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.

one-and it's the end of February

Well- as most of you know- we had a fire last year due to being hit by lighting and the result was we lost our main work building.
We took off time after the Christmas rush to finish rebuilding and get back to work.
It took us much longer then we expected, but we were moving back in in just over 6 months from the fire.
We are back to work- as we best we can be- we are still fumbling around some days and we say about the newly rebuilt shop, " it is the same, but different." We made changes and we are still trying to find out if we like those changes.
So- with that said some days are productive and other days are........ let's just say they are.

Today we loaded the big kiln- sigh of relief for me.
I get tomorrow to pull the taxes into some form of intelligence while Mark fires the kiln. ( lucky Man!)

But- this is kiln one for the year- it seems a long time coming.

Fingers are crossed and we have checked and rechecked the winds for tomorrow.
( Wind plays hell with the reduction.)
and-yes this picture is crooked I can see that!

Think of me- I am locking myself to the paper work tomorrow. I would really like to have that off my plate so we can really get back to making pots!

Oh and a big PS- have I reminded you again to get Business Insurance- I know you don't want to think about it - but you should.
Don't whine, just do it!

Another note thanks again to CERF and our local potters Relief fund.

Happy New Year....chrip

We rang in the New year and went to bed late- or earlier about 1:30- 2 ish.
I was sleeping and dreaming- chirp- and I was thinking- chirp- what is that sound- chirp. There it is again-chirp.
Is it the cell phone-chirp.
It was 4 am and I was in a stupor-chirp.
I found it was the smoke detector, which is wired directly into the house- chirp.
I did what I always do and called my sleeping mate.
Mark- the smoke alarm is chirping- chirp.
He was up and at it in no time- chirp.
We replace the batteries- like we all should do every year not every 3 years. We were way over due.
Climb back into bed and as we dozed off- it went chirp-chirp real fast.
What the hey???
Back out of bed- could it be carbon dioxide? Why did it chirp-chirp???
Mark put on a coat and went to check the heater- all was good there.
We were both awake and he was willing to "stand guard" while I slept- finally I thought it must be resetting its self come back to bed.
No more chirps and we slept in until 9:30-
We are both on high alert after a fire in the studio this year.
It does not take much for the antenna to go up.
But- we need to relax and have hope and optimism for 2009.
There are many good things coming- I know it.
So- change your batteries in the smoke detectors today!
It will make me sleep better.

Not making pots, but moving along on building

As you know we made the decision to finish our building in order to be back at full prodution after the first of January. If you are just tunning in we had a studio fire back in July in which we lost our main work building. The fire was caused by lighting- just one of those things- not the kiln- not the wax pan...

The building is up and last week we emptied our building which holds all our glaze materials plus. Plus lamp parts, plus tools, plus packing and shipping materials, plus odds and ends.

WE, Mark, put everything on our empty carts or the shelving out of the building.

After taking everything out he is putting in the ceiling, insulation and walls.

I can't tell you why we did not finish the inside of this building when we bought it. It has been too long ago. But, I would expect the reasons were: money and time.

So- while Mark went through all the stuff I finished painting the back room.
A little parsley green to go with our curried yellow, toasted almond...... we are tossing in some blue I will show you later.

Today I am on to window trim while Mark will be back in the building.

Keep your fingers crossed- we would like to be done by December the 23rd.

Go team!

The other side of the pond and my soap box.

Yesterday was a day of many changes. We all went out and voted and we have a new President.

We know that things will not change overnight and there are many issues facing us. It is my hope we can find some common ground and the powers that be- work together.

We- the collective we- in all of us- need to work together.

We are in a war- not one we can win. There are no winners in war.

We are in a recession.

A war we might be able to win.

We need to get a grip on spending and thinking we deserve to have everything and anything we ever wanted. When did we get so greedy? I am a product of the 60's. There were many good concepts then that we can apply to now. Take stock of your needs and wants. Take stock of what you really need.

You need to pay your bills- you need to take care of family and friends. We need to reach out and help those who need help. We need jobs.

We need leadership and government's who are not out for their own advancement.

I hope this is what we have to look forward to.

It is a new day.

Fall view and mud on the wheel

This does not do justice to the view out the window. The trees are really starting to show off their fall colors. I do love fall.............
Today was another day of fits and starts- we traded spaces again and not all my tools and bats got back here- couldn't find the shammy- couldn't get the bat pins off- couldn't find one of my favorite throwing tools....I just made do- what else can you do.
I am too old to go pout- but I sure did feel like it.

Also- Mark came home and the factory doesn't keep the heat on unless they have to. It takes too much LP gas for the space. So we are going to put some plastic up and set him up in the new back area. We are still determined to paint before we fully move in- so I promise we will wait- although it is hard.

I think he will be more productive here and warm. That end of the building gets sun all afternoon and with a kerosene heater it will keep him warm.

We will just have to do some shuffling around.

BEER-BEER-BEER ................BEER!

Now that I have your attention- I have to tell you we have lived here for well over 32 years. In those 32 years we have driven many miles to obtain a beer, wine or even the hard stuff.

In the past few months alcohol sales have been voted in around us like weeds in the garden.

This Floyd's General Store in Ether NC- just 5 minutes from the house and the 1/2 way mark between us and Star Works.

5 minutes from the house- not 35-not 45- not an hour-----FIVE minutes.

Now you can't get wine or hard stuff, which is okay since I don't drink much anyway. In fact one beer is good for me these days.

But- I just stopped in on my way home and picked up decent beers- in fact good beers- this is not just Bud Light. Not that there is anything wrong with Bud.

Not only did this happen close to us, but they passed the vote in Asheboro. You heard me Asheboro.

In fact Mark and I went out to one of the only chef run restaurants in Asheboro and had a glass of wine with a really good dinner.

And we did not have to drive an hour to get there.

Lordy- things have changed.

A stop light in Seagrove and beer down the road- what's next????

M