Gary's third pottery blog

when pottery meets BLACK COMEDY

2012-01-31T05:53:00.002-05:00

But first, a wee HAIKU:

Godzilla eating
A tasty human being
Is hilarious!

I have to admit a thing or 2: I am not really into dragons and sh!t. Dragons have their place, but I really prefer cheesy, campy, destructive and awesome Godzilla and crappy B movie science fiction and toys from my childhood (see Beastie Boys video below, that is what I mean--they have the same inspiration). It is different, liking that stuff for a laugh and its aesthetic humor, compared to loving fantasy.

You know I have made a lot of monsters lately, but last Sunday night I was falling asleep, and you know this is why there is paper at the bedside: I start laughing, wake up, and tell the wife
"what if Godzilla was holding a bowl full of people to snack upon, like doritos????" and I doodled it out, as you see below. The appeal, to me as a potter and sculptor, is making a tiny little bowl on the wheel, as I would any other bowl, and incorporating it...hilarious indeed!
Last night I was like
"monsters having a teaparty???"

(pottery and sketch by Gary Rith)

getting ready for St. Pat's.....

2012-01-30T06:05:00.003-05:00

In my family, our background is, OH, a little Hungarian maybe, a little German maybe (the last name is German protestant), a lot of Welsh for sure (therefore my compact height!), a small sprinkling of English and then maybe you have some protestant Northern Irish, and the biggest dose of all, using math and applied physics, Irish Catholic--you look back, and see YES, the great-grandfather was a cop in NY city, typical, typical..... We all know that there are a) a whole lot more people of Irish ancestry in the US and Canada than there are in Ireland, and also that b) Ireland is an unusual country, from what I understand, in that there are many fewer people living there now than 100 plus years ago. They had good reason to leave alright, and I am, like so many other North Americans, a huge mixed jumble of ancestral material, but since I can pick and choose when I feel like it, I can, for example, a) hugely enjoy German beer (I used to love Irish and English beers too, until I found out they are made with FISH GUTS, which is illegal in Germany) and b) hugely enjoy English literature and c) hugely enjoy Hungarian pastry and d) hugely enjoy, ah, um, err, being compact thanks to the Welsh bits (ride a bus or plane--the compact people aren't uncomfortable--although I am 5'8" or 9", the downside to compact is needing a stool in the kitchen to reach the upper kitchen shelves)

and, of course, e) hugely enjoy Irish stuff. Americans love to pick and choose all their favorite Irish stuff! Like WHISKEY! Like THICK WOOLY SWEATERS! I also love Irish breakfast tea, my favorite, and McCann's original-takes-forever steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. I'd love to go to Ireland. I was talking to Goofy Kim Saturday and she wants to visit our mutual friend Denis in Africa, and her niece is going there this summer and she is like "I want to GO BACK to Africa myself, and see them" and

I am like "No WAY...bugs, snakes, malaria, ebola, all that crap. I wanna go to some of those snake-free places, like Ireland". I mean, you look at the green hills, and you imagine yourself in the wooly sweater wandering around amongst the cows and sheep and rain with your cup of tea....pretending you are a very handsome Aidan Quinn, Liam Neeson or Michael Fassbender...the best spoken accents on the planet? IRISH. So silky and lyrical!

Anyway, I used to make Irish soda bread all the time. It is so easy and tasty, easier to make than yeast bread. BUT, my 2 recipes call for milk and butter, and for several years I have had the dairy allergy and not made them. Until Sunday. I was like "what if I use rice milk and margerine?" Flippin' PERFECTO!

Here is the simpler of my 2 Irish soda bread recipes. The other has raisens etc in it, a good breakfast loaf, this one is just brown. I have had the recipe so long I don't know where it came from, but she explains that Irish flour is a lot more coarse than American, therefore all the wheat germ and bran she adds here.

Preheat oven to 350 and place cookie sheet in there to warm---or like me, use your iron skillet.

In an enormous mixing bowl, add 2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 cups white flour, 1.5 cups wheat bran, 1 cup wheat germ, 1.5 teaspoon baking soda and 1.5 teaspoon salt (I never add salt though)

Cut up half a stick butter (I use margerine, as I say) and mix into flour etc. with your fingertips, mixing everything together that way. Stir in 2 1/4 cup buttermilk (I used rice milk this time, as I say--next time I will add a spoonful or 2 of lemon juice for a buttermilk tang). Turn out onto counter, knead a few times into a nice round loaf, flatten a bit. Pull out heated bake sheet or skillet, lay dough in, cut a deep cross across the top and bake 30 minutes, pull out and rotate around then bake a further 30 minutes. Put onto cooling rack covered with a clean dish towel for at least an hour before slicing. Great any way you want, with cheese, butter, jam whatever!

Speaking of awesome Irish Americans, loooove Dropkick Murphys...this live clip in Bahston has all these women dancing onstage...my niece has been a student at Hahvad these last few years, and looking on stage here, you are like..."is that.....?"....but maybe not, all young women look the same anyhow.....

Had a glaze firing Sunday, this is the before and after on top...looking pretty good....

new work :)

2012-01-29T16:44:00.001-05:00

You hear me talking about applying for a gallery show of wall pieces...whether I get the gig or not, I sure am having fun making wall sculptures....

(new pottery and sculpture by Gary Rith)

when dog lovers come over.....

2012-01-29T09:20:00.002-05:00

Maggie and Katie came over Saturday, my absolute bestest pals....my dogs and cats were especially glad to see them :)
Have an awesome Sunday!

bureauOcratic nightmares

2012-01-28T05:32:00.005-05:00

I have a VERY LOW tolerance for paperwork and fuss. It takes me months to get around to filling things out.
The wife is the opposite---she reads directions, files papers, all that, and she is, amongst other things, a bookeeper. Her job is perfect for her (she'd kill me if I gave too many details so I won't) but she is an academic administrator who juggles all the balls at the circus. Well, maybe she juggles porcupines, sharp axes and knives, flaming torches, chainsaws and babies...all at once. She handles it. She also, GOD BLESS HER, handles my tax and business paperwork (see above "bookeeper"). How lucky is that, I have a business, I am incompetent at business, and she juggles babies and chainsaws all day then comes home and juggles my porcupines and flaming torches???? LUCKY ME!
Anyhow, some of this sh!t I have to do myself. The photo below is a project I have worked on for months, 3 entries for the international small teapot competition. The easy part was making 3 amazing teapots. Filling out the goldarn form online? Sheesh. I mean, filled it out, it went blank. Filled it out again, it went blank. FIVE TIMES to mounting anxiety, i mean, you worry that your credit card number or whatever is floating around out there, just waiting for the Russian mob to snatch it and start ordering Adidas from zappos for every criminal in Minsk.
Anyway, it is NOT resolved, this should-be-simple application form, but the friendly dude I called who is running it is trying to be helpful...and he tells me he hears from artists every day saying the form sux and won't work. Crapola. No wonder I hate paperwork.
I congratulated myself the other day. NY state sales tax decided they needed to know EVERYTHING about me in order for me to keep doing business in the state. A multipage thing (I file sales tax in Vermont each year too: one little slip of paper with five lines...NY has to do it the most complicated way possible...a lot of people live in Albany and need jobs and all of them were probably bullied in school and look for ways to get back at the world...through messes of paperwork).
Anyway, multi-page forms, first question was "how many people involved in your business?" and i was like TWO. There is me, then there is the wife (see above "bookeeper"). I mean, the info they wanted, my shoe size, waist size, favorite peanut butter, do I like my toothbrush with soft bristles or firmer? Paper or plastic? How about pillows, speaking of softer or firmer, and if I drink yuppie coffee, do I brew it myself or waste money at starshmucks? OK, I fill all this crapola in, 8 pages or more of bank accts, ss numbers and horrible questions....then they want me to do it again.....for the wife. Just between you and me? I went back to page one and changed the 2 people to ONE person. Only I work for this business anymore ;) I retired my wife (see above "bookeeper").
Lastly, and I think this is REALLY funny:

1) on 2 different days this week, young women looking for writing work contacted me asking if they could be hired to WRITE THIS BLOG for me. Cracks me up, because I have written this blog at least once daily for nearly 6 years, thousands of posts, obviously I am having fun and like to do it myself...what kind of idiot hires somebody to write their feckin' blog for them????? I s'pose fake blogs, like Kardashians or politicians. I mean, i earn less than a starschmucks barista, could I be earning big bucks by writing other people's blog posts? Holy cats, am I in the wrong damn business?????????? (see above "bookeeper")

2) I listed a teapot for 34 bucks the other morning, it is awesome (with a skull!) and that same day a lady wrote to ask me to cut shipping on a bunny teapot...which is the exact same size and effort, and priced at 26 bucks plus shipping, in other words, comparitively a GREAT DEAL. Does anybody realize what shipping costs, plus etsy and credit card fees, plus the packing and shipping? I mean, you just charge a fee to cover those set things like postage and all, and you just pack things. I earn less than a barista as I say above, but do people go into Walmart and argue they won't pay sales tax????? It is the exact same thing and really pisses me off when somebody asks for a discount: MY PRICES ARE ALREADY AS LOW AS POSSIBLE and besides, am I making you buy something from me? Is this like, you are dying of thirst and I charge you 100 bucks for a glass of water? Sorry, but please, either buy it or don't buy it, I am doing the best I can, please respect the artist and the very low paid work they do (see above, "bookeeper" and "barista"---I have noticed, btw, that some friends have lowered their shipping fees on their pots---because the customers may have complained, and all the potter can do is lower the shipping price and raise the item price...so in the case of the bunny teapot, I would be happy to lower the shipping price, but the teapot is no longer 26, I could make it 34 like the skull teapot......)
Final thought: each one of the 3 teapots below is the same size as either the 34 dollar skull teapot or the 26 dollar bunny teapot, but EACH will be priced at 100+ dollars.... EACH...just to give you some perspective....

(pottery by Gary Rith)

yin and yang dog and kitteh....

2012-01-27T14:33:00.001-05:00

Drawing by me---I was falling asleep curled up with Spike cat and Penny beagle crawled in behind my knees and I realized I was in the middle of a Taoist symbol :)

so, I was talkin' with PETE just the other day and he is like : =^..^=

2012-01-27T05:49:00.003-05:00

(coolio monster teapot, eh wot????)
(Thanks PETE! for getting the ball rolling, it has been so much fun to try)

Seriously, Pete sees my heart mugs (post down a couple of days) and he is like

"could you fiddle with a heart shape and get a cat shape? People love cats!" and I am like

"Pete, that has GOT ME THINKING" and literally, the wheels turn and I go down and get to work, and finish these guys Thursday.

Pete is also, like "you can't make them cheesy" and I am like

"NO. Not cutesy either"

Left to right below, my first idea to my third, with detours:

1,2, 3: my first thought was add ears and eyes etc. to a plain mug or bowl, and try a puppy then

I was thinking

4,5 "try to fiddle the rim into a cat ear shape (hard to do in theory, but I got what I wanted!) and later glaze the outside blue, inside clear with a painted cat face on the bottom" and finally, at the last minute, one more

6: try to fiddle the ears on the rim PLUS make an actual cat face on the bottom.

I like ALL of the ideas, and they will be fired and done in a few days....

(pottery by Gary Rith)

one fact and one dream, chapter 3: we need YOU to check in!

2012-01-26T06:12:00.002-05:00

If you look below, you can see some new work, just added to my etsy shop, totally badass or totally sweet, you decide! GET SOME for your Valentine now!!!!

OK, chapter 3, one fact and one dream please go to comments and share yours!!!!!! Here is mine today:
One fact--we have not had a lot of sun, but holy cats, maybe the most mild January I have ever seen in my life? YESSSSSssssss.

If you look at a post or 2 down, you would think I am DREAMING OF WOMEN's boots (NO, I do not have a boots f3tish...really! HONEST! There is another fact, even though they look soooo tasty!)
OK, anyway, like I was saying, the wife, speaking of boots, is on the road Saturday, and I am dreaming of a JAMES BOND DAY....like, ten hours of Connery, Moore, Bond Babes and villians.....

beauty and the beast....being both rude...and sweet....

2012-01-25T06:03:00.002-05:00

(wall piece by Gary Rith--I have applied for a gallery exhibit of wall pieces and I think a rude gnome is hilarious--I call this GRUMPY)

Janet used to live in an old church nearby (like Alice did, the one with the restaurant!!!) and saw the tres cute teddy bear-heart mugs and was like "what about those heart shaped mugs you make this time of year???" So I made her some....and you can get them too! For sale now at my etsy gallery!

the most s3xy hawt thing you have ever seen in your life...

2012-01-24T18:51:00.002-05:00

The wife will be like
"GAWD! Why do you have to spread my business all over the interwebs??? WITH PHOTOS!" and I will smile that sweet smile, the one that tells her
"I am just a little puppy...you wouldn't yell at a wittle puppy would you???"
OK, it went like this. You see my gal here at the end of the day. First thing, I walk her early to the bus stop with the dog, and say
"au revoir mon petit bonne fille!" or something like that, i don't know French, but that doesn't stop me speaking French, and Jay, our awesome neighbor also at the bus stop is like "oh, you just told her....goodbye my pretty gal!". Something like that. She was wearing her petite beret (or Tam!) Judy knit her last month, and the French coat she traded for on Friday. Long story, about trading for the coat, but Lucy was like
"It belonged to a tiny little French woman...OH! it fits you perfectly!" which is how the wife ended up with this nice wool coat, and it is also why I was speaking "French" at the bus stop.

ANYWAYS, so I myself am sneaking around downtown today...I saw sale signs down there, winter merchandise on sale...and I was like "I want me some boots!". And where, sure, some of the sale boots had their merits, nothing was working, BUT I got me 2 belts for nearly nothing. Keeping my pants UP is a challenge, so I got a brown and a black one....and OHMYGOD lookit the black boots here. For ladies. It was not until I was 40 I suddenly realized I have a BOOT F3TISH. Not really, but my long legged gal looks good in boots. And I saw these kickass engineers boots for ladies...half price! 2 sizes left! One of them maybe the wife's size??????????????????????

YES :) They are hers now......

"at least he eats them head first"

2012-01-24T07:58:00.002-05:00

Not to confuse anybody or anything, but this is a monster eating a dude on the street, fired and outta the kiln this morning ( I am so excited!) and in the post below you see where I am going with that idea, newly made stuff yesterday, not fired yet....isn't this awesome?
I am applying for a show of my wall pieces, which has opened the floodgates of ideas, yaaaaay!

(new sculpture by Gary Rith)

through the fog....

2012-01-24T05:41:00.002-05:00

A lot going on, yesterday and today.....
I don't know why my photos come up this big. More for you to enjoy!
Anyway, I was there falling asleep the other night, but had an idea, as you do, and was laughing and asked the wife to pass paper and pencil
"haha!" sez I
"what?" sez she
"tee hee, what if Godzilla had a bowl and was eating people out of it?" and she is like
"oh HO!"
So, yeah, I made it, and you see the sketch below, and what happened when I got started: I made one standing on a car, the other holding a real (small) bowl with people to snack upon....
also a berry bowl and an apparently good before and after glaze firing!
Happy day to you!

teddy bears and hearts: awwwwwwwwwww.....

2012-01-23T18:42:00.002-05:00

You probably need a WINNIE and RUMPOLE teddy bear mug...with hearts...for Valentine's, don't you????? get it now at my etsy gallery!

hey! is that inspired by.....

2012-01-23T06:15:00.002-05:00

(new wall piece by Gary Rith, about 3 inches wide, 3 inches tall)
You have to tread carefully in this world. You don't copy things. But I have to admit, I have always found that picture below and the fish in the teapot extremely amusing, you know? In my work above the wife is like
"exquisite, the little lid for the teapot!"

potters work in their pajamas....

2012-01-22T06:03:00.002-05:00

(new teapot by Gary Rith--I kinda threw everything into that one except the kitchen sink...)

You will recall that I am into everything GODZILLA lately (because I like this green glaze color scheme)....and teddy bears. Above you see a teapot I am super proud of...my very FIRST Godzilla type pottery effort. Turned out perfect. The wife likes the teeth. I am thinking I can more with the teeth in the future...anyway, as I have said, I made us some small plates too. I wanted to try bears all around the edge, dogs and cats too, and see what I think, then keep them. They turned out super good. Below you see them coming out of the kiln too...and me in my s3xy hawt jammies with bears....

POP! It gets all shiny and bright: the before, during and after....

2012-01-21T05:52:00.003-05:00

3 seconds ago I popped the top open on the kiln, and saw this here. It needs to cool a little longer, but HOTT DAWG it is all looking good. The other pics here show the kiln and items during firing--I was drying a number of items on top which will be fired later today, actually, and then there is just before firing, and then decorating plates--the plates are for US. We are gonna use them later today, after a little more cooling. I think they turned out well, I can see just the edge in the top pic, the teddy bears...the color is all dull when you paint it on then POP! Gets all bright and shiny with firing!

Red Jewels!!!!

2012-01-20T05:31:00.002-05:00

Not rubies or garnets, NO NO! Sweet potato!

BTW, Spike cat cracks you up, doesn't he? Grabbing Penny's leash? She looks so depressed and doleful....

Gary's red jewels curry lentil stew!

The wife had a magazine recipe that was delicious first try last year but a) was more like soup, so I cut the liquid and b) not as spicy as it could be plus c) directions needed to be a little simplified. Here is my take, super EASY, and thank you SUE for traveling to the south and returning with these ginormous sweet potatoes, called RED JEWELS in South Carolina! They are yummy......
Do what you want with the spices and different veggies here, as I did, and it is certain to work beautifully :)

Rinse and pick over 2 cups lentils, per usual. I had a rock in there last week....
In large cook pot saute in oil diced: 2 celery stalks, 2 carrots, one onion, 5 cloves garlic, 2 jalapenos and one bell pepper for about 7-8 minutes. Add one Tbs. curry powder and one Tbs. ground coriander powder, stir around. Add the 2 cups rinsed lentils, stir around, then add 6 cups water and boil. Once boiling, turn down to med-low, covered, about ten minutes. Dice 2 large sweet potatoes, about 1/2 inch cubes, add and cook 15 minutes. Then add a 15-16 oz. can of tomatoes (or one pound fresh, diced!), turn up to high again to start it boiling, then back down---it is according to the original recipe FINISHED at this point, but I simmered it on the very lowest stove temp. for another 45 minutes until we were ready for dinner. I recommend simmering for a little while at least, and taste test. YUM.

muggles

2012-01-19T11:30:00.001-05:00

Muggles: in this case, by GARY Potter, nothing to do with Harry.

(new pottery by Gary Rith)

G0dzilla .....

2012-01-19T06:28:00.001-05:00

You KNOW I am having fun around here....made this teapot yesterday, second G0dzilla type......

NEED YOUR INPUT: one fact and one dream: chapter 3, plumbing the depths

2012-01-18T08:21:00.002-05:00

Here is a fact straight from my cocoa tipped fingers: chocolate covered almonds are better than !!!!!!!
And today I dream of going to Pittsburgh sometime soon for a baseball game....the museum too, and to see our buddy Celeste....
(note: second fact--baseball is played in nice weather, presumably, so this is a double loaded dream!)
(how far is Pittsburgh from Ithaca anyways, 5-6 hour drive???? probably)

GO TO COMMENTS and give us your fact and dream, just think quick and TYPE IT!

Fu Manchu Cat strikes again: the haiku!

2012-01-18T05:55:00.002-05:00

Fu Manchu Cat: We
Meet again after stuffing
Bellies with tacos....

dragon mug, go for it!

2012-01-17T06:20:00.002-05:00

You may need a new dragon mug, for the Chinese New Year or some other fantastical reason...for sale now at my etsy shoppe.... :)

One fact and a dream, chapter 2: we need your input!

2012-01-16T15:26:00.003-05:00

Today in ONE FACT and a DREAM, I would say, quick and off the cuff:

"My hands are cold and I dream of the day this coming spring when it is hot and sunny and me and the bike are down the road........plus, argyle can be badass and you wouldn't call me a wuss because I like soy yogurt, would you?".

There. More than you bargained for. What have YOU GOT for a fact and a dream? Go to comments and let 'er rip....

Teddy bears and Godzilla: the cure for the jingly janglys...

2012-01-16T06:01:00.002-05:00

You will notice here a teapot I wondered if I could make. I could and I did. I was looking at the green on the teapot top from Sunday's post thinking : "the dog is great, but I need a good green something up there...and since I do frogs all the time, what else could it be?" and you know the only answer to that is
GODZILLA. Never made one before, this turned out soooo perfect. Here is how it went:

We had been searching for a veggie recipe getting super irritated all morning (NOT behind the fridge, but several other recipes were). (duh--it is online, search OVER) and I took my irritated self back to the studio and began work. I decided Godzilla was the most fun thing on the list, and started trying to figure him out....oh the JOY, oh the relaxation. As I had said yesterday, even to a potter who does this everyday, the immense satisfaction in working with clay, or any creative pursuit, can really soothe the savage beast. I was also realizing that creatively I am a very restless person. I was talking bears all last week, now Godzilla. I really have a hard time making one thing for long, there is just so much to explore!

As far as Godzilla goes, this is a very friendly looking SCI-FI monster. I put it on there entirely for irony and humor, as I do everything. Reminds me of the Saturday afternoon TV matinee when I was little, the Creature Feature, which had Godzilla and all the rest, just delightful to my little 6 year old mind.....

Spike is like "let me at 'em!" with the wndow bird feeder...

I have no doubt the Beastie Boys, exactly my age, may have seen the very same Creature Features when they were little....

jingly jangly...

2012-01-15T08:21:00.002-05:00

OK, yesterday is like, a rush of EVERYTHING. I feel like there is this monstrous stack of things to accomplish, like planes stacked up at O'Hare waiting to take off. I was, you know, tense and nervous and couldn't relax, right? Jingly jangly. I s'pose that is how the self-employed dude should be: pushing self forward.
ANYWAY, here is my point: early on I opened the cooled kiln and this little beauty was in there. You will recall that a) I got a new (used!) kiln a week or 2 ago--it is working beautifully and b) late in the day? The last thing on the list was to make on the wheel some mugs, bowls, another teapot like the one pictured below (except with Godzilla up top---never done that before, but that green glaze screams for Godzilla) and here is the thing potters may know:
You might be racing around all day, busy with all this stuff, but you know what relaxes your mind? Throwing, making pots. Sure, its work, but its meditation too.....

(new pottery by Gary Rith)

(me on the bridge behind our house with the dawg, below, the wife with Spike cat, Penny beagle, Buster black lab)

This was the doodle for the teapot, last week....

some of them love snow.....

2012-01-14T07:31:00.002-05:00

Penny sure loves the snow, hmm? Funny how some dogs go crazy in the stuff! Below you see her around our yard and also by the banks of Fall Creek, Buster our old black lab too, and, well, Spike NOT in the snow :) (Kasey--let's just say Spike did NOT prefer to wear a knitted hat....)

Friday the 13th is "beginning to look a lot like Christmas...."

2012-01-13T07:46:00.002-05:00

Our winter has been delightfully warm, very unusual. I took the dogs out into the mild rain and green grass at 5 am, by 6:30 when we went out to walk them again, look what happened! It is REALLY snowy out there.

Christi has something to say....

2012-01-13T06:19:00.002-05:00

You will remember my old pal Christi...yesterday we were at the Starschmucks plotting and scheming. We have PLANS! Like for a show, an exhibit, a blockbuster! Christi is very upbeat and smart and organized and, it goes without saying, wicked talented as an artist, so she makes a good partner for a show. She is showing off her hand painted belt...holy CATS you could get one for yourself!

In other news...Spike is like "so the teddy bear is wearing a purple hat..."

one fact and one dream: chapter ONE, and we need YOU

2012-01-12T16:04:00.003-05:00

I am adding a new feature and I need your help: one fact and one dream. Go to comments and give it to me! I wanna know! Here is mine today:

One fact and one dream: fact--15 bean soup makes the whole house smell flippin' AWESOME. And here is a dream--I need a beach house because I have all these loose paperbacks and such to read and never get around to them. If I had a beach house, I could store the books...and read them!

Winnie and Rumpole go international

2012-01-12T05:46:00.003-05:00

You will remember my orphan bears, Winnie and Rumpole, * now appearing on my pots! Soon appearing on my business card too. Goofy Kim was over the other day and she is like
"that teapot is so perfect and intricate!" and I am thinking, since she is the first outsider to look at this line in person, that my painted teddy bears on pots has a sparkling future...
NOW YOU CAN buy your own Winnie and Rumpole teddy bear gear and be the coolest kid on your block....
BTW, which do you think sounds better, Winnie and Rumpole OR Rumpole and Winnie? Please tell me in comments....

* Rumpole in the pink sweater I found in a snow bank in 1996 and Winnie in the green shirt I found on the street in 2010.

people and their kinky requests.....

2012-01-11T06:12:00.002-05:00

You know the Chinese New Year arrives later this month, and the Chinese zodiac symbol will be the DRAGON. You could ask "who cares about all that?" but apparently some people do...and some people just plain like dragons. England and Wales likes dragons, Comic-con types like dragons....and I like having fun and making money.....a lot of people are asking for dragon stuff....here is some of mine, drying over the heat vent....

reader's poll: thousands of years ago cats were worshipped as GODS

2012-01-10T06:19:00.003-05:00

and they have not forgotten it.
Aside from our mild weather, you are looking at Penny out hiking with me near the wife's office at Cornell, the vet came over for a home visit yesterday, to see our old dog Buster (seen outdoors in the post below). Buster is super old....but anyway, he is hanging in there. Look at the welcome Penny and Spike give the vet, knocking her over with love!

The vet is like
"Spike is .......wow. He is like a Kliban cat! I bet he is over 20 pounds now!" hinting around that Spike is a bit chunky.
I say "ZAFTIG" because I love that word,
The wife says "dapperly dressed"

How would you describe Spike the cat? Please go to comments!
a) chunky
b) dapperly dressed
c) ZAFTIG hahahahaha!
d) pleasantly plump
e) slim and trim
f) Spike crawls into bed at night and snores and has bad breath but has a winning personality

dogs in the wilds....

2012-01-09T05:58:00.002-05:00

We have a nice fenced in yard, useful for dogs when you live on a busy roadway.
I was walking into the library Saturday and the idea pops into my head, doodled on paper below. Beagle peeking out from rocks or leaves atop a teapot, with all the bells and whistles.
I get home and start to make it, and the wife comes into the studio with a neighbor, which really surprised me...and I bump the thing and it collapses partly (that never happens!)...but I get it right again. Next day I accidentally push a hole through the bottom, that never happens! And I put it all together and I am very pleased with how it looks...although it may crack. Looks super cool, i should make another....

lions and tigers and BEARS...and hippos and another readerpoll :)

2012-01-08T06:49:00.002-05:00

(bears PJs last night, and now!)
The wife and are walking down to Viva for the burrito, as we so often do (you can sit on the stool by the window and watch the world go by...we counted 3 cars with windows open and dogs hanging out the window...in JANUARY) and the wife is accosted by this black cat who is super friendly. I am like
"Oooh, lemme get a pic of you with Fu Manchu cat" and the wife is like
"I wonder what Fu Manchu is..." and I am like "Hollywood villian..I think from Flash Gordon or something" and we had a hard time telling Fu Manchu cat to stay there at his house.
Then we were at Viva, and I got the wife to pretend the hippo was chewing on HER.

Anyway, golly! These reader polls--you people are soooo fascinating. So many comments! Keep it coming! Yesterday I hear SATISFACTION by the Stones and I wonder to myself "is that the best rock song ever, my favorite???" its like popcorn and a movie--crisp and perfect and always good, but.... is ALL OF THE DAY by the Kinks better? I ask the wife
"what is your favorite song?" and she is quick
"Its by the Stones, I know that much...so much to choose from...like, maybe, IT'S ONLY ROCK AND ROLL or no, WILD HORSES or maybe SISTER MORPHINE..."
and I am scribbling and she is like
"DON'T WRITE THIS DOWN!!!!"

I slept on it. REBEL REBEL by Bowie is an old favorite.....

OK, but how about you, what is your absolute favorite song? Can you pin it down any better than us? Please go to comments and tell us!

NEW reader's poll:

2012-01-07T07:25:00.003-05:00

Whoa. The reader's poll a couple of days ago was super popular! So let's do another!!!!

Alright, as you see, last night I am choosing between the PENGUIN PJs or the BEAR PJs which gets me thinking:

What is my favorite zoo animal?

I begin thinking zebra, because the patterns are so pretty, and I remember the elephants in Chicago--they would get mad and fling basketball sized bits of poo at people, although my favorite at that zoo was the tiny little arctic fox...who seemed to sleep a lot....
Then, of course, taking out our 2 dogs, its like "what is my favorite dog type?" or pet.....

Dogs. Penny is adorable and loving, but not especially angelic. Our old lab mix Buster has always been so good, and he has that mellow mixed breed outlook. I would say lab mix dogs are probably the best type, if I am guessing, although me and the wife are attracted to these stubborn and cute little hounds....

MY PJs? I went with the penguins. The wife's favorite. I have black too. Then, of course, there could always be commando, but it is flippin' FREEZING all winter, so you see me in layers, even scarf and hat at the breakfast table.... (those of you in Florida or Cali probably canNOT imagine wearing a wool hat and scarf to breakfast while the heat warms up, can you?)
Please go to comments and answer, OK? You can copy and paste this.

My favorite zoo animal is the
My favorite dog type or pet is

TODAY Gary should wear his _______ PJs (or go commando?) and I _______.

go with the MASHED POTATO BURRITO

2012-01-06T05:42:00.003-05:00

OK, here is the end of the story: I made this mashed potato recipe the other evening, sooooo tasty, from one of the wife's magazines. It is made with potato, veggies and white beans, no cream or butter. It is amaaaaaazing! Recipe follows.* But I was like, to the wife:
"what do I do with all these leftovers?" and the wife is like
"lunch Thursday!".
I was unsure what leftover mashed potatoes would be like, but they were fine, and EVEN BETTER when I turned some into burritos. Probably the tastiest burrito ever, nay, THE TASTIEST MEAL EVER!

Mashed potato burrito, chez Gary:
-take the tortilla and slap on some cheese (I use non-dairy cheese as you know, but whatever)
-smear on some mashed potato
-scoop a LOT of hot mustard on there....
-roll into burrito, give it some seconds in the 'wave to warm the inside, then set it into the oven at 225 or something, to warm the outside and crisp it a bit while you clean the cat box, check your blog and facebook for like, 20 mins, then EAT!

Mashed potato and veg recipe, the best in the world:

--finely chop an onion, large carrot and large celery stalk, heat some olive oil in a large soup pot and saute about 8-10 minutes until soft

--toss in 5-6 medium unpeeled and washed and diced red potatoes and a 15-16 oz can of white beans--cover with water so that it is over the veggies-potatoes-beans by an inch or 2, bring mixture to a boil, adding salt if you wish

--boil 8-12 minutes until potatoes are soft, turn off heat

--scoop out about a cup of the cooking water and reserve, drain the veggies-potatoes-beans and return them to the pot---start mashing the mixture, adding a little of the cooking water at a time (you don't have to use it all) to make the mix nice and smooth, etc, stir in black pepper and eat!

reader's poll!!!!

2012-01-05T14:03:00.003-05:00

Me and the wife are sitting around the breakfast table, talking about YOU, as we do....and I say

"Hey, time for a reader's poll, who are these freaks? I mean nice people who read this blog???"

and the wife is quick on her feet, even though it is barely 5:30 am:

(Go to comments and tell us all about yerself, please!!!! Below is a blank you can copy this and paste!!!!)

1) What is your favorite color??? I mean, you have to choose just one? I have, well, maybe 3 or 4: spring green or celadon would be first....tied with a pretty periwinkle blue, why do I have to choose one of those? BUT, when it comes to, like bikes, cars or that sort of thing, I love a nice bright tomato-cherry red, but then again, I totally looooove a nice buttery-lemony yellow. There. 4 favorite colors.

2) What is your favorite breakfast??? Oh gosh. Coffee. We have a lot of oats with applesauce, but scones are probably my favorite, although I like a bagel with pb and j....

3) Describe your favorite socks. I have at least 3 pairs of skull and cross bone socks...I like those a lot, but I really love striped socks most, especially the ones the wife has hidden away in her desk which are for my birthday later this spring....

4) What was your favorite bedtime story when you were a kid???? Probably Peter rabbit. I never understood the last bit though: what on earth was chamomile tea? Also, who would put a rabbit in a pie, like Peter's father had been? Makes you think the English are weird (they are!), but anyway, still my favorite story because of the exquisite drawings....

5) What is your favorite holiday disaster?

Oh gosh. OK, 1990, the day before Christmas I adopted a fuzzy stray kitten named Sammy, my first adult pet. He was sooooo sick all that first weekend and almost died, but then suddenly he was eating chicken baby food and lived with me for 17 years. He was so wonderful :)

1) What is your favorite color???

2) What is your favorite breakfast???

3) Describe your favorite socks.

4) What was your favorite bedtime story when you were a kid????

5) What is your favorite holiday disaster?

dragon mug! for YOU

2012-01-05T14:00:00.001-05:00

You probably could use a dragon mug like this, righto???? For sale now at my etsy gallery....

the first time...

2012-01-05T06:12:00.003-05:00

You will recall that I got a used kiln from the county dump's reuse store the other day, my dream kiln! In new condition! You will also recall that it seemed to work well, and I test fired a small glaze batch yesterday, OH WOW! I was so excited and nervous to get up today, would it look good? This is the before and after firing, it is sooooooo perfect. The firing went VERY fast, even though I was trying to slow it down--less than 6 hours from room temp to 2200 degrees. I will slow it down more in the future, but it is much easier to slow a kiln down than speed it up, you know? You are probably thinking that teapot looks like the one in the header, and it is a smaller version, yes indeedy. BTW, the new kiln came with clean new shelves, but I wanted to use my crusty old ones to test....

The vet comes over Monday to see Buster, our old lab on the left here. He is not strong and he is very old for a big dog, about to turn 13, but he is doing very well......

"....white wedding...." and boring the heck out of you

2012-01-04T06:03:00.006-05:00

Bore you to tears...whenever a potter starts talking about kilns and glazes, people are bored to tears.
WELL, I will keep it short--remember I mentioned yesterday, I got a new (to me!) kiln? I was fiddling around with the old one and it was in worse condition than I thought, so I was "to the garage with thee!" and dragged it out of the studio, installing the new (to me!) kiln in its place. Soooooo tidy :) Then I had a few pots sitting around, and I was like "they give me 7 days to return the kiln if it is broken, lets do a bisque firing....and dang, it went in 3 hours! (usually 8-10 hours). It seems to work fine :) I will have to slow the bisque firing in the future, but that is a good test, glaze firing test today.
In other news, the weather is slightly crapola, but totally average for January. The wife holds by the idea: the weather in the first 12 days of the year stands for the weather for each month of the year. So, for example, 1/1 was VERY MILD...therefore overall, a mild January. Yesterday, 1/3 was cold and blustery, therefore, a cold March, get it????
In more other news, what is Spike helping the wife with down at the sewing table? Surely NOT a white wedding dress? (no!)

Speaking of white weddings...you always love how videos from our youth are so over the top, indeed....

SANTA strikes again!!!!

2012-01-03T06:23:00.002-05:00

OK, so like I was saying: me and the wife are out and about yesterday, at the grocery, you know, stocking UP before today's mini-blizzard, and on the way home its like
"we need a bottle of cheapo jug wine"
and so we pull into the friendly wine store and after the friendly dude there has answered my question ("other than chardonnay, what is all this other stuff???" which took awhile) we wander down a bit to the county reuse center. The county dump has this awesome store full of old doors, computers, TVs, fun stuff like that, luckily, miles from the dump--a real store. They have full-time employees that make sure stuff is clean and works (like this mac computer I am using now...we bought it dead cheap from them last summer).

We are walking up to the door a minute after they open, and there, out front is a......KILN. I am stopped in my tracks. It is my dream kiln. Every time my old kiln breaks down, which is a lot, I call up Andrew at the clay supply place

"Andrew, my gawdammn kiln broke down....how much would a SMALL L and L kiln cost, without a computer controller?" and he is friendly and jolly and will tell me, depending, hundreds, nay THOUSANDS it would cost......so I keep repairing my gawdammn old kiln...

And there, yesterday, sitting in front of the reuse center yesterday, is a dead cheap, SMALL L and L kiln, used by my guess only a few times, and basically in new, mint condition, with a bunch of shelves and bricks and even the owners book. Beautifully cared for and stored. I am there taking it apart, looking it over, and this young bearded dude is hovering around (that happened with this computer last summer--I had to fling some elbows to keep other shoppers away). So, young bearded dude is hovering around, and I reach out and remove the price tag...the kiln is not free, but its CHEAP. The cheapest used kiln I have even seen, and soooo perfect....young bearded dude is like
"you gonna buy that, because I..."
and I cut him off
"YES. I am buying it" and I throw some elbows and stand in front protectively while the wife gets the tiny little subaru.....

Not sure yet how all this fits together in the studio, but so far.....

the amazing shopping trip, part one: us at the grocery in front of some random volvo...

2012-01-02T19:03:00.002-05:00

You probably canNOT wait to hear about our shopping trip today, but HA! You will have to wait until Tuesday....

(me, the wife, the hat Judy knitted her...)

new (filthy) resolutions!

2012-01-02T05:17:00.003-05:00

I should be serious this time, really! OK, another resolutions haiku, this one blessedly shorter than my last:

New year's resolutions 2012 by Gary Rith, a haiku

More secks, dregs, rock and
Roll...of course, I do not do
Dregs....except advil.....

Gosh, that is an appalling haiku! Horrible! Let's try again...

New resolutions
Indeed: one piece chocolate
With morning coffee.

I will definitely make that happen. Yesterday I wanted to bake the bread to go with the blackeyed peas. The wife is southern (Missouri sure seems southern to me!) and natch, we have to have the black eye peas on new years for good luck all year. I always love the hoppin' john so much that I wonder why we don't make luck more often???!!! I base my recipe on the very simple goya hoppin' john, except use, of course, soy bacon, red and and yellow peppers, and the wife insisted I use dry beans instead of canned (a lot less salt!). Wicked delish, and I made bread and there was champers too! i read recently that the only thing champagne is good for is getting a woman's skirt down to her ankles...wonder what that means?

I wanted a cheerful and celebratory photo of self with wife for the new year, but she was like "my hair! You cannot take a pic until I do my hair!" but I worried the champagne would go flat and the food cold ;).....

"twenty twelve: twenty eleven kicked ass and you have a lot to live up to"

2012-01-01T06:04:00.003-05:00

Twenty eleven was a great year. Not every bit of it, but 99 percent. Very fortunate indeed.

Now its January. On the one hand, it is my least favorite month of the year, except for February. On the other hand, December has been super mild, not wintry at all, and I feel like we have cheated winter so far, YESSSS! So, the usual winter weariness hasn't set in yet...my house is clean-ish (even my rolodex and recipe card file!) and I have 2.5 bags of my new addiction in the freezer, Godiva chocolate truffle coffee. I wrote a haiku to share with you:

2012 New Year's resolutions, a haiku by Gary Rith

Spike the badass cat
Swears to me: "I will go on
A diet. Honest!"

The adorable
Beagle, Penny, will
Carry on with cute.

And for the Yankees,
A-Rod, Jeter and the rest:
World Series, Okay?

Midnight and I was
Deeply asleep and it is
So quiet at six.

Perfect I may be
But in twenty eleven I
Will swear to the wife:

I shall take you to
That tasty Thai restaurant
Down on the commons.

And I promise that
I will quit smoking. Except
I do not smoke. :)

And don't plan to start, either! Happy New Year!

thinking of new year's resolutions is hard when you're perfect....

2011-12-31T06:25:00.002-05:00

These beauties all just came outta the kiln and I luvs them so. Suresuresure, you have seen items like them here before. I am thinking the greens would make a nice business card too (different cards for different customers and different moods: a card with teddy bear pottery on it is good for some...serious bowls good for others....) I gave us a set of similar bowls for Christmas....
Anyways, new years, hmm?
We were sure as hell fortunate in 2011 (remember my motto "if you're not dead, you have more options!".) 2012 will mark 6 years (SIX!) of daily blogging. I have a lot of BS to share don't I?
The wife was amazed yesterday when I said, after 2 days of scrubbing
"you're BORED? I would never get bored cleaning...." and its like
"Good lord, gimme a beer, will ya?".
Cleaning is dead dull, but a trunk load went to Salvation Army yesterday and I felt elated and lightened. Thinking, "I have done so much, maybe Saturday I will tackle the final frontier: those 30 mystery boxes in the corner staring at me..."
My other task for today: resolutions. Thinking of new year resolutions is hard when you're perfect ..... ;)

(new pottery by Gary Rith)

I am not a neatnik....

2011-12-30T07:02:00.002-05:00

We were out with Amy and Dave last night having the awesome dinner at the cozy restaurant with fire and decorations. Nobody was near us, and I should have gotten photos early when I had the chance (tres romantique!) but surprise! Then the place filled up.
Anyway, year's end means cleanup for me. I go through my in box once a year, clean my desk and everything else I can think of around the house. (Penny points out the BEFORE below) There will be a car load of junk headed to Salvation Army later, and another car load of junk to the dump.
I am not a tidy person, but I like things tidy, you know? It feels good, and hoarders are just such a horrifying spectacle, I am the anti-hoarder!

couldn't get to sleep last night....because....

2011-12-29T05:05:00.002-05:00

NOT the fault of these awesome bears, Winnie and Rumpole. When you scroll down you will see why we couldn't get to sleep last night ;)
OK, like I have been saying: Rumpole and Winnie the orphan teddy bears, now on teapots and cups! In stories and soon on cards! I like this photo, and I have been trying to turn it into a new business card.....

Last night the wife made this exotic Mexican rice dish with pomegranites. Unbelieveably tasty!
--saute an onion and lotsa garlic several minutes, add 2 cups brown rice and stir around, then cover with 4 cups broth and 1.5 cups chopped tomato: turn to high and stir! Cook until moisture is gone and it is, well, rice...
--slice a banana and coat with 3 tbs lime juice...seperate out 1/3-1/2 cup pomegranite seeds, add to banana and lime, then dump over the top of the rice, serve and EAT!

Introducing Rumpole and Winnie, or what were you doing at 3:10 Christmas morning????

2011-12-28T07:07:00.002-05:00

Suzanne is like "you weren't really working at 3:10 Christmas morning, were you?" and the answer to that, as anybody from Santa's workshop knows, or toy designers or potters with a new idea is
"Of course I was working. A new product line for Christmas NEXT year".

Not literally. But I was messing around with painting my teddy bears onto pots. This was the thinking:
Last week I was thinking "my bear Rumpole in the pink sweater, that would be fun to draw...." and I drew him over and over and over, and wanted him on a child's teaset...and then I begin thinking
"Tell the Rumpole story...and Winnie....sell cards....calendars....!!!!!" then I realize, why stop there? Why not do the same with Penny and Spike?
Anyway, Rumpole was truly an orphan that I found in a snow bank outside a dormitory in 1996....and Winnie, in the green, was filthy and lying in the street last year, as you will recall, in Cooperstown. They make an awesome pair, and I need to write and illustrate their story, don't I?* And then do the same with my pets.....

(new pottery by Gary Rith)
*it would be like, "sure, buy a card for a dollar.....and maybe a teaset for 70....."

hot stuff going on here......

2011-12-27T15:07:00.002-05:00

Here is a teaser. Full story Wednesday......

(Winnie and Rumpole, new pottery by Gary Rith)

par-TAY!

2011-12-27T06:56:00.002-05:00

I was over at Stevo and Judy's last night, with many of their cats and dogs and kids.....you see Rudy the cat here with me, Tank the enthusiastic puppy and kari and Derek etcetcetc.....
Judy hand knit us these awesome tuques, OHMYGOSH! And they match our Spike the cat so nicely! I was telling the wife, her hat is like the one that gal wears in that Smith's video from 1986 or whenever .....

its like Christmas day...on Christmas day!

2011-12-26T07:22:00.001-05:00

Potters always say opening up the kiln after a good firing is like Christmas day. For the first time ever, I opened the kiln on Christmas day...and it was like Christmas day!
You can see the before and after below, plus view how Spike and Penny treat a guest bed...predictable....

3:10 am--who is that on our roof??? Squirrels invading again????

2011-12-25T03:40:00.002-05:00

NO! Not this time. Santa! With tuna for Spike and a squeaky toy for Penny...I made coffee and started the kiln......(why yes, the happily self-employed potter IS working on Christmas....)
OK, so yesterday? The wife comes downstairs in grey sweater and dark blue jeans. I am wearing grey sweater and dark blue jeans, and we are like
"WHOA! 19 years married today and we have a psychic connection indeed!"
Had to grab the camera for the family photo....me, Spike cat, Penny beagle, the wife, Buster the big black lab...
Joyeaux Noel everybody!

19 years married today and the most romantic gift a guy can give

2011-12-24T08:11:00.002-05:00

Well sure, you can give jewelry, but hell, what does she really want? What does she really desire in her heart of hearts???? A NEW TOILET BAGEL! The conversation goes like this, after:
"I thought you would love getting a new toilet...what are they called, you know, the round thing, the toilet bagel!" and she is eating her breakfast, which is, coincidentally, a bagel, and sorta spits out her mouthful
"GOD! Don't call it that! Its a toilet seat!"

Oh, right, makes sense, toilet seat. Anyway, you have been married umpteen years, you give the less romantic* more utilitarian and useful gifts. The smart man gives the wife the new blender, the new vacuum cleaner, if the budget is low, a new toilet plunger, maybe some windex and paper towels*. I went for it: drove down to home despots and was amazed at the selection! 5 dollars and up! I got the WHISPER QUIET!!!!! Did you know you can get a toilet seat with spring loaded hinges, YOU CANNOT SLAM THE LID DOWN. Which is useful when guests are coming...guests who might, you know, have the midnight tinkle and slam the toilet lid down....

OK, YES, she was totally surprised to come home to a new toilet seat...a fancy one no less! But I have to say, although installation is not hard, it is horrible. I scrubbed and scrubbed, everywhere, of course, but the whole process makes you wash your hands about 15 times......

MERRY CHRISTMAS MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS!!!!

(me and the wife recently: we met December 1989 and were friendly for 2-3 years, had our first outing or almost date December 1991--Beauty and the Beast was one of the first outings---and January 1992 we looked at each other and CLICK, became an item....and got married Christmas eve 1992 :)
*btw, in addition to the new toilet bagel, I gave her a gold ring and pin with amethyst and opals, pink and red roses too....not as dumb as you think I am, am I?

giving it up for Bella: blood and Jingle Bells!

2011-12-23T06:46:00.002-05:00

If a sexy hawt vampire came into your bedroom at night, what would you do????? Don't answer that.

I have type O negative blood, the universal donor. Anybody can use it. The Red Cross does not let me forget that. They are my true other lover: I get the calls, I get the emails, I get the letters, I get the sweet nothings in my ear...every few weeks--slightly less often if I give 2 pints of red blood cells like yesterday.

I don't like giving blood, I don't like anything about it. But, I am O-, I am a straight man who is not underweight or low iron and I have not been to Africa or eaten a mad cow, I have not had secks with a prostitute NOR have I ever taken money for secks. Therefore...they love me. And I try to reciprocate their love....at least a little...and imagine my DNA floating through untold grateful veins.....

zombie squirrels on crack.....

2011-12-22T05:44:00.002-05:00

You may recall a discussion earlier this fall, about our neighbor Paul and Julie's house, and how there was a flattened squirrel in the road in front of their place for a few days. Our adorable beagle sure did want to taste that! By my count, since then, there have been SEVEN flattened squirrels in front of their place this fall. As of yesterday. This is perhaps because a) the river bank on that stretch of road has a zillion walnut trees and other squirrel delights and b) rednecks in large and loud pickups like to race down that 100 yards perhaps because c) it is, like, an old fashioned redneck video game: how many squirrels can you drive over!
Anyway, another neighbor over there, Rich and Hillary, are down at Viva having the burrito Tuesday and we meet them. They are like
"we have squirrels in the attic" and I am like "I know what its like, tap dancing over your head at 3 am....".
I make a cute squirrel mug, yes?

(new mugs by Gary Rith)

of cats and creamers...

2011-12-21T05:54:00.002-05:00

SO, like I was saying last week, the wife wanted a creamer like her grandmother had but broke: has a cat on the handle! I have tried making sculpted cats for years, and I like this attempt...looking good....

(new pottery by Gary Rith and featuring SPIKE the cat)

"if you're not dead, you have more options"

2011-12-20T05:09:00.002-05:00

I was reading a book recently and it was boring and I did not finish it, but there was that quote in there, which I have used as a post title. Hilarious! I heard comedian and actor Billy Connolly say, in reference to any little gripe a person might have, such as, say, a head cold "there are a lot of people in the cemetery who wish they had a head cold". Also hilarious! But gives you pause. If you are alive, you can be grateful.
People ask why I wear the skull ring, seen below, and that is why "if you are not dead, you have more options". Keith Richards of the Stones wears his because, as he says, something to do with we are all the same underneath. Not that I am trying to be cool like Keith Richards or anything ;)

The whole point of this post, actually, aside from the dancing dog, is to share, like, my 5th or 75th, hard to keep track, peanut noodle recipe. Got this one the other day from somewhere, but it is the most simple of any I have seen, and the least fat and salt, and yummo! Recipe follows *

*
More peanut noodles!
--cook 8 oz noodles per usual, reserve a half cup of the water when done and pour into small bowl
--add to that 5 tbsp peanut butter, 3tbsp vinegar (I used red wine), one tbsp soy sauce, whisk together, stir into pasta, yummo! Serve your noodles with stir fry or whatever! I am wondering what it would be like to use lime juice rather than vinegar, or a combination....stay tuned :)

zebras YES, horses, maybe not.....

2011-12-19T07:32:00.004-05:00

I was asked to make a horse on a vase, but frankly? My zebras kick azz :) Why settle for a boring plain horse when you can add stripes!
Ever overslept one and a half hours on a Monday? We just did. the wife, bless her, shoveled down the oatmeal and coffee and was out to catch the bus, lickety split. She scores the winning touchdown! Her husband is still yawning, scratching his belly, writing a brilliant blog post and belatedly going down to the studio to glaze a LAST MINUTE order for squirrel cups...I can change outta my jammies later.....

(new pottery by Gary Rith)

gettin' Chrismassy :)

2011-12-18T07:02:00.002-05:00

You will recall that our mail is only delivered at our little PO in this town, and that it is so utterly small that, well, my beagle gets mail there too. Dog treats in the box. There are days I HAVE no mail, but my beagle always does...and here she is, showing off our personal Stonehenge again, with some of the snow we got Saturday which puts you in that holiday mood annnnnd
below is the wee corgi across the street, Soupy. We were at their Christmas party last night and Soupy is a star. My beagle would have cleaned the food right off that table, but little Soupy never misbehaves. I gave her all the sausage I wouldn't eat....

my own PERSONAL STONEHENGE and hawt date with the wife

2011-12-17T05:18:00.002-05:00

You will remember that I have a lot of rocks around, and that they are my personal legos. Some of them pretty big. Like the huge slab of rock that was Trevor and Allison's across the street. They are rehabbing and a) the slab was buried in front of their place, it had been the old front step...nearly 4 feet wide! by 4 inches thick, its pretty brittle and b) they did some foundation stuff last year and I got a lot more of their rocks out of the ground then.
I built a fire pit a couple of years ago. Used it once. Weeds have been growing. I moved some of the choicest rocks INTO Penny's yard yesterday, you can see its popular. I imagine in warm weather laying out a couple of cocktails with the wife and...keeping the dog from drinking them.
In other news, Cornell here sometimes secretly announces a free movie at their cineama. Last year we were so excited, Natalie Wood in Miracle on 34th St! We got the announcement early this week, ELF! I had never seen it, and cheap dude that I am, I constructed a hawt date with the wife around the free movie. It was definately hilarious and entertaining, Zoey is tres awesome as singer and performer.
But first, we went to Ithaca's favorite restaurant, Just a Taste....the wife was like "what, you want to get there when they open, exactly at 5:30?" because she knows I am super nervous about time, but in this case, I am thinking "Ithaca's most popular restaurant on a Friday? 5:31 may be too late!" and it nearly was. We got there, just a couple of seats left, and after we took off our coats NO seats were left. The last spot was taken by Mary with her husband next to us, she is the sweet dental assistant who cleaned the wife's teeth yesterday, and I was like "you saw her last week, and I will be in your chair this week!". Small world, to be sitting elbow to elbow with your dental assistant, the very week you both see her. Super awesome restaurant. Their idea of a small taste though is NOT mine, it was all pretty huge, and we got the doggy bag....then off to the free flick.
You see, because next week is our 19th wedding anniversary :) We have a boatload of visitors expected, so this was probably our celebration indeed....

Spike goes with Le Chapeau...

2011-12-16T05:27:00.002-05:00

(new pottery by Gary Rith)
OK, you saw Penny in her little holiday winter outfit yesterday, it got me thinking.....but dressing a cat is, well, a challenge, NO?

In pottery cat news, I have tried so hard to sculpt cats for years with little success. I draw them very well, but sculpting was hard...until this week. The wife wants a creamer with a cat on the handle---her grandmother had one that broke, except for the cat, and Claudia wants a cat on the handle mug....I'm working on it guys.....

probably the cutest thing you have ever seen in your life

2011-12-15T05:49:00.001-05:00

Penny beagle is
Absolutely the cutest
Doggy Christmas elf :)

comfort food for VEGANS and GLUTEN INTOLERANT

2011-12-14T06:07:00.002-05:00

(Spike was fooled, he was like "smells creamy to me!")
SO, let's say you are, like me, vegan, or like visitors to our house, gluten intolerant. Not much left to eat, is there, except maybe twigs and lawn clippings, right?

I wanted to try gluten-free pasta, and I have to say, this brown rice stuff (bag with bunny below) is A plus, superb! So tasty, and only difference is slightly longer cooking time.
Katie is our best pal and rides the bus with the wife everyday and loaned us a vegan cookbook. I was like "whoa, MAC AND CHEESE?" because I have not had anything like that in a long time...except for buying Annie's frozen, which is tasty but saltier than I would prefer plus wicked expensive.
This recipe is soooooooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooooooood, check it out:

vegan mac and cheese

Boil 1 pound macaroni per usual.
While that boils, use another sauce pan, combine a good margerine 1/4 cup, 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese and 1 cup rice milk. When that has melted over medium heat, add 2 cups vegan shredded cheese, 1/4 cup nutritional yeast and 1 1/2 teaspoons good vinegar. Stir until melted, keep warm until pasta is done and drained, then combine! OH JOY!!!!!!!

le secrets!

2011-12-13T06:05:00.003-05:00

As you know, I find myself involved in a lot of SANTA type SECRETS this time of year.
I am trying to keep this thing a little bit under my hat: this is like, tres fantastico coffee set, but it is a surprise gift on its way somewhere...and I have been bursting with excitement wanting to post it and cannot wait any longer....anyway...it is unlikey that particular recipient will see this post, but isn't this cute? The purchaser saw my own, made for us, black doggy coffee pot and wanted an elephant one for her friend...so nice....
(new pottery by Gary Rith)

the aftermath....

2011-12-12T05:51:00.004-05:00

OK, busy busy BUSY weekend!
I was at 2 fairs this weekend and had fun, but golly, was I tired Sunday evening. I delight in sharing the behind-the-scenes with you, so let me lay it out for ya:
--I realized that since this was 2 days and 2 events in 2 locations, the reason I was so tired at the end was the complete set up and take down--twice. Usually if you have a 2 day fair, Saturday evening you just leave your stuff and come back Sunday. So this was a first for me: double schlepp! Worth it though, and close to home.
--I do very few fairs now compared with when I lived in New Hampshire. But people have invited me to do some events, so I have tried it out this year. It goes back to the vagaries of the marketplace with fairs, like weather, crowds or no crowds, advertizing, distance, booth fee, and let me explain how this factored in recently: the Saturday event in Ithaca was beautiful and wonderfully well organized and there were delightful people everywhere, but there was an expensive booth fee, but I thought I would try it out. You always wonder "OK, it cost this much to be here, how many mugs do I sell to pay for it?" and for example, the lady with pictures across from me Saturday did not sell a thing all day.....she was very nice but looked a bit depressed...I do not know why the fair was only so so. There were muscians playing carols. Luckily, at the end of the day, they switched to jazz. I read recently that people really get tired of Christmas carols and decorations, people are like ENOUGH ALREADY!
ANYWAY, just to compare Saturday's so-so numbers compared to the booth fee: I came home and had internet orders from strangers adding up to MORE than what I had made all day. The internet is a very friendly place for me :) THEN I went to a synagogue for a Sunday fair. They had invited me and I have never been to a synagogue before, for any reason. There was NO fee for Sunday, none at all, they just collected a small percentage of your sales after. I figured "how can I lose? and the car will already be packed with stuff!" and HOLY CATS it was a blast! First of all, NO CHRISTMAS carols, obviously, yaaaaay! But it was the most lively indoor festival I have ever been to, with singing and dancing everywhere, food, blahblahblah, it was the most fun I have had in a loooong time. And get this, remembering I did not have to put up any money, I made more than twice the sales as Saturday.
So, as I say, you try this and that, see what happens, work hard, hope for the best.....above is me Saturday, below you see some of my buddies, like Werner who is a physicist and sculptor, and Tommy a potter and you will recall is also an old drinking buddy, and Leslie too....

like I was saying.....

2011-12-10T05:04:00.002-05:00

Right, so busy weekend--Ithaca! Come see me today at 100 W Seneca from 11-5 or Sunday at Temple Beth El!

I was pretty thrilled--my kiln developed some problem and spent an extra 3 hours reaching temperature, but it turned out beautifully as you see below. Friday I tore the kiln apart, replaced a worn out element, good as new. Santa gave me an early present indeed!
I am soooo excited, see all my friends nonstop this weekend, catcha later....

(new pots by Gary Rith)

come see me!

2011-12-09T06:23:00.003-05:00

As you see in the header, I have my last 2 craft fairs of 2011 this weekend, come on over!
In other news, we had our 5th bit of snow for the season. Just an inch, enough to look pretty here and there, although I heard that to the east they got up to 8 inches in places.
Our village is Etna, NY, a place of maybe 300 people at most, just outside Ithaca. We have a bus stop, a church, playground, fire station, cemetery, river and bridge, and soon, our post office which is how we get our mail, is due to close. But its a cute little village alright. Have an awesome weekend!

the usual.....

2011-12-08T05:49:00.003-05:00

I am writing a haiku right now, here at 5:53 am. Based on a true story! As usual....

Scary sounds from the
Litter box...smelly kitty
Emerges proudly.

In other news, completed a BOATLOAD of bowls and cups yesterday, pic below of some of them, glazed too. Then I decided THAT IS IT for me and Christmas. I am officially at work on 2012 now. You see, things have to dry, be fired twice, blah blah blah, and I am worn out! Now I will concentrate on the 2 craft fairs I have this weekend and shipping orders...and making the brilliant CAR TEAPOT VERSION 2.0 :)

OK, want an awesome and easy soup recipe? The wife tells me yesterday, and it was flippin' cold and wet and snowy,
"How about soup?" and I am like
"I could warm my hands on the bowl...and in the bowl...." and I made our favorite and simplest soup. We had some Thai curry soup from the store once, and it was AMAAAAAAZING and between our guess at what they did and their ingredients, we figured out to make it ourselves, soooo tasty..... Recipe below *

(some newly made bowls and cups by Gary Rith)

Gary and M's Thai Curry Soup

-cook half cup rice as you normally do, half and half with wild rice if you have it
-saute 2 carrots and several cloves garlic in big soup pot, 5-10 mins
-add 4 cups broth and 2 tbs curry powder, boil then reduce heat and simmer
-when rice is nearing completion in its pot, add one cup frozen peas to broth mix
-when rice finishes, toss in with soup, raise heat until boiling again, and you are DONE.

--spoon soup into bowls, top each with a handful of slivered almonds (I had to use walnuts yesterday, still yummy) and raisens
YUMMO!

The original from Friends.... and the souped up video...

frog tea!

2011-12-07T05:58:00.003-05:00

I had to work hard on this limerick, and the wife supplied critical input on rhymes with "throw up".

Frog tea WON'T make you throw up,
This is how it might brew up:
Boil water until hot,
Pour into your teapot.
Frog is ON the teapot, not in, with a matching blue cup.

(teaset by Gary Rith)

giraffes and elephants!

2011-12-06T05:48:00.003-05:00

I needed something good to go with this pic of mugs, and here is my lame, written at 5;30 in the morning limerick:

Its not all elephants here,
Sometimes there are giraffes to hold your beer!
This holiday season be smug,
Shop with me, buy a mug!
Your friends and family will hold you dear when they get their gear.

I had to ask the wife for suggestions to rhyme with "beer" :)

This is a funny quiz floating around online:
The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and will tell you whether you are qualified to be a professional. The questions are NOT that difficult.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator?

Wrong Answer.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend.... except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory.

Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

(mugs by Gary Rith)

disgusting and despicable :)

2011-12-05T06:13:00.002-05:00

You will be excused from feeling nauseous and also declining any invitation to dinner at our house. Totally understandable. That photo below is appalling, I am SHOCKED! Shocked I tell you.
In other news, me and the wife made a minestrone type soup on Sunday. It is extremely tasty and simple, recipe below *

*
Minestrone type soup with Gary and Penny the dog

First, let the dog lick all the pots and pans clean.
Kidding, kidding!

--Saute an onion and several cloves garlic in olive oil for 5-10 mins, until soft.
--Add 28 oz can tomatoes, start to boil and then let simmer 20 mins.
--Add 5 cups broth (veggie!) and 16 oz can white beans, various spices like oregano and basil, simmer ten minutes.
--Add 5 oz noodles, simmer another ten until they are done.

EAT up!!! Yummo!

there be dragons!

2011-12-04T06:55:00.004-05:00

I just read book one of Game of Thrones. It has a lot intrigue, murder and mystery, dragons too.
A lot of people get excited by sci-fi and fantasy, and, well, I am amazed at how much people love dragons. LOVE LOVE LOOooooove dragons! Its like skull stuff--alll these customers come out of the woodwork and buy it all up!
My neighbor Alita needed a dragon eating a unicorn mug for her pal, and I was happy to oblige--cracks me up! I am thinking of another way to design dragon mugs, then make a boatload of them in 2012 and make a lot of moola from my adoring customers.

I was reading this for real: when mapmakers many years ago were illustrating Europe, and did not know what was beyond certain directions, they would write something like "here be dragons". Haha! Beautiful!

(mug by Gary Rith, outrageous painting by somebody else)

of orders and patterns....

2011-12-03T08:03:00.002-05:00

Its funny, you have friends in say, Minnesota ordering things for friends in say, Florida who are ordering things for the first friend back in Minnesota and its funny because you know all the Christmas secrets! You begin to realize that some people kinda collect your work, then give some to a friend who begins to collect your work and before you know it you are a millionaire.....heh :)

Back to patterns: I was realizing just yesterday how much I have always like tidy patterns, and I don't consciously think about it. Look at how I set up a row of handles for mugs yesterday. And my preferred drawn decoration mode has become a repeated pattern, like this cat with his coffee repeated around the mug...very orderly and pleasing, yet funny. (despite my affection for patterns, I am still a lousy housekeeper......)
Happy weekend all!

(new work by Gary Rith)

its my cat in a box!

2011-12-02T06:23:00.002-05:00

Why YES, my cat in a box, my favorite holiday video too, AND a before and after with this kiln. I took the before around 5 Thursday morning, it reached about 2200 around 5 yesterday evening, then today? At 5 again, 24 hours later? Took the after photo, looking soooooo gooooood.....

stack of cake stands....

2011-12-01T05:57:00.002-05:00

SO, we have talked here in the last two weeks, as you know, about the cake stand the wife wanted, and it was the first I had made, in 2 parts, base and plate. It is small, on top here, and you will also remember it had a glorious chocolate cake on it for Thanksgiving (we are still eating that cake....). ANYWAY, cake stands like to crack at every point in the making and firing. Here are 2 more more that I made, bigger than the first, which I made in one piece. My experience: making them in one piece is very easy, but I will be honest: 2 of four cracked in the firing, GRRRR! Pisses you off. I think that for me, making them in one step might be easy, but making them in 2 pieces and attaching them is stronger and less likely to crack. I think that it is easier for me to control the drying vs. wet bits that way.

(3 cake stands by Gary Rith)

ginger cashew carrot fat cat....

2011-11-30T06:22:00.002-05:00

We were talking last night, speaking of Spike cat, saying that CAT is in the word CONTRARY don't you agree? No surprise is it????
You can dig Spike cat's extensive sprawl here, and the super duper sugar bowls I made, but look below! A RECIPE for carrot ginger cashew soup, holy cats, soooooooo awesome!*

*carrot ginger cashew soup, done my way

--saute an onion, few cloves garlic, a couple tbs fresh ginger, as it sautees:
--chop 1 1/2 pounds carrots and toss them in too--sauteeing total will be at least 15 minutes, soften things up then
--pour in a cup of white wine and 7 cups broth (veggie broth!) and start it to a boil then
--reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes and then
--add 2 tbs lime juice, 1 1/2 cups cashews and pour into a blender and puree baby, puree!!! you can keep the soup warm in the pot on the stove while
--prepare some noodles, we had these Chinese cellophane noodles which are perfect and beautiful, and prepare a green veg--the original recipe asks for green onion, but I just diced green pepper
--put soup in bowl, put some noodles on top, then add some green stuff then eat! A MILLION times tastier than you could EVER imagine, and super easy to make :)

vroom vroom!

2011-11-29T05:53:00.002-05:00

Like I was telling you, I made a working car teapot, and here tis, out of the kiln! Its just awesome, I am soooo excited....It rolls, oh yes...it does not roll well, but it rolls :)
(as my favorite teacher would say, though, "make more!")

(rolling car teapot by Gary Rith)

20 years plus.....

2011-11-28T06:15:00.002-05:00

Before I talk 20 years, you will notice we were walking around Cornell's campus goofing around Sunday...why not? It has been so warm! I went to Bennington which has what some people call the prettiest campus on earth....but others would say Cornell has the prettiest campus on earth...both groups would be correct. They are both very beautiful places.

ANYWAY, me and the wife met on a campus NOBODY would ever call beautiful, when we were graduate students at University of Illinois at Chicago. Much of Chicago is beautiful, although UIC had some pretty spots, most was sorta dark and utilitarian. I was happy there though, and the wife ran the ceramic studio and gallery where I messed around...and it was 22 years ago this week that I met her. 1989!!!! We were friends for awhile, but it was ALSO this week, 20 years ago, that we had our first outing in 1991. Not a date, really, yet, but we started palling around outside the studio 20 years ago this week....(and got married 13 months later, Christmas 1992 :)

teapots on teapots....

2011-11-27T05:16:00.001-05:00

A joke that I have always liked: turning the knob atop a teapot into a little teapot itself :) Happy Sunday!

(teapots by Gary Rith)

jammin'

2011-11-26T06:14:00.002-05:00

Many of you will remember we were out late one July evening at the farm picking raspberries in the 96 degree heat...it had been 100 earlier....and got a boatload of my FAVORITE berries and froze a bag of them...to make into jam when it is not 96. We do this in the summer--freeze a measure of berries to make jam over the holidays when it is cooler to make jam, plus it is, you know, a taste of summer. The wife had also picked and frozen strawberries, and yesterday was the day...I am famously impatient and bad with this operation, so she clearly has to run the show: you can ruin jam easily. I was taking pics, per usual, and there were screeches of "don't blog this!" which I am sure she did not really mean..... in other news, I was fiddling around and got an excellent new green-blue glaze scheme idea, and gave the wife the mug below, super nice, and finally, potters will laugh when they see that Spike's favorite bed is a clay box set on the heat vent .....

hotter n' hell Thanksgiving :)

2011-11-25T06:53:00.002-05:00

SO, like I was saying, we made chocolate cake and cashew stuffed jalapenos for Thanksgiving. Superb and delicious!!!!! (and all vegan) Anyway, I cook with jalapenos every day, but that is like, one jalapeno in a big pot of soup, you know? These suckers we wrapped in tortillas with tomato and were soooo good...but soooo hot. Took us over the edge! Next time, I gear it down one level, to banana peppers, which are about, what, 25 percent as spicy as jalapenos.....

some of you have been asking about my slippers...

2011-11-24T04:58:00.002-05:00

I was like, without consulting anybody,
"the heck with pumpkin pie! I want chocolate cake for Thanksgiving!" and you will recall that I recently made us a small yellow cake stand....and here they are together...its a pretty big, badass cake for a small cake stand, wouldn't you agree? Vegan, no eggs or butter, just chocolate, chocolate, chocolate as far as the eye can see. I am glad the wife has a big appetite because otherwise I wouldn't know what to do with it (the wife also feels about chocolate the way I feel about peanut butter :) Based on this recipe.

Yes, we do some untraditional things for our holidays, it is the anarcho-punk way. I like to make cranberry apple crisp, and we shall have some for breakfast.....I had a picture of last night's sweet potato burritos but it was blurry---another twist on traditional Thanksgiving foods. We are making cashew stuffed jalapenos for Thanksgiving dinners...which is probably as far from turkey as you can get :)
In other news, many of you will know about the secret of the slippers. I will not say any more, except to show my collection here--nearly 20 years ago I asked the wife to turn my pair of grey slippers into mice, and then about 12 years ago I asked her to turn my red slippers into dogs. She is pretty handy with a needle :)

beagle O'rama......and then some

2011-11-23T06:48:00.004-05:00

I was adding a couple of awesome mugs to my etsy gallery, and needed to find some way to tell YOU without being boring and repetitive!

So I thought of a new advertizing twist, and I am like "come here little beagle" and she is sleepy, and then I wrap her in lights, for that festive mood that makes YOU say

"I really need a beagle mug!!!!"

g

(awesome new pottery for sale in Gary's etsy gallery)

the most fancy teapot you have ever seen in your life

2011-11-22T05:59:00.003-05:00

Many of you will recall that this summer I started making car jars...wheel thrown parts assembled into a sculptural car shaped pot. Its complicated.
I was sitting there with the wife having the beer:
she: why are you sitting there with a distant and dreamy smile?
he: I just got an idea!
she: ???
he: OK, what if you made a car teapot...that rolls for real???

And I did. Wheels not attached in this pic, windows not finished and not fired yet, but this gives you an idea of its awesomeness....and fired and finished car jars in the lower pic....

Tuesday's post TODAY

2011-11-21T12:41:00.003-05:00

I am realizing that I have an immensely short attention span, and that I am already bored with my Monday morning blog post, and I knew this one was lined up for next, so I couldn't help but post it NOW (as Denis told me once "you are the least patient person I have ever met" and the wife reminds me of that...daily... :)
Anyway, I told you last week I had ordered a slick electric drip coffee pot that never came, so I decided to make us a huge one of our very own, to replace the last drip I had made for us and which I cracked. This doggy drip coffee works FANTASTICALLY and makes about 9 good sized cups. Suz had mentioned she did not know how a pot like this works, so maybe these pics show....
you just heat up water, put coffee into a filter in the funnel top and voila!

(Gary's new coffee pot, made by Gary)

because of ME the breakfast room got locked.....

2011-11-21T05:54:00.002-05:00

OK, so you know, I am at a new event this weekend in Syracuse, I don't know these people, but they are very nice and invited me to join them etcetcetc, and I arrived to find that I AM THEIR POSTER CHILD. Well, not really, but they had put my work on the postcard, this zebra teapot of mine there. Nice!
Anyhow, this thing is at this nice hotel, and Saturday people are going back and forth across the street to Dunkin Donuts.
I see the hotel cafe and breakfast room "free continental breakfast for guests only" and it is next to the exhibition space. I am no dummy, and I have my mug, so I am in there Saturday helping myself--the heck with Dunkin Donuts. Twice. Ignoring dirty looks from the staff. I figure "I am an invited guest alright, and this space is costing the group TWO THOUSAND BUCKS for the weekend...they can spare some continental hospitality with me..."
OK, after my third trip? I see them locking the door to the free cafe....and further dirty looks from the staff....which didn't seem all that friendly to me. What does 2 thousand bucks get you these days, hmmmmm?
Anyway, lucky me, I was treated well by this nice bunch of folks, all these potters gossiping, such fun!!!!! In the last few minutes, some lady showed up, and I swear I am not making this up, bought TEN of my cookie jars and teapots, holy cats!

smooth sailing so far....

2011-11-20T05:25:00.002-05:00

SO, like I say, I am at a fair in Syracuse this weekend. Actually, I am NOT, but my stuff is. They do the selling for me. As the door opened to customers and my shy self slipped out the door and away the first customer was buying one of my yellow teapots...seemed auspicious to me! More on everything later, and here is another wall piece: beagle mama! As many of you know, our wee adorable beagle Penny had been found in a snow storm, aged about 2, having just given birth to puppies. Nobody ever found the puppies, nobody ever posted flyers that they had lost their beagle who had just given birth. (I like to imagine she had wonderful puppies in some nice family's home, cared for them nicely, and one morning saw a squirrel and chased it 100 miles and got lost---which, if you know beagles, is an entirely plausible possibility) Anyway, I love the mother and child, beagle mama and pup motif....

oh gosh, see ya...when????

2011-11-18T18:38:00.003-05:00

I had some rather fine and nice items come out of the kiln today, like bee stuff! Some of it went straight to my online etsy gallery (6 items sold right away....could it BEE that BEE items are a popular thing????)

ANYWAY, I will be at the Syracuse Potter's Guild Holiday Sale Saturday and Sunday, Maplewood Inn which they tell me is conveniently located near where interstate highway 81 meets the NY state thruway, also known as interstate 90...sooooo, you could drive over from BOSTON! Or SEATTLE! Or even, I guess, come over from Montana or up from Philadelphia or......anyway, have a nice weekend, loves ya :)

(pottery by Gary Rith, for sale now at his etsy gallery...6 may have sold, but there are still plenty left!)

The Pythons had a thing about bees....

diary of a BAD CAT and pottery in action....

2011-11-18T06:32:00.002-05:00

You will recall a day or 2 ago, my first cake stand came out of the kiln--the wife asked for it, they are kinda hard to make and fire, but ours turned out great...so I had to make a cake! A wee blueberry torte.....

In other news, Spike cat had one of those days....he sleeps 23.5 hours a day, but sometimes when he is awake? TROUBLE.

speaking of adorable beagles....

2011-11-17T13:47:00.002-05:00

I had a chat with Santa:
me: "I wanted that coffee pot from Bloomie's, but they messed up. I was a very good boy this year, too!"
Santa: "hmm"
me: "as a matter of fact, I took the bull by the horns and MADE US a coffee pot...its cooking today. Last I checked, 2022 degrees, finished in a couple of hours"
Santa: "hmm"
me: "Sooooo.....since I was good all year......?"
Santa: "hmmmmm?"
me: "OK, you aren't making this easy and don't tell me you're busy. You work one night a year and the elves do the rest of the the work..."
Santa: "HMMMMMM?!"
me: "sorry, sorry, but hey, let me make things easy for you. We are all adults here."
Santa: "hmmmm?"
me: "Yeah, so, I want an UNDERDOG TEE for Christmas. I can order it and do all the work for you. You just put it under the tree next month. Deal????"
Santa: "hmmmmmm....."

(later that same week)
me: "It arrived! it fits! penny's winter coat matches!!!! Do you really have to hide it till next month??????"

public newdity!.....nekkid like Lady Godiva

2011-11-17T04:42:00.004-05:00

Whatta dream! I dreamt that I was set up at a fair with the usual bowls and vases and whatnot and it was warm and summery out and the fellow next to me was selling veggies and an adorable bunny...the crowd got so thick around my booth I couldn't even get close to it....part of that was like 15 of my friends were hanging around, chatting, being awesome, all that, it was a good time party and Micah....was nekkid. She was not wearing a thing. Of course, I have never met anybody named Micah, and the challenge when confronted by a nekkid friend in public is...well, looking elsewhere. if you are a polite person like me, you avoid staring. Anyway, by the time I was able to get anywhere near my booth again, the display was empty and one of my awesome friends handed me a stack of sales receipts: a sellout! NICE. Secks sells indeed.....

Like I have been telling you, I am preparing wall pieces to apply for an exhibition next winter...look at these tasty items, elephant tea party and pig in a blanket....

(wall pieces by Gary Rith)

DOG is my co-pilot....

2011-11-16T05:59:00.002-05:00

(Penny and I drive off into the sunset)

Last week I was telling you about making a wall piece with a dog riding in a car....the point being, I am applying for an exhibition next spring with wall pieces. The very possibility of that show means I have to prepare now, and the ideas are flooooooooowing......

SO, having made cars before, it occured to me that a dog riding in a car would make a great wall piece, modeled after you-know-who the beagle....and

SHOOT, I swear, if that yellow cake stand below is the best piece I have ever made, this is the second, what a great week :)

(pottery handmade by Gary Rith)

serving ROYALTY?????

2011-11-15T05:39:00.002-05:00

You will recall that last week I talked of making a CAKE STAND for the wife, or cake plate if you prefer, and I made the first one I had ever made, in 2 pieces. These sorts of things REALLY like to break and warp in the kiln, it is a very unstable shape. Somebody suggested I make them in one piece, stand and plate together, and I have since done so with a second cake stand which is bigger than this one, and I hope it fires OK too...but for now? THE FIRST ONE IS OUT! And looking magnificent....it is ours and for us...and for, well, important personages and serving them in the way they prefer....BTW, I accidentally dumped the can on the floor a second after these pics and Buster our big dog ate all Spike's lunch.... (I opened another can...but poor guy!)

Putting Penny on a pedestal...and a POT

2011-11-14T05:13:00.003-05:00

OK, so there is this amazing Euro (read: PRICEY) coffee pot in NY magazine and, well, I lust after it. Bloomies is selling them, and lickety split, I order one for Christmas, figuring FOUR months would get it here by then. No. Bloomies was super nice, but the manufacturer ran out of them and then would not return their calls....I guess they were THAT popular!

So, 2 months on back order, no end in sight, I cancel with Bloomies.
In the pics below you see our old coffee pot, purple with a zebra! I made it a few years ago. You put filter and coffee in the top, pour boiling water through. Through constant use and abuse, I had also broken the handles, and therefore set it aside and we don't use it now, just admire it. So I decided to make another zebra coffee pot for us, but BIGGER BIGGER BIGGGGGER! And have the wife make a cozy for it. Because the last cups in such a pot are not hot, just warm. Anyway, i was making a zebra coffee pot, and well....it became a beagle coffee pot.

You wonder why I put animals on pedestals in sculpture? I think it is funny, but also.....well, we own pedestals. Our front door has columns too, I love classical columns......

(new pottery by Gary Rith)

How to win friends and influence people, according to Penny

2011-11-13T05:23:00.003-05:00

We went over to Amy and Dave's farm yesterday. Golly, tis glorious out this weekend, warm and sunny! (Friday night it had snowed a bit, again). Penny's little doggy friend Zippy was there, of course (Penny hates other dogs...but Zippy is her pal) and after we had been hiking around the back 40 for awhile we went inside....and Penny met the cats.......she was pretty polite, and they were pretty surprised....

Back home, of course, she and Spike the cat like to sleep on the "beach", the strongest heat vent in the house....

"management material": ME???????

2011-11-12T06:06:00.004-05:00

I was dreaming just a minute ago, that me and some buddies were all set up for summer internships making copies and coffee for someone, and we had rented a house in Maryland for the summer...the PARTY HOUSE was the idea (this actually happened at our college in Vermont, you know, between my junior and senior year--the stove went out because the lease holders hadn't paid the gas bill, but we were college students, and used a hot plate and endeavored to GRILL every night on the front porch...and we did :)
Anyway, so I happen to meet the house owner in my dream, and my summer of mirth is interrupted by him telling me "I can see you are management material, we have big things, big responsibilities planned for you" and I was like "Oh sh!t, there goes my summer of fun..." Like in OFFICE SPACE, remember that?

I was amused yesterday, me and the wife were finishing dinner....and crosswords together....one after another, our wee addiction....

You will dig this turquoise teapot, totally cute, hmm? I am trying out these textures and ideas together in a series of them...this particular one for sale now at my etsy gallery!

the birds and the bees, the bags and the kitties....

2011-11-11T07:04:00.002-05:00

(new pottery by Gary Rith)
You will remember our good friend Summer, who is an artist on the side, but first and foremost a research biologist who studies and lectures on her area of expertise, which happens to be what you and I might call "bugs". Talking with Summer is to enjoy a thrilling conversation featuring snakes, wasps, pottery, bees, food, beads, glass....
ANYWAY, a week or 2 ago, Summer is talking about Christmas and her father. Her father, you would not be surprised to learn, keeps bees. He is also a chef around the house....and, well, could I make a gravy boat for him? With bees on it????
I thought and thought and thought about it, and came up with this rather awesome item with bees all over it. It turned out so well, I need to make some honey pots and even mugs and bowls with bees, and this blue-green color scheme....
Spike, as you see below and have seen before, gets wicked excited about grocery bags......

bits and pieces.....

2011-11-10T06:16:00.002-05:00

You will see here another before and after type picture comparison: just snapped a pic of the top of the kiln, still cooling and about 130 degrees, fired yesterday to about 2200 degrees at 4:30 in the afternoon at the end of a 12 hour firing cycle. The lower photo shows how grey and chalky pieces look before glaze firing. It is like a cake, batter becomes this beautiful chocolate dessert!
Also down there, a tiny teapot and cup for an elephant sculpture I made....YES, those were made on the wheel like a full-size piece :)

(pottery by Gary Rith)

making stuff, living the life.....

2011-11-09T06:04:00.002-05:00

You will see below the parts that went into making the cake stand and car wall piece. I hadn't made a cake stand before, but the wife wants one from me for Christmas. You make it and you are like "this thing is wicked fragile, hope it survives drying and firing without cracking". I figure if it survives (I can make many many more, btw) it will be YELLOW!
Also, I was talking to Brett and Robin earlier in the week about an exhibit of my wall pieces in 2012. Sure, I do wall pieces, you have seen the 3 pigs or the cow over the moon, but in talking with them, I got an idea for BEAGLE RIDING IN A CAR adorable wall piece, and made one....you see the dome shape below, which became the car....and of course, you also see the DOG IN THE CAR which inspires art work like that (Penny and I went on a trip to hike in the gorgeous fall weather yesterday, soooo nice out!)

Pajamas, penguins, Penny, parties and polar bears: the postscript!

2011-11-08T05:44:00.002-05:00

Yesterday the wife sees the first 2 photos here on the computer, of Spike with my (secret) new penguin PJs and she is like
"wait, that is my cat, that is my bed, but whose legs are in those penguin PJs, you don't have penguin PJs" and coincidentally, I was wearing them at that point and came out saying
"well, I have them NOW" and she is like
"you went back to the store after you got bear PJs and also got penguin PJs???" and I am like
"well, YES, I did....they were your favorite when we saw them!" and she is like
" :) "

You know how it is at home for passionate couples, sometimes it is a BEAR night...but maybe sometimes it is a PENGUIN night...do I have to spell it out?

Also, you see below, more shots from Kerry Brett and Terry's visit Sunday.......