Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas one and all.
May you have a safe and Happy Christmas filled with lots of cheer and joy.
Meredith and Mark

PS- this is not our house, but we enjoyed the effort someone else put it to it!

Step out of the way - nothing to see here

I feel as if I have spent the last few weeks coming out of my cocoon. I feel a bit like the butterfly from a few weeks ago.
After the past year of losing our work area and the rebuild, I rarely had the energy it takes to be social.
In fact I was content to stay home, knowing the piles of stuff I had to deal with.
Both mental and physical.
Well the past few weeks and months we have found our selves enjoying getting out.
It has been nice to enjoy a night or lunch with friends
But it means less time on the computer, which is a good thing.

And I have a lot of stuff coming out of my head.
That sure sounds strange.....

Anyway, after just making pots like a zombie last year I feel more connected to the clay this year.
And with that is coming new work.
I don't have pictures yet and maybe some it will be worth a post.
All I can say is, "we are having some fun."

We are still doing production work, the kiln is firing today.

But I hope to see some new work coming out of both of us in the next few months.
Let's see where this goes.

Potters For Peace and giving

Today, with the money collected from the vessels Mark and I both made and sold, we will be able to give the CAI a check for $550.00.

I plan to get that right to Beth Gore at Cady ClayWorks.
My hats off to Beth for pulling this all together.
We meet some great folks who came out for the vessels on Saturday.
By noon- we had to tell folks we were sold out.

A lot of the folks who came out wanted to stay and chat a bit, about the book, how it had touched them and how important it was to do things such as this.
They wanted us to know how touched they were by the giving from the potters.

Potters are giving folks.
I know that this was the weekend a fund raiser was going on for Liz Zlot Summerfield up at Penland.
Liz, a potter has cancer, the potters up in the mountains rallied behind Liz and her family by putting together an auction to raise money for medical bills.
You can still donate money to the family through Michael Kline's Bolg.

I know we can not always give to everything that comes along, but I do feel for the most part, we all do what we can to help.

So hats off to the potters up in the mountains and best wishes to Liz and her family during this time.

“SEAGROVE POTTERS FOR PEACE – 200 CUPS OF TEA”

13 Seagrove Potters have created special drinking vessels as a fundraiser for American Greg Mortenson, whose #1 NY Times Bestseller “Three Cups of Tea – One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time” explains his own efforts for peace.

Mortenson, through his Central Asia Institute (CAI), has built hundreds of schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where illiterate and impoverished children are prey to recruitment by terrorist organizations.

On Saturday, August 15, 200 teacups, mugs and tumblers will be offered for sale, with the full purchase price being donated to CAI. Many items are specially inscribed for this event. Copies of Mortenson’s book in adult, young adult and children’s versions will be for sale at several potteries.

Vessels by Whynot, Thomas, Old Gap, Jugtown, From the Ground Up, Caldwell-Hohl and Ben Owen Potteries will be for sale at the individual shops.

Vessels by Westmoore, Tom Gray, Old Gap, From the Ground Up, Dover, Dean & Martin, Bulldog and Cady Clay Works Potteries will be for sale at Cady Clay Works.

Items will be available exclusively at the shops until August 24, when any remaining vessels can be ordered by email or telephone.

More information about the individual potteries, as well as a request form for a free Seagrove Area map, can be found at www.discoverseagrove.com, or email seagrovepottersforpeace@yahoo.com.

Mortenson, who many believe will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, will be the NC State Convocation speaker on August 17.

After a failed attempt to climb K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain, Mortenson got lost and wandered into a remote mountain village in Pakistan. The impoverished local people shared what little they had and nursed him back to health. He returned to the US, sold most of his belongings, lived in his car and tried to raise money to build the village a school. The skeptical villagers, who had heard promises from foreign climbers before, were astonished when he returned a year later with building materials.

In CAI’s publication, “Journey of Hope”, Karin Ronnow explains:
“Ultimately, most Pakistanis and Afghans want peace. They want working democracy. They want more and better-paying jobs, good roads, clean drinking water and food to eat. They are fed up with violence and they want to get on with living their lives.
And they know a better future for their children starts with education.”

More information can be found at CAI’s website, www.ikat.org, or www.penniesforpeace.org, an educational fundraising program for schoolchildren of all ages.

Potter Beth Gore of Cady Clay Works urges everyone, of all beliefs, to read “Three Cups of Tea”. “It’s obvious that we, as Americans, are woefully uninformed about the people, beliefs and way of life in these areas of military conflict.”

“Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time … (and) proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.”
- Tom Brokaw, who made the first $100 donation to Mortenson’s effort in 1993.


- Beth Gore, Cady Clay Works, 910-464-5661, seagrovepottersforpeace@yahoo.com.

“THREE CUPS OF TEA”

Mark and I are asked many times, sometimes weekly, sometimes daily to donate pottery to fundraisers.
One year I kept track of all the pots we donated and how much it cost us to do so.
The women who does my taxes asked me if I could really afford to give away so many pots.
Not really I thought.....
Mark and I decided we needed a plan for donations.
We would donate to our local community; hospice, local arts, the North Carolina Pottery Center, and then other exceptions would be made.
Last year with the fire we figured donations were out for the year.
We would not have enough work to feel generous enough to give any away.
Then one day Beth Gore from Cady Clayworks emailed me and said I would like to talk with you, let's have lunch.
It took weeks for me to find a day, with the wedding and all we had going on just getting our lives back to a sense of normal.
When we sat down to order she slide this book across the table and asked if I had read it.
Beth is a great reader and always has a good book going.
I had hear of it and had seen Greg Mortenson speak on TV about his life.
Then she presented her idea to me:
Here it is in letter form-

“SEAGROVE POTTERS FOR PEACE – 1000 CUPS OF TEA”
For the past 6 years of the Iraq war, I have been complaining that instead of bombing the Middle East and creating future generations of America-haters, we should be building schools and hospitals so people would learn to love Americans. Remember the hymn, “…they will know we are Christians by our love…”? People have told me I am naive and that’s not how the world works. Well, I just read the book “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and lo and behold, here is a man doing just what I have been only talking about!

After a failed attempt to climb K2 (the world’s second-tallest mountain), he got lost and wandered into a remote mountain village in Pakistan. The impoverished local people shared what little they had and nursed him back to health. He returned to the US, sold most of his belongings, slept in his car and tried to raise money to build the village a school. Many years, trials and dangerous travels later, with no religious or government affiliation, he has built dozens of schools through his non-profit organization, CAI (Central Asia Institute). Without these schools, the only other option to millions of impoverished children is to attend radical fundamentalist institutions that breed terrorists.

The book made me ponder what I could do to help, and at the same time I happened to mention it to my customers in my spring e-newsletter. I got responses and links from potters around the country who are doing “teacup” fundraisers for this organization. Isn’t this just the time to think “outside the box” of our own economic woes and focus on others less fortunate?

We all get numerous donation requests, I know, but wouldn’t the title above be a wonderful gesture to the world? There are over 100 local potters – what if we each donated the sale of 10 cups (or drinking vessels of any kind)? A simple act from each of us could create such a powerful result! 100 potters x 10 pots/potter x $15 avg price/item = $15,000!!!! It costs CAI $1 per month for one child’s education. (They pay teacher salaries and upkeep on the schools they build) We would be sending over 1200 children to school for a year!! And, if you are “sitting on the fence” about this idea, how about the wonderful PR the project would generate? I think we could get a lot of media coverage of some GOOD news for a change!
Sample plan:
- each potter makes 10 teacups or drinking vessels to be sold at their regular price, and that amount donated to a bank account for CAI. Items could be sold at individual potteries or a central location, or both.
- I will, at my own expense, produce a small poster to display in each shop with the items for sale, and also a small insert to go with each sold item.
- I will contact area news sources and try to get as many articles published as possible, listing all participating potters.

PLEASE FILL OUT THE RESPONSE BELOW AND REPLY BACK SO I KNOW YOU RECEIVED THIS EMAIL!

Are you interested in participating in this fundraiser? (I have submitted it to CAI and received their enthusiastic approval.)

Name(s) of participating potters from this pottery:

How many total items are you willing to donate?

Sale price/item?

Do you think the items should be inscribed on the bottom?
If so, "Seagrove Potters for Peace"?
"3 Cups of Tea"?

Do you want to sell these in your own shop or at a central location?

Would you be willing to buy a copy/copies of the book to have on display or for sale in your shop? They cost $8.55 net on Amazon for 3 or more new paperbacks. Cover price is $15. (Link from http://www.threecupsoftea.com/ so they get credit for the sale, or I will order them. He has also written a wonderful children’s version, “Listen to the Wind”.)

If you sell other potters’ work in your shop, would you ask them to participate?

Would you be interested in helping to plan this project? (Trying to keep it VERY simple!)

No matter what you think of this idea, PLEASE READ “THREE CUPS OF TEA”!!** It is obvious that we, as Americans, are woefully uninformed about the people, beliefs and way of life in these areas of military conflict.

Many people expect Greg Mortenson to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He will be the August 2009 Convocation speaker at NC State University.

For more information or different ways to help: http://www.threecupsoftea.com/.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this!
Beth Gore
Cady Clay Works
910-464-5661
seagrovepottersforpeace@yahoo.com

** “Three cups of tea” comes from a local custom. The first time you share tea you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family.

The potters who are participating are:
Ben Owen Pottery
Cady Clay Works
Caldwell-Hohl Artworks
Dean & Martin Pottery
Dover Pottery
From the Ground Up
Jugtown
Old Gap Pottery
Thomas Pottery
Tom Gray
Westmoore Pottery
Whynot Pottery

Mark and I are donating 20 drinking vessels each.
He has made small ,hold in the hand, cups for tea, juice or wine.
I have made 20 drinking vessels, larger, for ice tea, juice or wine.
We thought this was a cause not to be pass up.
If anyone else is interested get in touch with Beth.

Kiln Opening Cookies

I had so many people ask for the recipe of these cookies I promised to post them up.

Sesame Seed Cookies

1 stick of butter, melted
add:
1/2 c. sugar
1 beaten egg
4 or 5 T. sesame seeds
1 t. vanilla
mix in:
2 cups of flour sifted with ½ teaspoon salt and baking powder

Mix together well and form into a brick or log.
Wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper and
Chill for about an hour, slice into 1/4 inch thick slices
and bake at 350 for 15 - 18 minutes.

A great not real sweet treat -- a favorite with red wine.

and a repeat on the Peanut butter cookies no flour:
1 cup peanut butter- I like to use all natural chunky-
1 egg
1 cup sugar
Bake 350 for about 15 minutes.

Thank you one and all for coming out and sharing a beautiful day and supporting the local potters in Seagrove.
M

Spring Kiln Opening at Whynot Pottery and beyond....

On Saturday April the 18Th and Sunday the 19Th. We are joining about 40 other potters from the greater Seagrove area to have a kiln opening. Joining us here at Whynot Pottery on Saturday from 10 until 2 pm will be Bill and Dianna Osmolski from Green acres ranch.

The Osmolski’s
will be bringing their grass fed beef and pork, along with eggs from their free range chickens. We have been buying beef and pork from them the past year and a half. We have enjoyed all their products from the beef to the pork and the eggs.


Come and see what is new out of the kiln and bring your cooler along and plan to take home some locally raised meat, eggs and a pot or two.

On Saturday afternoon the NCPC will have its annual auction. This year for the first time ever the NCPC Auction Committee used the theme of having pots donated with faces on them. “Faces for the NCPC.” The NCPC takes absentee bids- so if you can not be there in person you can still buy a piece of your choosing.

Many of the local potters will be opening kilns and serving refreshments.

Start your day out at the Pottery shops, being sure to stop and see us.
Then end your day Saturday attending the NCPC auction.
For more information on open shops and their events visit the Celebration web site.
For more information on the North Carolina Pottery Center Auction visit their web site

Kiln Opening and Homegrown Meats.

As I write this the weather outside today is one of the best ones we have had this spring- the birds are singing and busy building their nest. The flowers and trees are just scrumptious! The wind has died down for the day and Mark was up at at 4 am to light the kiln. The wind is not our friend when it comes to firing the kiln. The fact we fire gas/reduction has a lot to do with how the glazes work.
From the websiteabout.com:
Reduction (adjective) refers to a kiln atmosphere which does not have enough oxygen in it to completely consume the fuel as it burns. Due to this deficiency, the flame pulls oxygen molecules out of the clay bodies and glazes, changing their character. Reduction can be also be used to describe clay bodies and glazes that are especially developed for reducing atmospheres.

Reduction (noun) refers to the state of being oxygen-starved. It can also be used to replace the full term, "reduction atmosphere".

So as you can see, or read, we need the wind to be calm while we are firing the kiln. Otherwise it messes with the ratio of oxygen in the kiln.

This coming week-end on Saturday April the 18Th and Sunday the 19Th. We are joining with about 40 other potters from the greater Seagrove area to have a kiln opening.
Joining us here at Whynot Pottery on Saturday from 10 until 2 pm will be Bill and Dianna Osmolski from Green acres ranch.
The Osmolski’s will be bringing their grass fed beef and pork, along with eggs from their free range chickens.
We have been buying beef and pork from them the past year and a half.
We have enjoyed all their products from the beef to the pork and the eggs.
So, come and see what is new out of the kiln and bring your cooler along and plan to take home some locally raised meat, eggs and a pot or two.

On Saturday afternoon the NCPC will have its annual auction.
This year for the first time ever the NCPC Auction Committee used the theme of having pots donated with faces on them. “Faces for the NCPC.”
I have seen chickens, Face jugs, platters, mugs and much more.
The exhibition of the auction pots are on display now, and will be up through Saturday. The NCPC takes absentee bids- so if you can not be there in person you can still buy a piece of your choosing.
Seagrove will be hopping during the week-end; the wood kiln firing from two week ends ago will be unloaded, with pots being donated to the auction as well. Manyof the local potters will be opening kilns and serving refreshments.
Start your day out at the arae shops, being sure to stop and see us, and end Saturday at the NCPC auction.
For more information on open shops and their events visit the Celebration web site.
For more information on the North Carolina Pottery Center Auction visit their web site

Wood Firing

It was a long day for all the crews who came out to fire the wood kiln. Mark and the crew he was on started the kiln at 4 -4:30 am. I was on second crew and went in at 11am- until 4:30 or so.
The kiln just chugged along and the 3rd shift took it up until the last shift came in.
There was food and drinks passing around and in a short time the last chamber was being salted.
Now- it's all in the waiting.
For a whole lot more pictures go over to Bulldog and see what Samantha has posted up.

NCPC Firing

We went up early today to drop off pots for the 2 chamber firing at the NCPC. Mark is on the 4:30 am team and me- I am on the 10:30 am team. It will be a long day tomorrow. And I am sure Mark will take a nap in there somewhere....maybe.

BUT- the ball game starts at 4 pm- decisions, decisions.
UNC plays Villanova- It should be a great game!

Seagrove Potters Kiln Openings April 18th and 19th-2009

Here is a list of the potters who will be participating in the April Spring Kiln Opening in Seagrove. These potters will be open at their individual shops. I hope you will take the time to come out to Seagrove to see the potters.
Joining us will be Bill and Dianna from Green Ranch. They will have their locally raised beef, pork and eggs for sale from 10 am until 2 pm on Saturday.
I am planning to have some nibbles and something to drink-stop in!

A long day-

Yesterday was a busy one for us- after unloading what was a great kiln load of pots we headed down to Starworks to help throw flowerpots.
I am heading back there today to attend a workshop on growing mushrooms.
So enjoy the pictures and for more information go to Starworks Ceramics
or Bulldog for the skinny on the flowerpots.

David Stuempfle

Micheal Mahan- from the ground up

Hitomi

Anne- Starworks gardens-

You have to laugh-

NPR is now on twitter and face book-

Almost all my family is on face book-

What are you doing now- I am blank.

It all makes me chuckle and makes me a bit sad at the same time.

They have to prompt you with a questions as you stare at the computer screen and think of something profound to write. No writers block with face book- I am blank- eating, standing, sitting, driving ( that one is scary) we know your every move.

I am robbing a bank--- whoops that one will happen one day.

I do blog and I love to read the blogs. My favorites are potters and from there it could be anything.

At least with the blogs there is substance. I am not so sure about the other- a quick tag and you are out of there. Casual communication we could call it. No, you can say I am not avoiding you. Why I tagged you the other day.

When I discovered all the potter's blogs it was at a time I needed to look beyond myself and see what was beyond my backdoor.

I have to tell you there is a wealth of information out on the blogs. Most of the potters are so generous with their information- so supportive when they hold each other up. I have never read a negative commit on any blog I have visited. It warms me- the support given is genuine.

The sense of community is there- I feel it everyday.

Now, about Bob- I am with you buddy. I am looking for the balance in adding another thing to my life.

Family bloggers

In case you have noticed a bit of my family likes to blog as well.
There is daughter Anna or Anna Jr. as she was named after her Grandmothers Anna for mine and Louise for Mark's we call her Anna Jr. or AJay. ( Lucky for her she was not named Louisa Anna!)
Speaking of Jay- there is my Oldest brother, Jay, who is a voracious blogger- a much better writer then I could ever be, with a great attention to detail and a potter for the fun of it.
Speaking of potting for fun- there is my sister Leslie who is the youngest of my 5 siblings.
She has taken pottery classes for fun for a number of years, not now because brother Jay has her wheel in his basement at the moment-
But she always told me " symmetry is over rated."-
So if you follow the family line you will find them all tucked over in the blogs I read.
There are others over on face book and I am now in the process of trying to find my way around "the Face"- new waters.....
Family- they are the best.
Happy Valentines to you all- and my family bloggers as well!

Another one bites the dust-

We enjoyed some company Sunday night through Monday morning.
My daughter's friends stopped in for a nice visit. We enjoyed having them and I took Monday morning to run them around to some of the potteries.
We had a nice stop in with Michael and Mary at From the ground up. Michael took the time to give our company a tour of his work area and show them how he makes the large patters. He also showed us his wonderful stamps he uses for the trees.
We then went to O'Quinn a quick in and out there.
I then pulled into Bobbie Thompson's Pottery knocked on the door of her work area and found her and two of the other potter's taking a Monday off to play with unrelated clay art, they were making paper- fun to play in January. Sucess a pot was bought and happliy taken home.
Smith Pottery- nice new gallery and pots- but again just looking.
Then over to Ray Pottery for a quick in and out there-
Then back here in time to pack them off for their trip home.
They wanted to stop in Asheboro for lunch and so we called the two places I recomended and they were both closed. There were other potteries I had wanted to take them as well- but they were closed as well. I laughed and told them that NC is closed on Mondays. I hope they found some food for the trip home!
Thanks for stopping in and we will enjoy the beer steins you brought to us!

So I am working on a piece which will need casting. I am playing with the size and thickness now- I left wet clay last night and hope today it has set up enough to carve.

This will become a gift for the guest at our son's upcoming wedding in May.
Since I thought I would have this done in January and be in the making stage- I had better get cracking on this!
But first- a trip to see the dentist....
M

Tom Gray

For all of you who have gotten to know Tom Gray through his blog- send thoughts his way.
Tom had a heart attack this afternoon and is in Randolph Hospital in Asheboro, NC.
Our thoughts and payers are with him.
M&M

Lights and bread-

Today was one of the good days- we finished the trim on the windows.
We cleaned out the back room and brought the slab roller home and set it up.
We finished the lights in the laundry room. ( thanks Anna- we used our Lowe's gift cards to buy the lights)
And we put two lights above the sink in the kitchen.
I might show you those later.
Back a few years ago I decided to finally build a real kitchen on the house.
We live in a house built in 1959 as a "guest" home for my grandparents. It was built as a one bedroom with an open floor plan. Downstairs a bed and bath living room/kitchen and porch.
Well- after my grandfather moved in he never built the "other" house my grandmother wanted. The one with the large county kitchen.
So as we were growing up we spent all our summers here on the farm.
My grandfather added on to the house putting two bedroom, a bath and a 1/2 basement in.
We have spent the better part of our lives here making it into a house.
As Mark would tell you, it seems to have been a house built by a "committee." We have found many strange things about the building of the house. Such as molding which goes through the closets- sheet rock which was never taped or muddied- and don't get me started on the tiny bathrooms and oil base paint-
Anyway, we built a kitchen on to the house.
Our plan this summer was to finish most of the unfinished kitchen.
Not a big list, but one we had to put off due to the studio fire.
So hanging some lights this week made us both cheery.

I keep walking around the studio today saying, "are you sure we are done?" "Is there something we have forgotten to do?"
"Can we really move back tomorrow?"
Pinch me I'm dreaming!

A bride and putting things in place

Many years ago now a young man showed up at the pottery and said I want to make pots. I handed him a ball of clay and said okay throw me a pot. He did. I said we are putting a roof on the house how about helping with the roof and we will talk about you working here. He was not ready to make pots but he loaded and unloaded kilns, mixed glaze, waxed and glazed pots and did any thing else we needed. He went on to make pots and is now a traveling potter. He throws for shops here and in the mountains.
Last year he brought this beautiful, smart, funny and kind women he had meet in Italy here to met us. It was the week after our fire. We were barely functioning, but we knew she was special. She spent six weeks here in NC and while they stayed here some they also went to the mountains and the coast. He was in love with her, but so were we. They came and picked blueberries sat and talked with us. Made us laugh when we thought we couldn't. When she was going home I knew we would miss her.
Don't let her go I thought----
Well- I saw him in November and I asked how it was going. He said I am heading there in December- we are getting married!
I want to tell you, sometimes the good guys win!
I see for them a long and happy marriage- Love and laughter go hand in hand.
We had an invite to the wedding--- wish we could have been there.




We are done in the mix room- happy dance here.
These shots were taken before we loaded it all in. But Mark built a bench down one wall and everything else is on shelves for storage.
I find myself just walking in and looking at this room. One down and we are moving along. Of course we won't be in the other room tomorrow.
But this week I think we could do it!

Fits and starts and baking bread

Mark just sent me the funny from above. After 2008 we thought we might get a "get out of jail free" card for 2009. I don't think it works that way.

So far for 2009: I lost my keys and a wallet at Lowe's Hardware- good thing was they were turned into lost and found and everything was there.

I glued a round of tiles and the glue did not hold. We figured I must have let the glue freeze or get too cold sitting out on the porch before Christmas- I was going to post on how I do this, but I will wait until I get new glue. I spent last night pulling off the backs I had glued on and scraping away the glue. The good thing was- the tiles were not hung and did not fall off the walls.

I know there are good things going on - I just have a short fuse for the minor things right now.

You get a bit tense after 6 months of not having your space and thinking when will this be over?

But- it has only been 6 months and yesterday we, Mark, hung shop lights and finished putting in the shelving in the redone mix room. We then hung 3 ceiling fans. I am the helper- I put things together, hand tools and hold things.

Then in the afternoon I baked bread.

I stopped to see Tom Gray the other day and had a great chat with him about baking bread.

Between him and my son they have convinced me to throw out some of my "dated" ideas on bread and give these new ones a go.

Oh, my- I am sold. Tom lent me a copy of his book on Artisan breads which I have been reading along with the Bread Bible. So I set to work on an experiment.

I used water, yeast, salt bread flour and wheat flour to make a "sponge" which I set out to rise in a plastic container for about 3 hours. And rise it did- all the way to the top. I folded it down and put it into the refrigerator for the night. The next morning I pulled out a chunk of sticky dough and shaped it into a ball, covered and gave it two hours to rise.

I had preheated the oven to 450 degrees with a pan on the lowest rack.

Well, I knew I needed to water bath so I put water on to boil.

I must have put about 5 cups of water in the pan- because I did not go back and reread the amount to use.

Put the bread in , which I had in a shallow pan.

There was steam pouring out of the oven, which worried Mark. I thought- maybe I had better check the amount- Oh, 1cup water.....

The bread came out with a beautiful golden top, but a tad under done on the bottom.

Note: use different pan.

BUT- the taste was absolutely wonderful.

Moist and Chewy- we sliced it after it cooled and ate 1/2 on the spot.

Yesterday's bread was baked on the bottom of my cast iron skillet with less water.

I use a muffin tin filled with water.

It did not get the same chewy golden top but the inside or "crumb" was again moist and chewy.

Mark, who has been with me since the earth cooled and has eaten a lot of home baked bread in our time together, was ecstatic over the bread. He eats bread several times a day. I have been trying not to eat bread too often. It loves to cling to my thighs. But- yesterday after cutting the bread I thought- what can I give up to eat this bread? Salad maybe?

We had bread and brie for lunch it was tasty!

Time to start another batch.

Thanks Tom- I'll get your book back to you.

January 2, 2009

Wow! We are closing in on 6 months since our fire. We feel like we are walking in molasses, will this ever be finished?
Yesterday we had a great break being lazy and spending time with friends. It was great, but now we need to use our time wisely because we both thought we would walk in to a finished studio today.
The goal is for Monday- life always starts on a Monday.
On Monday I will ________ just fill in the blank.
We did go to Lowe's yesterday- sometimes we are there several times a week.
New shop lights, casters for making " things with wheels" to move around buckets of dry materials.
We try to put anything we can on wheels- saves the back.
So for the end of this week the list is:
shop lights
things to put dry materials on
window trim
go to Star and pick up the slab roller, pug mill and whatever else is still there.
And then Monday- start glaze test for a tile project.
Make plaster mold for a small tile to be given at our son's wedding.
Think about making pots.
I have not thought about making pots since November.
It would have been too hard to think about it when it could not be done.
But- the last few nights I have begun the nightly ritual of visualizing pots before I drift off- teapots- bowls, jars, vases.....
We will do this again.
Come Monday.......