is finally doing art and over the summer I have signed him up for a How to draw Manga camp, and I am looking forward to seeing what he creates there. I need to get him ready for the arts and cultural hub of Melbourne!

Now a big breath and onto research for my paper – whew what a week!

A long weekend of celebrations

| poppypeach

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As my 12-year-old son really wanted a sleepover, we opted for a Friday of a long weekend so that would give us enough time to recouperate. As it turned out it was a big night for Risk and playing the Nintendo Switch. Here are the boys eating pizza and taking over their countries and working out their “world peace” strategies. This game of Risk went on for around 3 hours until there were enough “peaceful takeovers” of the countries they cared about.

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We took a break for cake time and this year as I do not have a great deal of free time I made a chocolate mint pound cake and iced it with melted chocolate with sprinkles which tasted a treat as well!

Saturday was a huge celebration for our littlest neighbour who turned 1! My neighbours are right next door, and we have hardly seen each other as their little one was born with congenital Glioblastoma which is a Stage 4 brain tumour and they have spent most of the last year in the hospital with their little one. I was so happy to have been invited to their celebration as I have hardly seen them and their little one. It has been such an arduous journey for my neighbours to go through as it was so worrying, but it was such a beautiful experience to be spending time with them over the weekend and celebrating their little girls birthday.

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The theme for the party was ‘Super Girl’ as that was the costume for Halloween as well as being super for getting through such a stressful time. I love the superhero theme as it was so appropriate for what their little girl has been through – she is smiling, happy and super social just like her wonderful parents.

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And what has been happening in the classrooms of late – I have been volunteering Thursday mornings for Arts Focus, and we are in our 4th week this week. Last week we did fleece pillows, and I found one of the students embellishing hers with plenty of bows. I love it when the kids go that extra step and get creative with their pieces.

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And in the 2nd-grade classroom, one of the students has been working on pattern sudoku with shapes, and I was working with them to finally come up with the solution to their puzzle. It required a lot of examination and looking over and over at the shapes until we had finally solved it! This is how I like to see math in the classroom, hands-on and engaging.

A Birthday and Smoke and Fire

| poppypeach

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We had a very exciting birthday this week with Mr Ash turning 12 this week! We always go out to dinner for birthdays, and it is usually Japanese. So we went to Shalala an old fave downtown as the kids wanted to have their favourite, rice balls! The week began with news of forest fires in the North Bay where we felt the repercussions 100 miles away of smoke and really bad air quality – the fires scorched over 200,000 acres of land.

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We went out Wednesday evening, and the smell of smoke was everywhere. So many folks have been displaced, and it is such a disaster of immense proportions. The hardest thing has been trying to find out where help is needed the most but luckily a friend has posted some information from a local paper that highlighted how to help as an excellent resource.

At work, the kids enjoyed some new math games for addition called ‘Playful Pets’, and we played this visual-spatial game Q-bitz – there were so many games available this week with inside recess the whole week! It was exhausting to be inside all day and eating snack and lunch with the kids. We finally had some time out on Friday afternoon and it felt so good!

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Lucky for science the kids got out to do some building of their weather stations and nail up some signs for the thermometer, rain gauge and anemometer. They will be placing these at various locations around the school to observe the weather.

We had an observational drawing time in class this week with the kids trying many mediums to complete their pieces with pastels, pencils and crayons. That really reset the class energy with quiet drawing and peaceful music.

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We have been going a little screen crazy in this household as we had to stay inside because of the smoke and bad air quality but I finally convinced the screen trio, i.e. the rest of my family, to go on a bike ride together and spend some family time outside. It was a relaxing ride, and we did about 8 miles stopping and starting. On the way, we spotted herons, egrets and a squadron of pelicans. Our mission for the day was to find four white herons – we did not find that many but we did see two. The kids enjoyed the birding binoculars we bought second hand at the Audubon store, with the close up of the pelicans and we counted 30 pelicans feeding together. My ride on Saturday in the headwind encountered a Great Blue Heron and a hawk being attacked by a murder of crows, I just love riding around the Shoreline area with so much wildlife around providing a sense of solitude. I find I crave that time alone these days as I do not get much time off anymore with work, coming home, cooking, eating, a small amount of playing and then its early bedtime!

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Falling for you!

| poppypeach

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Despite my complete lack of time to be productive last week with a whole week of minimum days with the middle school child, I  did manage to make some tote bags as they are a project that can be completed in a 2-hour gap. The dress and skirts I have made over the last couple of weeks I finally completed them and wanted to style them for a photo shoot with a Fall theme. Check out my sugar pie pumpkin!

I have always loved the red fabric ever since I found it at FabMo and I have made a bag with it and it was beautiful, I did always want to make an item of clothing with it. I love the tunic dress and as this fabric is quite heavy it works as a dress for the Fall weather. And I love it with the booties I found in Melbourne when I “accidentally” wandered into a Camper store while waiting for my friend for lunch. They are very comfortable with a chunky heel and I love how versatile they are. When I came back to California I looked over my collection of Camper shoes – now I know what to say when people say do you collect anything? Yeah, Camper shoes I now have 6 pairs and 2 of the same style  🙂

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I also wanted to showcase the skirts I have been making and combining it with a vintage top I found. The tights are from Treasure Island Flea Market and the boots are a pair of Camper boots I bought 5 years ago! That is what I love about Camper shoes are their quality and their lifespan. I have found some lovely fabric in my stash from FabMo and each of these skirts pairs well with the top. The accessories are Swarovski crystal pieces my mum gave me when I was in Australia and they are rocking the outfits – get it!!

Here are some of the bags I completed this week using denim jeans for an oversize tote that I road tested the other day and they are perfect for carrying all sorts of goods such as water, sunscreen, and food. The pockets on the exterior are super handy for keys, smaller containers, and snacks on the go. As I was looking through my fabric stash I found the forest fabric that I found a very long time ago and wanted to make something that kept the fabric intact as it is a beautiful linen, another big tote came to mind and I found the perfect fabric for the back – see here on my Instagram post. The diamond pattern fabric is by a legendary fabric company out of Thailand Jim Thompson and this was a fabric sample I picked up which was too small for apparel but perfect for a bag. And I found the perfect pocket fabric sample in a chevron fabric to match.

Friday was busy with the school Walkathon at the end of the day. Whew, it was a big week but we gotta keep on walking or even dancing and maybe we can catch a Pikachu in the field – no Pokemon GO for us!

Missy walked 67 laps only 8 laps shy of getting the coveted tie dye t-shirt. She was walking and walking and not wanting to give up – the kids were allowed to run at the end but her feet were hurting. So I said to her, hopefully, next year we will have some better shoes for you and be prepared, maybe with some extra hiking! This year she threw off her Converse and walked in her socks and at the end of that, she said her feet and legs were so sore after walking many miles and she is still recovering today which is Monday.

Next on the agenda for the weekend, was a sleepover party for my soon to be 11-year old! I enjoyed a bike ride and yoga on the Saturday morning so I could be prepared for 6 boys sleeping downstairs in the lounge room. I made an amazing blueberry lemon pound cake as the birthday cake and it was delicious especially enjoyed by the birthday boy. The sleepover for the kids was a lot of fun but as for the parents with the interrupted sleep, it was all over rover – still, I remember sleepovers and how late we stayed up chatting to our friends. This time, however, the kids had their little electronic devices to play too, I think they all appreciated the freedom and the next day it was down to the park to play with zero screen time all day! (For my kids anyway).

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A piece a week – A very Happy Birthday to Me!

| poppypeach
Last week after the fun of my daughters 8th birthday it was my birthday week beginning with a lovely crepe breakfast with green smoothie on a Monday morning prepared by my family! We went out the Kumino the night before for dinner and as it is my birthday I don’t do any cooking – just catch up on projects to do and relax – hey it is your day so you have to make the most of it! 
So it was time to make away and I wanted to make a special birthday dress – this is a favorite pattern of mine as it can be worn in winter with layers or on it’s own in the summer time. This fabric was found at FabMo and it reminds me of an African tribal fabric so I have added interesting accessories like my scarab beetle earrings and a necklace I made out of tiger’s eye and random beads I inherited. I went out with my friends for my birthday on Friday to a favorite restaurant of mine in Sunnyvale – DishDash, beautiful cocktails and the food is Mediterranean and delicious! So much vegetarian to choose from and fresh flatbread and innovative cocktails is always a winner in my book. 
Get ready to celebrate
It was such a busy week with the school’s open house, PBL and Art show on Wednesday and the Art Show Reception on Thursday night. That the time in between was minimal so I had to quickly cut the dress and work on it in the evenings when I felt I had the energy – completing it with hemming on Friday when I helped take the CSMA art show down at school – whew! Hardly any time to read but my hubby found this dreamy book called Cabin P*rn at the local library – time to set up our future residence in the forest, where is that yurt??
Checking out the Cabins – for our future retirement Air BnB
Celebrating with the Funfetti cake the family made me! 
Here I am with my cat boy – Mack

Just before hitting the restaurant for dinner – I was starving and we had to wait 30 mins to get in!
Oh and another Badass selfie – this one with some wisteria, it smells amazing!

 The weekend was rainy so we went on a bike ride with the Superintendent from our school district and our school principal. Both Dr Rudolph and Ms Westover love riding so it was perfect for them, though not so perfect with the weather. The sprinkles managed to get us wet slowly but surely still it was refreshing and not too cold for riding. We stopped to check out the egret nesting area near Google and enjoyed some chocolate and some snacks for the slow ride back with the kids pace. Riding on the dedicated bike lane was such a treat in itself and if only the city can add more to make cycling safer – I volunteer with Safe Mountain View and with some perseverance we can make it happen!

Riding along in the rain

Love this bike lane crossing at Shoreline

Sunday was adopt a chicken day with the 4H Rolling Hills Poultry Project. As we enjoy getting up early and out and about on the weekends we hit the freeway early and headed over to Half Moon Bay to do some tide pooling – by the time we got there the tide was coming in super fast. Still we found something to do, breathe in the fresh and and go searching for crabs. The day was overcast and you can see the fog in these pics still it wasn’t too cold so we could hang out and enjoy our beach time.

Looking for critters on their little island before the tide came in
Fishing with kelp

Finding baby crabs

We were lucky to find this guy – he quickly skittered away

I always like to take my camera out on the weekends to see what we can find and as the weather was overcast that can be a great opportunity to take some pictures without any shadow so it was an excellent opportunity to take close ups of what I found on the beach. We are at Pillar Point as we went there on a super low tide one year and it was so good. This time we had to make do with the still creatures washed ashore which still are beautiful.

Sea glass AKA a broken coke bottle in the sand, the shells trying to shoo it away

Beautiful seaweed growing on a rock

The colors of the seaweed and shells always are impressive

Sheltering from the winds – a ladybug on a rock

The kids enjoyed picking up the seaweed and exploring the rocks to look for elusive crabs. The snow boots did come in handy though by the end of this the tights and the boots my daughter wore were drenched from walking in the water! Examining the seaweed colors in and out of the water was fascinating for my daughter and then she found a mussel and wanted to open it, I said to her I think it will be happier in the water.

Fly and be free little seaweed

Walking out looking for little critters in small tide pools
Coming back after a wander

Finally after lunch of some local fish and fish tacos at the Princeton Seafood Company – super fresh fish and chips with local fish on the menu. They also had a fish market with super fresh fish ready to go home with you. The cool thing was seeing the boats bring in the fresh live Dungeness crab at $6 a pound – so many crabs going to peoples homes in bags fresh for their dinner.

We met the Poultry project kids at the Half Moon Feed and Fuel to choose our foster chick – Missy chose a Production Red chick that we will be looking after in a couple of weeks. Each child looks after the chicks for a week with all the supplies and the heat lamp to keep them warm – we are looking forward to our time with the chicks.

Chicks ready to be fostered

On our way home we stopped by at the Worlds Rare Plants who came and spoke to the 2nd grade class about their Venus Fly Trap habitat project. Right next door is Highway 92 Succulents – now that was a treat for a succulent collector like me!

Love the colors of this plant now it lives in our place – an Echeveria – gibbiflora

A display of sundews, venus fly traps and pitcher plants by the owner who used to be a landscape architect
Tonight I am teaching this class at the local library, we have 11 signups so it will be fun – I better go get myself prepared and start cutting some fabric. All in all it was a fun week – how do you celebrate with your special day – week – month?

A piece a Week – A fun party skirt

| poppypeach

Following on the grand success of the circle skirt pattern from last week I had found the perfect fabric with a lovely soft drape for a circle skirt! As it was Ash’s 10th dodge ball birthday party what a great excuse for a party skirt and to dress up 🙂

Let us party down at the park on this hot October day!!
On top of my usual boutique preparations and general house management I also made this amazing cinnamon roll pound cake from Grandbaby Cakes – it was such a hit with everyone! It was perfectly moist and the flavor was not too sweet. Super easy to make and the bundt tin was perfect for a party of 20 people. It was fun to break away from the theme cakes of the past and make a big boy cake 🙂 with a little hint from mum to say, you like cinnamon right?

The birthday boy and his yummy cake
And the beginning of my week I went to open studio to collect some ceramic pieces – yes more bowls but in an interesting array of glazes. I was so happy with some of them that I would love to repeat the experiments and see what happens – as it goes with glazing you never know what to expect! 
A stack of bowls – now only to get them all the same size?!?