I have been hanging out with thugs.

This is just not working out for me.
I have spent too many hours hanging out with thugs and I find that when I do this nothing gets taken care of.
The paperwork piles higher on my desk.
The mice take over the spare room and call in friends for a love fest.
The spiders build multiplex condos in all the corners and there I am hanging with thugs.
Just one more page, don't tell me Mark put another book on the reader...
I am going to have to quit something.
Maybe quit making pots and just take up reading.
My confession is I love a good trashy novel.
I know, I know I am suppose to be reading things to enlighten  and bring me to a place of zen, but no I want to read about thugs and the guys that go after them.
Toss in some humor and I am done.

It is not as if things are not happening around here with  getting ready for the spring kiln opening. We have pots in the bisque kiln, pots that are drying, pots that are being glazed and all I can think about is getting the bad guys taken care of. 
If the books are not bad enough we discovered Justified and just finished up the 3rd season.
I love streaming.
We have our raised beds ready for spring planting, lettuce and potatoes are in and we are talking about what other things to plant.
What is more important than the thugs is this weekend  that is coming up fast!

Mark and Meredith Heywood of Whynot Pottery and Acacia Tile are pleased to invite you to their spring event: Mud and Suds on Saturday April 20, from 9-5pm & Sunday the 21^st, from 11-4pm

Mark and Meredith have been busy restocking the shelves and will have your favorite “hand crafted, homemade”, kiln cookies on hand for a quick munch.

Joining in the fun on Saturday and sharing her talents is Laurie Abela of Abela Bodycare.

Laurie is a long time soap maker and will bring her knowledge of soaps and bodycare to the show on Saturday.

This event coincides with:

 The Annual Seagrove Potters “Celebration of Spring Kiln Opening & Studio Tour”.

To check in with the local potters:

https://www.facebook.com/CelebrationOfSeagrovePotters
or I try to keep us updated at:
https://www.facebook.com/whynotpotterywhynotnc
go over here and download a map and get the information on who is participating in the Open house
http://www.celebrationofseagrovepotters.com/news.html
 
So you see the place I have put myself in.
There are cookies to bake and pots to be finish.
It's going to be showtime soon.
Put the book down.

Seriously,
M

Saturday firing, jelly, books and naps

We had so enjoyed our time visiting with new friends but as we all know work calls and we needed to get back to it.
 It was still so hot we paced ourselves loading by putting in the back stack one day and then finishing up the whole thing on Friday.

Mark would creep out of bed in the wee hours of the morning Saturday to light the fire for the kiln even though the temperatures were to hit 100 plus.
The fact that we have a/c makes this a bit easier. There was a time when we were younger that we did not have a/c and summer firings were all about fans and lots of fluids.
We realized at some point if we were going to make pots in the summer we had to cool things off for ourselves. We tried working from 6 am until 2 pm and going back in the evenings as things cooled off, but really, this was getting old.
So we went for a/c and it sure does make it easier than baking away as the day goes on.
This allows Mark to cool off between turn ups.
On firing days we tend to go our separate ways.
He fires, reading, playing his guitar, listening to music while I wait customers, read, clean, maybe do bookwork or something in the kitchen.

I rarely leave while Mark is firing, you just never know when something will come up and we will both need to be here.
I spent some time messing around making jelly from blackberry and blueberry juice.
I call this my bruiseberry jelly, black and blue. The tartness of the blackberries is set off by the undertones of the blueberries. Believe me you it is tasty.

 I have found I can not read even a good book without taking a little cat nap or two.
Mark loaded my small netbook with a kindle app and I am learning how to borrow books on line.
It's different but at the same time I like having a book there I can read. The only draw back is it is not so cozy in bed and if I nod off it might just give me a good knock on the head.

The kiln is cooling and from what I hear so are the temperatures.  I am sitting here in the basement and the door is open, the birds having been singing and it has a quiet feel.
We noticed with the 100 degree days even the bugs and frogs were laying low.
I would love to think that is it for the highs but summer is no where near over.
Cheers for now!
M