Summer time

Who knows why a shape will grab your attention at times and other times seems such a bother to make.
 I have not made cruets much at all the past year plus and then I make a dozen in the past two weeks.
 Other pots are being made as well, but I add in a few of these at the end of the day and the next thing you know they are piling up.
 I had swore them off after losing too many last year to glaze malfunction.
I decided I was done with them and would make nice safe bowls and such. No risky behavior for me, no walk on the wild side I was staying home and coloring inside the lines. But now...I am called back and here are more to add to the mix. The fun part will be next week as I step in the glaze pool and see how best to screw them up.

I also reclaimed two buckets of the red clay I use for tiles.
I put the dried clay in two buckets wet it down, left it for a week and then placed it in a sheet over a framed screen outside until the clay began to set up and water evaporate.
Mark and I brought it in and placed it on some plaster overnight and then the next day I was surprised to find he had wedged and blocked it for me, nice guy that he is.

It is so nice and fluffy and easy to thrown.
Very different from the bagged clay we usually have going that runs through the pug mill.
I am working on an order for the electric kiln and thought some fillers would be great out of the reclaimed clay.
Wee bottles are being made along with some other wee fillers- wheeee....

I had my camera with me as I pulled down the driveway the other day.
You can see how green everything is here right now.
We very much need some of the promised rain we keep hearing about.

The grass in front of the house is crunchy and dry.
I am keeping water on the garden determined not to let things dry up.
I put in tomatoes late this year and suddenly they are really putting some growth on.
I think of my father back in the 70's he meeked out a garden in the family back yard, tomatoes, corn, peppers, herbs, later blueberries and even a peach tree.
That was back when someone had thrown out the idea that you had to "talk" to your plants.
Everyday my father would go out and look at his garden shake his fist in the air and say, "grow goddamn you grow." He was talking to them and they did grown.

 I have my eye on this chard- soon to be eaten.
We had squash the other night, picked from someone else, and Mark took one bite and said this taste like summer.
I agree.
Last night was corn off the grill...taste like summer and blueberries out of the yard.
Summer is here and so are the good things that come with it.
Cheers!
M