kinky food combos: sweet potato latkes with guac and the hamster on the wheel...

Sure, this month?  These 4 weeks, Nov. 24-Dec24????? The potter is the hamster on the wheel, racing around in the circles, you know?

I barely unload the car and hit the wheel, making MORE pots, of course, packing more boxes to ship, etc, etc. It is an exciting ride, these days.

These green bowls:  I have been fiddling with impressed flowers for some months, as you know, and it hit me:  who needs a stalk and leaves, just the flower is perfect.....


Finally:  I am at the synagogue show Sunday watching all these latkes people are crunching (with celiac, I don't eat anything I have not prepared myself) and although I am not Jewish, I have the same love of potato pancakes that everybody does (or should) and there was this nice avocado on our counter and if you want to you can make sweet potato latkes with guac rather than regular with sour cream and HOLY CATS that is about the yummiest thing possible....I was making those while I made a pumpkin pie for breakfasts...it is that kind of week, right?

one down, 3 to go :)

I was at my smallest show of the year Sunday and it was a good day.  So many friends to talk to, I love it!
It IS a physical workout though, you know? That was the first of 4 weekend events on my calendar.
There was a little snow coming down as I rode home, (and more on the ground now), and we were wrapping presents for sisters when I got home.
The retail season starts pretty fast on Columbus Day, but HOLY CATS it is a busy month starting NOW :)

(below, my old friend Tommy)

jitters and our cat in a hat...

(packing for a fair--just a few things....)

I was super tired Saturday and facing a show today, Sunday. It is my smallest show of the year, with friends and only a few miles from home BUT it is the first of four weekend shows in this, the busiest retail weeks of the year.  It is exhilarating, this ride, but you get to December 24th pretty grateful the bank acct. is full and you can take a BREAK :)

Anyway, so things are in good order and I go out to this wee holiday festival at Temple Beth El after breakfast and walking the dog.  BUT I was dreaming just now that I was so busy finishing pots and noodling around it was suddenly 2:30...and I thought I was late, having been due at the festival at 2, BUT reread the paper and found ZOINKS! I was due there by 8!

I never ever run late.  I am the total organized early bird. Then, of course, I awoke in good order and here we go, into the fast lane :)

In other news, the cat knocked the wife's new spring hat to the floor and then tried to crawl into it and take a nap.  Our cat in a hat....

fur drop

The cat will be sitting there sometimes like a...well, blob, and the wife will say say he is a "fur drop"....it makes sense if you are thinking something like 'drop cookies" or "The Carolina Chocolate Drops".  Basically, he looks like a Hershey's kiss.

SO, as I was explaining to a customer yesterday "I hadn't made a little cat sculpture like this in years....make a Hershey's kiss, add ears, tail, nose, HUZZAH! A fat cat...so easy..."
"Did you make a lot of them?"
"I intended to, but I got bored and only made the one, promising myself I would make more later, but I never did..."

that double bowl thing AGAIN

You will recall a couple of days ago I showed a finished and fired double bowl snack dish (chip/dip! gherkin/olive!!!! m and ms/ reeses pieces!!!!!) with Godzilla in the middle....
WELL it is inevitable that a person try it with a beagle, right?

MY cat and dog and....rodent....

You buy some of my pots and you MAY think you want just a cat mug or a dog bowl...but often what you get is MY dog and cat...and the rodent who thinks he is mine, hiding in the walls or basement (and whose azz the cat wants to kick).

morning glory pitchers....

You have now seen my try white on the outside, red on the inside pieces a few times, I LOVE it.  I painted on some morning glories here, their pink matches, as does the green--the white over red makes pretty light green color, bonus!
I wondered if red mixed with white would give a pretty light green color, but it gave a purple-lilac color.  Funny how the overlap is green....anyone who knows glazes will undersatnd they are just so dang MYSTERIOUS in how they act :)

conjoined twins meet GODZILLA!

Makes a good headline, hmm?

My buddies Lori and Meesh have lately made excellent bowl pairs that are good for entertaining...olives on one side, gherkins on the other! M and Ms on one side, Reeses Pieces on the other! One person with a big appetite's vanilla ice cream on one side, chocolate on the other!

The issue with Meesh was considering a loop or other handle in the middle.  HER questions about that, and solution, I have never made anything like this before, and it made me think "this is all very clever...wouldn't Godzilla be even BETTER than a loop in the middle???"

Or, you know, a pair of bowls that are not even conjoined, like my piggy bowls here....

"if you start to look like your passport photo..."

"If you start to look like your passport photo it is time to go home..." (Erma Bombeck I think...)

Pretty funny and yet so TRUE.  Why do these things make you look so ghastly?
I got the passport photo done ten years ago...a different time and place and me! For example, that photo took 3o minutes to be developed by the photo shop. NEITHER of which is common anymore!  And I look so damn GREEN in that picture.  I look better ten years later.....  I was trying to look NEUTRAL but think I look a little, maybe, surprised.  You should see the wife's picture--yesterday she looked like she had just stepped out of the clothes dryer and somebody used a flashbulb to announce a surprise party...but she was wicked cute ten years ago. Wait, I should clarify--she is STILL wicked cute in real life, of course....

Ten years ago when we had that done we were also in New Hampshire just beginning to ready our house for sale to move here...a LIFETIME ago.  I should write all kinds of notes inside my new passport about what life is like now, as a kind of letter to self, a time capsule....golly, I think I will....

Yesterday I was doing what the busy potter does sometimes on a Sunday afternoon during the holiday shopping season and he is EXHAUSTED.  Why YES, that is me under there that the wife captured in a photo....

the usual frivolous post...

Just an ordinary Sunday here, in the aftermath of the devastating mess in Paris.
Humanity is flippin' nuts, you might think.....

I don't know if I have made the world a better place this week, but I did make these.  Best wishes to you!

purple is great, but sometimes raspberry is better....

FOR GRAPES! I idly thought to self "what if I tried grapes with red inside....?" and the result was really quite wonderful, I think.

Have a great Saturday!

winner: a crazy chain of events :)

OK, so things lead to things, right?

Last week I am babysitting Nook the fluffy white dog and we walk past the county courthouse, and he does his business out front.  I am standing there, idly waiting for him to finish, and read the plaque, which tells us that the county is named for Daniel Tompkins, who about 200 years ago was a local politician who later became US vice president under Monroe or one of those guys. "GOOD TO KNOW" sez I, as I scoop Nook's daily offering....

OK, so Thursday morning I am insanely busy--a rack of pots drying that needed finishing, babysitting Yogi at home AND several OTHER dogs to babysit elsewhere later....so I get the early start on pots, and the rain and wind made it easy:  I run every day, but not Thursday.  I had some pie and got to work with Yogi sleeping at my side...

AND because it was early?  My usual radio station was playing all kinds of news, and I don't know about you, but I get TIRED of republicans, ISIS and other such outrages...and tuned into a station I don't often listen to.

The DJ was having a trivia contest, who was our county named after and what is the highest political office he ever held?

SO, clever me, I dial the station with the winning answer....and tell the jaded student DJ my story, which I THINK is fascinating, and win the pair of movie tickets :) All because of a string of unlikely occurances......


In other news, the wife is standing by as the kiln is unloaded and I had been fiddling with stamping flowers and she is like "OH! that green flower one, dang, we can't keep them all...." .....but YOU COULD.  You could buy it and love it and drink from it, at my etsy gallery NOW!

purple piggies....

What could be better than purple piggy banks, hmmmmmm?????

I had a fellow from Canada write yesterday, buying five banks from me...could I lower the shipping price?  Good lord I wish I could, shipping to Canada from the US costs a TON...and can take forever.
It isn't as bad as when I shipped a hundred dollar teaset to Ireland and shipping cost 101 dollars...but it is close...

when in doubt, add a purple accent...

Sure, you have seen me paint grapes on pieces lately, but with the inside of the pot purple? I am SOLD...I think it looks pretty good :)


(new pottery by Gary Rith)

the awful truth.....

I know.  Appalling.  My chunky cat Spike wanted to eat our pumpkin pie.....then he stole the dog's treat....

default activity: bake a pie....

I swear, every time I make a pumpkin pie it is easier than it has any right to be.  Even though I can't have dairy or wheat, my rice crust coconut milk pie is soooo gorgeous tasty and easy I wonder why I don't make them every day..... but I need to make an apple pie soon.  Sure, you have to chop.  But if I feel lazy, i can do a crumble top rather than bothering with the rolled out top, right?  Not much more work....

I have the most insanely busy week of my life ahead ...in EVERY way.

But I am well rested and will be well fed, so here we go :)

(below-decorating a pitcher...my, what messy hair I have....hard to believe...maybe I should comb it more than once a week)

is it childish to howl like your beagle...?

Or foolish or ridiculous????

I was in Cooperstown Saturday delivering boxes of pots to the Cooperstown Art Association holiday show for members.  I show in the retail gallery year round, but then in November and December they clear out the large exhibition space for a massive 2 month craft fair...and I don't even have to be there :) I wanted to get photos of this loveliness...and didn't remember to get any pictures until I had nearly driven out of town.  Therefore: selfie with WELCOME TO COOPERSTOWN.  Golly I love that place, such a gorgeous town, mountains, lake, people.

OK, so I got home?  And I don't think I have ever loved a creature as much as I love my beagle.   Upon my return, we shared a few minutes of howling together...really! It is VERY loud, but utterly comical..... (in case you didn't know, beagles are pretty much the loudest of all dogs, and when Penny is happy, she can make a racket....or even when she is upset, or anytime at all, but WHAT a welcome home it is :)

in order to knit you need a cat...

You will recall my ambition to knit a penguin (and others! dog, cat...?) tea cozy.  Tea cozy being a coat for a teapot.  Or a sweater, really, to keep it warm between pours.  OK, really, just a silly damn thing that looks cute...on a cute teapot.

I was an intrepid knitter in the 80s.  I made up patterns and then made them happen...like a sweater for a girlfriend that had multi-color leaping swordfish on it.  And the pillow on the couch here with the dog and me--that was the last sweater I ever worked on, but stopped and never restarted, as you know, and the wife turned what was completed into this awesome pillow.

But, you know, that sh!t was all nearly 25 years ago! You will recall 2 weeks ago I began knitting again.  It has not been going well.  I am, as ever, an impatient dude....I pulled out my first efforts at a scarf and wound up the yarn in a huff.  I kept forgetting what stitch I was doing and what came next, plus I was KNITTING ON THE POINTS, apparently, according to my instructor (my wife!) which made it damn hard to do anything.

OK, who cares about that would-be scarf.  I found a scarf on the sidewalk this week.  It had sat there since Halloween.  It is a very pretty handmade item in an unfortunate avocado-acid green color.  But the pattern is simple yet inspiring. Therefore  I am inspired to begin my scarf again. The dog and cat are on board....
in other news, you will notice that the wife's cardigan is coming along swimmingly....

elephant pitchers: its a trunk thing.....

(new elephant pitchers by Gary Rith)

OK, you have seen me make the cups....the sugar bowl, teapot and creamer too.  Not a huge leap to make an elephant pitcher, right?

As you see, I am trying 2 styles--one has a closed top/head, the other open.  I surprise myself:  I kinda prefer the open top.  You could easily stick flowers in there, too....

when pigs fly...in airplanes!

(new wall sculptures by Gary Rith)
You have seen me make the wee airplanes with the piggy....as i said yesterday with the hippo and elephant teaparty I am entering a show of wall pieces and made this super fancy one...the plane hangs under a sun and cloud....
you have also seen me make plenty of cow over the moon sculptures (for sale at my etsy gallery too! click here!) but THIS one is extra fancy.....
have an awesome day!

the power of tea....

Watching DOWNTON ABBEY lately, and they are always pouring tea.  Whatever disaster befalls the characters, or just to welcome a guest or friend, the English pull out the teapot. I love it.  In the cold months, I drink tea by the gallon.

I am involved in a large group exhibit of art pieces for the wall, otherwise known as paintings and  photos, and plan to sneak my entries of ceramic wall sculptures in.  I think it hilarious that elephant would be able to serve tea to hippo with his trunk, don't you agree?

sock hops....and lowwww to the ground....

Some of you may recall my old friend Carrie...not my oldest (going back in time, that is) but close to my oldest.  She was the first girl I ever wanted to ask out.  When we were 11, I had a crush on her in sixth grade and asked her to the fall sock hop.  We never went, but she never said NO either....

Decades pass, facebook is invented, and her sweet self JUST SO happens to live in the same town as us. (we went to school over toward Buffalo, about 3 hours from here).  She is just as groovy as ever and I am lucky to still know her.

ANYWAY, she needed a dachshund mug for her sister...I explained:
"sure, just like the beagle mugs I make everyday! Just longer and lower..." and she agrees
"yes, and a pointier nose too!".

All Soul's Day...

(new pottery with grapes by Gary Rith)

As a Quaker, we follow the idea that no space is any more sacred than any other, and that no day is more sacred than another.  Quakers even went so far as to name the days with numbers (Sunday became First Day, etc).  SO, we have no churches, just meeting houses, and we have no holidays, sort of, because of course we are from Christian roots living in a Christmas obsessed society.  Meaning, there may be quiet and simple words said on Christmas or Easter.  But that is mostly it. (I swear, though, that we KNOW how to have fun, dammit, and we don't wear stupid old black hats either...)

SO, mention was made in meeting yesterday of All Saint's Day, and I was a little vague on what that means.  And the wife was talking about All Soul's Day (which is TODAY)...all of which is preceded by All Hallow's Eve, which has something to do with candy and costumes.  An outsider trying to understand Christianity could become confused, right? BUT ANYWAY....

All Soul's Day celebrates the departed in one's life.  Somehow or other I have nearly reached 50 without ever been to a funeral or memorial service (and just a handful of weddings).  But not many people I know closely have passed away.  But my pets have.

OK, so here is the strange and wonderful dream I had last night, which is closely connected to All Soul's Day:  I dreamt it was an ordinary day, and realized that my first cat Sammy was with us in the house...or the ghost or spirit of, anyhow....and slowly, like the ghosts of baseball players in FIELD OF DREAMS, the spirits of all the pets I have had came to see us, filling the house.  Penny and Spike, as a dog and cat might, accepted this as normal and ordinary, but for us it was wonderful :)

a shot of bourbon and a banana....

The wife asks "did you get any Halloween candy for kids?"
Self "no"
she "but what if somebody comes to our door?"
self "nobody is coming to our door tonight" (we live on a state highway-NOT safe for kids to walk at night...)
she "but what if...?"
self "then I'll give them what we've got ... um, a shot of bourbon and, um, a banana!"

Just think what you missed, kids.....

IN other news, the wife and I hiked around Beebe Lake on the Cornell campus, taking advantage of 2015's LAST late afternoon (so damn DARK after the time change)...and the cat took over my sock drawer.

Just another day in paradise :)