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I spent most of last week holding down the fort at Meredith and Mark's while they very kindly took our mother up to see our brother. It was a very peaceful week and I was happy to get out of the rat race for a while and look at trees and fields instead of concrete and telephone poles.
Here's the view from the studio door, with a field of newly mown hay. On the other side of the same door there is a tomato garden. The tomatoes have just about petered out but the stalks make a perfect home for this lovely big spider. I have always called these "writing spiders" but their proper name is Argiope Aurantia. Whatever her name, she is a fine specimen. She caught herself some lunch while I was there.
It was a very quiet week, so I got a lot of tiles glazed and Meredith fired them yesterday. I'm eager to see how they came out. Pictures to come soon.