loving Emily, part 2!

I gave the links in yesterday's blog post (click here!), but just to catch you up:  Saturday we drove 540 miles round trip in 14 hours to tour the Emily Dickinson Home and Museum in Amherst, Mass, the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, Mass and came home via the beautiful Deerfield River and Mohawk Trail State Forest in Mass.

If you are a lifelong admirer of Emily Dickinson's poetry and genius, it was SOMETHING to be in her room, looking out her window and even seeing her kitchen implements.  The tour was superb.
She was from a prominent family and never married or moved.   She was very well educated and spent her life living with her family, gardening, reading, baking, playing with niece and nephew, and WRITING.  Letters and poems in the thousands, most discovered after her death, only a few published in her lifetime.  Considering most poetry of the time was rhyming and perhaps sentimental, she could write brilliantly about anything ordinary and used clever forms and the occaisional unconventional rhyming scheme.  A very modern poet, 100 years before her time, still fresh.

I had never been to the bridge of flowers and good GOLLY Saturday was the gorgeous day to be there, and later we stopped in the Mohawk Trail State forest....a superb day!  Like I say, read yesterday's post for more pics and info and links :)

Emily's garden.


Bridge of flowers:  in 1929 a defunct railroad bridge was taken over by the town and turned into an amazing flower garden!


I always like to stop in the Mohawk Trail Forest, thousands of acres I havn't seen yet...

LOVING EMILY: a road trip, part one....

(Dickinson St, across the street from Emily Dickinson's house! Amherst, Mass...)

270 miles each way, about 4.5-5 hours drive times two....where did we go for the DAY?
We told friends we were going to the Emily Dickinson home and museum in Amherst, Mass and they said "oh, you're staying a couple of days?".
Nope, up before dawn and on the road at 6, in the museum and buying tickets for the 11 o'clock tour just before 11....it was AWESOME and I'll tell you more about it Monday (you drive for ten hours and it is not like you are doing anything, but golly you get TIRED and your body aches, doesn't it?).

We took the slow road home, the verrrrry slow road, through the beautiful Berkshires of Western Mass. stopping at the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls (on maybe the MOST perfect day of the year to do so) and also at an old favorite, the Mohawk Trail State Forest....

a CUPFUL of confessions...

(let's call these a FIRST draft--I am trying out 2 different cup competitions this summer, and this was my first idea, then I made a second set, and now I think version 3.0, fired next week, will be IT-new cups by Gary Rith)

I am turning off comment checker so you can roll here.  Confess something if you like! Share it in the comments!!!! GO FOR IT!  We want the tawdry, the pathetic, the cringe-inducing TRUTH.
I am on the road and back here Sunday, so need YOU to take over!

Confession:  I was just dreaming that I was with an old girlfriend....LONG ago, and showing her around the school where I taught in the 90s.  This GF was a very difficult personality and this was also a very difficult job...among other things, I coached cross country and track and I explained how grueling our training was (I was the assistant, tasked with the slow pokes of the runners THANK GOODNESS). My dream finished with me hollering at the highschoolers in the library study period, who were throwing things all over, including at me.... it was refreshing to wake up and find myself NOT with that GF or that job....

gluten-free shortbread!

When you have celiac disease or somesuch problem and your favorites are no longer available at the drop of a hat, you mourn....but then you get busy baking and experimenting, right?

I always loved shortbread, which was a double nono for me, who also has the dairy allergy with the wheat... but we live in great times!

Shortbread is dead simple, just a butter cookie (although I see no reason NOT to get chocolate on there somewhere...).  I famously wooed the wife 20+ years ago with a "wanna come up and see my chocolate dipped pistachio shortbread?".  I not only let her look, I let her eat.....

Can't remember where I came across this recipe, but here tis!


gluten-free shortbread recipe

In a large bowl stir together one cup plus 2 TBS all purpose gluten-free flour, 1/2 teas xanthan gum, 1/4 cup arrowroot starch, 3/8 cup sugar, dash of salt.
Mix into the dry 8 TBS softened margerine or butter first with a spoon, then use your hands to knead and make it perfect.  Form it into a log about 6 inches long and refrigerate 10-20 minutes.
Preheat to 375
Slice dough into about 15 cookies and lay on cookie sheet
Bake about 8 minutes, until they are golden and starting to brown at the edges. Pull out and this is when I put a chocolate chunk on each, as pictured.
Let cool on baking sheet several minutes then move to wire rack.

please don't eat the sculpture!

NO, Yogi eats paper, it is MY DOG who eats clay...that's why Yogi gets to hang around the studio while I work....and lookit that, me, sculpting a dog yesterday....

IN OTHER news, you will remember Puffy, another pet I babysit? Playing a drama queen here....
have an awesome Wednesday!

looking for sunshine...

(new vases by gary Rith)

OK, sure, enough of this bachelor stuff:  the wife returns from travels today, not a minute too late indeed.  The highlight of Monday was going to the barber...same location, different barber THANK GOODNESS.  Joel seems a lot better than Carol, who is very aggressive in going after my curls, so that I don't need to go back for a LONG time...which I s'pose saves me money in the long term, but is a little too Marine Corps for me....

Golly we have had RAIN.  It was getting dusty out there, but whoa! I think our river is flooding there has been so much rain in 12 hours....

I talked about these stamp pressed flower vases last week and mixing white glazes..GREAT suggestion.  I havn't used a white glaze in a very long time, and it inspired me to tinker with ANOTHER spring green celadon which OH MY turned out schweet......

Have a terrific and awesome Tuesday!

I am NOT suffering....

You know the wife is on the road for a few days.  I am getting things done, quite busy in this awesome weather....
I was wandering the internet the other day wondering "is there is a good gluten-free YEAST-free pizza crust out there?" and there IS indeed (click here).  I was so pleased, some stirring and chopping and half an hour later HUZZAH! Tasty pizza...wicked tasty...the only change I made to her recipe (click here) was to prebake for 12 minutes, add toppings, then back in for another 18 minutes. ****

In other news, speaking of dogs on mugs....have an awesome Monday!


(new pottery by Gary Rith)

****
no yeast gluten-free pizza--recipe (click here) with my changes

Ingredients:

1 Cup gluten free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all-purpose flour)

1/4 Cup potato flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free potato flour)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder (I used Bob’s Red Mill aluminum free baking powder)

1 large egg

1/2 Cup milk (I used soymilk and it was fine)

1/8 Cup olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a pizza pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, add all of the dry ingredients and whisk lightly until well combined.

In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together egg, milk, and oil.  Take note of how much liquid there is.  You need one cup of total liquid so if you need more, add extra milk.  Slowly add the liquid into the dry ingredients.  Stir rapidly with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Place dough into pan with some olive oil poured on top.  Work gently with hands to spread evenly on bottom of the pan.  (10-12 inches wide, depending on how thick you like your crust) Bake 12 minutes, remove and top with desired toppings.  Place on top rack of oven and bake until dough is crisp and golden and cheese is melted, about 18 minutes more, a total baking time about 30 minutes.

I used spinach, broccoli, red pepper, Helen's Kitchen carnitas (vegan spicy "meat") and soy cheese.

Penny goes down to the farm....

You will recall my parents have a farm an hour from our place.  It was a rare Saturday afternoon for me:  I had been to the dump, various other errands and meetings and had NO pressing things to do, and so, the beagle and I decided to play hookey.  It was a cold and rainy morning but the weather report was good, so off we went...in hotter weather I would have gone swimming.

They don't farm anything.  Well, most of the farm is woods and some timber was farmed 10-12 years ago and there is a 35 acre hayfield which another farmer cuts for his cows, and my dad has a barn he uses as a painting studio. In the past their farm consisted of 3 farms which were combined.  There had been cows, an apple orchard and 40 years ago a Christmas tree farm was planted.  What remains is the old orchard which the little woodland animals enjoy and we pick from too, for baking, the Christmas trees became an immense pine forest. There is also a brook, the Otselic River and a big pond full of trout and bass.  It is an excellent pond for swimming.

Anyway, have an awesome Sunday yourself!

teapots, hand-rolled smokes and open heart surgery....

(new teapot and cups by Gary Rith)
You will recall this teapot, made last week and shown before firing....I was walking the dog and got a very clear idea for a certain handle I had not made before and HUZZAH! Flippin' thing looks PERFECT.  This is why we get out of bed in the morning, to make things like this.... the 2 cups aren't really needed, but keep him company, right?

SO YES, the wife has been gone a couple of days, and I finished the  last of the icky jobs I put off until she is gone, mainly mixing glaze in the dungeon and the yearly cleaning of the garage. It didn't need "cleaning", like scrubbing with bleach,  because I don't plan to sleep out there, but a lot of stuff needs to go to the dump, and even more needed to be organized.  Like the snow tires, dumped in front of the entry, so that you could NOT  enter the garage without tripping over them. Sent those to the back of the garage WE WILL NOT BE NEEDING THEM for some time, thank you.....

And just to correct any misconceptions:  the wife and I are very close, but I don't travel :)  She is visiting various sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins and I say "be off with you, have a great time!!!"

OK, let's be flaky here:  I SWEAR I am psychic sometimes.  My dreams! I'll tell you about 2 of my dreams last night, so real I swear I was visiting somebody else's brain:  in one I was about to undergo open-heart surgery (and did not mind waking up from THAT one) and then a longer dream that I was part of a moving crew, carrying furniture and all, and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes with the guys... (ironic, some people use smokes they roll with their own papers and tobacco to save money, which of course is even MORE toxic...and there was me, smoking them too....) The dreams are so vivid and real that I am surprised to wake up and be me.

Have a great weekend!

BACHELOR for a day...

Well, a few days.
The wife is on the road, visiting various sisters, cousins, mothers and aunts.
You will remember this yearly trip of hers, when me, the cat and dog are LEFT ALONE to watch CADDYSHACK ...again....maybe DUMBO too.... and do all the little jobs around the house I never get to... (see yesterday's post about productivity)...like, I think, today cleaning the garage is on the list.  That's what I always do around June 1 when the wife hits the road....

I wish I could say I was planning something more exotic than CADDYSHACK and cleaning... well, I DID dream I was in an acting class and liked it and decided to become an actor HOW ABOUT THAT...

OK, the day...drive the wife to the airport.  It is close enough we can sometimes hear and see the wee little planes coming and going.  It is NOT a nuisance because this is a tiny city and airport with only a few departures a day...

It occurred to me that I was not not very gentlemanly or romantic:  rather than hopping out, hugging and kissing and carrying bags, I sat in the car at the curb thinking of today's blog post and getting pics of the wife schlepping her own bags while getting a hurried g'bye from me....




Then I walked Kiko, Nook and Soupy.....

Then back home to my own dog and cat....the dog humps the cat when she wants her dinner, not sure why she thinks that will get her food....

Fired the kiln the day before, full of cooling GOODIES!


I am entering a cup competition this summer and need 5 entries.  Of course, I make zillions of cups a day, but this idea popped into my head when I first started thinking about it....



Speaking, again, of productivity and exhaustion, I ended the day finally planting our peppers, pumpkins and tomatoes in my horse trough garden.  I am a famously BAD gardener of everything but rocks, but still, I try.... we have purple tomatoes and mini-pumpkins coming! Well, at least in theory we do....

The planting moon was earlier this week.  We had frost not long ago and were wearing heavy coats and gloves just a couple of days ago...ENOUGH OF THAT cold sh!t, right?

My horse trough theory is that it minimizes the chance of slugs or blight...plus then I don't have to go out where all the ticks and bugs might bite me.  I know,  I am NOT much of a gardener or naturalist...
have a great Friday!

productivity....

I always feel like I could be more productive...which is probably why I AM productive...sometimes I am pushing myself along and then at the exhausted end of day I add it up and say "oh, that is pretty good..." and fall ASLEEP.
To make a comparison:  you feel like you DID something if you shovel the snow off the driveway and it is clear or make a stack of pancakes.  You can see it:  clear driveway! All those pancakes!!!! (wait, bad example, because if it still snowing the driveway looks bad again, and if you eat the pancakes....)

Well, anyway, the nice thing about pottery is if you make a bunch, you can see your accomplishments stacked up in front of you.

SO, here are a few recent pots and have an awesome Thursday!

a whole zoo in ONE mug....

Well, OK, a whole zoo ON a mug.

a thought or 2....

1) Remember that old bumper sticker "Shoot your TV"? I don't really care about ANY Jenner or Kadashian--America, are they REALLY that interesting?
 2) Speaking of which, we saw the movie MONUMENTS MEN last night with Clooney and Damon, et al, and it is superb and fantastic. What else would you expect.....
3)  I was thinking of mixing up some white glaze yesterday, and I DID (thanks for suggesting it, readers, for pots with impressed flowers!) and found my notes for a glaze I used 20 years ago...TWENTY!  I was like "DANG this takes me back, and I am gonna use it and its variations SOON as I get some fresh buckets...".
It is useful sometimes to packrat a lot of crap around thinking "I might need this someday".
4)  I have more to tell Wednesday...go to comments YOURSELF and give us a thought or 2...


 
(new pitcher by Gary Rith)

favorite day of the year: something old and something new....

(new teapot by Gary Rith)

SO I am out walking around and start constructing this teapot in my mind... I wanted a certain shape and type of handle...and was pleased when my imaginings came to life. It has 2 little teacup friends too....gonna glaze it medium blue this week...

IN other news, YES, June first is my favorite day of the year.  Why not? May and September are pretty great for us, but June-August is 3 months of FINE weather guarenteed AWESOME! Yesterday was a fitting end to May:  it was so cold, forties, the wife had her winter coat on when we went out...enough of that crap, give us some summer!

Finally, if you had a beagle like this you would sculpt her too, right?  The other day I was moving a flower pot with a black lab pot sticker sculpture in that I made about 20 years ago....(see below) modeled after our lab Jack--it also happens to be just about the VERY FIRST sculpture I ever made of anything.  Hadn't made any little things like that for flowers pots in a very long time...so I looked at my beagle and....