"a mustache shows you mean business"

You will recall (how can you forget?) that I sported the monster 'stache for ten years, about '93-2003. I was a high school teacher in the mid-90s and the rotten little twits compared me to Ned Flanders when to ME it was all about Magnum PI. Anyway, makes an amusing pottery subject, eh wot?

In other news, fired a glaze load, before and after below.....


Speaking of famous mustaches....

one more....

(Godzilla wall piece: he comes ALIVE off the pages of a book and eats the bookworm!)

le photo shoot and then some....

I had asked if StevO the phtotographer could come over and snap some teapot shots for me. I am entering some teapots into a competition to be published in a book. StevO will politely tell you that I take good photos (but I DON'T! just wee little snapshots...) and I am really grateful to have his help. With like, the mega-camera and expertise and all that. At the same time, our pals Katie, Maggie and Maggie all came over to do some glazing....then we all got into the guac and such.....

of beasties and brussels sprouts......

I have never been one of those nutty people who are like "I love brussels sprouts! I want them for my birthday!" like the wife here does. Even though I am veg, i have my prejudices...I guess I grew up with brussels sprouts boiled into greyness....who would really want to eat these wet green things? Not me!
But I try to be nice and keep an open mind...and grow up. So I saw a simple recipe to roast brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar and gave it to the wife...not too bad :)
(of course, dump balsamic vinegar onto grass clippings or sand and it will taste yummy, right?)

You have seen me make monster mugs before, AND you have seen me make Godzilla things lately...well, I put them together. Niiiiiiiice, eh? See below....

You probably need a Godzilla or monster mug....for sale now at my etsy shoppe!

kitteh =^..^=

Pete was like "I need a large covered cat mug with a white face like my cat Powwow, think you can do it???" and its like
"let me see what I can do...." and I gave it a try indeed...and a couple other possibilities.... Have an awesome weekend!

1992....

Some of you will recall 1992 was a big year for us, what with getting married Christmas '92 and such...20 years! (almost) We had a lot of fun that year indeed. I just came across these 2 pics and thought I would post them...I was 26 and running my second Chicago marathon. I played football (little ole me!) and tennis in school but became a marathoner in my 20s. I was badly injured during the 1990 Chicago marathon, and although I finished, it tooks months of recovery to run it again in 92. The secret to my success was to not just run but also use a rowing machine and bike everywhere rather than the subway....sheesh! (I had a foghorn and pepper spray on my handlebars, and used them a couple of times)....PLUS in 92 a lady at mile 15 runs out and gives me a big hunk of apple cake....wow! talk about therapeutic. I had never eaten while running before, but it made sense and it worked :)

The wife and I ran many years together and with Buster (remember our dog who only just passed?) but around 2003 he had a leg injury and we started walking him for several weeks. I had always assumed my back trouble was due to pottery, but it went away the day we left running for walking, never to return....

forget the 99 percent, lets talk 99 CENTS

A wee haiku to celebrate

99 cent tee:

Jake on a bike, with the tags!

EBAY ADDICTION.

This pic totally shows everything I was talking about Wednesday: the blue button down, the tee shirt collection, the bikes, remember all that? And argyles are secret code for "I may look nerdy but chicks dig that bookish look...."

Anyway, I never bought clothing on ebay until this past week. The story goes a little like this: the wife is out for the evening and I receive an email from our dusty and ignored shared ebay account "congratulations, you are the winning bidder on a silk skirt!" and I was like HOLY CATS I didn't bid on a skirt!!!! WE HAVE BEEN HACKED and people are using our account to buys skirts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I spent an hour on the phone with ebay, who were NOT helpful. The seller was, and canceled the transaction. Ebay just said change every password you can think of, but you are stuck with this skirt. The seller canceled and understood. It all seemed weird...until the wife got home....

and we realized twas SHE who had bid. Oi vey....what a headache.....anyway, the wife and I were both embarrassed, and she got a friend to successfully bid on the skirt. Phew!

OK, but it got me thinking...and shopping! OI VEY indeed! I figured with this tee auction "99 cents? worth trying!!!" and there have been a couple of other items, YESSSSssss..... I am an odd size, I guess, and there is not much competition. This tee is a boys' shirt and I knew it would fit because I wear Life is Good boys clothing. I am, um, expecting a fleece jacket today in the mail from San Francisco, and um, will admit that there were boots last week (brand new with tags!) and, well, um, there is a pair of jeans I am watching now......

I keep crowing "99 CENTS!!!!!" and the wife pops my wee bubble with (correctly) "plus 5 shipping" and its like, "well, yeah......"

Dig this outstanding blue teapot with cats below, mmm mmmm good!

(cat teapot by Gary Rith)

one fact and one dream: little old man edition, we need YOU to check in!

Please go to comments and add your FACT and your DREAM! We wanna hear!

But first, ME. Fact: I REALLY enjoy sculpting some things, and I dream of doing MORE.

I was thinking about this last night "what if I made a bear...what would a bear be eating? Goldilocks???" but that didn't seem like the direction I wanted to consider right then so then I started thinking "3 bears sitting around with their bowls? That would be cute" and it would, but then I was thinking about a book I read recently, where a detective remarks upon the little old lady's COLLECTION OF LITTLE FIGURINES and then I was biking past a neighbor's yesterday, and he is elderly, and his windows are filled with LITTLE FIGURINES and I am like

"good golly, what is more USELESS THAN A LITTLE FIGURINE????". Like the Godzilla item I posted yesterday below, where he is holding a teapot and cup. Useless! Cute, but just a dust catcher.....

SO, my thinking went, if you are making the figures, for the sake of your pride and dignity, KEEP THEM FUNCTIONAL by attaching them to teapot lids or BIG BOWLS. Like the header.

I am satisfied with that, thanks for listening :)

Speaking of which, SHARK STUFF! Gosh these look good....

"those are some mighty pale legs"

OK, so like, Tuesday evening? I am reading one of Janet Evanovich's latest Stephanie Plum novels...like, where am I, maybe 17 or whatever, totally amusing books. Stephanie is a bounty hunter whose boyfriend Morelli is a smokin' hawt cop. Stephanie has other things going on though, and i suggest you read some of the books to find out. ANYWAY, I am reading it last night and Morelli the cop is wearing a blue button down shirt, etc, etc, and Stephanie, of course, talks about how smokin' hawt he is, better with age and all that, just like ME I am sure...and I tell all this to the wife. YOU KNOW I love the blue button downs...but I rarely wear them. I mean, my tee-shirt collection DESERVES TO BE SEEN indeed, what with Felix the cat, Mickey Mouse, Godzilla and Snoopy (ETC!), there is hardly time to wear a blue button down.

Anyway, the wife is like

"wear the blue button down"

Yeah, I wore one today, and although cold early, it got SO HAWT this afternoon that I started thinking

"You are self-employed and the wife gave you new shorts for Christmas...take them BOTH for a spring test drive!!!! The hell with work this afternoon......"

And Lauren across the street is out walking and we chat and we agree "those are some mighty pale looking legs down there...."

devilish....

Ever hear the expression "don't use sarcasm, sarcasm is ugly" ? The wife says that all the time, when she is being sarcastic, I was wondering where that quote comes from, GONE WITH THE WIND or maybe the GOLDEN GIRLS...but she tells me it was her home ec teacher. I find sarcasm REFRESHING! FUN and funny! *
Ditto dark humor. Why is this monster having tea out of a teapot and cup that looks like a pair of heads???? With MUSTACHES?
Am I making fun of somebody???????


(sculpture by Gary Rith)
*when not directed at me, of course!

speaking of elephants....

(elephant teaset by Gary Rith...a special order..indeed!)

Dumbo and Babar....

YOU can go to comments and tell ALL OF US what your favorite Disney movie is!

Either DUMBO or PINNOCHIO was the first movie I ever saw at a cinema when I was little, at least, that I can remember. I love the message in DUMBO, that he is made fun of and awkward and troubled but manages to turn his "weakness" into an amazing talent. I always identified with that as an artist, because people thinks artists are weird misfits (well, we are, actually, but shoot, who needs bullying in school by future meth heads????????). I loved Gepetto in PINNOCHIO, he was the guy who made toys! That came alive!!!!! I wanted to BE Gepetto and make the toys indeed (and I do!).

I looooove classic Disney movies, those two plus LADY AND THE TRAMP and more recently LILO AND STITCH which is hilarious, beautiful and rebellious, and, of course, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. My wife the beauty got a beast alright (LUCKY ME! she is so nice) and one of our first outings was to see a matinee of that 20+ years ago. When we saw it we were not a couple, not even close, but I wanted us to be......it took a couple more months :) Last week I was out and about and saw the soundtrack for 2 bucks and snapped it up for her birthday.

Anyway, Babar the elephant in the book was a big favorite growing up and DUMBO the movie, both totally inspiring....


Speaking of Dumbo, you may need this elephant teapot, hmmm? On sale now at my etsy gallery!

one fact and one dream, mega-beagle edition: we need YOU..plus fajitas....

Please go to comments and add your fact and your dream, whatever quickly comes to mind...or whatever has been on your mind for days, sure!

BEAGLE edition, one fact and one dream: Penny is like "the fact of the matter is, Gary always drops stuff on the floor when he cooks because he is a really SLOPPY chef...and a slob in general" and then Penny adds "I dream of the day I figure out how to use a ladder and open the fridge, thereby taking control of my own destiny in the kitchen..."

Gary edition: One fact: holy cats, ebay can be like slot machines or horse races or winning at poker! And I dream that the, um, 2 wee auctions I just won turn up items that seem as awesome in person as they do in the pics.....

OK, now your turn!

Let's share a wonderful wonderful recipe. The wife has this old magazine cutout I had never seen and I am like "what's this then??? ZUCCINI FAJITAS???" and my non-vegetarian friends are like "BARF! ZUCCINI FAJITA?" and the wife is like "this recipe probably comes from one of those months when all your friends are dumping zuccinis on you and you put them into EVERYTHING". Like August.

Anyway, it is flippin' awesome. Especially the way we did it:

Step one: roast 2 sliced sweet potatoes mixed with a spoonful of oil and black pepper half an hour at 400. I added this bit. the recipe needed something like this, and it was WORTH IT!

Step, the rest: 4 big fajitas: dice a bell pepper, onion, 3 cloves garlic, small-medium zuccini and saute several minutes on medium-ish
-in a small bowl, stir sour cream, like 1/2 cup more or less (I use non-dairy sour cream) with some wicked hot salsa, about the same amount as sour cream
--for the last couple minutes with the veggies, turn to high and get them nice and seared and crispy, don't let it burn, mix stuff around a lot
--pull out potato and put onto tortillas, then veggies, then sauce, then roll it up and eat, HOLY CATS the tastiest thing EVER

in an octopuss's garden....

You will recall that Katie and Maggie asked me to make something for their fish tank. I made a castle with a shark and starfish, guessing the size...and it works GREAT. The castle moved in last night......




In other news, drove up the lake to deliver fresh pots to Aurora Art and Design gallery, oh gosh! They were so refreshingly in need of my new pots. I love arriving at a gallery and my shelves are empty :)

Buster, one more time...

You will remember that our old dog Buster passed away in February, aged about 13. He had a great life up to his last day for sure, an absolute sweet dog. I also told you that he was the inspiration in 1999 to start putting dogs (and later other animals) onto pots, because of the photo below showing him in his playpen--why not make a dog hanging over the edge of a bowl or cup etc? I made this teaset this week in memory of Buster.

(teaset by Gary Rith, Buster as a puppy and last month)

You probably need a few nice bowls and such, like a new pig bowl or elephant bowl or SHARK bowl, for sale now, at my online gallery.....

Q: What is a shark's favorite kinda sandwich????

(teapot by Gary Rith) Is this the best teapot I have ever made in my life???????????????? Maybe it is :) I like it! Have a great weekend!

A: peanut butter and jellyfish!

every woman's dream...?

Every woman's dream is CHOCOLATE, and as some of you may know, there has been a birthday here in this household this week. So, me and the oven have gone into high gear, because the birthday gal asked for my TRIPLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES (why stop at single...or double...?). I made her family's plum torte recipe and put a candle on there too. I could tell you these recipes, but then I'd have to kill you.....

The wife tells me this morning, and she will kill ME for saying this in public but I bet she does not read this until Friday evening:

--Last night we are all awakened...dog, cat, husband, wife, because the wife is screaming out in her sleep. A nightmare! At breakfast just now she tells me

"I was dreaming we were sitting at a table and I wanted to propose marriage to you but I couldn't I just couldn't, because it was February 29th! So I was screaming...."

Better to dream of chocolate.....