dream'n........

Still raining and trying to figure out how to get to the highway without sprouting wings, I fell down the worm hole of the internet.  It's the end of October and I find myself unwanting to pack, re-pack, load the trailer and head out on the road.  Can't remember the last time I was this burned out.

I have been driving past this building for a few years.  They lowered the price, yet again.  It was a funeral home at one time.  Then it was slated for the wrecking ball to make way for a new drug store..... because we sure need more of those!  The community banded together and moved the building two blocks down to an empty lot; and there it sits, empty since the move.   

I have fantasized about a gallery in this space.  Maybe live on the second floor, teach clay in the awesome basement and gallery on the first.  There is even room in the back for a coffee shop.  Could rock out the landscaping around the old victorian.  Plenty of room for parking and it's right in downtown.  Great small private college a mile away and and and.........

I stopped and peered through the windows the other day.  Icky funeral home wall paper but all in all wide open space....... perfect for a gallery.  

Our town is falling has fallen on hard times as I watched businesses board up and for sale signs posted left and right.  Could this even work?  Can I even write a business plan?  

and where would I put the chickens and garden???? 

Lots to think about driving through the remnants of Sandy on my way to Rochester........ 

We are still here.........

No sleep and a long night but the wood stove was stoked and we only lost power on and off.  There were 67 mph winds clocked but it was the rain that just kept coming.  

The Grand River at the bottom of the hill is over her banks.  

It has been bone dry most of the summer with the drought.  

Harbor 220 in Grand River.  Butch pulled his boat out on Saturday.  Others were hoping to pull out after the storm.  The river is supposed to crest another 2 feet by midnight ......... and it's still raining.

I hope these boats make it out.  

Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes; white caps if you sneeze!  

But this was a good Nor'easter in all her glory.  

And some rode out the storm in warm comfort......... 

Protection at it's finest! 

Everybody made it through warm, dry although a bit cranky! 

Radishes didn't wash away and look quite good! 

I left this empty bucket out on Friday morning.  It's almost full...... 

and did I say it's still raining...... 

Hoping everyone is back on their feet as soon as possible.   

I am finding it very hard to pack for Rochester and leave for 4 days.  My bank account needs me to go but I really wonder how many will be in the mood to buy work at a high end art show with so many digging out.  I am feeling the need to nest big time, hunker down, head to the studio.  Not get in my truck, dragging a trailer and head over hill and dale 5 hours away.   After the last few days I am so happy to be home with a fire crackling and coffee pot at arms length.  

Grand River flooding........

Stand strong..........

Ran home from Akron this afternoon and stapled feed sacks to every opening around the chicken coop.  The girls were ankle deep in mud and looked faklempt. They reminded me of women in feathers boas dashing from the opera, caught in a down pour.  Chattering and feather boas soaked but so much to talk about.   They ran to the fence....... SAVE US!  I spread dry straw under the coop, stapled the feed sacks up and gave them crackling snacks from the lard I rendered last month...... all is right in the world.  

After the girls were settled in I grabbed the camera and ran to the lake.  

We will stand strong ....... 

(what election?)

40 mph winds and sandblasted.... nose in the wind and honk! 

Watching the geese take an effortless flight.  Bank right, bank left..... they were playing the storm. 

I was the idiot with the camera and could not stop snapping images.... 

the nor'easter blew the river backwards today.  

the fury of Lake Erie is something to behold....... 

moths to a flame......

The worst part of the storm should hit between 2 and 3 a.m. this morning.  Add another 20 mph wind to the 40 we currently have and we will be blasted with 60 mph hour wind gusts.  It's been raining since Friday afternoon.  Wondering which trees will stand strong for the first light of morning.......

For now the wood stove is snapping and popping, the beans and rice are bubbling on the stove, zucchini bread is sliced, the coffee is hot, the dog is soundly sleeping and the wind sounds like a freight train outside.   We wait for morning light......... stand strong America.

buckle up ........

Still weaving and I should post pictures but I am soooooo tired of sitting on my butt watching my fingers dance!  Vowing to leave the weaving table I pulled out the shadow box moulding that has been whispering to me from a dark corner; $200 worth of primo shadowbox moulding.  I bought the stuff in July but just didn't have the guts to cut it.  For months I have looked for a little old woodworker who might like to tackle this but alas the search was a bust.  With shows looming, it was time to belly up to the workbench and make sawdust.  Kilns were off, chicken coop was cleaned, dinner was in the crockpot and I had fiddled around long enough. Simply install the brand spank'n new $100 blade (I choked when I wrote the check).  No wait, find the special wrench and directions to the mitre saw....... 90 minutes later .... I needed coffee and weaving was looking good.  Instead, set up a plank on saw horses, run extension cords, duct tape the shop vac to the mitre saw exhaust (brilliant!), hook up compressor and air nailer, find corner vises, wood glue, blue shooting ear muffs, count all fingers and press the "ON" button.  There's a morning shot to hell and I don't even have a frame yet!  

Just about the time I was ready to make my first cut......... super handy Butchie Miller popped in the studio and asked it he could help.  Just in the nick of time I muttered.  Luckily I had my powder blue shooting ear muffs on and had to read his lips while I nodded my head and pressed the power button.  He watched as I sliced and diced the first frame.  Put it all together on the table and stood back taking off my ear guards and was pretty darn proud of my handy work.  He said;  "Well I can see my work here is done." and went in the house.  I stayed in the studio checking out my super fantastic carpentry skills when Ann Romney called alerting me to her husbands skills to be President.  Thanks Ann, scones tomorrow?  Gotta run!  As I listened to Ann I realized I had cut the frame with the rabbit on the outside of the frame, leaving the glass to fall right through.  I am brilliant....... and dyslexic!  It was a frustrating day and matched the weather outside.  By 6:00 pm there were four lovely frames made and waiting for tiles.  

Today, off to Home Depot to get wood putty for the brad nail holes...... and pick up coffee and stop by the orchard and and and ....... And why doesn't Home Depot sell underwear and aspirin?  I couldn't make one more stop so as my Grandma used to say; oh just turn it inside out and quit whining your lucky you have underwear.  

Tomorrow ....... off to Akron to break down the Don Drumm Show!   

I hear I am coming ashore sometime Tuesday to wreak havoc on the east coast..... gonna be a party here too!  The chickens are gonna need life jackets and waders by Thursday.  8" of rain and 60 mph wind....... off to find my ruby slippers!  

Supposed to be in Rochester, NY for the Memorial Art Gallery Show on Friday....... 

Weaving and weaving........

Isn't that a boring title. I was going to title the blog Chicks in Bondage but changed my mind after my discovery.  In the past few months the blog has been spammed repeatedly.  Seriously, how much Viagra and weight loss crap does any one person need.   Blogger provides a great service called "stats".  

I went there and tried to figure out where all these "hits" were coming from.  I recognized all the sites; Google, Facebook, Sawdust and Dirt and then one I've never seen before.  Racking my brain I just couldn't place the site, so I clicked on the address.  SHOCK, DISGUST, RETINAS BURNED OUT OF MY HEAD!  Couldn't get my finger on the delete button fast enough.  OMG!  Why would porn people be on my blog?  I had to wash my eyes out with soap before I could go back into "stats".  

That site was the #2 site directing people to my blog.  And then I noticed there was one particular posting driving these idiots to my site.  

Last May or June I titled a post:  The Girls Are Here!  Well they were and they were my chickens!!!! 

OMG!  Yes perverts were watching my chickens!  Go wash my eyes out again!  

So it looks like I get a ton of hits on my blog and I thought it was because I was just so witty with my words......... Never mind, it's my X rated chickens.  

So yes, I am weaving....... 

Weaving again but on a bigger level..... 

The hawk was back and hit my woven roof on the chicken run with such force he pulled the hook out of the wood.  The woven web was woven with 22-25 pound test line from old fishing reels I had saved over the years.  Fishing line is transparent and I bet invisible to the stunned hawk when he hit it. 

 The chickens were hiding under the coop, cowering in fear but they were safe, all nine.   A cooper's hawk is a pretty big bird so my invention had worked, I just needed a bigger hook.  After much tugging and pulling I realized too much damage had been done and I needed to re-weave the lacework.  Not what I had planned for my afternoon.  

Running up to the hardware store as I was out of old fishing line and bought masons line.  Bright pink and orange, so the hawk could see it.  1500 yards and a couple hours later the new woven top was done.  Oh and I cannot wait to see my backyard on Google Earth next year!  Just think, people peering out windows of planes going over my backyard will be able to see this pink fluorescent web, I bet the Space Station can see my handy work!   

As I worked, up and down the ladder, running back and forth across the coop, chickens were at my feet, hopping on the ladder and just hanging out with the chief chick.  

The hawk curiously watched from the back tree.  

Not the day I had hoped for as pots are stacking up in the studio but the chickens are safe, the hawk can  catch moles and rabbits in the garden and the world is safe.  And why isn't there a super hero; Weaver? Nothing gets through her nets!  

And for dinner, a lovely quiche'.  

play'n hooky ........

After a marathon weaving session yesterday, today was a day off...... sort of.

Sat down yesterday morning and thought; just weave until noon; after a dinner of popcorn and ice cream (don't bother looking under the recipe tab), weaving, watching Greata Garbo movies until 2 a.m while weaving.  I rolled to bed, stiff.  Besides it was a yucky Ohio, October day.  The hours ticked by, rows of weaving grew and I had no desire to move outside.  Not even when I spilled a huge 15 compartment tray of seed beads on a sleeping dog.  He thought it was candy rain and licked them up faster than I could sweep.  

This morning my feet hit the floor and whoa!!  What was that thing in the sky?  Sun?  Glorious sun!!  

Morning coffee in hand, chickens rousting about, I sat down to weave in full sun.  

My morning weaving table and coffee cup. 

and my new weaving project.......

Butch sailed his last sail of the year as the channel is filling with sand.  Another reason to maintain a small sailboat on Lake Erie.  While he sailed in the perfect south west winds, crystal blue skies and full sun; I moved outside and sat on the patio in my best night shirt, bare feet on cold bricks, morning hair coiffured by Bedtime Beauticians, hot coffee and resumed weaving.  I wove and listened to the birds, watched a wren out of the corner of my eye working over the old leathered tomato plants in the garden.  Bugs galore, she was reluctant to move on even when the neighbor's cat, Ralphie paid a visit.   She stayed and gorged her tiny brown body.

At noon I got up for another cup of coffee and EMERGENCY!  No coffee.  Slap on my jeans and out the door, forgot to brush my hair and teeth but had my muzzle and sunglasses on, so no worries!  After coffee run I treated myself to Half Price Books and scored two books on Artisan Bread making in 5 minutes.  I had been lusting after these books for a year......... and hard bound!  

Home to hang with the chickens, drink fresh coffee and read my books under the maple tree in far back gardens.  Collected eggs long around 5 p.m. and harvested next weeks potatoes.  While bent over digging for gold one of the girls made a weird trilling sound.  Hmmm..... that's new.  It continued, louder.  I finally put my digging fork down and walked to the chicken run.  BAM!  Chickens running everywhere, feathers flying and what the hell was that!  A cooper's hawk hit the chicken wire and spun wildly out of control.  Like a bomber in a death dive, grabbing control and recovering, she landed on the peak of the chicken coop and preened her feathers while the chickens cowered beneath.  Like me slipping in the studio and then glancing around..... did anybody see that?  I adjust my glasses and keep moving, so goes the hawk.  Which makes me think it's a female. 

 I was speechless and watched in awe.  The hawk flew up into the maple and I wondered how long this ballet has been going on.  Took a while for the girls to come out.  I went back to digging potatoes and finally they went back to eating old tomato treats from the garden.  

The sun makes the chickens feel better too.  Yesterday, 4 eggs.  Today 9 eggs.  Interesting and I'm checking to see if I am sprouting feathers as boy I'm with the girls on this weather thing.  

Days are cooler, shorter and I am in heaven.  A nice fire seemed fitting to end the weekend.  Zeus was in fine form for an evening fire.

The watchful bunny sentinels under the bench watch a tired dog.  

He was exhausted from bedazzling the backyard ......

the sun set quickly here in Paine Falls ...... 

even with the frost, the nasturtiums have hung on, dancing with the parsley at the edge of the garden.

and what goes better with a fire......... Buffalo Trace bourbon in my Patrick Rademaker whisky cup.

nice to play hooky once in a while.......... 

Pages on blogger ?!

On the learning curve of blogging I discovered these little tabs called pages!  

So far I have added;  Garden, Pottery and Recipes!  

Not sure how this will work but willing to have a go it!   

Tabs?  I love tabs! 

Things that are so right and things that are soooo wrong.....

Been a week here at Happy Acres and beyond.  The truck died, along with the kiln and batteries on the mouse.  We live in the weird little town that I now call home.  People wonder why we stay. 

Here are a few photos on my trip home from the garage.  The garage is run by a local guy who rocks out the tools fixing my truck.  It's a mile from my house and it's usually done in a day. 

 These pictures are all taken within a mile from my house on the walk back from the garage. 

Morley Libray....... best thing this community ever did was build the new library.  

I can walk here and have the world at my fingertips... #1 on my list of why I stayed.

So right! 

The court house and spires from one of the many old churches. 

Our town is the county seat. 

So right! 

The Grand River, I have fished it since we lived it here.

So right!

And rode my kayak to Lake Erie.

So right! 

And the homeless camp in the woods.......

So wrong...... as we have no facility for them and winter is coming on.  

Ohio water....... this summer, so Right! 

and thankful for the wet stuff.

The cliffs of the Grand River on the south side.  Bald Eagles have returned as have 

the Ospreys.  So right! 

The water over the rocks helped me grasp of vision of glaze development over the years.

So right.

The homes flooded and still standing after 6 years of red tape sending many home owners into bankruptcy.  Sooooo wrong.  These will be burned down in the next few days to train local fire departments.  We live at the top of the hill and will be breathing this stuff as it burns.  Pack'n up the chickens and dog and headed out.  

Just a crazy woman driving around with a truck full of chickens and an old dog....... 

back up the hill and cut through the cemetery ......

so right....... 

the sugar maples got there flare on and that is a wonder! 

The entire week was a lesson in so right and so wrong.  I ran a bunch of glaze tests and some are so right and others I thought would be killer were so wrong.  The garden is ending but new sprouts are coming up.  The kiln broke down but I fixed it ..... by myself..... so good!  

I guess life is a balancing act.  You can either see the beauty or see the crap at the bottom of the tank. 

I choose to sit down and center lumps of clay every day when sometimes I have hard time centering my life........  Today I saw both and it was a good lesson. 

 Walk potter, walk.