Today's creation

I threw this piece on Thursday when Malley was demonstrating "a sauce boat" as she called it.  Sort of like a gravy boat but slightly larger perhaps.  I already had a gravy boat but I liked the concept of an oval bowl and later decided to add a cover which I handbuilt from a slab.  It seemed a little small so I decided to add a coil around the edge for extra width and stability.  Then I added a coil to the bottom to make it match better and added some leaf cut outs on the sides and top.  I made a loop handle that I think came out real nice.  Overall I'm really pleased with the piece.  

Thanks Sweetie!

Brings hopes of spring . . . 

Bye Old Friend

The last photographs of my dear old 2002 Forester taken the day before I traded it in.

I bought it with 3,000 miles on it and sold it with 115,000 miles.  I kept my kayak racks to go on the new Forester.

 I miss some of my irreplaceable bumper stickers, like from the boys' old school.

The one I got when I bought Christopher's Segway

One I had made 

Boy did my car need a wash!

Sugarloaf and Sunday River from my years of skiing; Howl if you like City Lights Bookstore from our trip to San Francisco this past summer; Everyone's an Artist given to me by Mark Miller; If you must hate something, HATE HATE made by Rick; and several layers of No On ONE.  

And Welcome new friend - Pearl.  Keeping the same color and model helped alleviate my separation anxieties.  On order are crossbars for the roof racks, a trailer hitch, and mud flaps.  I can't get my remote car starter installed until March 5th.  

The tea set

Karen Barrett asked me to make her a tea set.  At first I was a bit reluctant because I still find it difficult to be deliberate about what I make.  I often will wedge up a peice of clay and start to throw without a definite idea of what I'm going to make.  I might start to make a cylindrical shape and open it out too widely so decide to go with a bowl instead of a vase or a mug, or vice versa.  It's low key and relaxing, and I often end up with unexpected pieces that I really like.  But I decided to give it a try.  I had wanted to make some more closed forms - which is how I make tea pots - rather than throwing a large open bottom and throwing the lid separately.  So here's the process. 

First throw the closed form.  It's a little lumpy but I liked the little flower petal looking handle on the top.

I used my needle tool and cut the lid while it was still on the wheel.  I find I get a more even cut than to wait until it's leather hard and use the exacto knife.  I often wait until after adding the handle and spout to add some impressions but decided to do it first this time.  

 

So next was the handle and spout.  I tried throwing the spout on the wheel but didn't like the result so ended up hand building it.  It came out a little awkward but I guess it works.  I pulled the handle and added some matching impressions.

And then threw a sugar bowl and creamer.  I loved the shape of the little creamer and decided to leave it without a handle because it just looked so sweet as it was. I added the leaf impressions.  I had meant to put a spoon cut out in the sugar bowl but it was too hard and brittle by the time I remembered so I left it as is. 

I think the set went into the kiln last night for its bisque firing.  Now I'd like to make a couple of small tea cups to go with it.  I've attempted this several times in the last couple of weeks but for some reason they just aren't working.  They're either too big or too small or too wide or something.  I have a few tea cups I threw previously that I can include with the set if all esle fails but I'll give it a few more tries before I resort to that.

What's new

Justin was offered a job at T-Mobile today.  Good starting pay – almost $15 per hour, plus benefits.  He’s been struggling as a cosmetologist for the last few years, and especially since he went out on his own a few months ago.  This will give him a good steady income and he thinks they’ll help pay tuition towards a computer science degree. 

Christopher moved into his dorm at UMF today.  He went up to Alex’s in Farmington last night and Alex helped him move in today.  Good thing he went up last night as we had a surprise snowstorm this morning and it would have been a bitch to drive even the half hour. 

So really all three of my dear sons are doing well.  Jared is still working part time at the public library in Monmouth and is starting his first library science class this week.  He’s got quite a few credits towards the degree already from the English major classes he’d been taking so hopefully he’ll be able to do the library science degree within a couple of years.  It’s a great fit for him, being such an avid reader since he was very little, and he likes the interaction with the public as well.   I think Justin will miss the interaction with his customers but he plans to continue doing hair on the side.  Hopefully he won’t find the call center too stifling. 

Had a good time at The Cup last night with the NitPickers playing.  Good crowd that stayed the whole night.  They’ve got a CD release party next Saturday afternoon at The Higher Grounds and will be taping a segment of 207 next Thursday to be aired the following day.  We’ll ask Steve if he’ll play it on his TVs on Friday during our usual time at The Depot.  This Friday we have the poetry reading at A-One To Go.  I haven’t written anything new for ages though I’ve started lots of pieces.  Maybe I’ll become inspired one day this week.  If not maybe I’ll reread an older piece.  They’re probably not so memorable that anyone would notice, plus who says you can’ read the same ones over again. 

Going for dental surgery tomorrow.  Justin is coming down to spend the night and take me in as Rick and Jared are both working.  So I’ve got just two days of work this week.  I don’t think anything big is happening at the Legislature this week so that shouldn’t be a problem. 

I started working on a tea set for Karen Barrett at pottery.  I’ve thrown and embellished the tea pot but still want to do a couple of cups and possibly a sugar bowl and creamer.  I also made my first candlestick.  We’ll have to wait and see how that works out. 

Winter Birds

Red breasted woodpecker.

A bluejay enjoying the peanuts Rick
set out for him. 

Holosync

Today was Day 2 of doing the Dive from Holosync and 30 minutes of exercising.  That is my goal for 2010 -  to take better care of myself, mentally, emotionally, and physically.  I think the Holosync meditation will help with the mental aspect - ward off Alzheimer's and help with concentration and memory.  It won't be easy to get into the habit of setting aside 60 to 90 minutes a day for self care.  Which 90 minutes?  It certainly won't happen before work in the morning as I can barely get to work on time now.  When I first get home from work at 5:30ish?  That would mean no dinner until 7 - and only then if someone else makes it.  That's probably not going to happen on a consistent basis.  So maybe have dinner and start the Holosync at 7 and be done with the whole routine by 8:30.  It's easy to stick to it while on vacation but it feels like a big commitment of time when you add being away from home for ten hours a day already.  And then on Thursdays when I don't get home till 11:00ish?  hmmmmm . . .

Photos from a snowy January day

We walked into the village today to get the mail.

Christmas balls hanging from trees in the village.

Opening a gift from Jason Christmas morning.  Notice Rick wearing the Carhart hat and Woolrich Mainer shirt I gave him. 

Emmy under the Christmas tree.

Goldfinch on the feeder outside our bedroom window.

This panoramic photo we took of the livingroom "stitched together" by Rick's new camera.  Can't wait to use that feature outside.

Our "compound" - someday perhaps the cottage will become my pottery studio.  But this coming summer priorities are a deck off the front and possibly a garage.

December 2009 photos

Christmas Karma

The land of chun

Jenika and Justin

Rick trying to decide whether or not to keep his Yankee Swap gift

Rick chillin and playing on FB Christmas Eve

Jenika and Jared

January 1st snowstorm

Kayaks looking longingly towards the now frozen lake

Wolfie tree under full moon

Full blue moon December 2009

Flowers from my Sweetheart 12-29-09

Rice blowl I made for Jared

Pottery stock from which each guest choose one piece

Newly made pie dish

I’m gifting a good portion of my pottery stock this Christmas. It’s hard to do because each piece is a unique creation, often the first time I’ve mastered or at least attained a reasonable level of skill at a particular technique. The two pieces I gave to the family from Head Start were stained with the same pattern (royal blue on the bottom and emeraud on the top. I indented the sides of one and flared the top which gave it a very pleasing shape.)

The covered bowl I gave to Sara from my office is the best covered dish I’ve ever made. The top fit perfectly which was interesting because it was the first time I’d thrown a top before throwing the bottom. I found it easier to fit the bottom to a particular size opening than I had been able to do with the tops in the past. And I gave the top a rather deep gasket and finished it with some rope coils. The glaze was royal blue with pippin over the coils to create a nice green over blue combination.

I gave Robert that nice tall mug that had the chun over the royal blue, giving it kind of a glossy black over the green part of the chun. Actually it must be the opposite - royal blue over chun. I like it though and want to try it again on some other pieces.

I gave Kerri a small embellished pedestal bowl glazed with chun – one of those that was fired in a particularly hot kiln and turned the normally predominantly rust colored glaze a more mucus green color. The green is usually the less dominant color and works much better as such in my opinion. But I got used to the green and rather liked it after being with it for a few days.

I haven’t decided which piece to use for the Yankee Swap tonight. I think with what’s left I will put it out on a table and just let people pick a piece if they’d like. Maybe they want a cup, or prefer a covered trinket dish over a serving bowl or a vase. Or maybe they don’t want anything. Too much “stuff” already.

There are some nice pieces – a bowl that I squared off at the top and embellished with a strip of stamped clay and some leaves; a blue pedestal bowl with stamped handles; a tall stamped vase that I hand built,(Linda ended up choosing that as her Yankee Swap gift) as well as a fairly tall vase I threw that has roped handles with a matching coil on the bottom. That was done in the royal blue with chun over the top. I left a good four inches with just the blue on the bottom but the chun ran right down to the coil – and over in one place. Malley had warned me that it ran but I didn’t realize how much. Yikes.


I’ve also got a blue stamped rectangular tray, (I think Jenika chose that piece) a nice plant pot and some small bowls all done in chun. A serving bowl with leaf stamps and handles and a matching set of two bowls done with the blue on the bottom with pippin over the top making that pretty green. And a couple of small covered containers. I’ll set them up on a table and invite everyone to choose one, if they wish. 

Connection

A piece I'll read tonight at the poetry reading in Gardiner.

Connection
   by Crystal Bond

There’s a hunger for connection

Deep down in one’s soul,
Under all the layers,
That moment when you cut through all the bullshit that surrounds every relationship
And connect.

There are no ex wives, old boyfriends, or needy children
The stress from work is immaterial
The unsold house, the bills, the mistrust
It’s not separating us in this instant
There’s only the two of us
And the ping rate is miniscule

It’s there,
and then it’s gone,
back to daily life

One suffers the hum drum of routine in memory of that moment
As the power of two dance before them, drawing them in
And usually spitting them out, but for the rare moment
When defenses drop, and we’re given another glimpse
Of what’s behind the great wall of ego and thought.

Three Stalks

Three stalks of purple bell flowers
sit gracefully on her antique lady's desk

simple, elegant, beautiful
they demand your attention
and imagination.
                       in whispers

Was it her husband
stopping by the florist
on his way home from work
thinking of her smile
and the delight in her eyes
as he presents them to her
                     as if throwing down his coat over a puddle in the road.

Or was it the woman of the house
strolling through her garden
choosing a stem here and there
picturing them sitting on her desk
and inhaling their sweet aroma
as she writes longingly to her lover

the flowers bring her back to him
his broad chest,
strong hands,
his smile
              the simplest of which dazzles even the most cynical

she closes her eyes, feels his presence
and turns slowly

discovering her husband standing there
             with flowers
                         his smile dazzles

Catch Up

Last time I wrote was from my hospital bed at Maine General where I ended up the night before Thanksgiving.  I stayed until after my stress test on Friday which turned out to show that my heart was perfectly healthy.  I later went through an upper GI series which showed that I have some irritation on my lower esophagus which I have to assume is what's been causing my problems.  Maybe two Prilosec a day . . . 
We celebrated Rick's birthday this past Friday at The Depot with Robert, Keri, Woody, Annie, Rose, and a rather obnoxious Leo.  His poor ego is killing him. 

I gave Rick a new Citizens Eco-Drive diver's watch (old one broke), new Petzl headlamp (old piece of crap one he had for only about a year broke), 1955 first edition of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poetry book Pictures of the Gone World, and . . . something that will remain unnamed. 

I brought home several new pieces of pottery today.  It was the first fire with a new element in the kiln and got too hot so that all the chun glaze turned a mucus like green.  I was really counting on some of them as gifts and now I'm not so sure I want to impose them on anyone.  I've got a nice small covered bowl for Sara whose name I picked at our office draw along with a two tone serving bowl for the Head Start family we're giving gifts to.  I'll pick up a nice Lowe's gift certificate as well. 

We went to The Depot's open house on Saturday for about 15 minutes.  Way too crowded.  Left and went over to the new Italian restaurant, Pastaz, on Water Street.  We also got our Christmas tree on Saturday and decorated it this morning.  Looks nice. 

Justin called me yesterday to say that Jared had another seizure of some kind - like the one he had at our Fourth of July picnic at Linda's in 2008.  He says it was the first one he's had since that one but I'm not sure I completely believe him or believe that he'd know if he had others when no one else was around.  He's going to make some doctor appointments and get checked out. 

Snowy night.  Wanted to go to Eddie's art opening at Slate's but a 40 minute drive each way in that mess just couldn't be justified.  Instead, we're about to watch the season finale of Dexter.  Glad we didn't go out.

Thanksgiving 2009

I took the week of Thanksgiving off from work. I don't work Fridays so my vacation started on Thursday night.  I went to pottery class and then dinner at The Cup with Betty. Friday Rick and I went to a poetry reading at The A-1 To Go Café in Gardiner and Saturday was back to the pottery studio for a few afternoon hours. Sunday the NitPickers played at The Cup and I took Jared and Chris there for dinner. I guess they’d heard the band play one other time before but I thought they’d enjoy hearing them again. I think they did.


Monday my official vacation started and Rick came down with something and ended up coming home from campus sick. By Wednesday I was feeling sick and Wednesday night I woke up from a sound sleep about 3 am with severe chest pains, nausea, and sweating. I walked a bit and decided I’d better go to the hospital. Rick took me in and after about 5 hours in the ER and even though they couldn’t find any evidence of a heart attack, they insisted I get admitted until they could do a stress test. So here it is 11:30 on Thanksgiving evening and I’m in a hospital room next to an 80ish year old woman who recently had a knee replacement and has been having diarrhea all night in a commode two feet from my bed. She had the thermostat up to 76 until I asked a nurse to turn it down. Of course there’s the incessant beeping from unknown machines out in the hallway and the nurses continually coming and going. I’ve slept for about five ten minute segments throughout the day. I’ve got a splitting headache and I’m just waiting for the snoring to start.

The Hour

This piece seemed to be a hit at the poetry reading last night at A-1 Cafe.


The Hour
by Crystal Bond

Today is the beginning of Daylight Savings Time.
Or is it the end of Daylight Savings Time?
I’m never sure but it’s inconsequential.
It’s when it’s time to turn the clocks back an hour.
I never turn them back till I wake up the next morning.
That hour is a gift from Chronos;
One must relive that hour with vigor.
Just savor the thought of that hour,
Wait until the opportune time,
And voila . . . turn em back and enjoy!
I can do anything in that hour because that hour doesn’t really exist.
It’s already passed.
It’s much different than the spring where you turn the clocks ahead.
You’re frantic;
you’ve lost a whole hour and you’ll never get it back!
That might have been the hour you meet your one true love
Or found the elusive G spot
Or both
And now, the hour is gone . . . forever
And whatever might have happened in that hour
Will never happen
Gaining an hour in the fall doesn’t make up for that hour you lost.
It’s too disconnected. It’s been too long.
In fact, it would suck to think of the fall’s extra hour as just a quid pro quo
for spring’s loss.
Deal with the loss in the spring and celebrate the gift we’re given today!
Forgive me Mary Oliver, when I ask
What will YOU do with your one wild and precious hour?

Laundry

I brought my pottery garb home this weekend to wash it. It was all so caked in clay that I'd get more clay on me than off me when I'd use it. Pulling it out of the laundry I noticed that it mostly consists of hand me downs. I have a big green shirt I wear over my street clothes that I saved from my youngest son's throw away pile, a green towel wrap with his name on it given to Rick by a former girlfriend - he prefers to walk around nude :-) - pulled from a similar pile that I place over my lap to use when I'm at the wheel, and a ragged white towel another student left at the studio that I try to keep clean enough to dry my hands when I'm done for the day. The only new piece is a canvas apron with a split in the center, to cover my jeans when at the wheel. Regardless, I still come home with clay in my hair, on my clothes and white clay dust up and down my arms. I guess that's just part of the charm.

Closed camp down for the winter

Last weekend we went out and closed up camp for the winter. Drained the pipes, emptied the fridge and the cupboards, shut off the pilot light to the gas fireplace. I will be without my fortress of solitude for the next five months. Usually we are able to open it back up by early
April, and then the peepers will start up again, and the loons will reappear, and the universe willing, the marsh will once again be filled with abundant life.

Maybe we'll actually get around to painting the interior one of these years.

I probably should have raked some leaves but just didn't have the time or inclination.