Aurora

In Greek mythology, the personification of the dawn, sister of the Sun god and the Moon goddess.

Aurora was sculpted in Carrara marble by a friend of ours, a Norwegian who used to be a consultant with IBM, but who decided aged 50 that she wanted to be a sculptress.  She left IBM and persuaded an atelier in Pietrasanta, near Carrara, to take her on as a trainee.  Today she's a successful sculptress with works in collections in the US, UK and Scandinavia.

We used to have a holiday home in Italy and our friend carved Aurora to welcome the dawn over the Chianti hills.  When we sold up, we couldn't bear to leave her behind.  So she now welcomes the dawn over the Chiltern hills.  I'm blipping her today because tomorrow we will wrap her up for safe-keeping over the winter.  Carrara marble withstands the dry Italian winter, but doesn't do too well in our wet winter.  So we will treat her with a stone sealer, wrap her in bubble wrap, and then encase the whole figure in waterproof sheeting until Easter.