Life Strategies. A New Year’s toast to Silvia Levenson and the other Bombay Sapphire finalists.

Among award competitions in glass it’s hard to find a short-list more consistently thought-provoking (and, at £20,000 for the first prize-winner, more lucrative) than that of the annual Bombay Sapphire Prize.

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Just in case anyone was wondering what two souls wandering a moor in the Scottish Highlands has to do with the operation of a glass factory and gallery in Portland, Oregon…

It’s about people. Bullseye’s are the best. With or without Dan and me, they are what make this company run – and let us blog from bogs, trains and planes.

Thanks to all of them for their unfailing sense of direction… especially when we occasionally lose ours.

For whatever reason, the shortest day of the year seemed like an auspicious time to trek out in search of an abandoned Highland village we’d heard was somewhere up in the hills above Loch Stemster.

The shortest day, the longest shadow, High Noon on the road to Badryrie.

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From the shame of my own speechless stupor.

I can just keep staring out over the hills, watching the haar slink in from the sea. Smothering the strath in its Stephen Kingishness. And my mind with it.

The view from my window, mid-morning.

Smug in the knowledge that somewhere, out there, another blogger is doing my job.

Bless you, Josh, IOU!

PS. Don’t miss the many entries on glass art and artists on this blog. It’s truly brilliant.

Over at Warm Glass, Toni just pointed out that I’m neglecting my blog - again. What can I say? She’s right. I’m back in the Scottish Highlands. It’s the 58th parallel. It’s two days away from the Winter Solstice. The beginning of the day looks like this:

The end of the day looks like this:

In between there’s about three hours of daylight.

I should spend it blogging?