It is Friday the 13th

of July, how is your luck running these days?
I have never been one to worry about the 13th.
 I figure like a full moon in October it has gotten a bad rap.
I love a full moon so, let's try to love the 13th.
We picked massive amounts of blueberries this morning.
This time of year if I don't get out there early it gets too hot too fast for me.
Beautiful morning for picking today, luck.

I have been working on as many tiles as I can over the summer getting ready for the fall.
I like this house, I worked in a tree on this one and I think it worked pretty well.

I have an order for some accent tiles for a kitchen, the customer has a vision of what she wants, I am just working through that.
I think it would be brilliant to have these in a kitchen they will add a nice splash of color.
I was reading the other day that the all white kitchen is on the way out.
For myself I like color in my spaces, I  have been interested in the all white, but never drawn to it. When I see all white I want some crayons so I can add some color in there.
Maybe drawn a house, a tree, some flowers....
At least with all white you won't need to worry about a primer. It's going to be easy to cover.

Here's your happy for the day.
Later!
M

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

what's love got to do with it?

It seems our snake had a mate.
I was picking blueberries yesterday ( about 3 weeks early) and as I moved a low branch and there to my surprise was a bigger and better looking snake that looked just like the one moved on Saturday. As I levitated out of the berry patch I thought maybe the snake had come back.
After going to get my snake charmer to remove the snake we decided that it must be the mate of the other one.
We relocated him to the same space in hopes that true love will find it's path and they will be reunited and take their offspring somewhere else to live.
I am convinced there was some love fest that was going to or had already happened in there among my berries.

I am going to keep a sharp eye out while picking anything this year.

On another note just as I was posting a message to our daughter on FB the phone rang and it was Anna to tell me they had been hit while stopped to let a car turn left.
It seems that a young woman was possibly texting and driving. She never even saw the car until she hit them. It's a pretty big car so how could she miss it unless....
She says she was not texting but she was doing something that diverted her attention away from looking while she was driving and I can tell you looking while you drive is important in my book.
The report is they are fine, car is pretty banged up. The granddaughter was not in the car and is fine.
But it shook me up.
People- do not text and drive- really just stop, you are really not that important!

Even though I want to jump in my car and go fix this all for my kid I know she will do it herself.

And what are we doing in the studio?
Throwing.
40 pots for Mark yesterday and only 36 for me- I am such a slacker...
pictures later.

 Okay, okay here you go- before and after.

cheers!
M

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

Caution: detour ahead

 I went to see the doctor and I have massive, deep bruising on my lower back.
I will be going to have an x-ray done in the next day or so- depends on when they say come.
It is like I was body slammed by the deck and, now, I am loopy.
I have never been a person who could take massive amounts of drugs.
Even ibuprofen makes me loopy.
I am a two beer, two glass of wine girl.
I am the cheap date- unless there is lobster----
So when the doctor said I am prescribing pain pills I thought I might not take them.
Wrong- they do help the pain.
But after just two I am wondering which is worse.
Pain or not being able to think straight or nodding off while sitting or standing still.
I know these are why you take the pain pills so you will rest and do nothing, but I can tell you now
I would be a terrible drug addict.

So my life the next week will be to tackle some of the mounting paper work and
Keep on top of the Clay and Blogs show.
If you are coming- let me know I am looking for rooms for those who are in the show and if there is enough interest I think we could get some discounted rooms in Asheboro.


Fetishghost left a comment on the nibbles I have been posting about the show. He liked the quiet format I was using. I picked this because there I think the blogs and work speak for themselves. They have a better voice then I do about who they are and their work. I do hope you have been reading them and will check back on Friday for more.
One of the reasons I chose this way was after 15 years of working on The North Carolina Potters Conference I was most impressed by a slide presentation done by Clara Couch, know to her friends as Kitty.
Kitty put in her slides, turned off the lights, turned on a tape of some sweet music and carefully went through all her slide, without saying a word. The room was completely quiet of talk and I was mesmerized. When it was over the lights came on, she stopped the music and stood up and said thank you.
Lord, it was so sweet and well done it still pulls at my emotions.
Kitty is no longer with us and I still miss her energy and those beautiful forms.
I think of her often she was so unpretentious.
I have tried to keep that in the back of my head and remember to let the pots and the makers have their own voice.



I just have to share this because even in my loopy state I find this funny- well even if I was not loopy, I should say.
Written on the back of a post card announcing the opening of a play:
"......already sold out, and once word gets around about this delightful romp,seats will be in short supply."

Come again?
what do you mean by that.
Does this mean they will start doubling up and we can sit in each others lap?
If so I will wait I would much rather have a top seat.

With that said I am off, yes I am, to make myself useful.
Mark, meanwhile, bless his pea picking heart, is picking up my "slack".

He cleaned and froze blueberries, made tomato sauce and is doing all the dish washing and picking up that I can't do. You know the drill- you drop every thing when it is not in your power to bend over. And when you do you just stare at it as if you could levitate it off the floor.
Plus, making sure I am okay.
Good man that one is.
Cheers and Peace-
M

there are good things about july-

and there are still more...........

Dealing with blueberries

My other job right now is picking, cleaning, and either freezing or figuring out how to eat the fresh blueberries that are coming in right now.
Mark and I have picked over a gallon twice in the last few days and there are more.
First off I have to tell you we had nothing to do with the disappearance of those baby birds.
I swear nothing and if you need us to we will take the lie detector test.....
We left the birds and berries alone for a day or two and when we went back we were very careful to to pick while  keeping clear of the nest. The closer we got, because the best berries were over above the nest, we noticed no big,bad,bulling,birds coming after us.
Let's take a peek in the nest-no babies-they are gone.
Speculation of how they went is still,"up in the air."
Did they fly, this is what I think and hope and they are out on their own looking for bugs and worms.
Making new friends and living the high life

Mark- I bet they became snake food..........nooooooo-let's hope not!

So yesterday with a pot luck looming I wanted to use some of those yummy blueberries.
I was going to use a recipe from a friend but the recipe was on line and with heavy thunderstorms no internet connects were to be had.
Okay what can I do-
There are a few ripe peaches here as well.
I went with an upside down cake.
I used Mark's family recipe with only two small adjustment.
God forbide, I cut the butter.
So here goes.
About 3-4 peaches washed, peeled and sliced thin.
Blueberries about a cup and a half.
Took out my cast iron skillet.
melt half a stick of unsalted butter on the stovetop-preheat oven to 375.
Adjustment two- you would use brown sugar- I used white sugar 3/4 cup with 2 Tbs. mapel syrup and 1 Tbs. molasses.
Melt this with the butter.
Place all the peach slices on top.
Cover with blueberries and top with this sponge cake
Beat 3 eggs
add 1 cup sugar
add 1cup sifted flour, with 1 tsp.baking powder.
add 1tsp.vanilla
Pour over fruit and bake at 375 for 30 to 40 minutes.
Let cool - then run a knife around the eges and trun over onto a plate or platter.
This was good!
I woul love to report on the leftovers but-I slipped on the wet deck last night and the platter hit the deck at the same time I did.
I am sitting on an ice pack today accessing the damage and if a trip to the doctor is on my list tomorrow.

Yes, we are working--- thanks for asking!

Regardless of the rumors that we do nothing but jet set and eat seafood around here we are working.
Here it is Wednesday and we have fixed the bisque kiln and fired it today.
( just before we left we did one of those long.........firing..we blow out a switch about every 3rd firing- well maybe 4 but the kiln is old!)
And we both worked on the wheel Monday and Tuesday.
Although I think I was sleep walking Monday.
Monday Mark rolled out more tiles for the back splash. I have all the bottom tiles finished and now I am heading up.
I wanted to get all the giraffe in and not go across and worry that some thing would be out of whack .

Here he/she is.
I will have to ask Lee if this is a male or a female.
Never thought to ask.
I wonder how you tell the difference? 
I think I will have one more round of large tiles and then on to the boarder.
I am so nervous with no good place to store these.
I keep boxing them up and taking them out to refer to and boxing them up again.
There must be a better way.
I am like a mother hen clucking and checking these things.
Oh, vay!

Last night we had rain.
The rain will help to bring what is left  of the blueberries out. They were begging for water.
I am fighting with a pair of nesting birds who decided to hatch babies while we were gone. They just looked at me before the babies hatched. Now they flank me and follow me and try to evil eye stare me down. Yesterday one flew in and tried to nip my finger. I am trying to see if we can work things out but after the finger incident Mark brought me a squirt bottle and when the birds get too close I hit them with a stream of water.
Hey! I am willing to leave your babies alone so back off bud!
They also taunt me by eating the best berries as I am picking.
Next year the nest goes.
I mean I am willing to share but no finger nipping!

The big gulp!

It is sometimes hard to gauge size when you are looking at pictures on the blogs.
But this mug was made for a customer who requested a big mug.
Mark used 2 1/2 pounds of clay.
It is a big mug!
I hope the customer is happy with the size.
He wanted big- this is big.

We had rain!
And the temperature went down and with the rain the humidity is down as well.
Oh my gosh it feels great not to feel like we are all baking every time we walked out the door.
This feels so good.
It will also be good for the blueberries too.
They started coming in early because it has been so hot.
But they really needed this rain to make the berries plump up.
I have some to pick now, but by tomorrow I will be picking a bunch.
I love to freeze them and then take out what I need through the winter months.
I toss them on my morning cereal or we make a crisp to enjoy in January.
Of course we need one for the summer months as well.
I just fill one of our pie plates with berries, sprinkle with cinnamon and then top with:
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar ( some thing call for the real stuff)
1/2 cup butter
make this into a crumb, pile it on top of the berries ( which I don't sweeten- I like that tart and sweet taste)
Bake at 350 for at least 45 minutes.
I love to go longer and get the berries good and bubbly with the top nice and brown.
You can eat this pretty much right after it is done, but we like it best completely cooled, or even the next day.
Spoon in bowl and have some whipped cream or ice cream to top it all.
Yum!