Clueless in Chicago........

24 hours, I feel like I have been on the fast track to my GhD (Gallery hoity-toity Diplomacy).
Up at 4:30 a.m. showered, coffee made, thermos filled, maps at the ready
artist packets tucked under my arm, car headed west by 5:00 a.m.
Butch excited to attend seminars all day at the Navy Pier on sailing.
Me, hit the ground running. I had a list and maps to public transportation.
All the galleries were highlighted in yellow and I would systematically check them off
as I conquered the Chicago gallery scene.

Parked the car by 10:10 a.m., walked to the lake end of Navy Pier, synchronize our watches and wished
each other well.

Walked to other end of the Navy Pier and approached the tourist information desk. Found out
there was a free trolley that would take me to Michigan Ave. Running out the door the
cold Chicago wind hit me full frontal and I thought there must galleries in Miami! Running
to the trolley darting across traffic for what I thought was the trolley but was not I stand and wait.
By the time the trolley got there I was having trouble forming words it was so cold. A short ride up the
hill and jumped off at Michigan Ave, up the stairs and heading west to Superior Ave. Having never
been in the windy city before I walked the wrong way but in a block or so figured this out and
turned around heading south. I had a list of 5 decorative art galleries in hand and had lurked the
websites before I left.

My first stop: Vale Craft Gallery. Happens the gallery assistant is from the Cleveland area so I had
a chatty time discussing Cleveland. We knew some of the same people. He kindly introduced me to
the owner, who happened to be a potter & gardener. (my inside voice is high fiving!) He kindly
took the packet and looked at my book sliding it back over the counter and said with raised eyebrows;
You've mixed baskets with clay? I nodded; Yes. He lowered his eyes. said nice to meet you & turned back to his computer.
End of conversation! I muttered, Thank You, gathered my packets & book and humbly ran out the door.

Onward...... the nice thing about the Superior Ave. Arts District; galleries are literally stacked on top of each other.
Punctuated with a Starbucks or deli. Ran to the next gallery, not on my list but I wasn't going to pass up a chance
to catch the vibe. And so it went for 5 hours.

After the second gallery and sticker shock I realized I was so far out of my league it wasn't funny. We are talking
small town potter goes to the big city. After my expedition into Perimeter Gallery I shoved my resume' packets so
far down in my bag they wouldn't be seeing the light of day until I returned home. Resolved to get as much out of
this trip as possible I systematically went from gallery to gallery. My goal was to over load my senses with the art scene
of Chicago wondering what would bubble to the surface on the 6 hour drive home in the wee hours of the morning.
Doing this over and over, at some point your mind shuts down and that is good. Stop thinking and just drink, no gulp.

During my day I watched a beautiful little Ruth Duckworth sculpture being sold to a collector, a Val Cushing jar
sitting on the floor tucked behind a giant painting, a small Peter Voulkos pot sitting on the floor. In a dusty cabinet
in a forgotten corner a Curtis Benzel porcelain sitting next to a Gordon Andrus teapot ( I have a picture of
the very teapot hanging over my wheel), finally in Perimeter Gallery the biggest collection of Tashiko Takaezu's work I have seen.
I ventured down a spiral stairwell to find two Claude Conover pots sitting in corner surrounded by tacky dusty vaseline
ware and Murino glass lamps, I poked my head up the staircase to inquire if what I was seeing really was Claude Conover and what was the price. Yes they are Claude Conover and I never got the price as the owner was shocked I knew who the artist was and wanted to know how I knew they were Claude Conover. Ha! Score one for the studio potter!
Pots that I know and love were not revered but instead sequestered to the back halls and basements of some of the top
galleries in the country.

By 4 p.m. I was exhauted and thought I would head back to the Navy Pier to see how sailing was going. I wandered in a gallery called Printworks. The last day of a show by Robert Middaugh, never heard of him. I spent 40 minutes looking at his work and became completely captivated. I walked out the door and went back, I couldn't get enough.
I walked out of the gallery buoyant from this seeing this show in a tiny gallery tucked away in Chicago.

The wind hit me smack in the face. How could this be as the wind hit me smack in the face walking south when I started but now I am walking north and it's in my face again! Battled my way north to Michigan Ave. found a Whole Foods where I bought sandwiches, fresh juice and two apples for $20. Found my trolley stop and waited. The trolley passed me twice so I gave up and walked back to Navy Pier. I was a popsicle by the time I got back. Happy to be inside I made my way to end of the Pier, called Butch in a seminar and said I had lunch waiting. We had a picnic sitting on the heaters of the observation deck.
We finished up, he went back into the seminar and I found a Starbucks and went over my maps. At 7 p.m. we decided to head for home.

Driving in the dark for 6 hours I reviewed the day.

Bubbling to the surface first was the Robert Middaugh show. There are those few shows you see that you just know you will remember the rest of your life. This show will remain with me for a very long time.

2. Chicago galleries (at least the ones I attended) were pretty pretentious. But then I guess if you're selling $28.000.00 paintings you can be pretentious.

3. Good gallery owners are worth their weight in gold. They love the artist they represent and work hard to sell and cultivate collectors. I watched two patrons make extremely large purchases while there and I watched those gallery folks work their tails off representing the artists. They also make a pretty penny for that work.

4. I will start applying to ACC shows. I hate shows but I think they might be part of the necessity of doing business at the national level. Not sure I ever want to sell a pot for thousands of dollars.........

All in all it was a very good day! My education grew in leaps and bounds. Feeling like I have enough information to make
decisions about where and how I want to sell my work. In the really big picture........ it's good to be home and wish I could sell pots while having tea at my kitchen table.
.

Dinner anyone?

I love making dishes!
I love eating off handmade dishes
but I don't sell many dishes.
I do sell an awful lot of round pots with fiber handles.
Cynthia Bringle once called me;
"The girl who puts sticks on her pots." and I shouldn't
quit my day job. Well I did quit my day job and I'm still
putting sticks on my pots.

Last Friday I decided I needed a set for 12.
Dinner plates, salad plates, soup bowls, cups and saucers.
and two coffee canisters for my tall, lithe pots. I need to go taller!
These are all chip carved and the mess it made in the studio was
ridiculous. Chip carving is very calming, at least for me in the middle
of January. I don't think I do any chip carving once the gardens get going.

WHOO HOO!!

The view from my treadmill this morning.........






A week, I made it a week!!!
In one week I have learned the following:

1. At 55 my container is out of control! Yesterday I caught my reflection in the glass window huffing and puffing
my way to lithe and willowy. My first thought....... Heffalumps and Woozels!
If the Madrid fault gives way between 9 and 10 a.m. I am going to feel so responsible!

2. A dyslexic should never have a treadmill with buttons!
I thought I was adjusting the incline but no it was the speed. This body is clearly not built for speed.
Thinking I am adjusting the speed I hear leavers or gears whining and I am thrust up a 10 degree hill
running at 6 mph, thought my lunges were coming out my nose! Grabbing the bars and hanging on
for dear life I found the stop button! Who designs these things?

3. My kids decorate their bodies with tattoos and have egged me on for the last couple years. At 55 there
is nothing I am that passionate about; and besides stuff changes all the time!
Now I am thinking flames on my ass might be a nice statement.
At 3.5 mph I am just burning up the rubber belt!

4. I own a Pro-form, EKG grip pulse treadmill. After a week of gripping it I still don't know how this works but
I have not set off one buzzer or alarm so I think I am ok. Although running 6 mph on a 10 degree incline
one would think shock paddles would have dropped from the grab bar!

5. I hate the dog. Please see attached pictures. It is not nap time or snack time while I am coughing up a lung!




6. If the tv remote falls off the control panel do not run on it! Let it roll past your flailing feet to the end of the belt where it
will be deposited in front of the dog.

7. The treadmill does get boring and one cannot skip faster than 3.5 mph. You just can't and not skin your knees.

8. You cannot drink a glass of water while jogging along at 3.8 mph 45 minutes into your work out! Realizing it was going to
kill me I turned to the side and spit on the dog! Shut up, it's raining! and he moved to his side of the floor.

9. If I make tall thin pots instead of fat round pots will I start to look like my pots?

10. Why aren't there any potters who are also long distance runners? I have coughed up enough clay dust to make a pot!

11. I cannot type anything after 60-70 minutes of pounding as my fingers have not calmed down from clutching the grab bars!

12. 22 day until the Olympics!!

Paine Falls Urban Chicken Wranglers unite!

Did someone say CHICKENS?

Had our first meeting of the Paine Falls Urban Chicken Wranglers last night. Right around
the kitchen table with the wood stove going. Pouring over seed catalogs, talking about chickens, sharing garden stuff we have learned, looked like a library. We drank herb tea while ooooo-ing and ahhhhhh-ing over the possibilities of what might come. Had a great time!! We all said we are soooooooo doing this again but with garden food! I made god awful coconut dream bars as I worked in the studio until 6 p.m. and the Wrangler-ettes were showing up at 7 p.m.!!! Walked in and started a pot of chili for the family and dream bars for the girls. Table cleared and dreams bar out by 7:02 p.m. when Anne Lamb pulled in the driveway...... drank my special blend of oat-straw, horsetail and mint tea to calm my inner self. Gail said she felt like the Witches of Eastwick! and wouldn't you know it Butch walked through the door....... no Jack Nicholson but he will do in a pinch! We broke up around 9:45 p.m. and I sent dream bars home with Anne, yet there is still half a pan sitting on the counter. Guess what a yummy breakfast I had....... back on the treadmill.

Rousted daughter #2 at 10 am and announced she needed to review the bus schedule for Lakeland. SHOCKING! Her first class is 12:30 p.m. and the schedule is on line. Rolled over and went back to sleep. I was on the treadmill and cleaned the kitchen, also made a fresh pot of coffee for little miss sunshine........ talk about ugly in the morning! Shessh! The bus she needed to be on left at 11:00 am from the top of the hill. Weather is nasty today and told her I would give her a ride to the bus stop, 1/2 mile walk up the hill. Explained it was $1.75 one way and she needed exact change.
She can buy a 10 ride ticket at Lakeland, DO IT.
Pounding away on the treadmill I am watching the minutes tick away and it's now 10:55 am. Arghhhhh!!! The car has been warming up and you have exactly 30 seconds to get in the car or you are going to be in the homeless shelter by tonight. The words coasting down the stairs.......... You have to take me to school and you can't kick me out! I was waiting for the; I HATE YOU! but it didn't get blurted out, not even by me.
At 10:58 she was looking for her shoes and I was somewhat mad but remarkably calm as I announced ....... Honey, this is your life, my house, and you have no time to pour coffee for your big phat fabulous life! grrrr..... I have channeled my parents!
We were in the car by 10:59 am and explained if she missed this bus she was going to miss her class and hope she had a plan "B". We rolled to a stop, she silently got out, slammed the door and got on the wrong bus.
Oh dinner is going to be sa-weet tonight!

The weekend is over and.....

back on the treadmill..........

The opening at the Ashtabula Art Center was really nice. I forget what my pots look like in a beautiful setting. Thank You Meeghan Humphery! First time I have ever seen my work on black pedestals and have to say I LOVE it! Beautifully formal.
Most of the time the pots sit in the studio waiting for handles or just get packed right up and put away. It has been quite a while since I have seen a large body of work in one place balanced so nicely with large paintings as a back drop. Annika Farmer has to be one of my favorite painters/designers and I hope we can do this again. Lots of friends, family, friends I usually see in the garden came out, fellow artists and the Ashtabula contingency.
We got home late and I have to say so glad this is over. It's is a bit of work and the time in the studio gets thrown into the blender. Now hoping to get back into the routine of going to the studio everyday and working. The rhythm is one of my favorite parts of working alone.












On another note....... THE BREAD IF GONE! and I don't think I will be making that large of a recipe for a while! Finished off with crispy pizza last night. Piled on red and yellow peppers, onions, artichokes, feta cheese, capers, sun dried tomatoes and nudged into a hot 450 F. oven. The crust was crispy and delicious as I knew it would and I am still wondering if the veggies balanced out the carbs at all..... Felt quite relieved walking down to make coffee and knowing the bread bowl in the fridge was gone! Also back in the routine again!

Missed my treadmill Saturday and Sunday. Had studio visitors stop by from around the corner and Michigan. Unpacked a few things and truly enjoyed the visit. Made me think about life here in the Falls. Visitors in the studio make me think it's really time to set the back room up as a show room. Also talked about a summer garden/pottery show and it seems like there is good feed back to do this. Maybe this year! The gardens usually look pretty good in late June, early July. Maybe party at the Miller's, garden party! Stuff to think about while pounding away on the treadmill this morning. Logged 4 miles in 73 minutes and the treadmill says I burned 503 calories; is that all? Loved the incline this morning, punished myself at 8 and huffed and puffed my way through HGTV and a cooking show. Thinking Paula Dean might not be my best choice while power gasping.

Happy to report a friend pointed me to the website Blurb. A free download to publish books. Rachael tried it first and I was pretty impressed. After watching her my immediate thought was; WOW! what a marketing tool! I spent two days the weekend before the show opened downloading pictures to a book. Hit the publish button Sunday night. Fed Ex was in our driveway Friday afternoon, just in time for the opening! Amazing and easy! check out www.blurb.com
titled the book; "Vessels of Clay & ............"

Well folks it's Monday and I am off to the studio!
Happy MLK day and support the Haitian relief fund..............

I have reached critical mass......

After three days of eating bread, I have reached critical mass!

January is just the pits for physical activity in Northeastern Ohio. No sun, no terra firma anywhere to be found, and too many clothes to put on to go play outside!
January can be very pretty, quiet and a month for much needed hibernation. But as I grow older I realize this is the month
that could take me down the worm hole. After the bread baking fiasco I knew I had to get out of the kitchen and back out to the studio. On my way out of the studio
I glanced to my left and a shining beam of light complete with angelic singing illuminated the treadmill. WOW! WHAT A FANTASTIC WAY TO SPEND JANUARY!
Running back up the stairs to wiggle and flail into my spandex running duds and the biggest tee shirt I could find, I skipped back down the stairs, blow the dust off my running shoes & jump onto the treadmill!
The dog thought we were going for a walk and started spinning circles in the middle of the floor. OH just stop it!
Moving the wheelbarrow, a 50 pound bag of dog food, garden tools and several doggie frisbees; immediately setting the dog back to whirling durbish cycle, I cleared a path.

OMG the dust!! no worse than dust, cobwebs! For a split second I thought of cleaning it before jumping on but wiped that thought right out of my mind and decided to jump on! Press the buttons and stand there while the dog dances next to dead-mill. Back off the treadmill, hmmmm is there so much dust it has seized up?
OH wait! Plug it in!!
Plug it in and still nothing.
Guess it's been awhile since I have been on the treadmill, excuse me I have been really busy on the big hamster wheel of life! Looking over the control panel and thinking
I could launch myself into space I found the little red card thingy that has to be plugged into slot "A" on the control panel and clipped onto your collar. ( in case you fall off the treadmill it will immediately halt!) Oh for God-sake who needs that! and I fling the cord over the handle of the sidebar. Card in and all the lights go off, we are in business and ready to launch my butt into the stratosphere of fitness! It starts at number 1 with no incline...... perfect since the only activity I've had since October is pouring another cup of coffee and walking to the studio. Feeling pretty good after a couple warm up minutes I decide I can kick it up to 2.5 mph. Holy great balls of dust! Tip to self; good idea to clean the treadmill before you whip it into low gear! Looks like the dust-storms coming off the Sahara! Coughing & sputtering the dog lays down next to the treadmill and abandons all hope of a walk. I realize he is close to the floor for clean air!

Settling in for an hour........ why an hour because I just heard Dr. Oz say I am worth an hour! While watching a 320 pound man who gave up salt for a month and lost 40 pounds in 28 days I am going to be svelte! And I kick the treadmill up to 3.5 mph. I power walked myself right off the back of the treadmill and now have rubber rash on my face and arm. CLIP THE RED IDIOT CARD TO YOUR COLLAR! Clipped in I jump back on the treadmill and take er' up to 3.5 mph, smok'n. The dust has settled enough to see Dr. Oz telling a poor woman in the audience she is not 33 years old but in reality 60 years old due to a bad lifestyle and processed food. and I was just thinking I should put an ashtray and snack dish on my treadmill.
God I'm hot...... oh yeah the heater is on in the back room this is great I made my own sauna. Cruising along at my top speed I hear a scuffle and yelp...... the dog rolled over to smell the rubber burning on the belt and smoked the skin off the end of his nose. I keep running as he seems to be OK. Who knew a treadmill could be such a dangerous piece of equipment. Well the dog recovered in 30 seconds flat and is over this physical fitness quest as he is eating....... in front of me, right in front of me, eating and eating and now walking over to nap it off. Hey! A little sympathy for the fat girl on the treadmill!!!

I continued on for 53 minutes, 356 calories which barely touches the bread I ate last night and I am experiencing shaky leg. I am off to the showers, grab a giant glass of water and throw the bread out for the raccoons ......... in the morning I expect to see little masked bloated furry things writhing in my back yard.

did someone say hot bread?

So I succumbed to the artisan bread frenzy.......... it's everywhere; facebook, clayart, internet, my new issue of Mother Earth News. WTF!
And since I have been making bread for over thirty years and had never tried anything like this I had to jump in.
I used the recipe of:
6 cups of water, 3 T. of kosher salt, 3T Yeast and 13 cups of flour (used bread flour) and 13 cups = a 5 LB bag.

Got out my giant ceramic bread bowl ....... 14" wide and deep (think baby bath tub!) and commenced throwing flour all over the kitchen, myself and the dog who kept
trying to lick it off the floor. (it came off the counter it must be delicious!) He must have pasted his tongue to the roof of his mouth because he kept running out to get a drink of water. At this rate he won't be pooping for a week!
The dough is supposed to be pretty wet and it is. Stirring a 5 pound bag of flour is a bit of task but I thought; Hey I'm a potter and can center 22 pounds of clay so this should be a cake walk! It's not! The recipe stated in big bold letters; DO NOT KNEAD THIS DOUGH! If you must touch the dough wet your hands! This made no sense what so ever to wet my hands so I just used the tips of my fingers to try to make the dough behave and push it back into the bowl and down the shaft of the giant wooden spoon I was using. Immediately I felt like Tar Baby! Now up to my armpits in dough I pried myself free and washed. With my wet hands I went back in. ALWAYS WET YOUR HANDS BEFORE TOUGHING THE WAD OF DOUGH! Why this works is a mystery to me but it does.

The one thing I read over and over from many different sources; let it raise and collapse.
Figure the extra gluten in the bread flour and the rise and collapse of the dough it should work. Mixed everything up around 9 p.m. moved the
bowl to then end of the counter while I cleaned the kitchen and mopped the floor. At 11:30 p.m. or so I moved the giant burping bowl onto
the screened porch where it was 26 degrees........ and went to bed.

Got up the next morning and found it still growing even in the cold of the porch! It had collapsed like it was supposed to and had a nice flat top.
Brought it in around 7 am and whacked off two pieces about the size of a baby head grapefruit. Rounded them off and set them to raise. OK here is
where I dispute the recipe. The recipe says no matter what it looks like after 40 minutes toss it in a hot oven. So I did(even though my inside bakers voice said; You are making cannon balls here, don't do it)...... ignoring my bakers voice I moved the two loaves that
had been raising on a cutting board on cornmeal into the 450 degree oven (with a pan of water on the bottom shelf) onto a hot piece of marble, flipped (shiny side down)
Slammed the door shut and baked for 40 minutes while the dog and I danced with excitement. I peaked at 15 minutes and bread looked stellar!
But had not raised as much as the recipe stated....... I KNEW IT! Oh just dance anyway but the dog was really tired so I ran and did computer work until the timer went off. Ran back to turn the timer off and pull out my two loaves of perfect bread that had perfumed the house to make the neighbors think I had opened a French bakery!

YIKES! the two
loaves had sort of joined and looked more like kitchen porn than two loaves of bread! Of course I posted them on Facebook!! I think everybody was too embarrassed to post anything! You should have seen Butch when I took it out of the oven. OH suck it up, I am slicing and we are going to taste it! The flavor was fab! but it seemed
a bit doughy for me. But still the taste was so good and crust so crunchy and yummy we ate the whole loaf by bed time, we waddled off to bed and went into a carb coma. The second loaf we sliced the next morning for toast and have to say it seemed to have time to dry out and was not as doughy, toasted up pretty well. So we ate that too......

By this time I was getting pretty tired of tasting bread and was feeling quite bloated. But now I had this giant bowl of dough I had to deal with soooooo if you make the original recipe you really have to make bread every damn morning! Yesterday as the dough oozed over the sides of the bowl I begrudgingly made another loaf, just one and only one. This time I made my perfect round loaf at 9 am, went out and cleaned the studio, came in at noon for coffee and the bread looked pretty good.
Tossed it in the oven while I drank coffee and ate yet another piece of toast from yesterday's lead ball and sat down to watch the nightmare in Haiti and catch up on email. Timer went off and the bread was perfect! Well until I tried to cut into it. It had quite a crust! Unable to cut through the crust I just ripped it apart and wished I had a big bowl of soup to dunk it in. Maybe next months challenge. This loaf was delicious but really, really crunchy! Instantly I was transported back to Vienna standing in front of the Wasserbrot stand eating hot delicious bread out of both hands! But then I was walking 10 miles a day and forgetting to eat lunch!
The dog loved the really crunchy scraps!!

Here it is day three and I have another loaf going on the counter and I have a damp kitchen towel over the dough to see if I can get that crust to be not quite so crusty!
Good God by Sunday morning I should be seized up completely as I now feel my joints aching. White Flour is the devil!

I still have a pretty good bowl of dough left and not sure I would mix this much up again. You have to be eating a lot of bread! OH the same bowl of dough you can make pizza or sticky buns. oh joy...... I think tonight will be pizza night! and then one more loaf of bread tomorrow and the bread dough will be gone! Thank God!
You know I had almost stopped eating bread before I started this odyssey! Going back to my bowl of raisin bran and forgoing the bread today as I am sure this might kill me. I might have to throw myself on the wooden spoon to let the gas escape from my gut! Talk about taking one for the team! and you should see the dog, he has stopped dancing and I am making him sleep on Dad's side of the bed! Soon as I send this I am on the tread mill for a good hour as I am feeling just awful! In my quest for the perfect loaf of bread I have had to sacrifice myself.......... again to fulfill my quest. Last month it was cheesecake........... we did find it!
This is NOT a good winter hobby!

OMG Kitchen Porn!

What can I say........ it's January in Ohio and it's cold, dark and long. Thank God I am not in Alaska!
I have been watching these recipes for about a year now. Have not had time to get in and get my hands dirty.
My Mother Earth News showed up with pictures of fabulous loaves of beautiful bread. I have been making
bread for over 30 years! This recipe was the easiest I have seen. Game on!
Mixed it up last night, put it on the porch in 20 degree weather got up this morning and formed two
perfect loaves. Let them raise the alloted time; 20 minutes and popped them in the oven. Cleaned up the
kitchen and just about the time the last counter was wiped down the timer went off.
OMG! Well I was laughing too hard to think about cutting these!

Have to say, the bread is delicious! The crust is crispy, crunchy and everything that snapped me back to eating
hot bread on a sidewalk in Vienna on a cold winter day in Feb. several years ago!

I will make this again but maybe only one loaf............ maybe two if I need a laugh!

The DaliMama is born.......

Two months, where did they go?
10 shows and several galleries later I have time to blog again!
The highs were really high and the lows were truly low, not even making expenses but then hey it's the economy stupid!
We had house guests, kids, kids and new boyfriends (we hope we didn't frighten him off!!) and loads of fun this holiday season!
There has not been down time since the last week of August and boy am I ready for down time!




























We kept Christmas small this year and it was GREAT! We have vowed to do this every season from now on. Although the food budget seemed to get blown off the spreadsheet again! A WHOLE CHICKEN IS NOT A SNACK!














At the last minute I decided to take a gallery show offered by the Ashtabula Art Center and kicked the wheel to warp speed.
I have finally figured out, it's not making the pots that takes the time it's the weaving and glazing! Especially the weaving!
Four of the pots took over a week to start and finish, just weaving. When the pots were dropped off yesterday at noon
I felt myself spiraling down the worm hole of exhaustion. Luckily there was a snow storm and thought I am not going anywhere!

Then........ Rachael's flight was cancelled and I ended up running to Cleveland Hopkins Airport in the middle of a blizzard. Pry the fingers off the steering wheel, guzzle the Starbucks, hugs and back into the mess to get home.
Seems as though every show I attended this year I battled weather. Ithaca, NY......first snow storm. Louisville, KY ice, back to Louisville to breakdown; ice, snow, wind and just wacky winter weather! Ashtabula, blizzard....... God I love Northeast Ohio!
The highlights of my show season were Louisville, KY and Ithaca, NY, oh to be in the company of potters who love to make pots and look at pots and revel in each others company. I met amazing new potters who have beautiful work! Adero Willard is up in Maine rocking. My mug collection is growing in leaps and bounds. I vowed I couldn't afford to go NCECA this year but after Ithaca and Louisville I am crunching numbers and feel I must make the pilgrimage.



Feels good to settle in while the wood stove crackles and I sharpen the pencils, get the taxes out, peruse show entry forms, shuffle stacks of paperwork, jot down ideas for new pots, tile projects, calculate new glazes, day dream, phone calls, visits, candlelight dinners, seed catalogs and all that stuff that has been neglected during the frantic last two months.
ohm-ing myself off.........
the dalimama