Malcolm and blackberries

When I got the job firing the kiln for the Malcolm Davis workshop in 2002 at the Art School at Old Church, I was very excited but at the same time, I was very nervous firing the kiln, which was filled with Shino freaks’ artworks. After Malcolm’s instruction of how to fire a shino kiln was finished, everyone left the art center but me. The kiln was still around cone9 just after the glaze reduction. Malcolm had plans to have dinner with Mikhail Zakin but he kindly stayed with me for a while. I had a very good time chatting with him but I knew he needed to leave. I remember
that I tried not to give him a chance to say, “it’s time to leave”, by talking and asking questions non-stop. My last question to him was…’How high can the pieces as well as the kiln go up?’
He told me the story of blackberry picking during his Shino firing….. His firing was almost finished, he totally forgot that he was firing the kiln. He was having fun picking blackberries. Suddenly he remembered that he was firing the kiln! Ran back to the kiln and the cone11 was down completely. He left me with this answer to my question “So, cone 12 is still ok.” Always when I fire the kiln, I remember this story and imagine how happy he was picking blackberries.
I hope he is at peace with no pain and meets his dear friend, Pam Proctor up there.