Friday, July 1, 2011

It's summer time hot here in central NC which sends me out the door early to get those hot weather things taken care of.
The blueberries are coming on and there is nothing better than gabbing a bowl and heading out to pick a few, maybe a big few, for my morning cereal.
I love that hot,sweet, tangy with the cold milk and cereal...oh how good is that!?
Then there is the yogurt and blueberries...
or ice cream and blueberries....
I can find many way to eat them before I start thinking muffins,upside down cake,buckle...hummmm
I need more!



Yesterday I received an email from Samantha over at Bulldog Pottery.
She and her family were set up across from us at the Celebration Of Seagrove Potters last fall.
She had taken this picture of me and my sister Lee.
I was so happy to have this and yet it broke my heart just a little.
It makes me smile and weep all at the same time.
It is still hard for me to believe she will not be helping me this fall.
She use to come and stand with me all day wrapping pots and letting me talk with customers.
And she came loaded with lunch goodies.
I will miss her.
My sister Leslie is planning to come and help me and we were talking about wearing tee-shirts with a picture of her giving it to cancer.
On the back we could write-my sister died and all I got was this tee-shirt.
I know,I know how morbid this sounds and some of you might think poorly of this but we all grieve in strange ways and we do it through laughter and tears.
Always laughter first.
and then there is the food.
I have this peach and blueberry upside down cake on my brain.
I think I will make one soon to share with some friends.
I could eat it all but then it would be grief through food and my hips could use a break!

Many days this blog is about pottery and many days this blog is about my life and family.
I just want to thank the readers and those of you who hold me up and give us all encouragement.
To make any kind of a living from what you do is to step out on the edge of darkness with your eyes closed and no safety net below and jump.

I hope I never hit bottom but keep floating down and looking as I go.
I know that one day I might not be able to continue to do this as I have been because of age, health and  because life just happens.
There are no crystal balls to tell me anything.......

Okay-okay let's get back to those blueberries, we're not done yet.
Happy 4th-happy and safe and family 4th..

M

11 comments:

Linda Starr said...

Your sister Lee's memory will be your white rabbit for years to come, I didn't know her really at all, and yet I miss her just from reading your post(s) and that's the most wonderful thing to feel, to feel your love of her and your memories of her so clearly here, I am sure she is smiling from where she is now and she's tasting those blueberries you've offered in your pottery bowl.

Peter said...

Just been finishing a nice bowl of our own stewed apples and some toasted rolled oats on top, just to add some "sustaining power" to the mix to get us through the rest of the morning. Peach and blueberry upside down cake, early morning summer sunshine, a great combination, and I would tell those hips of yours to look the other way as you luxuriously consume a mouth watering good sized portion of such a summer treat! There is something about loss that makes us value what we have. I deeply feel the rather hopeless plunge into darkness as our power bills arrive, and the car insurance, and the rates, and I try to not notice the rising costs of food.... it seems that the "goal posts" keep shifting every time we seem to be almost getting by... and yet this fragile and "impossible" existence, is life affirming in its unique way. The whole thing of making a clay blob into something of use that, potentially, will outlast me many times over, is wonderful really. P xx

Tracey Broome said...

Family has been on my mind a lot this week as I sat in the hospital with my uncle. Time is precious. I think our minds are on similar paths this week. What are the Seagrove dates? I could come help wrap if I'm not doing a show....you could make me on of those blueberry things to thank me :)

Hollis Engley said...

I love the t-shirt idea, Meredith. It's perfect. Much like the peaches.

cookingwithgas said...

Linda, Peter, Trcey and Hollis- you all warm me and make me smile.
And Tracey I will make you one of those blueberry thingys one day- but my show is right before your show so I would not take you away from what you will be doing.
Again- thanks for holding me up-somedays I am rock solid others days- jello comes to mind.

smartcat said...

Love the t-shirt; it fits with my family's sense of humor. Alas we have very few wild blueberries this year due to a cold wet spring.

Love the way you relate your pottery to the rest of your life.

Michèle Hastings said...

i get your cancer jokes... totally. it's not morbid, it's how we cope. when my guy jz was diagnosed with head and neck cancer, unknown primary, they said it was suspected to have started in his tonsils. we joked about why don't they have a "tonsil walk" to raise awareness?
we would all march down the street wearing tonsil t-shirts...you see people marching about breasts but never about tonsils!

cookingwithgas said...

HEY SMART CAT- WHOOOPS ALL CAPS- THANKS.
AND YES I WOULD WALK FOR TONSIL, SPINES, LIVERS,BRAINS.....IT'S ALL THERE AND ALL WORTHY.

Anonymous said...

hi meredith,
it's a nice pic of you and sis, i think you should go with the t-shirt if you want to... it's true that we all grieve in different ways and humor is definitely a must. those blueberries are dreamy looking in that bowl

cindy shake said...

It's the beauty of blogs and how we get to know more about one another. Lovely picture of you and your sweet sister. We have to wait until fall for our blueberries and hope to get to them before the bears do!

cookingwithgas said...

humor is number one- and blueberries have multiplied in the last few days.
No bear thank goodness!