Saturday, February 5, 2011

busy week at Lake Whynot

It has been a busy week here at Whynot.
The new kiln has finally arrived.
We had thought we would have it delivered in January.
Mother nature had other plans in store for us all.
We kept tabs weekly with the folks up in New Jersey through email and phone calls.
And- every week it snowed on ship day.
Finally no snow there this week and out she went.
But we had heavy rain yesterday so she is sitting all boxed up on the carport waiting to go in her new space.
She will be in good company with our smaller L&L kiln.
Mark is hooking up the vent system today.
YEA! Then the fun begins.
WE have sold one of the used kilns but have two more if anyone is interested.
These could also be used stripped down for Raku or soda...just think of the possibilities.
And get in touch with us.
put a chicken on it!
I spent the past week working on a glaze load for the small electric kiln.
Tiles, butter dishes, tea caddies, those two teapots and lots of doo-dads or should this be do-dads....
I turned the table we had used for the tile mural into glaze central and just covered it from one end to the other.
Messy stuff this glazing.
I make myself crazy with this stuff thinking of all the ways to glaze the tiles.
Then I tell myself to just do something, anything otherwise you will still be sitting here a year from now.
Its only clay- get busy!

Julia over at Henhouse Pottery and Tinstar Farm has given me an award and said nice things about me.
Thanks Julia!
I love reading Julia's blog about her life.
I live through her.
Mark and I had our own little farm dreams when we moved here and I miss the small lively livestock we use to raise.
Through Julia I can pretend I am back there without going out in the cold to feed real animals.
I am to share 7 things about myself that you might not know.
Hummm as much as I talk what would you not know about me.
Did you know we raised Pigs, goats, rabbits and sheep?
Did you know I baked all our bread, made yogurt and thought I was mother earth... humm yea, you say- you can tell I am nothing but an old hippie.
I guess I will have to dig deeper.

1. I wanted to be a midwife and even helped bring a few babies into this world.
Then one day I thought about if I could truly handle a difficult birth.
The answer was no.

2. My other passion is children and I thought I would be a pediatrician.
I am baby crazy and will talk to anyone under the age of 5 anywhere at anytime.
They speak my language. I use to embarrass, my job, my own family by stalking out babies at any public place.
Then again see number one- I want nothing to go wrong and all to be right so being a Doctor would not be in my line of work.

3. I like a good trashy novel, blood, a little gore and throw in some murder and mystery and I am there.
I wish I read better just like I wish I ate better ,but, there you go we all need a little junk in our lives.

4. Mark and I traveled around in a 1956 Ford Pickup truck with a wooden house on the back of it.
Camping from Va. to Colorado and back again. This was back in BC- before children.
We ended up living in Tenn. in a Tepee for awhile before we embraced electricity and running water.
I like them both very much and we sold the Tepee and the Ford.
Still miss the Ford it was a great truck.
Don't miss the Tepee.

Seems I am at a standoff with my brain so I think I will do this in two parts.
Otherwise we will be here for hours.
So to be continued more about me,
(enough about you let's talk about me...!)
and awards to fellow bloggers....
seems I have some thinking to do.
Cheers!
M

11 comments:

MH said...

I kinda miss the tepee....Don't miss the 8 track player in the truck or the dangerously sloppy steering.... mh

Hollis Engley said...

1956 must have been a good year for Fords. Dee and I owned a '56 Ford station wagon, baby blue, when we were married in 1970. Traveled from Martha's Vineyard across the Trans-Canada Highway down into Minnesota and then through SD, Wyo., Utah and into California. Lived there a few months, ran out of almost all our money, and drove back to the Vineyard. New radiator in Pecos, Texas, repaired bearings in Mississippi, arrived home to find no ferries running from the mainland because of a bad storm. The former summer visitor Dee's response was total disbelief: "What do you mean 'no ferries"? How do we get to the island?"
Anyway, all of that in a Ford wagon with a big box on top to hold our lives. Sorry ... this comment went on a bit.

Linda Starr said...

seven things, I'll have to think about that. have you tried posting on craigs list for the kilns? I have had good luck with that. on cars back then no seat belts and no air cond, and sometimes no heat, ugh. can't wait to see those new tiles, they look great.

cookingwithgas said...

Hollis- we need to talk we broke down in the pan handles of New Mexico in the middle of nowhere- think tumbleweed and dust.
We were rescued by a farm family in a pick-up truck.
Yep- radiator needed to be fixed.
We spent 3 days waiting for parts and staying in a hotel.
Seems we were doing the opposite trip on the lower end of the USA- we ran of of $$ in Colorado and never made CA.
That Ford still holds a piece of our hearts _ will post an old picture.

cookingwithgas said...

Linda--- Craigs list - I will go do that!

Hollis Engley said...

Yes, Meredith. There's still a lot of dust and tumbleweeds in New Mexico. And friendly farm families,too.
I'm working here at the computer on the Hannah/Doug tour poster to go out next week. And there's a bit of green tea here next to the keyboard in one of your lovely little beakers. Nice job, Whynot Pottery.

Tracey Broome said...

I love the thoughts of living in a teepee. Maybe that will be our retirement home :) you are such hippies!

Judy Shreve said...

Meredith - I love this post -- your table full of glazing to do -- and the little secret things about you -- who knew! I can picture you and Mark in those hippie days - they were fun weren't they!? - I had a 1955 VW van. Oh the good old days.

Shortstuff said...

Ahem...Jubilation T Cornpone as I recall. ;^)

Alex Solla said...

AWESOME kiln! Nice choice. No question... absolutely the best kiln to buy. Glad you did it.

Julia said...

What lovely secrets...love the first four and can't wait for the last three!

You can come visit UT anytime and show us how to do this life the way you did it. We don't have a teepee but we have a wall tent you can stay in for old times sake.;) if you come in June you can practice midwifery delivering a calf.

Beautiful tiles, wish I lived close enough to buy your old kilns!