Napa memories

Here's my Napa souvenir purchase - a very large serving bowl of sorts, made from a section of an old wine barrel. I love the rich burgundy color that the years of red wine storage has left as a permanent visual memory of its presence.

There is still a huge pile of library books for me to go through in the next couple of weeks, but I'm bleary eyed from two days of writing down recipes, so today, as I enjoy another long morning in my pj's, I'll try to finish the new Anthony Bourdain book "Medium Raw'. It's a very entertaining, no holds barred, read, which I'm finding hard to put down. But, as I often find, it's very hard to let go of a good read, so I start slowing down toward the end of the book, in an attempt to prolong the pleasure.

My studio is heating, so I will make it a point to get in there this afternoon. It's been a while and I stopped cold, midway of a few on going projects, so I need to determine which one I want to pick up first. It will probably be getting those latest under glazes on test tiles, and making a few more test tiles.

The family is still here; but will be flying back to L.A. on the weekend, so it won't be before next week when I can get back to a more regular home and studio routine. I'm still playing catch up after the holidays and our Napa trip and enjoying these self indulgent couple of days dealing with piles of library books and the magazines and all the garden catalogs that have been arriving in droves!

Hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and New Yearsday, and are ready to tackle the New Year with great expectations and the energy and enthusiasm to bring them to fulfillment.