Monday, July 30, 2012

Visiting Mudworks

Saturday, Blondie and I made our now annual trek to Ky. Mudworks in Lexington for their annual anniversary sale. It's a 2hr drive from here but I always have a good time and can usually save enough to defray the cost of driving down. Mudworks is a complete clay supply house with a teaching studio, gas kilns, and tools galore. They have their own branded "Dirty Girls" tools. I always liked dirty girls. It's also a good chance to catch up with some old friends from Ky and meet new friends from wherever. Blondie just likes that it's dog friendly so she can get a free wiener ( she doesn't like for me to use that other term) to eat while she watches the contests and demos. The first contest was how many bowls can you throw in 5 minutes? 10 won. They were also doing one for biggest 7lb cylinder in 7 minutes but somehow, that was when I was buying some 20% off bats and a 15% off Shimpo banding wheel.Those bearings are sooo smooooth! It just spins forever.

The big event was watching Yosuke Koizumi from Shimpo throw a 50 pound bowl. He centered very carefully, adding 2 25lb balls of clay to the wheel. He was very good at using his body weight to move the clay without having to strain himself. He then spent a lot of time opening and compressing the floor of the bowl and keeping the rim compressed and true. Finally, he laid it over with a big rib and there it was, 50 lbs of bowl! Blondie was an excellent studio dog through all of this and basically laid down and watched Yosuke demo for about an hour and a half. Not bad for a dog in a crowd of strangers. Thanks for stopping by.









Monday, July 23, 2012

Ingredients

The other day, I picked up a new peanut butter at Costco. I liked the ingredients that were not in this stuff and I really liked the five ingredients that they include. I wish my branding were as strong and simple. Oh, Thanks to all who said they liked the last post. A little positive reinforcement always helps.


Peanuts, Salt, Love, Care & Pride

Friday, July 20, 2012

Manners

Yesterday, Meredith Heywood posted a story about some of the pots from WHYNOT being out on the town. She had pictures of the bon vivants all dressed up in their gorgeous colors, standing at the bar as if to say look at me ,I'm soooo good lookin'. And yet they were stately and looked like they belonged.They spoke quietly to the other patrons and really showed their class and good breeding.

My pots on the other hand, I can't take them anywhere. The last show I did I opened a crate of cereal bowls and apparently there had been a scuffle while we were riding in the van! Ok, we didn't have enough seats so one had to sit in another's lap but the poor guy on the bottom was just shattered by the whole experience. He didn't want to come out of the box and will never go to another show.

As soon as I started putting pots on the shelves they were elbowing each other trying to get the best view. It was so bad that I had to leave some of them locked up in a box under the table. Every time a pot sold another started screaming that he wanted to come out and sit in the empty spot. Then they started yelling at the customers! Get me out of here! This guy tried to cremate us! He keeps us locked up in the barn! We makes us sit in the hot sun all day!

When there were no customers in the booth, they started in on the pots down the aisle from us. A baking dish and a cereal bowl started taunting a chip and dip. We can do everything you can do and MORE they shouted. You think you are so special but all you do is go to parties. We work hard every day! My dog bowls were yelling insults at the neighbor's Brie Bakers saying things like "We are as pretty as you and we're not FRENCH ! Show us your green card!"

With all this commotion the teapots got steamed. The utility jars started chanting "Jugs, Jugs, show us your jugs" to anyone who would listen. The casseroles were so embarrassed that they just hid under their lids.

Eventually they wore themselves out and I was able to get quite a few of the miscreants adopted but then I had to get the others corralled in their boxes and get everyone in the van at the same time. If I EVER take them out again I'm going to give them a good talking to before we go.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Interesting Story

I just thought the rest of you might like to read a story I picked up from the AP this morning. Some of us watch horror movies, I just read the news.

 

 Judge grants Tenn. mosque's petition to open

FILE - In a Thursday, June 21, 2012 file photo, a worker walks out of the construction site of a mosque being built in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro and its religious leader, Imam Ossama Bahloul, sued Rutherford County on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 and asked the federal court for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown on Thursday. In May, a Rutherford County judge overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction and this month he ordered the county not to issue an occupancy permit for the 12,000-square-foot building. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Muslims in a Tennessee congregation prepared Thursday for the holy month of Ramadan a day after a federal judge ruled they have a right to occupy their newly built mosque, overruling a county judge's order that was keeping them out.
The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro sued Rutherford County on Wednesday and asked U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown Thursday.
Federal prosecutors also filed a similar lawsuit.
The future of the mosque had been in question since May, when a local judge overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction. This month, he ordered the county not to issue an occupancy permit for the 12,000-square-foot building.
Campbell ordered the county to move ahead on approving the mosque for use, although it wasn't immediately clear if that could happen by Thursday. Final inspection of the building is required.
The contentious fight over the mosque stems from a 2010 lawsuit filed by a group of residents who made repeated claims that Islam was not a real religion and that local Muslims intended to overthrow the U.S. Constitution in favor of Islamic religious law.
Those claims were dismissed, but opponents won with a ruling that overturned the approval to build the mosque on the grounds that county didn't give adequate public notice of the meeting.
Although the county advertised that meeting in the same way it has advertised others, the judge said extra notice was needed because the mosque construction was "an issue of major importance to citizens."
In court Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin said the chancery court judge, in essence, created a separate "mosque standard" applicable only to someone who wants to build a mosque.
Citing acts of vandalism, arson and a bomb threat against the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Martin said, "The Muslim community in Rutherford County has been under siege for the last two years. Now, after doing everything right, they are told that they can't move in."
Martin asked the federal judge to fulfill a promise made by the congregation's religious leader, Imam Ossama Bahloul, to the children of the congregation that justice would be done and they would be allowed to worship in their new space.
The congregation is being represented by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and local civil rights attorney George Barrett. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Nashville alleges violations of federal law and the constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and equal protection.
"If ICM were a Christian church, it would have been granted a certificate of occupancy and would be worshipping in its new facility today," a memorandum to the federal court reads, citing 20 instances of Christian churches that have been allowed to build since 2000. " ... The discriminatory treatment of the mosque also sends a powerful message to the Muslim community that they are second-class citizens, not worthy of the same rights or protection as Christian churches."
Attorneys for Rutherford County did not oppose the temporary restraining order. County attorneys have argued in chancery court hearings that treating the mosque differently from other applicants was discriminatory and a violation of their rights.
County Attorney Jim Cope said after the hearing that he felt vindicated by Campbell's ruling.
Mosque leader Bahloul said he had been reluctant to involve the mosque in the lawsuit but felt he had no choice after the certificate of occupancy was refused.
He said Campbell's ruling means a lot to Muslims in Tennessee and their supporters.
"I think this is an opportunity for us all to celebrate the freedom and liberty that, in fact, exist in America and to teach our young people to believe even more in the U.S. Constitution," he said.
An attorney for the mosque opponents did not return a call seeking comment.


Saturday, July 14, 2012

Lotsa Pictures

The literati will probably be disappointed with this post. There hasn't been a lot worth writing home about as they used to say. It was HOT, now it's a little cooler. It was DRY now it is a little wetter. The grass was tall, I made it shorter. I have spent a little time in the studio however. Other than to tell you that most of the jars and pitchers are 10 to 12 inches tall there is not much else to say. Lets just see the pictures.

















Thursday, July 5, 2012

Tip of the Week

With the forecast calling for 104 degrees this weekend ( about 10 degrees hotter than we ever see in the Ohio Valley) I remembered a tip that I used last summer that really helped my motivation and helped my pots dry a lot faster but more evenly than setting them out in the sun. It's older than some of you but it still works.