Thursday, June 4, 2009

We all need to start somewhere-



July will soon be here and it makes me reflect on the past year.

In fact, I will never see July the same for many reasons.

My father, who was a newspaper man, and wore many hats while in the business and was a hell of a writer and wordsmith past away on the 4Th of July the year my son graduated from High School-1994- a year of change.

He use to tell my kids he worked at the word factory.He loved words, the English language, the twist and turns of words, a good joke and an even better pun.I always thought God gave him me just to remind him that some people can not spell, thank you spellcheck, can't string a good thought together and must work with their hands.

Don't get me wrong, he was one of my biggest supporters when I decided to become a potter.

Last July we were hit by lighting and our work studio burned. Not one of our better years- 2008- "a walk in hell," I call it in my mind. But one we walked and now see the other side of.
It was tense, sad and hard. Most of all it was, Just plain hard.

But- this walk was in many ways easier then the one you walk when you lose a love one.

We loved our life and our building- but they were and have been replaced.We have begun to feel the pace of the potter's life returning.
I don't feel as if I am walking on broken glass. I feel as if we are returning to what we have done since 1982.

The pots have not made big changes they are pretty much the pots we have been making- but then again I am making the tiles and testing out glazes at cone 6 for the tiles and the big tile project to come. As Mark keeps saying as he is working, "It's like coming home."
Comfort- comfort in the shapes and comfort in the clay.

The biggest thing I added to my day is all the people whom I have met and read their blogs- I try to read you all and I follow your blogs some days until my computer yells, "no more---- go. to. work.!"

You were such a lifeline and still are.

My plan in my head is to someday go in person to see some of these potters- why not? What fun that would be to have tea with Linda Star, sit in Barbara's garden and talk about spiders.
Then I would be off to see Patricia Griffin.
Meet Cynthia Guajardo and see her remodeled house and life- coffee up at Micheal Kline's place.
A beer with Gary Rith at his favorite place. I would love to sit and watch Sofia and her Dad, Jim , create together. Then I would have to go see Cindy Shake who drips talent with everything she does.
Out to see Julia and meet her bees and Stan,who would rather keep the name Ruby.
I read the Seagrove blogs as well- don't think I am not checking in with you- just too many to mention here today.

Then there is the Women's Colony. I would go there to soak up some of the energy from the women who write and give me bites of their lives.

So- start here because this is your life.




11 comments:

Anonymous said...

meredith... very nice post, when i started reading your blog, i don't think i went back to the beginning and never realized you had such a terrible year... it must have been hell literally, if you ever get around her, drop by and say hi... glad things are back on track

Patricia Griffin Ceramics said...

Oh, I would LOVE to have you guys visit me! We could take a walk along the bluff trail, go to the beach, get some fish tacos at Duckies, and sit on our deck and watch the sun set over the Pacific... Life is good! Come on over!

cindy shake said...

Meredith you would definitely have a place to stay when (notice I said "when" and not "if") you venture to the Far North. Your post got me all misty eyed this morning! Geeze. Maybe we should assemble a group tour because I think all of us would like to take a cross-country studio tour to visit with all of our wonderful Blogger friends! What a GREAT idea :o)

Julia said...

Meredith, your post made me cry (but in a good, girly way I don't often get to do). It is amazing how you can "meet" people via blogs and know they are kindred spirits without ever even speaking to one another. For all the "evils" of the internet, the positives of the community it creates is worth it all. I do hope you will come visit me in Utah someday (hopefully soon). We could find a lot of trouble to get into together. Love, Julia

Gary's third pottery blog said...

c'est moi! smooch!

Shortstuff said...

You're starting at my house, right???? ;^)Les

Linda Starr said...

I teared up reading your post and would love to have you visit anytime. I have a similar plan - when we sell our house to travel to visit all the potters I've met via my blog and theirs - too much to take care of here to leave for any length of time now. In fact Gary and I were talking about it the other night and I was trying to think if our motorhome would make it down your driveway with all the trees hanging over.

I'm so glad you're both getting into the swing of things again. I know what you mean about the computer, I really have to start limiting myself, but then I might not have seen your beautiful post, thx.

cookingwithgas said...

some day soon I will pack a bag and hit the road- but for now I will vist you on line!

cynthia said...

Meredith - so when I wrote about having something to cry about yesterday - your experience qualifies. You really did have a challenging past year. I asked my husband last night, what would I do if I had something really catastrophic happen? Anyway, I'm not beating myself up any more....

I'm so happy that you and your hubby have rebuilt your studio and how comfortable it feels. When I read those words, I knew exactly what you meant. I could feel it.

Thanks for turning me onto the Women's Colony - I just got side tracked over there for the past 15 minutes - bookmark.

PS you're always welcome in Denver too!

Barbara said...

We would have lots to talk about in my garden or by your pond. Could happen! Beautiful post. I think your father would be proud of the way you "string your thoughts together". I'm so glad your life is returning to what you do.

cookingwithgas said...

We keep maping the trip and we need to find a way to pay for it all!