Christmas 2010 is over

It's one of those perfect days when the "weather outside is frightful" and it's nice to cozy up inside with the fireplace blazing and let the day just develop as it may.  Maybe I'll start my book I got for Christmas, or throw some pots or watch a movie or make a big pot of soup.  

After getting home from our Bond's Christmas get together at Jeff's house yesterday, I spent some time in the studio.  I really liked where this piece was going until I blew a hole out its side and had to crash the whole thing.  I think I'll blame it on the effects of the wind and snow howling outside the studio.

We've gotten about 8 inches so far I'd guess.  It's hard to tell because the wind is blowing pretty hard and moving the snow around quite a bit.  

I decided to try some carving on a piece I'd thrown a few days ago.  The best tool I could find was a kitchen paring knife until Rick brought me up a rather nice woodcarving knife after I was done.  I'm eager to try it with another piece.  

Here are a couple of pieces I made a while ago and are waiting for the first firing in my new kiln.  

The lighting wasn't very good here to see the hand made roses and leaves on this piece.

Here's Rick trying to shovel a path one handed.  He can't get a glove over the brace on his right hand which is still recuperating from wrist surgery, so he keeps his hand in his pocket, holds the shovel with his left hand and kicks it to break a path.  He managed to feed the birds and squirrels but didn't bother to blaze a trail all the way down the driveway to the newspaper box, assuming he would find it hadn't been delivered.  (I hope newspaper delivery people don't risk their lives delivering our local rag on a day when the biggest news is the storm raging outside.)  

I'm glad that I'm still on vacation and don't have to even think about the things I "should" be doing. 

Christmas 2010, Monmouth & Belgrade Lakes

Relaxing in front of the fire Christmas night

Justin trying to show Jenika the new head massager.  It's wicked nice!

Chris and Sara - first Christmas together.

The Bond/Dale household

The "kids."

T

Christmas 2010 with Jason and Adriana

Stockings all hung by the chimney with care

Opening Christmas Stockings

Rick, me, Adriana, Jason

Adriana and Jason

Playing Apples to Apples: Rick, Jared, Sara, Justin, Chris, Adri and Jason

We had been hoping for a snowstorm while they were here but it held off until the day we had to drive them to the airport in Portland. Being from Los Angeles, they don't get to see much snow.

It was the first time Rick and I had met Jason's girlfriend, Adriana.  We really liked her and we had a great visit.  We had a big family dinner with all the boys, plus Sara and Keeley on Sunday.  On Monday I gave her an introductory less in throwing on the wheel and later we took a trip up to Farmington and showed them around UMF where Rick works, shopping at Reny's and Liquid Sunshine and then dinner at The Dugout.  On Tuesday we played a few rounds of Pictionary (Rick and I won the playoff round by the skin of our teeth!) and had dinner at The Liberal Cup in Hallowell.

Recent pieces

This piece has little feet under it so can be used as a serving platter for h'orderves or such. This piece was part of a benefit raffle for Grace and won by Sarah Strunk.  She seemed very pleased!

Some recent pieces - pre fired.  You can see them glazed and fired below.

I just made this one tonight. Hope to bisque fire it in my new kiln I just got yesterday.

My bounty from Malley's kiln last week.  Mostly done in spameraude.  

A couple of the pitchers seen unfired above.

This is a piece that August made and was going to throw out because the bottom  crumbled a bit. However, I grabbed it and thought I'd try some glaze combos on it.  I quite like how it came out.

Stock 

Last morning at camp for 2010

There are bluejays, chickadees, woodpeckers, - hairy – all flittering about.  I put out piles of sunflower seeds earlier – on top of the altar, logs, stumps, and built a little cairn by the fireplace and loaded that with seeds.  I even put some on top of the mushroom that grows off the altar.  I couldn’t unscrew the top of the actual birdfeeder so it is empty as is most of the squirrel feeder that I am unable to reach.  There have been nuthatches also, as well as mostly gray squirrels with an occasional exception for a couple red squirrels.  A flock of 4 very large crows (or ravens?) have been swooping in and landing on the altar to feed, but then flying off again realizing it’s only seed.  I see some creature ate the little mouse that I found dead inside the camp.  Perhaps Cobby who was here early this morning.  

A big fat turkey just walked right through the front yard.  I’m surprised he’s all alone but I don’t see any others.  Damn!  Didn’t even get a photo.  First time I’ve seen a turkey here though we used to get visits from some fat white geese that live on the stream.  They were about the same size as this turkey and it was entertaining to watch them interact with Cobby.

Then there’s a still.  One or two birds flitter around the perimeter but all is pretty quiet.  The dracaena is still thriving and an sporadic blossom on a geranium.  But mostly there are colors of autumn – yellows, reds, oranges, browns, and a definite chill to the air.   It was nice waking up to the bright sunrise shining on the colorful trees across the stream this morning.  The water was very calm and reflected the reds and yellows beneath a thin layer of fog. 

The propane level is at 80%.  If we turn off the pilot light, we should be able to relight it in the spring and go for several nights before needing a refill. 

A gray squirrel found the seeds on the cairn and then moved onto the next stash on a stump just a few feet away. 

And then the activity begins again with the bluejays swooping in, the chickadess shortly behind them, the nuthatches, crows, a hairy.  Bird tv.  Gotta love it.

We got camp closed down for the winter.  I still need to go back out and pour some antifreeze down the shower drain because we ran out before we got that far.  Hopefully the mice that come and go won't decide to nest in the bed or anything.  

"Columbus" Day

I slept in till about 10 this morning, got up to a nice fire in the fireplace and coffee waiting for me.  Enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then we went for a little hike up French's Mountain

Came home and enjoyed some grilled cheese sandwiches on the deck and then went down and hung out in the hammock swings for a while.  Won't be long before we have to put them away for the winer.

Gorgeous fall day!!!

Getting ready to glaze

I'm afraid the big easter egg falls into the category of "just because you can doesn't mean you should."  I glazed it with chun in hopes of toning it down a bit.  It's intended to be a plant pot.  In the far left  corner is a large pitcher with which I was very pleased.  A small pitcher, a couple of covered pieces and some mugs, oh yes, and the large platter in the back round out the collection.  

My newest piece

I love this piece I made the other morning when I couldn't sleep.  Yesterday I put some little round feet on the bottom.  I rather like it in the gray that it is right now but when it gets bisque fired it will turn to a flesh color.  I don't really have any glaze that would equal this gray.   In the past I've glazed these in different colors for each section but then the glaze kind of takes over.  I think I might try a single, subtle color glaze on this one and see if it brings out the detail work more.  I'll post a photo of the completed piece when it's done.

I love having the space to do handbuilding at home and can't wait till I can afford a kiln and a wheel!

I really kicked butt on throwing during this class session.  I must have 10 or more pieces - some quite large pieces - to glaze this week.  I find glazing the most difficult part of the whole process as you just don't know what's going to happen.  The glazes can be fine one firing and the next firing they'll run or turn icky shades.  The chun has turned a really icky mucus green in the past.  Last firing apparently the spambo ran terribly.  The cappuccino turns white instead of brown if you get it too thick.  And when you've worked really hard on a piece it stinks to have it ruined at the final step with crappy glaze results.  But I guess all we can do is hold our breaths and hope for the best.

Update

90210 – 4^th day straight of hot humid – high 90’s. 

90310 – slept in till about 8, made coffee, puttered around in the kitchen – actually swept and washed the kitchen floor which feels like such a big chore in this house – perhaps because of the big kitchen, perhaps because even AFTER you wash the kitchen floor, it still looks dirty.  That’s another thing on the list that needs to be upgraded.  Maybe next year.  Anyway after washing the floor I sat in the shade on the deck for a few minutes, noticed there wasn’t a soul at the beach, so went down for a nice long swim.  So refreshing.  Came back and enjoyed my hammock swing for a while, reading and drying off in the warm breeze.  Last I knew we were supposed to get some high winds and some rain today as a result of Hurricane Earl.  The air is very heavy and there’s a gentle, almost imperceptible breeze.  I went out to camp yesterday morning on my way to work to secure things at the camp in case we get hit but as things look right now, it certainly doesn’t seem to be a problem. 

Rick had to go  up to campus for a while for meetings.  I guess we should take the kayaks off the car when he gets back.  I was kind of hoping to go over to the boat launch near Castle Island sometime this weekend for a paddle on the lower side of Long Pond.  I also need to change the kayak rack for Rick’s kayak to the new set we got that folds down, so that when there are no kayaks on the car I will be able to drive into the garage. 

Last Saturday we drove up to Bangor and had a wonderful time at the American Folks Festival.  Saw a wonderful jazz quartet from New Orleans – twice, an excellent bluegrass band – Linda Lay I think her name was with a banjo and mandolin player from a couple of rather well known bands.  Also Dale Watson from Austin.  Apparently Dale had asked Mark to tour Europe with him but Mark turned him down.  They would have kicked ass together I think.  We saw SandyT., Peaches, Pam and Jeff, and Chris and Bobbie (though they were a way off and we didn’t get to talk with them). Rick also saw a couple other faculty members from UMF there. 

On Sunday, Linda, Glen, Jared, and I all went up to Justin’s house and did a little makeover on his kitchen.  He has pretty limited cupboard space and was storing half his food and dishes on his countertops.  Was pretty messy.  Plus their sink had been back up for a few days and they were still in the process of catching up on the dishes. 

We brought a bunch of stuff with us cause we didn’t know what we’d want to do and ended up turning the closet in his dining room into a pantry where he was able to store most of his food, leaving plenty of cupboard space for his dishes.  I bought him a tall round table with fold down sides to use as a table/island in the kitchen.  Brought him a nice tablecloth to cover up his scarred up dining room table.  We put his tall skeleton candles back on the table afterwards to be sure it still had that Justin flare.  J

Keeley helped us quite a bit and she seemed pretty pleased with the result.    

End of vacation

I have been very negligent in posting recently.  I see my last post was my second week of vacation.  We ended up going to Stonington instead up Cobscook Bay.  Spent two nights down at The Old Quarry Campground; a nice place right on the ocean, great docks, nice people.

Here's a picture of me hanging out at the campground . . . and hanging out . . . and hanging out.

Bill, the owner took us out on a guided kayak tour of the islands one day and Captain Steve took us out the next day in a lobster boat tour to Isle au Haut and around the archipelago.

kayaking around the islands

Isle au Haut

He dropped us off on Green Island, a deserted island where the only other visitors left in a sailboat just as we were arriving.

There’s a fresh water quarry where we went skinny dipping while Steve took his only other passenger back to Stonington.

The freshwater quarry

Rick taking the plunge

Me, enjoying the water

The other passenger was the owner of another island, one of the potato islands I think.  Steve had arranged to pick her up and bring her back to Stonington. We met up with her out in her dory about 50 feet offshore.  The dory shot out from under her as she was boarding our boat and Rick and Steve had to pull her up out of the sea and get her into the boat.  She was very good natured about it; not that unusual an event on the islands perhaps.   

After retrieving us from the island we went to see some nesting ospreys, then a circuitous route back to Stonington.  We had to head right back home, take quick showers and drive up to The Granary in Farmington to celebrate Christopher’s 21^st birthday. 

Chris enjoying his first legal drink

I returned to work on Monday where my office was torn apart with stripped walls and floors.  So I worked through Wednesday out of Sara’s office and Rick and I left mid morning on Thursday to go to the Podunk Bluegrass Festival in E. Hartford, CT.  Nice festival grounds and nice people.  It was very hot but the band played well though they only earned 4^th place in the band competition.  Don placed 2^nd in the songwriter’s competition with his song, Ice in Your Veins.  Ken Irwin of Rounder Records was very interested in Rick’s original song, Highway to Your Heart so they’ve been emailing back and forth and he’s trying to get a national band to record it.  He’s also interested in other songs Rick has so he’s started recording some demos to send him. 

Rick playing at Podunk

The NitPickers

I went back to work on Tuesday at which time my office was ready for me to move back into with newly painted walls and hardwood floors laid.  They also bought me a nice new desk and it was good to get things set back up after purging a shitload of old files. 

Still boxes to unpack

Jared’s 25^th birthday was on Wednesday so we had a little party for him here at the house with Justin and Keely, Chris and Sara, Auntie, Donnie, Glen, Tom, Lisa, Chelsea, Bill and his girlfriend Frederique who had just arrived from France the night before.

Bill and Frederique

Bill and Frederique stopped over again on Friday afternoon and accompanied us to The Depot for pizza and beer after which we strolled through the Gardiner Art Walk.  Bruce was have an opening at Mad Dog.  He and Bill had known each other 20 years ago but of course he never knew we were brother and sister. 

Today Rick went to play at a pig roast and I went up to Aristo and had Justin do my hair.  I stopped by his house afterwards; it’s coming along nice and he’s been taking good care of his yard.  He’s got some delicious blackberries growing out back. 

Tomorrow the NitPickers are playing at The Village Inn.  Eddie and Michelle, and Bill and Frederique are supposed to be joining me up there for dinner.