We're home!

Seagull in flight at Beavertail, Jamestown, RI

Tim and I arrived back in town late Wednesday afternoon and we made our rounds, first picking up Jerry at High Point, then Ben at South Suburban. The dogs were glad to be reunited and to be back home. Jerry's glucose levels are still fluctuating abnormally but he's feeling better than he has been recently. More vet visits and blood tests
next week.

My mom and Tim

Our flight to RI went smoothly, enjoyed perfect weather and we saw my mom, aunt, brother and sister-in-law. While there, I really enjoyed a huge 1 3/4-lb. lobster plus lots of other seafood and of course, clam chowder. One of my seafood favorites I had were stuffed quahogs, called stuffed clams everywhere else.

Aside from eating and a little shopping, Tim and I took it easy and went exploring near our Jamestown, RI, home on Conanicut Island. The southern end of the island is called Beavertail where the 1856 lighthouse sits on the rocky shoreline.

Also on the island is a windmill that was built in 1787. An old millstone that ground corn can be seen in
the foreground.
Dry-stacked stone walls, some hundreds of years old, are found on farms all over
the state.

Between our travel expenses, Jerry's hospital stay, Benny's boarding, the tree trimming and a malfunctioning refrigerator, it has been a costly period. Good news, all my prints were accepted at the museum store's submission day on Saturday.

A Jerry scare

One of the dogs, as many of you know, has diabetes. That's Jerry (red collar). He's my little trooper. He's been pricked and poked with more than a thousand insulin shots. This week he was so sick, we thought we were going to lose him. We took him in yesterday to see Tiffany, my friend and vet, and she discovered he had a UTI, was slightly anemic with severe hypoglycemia. Having low sugar levels is just the opposite of diabetes. Apparently this can happen when an infection is present which happened to Jerry once before and landed him in the hospital. That time he already was being boarded at our previous vet's so we did not witness his decline. This time, Tiffany got his sugar levels up enough so he started to feel better and came home for the night.

All happening just before we leave for RI. So Jerry will be staying at High Point Animal Hospital with drs. Tiffany and Nicki (AKA Monica, also a pottery friend) while Benny will be going to South Suburban this afternoon where it's like summer camp for dogs. Jerry left this morning. Tiffany was so good and picked him up. I know this was the best choice for care because Jerry still has to get regulated. It's no wonder why we rarely go anywhere these days. Benny is wondering where his best friend and brother is…

An early posting

This week was my first week of pottery classes at the Toledo Museum. The studio and the people are quite a contrast from 577's. There will be a learning curve just getting accustomed to their wheels, clay body, plaster bats and all that is new to me. I am looking forward to using and learning how to make a few new things such as underglazes, Mason stains and slips. Right now, I am focusing on working with surface design and color. I also think I'll enjoy some of the glazing effects that can be done in a gas-fired kiln. The people there seem to be more focused on artistic expression that making functional pottery. It'll
be interesting.

While I was there, Rex Fogt, the UT ceramics prof, walked through the studio. I asked him if he remembered me. He said, "Sure, you've taken class here before." I told him it was 1972 and that sort of surprised him. That year was his first year of teaching. I do think he may have seen me around there when I took printmaking classes in the late 80s.

The Walgreen's plastic neti-pot and mine. Pretty funny, eh?

I picked up a bunch of pots
I made at 577
this week. Among them was a
neti-pot. I thought
I should have stoneware version. I tested it and it works great. Not too many people have a
custom neti. Other pots I got include a set of 5 dessert bowls that are surprisingly consistent in size, weight and color. Yay!

Today the tree trimmers were back for a second time this year, this time taking out some straggly shrubs and branches and trimming back my neighbors' along the one side of the backyard where my neighbor's fence is literally crumbling. Since they have no plans to repair it, we decided to go ahead and install a privacy fence. Christopher also came by today and I hope he and his brother will do the installation. Hadn't planned on this added expense but figured better to do it in the fall than next spring when everything is sprouting. Tim already guessed that I am envisioning a espaliered fruit tree or two against the fence. (Chuckle.)

Ben and Jerry are going to the animal hospital for a 5-night doggy vacation this Friday while Tim & I fly to Rhode Island for a family visit, good food and relaxation. I'll post when we get back.

A week of nostalgia

Despite being retired, the holiday did seem to throw off even my routines this week. On Labor Day, I made flat iron steak on the grill, so I actually cooked on a Monday and not my usual Sunday. With it, we had La Brea Tuscan bread with my "own-grown" organic garlic that I cooked in the ceramic garlic roaster I made. I also made Cheryl C.'s peach pie, baked in, yes, a pie plate I made.

Oh and there has been lots of our homegrown tomatoes…not the sweetest we've had (Vicki thought it might be due to a dry, hot summer) but I still made lots of good salsa and sandwiches.

Got another commission job for a linocut print. My pottery/vet friend Nikki provided a great photo of a Great Dane perched on a chair. I liked the image so much that I would have tried doing it anyways. Coming up with a name for my prints is half the fun. Perhaps this one will be "Paws and pause."

Today Tim and I went to Black Swamp Festival in BG. Always a great venue, it was beautiful weather but the art is still not the caliber as seen at Ann Arbor's fair. We stopped in an art gallery right on Main St., owned by a woman I knew from a printmaking class I had taken more than 20 years ago. She remembered me, had seen my prints recently at Angelwood Gallery and would like to show my work. I told her if I can produce enough work I might take her up on the offer.

This week I decided to go through some boxes of old photos from high school, college and post-college days. You fool yourself in thinking that you haven't changed much until it's there in black and white. Whoa! I also tried to recall what happened when, where and why—it made me sad that I lost touch with some dear friends and it excites me that I might get a another chance at renewing old friendships. Thank you Facebook. So I posted some photos on my "wall" and the response has been fun. On the other hand,  I have been ignoring some "friend requests" and it makes me feel a little guilty. I figure that it's challenging enough to maintain contact with friends who are long-distance yet important to me. I have always been notoriously bad at keeping in touch.

So there's another reason for having this blog. I am trying to post at least once a week. So if you're interested in my doings, you can bookmark this…

Here's something I found this week that made me really nostalgic. It made me realize how much I missed in losing touch with this friend. It was sent to me in 1967 when I was at summer camp. It makes feel as good now as it did then. I sent this copy to her this week.

A pottery week, a good week

This was taken at my first wood-fire unloading in early July.
The rooster is mine. The angel is Lisby Pollock's.

This past week I sure put my share of hours doing pottery-associated things. Aside from throwing pots and handbuilding a new saltbox lid, I was there glazing—some of my things and some abandoned pots for Harrison Rally Day. There was a group of us there, all volunteer glazing on Friday. I also signed up for the Museum's ceramics class that starts on the 13th and goes until Dec. 1. It will be 72 hours of class time and possibly some independent time as well. There is a possibility that the class will be cancelled because there is not enough students registered. I hope not, my hope is that it will be a nice segue into possibly joining the Potters' Guild next January.

Tim also shot a lot of pots for both Julie and myself. I also got to choose a pot from Julie that Tim received in exchange for his photo services. I really like it and it's now on the living room coffee table. I know it was one of Julie's favorites because she posted the photo of it as a Facebook profile picture. The next three photos are some of those Tim took for my portfolio. Both Julie's pots and the photos looked really
good too.

A sgraffito pot.

I am continuing to produce what appears to be a series of sgraffito carvings on my pots, as mentioned in a previous blog and shown at left. I am still fine-tuning how much black to leave on the pot versus how much white. I also want to come up with another subject pattern other than flowers and leaves although I do like a nature theme. It's also something other than
"my" animals.

Besides pottery, it was also the week to see girlfriends, all of whom I happened to work with at BGSU at one time or another but not all together. Wednesday was dinner with Elaine, Thursday was lunch with Deb and Linda at Aladdin's. Linda and I then shopped a little at Franklin Park. That evening, Bonnie and I walked all over the Farmers Market in Perrysburg looking for a particular CSA farmer who we finally found. Then we had a mediocre Chinese dinner.
A lot of talking, all fun.

Wednesday was my salon day at Soto's. Cut and color plus my first professional pedicure. I could get accustomed to being pampered that way. A pricey day. The very dark green nail polish color I chose was a lot like the little pitcher shown below.

Tim took this great photo of my pitcher. It was wheel-thrown and altered with an applied spout and hand-pulled handle.  It was dipped and sprayed with 2 different glazes. I wish the wall of the pot was a tad thinner.

I am also now getting ready to submit work at Collector's Corner at the Toledo Museum again. It has been probably 12 years or more since I had anything there. I had been very successful (selling regularly) there. It's now a much smaller space so I'm not sure how many, if any, they will take. We'll see but at least it has me thinking about new prints. I also had a good day of sales. Angelwood Gallery sold three prints to one person. I feel like I have a fan.

I am beginning to work on a new linocut of Cheryl Clephane's pug, Lollipop. She gave me 5 photos for reference. There has been other interest expressed in custom dog portrait prints. I thought it might be fun to try. After doing prints of Sam, Kappy and Maggie (some of the best dogs), perhaps it might be a niche market for me.

Today Tim and I went to Ann Arbor. We went to three pottery places—the Yourist Studio and Gallery, the Clay Gallery and the Art Center. The first was the most interesting. Kay Yourist gave us a tour of the whole studio, a really nice set-up, plus I picked up a few tools as well. We also had several other stops including Downtown Home & Garden, a favorite stop of mine, and Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. On the way back, we made a stop at Select Stone and picked up some blue tumbled pavers for stepping stones for between the brick walk and my new potager.

Have you noticed that I started adding links in the gray type to my postings? This blogging is amusing. Happy (no) Labor Day weekend.

A favorite wood-fired bowl that was  fired in
my first Managama kiln firing.

Wood-fired pitchers from my second firing.
( As seen on Facebook)