cherry blossom hunting….

Like I was saying yesterday:  we went to Rochester to visit some cherry blossoms.  Rochester is less than 2 hours north of here, BUT it is on Lake Ontario which a) makes it a lot snowier than here (which says A LOT) and b) it is warmer than here.  The lake moderates things a tiny bit.  So whereas we don't have many cherry trees, there are many around Lake Ontario.  It is also true that they are further into spring than us.  We have hardly any flowers yet, and they have a zillion…they call Rochester the Flower City! (it was the Flour City once upon a time…they rebranded ;).

Anyway, if it was that pretty, YOU would go there too…these pics taken around the Olmstead designed Highland Park.

cherry blossoms...

(like I said yesterday--I like flowers!)
Not many cherry trees grow around us, too cold, but there are are a lot of apple blossoms.  We went to Rochester yesterday where there were many cherry trees on a pretty day and here is one of the photos I took of cherry blossoms at a conservatory…we were at lunch and this photographer dude with a big bag and a lens longer than your leg (no joke!) was taking pics of the blossoms with the sky as a backdrop…I ran over and did the same….STUNNING.

things I like

I was writing down 20 things I like yesterday…it is easy, at first, but you get into the teens and you have already written "I like to eat" and "I like to cook" and you have to think a little harder, maybe, to get to 20.  That was when I realized I like flowers.  A lot.  You know I am growing some, and finally our snow has cleared and there are flowers popping up…the BEST time of year!
Good on pots, too….have a great Saturday!

Seinfeld in gorilla shoes and a subtle dragon

I am so sad about Prince.  I loooooove Prince.  That Album PURPLE RAIN, for which he won an Oscar, is one of my 3 all-time favorites.

You are probably wondering what I was dreaming, right?  I can't remember other details, but Seinfeld was doing a comedy set wearing slippers that looked like little gorillas.  I have never seen such a thing, but hey, you never know, right?

In other news, this is what I was fiddling with Thursday.  The dragon cup was a last second idea…worked out well……

apples for Mick….

I don't know why I dreamt this, but I was dreaming that Mick jagger had come with the Stones to my school cafe and I was asked to bring him a basket of apples, which he politely declined.  He had a big, wonderful and gracious smile, though….I slept rather well and must admit I am still sleepy, but will leave you with these newly fired bowls I made….have a great Thursday!

21…..22 pounds…..

Bigger than the beagle….

primary election day...

When we lived in New Hampshire we, and everybody else in the state, got a lot of attention in the primaries every four years.  NY is at the center of the process today and we will walk to the rural fire house over past the playground to vote, which is wonderful.  I don't know why every single American who can breathe does not relish voting, our participation rates should be 99.9 percent.
  I have no intention of discussing my choice with you, but lets just say I support the same person in the primary I did 8 years ago…

Some new mugs, awesome, eh?  Have a great Tuesday!

well, those turned out pretty well….

The wife returns from her travels today.  4-5 days gone, have I accomplished ENOUGH?  Maybe.
Yesterday I didn't go anywhere or do anything exciting except mix glazes.  My least favorite of all pottery tasks (although on SUCH A PRETTY DAY being outside is welcome).  It is dirty and dusty, and I mix them in our basement dungeon, and clean up in the adjacent back yard.  THAT is why I do not mix them half the year, winter!  You may have guessed if you have been watching that I had mixed a TON of a certain favored light green last November….

It is dark and dirty in the basement, as I say, and the very last thing I did was dump 5 ounces of a colorant in a glaze mix.  It looked insanely bright, like the glaze has never before appeared, so I rechecked the recipe…which calls for .5 ounces.  HOLY CATS that is a HUGE difference.  I remember school teachers telling us to write numbers under one as 0.5, because then you will always notice the decimal point, DUH! DuhduhduhDUH.  Anyway, it is also amusing, potentially, maybe I am about to test and discover some wicked cool new glaze???????????? The results will be out of the kiln in a couple of days...

New vases from the kiln firing a day ago, HOT STUFF right?

Have a great Monday!

yearly gardening post...

You all know me, you have been reading my posts for ten years! You will remember that despite my BLACK thumb I plant tomatoes every year….they may start out OK, but they are doomed.  I average 3 tomatoes a season…when you take 5 from one year, 6 another, average that with 0 or 3…yes, all those plants, virtually no tomatoes… "BUT maybe this year! " says I.  Every single year… my clever idea last year was to notice that despite blight and tomato death throughout my neighborhood, my neighbors across the street have not only grown the only tomatoes in this area, last year they didn't plant a thing…and still got tomatoes! There is something tough and resilient about their cherry tomato plants which had reseeded themselves…covered with THOUSANDS of little tomatoes.

I am not totally stupid, you know….so I took some of those little tomatoes and dried and saved the seeds…fingers CROSSED!
I have great success with certain sunflowers and cosmos, and they produce so many seeds I save a bunch for my flower pots each year.  I have only planted a few tomato plants this year, but hundreds of flower seeds and some basil.  And I will try lavender in the big green pots… I don't grow lavender very easily, but I love it and will TRY.

One second after clicking this pic the dog tried to eat all the dirt in one of the little pots…my plant food is this stinky ground up fish stuff….just what beagles love….

more and more roses...

I have tried this rose glaze combo now with 2 different greens, one lighter, one darker, both look pretty good.
The wife is still out of town.  Yesterday I got work done then cleaned the garage, cut the grass, cleaned the house--which sounds like a LOT, but a)  nobody says I did a GOOD job on those tasks ;) and b) I had hoped to do more but got caught up in some GREAT reading:  Elizabeth Gilbert's THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS.  Oh my, a good book is such a good friend…..
have a great Saturday!

the door and the dog….

A friend asked for a door plaque "do what you want!" and I did, it turned out super nice, didn't it?  They are apartment E. I also am adding my door plaque to the header today, the POT AND PIG.  I took on the pig as a symbol because my first success in selling pots, back in the 80s, was piggy banks, and then I tried putting them on mugs, in mugs, etcetcetc…and we all know where THAT has led…

In other news, the wife is on the road for a couple of days, but the weather is FINE and I do believe the dog and I might go to the dog park every day….

do you really drink that much tea?????

I drink a LOT of tea indeed.  But love teapots all the more.  Some people make giant pots, some people make fancy pots, I like to make teapots.
Dusty rose and celadon glazes here make for a spring-y look, right?  Have an awesome Thursday!

smoking dragon….

I made a couple more dragons, fired them, then wanted to see them in action and so grabbed a little incense…wicked cool, eh?

a boatload of bowls….

You know writers and the fear of the blank page? Potters, if they have no inspiration, can always just make bowls. Everybody needs bowls, right? Some new bowls of mine, out of the kiln….

more more more ROSES….

Yesterday a friend comments "I am glad to see you still make pigs, not just roses!".  Sure, I don't give up on good ideas when new ideas come along…..but here are some more roses :)  Happy Monday!

SNOW: not just for winter anymore...

I am hopeful that the little animals and flowers are not suffering too much 'cause GOSH it is still so cold and snowy here….and will be cold all week.  Which will make the first 2 weeks of April the coldest of our crazy winter that WASN'T. Insane…

In other news, PIGGY MUGS!

many mugs….

Some new mugs…some in styles I have made many times before, and some entirely NEW!

Have a great weekend!   

like a sous chef...

Sous chef is the second chef, or asst. chef, right?  I was dreaming just now that I was making some dish to impress a couple of people opening a new restaurant…it was a dish like the broccoli bites I posted a couple of days ago.  It went down very well, I got the position…it was funny, then, because the restaurant was to be in a traditional Boston (or was it Chicago?) neighborhood, some Italian-Americans cornered me to ask about the new restaurant opening…we should make sure we serve things people in the neighborhood would like…ah, urban pioneering….

pardon the selfie….

I know.  Me and the dog, repeatedly!  She is such a clown, I just wanted to get a shot of self with sleeping beagle and then she woke up….

I had to collect a urine sample from my dog and she didn't even notice….

First thing first, right?  I saw somewhere something about making broccoli bites…and OH GOODNESS there are a million different ways to make them, but I used this recipe (click!) and they were easy and wicked good! You can see I had Penny to help…the idea is:  chopped broccoli, shredded carrot, spice, egg and cheese to hold it together, how can you go wrong?

In other news, as you see below, I continue trying out the pots with flowers idea…this squared bowl turned out rather well--the light green and rose colored glaze are a wonderful combo, surprise!

And finally?  I am at the vet the other day with the beagle and the vet wants a urine sample.  I had dutifully trekked with her out into the snow to get the baggie full of poo (and snow) for THAT test, but they really wanted pee.  How in hell do you do that???? She is a very small dog and she squats all the way down to the ground?  And it is 15 degrees and snowy out there!
WELL, they told me go out with her first thing and hold something like an aluminum pie plate under her when she starts to pee….so me, my parka and boots and little dish follow her into the yard just now, and she didn't even notice or care, after I AGONISED over this all night and lost sleep….I mean, I don't want to do it every day, but it was pretty easy….imagine trying to do that with a cat….

5 degrees and why you need a DOG

I was reading something last night, about pets and your bed.  Polls show almost half of pet owners sleep with their dog or cat, one reason being because they are WARM.

It is five degrees outside.  I don't know if it is a record, but it is cold enough, and there is a ton of snow out there…well, several inches.  The worst winter weather of our whole season, lasting for another week, perhaps.  You need a little beagle teddy bear under the covers in these circumstances….

New cookie jar by me, featuring that beagle….have a great Tuesday!

Monster Monday….

A week or so ago I showed myself making a couple of dragon candle holders…DANG they were popular, both sold before they were even fired.  They turned out super cute, hmm?

In other news:

SNOW! We had several inches yesterday and we are getting more right now.  GAH!  Who needs it???

Finally:  I dreamt I was hired to captain a tugboat pushing a barge loaded with something somewhere…I had no idea how to do any of this but figured once I was behind the wheel I would figure it out.  I had another dream, too, where I went to a live Halestorm concert…. pretty active night :)

what is that cold white crap blowing all over the place????

 It was a super-mild winter and spring so far. BUT.
Ho boy, our weather report but was bad, but you never get the full effect until you are standing out in the dark with a small beagle in high winds, temps in the 20s and snow covering your boots….our ghastly weather report is as below. Nice vase up top, though, right? Have a great Sunday!

Extended Forecast for

Ithaca NY

Click here for hazard details and duration

Wind Advisory

Winter Weather Advisory

• NOW: Multiple
  hazards in effect

  

  Click HERE for Details
• Overnight

  

  Snow and
  Areas Blowing
  Snow

  Low: 24 °F
• Sunday

  

  Snow Likely
  and Areas
  Blowing Snow

  High: 29 °F
• Sunday
  Night

  

  Chance Snow
  then Snow

  Low: 27 °F
• Monday

  

  Snow then
  Snow Likely

  High: 34 °F
• Monday
  Night

  

  Mostly Cloudy

  Low: 14 °F

where this all might be going….

SO, flowers.  I have been fiddling with flowers on pots for several months as you know, the last week or 2 by forming the flower.  I really like the idea of the slash on the pot becoming the stalk of the flower, and this week I am trying a new glaze I mad win the laboratory.  I am calling it "dusty pink rose" and I love it…looks especially fine with green, doesn't it?

Evan, gone….

I have never been to a funeral or memorial service.

How did that happen?  Is it my shy and solitary nature?  Or just nobody I know has died?  Maybe a little of both.

A few weeks ago it started bouncing around FB like crazy:  Evan died?

A quick check with another school friend who had moved to LA with Evan and a check of the news confirmed that he had passed away, not even 50, on top of a California mountain near his bike.  The police and coroner reported simply that he had died of injuries consistent with a mountain bike accident.

Evan was such a great friend when I was in middle school and high school.  Neither of us liked school (who did???) but amongst our large circle the 2 of us sought solace in art.  We each had the same wild curly black hair and have both been Peter Pans our whole lives.

My family moved midway through high school and Evan was the one who helped me and my dad move the washer and dryer out of the basement (and a whole lot of other crap) into the truck.  He visited us at our new home, and over the years we kept in touch.

Although neither of us had amazing college careers, we had identical paths at separate schools:  we both studied architecture and ceramics but came to the career fork in the road and said "FUKK architecture! Architects are MEAN!"  and became potters.  The 2 of us really lived parallel lives in many ways.

He landed in LA and had a great gig at a college taking care of the ceramics studio.  He married and had a little boy.  One of the last things he told me was "I don't need much, my family is the most important thing to me" which I could have said.  His Facebook picture was himself smiling at his son as they gardened….

ANYWAY, so the reason I tell you all of this, is that although I have never been to a memorial service or funeral, last night I did in my dreams.  It finished at his parent's house on a very snowy day, all the guys we knew together there….


OK, well, sorry to shift gears, but I had earlier planned something like this:

In other news, you might need something awesome for Mother's Day!  I just added this pitcher, but there are many goodies at my Etsy gallery, click now!