Wednesday, November 21, 2012

FIVE WORDS

It's not Thanksgiving without pie.


Monday, November 19, 2012

Time to Feed the Blog

Hello everyone. This week has been busy without a lot to show for it.The weather has been good with frosty mornings and warm afternoons.This has led to yard clean up and building shelves for the newly roofed barn. The days when I can work outside without freezing are getting fewer and fewer as the year marches on so I have to take advantage of them. I have not been totally away from the pottery. I have two classes of clay monkeys that are great fun to teach and I have been making a few pots of my own. The big change you will see when you look at the pictures is that I washed down the studio and changed over to white clay. I love the red stuff and how my glazes look on it at cone 6 but the lure of reduction firing is calling again.I have been making big platters and mugs that I am anxious to finish but instead of Michael Kline's 12 by 12, my production has been more like 2 by Tuesday.  I have a mixed load to bisque this week then glaze next week and fire for a show I am hopefully going to be in on the 8th. I'm next on the list and people always drop out but I wish they would get on with it. In the mean time, Happy Thanksgiving. Do what you love with those you love and it will all be fine.




Monday, November 12, 2012

Two Unrelated Items

All the posturing by both parties over the fiscal cliff this weekend reminds me of my a favorite poem by Shel Silverstein. It always describes the heart of the matter when someone offers a simple solution to a complex problem.

I've found a way to make
 our friendship last forever.
There's really nothing to it.
I'll just tell you what to do.
And you do it

Item number two. The recent storms reminded me of this old song.( played on my $2 yard sale guitar) This may not show on some mobile devices.








Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Quick Trip

Last Thursday, I headed south down the highway in our little R.V.  First stop was at Raccoon Valley just north of Knoxville. Every Thursday the ESCAPEES campground there has a Bluegrass jam session. You don't need talent, just nerve to participate. Since I can only halfway play, I brought 2 guitars. There might have been 35 or 40 people there with a dozen or so of us performing. I had a very good time and avoided the flying fruit and rotten vegetables. Those folks were so nice that some of them helped me off the stage and showed me the door. One fellow even said he'd like to put me in a long black Cadillac. You can't beat southern hospitality. Seriously, it is a fun evening and a very nice group of people. Any Thursday, 7pm, everyone welcome.

Friday took me to Dillsboro N.C. to help Mike and Karen Baum in their booth at the Western North Carolina Pottery Festival.The drive through the Smoky Mountains was lovely but the sight of snow on the high elevations worried me a little. Luckily, I went around the end of the Smokies and avoided driving through any of it. When I got to Dillsboro, I parked the rig back by the creek and left it there for the weekend. It was very convenient not to have to drive to a motel off site and to have everything I needed close at hand. I helped with set up for a couple of hours then enjoyed watching throwing competitions. These are some outstanding potters from as far away a New York, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Texas. I think the winning 5 lb cylinder was about 17 inches high and the winning 5 lb bowl was nearly 18 .Longest pulled handle? 38 inches. After a quick dinner Mike , Karen and I unloaded their booth from the van and set up the canopy and shelves by lantern light. Friends Marcia Fanthorp and sister Carol also showed up so it went well and only took an hour or so. I was glad to see my snug little bed waiting in a nice warm camper and hit it early.

Saturday, I was up at 6 making coffee and by 7 we were again working under lantern light to unpack boxes and stock the booth. Mike and Karen make lovely durable functional pots and plenty of them.Like a stretched van packed wall to wall end to end and top to bottom. We flew through set up and were ready to go by 9:30. That gave me 2 minutes to run to the bathroom, say hello to John Bauman, meet Ron Philbeck, eat a complementary breakfast burrito and get back to the booth. No time for fooling around or even taking pictures for the blog. You can use the links above to see Mike and Karen's work and see more from the festival.  People started coming and lining up 4 or 5 deep to check out. I was wrapping and bagging in the back of the booth and didn't get to look up until 3 pm. Wow what a show.We closed at 4 and by 5:30 ( again with more help from Marcia) we were packed up and heading for the post show dinner. I hit the sack about 7:30 and that was that.

Sunday was a beautiful day to drive home. I even made a short side trip to Cumberland Falls about 15 miles west of I 75 at Corbin Ky. just to take a picture for you. The falls are 65 ft high and there is a lovely state park there with full amenities.