vicarious travelling: Pissouri, Cyprus

After the Canadian Government recommended all traveling citizens return home, while they still can, I asked my travel agent to see if she could get me home earlier. Both Jetblue and Tui have cancelled flights to Cyprus due to the restrictions put in place here (14 day mandatory isolation for anyone coming in from the UK). This resulted in a run on British Airway tickets and therefore I could only get a ticket for a few days prior to my previous ticket (at a considerable extra cost). We decided to just leave my schedule alone and see what happens. I may get home as planned or the restrictions may become more stringent and I may not be able to get home. I have talked to my landlord, Mick, and he has told me that he has had cancellations and therefor I can stay at Annie's House for a period of time at a minimal cost. If I have to be "stuck" somewhere, Cyprus is really no hardship.
The local government has, last night, instructed all restaurants and tavernas to close and the only businesses that should be open are the pharmacies, supermarkets and take out restaurants. But the sun still shines, I can walk and enjoy the landscape, neighbours and new friends are practicing social isolation but that doesn't mean we can't speak across balconies, by e-mail and messenger. To home, family and friends I can stay in touch via WhatsApp, e-mail,........

After my early morning photo yesterday, here is my early evening photo:

On one of the Saturday walks, I learned that one of the walkers was also a pottery teacher. With some back and forth emails, we scheduled 2 pottery classes,aimed at me completing some projects and getting them fired before I leave (may be moot now).
I was at "The Makers Space" in Tala by 10am.

I spoke to the person who started this endeavor, that's her, Elaine, on the left, and she said she had been looking for studio space. Found this large warehouse building and thought others might also want studio space.

She said it operates "like a gym, you pay a membership, the full time "Makers" could be here 24/7". It is basically a co-operative with expensive equipment like the kilns, grinders etc owned by the Makers Place and they can also bulk buy things like clay. There are lockers for individuals to store their own tools and lots of room to work or hold classes.

Julie usually runs classes of 5 or so but offered me one on one due to my timing issues. I wish I had found her earlier in my time here.

We cut of pieces of clay using a tool like a cheese wire.

First I made the clay into a round ball, then pushed my thumb into the centre and pinched it into a round pot. Next I created coils by rolling sausages of clay out with my palms.

I scored the top edge of the pot and painted it with "slurry" (a water and clay mixture like glue) and attached the coil to the edges of the pot to make it higher without risking thinning out the walls and ,making them floppy.

This is my pinch pot with one coil to give it more height. When it has dried I will cut out the swallows. It is round at the bottom and squarish at the top.

This is my second pinch pot that I wanted to look more "organic" and I pushed some pine cone seeds into it to make indentations and left it with an irregular top edge.

Concerned that I would not have enough to do tomorrow, Julie suggested we prepare some tiles to work with. First we rolled the clay out

and cut out 5 tiles.

There are 6 cats who have adopted the studio and

one of them walked across one of my tiles. Rather than trying to fix it I picked him up and helped him put more paw prints on it. It will be Rasta's tile.

As well as us on the pinch pots and one on the pottery wheel there was another artist in, creating a stained glass lampshade, on commission.

So a pinch pot with coil addition, pinch pot with indent decoration and 5 tiles ready for decoration accomplished in 2 hours. Julie took all of it home to dry in her oven overnight and then I do cut outs and glazing tomorrow for another 2 hours.
After a quick lunch, I picked up Pippa's medical kit and water bottle at John and Jenny's. Jimmy took Pippa in his car. 2 cars for "social distancing".

The swallows on my pinch pot are a souvenir of the arrival of Cyprus' swallows and to go with the French and Portuguese swallows above my fireplace at home.

Jimmy and I were again doing the Pissouri Bay heights, Melada Bay loop.

The original plan had been to do the walk starting from Melanda Bay and then meeting Kay, Jenny and John for lunch there, after the walk. Well now all restaurants are closed so that plan went out the window but we decided to still do the walk.

Pippa didn't care about changes in plans, just happy to be out for a walk.

Happy to wade in a muddy puddle and then wash it all off in the sea.

For me all worries about CoronaVirus and getting home

are washed away by the views of the coast.

The peas are now forming on the crop that I took flower pictures of about a week and a half ago.

A view across the valley to Pissouri on the hill beyond.

The walk took us almost exactly 2 hours and we now know it well enough that it can be used for one of the walking groups. The Saturday one has been cancelled until the Virus threat passes. The Wednesday one is going ahead on the philosophy that getting out and walking is good for our immune systems. Of course, no lunch out after.

I have driven past this spot in Pissouri Bay many times but decided to stop today and take a look.

The door was open and inside, a cavern chapel

with lighted candles

and icons.

From a plaque outside I read it was the Saint Spyridon Chapel.

St Spyridon is the patron saint of potters. I love coincidences like this.

He reportedly converted a pagan philosopher to Christianity by using a potsherd to illustrate how one single entity (a piece of pottery) could be composed of three unique entities (fire, water and clay); a metaphor for the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.from Wikipedia

I had been telling Jimmy that I thought I had scared up a Hoopoe when driving but hadn't got a good enough look to be sure. I came out of the chapel, and what was on the road in front of my car?