home

We live in the prettiest little old village a couple of miles outside the small city of Ithaca. We have a bus stop, cemetary, park, fire dept, river, comunity center-PO and Baptist Church. And maybe 200-300 people.
I took these shots yesterday while walking to the PO, which has the big wreath on it. There is a river behind my house which I cross to get over there, and I took pics here looking both north and south plus looking across at my back yard and the back of my house, the purple blob seen in the distance.
In other news, I was having the worst dream last night--that I was in math class and just couldn't get the problem assigned and the class was noisy and distracting and I felt SO DUMB. Glad I don't have to go to school anymore. Math is hard!
And please click down to the puppy video below...





Not my puppy but you know I love beagles....which are the absolute noisiest dogs of all....

the END

The semester has ended at Cornell, the missus finished her class, I finished teaching my class, the pot shop sale is ended, and I can't guarentee shipping by the 24th, so today feels like the celebratory END :) We celebrated with a zillion other happy student and faculty types at the Chapterhouse as you might imagine...

5 degrees

At least that is 5 above. You should have seen the dogs go out this morning--they were QUICK!
Somebody was wandering the internets and looked at my webpage www.garyrith.com and asked if they could order a teapot pictured there. I had made 2 of these yellow teapots 2 years ago, and made another two yesterday, although between you and me, I can see the handles on the new ones are a little shorter....
anyway, here are a couple of pics of the making.






Gorillaz, Clint Eastwood and

Benji and Christi, BAMFs* of the week and the nicest people on earth

It was Benji's turn to be BAMF of the week but its Christi's birthday so they can share honors, esp. since they are both so awesome.
So, as you know, there was a little Gary style happy hour at 4:20 today at the Chapterhouse bar. At the last minute Christi decides to join us, and its her birthday! (pink scarf below) and Benji, of course, whom I had seen earlier today, was like "YEAH! I'm in!" and he shaved most of his beard and came along, with of course, Carol in the white coat and Norah in the, well, you know, sorta, um, fashionably low cut top, and Tommy with the huge smile and naturally my missus. Stevo was there secretly and nobody was supposed to know he was having a beer with us and then at the end Jeremy came along but no pics of those guys, sorry, and you know? We are doing it all again tomorrow :) Join us at 4:20!
AND YES, we got to talking about Iowa, as you might imagine, and Benji and Christi and Norah all know Kasey and Becky Jo's blogs and we are all like "ROAD TRIP TO DES MOINES".

hangin' at Benji's.....

You know my buddy Benji. Benji is a famous painter: landscapes, nudes, abstracts and more. Plus he has done some sculpture and ceramics and plans to do more, and I said I would lend a hand with the kiln setup.
It took about 3 minutes or less :)
Then we had to drink espresso and look at art and gossip about YOU. He lives in a huge loft in a former barn-chicken coop, which also has a blacksmith forge, furniture maker, recording studio and I don't know what all else, with at least 6-12 other artists and muscians, and its pretty darn cool out there. Its the other end of the county and was snowing LIKE CRAZY there. Not so much here at my house.
You can see Benji's little NINJA CAT Scotia the mouser....

do you, YOU feeeeeel like I do

(fantastic little teapot by Gary Rith---notice that although it is cleverly textured it is also diabolically squared off and I am not gonna tell ya how I did it)
Our room is in quite a lot of disarray with clothes and sheets and whatnot tossed all over and the missus woke up singing Frampton's rather good tune DO YOU, YOU, FEEEEEL LIKE I DO.....if you, ah, know more of the lyrics, well, you know, maybe you can understand my meaning.....

another day in paradise

Some people dream of a white Christmas. Maybe I dream of a Christmas in Key West....

melted chocolate...

Kinda funny, waaaaaay overslept today, to 6:30! There was some snow overnight too. Yawn.
OK, I will share this much of my triple chocolate cookie recipe: one of the chocolates you use is MELTED chocolate. Yep. You melt a boatload of chocolate to mix into the cookies.
I have said too much.....


(bowl by Gary Rith)

NO you cannot have the recipe

and the plate is mine too. People get a little crazy around my triple chocolate cookies.

nothing more fun than elephants eh?

Let's just say you're feeling a little grey, like the gloom and mist and clouds outside BUT you have to make some elephant teapots. Happiness and light!
Now I gotta make some triple chocolate cookies. Promised the missus. We have a little DEAL going on and NO I am NOT gonna tell you the details you filthy preverts....


(teapots by the man in glasses there)

thank God I'm not a teacher

A short story, yes? In 1987 I graduated with my nice little degree in art and it was the middle of the Reagan-Bush years and there were no jobs in the newspaper except special education. I didn't know what it was but I applied to and was accepted into a grad program in Chicago for special ed masters and teaching certificate. I finished the program and still didn't know anything about special ed or teaching or children. I didn't learn a thing, but there was an open pottery studio and that is how I met my wife, but you know that story.
ANYWAY, once I graduated from that useless program and had my teaching certifcation I had to find work. Chicago has, as you might imagine, the world's largest administration building where you go to be fingerprinted and fill out forms. And then, of course, never hear back or get hired. That was my experience, and I started working at a private school for blind children, which changed my life as you might imagine. (I later returned to college and got certification as a reading specialist and taught that at a private school in Massachusetts before retiring from teaching in 1997)
ANYWAY the whole point of this is to say that although my certifications have lapsed, I still have my degrees of course, and my dream last night was about that huge building in Chicago. It was like going through the gauntlet at an airport followed by a cattle call, none of which seemed to get anybody a job. What a nightmare: trying to get a teaching job....
THANK GOD I am a potter and dig this rather excellent bunch of tiny teapots...


(teapots by Gary Rith)

MORE corduroy....

(fantastic froggy teapot by Gary Rith)

dig this Felix card!

Look what Lynda sent me! FELIX!

Pearl Jam

There was the latest Pearl Jam song on the radio a minute ago and it sucks eggs. Like they've gone lite rock.
Dig their heyday here....

BAMF* teapot....

Stevo was over here a week or two ago and I was trying to tell him how difficult it is to make a CORDUROY sided teapot (like PANTS) and then I told him that I wanted to go one further with corduroy and make it on the diagonal. TRICKY alright. Here is a small teapot experiment, totally BAD AZZ, eh*?
Speaking of Stevo I have this special project to finish for him--dang its getting close to Christmas I better hurry and....
well, then there is the missus. The Missus is a Cornell writing student and let's just say that there is a final deadline this morning and she was up doing something, including using a hole punch, and I probably didn't go to sleep till after one. That is rather latish for me. And Penny beagle, per usual, wanted to get up earlyish.
STILL, should prove to be a totally busy day full of fun making stuff and making cookies and did I mention a gallery in Colorado wants to show my work? That could mean, since it is a ski resort town, a long WINTER retail sales season, which is usually dead for me......

(teapot by Gary Rith)

Emily cat, another elephant teapot

When Emily was small I theorized I could get her used to extreme cuddling. Upside down, like a sack of potatos, stuffed into my shirt, and 15 +years later you can see she is still quite relaxed about being treated like a toy :)
NO I have never dropped her, not even close! But she does have a very soft belly.

party at Nance's for Stevo.....

My buddy Steve Gallow is a photographer and today he opened an exhibit at Nance's gallery. Twas a gorgeous day and most exciting and I saw Steve and Nance and Wilson and Donald and Nicki and somebody else who lives on Spring street whose name I forgot but you know that is all the people I can handle at once and THEN I came home and Spike convinced me that I should take a cat nap with him....

awesome little teapot

(isn't it? tiny teapot by Gary Rith)
I saw a quote the other day, explaining why miniatures are more fun than full size items. This teapot works and holds about a cup of tea, but it is sort of meant to be a fun little cute item. In corduroy!
Dig Gemma Ray. Slightly odd video below, but I like her music soooo much..

and so the Cornell Pot Shop Sale ends....

SO, all week instructors like me and students and members have been selling pots in the Cornell art gallery. Good week. Great week! And a million of my buddies came over to gossip too, like Martha, Katie, Tom, Matt, Joan, and of course Norah and even my missus. I was due to stay until 4. Or maybe 6. I compromised and stayed till 5, and it was SNOWING so hard...but makes a nice pic with the Christmas tree in the big window (the sale was also in that building).
And that is me and Emily kitten which has nothing to do with anything.

moo ya'll...........

(cups by Gary Rith, for Anna) WHY YES, there are pink teats under there.....

hot DAWG

I was given some brown clay, and I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything, but I always use white clay. So I made a big puppy out of it. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! (does that saying work here?)
Gotta run soon, to the Cornell pottery sale, Willard Straight Art Gallery, stop in 1-6! Better finishe these cups and teapots here first though....

Penny does the Snoopy dance

Sort of. Down a couple of posts I put up Snoopy and all of them dancing on stage. My beagle can dance! Catch this brilliant movie I made!