Today's Catch Up.......

It's baaaaack........ the hoary frost!  

I can't stop myself from taking pictures of this cool stuff.  For some reason I find it magical, especially in the new morning light.  

A carpet of gold still remains.......

Amazed the pond is still running as it's more leaves than water.  

It will be cleaned out today!

Most of the leaves are down and temps dip into the teens by the weekend.  I shutter at the thought of sticking my hands into that freezing water!  The pond will run all winter..... birdie hot tubbing! 

A week of pounding...... 

Finally the wall has come down!  Since 2006, the year of the great flood and the abandoned condos at the bottom of hill, this river front property has been tied up in court and abandoned.  Our city got million dollar grant to turn revert the land back to wetlands and educational park. 

 OMG!  At the bottom of the hill, out my front door!  

This week the bull dozers moved in, ripping up collapsed sewer lines, tearing down the retaining wall, removing water lines and disrupting the wildlife.  Will be done by Spring and I cannot wait!  

The studio is now in overdrive.......

The shelves are filling, the kilns are filling, the tables are filling.

Tis' the season!

After the special order, mentioned in the last post, birds have started showing up on my lids and rims. 

I love making them but feel they have been so over done!  Stick a bird on it, stick a bird on it..... well I guess it could have been a chicken.  Not sure how long I will make these but for now,  a nice change.  And I am a confessed birder!  Never felt the need to put them on pots as I could never do them justice.  I find birds to be a fascination and can watch a pack of juncos or chickadees forever!  And finches, can we talk finches.  Wrens anyone?  I love them all.......

Showed one to Butch last night and Tracey this is for you.........

Butch: Wow, these are nice. Where'd you get that bird?  

Me:  Um.... I made it out of clay.  

Butch: Really?  You're getting pretty good... 

Me:  Arghhhhhhh........ 

and returned to the studio, slamming the door.  

Not sure what I expected but that wasn't it...... need a dog!  

And bees.......

On a warm day this week I crawled into the attic of the studio and started poking around.  

Back in my wisteria days I really banged out production ware.  I found an old bag of stands, and other stuff.  Dragging it down and going through everything.  It's time for this stuff to go.  What to do?  Pass it to another potter?  It sat there for a day and since it was paid for it was time to get used.  

Enter the bee cups!  Think they will get candles or evergreen and holly berry arrangements to spruce up the booth in a few weeks.  The short guys could even go a table for jams, jellies or spreads.

We'll see how they are received.......

A couple weeks ago, these rusty, nasty cast iron pans languished on a shelf in a second hand store; paid  $10 for both.  Last night they had a facelift.  It was time to clean the oven anyway, the pans were popped in and the self clean button was pushed.  After the oven shut off the pans were scrubbed with steel wool and scrubbies.  Popped back in a 200 F. oven, back out for a coating of grease, back in a 350F. oven for 15 min. back out, wiped the excess grease off and back in a 400 F. oven for 2 hours.  Go to bed, up this morning, another thin coating of grease and back in a 400F. oven for 2 hours.  Yup, I'll be eating eggs by 9:00 a.m. after a quick walk in the rain.  

Now a thing of beauty....... seasoned cast iron will last the rest of my life and someone else's.