It had been 40 years…

My friend Ami

This week I ventured to Chicago to meet a friend I hadn't seen since 1971. Ami had been a really close friend when we were in both junior high and high school in New York. Going away to college and living in different states, we drifted apart only to find each other on Facebook just this past year. Not knowing how much we changed was our only gamble. We each got our own nice rooms at the Knickerbocker Hotel near Water Tower Place. It had been my first trip on the Megabus, which turned out to be the way to go, a cheap and stress-free way to travel. We had a wonderful time catching up, dining, window shopping on Michigan Ave., plus we spent a few hours in the new modern wing of the Chicago Art Institute. We also enjoyed a nice dinner at Carnivale, a Latin American restaurant in the Fulton Market area. It was recommended to us by the grown daughter of one of my college boyfriends (small world stuff). We had a wonderful time and hopefully I will visit her sometime at her home in Madison, Wisc., when the weather is warmer.

A wood-fired pot I bought
from John Thies 

Also this week I got together with Tiffany (a friend and my dogs' vet) to check out the new studio of her and her boyfriend, John. Located just north of Bowling Green on Bishop Rd., they are creating Manabigama Pottery, what will soon be a wonderful ceramics studio complete with wood-fired kilns. John is a great potter and also the designer of the wood kiln at the 577 Foundation. It is my plan to rent a space there starting in sometime in late March or April. I am currently checking out prices and getting ready to purchase by own potter's wheel. Pretty exciting! Meanwhile, my ceramics class at the art museum starts up
 again on the 24th.

Another home improvement is underway in the dining room. Christopher is currently working on a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall built-in bookcase. It is my latest brainstorm that he has been able to bring to fruition in our home. Tim has assisted in painting and I believe is equally excited about the project. Photo to come.

The holidays are here

My hard work is now behind me. This past Saturday we hosted our annual pre-Christmas family get-together. Since we are not going to NY for Christmas, I made brunch instead of the usual dinner because we'll have dinner with the same family members on Christmas day. It came off without a hitch, ham & broccoli strata, sweet potato bisque, pumpkin & chocolate chip mini-muffins, fruit & cheese and a Bob Evans French Silk Chocolate Pie.

This has left this week to gift wrapping, passing out gifts and a little holiday baking. Merry Christmas! The dogs are happy that they are not spending the holidays being boarded.

Ho, ho ho!

Our "Nature's Bounty" tree adorned with vintage Radko
fruit, vegetable and nut ornaments, and glass icicles.

It's finally beginning to look like Christmas in our household. It was a busy weekend. On Saturday, Tim and I went out to buy a Frasier fir tree and had brunch at a new local diner-type place. After that, I was off to a Saturday pottery class, "Slips and Engobes." Then Barb and I snuck out of class a little early to go over to Kelly Savino's Holiday Pottery Sale. That evening Tim and I went over to the mall for a little gift shopping and dinner. When we returned, I then spent five hours getting the tree decorated. I was finally done at 3 a.m.

My nature-themed wreath

On Sunday, a few friends and myself took a holiday wreath class with Vicki Gallagher, the horticulturist at the 577. A fun afternoon and I believe we all went home pleased with our little projects.

Sgraffito sells!

Green and brown sgraffito pots. Photos courtesy of Tim.

Well it couldn't have turned out better! This past Friday and Saturday was the annual holiday pottery sale at the TMA ceramics studio. I wished I had my camera, there was a lot of nice work of fellow potters and decent crowds. This was the first time I tested the market with my pottery. Made $349, all but five pieces sold. Twenty of my pieces were my "signature" sgraffito porcelain pots. Barb says this style is my niche and they all sold the first day. All, except two of them, I considered to be test pieces or "seconds," so many were priced to sell. I am thrilled although I now may be short on pottery gifts this year. This really has given me the confidence to continue in this direction, yes!

New work (not sgraffito).

Girls Night Out

New work: Bunny Hop

After this past week of trying to get some new prints finished and framed for the GNO yesterday and the Holiday Open House at Angelwood Gallery this weekend, my diligence paid off. Yesterday Nicki, a pottery/ vet friend, purchased the print I made after she had provided an inspiration photo of a Great Dane. It's so nice that I receive the support from many of my pottery pals. I had hoped to get two other images finished, however the ink was too slow in drying.

It was a fun night where I got to hang out with Linda S, Bonnie, Barb B, Julie B and Nadia all in one fun spot. The gallery also looked great with lots of nice stuff. We all left with something for ourselves and a few gifts. Linda and I also had a pleasant dinner beforehand at Smedlap Smithy's in Waterville. It seems she's found the perfect flexible job to keep her hands in things.

Now I'm getting ready for the Studio Pottery Sale at the Museum next week on "Black Friday" and Saturday. My dining table is currently covered with pots that I hope will sell. Otherwise, everyone knows what they will be getting for Christmas.

My 4th Wood Kiln Firing

Unloading the kiln on Wednesday evening. Pots still covered with ash.

My bunny and Julie's vase.

This past Saturday we fired up the Manabigama kiln at the 577 Foundation. Despite the cool weather, the kiln, wood firepit, food and camaraderie kept us all content. Turkey breast, Jerusalem artichokes, baked potatoes and bread were all cooked wood coals. It was all good.

My pal Barb with her siren pitcher.

While it might not have been the most successful firing in terms of everyone's results, there were still quite a few beautiful pieces. I believe the kiln did not reach the desired temperature toward the back.  Not a big issue, some of mine I will re-fire in a future firing.

Not the most flattering photo, here are just some of the group with
Julie (in the shark headdress), our fearless leader.

More of the same

Busy, busy, busy—with clay of course. Just found out that next Monday is supposed to be our last day of starting any new wet clay work. This seems a little early considering the last class is Dec. 1. Apparently if it has been started, we can continue finishing, so I will be throwing like a crazy potter this week. At least we're able to get into the studio 6 days a week. I have been throwing so much that the clay has sucked out the oil out of my hands so I have severe dish-pan hands.

My thought is the more I can get done, the more I'll have to sell. I have been somewhat pleased using the museum's glazes, clay bodies and slips. Of course, I'm highly critical of my work and still see much room for improvement and development but I am progressing. Spring museum classes don't begin until Jan. 24.

I'm running out of time in terms of getting new print work done
for the holidays. Perhaps if I get a dehumidifier in my studio the ink
will dry faster on my prints. I have a couple of new promising pieces in the works.

Not sure where all the kids came from on Halloween but we ran out of candy by 6:45. We didn't buy that much but we normally don't get that as many as we had this year. So it was lights out and out for dinner. Looking forward to seeing Elaine and Bonnie tomorrow for a GNO in Perrysburg, dinner at Stella's and some holiday open houses.

Another wood kiln firing this weekend at 577! These are always fun. More pottery I can't sell so hopefully they will make nice gifts.

Life is good…

but it has been very busy since my last posting. There simply aren't enough hours in a day to do all I want to do. Then suddenly it's 3 a.m. and I just make myself go to sleep so I can wake up around 9-ish. This week I put in a lot of hours at the museum (TMA) and a few at 577. I've also been bringing home pots from TMA to sgraffito (scratch designs on) and cutting linoleums for prints late into the night. Both the TMA Pottery Studio Sale and Holiday Angelwood Gallery show dates are looming and I need to get as much new stuff done for them. Being able to sell pottery will be a first for me.

Also next month is another 577 wood kiln firing and I'm almost finished getting things ready for that. This week I also put some pieces in the UT/TMA wood kiln firing at 577 since they had extra space. However I wished I had gotten some new things made, instead I put in things I had made at 577 that I wasn't particularly crazy about. The all-day firing is today. Fortunately I am not required to be there but I'll certainly be there for the unloading next week.

I am feeling obsessed about pottery, it consumes me. There is so much I want to accomplish but there is such a delay (weeks) in knowing if something is working or not because there are so many steps in the process where things can go wrong. So the more I do, my odds improve that there will be some gratification in the end. My results recently were split 50/50 between success/failure. I'm still figuring out what glazes, underglazes and slips will work for my pieces. I need Tim to take some new photos for me.

Last week I enjoyed a pleasant girls night out with Linda S. and Bonnie. We explored a few little shops in BG, Helena and Pemberville. We hope to do something like that again soon.

Nothing could top the time Tim and I had at the Eagles concert this past Wednesday evening. It was a birthday gift for Tim which I got to thoroughly enjoy. They were just fabulous, our seats on the side stage were so close we could see it all and they couldn't have sounded better. Don Henley, who has always been my fave, was perfection and Joe Walsh was the hard rocker of the group was also exceptional. The full-house audience knew every song except for 4 songs off their latest CD. The title track, Long Road Out of Eden was one of the great new Henley songs. They didn't get to sing every one of their hits because there have been so many although they played for 3 hours. Just momentous.

Autumn color

The backyard and where is that rain we were supposed to get?

It's back to fall-like weather and plenty of
color. I was beginning to wonder if
my mums (variety shown: Soft Cheryl)
would ever bloom and that warm weather
we had earlier this week made them all
bloom. Another freak flowering was my
one iris plant. Until now, it has never
bloomed in the fall and never twice in
a season.


Great sleeping weather, just wish Jerry felt better. Back for another glucose panel at the with Tiffany the vet on Friday.

Just a progress report

It's October already and we'll be celebrating Tim's birthday tomorrow at the usual place, seafood or Italian at the docks.

Love this cooler weather but it does mark the wind-down of the gardening season. Just recently I grew and picked a fall harvest of giant pole string beans (seeds provided by Louise, a pottery friend). She said they would surprise me and they did, not tough at all, as you would imagine, and almost sweet. I'll be saving some seeds. I'll be able to grow them on my home trellis next year. I moved some of my 577 perennial herbs over to my kitchen garden. I need to start cleaning up and mulching that garden at 577 this week.

Christopher is here again, working on the privacy fence so we'll be able to contain my one neighbor's sprawling thicket and hide their broken-down split rail. He's a brute, hand-digging all those holes. Next year, I envision removing some of the ivy ground cover and planting, if possible, a espaliered fruit tree.

Jerry is still out of sorts—he's feeling perkier however he's not well. He was always the chow hound and these past 2 weeks he has been so finicky and lost about 3 pounds. Three pounds is a lot for a dog his size.
He's back at the vet all day for series of glucose testing.

Pottery and prints are keeping me busy. Cheryl C. purchased from me a commissioned print of her pug Lollipop, aptly named "My girl Lollipop." I was happy with the way it turned out however I hate dealing with pricing and the money exchange. Cheryl appears to like it too. She will be returning for the winter to Hilton Head at the end of the week. This saddens me because she is really a joy to be around. Last week, she invited Julie, Nadia and I over for a lovely lunch at her home in Maumee. She is a fabulous cook and baker.

This weekend we finally saw Scott H. It had been a long time since we got together. Went to his opening at Bozart's on Friday where we saw other artist friends as well. Also met Scott, Renee and Carl at Moe's in Rossford Saturday night. I'm hoping we'll stay in touch now. Tim and I had been out of the loop since moving to Perrysburg.

Now working on more sgraffito pots as well as some wood-fired pieces since there is a wood kiln firing early November. Classes at the museum are going well.

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…