Garden photos

The garden is lush and ablaze with color.All the roses and clematis are in full bloom as well as many of the other perennials.

Yesterday turned out to be kitchen and gardening time. The only studio chore I got was spending over an hour unclogging a sprayer only to find that I still need to seal the rubbery or vinyl area next to the brass nozzle. That area melted when using it to spray soda in the kiln. Once I got the sprayer working, it was spraying through parts of that melted area. That sprayer will have to get some sealant around that area and be designated for the garden instead of soda firing.

I got all the tomatoes, eggplant, squash and potatoes sprayed and did a bit more mulching on the potatoes. This morning, after breakfast, I need to re-plant corn. The seeds I planted a week ago haven't sprouted. It was older seed, but not that old, and should have sprouted. So today I'll plant a new variety of 2011 seeds.

Snails and slugs are doing too much damage on the broccoli and cabbage, so I need to wet the soil and put down some Escar-go, which is a safe granule to get rid of the critters. Then I'll head to the studio and get some pots slipped and decorated. I have about a week and a half before the TRAC tour and there's a lot to do before then. Now that the small Olympic gas kiln is ready to go, I should be able to re-fire a lot of pots Thursday or Friday when the current forecast is calling for sunny days.

New Drying Cabinet

This is our old fridge, now living in the studio, doing duty as a drying cabinet. Since we were going away and I wasn't sure how well this would work, I covered the pots with plastic as insurance; and they did just fine.

The small Olympic gas kiln is ready to fire those re-fires as soon as I have two clear days in a row, which are in the forecast later next week. John Britt came over yesterday morning and finished installing the last couple of plumbing parts and checked it out to made sure that all was working. This is one great guy, with a big, generous heart always ready to help this old lady in need. You are a treasure John!

The garden calls this morning, after our sourdough pancake breakfast. The potatoes I heeled up again yesterday need spraying. After that my sourdough no knead bread will be ready to bake, followed by some early dinner prep.

I may even be able to squeeze in some studio tidying time today. First thing I have to do is get Jim's help and get the Olympic kiln sections back on the frame. With the TRAC tour coming soon there's a lot to be done other than re-firing some pots later in the week. With all the rain in the forecast for early this week, it looks like there will be plenty of time for the studio before the garden calls again.

Back from the beach

We had four lovely, sunny days at Nags Head with our dear friends Jim and Laura. The sun and sand were very healing. My face actually looks fine unless you look closely and the other black and blue marks are well hidden by clothing. It was our first visit to North Carolina beaches. Typical of beach communities there were lots of funky shops, houses and restaurants.

Yesterday was spent unpacking, doing laundry, grocery shopping, picking up Bodhi and Bonnie at the kennel and dealing with all the other things you need to do when you've been away from home for several days. One of the things I got done was signing up for Square, which will hopefully, enable me to swipe credit cards using a little gizmos they're sending me that should attach to my new Ipod Touch. Today I'll tackle the snail mail and check out the garden. I know there's spinach to be harvested. It was pretty ready before we left.

We got some very sad news yesterday afternoon. Jim's niece Eva passed away after a long term illness. She and her husband Don, bought a little get away house in Burnsville a while back and she so loved her time here in the mountains.

Down to the wire

I'm down to the wire with the garden. Today was a 6 1/2 hour day of planting and weeding. All the terraces are planted, with just a small section in one where I'll plant more corn tomorrow.By Sunday I should have most of the seedlings planted that are large enough to plant now. I've run out room in the terraces and the knoll for veggies, so today I planted some tomatoes and herbs in the flower beds. I'm probably going to have to clear some new area in order to plant some of these other seedlings this season.

The fava beans got planted today along with watermelon, herbs, corn, bush and 3 different types of pole beans, 3 different yellow bush beans, more squash,tomatoes, kale and lettuce. And of course, there was a lot of weeding along the way, as well as digging up and moving a few perennials. I'm one big ache, but feeling very satisfied to get that much done in one day.

Since I was too tired to cooked what I had planned, I opted for a simple carb fix of plain pasta with garlic, parsley butter. Now I'm going to finish my wine, shower and probably pass out while watching TV - a good day!

IPod touch finally arrived

It took me two days to figure out the problem I had with my new Ipod touch, which would not let me on line. I spent the morning dealing with it again, and finally gave up and went out to get in some gardening before the forecasted rains arrived early afternoon. The rains never came, so I had enough time to dig up some Japanese maple seedlings for a friend, transplant all my kale seedlings, some flowers and artichokes and do a lot of weeding, and mulching. Before I came in I harvested asparagus for the last time this season.

I had to weed the cold frame again, since my plan this year was to plant some of the artichokes in there and hopefully, the cold frame will help them to survive our winter. If that doesn't work I might just give up on that idea, although I do have one other alternative which, although not too practical might work - plant one in one of those half wine barrels and wheel it inside the garage for winter.

Before dinner, I googled the Ipod Internet connecting problem, and followed the recommendation solution I found,which was to delete the current network setting and start over; and it worked! Now I can cancel my appointment with the computer guru.

I also read and deleted some of the emails on the Ipod, but found that they did not show the deletion on my computer. I downloaded a couple of the free apps - a game and the weather channel, but could use some recommendations for other fun and useful apps.

Now that dinner is over I'll start entering some more contacts in the ipod. It didn't take long to get used to fingertip typing on that tiny keyboard. I can't wait to find out all the things this sweet little tool does. I downloaded the manual, so I'll be spending my spare time the next few days, checking that out.

There are still a lot of plants to plant and it looks like tomorrow is going to be a good day to make good headway on that chore; and a few pots need trimming which I should also be able to get to at some point tomorrow.

Great gardening weather

Here are a couple of the peonies that opened up fully this morning.

It's been a beautiful day to be working in the garden. I finished weeding and mulching the strawberries bed, planted three more beefsteak tomatoes, two more French tarragons, penstemon and did a lot of weeding and general garden cleanup.

The heat pad set on low worked for some of the seeds, and in a matter of hours! By nightfall, pot of squash seedlings peeked through, and even one of the South American peppers sprouted after doing nothing for a couple of weeks in the pot! I put some corn seeds in a tiny bowl covered with water and set it on the heat pad yesterday morning, and by last night they were showing signs of starting to sprout!

After a quick almond and water lunch I got right back out to do another two hours of planting (zucchini, buttercup squash, and a French variety whose name escapes me at the moment, several Serrano and other chiles, some marigolds and Swiss chard. I got it all mulched and of course there was more of the never ending weeding to do.

The early afternoon thunderstorms that were forecast never came, so I kept planting. One more planting day and I should have all the bigger veggie starters and some more flowers planted. It's been a good gardening day. Time for a big glass of water and a shower and some computer work before dinner.

Roses blooming

The garden is a bit bedraggled this morning from the heavy thunder storms last night and this morning; but I managed to get a couple of nice shots once the sun came out. Here's one of my favorite heirloom roses. Luckily, we escaped any heavy damage from the storm.

I need a day off - at least from the heavy donkey, digging, lifting, planting work I've been doing, to give myself time to get over this cold and scratchy throat. So, early morning was pretty restful. I started to clean up my Itunes files, and dealt with seeds and seedlings. Some of my heat loving seeds are refusing to sprout, so I hauled out a heat pad, set it on low and hopefully the bottom heat will remind them to wake up!

Yesterday was an all gardening day. I finished planting the knoll next to my gallery with some frying peppers and basil; and I found room for two more tomato plants. I weeded most of the strawberries on the knoll and mulched everything but the strawberries with straw which I'll mulch with pine needles when I'm done with the weeding. I also got a few more buckets cleaned out and planted some bells peppers in them.

Some strawberries are starting to ripen already, and it looks like some of the peonies will be open by the end of today. All of the knock out roses as well as many others, including three of the climbers, are blooming. The garden is full of of color now with so many perennials in bloom.

Time too cool off, have some lunch, and continue on cleaning up photo files and music files. My new Ipod touch is en-route to our local Walmart, so I need to get this cleanup done pronto!

Garden chores morning

Mother's day was a mixture of morning vegging out in my PJ's and an afternoon of cleaning up and planting some big containers. I got all the big containers prepped and transplanted 6 plum tomatoes in them and saved the biggest container for an egpplant that I planted yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday was an out and about day - osteo treatment, lunch out, some pickup grocery shopping and a quick Walmart stop for some more potting mix and a couple of veggie starts and a new Peace rose to replace one of the roses that died this winter. I was wiped after the osteo and shopping and didn't get around to weeding and mulching the strawberry bed and knoll, so I'll try to get that done later this morning before the expected isolated thunderstorms arrive early afternoon. I still have whatever bug/allergies/cold hanging on which is probably also accounting for my low energy and scratchy throat at the moment.

Many of the seeds I planted just a few days ago have sprouted, so they're getting moved to the front porch this morning. None of the South American peppers or the one New Mexican pepper have sprouted yet even though I warmly wrapped the pots to get them a bit warmer than our 72degree room temperature. Other peppers I started came up fine last month without the added protection, so I'm starting to think that maybe I was sold some old seed. :-(

Time to chug down a bunch of vitamins and start moving seedlings to the their new temporary home on the front porch.

Happy Mother's Day

Spent about 5 hours yesterday turning over and digging through some very rocky soil sections next to my gallery (the area was part of the old gravel driveway), to deeply plant these 10 tomatoes. To say I was tired afterward doesn't come close to how exhausted and sore I felt; but I managed to make a quick pot sticker dinner, shower and get to the Michael Kline and Stacey Lane opening at the Crimson Laurel gallery, here in town. The show is great and they had a wonderful turnout! There's another show at the gallery called "Containment", with a great selection of boxes. The gallery has several new artists and I highly recommend it if you're in our area.

John Britt came by late afternoon and installed the bees and brought some of the plumbing parts for the Olympic kiln which will have to get re-installed later. With all the rain in the forecast, and the need to wheel the kiln outdoors to fire, there's no rush to complete the job in the next few days.

On this Mother's day, I'm going to indulge myself with a do nothing, lazy morning reading the Sunday papers. I ordered myself a Mothers day present - an Ipod touch, inspired by Michael Kline giving me a demo on his at the gallery last night. With it, I'll be able to take charge cards through Square, which gives you a free, little card swiper that attaches to the unit and a downloadable free app to go with it. This will work better for me than an Ipad, which is bigger than I need for what I wanted. It's also half the price of the IPad. It takes photos, hd video, has an on screen keyboard for email, notes, etc. and has wi-fi and blue tooth built in, and of course stores all your regular IPod music, photos, etc

If I perk up by this afternoon, I'll transplant the plum tomatoes into large containers which works well for the smaller tomatoes, but not the big heirloom and hybrid beefsteak types.

There's only one day in the next 10 without rain in the forecast, so I'll be able to get in some good studio time in between seedling care and maybe some garden time if they are any lulls in the rain.

Michael Kline pot

Here's one of Michael Kline's wonderful wood fired pots with some rhododendron I cut this morning. Michael and his wife Stacey Lane have a 6pm opening at the Crimson Laurel Gallery here in Bakersville, NC tonight. The show will feature some of Michael's new porcelain and other pieces and Stacey's jewelry. Here's a link where you can preview the show:

http://www.crimsonlaurelgallery.com/

Not sure how this day is going to shape up. I'm still feeling fluish; but I managed to get all the older seedlings back on the front porch, and once it warms up a bit more I'd like to transplant some of the paste tomatoes into big pots and get some of the larger, heirloom and other tomatoes planted on the knoll near my gallery.

A single cosmos seedling from the various flowers and veggies I planted just a couple of days ago has sprouted. I guess wrapping some of the peat pots in towels made for ideal, warm conditions.

John Britt may be coming over at some point to deliver the bees and get them into the hive and get the new plumbing on the Olympic kiln. I doubt if I'll get any studio time today but with possible rain forecast starting tonight and continuing every day this week, that will give me plenty of time for the studio.

Pricing and delivery

This morning I was definitely under the weather,but after breakfast and a handful, of vitamins and minerals, I perked up enough to tend my seedling, and then found my way to the studio and got all the recently fired pots measured, priced and set up in in the gallery.

The old fridge is now in the studio and almost ready for do it's new job as a pot drying cabinet.

After pot pricing and placement,it was time to pack up the two pots for the TRAC tour exhibit and drive to Spruce Pine to deliver them. Dinner at the Tin Lizard followed and by then I was ready for nothing more than relaxing evening at home with some wine and a favorite, old movie "Love Actually". And if I'm a lucky girl, (I usually am), there will be a lovely foot rub to go with the movie. :-)

Life is good even on the not so good days!

kiln plumbing

After reading my problem of not being able to get some of those plumbing parts off the Olympic kiln, John Britt, called and volunteered to come over to help. This knight in shining armor came in a car armed with some big wrenches and the strength to get them to work. We couldn't get one bell shaped piece to move, and decided to leave it, which meant that the extra length of the pipe holding the water column gauge, made it necessary to make another trip to the plumbing supply store in Spruce Pine to get a longer piece of the copper tubing and new fittings to connect the pilot burner.

Yesterday was another, super busy day - spending all morning on planting seeds in peat pots, planting the rest of the pansies and some kale, doing more weeding, dealing with the kiln plumbing, then having to move all tender veggie starts indoors and cover some already planted lettuce because of the expected freeze. At around 6 am this we were at about a bare 32F degrees; but looks like we got very lucky this time.

The new backup fridge is being delivered early, so I need to empty part of the old one and clear space in the studio for it. Once it warms up in the afternoon I need to get the tines back on the rototiller and till the last 2 terraces and the knoll next to my gallery.

A month ago I felt a bit more than overwhelmed with all the garden work ahead; but I'm now feeling on top of it all and think, weather permitting, I'll be able to get the planting and cleanup finished before or soon after the spring TRAC tour.

Flowers and kiln plumbing

Only half of this rhododedron is in bloom; but it's still a sight to behold on this cool morning! I'll have to cut some for the house later; and I have the perfect Michael Kline pot for them.

The only things on yesterdays "to do" list that got done were finishing planting, weeding and mulching one more terrace and calling Olympic about those kiln plumbing parts. The morning plan to plant seeds turned in a marathon of phone calls(4) and emails back and forth to Olympic. I finally suggested that I take a picture of the current plumbing since what they were telling me didn't match what I was seeing and sure enough, the picture was worth a thousand words. After seeing the photo they called me with a list of other parts to buy so I could get the water column gauge installed.

Dinner plans got scrubbed so we could get to the plumbing supply store for nice, new brass fittings, followed by a trip to Walmart to get the recommended lubricant which will hopefully loosen the current fittings. I sprayed them last night and will attempt once again, to remove them this morning.

It's going to be too cool for garden work this morning; and after the heavy rain it's probably a soggy mess any way. So today gardening will be an indoor job. I just re-planted 5 types of South American hot pepper seeds and will plant a bunch more seeds before I head out to the studio.

Terrace farming

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on these terraces where I grow most of the vegetables. I finished weeding and mulching two of the terraces, weeded two others, and dug up a bunch of volunteer potatoes and transplanted them. There was room for one more row in the terrace where I planted the other potatoes, which was going to be for red potatoes; but I waited too long to buy them and everyone was out of the Red Pontiacs. The garden devas provided enough volunteers to fill the whole row.

Yesterday morning I attempted to remove some plumbing parts from the Olympic gas kiln but they wouldn't budge for me, even with the heaviest wrench. The water column gauge I got from Olympic doesn't seem to have any place to fit on either the new regulator or the solenoid valve, so I need to call them this morning and find out whether I need a different part or a new part to get all these things working together.

Today is a new moon, so according to planting by moon signs, I can plant some seeds of above ground veggies, which I'll do right after breakfast. Then I'll head back to the garden and weed another one of the already planted terrace beds, transplant a few more kale seedlings and mulch the bed.

Dinner is going to be easy - bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, so I'll try to squeeze in a bit of studio time.

Pizza margarita night

Yesterday morning was spent driving to Banner Elk to get some plants at Lowes, then back home to do some weeding and get the bean A frames and tomato cages out of the shed.

Then it was time for lunch, followed by early dinner prep - made the pizza dough and got the toppings prepped. I don't know why, but after that, I was extremely tired, and wound up napping for over an hour; and I'm not a daily napper. During that long nap, the pizza dough tripled on its first rise; butit had no trouble rising again and turned out fine. Good thing to learn.

After breakfast I'm going to see if I can remove the old regulator and solenoid valve on the small Olympic kiln and install the new parts. There was no time for the studio yesterday, nor enough time to get the weeding and mulching done on the already planted terraces, so I'll continue that job right after lunch, then make the bolognese sauce for tonight's pasta dinner.

Garden shots

A couple of garden shots from this morning. Everything is waking up very nicely. The first rose bloomed yesterday - a bright red heirloom; and it looks like more roses will be blooming this week. The rhododendrons are now opening, and various irises and the aquilegia are blooming.

It's been a busy couple of days with everything but hands on studio work. With friends coming for porch sitting last night I spent the morning getting the house and porch company ready, caught up with some paper work, followed by a few of hours in the garden before getting all the porch sitting food ready. The only studio related thing I got to do was reformulate a turquoise glaze.

The garden continues to strongly call at the moment so I'll concentrate on that for today. Some not quite leather hard pots are under plastic and will be fine for another day or two.

We bought a new backup refrigerator which will be arriving later this week, and the old one is going into the studio to be used as a drying cupboard for freshly thrown pots. It will be so nice not to have to deal with all these piles of plastic any more.

This morning my friend Laura is coming over to dig up some of my extra plants. Then I'll be off to Lowes for a new, sturdy trellis for one of my other climbing roses which is now flopping over and shrouding it's perennial neighbors. The current trellis literally fell apart after only two years. This afternoon I need to weed and mulch the already planted vegetable terraces. I doubt if there will be time to do anything more; but if there is, there's a bush cherry and some veggie starts ready to transplant.

Asheville day

Before heading to Asheville for the Herb Fest and some grocery shopping, we watched the Royal wedding - very impressive; and of course everyone looked beautiful. The Brits definitely know how to do ceremony very well!

We had a lot shopping stops in Asheville, so I didn't linger too long at Herb Fest - just focused on what I was really searching for - French Tarragon and some unique pepper plants; but I found a few other goodies like pineapple sage, lemon grass, two types of nice sized Brandywine tomatoes that are already in flower, and a six pack of various swiss chard varieties. Herb fest is a once a year event near the Farmers Market and is always a fun event with wonderful selections of culinary and medicinal herbs from around the world,vegetable starters, hand made soaps, trees, vines, etc. Now I have to find time to plant them. Tomorrow I need a half day in the studio and the other half preparing for porch sitting with friends, so Sunday will be the first opportunity to get some things planted.

It's going down to the 30's tonight, so I'm heading to the porch to bring in the basil and pepper seedlings for the night and cover the rest with remay.

Storm system moving our way

Holding tight this morning with that big storm system coming our way. Jim was planning on some morning chores in Spruce Pine but he took my suggestion of waiting till tomorrow. We've already had some pretty strong wind gusts coming through and the main part of the system hasn't yet arrived.

I'm glad I was able to get a good amount of garden cleanup and planting done yesterday. After a bad night's sleep I wasn't up to studio work, but getting in the garden actually perked me up a bit.

Today will be a full studio day. The replacement plumbing parts for my small Olympic gas kiln arrived yesterday afternoon, so I'll be able to do those re-fires once we get a couple of sunny days in a row - maybe over the weekend. I need to slip and decorate a small group of pots today and maybe weigh out another glaze test or two.

What's blooming

The first Irises and lilacs and some other shrubs have been blooming for several days; and the June and ever bearing strawberries I planted last month are also in flower. Volunteer johnny jump ups and tomato and morning glory seedlings seem to be everywhere!

Yesterday, I cut more asparagus and had enough for last nights dinner(cooked asparagus piled high on toast, topped with chopped hard boiled eggs and bacon pieces and covered in lemon butter.)

I've been up since 3am thanks to a headache interrupting my sleep. Since I couldn't get back to sleep I decided to spend part of the wee hours catching up with some email and snail mail. Studio time was not an option the way I felt so after the light, morning rain passed, I thought a few minutes in the garden might perk me up. Two hours later I have a tidier garden, with freshly planted pansies,and a few lemon yellow dahlias, some pruned roses and vines and a couple of huge piles of weeds and garden debris for Jim to discard in the woods. Now I'm going to get in a reclining position and hope I can manage to nap for a bit.

Finished pots

Some of the pots from the firing that are sanded and waiting to get priced.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate this day! Got my Easter dinner veggies prepped this morning and made and ate our family's traditional, big Easter breakfast - ham, kielbasa, hard boiled eggs with horseradish and sweet bread.

There wasn't a full studio day yesterday, which is not unusual this time of year. Bunnies have been spotted near my veggies so I had to spread some blood meal to keep them away from my peas and greens, pull some weeds and harvest more asparagus. I cut enough spears for a dinner tomorrow and a few more will be ready to harvest by then.

For now, it's time to get into the studio and do the last bit of cleanup and finishing on some mugs and a couple of other pots and get them slipped and decorated.

April showers

Here's a quickly taken shot of one of the, small, oval bottles from this firing - once of the pots that came through the firing unscathed.

Yesterday was spent checking the pots and spending a lot of time grinding off the soda that crawled up the feet of way too many pots. Many are a total loss and will stay in the studio as pencil holders!

I had to stop work early enough to plant the two big flower pots in front of the studio, and then drive to Spruce Pine to TRAC before they closed. After a couple of other stops, we had a lovely shrimp dinner at the Knife and Fork which now has a good supplier for local seafood. Before heading home there was a last minute food shopping for Easter Sunday's dinner.

This morning I called Olympic to order replacement parts for the small cone 10 gas kiln I use for soda tests and re-fires. Some of the pots from this firing need to be re-fired but can't be done it until I get a new baso valve, water column gauge and low pressure regulator installed. The other chore of the morning was checking the test tiles from the firing and noting the results.

Since I can't get any gardening in with showers forecast all day, I might just throw some replacement pots that I can soda fire in the small kiln next month. Time to get to work.

A couple of racers from this firing

A couple of quick photos of 2 of my favorite pots from this firing.

The hastily taken pictures don't show the depth of color on this platter and plate. Once I get the rest of the pots cleaned up (today's chore) I'll have to take some decent photos.
We had some shopping to do in the morning and after we got back from Spruce Pine I unloaded the kiln. There was a lot of plunking, which I call "snot" on the feet, from too much soda/salt. I think it was the extra salt that did it because I've used as much or more soda and never got that on the pots; or maybe I was too stingy with the alumina on the shelves. The draw rings looked right, so it was a surprise to see all that gunk on the feet of so many pots.

If the rain stays away till mid afternoon, I've got some dahlia bulbs and lettuce starts to plant, and maybe make one more feeble attempt to look for morels which seem to be living elsewhere in the county this year. Otherwise I'll stay in the studio until it's time to get ready for a nice dinner at the Knife and Fork.

Soda kiln door unbricked

I checked the kiln after planting three rows potatoes, and some weeding and garden cleanup. The kiln was cooled down enough and since I had a little time and energy after all the garden work, I decided to at least un-brick the door.

Shanes glazed pots look very good with some nice crystals on some of the turquoise oribe. There are only a few of my small re-fires on that front portion because I loaded my pots first and they're on the back and middle layer, I won't get to see them till tomorrow when I unload. I'm just too sore and tired after all the heavy garden work to do anything more than type and watch some TV tonight.

Looks like I could have used a bit less soda/salt and/or maybe a bit more alumina on the shelves because some of the pots have that "snotty" stuff crawling up the base of some of the pots which I haven't had happen since using the alumina on the shelves.

Post firing baking day

Just took these two loaves of rye out of the oven. It's my first attempt with this sourdough rye starter to make a New York deli type rye. I hope it tastes as good as it smells. It doesn't have that lovely crispy top that you see from the bakeries of my childhood in New York; but I suspect that bit of crispiness was from their wood and coal burning ovens. I did steam the oven for ten minutes with boiling water in a pan before baking and sprayed more water in a few time while baking. I may have to do more next time.

The kiln is cooling nicely. The bottom is 200F but top is much hotter (over 500F). Once the top is around 400F I'll open the peeps. I got some peeks and see that I go some of that crud crawling up some of the pots from the soda/salt, which I normally avoid. I added a bit more salt this time (about 2 1/2 lbs), along with about 2 1/4 lbs of soda solution. It may have been just a bit too much salt, or maybe I went a bit too thin with the alumina on the shelves. The colors look good from what I can see. My celadon liner is reduced enough to have some color and Shane's turquoise looks like it held it's color well. Can't wait to get a better look at all the pots - maybe tomorrow.

Time for a little lunch and then off to plant for a while while my no knead sourdough bread proofs for another 3 hours.

What not to leave in the kiln room

The heat from the cooling kiln did an interesting thing to this 6 pack of ginger ale. It gives new meaning to the term "pop open can".

The kiln is cooling (down to 1100F). Yesterday's firing ended at a reasonable hour for a change thanks to friend Shane coming over at midnight to turn a couple of burners on low and me, turning it up again at 5am. We shut down around 6:45. I'll be using that schedule in the future, except, I'll start even earlier.

This crossdraft is still not firings as evenly as I'd like, so I'm going to open up the lower part of bag wall a bit more for the next firing.

Today is my post firing vegg out day with the Sunday papers, a marathon of "The Tudors" to watch on the BBC, and some ceramic magazines and other snail mail to read.

Kiln humming along nicely

The kiln is slowly rising(around 2100F at the moment.

Shane loaded his pots last night and we not only got all our pots in, but there was a bit of room for a few of my re-fires.

I called it a nigh at ten o'clock, and Shane came back at midnight to turn a couple of burners on low and I took over at 5am. Shane will be back for dinner at 5 (Jim is getting us some Kentucky Fried chicken and cole slaw and I made potato salad yesterday)and we'll finish the firing together. It looks like dinner may be happening about the time I may be ready to start spraying the soda solution.

I think this schedule of candling a few hours, then turning two of the burners on low before bedtime, is going to make for an easier, earlier firing. It will be nice to be in bed before midnight on firing day.

New burner ports and tightened bag wall

Shane worked late last night tightening up the bag wall and building new burner ports. We'll be firing Saturday. I'm loading today and Shane will load his half after work on Friday.

We're hoping that these latest changes will result in a more even firing in this cross draft.

I weighed out six glaze tests yesterday (one new glossy base with six different color combinations). I had to stop by mid afternoon to get on with dinner prep, so I'll be mixing and dipping the test tiles this morning. The Chicken Canzanese was a big hit and I will definitely be making that again. It's a time consuming but not difficult recipe.

I'm waiting for the kiln room to warm up a bit before I start loading. Right now I'm heading to the studio to mix and sieve the test batches and get them on to tile.

Glaze testing and potato planting day

Moving slowly after a sourdough pancake breakfast, and a bit early dinner prep for tonight's Chicken Canzanese. The propane people just left after topping off the tank and I'm waiting for a friend to come with a truckload of straw that I'll be using to mulch my vegetable beds.

It's cooler than it was a few days ago, so I'm going to head to the studio for a couple of hours and batch up some test glazes and then get in some garden time early afternoon to plant some potatoes.

My friend Shane is coming by around 6 o'clock to do some work on the kiln ports and tighten up the bag wall, so I'll be able to load my pots tomorrow which should go faster than usual since I already wadded them. That will give me an unusual day or rest after loading and before firing. Shane will be loading his pots Friday and we'll be firing Saturday. It's all good.

Nice video on building and firing an adobe kiln

Today was a day off from the studio. I had to get an osteo treatment, which my body welcomed after days of heavy studio and garden work, then our big meal of the day at the Mexican restaurant, and some food and plant shopping.

After all the groceries were put away I decided to get some seedlings into biggers pots and then it was time for a light dinner of samosa. The days do fly by!

Looks like tomorrow will be a good day to finally plant my potatoes. I just hope the ground isn't too wet from all of the rain last night.

Decorating done

After breakfast and seedling and house plant feeding, I headed to the studio and got the rest of the pots decorated before noon, stopped to make a green smoothie lunch and then made more draw rings and cone packs and got all but one shelf's worth of pots wadded before I had to come in and make dinner.

I thought I might go out after dinner to finish the wadding, but my back is screaming "NO!", so I think I'll do some computer work, finish watching the Masters golf and then watch one of my Netflix movies. It's been a good day.

last pots bisqued and unloaded

Unloaded the last pots from the bisque kiln this morning and will be glazing later. First I need to see about ordering the new low pressure regulator and baso valve for the Olympic gas kiln which I use for tests and re-fires.

Yesterday was a super busy day cleaning out the clay mixer, mixing up some wadding and mudding mix for the kiln, doing some studio tidying and filing and then 4 hours in the garden. I got one bed planted with broccoli, broccolini and cabbage, planted a grape vine and spent the rest of time on weeding and other garden cleanup. With the early warmth, the garden is really coming alive. Even the peonies are coming up, the hydrangeas are ready to come into leaf and I saw the first volunteer potato which was a good reminder that I still haven't planted my potatoes. That job will have to wait till Sunday or Monday.

Looks like a planting day

Fired the last bisque yesterday and did some studio tidying and got the floor mopped. It turned out to be a lovely day, so I managed to get a bit of garden cleanup time before dinner.

Before breakfast this morning I got some wadding and mudding mixed and that will probably be it for studio time today other than unloading the bisque later.

It looks like it's a good day to finally plant that grape vine, cherry tree and cool weather veggie starts and feed and transplant some of the seedlings.

Short studio update

I need one more day to finish decorating the last few pots from the latest bisque. I've got another bisque ready to go as soon as some of the pots finish drying.

My friend Shane came over yesterday afternoon, and put the new safety on the soda kiln and checked out the small Olympic gas kiln. Seems it had the wrong regulator, which ruined the safety. So now I need a new regulator and a new safety. That's the second safety valve I've had to replace this month. :-(

Karen Karnes

I read the most wonderful Karen Karnes interview with Mark Shapiro this morning.The first pot I ever bought, was one of Karen's casseroles. Some years later, in the early 80's, I was fortunate enough to take a several days, hands on workshop with her at Big Creek Pottery in Davenport, California. This is one of the photos of her from the workshop.

We slept in rough bunk rooms, ate some lovely vegetarian food, and had several days of making pots, watching her work, having critiques and enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the central California mountains just north of Santa Cruz. Daniel Rhodes had a studio nearby and joined us for a party at the end of the workshop, and John Glick and his wife stopped the studio by one day and kindly remarked on a very large bowl I had just finished. It was total immersion in clay for several days - no cooking, no house to care for - just work, eat and sleep. Heavenly!

Here's a link to the interview:

http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-karen-karnes-12096

Enjoy!

New handle idea

Got a lot done in the studio today - had a bunch of pots to wax and slip, some finishing work to do on a few others and even found time to throw a few more. Here's a couple of the pots I was working on. The small dishes were made using the method in the Cory Lum video I posted a while back. I used some of my home made stamps to impress some of them and used an old wood printing block in the center of the other the third one.

The second picture is a closeup of a new handle that I put on the oval pot in the background of the first photo. I'm pretty pleased with the look.

Now that dinners done, it's time to head back to the studio to check on some pots,and close up for the night, before heading back in for some TV and a glass of wine with dessert.

Fregola with clams

Yesterday was a "go to town day", and for us that's Asheville. The car needed servicing which took longer than usual since the battery needed replacing as well; and there was some food shopping to do and a stop in Black Mountain for lunch at the German restaurant.

It was a beautiful day and enjoyable drive with all the lovely spring flowering trees - Japanese flowering cherries, Bradford pears, Redbud trees and all the daffodils and forsythia. I made an easy dinner with fregola pasta, and the fresh clams I got at Earth Fare. It was pretty light, tasty fare after a big lunch and Jim brought up a lovely Frank Family Chardonnay to go with it. I had never had fregola pasta before. It's interesting, with a texture not unlike cooked barley. It was a very warming, brothy, comfort food, kind of dish, which I think would work well with canned clams if fresh aren't readily available.

Our Japanese cherry tree came into full bloom today and the Japanese quince has started to bloom as well. I did a quick garden check and noticed more perennials like the hydrangeas, are coming to life. It was too cool earlier to work in the garden, so I spent my time baking (banana bread), plant care and household and computer chores. Most of the tomato seeds, cosmos, basil and artichokes have sprouted but the bell and hot peppers are being a bit stubborn! Ron, if you're reading this, I have some hot chili pepper seeds from Peru I can share with you.

Some freshly made pots from two days ago will need tending tomorrow; but they're well covered till then. I made a couple slab plates using the method in the Cory Lum video I posted a while back. I just ordered a larger wooden block drape mold from ebay so I can make some larger ones. There just wasn't time for the studio today and this evening is spoken for with Friday night dinner with friends.

Spring has sprung

Our plum tree is in full flower this morning - so beautiful!

I checked on a couple of freshly thrown pots at daybreak and they should be ready for trimming later. One was a replacement for a bisqued and decorated bowl that broke yesterday, when I wheeled my chair back. I couldn't figure how that could happen, since the bowl was set back on the table, until I noticed that the back of the chair leans a bit and must have caught it. Lesson learned! Jim's been asking me to make us a butter dish, so I finally got around to it.

Yesterday morning was taken up with bread baking, so there wasn't much afternoon studio time. I cleaned out some old clay bags and dumped some old reclaim clay, and wet down some pretty dry bags of clay so they'd be soft enough to pug today or tomorrow. By the time I cleaned the wheel and swept the floor it was time to think about dinner. Half a day in the studio isn't enough time to accomplish very much.

There's a lot of reclaim I want to dump down the side of an eroded section of our property. Now that I've decided on one clay, and am finally using the pugmill, I don't want these clays taking up studio space and unless someone reading this wants a lot of free cone 10, reclaim and other clays, it will be used as erosion control. Most of it is in usable plastic state.

Bread and clay

Here's this morning's no knead sour dough bread - an improvement over the one I made the other day. This time I also added some yeast and used bread flour. The last one didn't rise as much only using the starter, but the flavor was good.

Time to head to the studio, even though the garden is calling and there are onion, garlic and leek still needing to plant; but they'll have to wait till tomorrow. The pots have been patiently waiting for me to get back to them while I try to get a head start on spring gardening.

Yesterday I spent all day going through my seeds, sorting, then planting 24 different varieties of vegetables and flowers as well as transplanting a few kale, which are looking a bit sad this morning. Hope I didn't transplant them too soon. No problem though, since I have enough kale seedlings to feed the entire county!

Daffodils in bloom

I got an early start this morning and by 5am I had my other sourdough bread prepped and on it's second rise.

Yesterday's studio schedule changed when I realized I needed to do some grocery shopping for last nights pizza. When we got home a large mail order from an Italian grocery store needed to get unpacked - great timing, since the pepperoni arrived just in time for the pizza.

While at Walmart I also picked up some more compost and veggie starts, some of which I'm hoping to transplant this afternoon. Since I got such an early start on the bread, I'll be able to get a half a day in the studio before it warms up enough to do some planting.

While the bread is baking, I'm going to make a Jacques Pepin mushroom and leek soup to go with tonight's pierogi dinner. I received Pepin's cookbook "More Fast Food My Way", the other day and it looks like it has are some nice, not very time consuming recipes, which is what I'm looking for this time of year when garden, studio and kitchen are all competing for my time.

Bunnies are out and hellebores are blooming

The hellebores are blooming and it looks like the plum tree is going to be in bloom very soon. It's too warm for this time of year which may not bode well for fruit production if we get a late, hard freeze; but we are enjoying this lovely, spring like weather!

We had a great St. Patricks dinner with friends, with the the Irish Tenors as background music and enjoying our Irish coffee while watching "The Quiet Man". It's become our St. Paddy's tradition and one we're all enjoying. My friend Laura was intrigued with all my sourdough starters and no knead bread method, so I sent her home with an extra iron pot, some flour and instant yeast and the URL for the Jim Lahey and Mark Bittman you tube video on making no knead bread. Jim says I won't be satisfied until I get everyone baking this bread! LOL

I'm moving a bit slow after yesterday's busy day of cooking and planting. Since I'm trying to plant by the moon signs, dinner party prep or not, I needed to get my peas and spinach planted yesterday.

The new sourdough starter was ripe and ready last night, so after guest left, I got a loaf started, using a no knead recipe and will be baking that this afternoon. Right now it's time to get to the studio for a bit and if I'm up to it, I'd like to find even a little time for some garden cleanup this afternoon.

Today is the day when everyone is a bit Irish

Wishing all a Happy St Patricks Day; and offering that wonderful, old Irish blessing to all!

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Every Saint Patrick's day, I make a corned beef and cabbage dinner, with Irish coffee with extra whipped cream for dessert. We have the Irish tenors as dinner background music and then watch "The Quiet Man" while having our Irish coffee in the living room. My Irish husband isn't a cabbage fan, so I only make this dinner once a year. Fortunately our dearest friends love cabbage, and dig in with great glee while Jim kind of pushes his cabbage around the plate. I guess his Irish, cabbage gene never activated! :-)

Back to work after company leaves this morning

We've had a great visit with our daughter Erin and son-in-law Sven- had some excellent meals with good and great wines, enjoyed a night of song at friend Jim Stapleton's man cave with his "Sugar Daddy" band, and spent some lovely, quiet family time in between their tourist activities. We all look forward to Erin's joining the band for a few numbers every year- such a treat! Yesterday was their packing, and chilling out day. I gave them a demo of no knead bread making. Sven is getting into baking, and after tasting the sourdough pancakes and sourdough bread I made a couple of days ago, he decided that he'd like to try making his own starter.

The live starter I ordered from Breadtopia is doing well on day three and now I'm just feeding it to get it up to the amount I need to start baking. The other San Francisco starter that had been neglected, actually came to life again after almost two weeks of twice a day feedings. With the arrival of 3 more bread books this week, I'll have no lack of recipes to try.

Jim is driving Erin and Sven to Charlotte this morning for their flight to the west coast for the remainder of their vacation. After they leave, I'll be heading to the studio for the day, feeling blessed in so many ways. I watch the news for updates on the disaster in Japan, feeling so much compassion and at the same time feeling so helpless. I read Euan Craig's blog, see the destruction of his kiln, the damage to his home, and his choice to is evacuate Mashiko with his family to a safer place over the mountains with relatives, and wish I could somehow make it all better for all of them.

And I wonder if mankind will learn from this long term, or like so many past disasters, have a short burst of outrage, and then settle back into complacency.

Mashiko Potters need help

Tuesday, 15 March 2011 (from Hannah McAndrew's blog)

The Leach Pottery's Hand to Mashiko
The following has been sent out by The Leach Pottery in St Ives in response to the effect of the horrendous events in recent days on the pottery industry. This first link of mine is to the Red Cross appeal which of course helps with the more immediate and pressing needs.

The Leach Pottery says:
The trustees and staff of the Leach Pottery would like to express our great sadness at the recent catastrophe that has beset Japan. The Leach Pottery’s historic and current links to Japan, dating back over a century, are of great importance to us and the friendship we have received from the Japanese people over the years has been unwavering. We have not forgotten the support we received from the people of Mashiko pottery village and members of the Mingei Association in 2008 when individuals collectively donated over £40,000 towards rebuilding our pottery in St Ives and we would like to offer them back the hand of friendship now.

We are launching an appeal to raise funds for Mashiko which has been badly hit by the earthquake. Mashiko has over 400 studios and kilns, providing the main livelihood of the village, and the recent quake has caused considerable damage to both kilns and buildings. Mashiko’s two main museums, the Mashiko Ceramics Museum and the Hamada Reference Museum have also been badly hit.

Mashiko Town in Tochigi prefecture is located about 60 miles north of Tokyo. In 1923 Shoji Hamada, co-founder of the Leach Pottery in St Ives with Bernard Leach, returned to Japan following the Tokyo earthquake of 1923. He settled in Mashiko with his family where he set up his own pottery, now owned and run by his potter grandson Tomoo Hamada, who attended the reopening of the Leach Pottery following its restoration in March 2008. Shoji Hamada also established the Hamada Reference Museum in Mashiko to display his stunning and internationally acclaimed collection of crafts and ceramics.

MASHIKO EARTHQUAKE APPEAL

You can donate to the Leach Pottery’s Mashiko Earthquake Appeal in any of the following ways:
By phone – call with you credit or debit card details on 01736 799703

By post – send a cheque to the Bernard Leach (St Ives) Trust Ltd. (marking the back of the cheque ‘Mashiko Appeal’. Send to Mashiko Earthquake Appeal, The Leach Pottery, Higher Stennack, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 2HE

By internet – donate through your Paypal account julia@leachpottery.com – please add a note clearly stating ‘Mashiko Earthquake Appeal’

If you are a UK taxpayer you can Gift Aid your donation by including the following information: Your name, address and postcode and confirmation that you wish the Leach Pottery to treat your donation as a Gift Aid donation. This simple act will allow us to claim a further 25p for each £1 donated towards the appeal.

Sourdough bread

Yesterday was baking day using a new sourdough recipe. I wanted a lighter bread to use for tomorrow welsh rarebit dinner and this one fills the bill. I made a mistake on the size for the last rise and wound up with a loaf the size and shape of a ciabatta; but the bread texture and taste are very good. I think this one will make great toast. Next time I'll add some whole wheat (25% of the flour in the recipe), to make it a bit healthier.

This morning I made sourdough pancakes.. Daughter and her husband leave Wednesday, so I'll be able to get back to the studio to finish decorating. If weather permits, I need to plant peas and spinach sometime this week. I'm so glad I started this work cycle earlier so I have plenty of time for the garden, baking bread and family visits.

Planting day

I'm pooped! While the rest of the family played tourist today, with a trip to Linville Cavern, I decided to take advantage of this beautiful day and do some planting and a bit of weeding. I planted 50 strawberry plants, an apple tree, four ferns, about ten lilies of the valley and three oriental poppies. The garden is a mess and is going to need a lot more cleanup work this spring; but today was a good start.

There's still garlic and shallots to plant; but they're going to have to wait till our company leaves.

Some winter perennials are blooming as well as the Johnny jump ups; and some other perennials are peeking through as well. Spring is coming!

Time to hit the shower and get ready for dinner.

Non studio productivity

No studio time till the middle of next week when company leaves; but the house is super clean, animals are fed and exercised, new lettuce, broccoli raab, another kale variety, and rose campion seeds are planted, a new rye sourdough is started and the last of the other sourdoughs is fed (I'm not giving up on that one until the new one arrives and gets started!). I even found time to order some new seeds and write out some new recipes to try. I'm currently intrigued with some Peruvian recipes and will try them as soon as I get some of the unique hot, aji peppers called for in some of these dishes.

I'm also making headway with paper work and catching up with backed up reading material while I anxiously await this evening's arrival of our daughter and son-in-law who are flying in from Munich, Germany. Two days ago I promised them mild, sunny weather, which is what weather.com forecast. Wonder what they're going to think when they see this new, light covering of snow!

R.I.P Toshiko Takaezu

Toshiko giving Beatrice (Beato) Wood a throwing lesson at Beato's studio in the early 80's.

Just got word that Toshiko Takaezu, an icon in the Ceramic world has passed. She was a lovely, warm, gracious lady and a superb artist and teacher. She will be greatly missed.

Last nights pizza and pitiful loaf of bread

Last night was pizza and margarita night; and this morning I baked this pitiful looking loaf of no knead, dried cherries and pecan bread. It didn't rise overnight using the sourdough starter, so I added some instant yeast to it with a bit of water, which of course made the dough too wet even with a bit of extra flour added; but I decided to bake it anyway for the taste, knowing the texture is going to be off. It flopped badly when I put it in the hot pot, resulting in this homely looking loaf; but the taste it good, so the recipe is a keeper.

After 5 futile days of trying to bring old sourdough starters back to life, and wasting a lot of flour in the process, I dumped two of the jars yesterday and am still giving the other one a few more feedings for another couple of days while I wait for some fresh and some dried San Francisco sourdough starter I ordered yesterday. The fresh one will only need two day of feeding before it's ready, so I should be able to try some new recipes in another week or so.

There hasn't been time for the studio with a day used for food shopping and other chores, plus all that wasted time on the sourdough starter as well; but I'll get a good half day in there today.

Re-built bagwall

Got the bagwall re-built and cleaned out, which took quite a while since I had some fused brick that I had to chink out. I didn't mortar the bricks, just made a thickish slurry of 75 alumina oxide and 25 epk and slathered than on to keep them from sticking, in case I want to make later adjustments.

Found two more kiln shelves that I'll have to grind. I had to wedge up some clay and throw Jim another mug for this firing(I broke his favorite wood/soda fired oribe mug yesterday). I have the 6 tile slip that I used and hopefully I also have that Shaner Oribe on hand, otherwise I'll have to batch some in a few days or just use my new Oribe.

Glazing and decorating is also on today's "to do" list. Time to make breakfast and on to the studio.

Bag wall re-build

That T shaped bag wall configuration in the last firing did not work in my cross draft, so this mornings job will be to rebuild it. Once that's done I'll batch up a few more glaze tests. Since it's going to be another nice day today, I might take an afternoon studio break to do a bit of garden pruning and cleanup. The day lilies are already up 3-4" and some tree are already budding, hopefully, not too soon.

Yesterday I got all 15 advancer and nitride bonded kiln shelves ground. I broke a good corner chunk off one of the advancers when trying to support it against my knee to grind the edge. I also batched up a few more glaze tests and got them on to test tiles. In spite of feeling tired, I felt good at the end of the day. I fell asleep during Top Chef (we watch it in bed), so I'll have to watch the re-run next week to find out what happened.

The San Francisco sourdough starter, which I started yesterday morning, came alive overnight in the heat box, and at 7 am it got it's first 12 hour feeding. These initial 12 hour feedings can take three days. Once the starters' foam and bubbles increase the mixture 2" after about 2-3 hours of the last feeding, it's done. I can't wait to try it!

Time to make the kielbasa and raisin toast breakfast and head to the studio.

Unloaded bisque

Here's my San Francisco sourdough starter, on it's first "wake up" leg. As per the instructions, I made a hole in a Styrofoam box, and put in a 25 watt bulb as the heat source. The starter has to be around 90F for 24 hrs to get it started; and then 12 hour feedings after that until it gets fully activated. Luckily I had this other dried starter on hand, after my other starters couldn't be revived. The person who sells this one swears that it's from the original, San Francisco starter. I'll soon find out if that's true or just a good marketing ploy.

Yesterday I got a full studio day, which wound up being too much for the first day back. I'm still wiped this morning. I spent 2 hours yesterday taking burners apart and cleaning them and still couldn't get the two main burners to turn on. I might give it another try this morning. I mixed three of my liners glazes and got the bisque unloaded and did a few other studio chores.

My Harbor Freight saw horse order is en route; but I don't think I want to wait for them before I start grinding these kiln shelves. This is the last sunny, warmish day for the next ten and I want to take advantage of it since I prefer when possible, to grind them outdoors; so I'll get my old throw pillow to sit on and get on with the job in the warmth of the afternoon.

Light studio chores today

Got all my little scraps of pot sketches sorted and filed, once yesterdays thunder storm passed and my little Jack Russell Bodhi, was no longer clinging to me, shaking uncontrollably.

I have a small "To do" list of light studio chores for today. First, I need to test the burners on my small Olympic gas kiln and if all is well, I'll try to get the kiln put together if I can do it alone. My husband is now dealing with the same flu symptoms I've had, as well as a badly pulled sacroiliac, so if I can't lift those kiln rings that job and re-firing soda pots from the last soda kiln firing, will just have to wait. The past couple of weeks I seem to be spending more time waiting to do things, than actually doing anything!

I also want to unload the bisque kiln and re-mix some of my liner glazes and touch up some soda pots that need re-firing.

Filing sketches

I retrieved all my recent, un-filed sketches on little scraps of paper and I'm going to go through them and file some in my permanent notebook and put those that I want to try soon, in an envelope. There's a series of garden shows on PBS now, so I'll watch/listen to those while I go through these sketches.

Jim and I are both hobbling around - me because of the good hip gone downhill way too fast, and Jim with a badly pulled sacroiliac. Most intense flu symptoms are gone so I've just been letting it run it's course and keeping busy with easier tasks like cooking, paperwork, houseplant and seedling care and light garden cleanup when the weather permits.

I spent the past two days in vain, and wasting flour as well, trying to resuscitate two of my old sour dough starters that got pushed to the back of the fridge. So, another job for today or tomorrow is to find my reserve packet of dried San Francisco sourdough starter and get that started. I found a nice on line, baking forum and that and another newly ordered artisan baking book have inspired me to get back to some sourdough baking

This morning I ordered a set of saw horses from Harbor Freight. I've decided to wait till they arrive before I sand my kiln shelves. Sitting on the paved driveway or studio or kiln room concrete floor is just too hard on these old deteriorated hips and knees; and the sawhorses will make that a much more comfortable job. I don't know why I've waited this long to purchase them. The good part of potting in my 70's is that I've finally learned to do things in their own time as well as my own optimum time.

We had a big roast duck dinner last night big roast duck dinner last night and a big breakfast this morning, so tonight's dinner will be some lighter fare - a simple pasta with a Putanesca sauce that I took out of the freezer this morning. Well, that's it for this balmy, rainy day in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Blustery rainy morning

Sitting tight waiting for the bisque kiln to cool. I'm in no rush to head out to the studio on this wet, windy morning. The weather is supposed to clear this afternoon, so I'll check it then.

My body is still fighting this bug, so I think I'm just going to continue going through glaze books and catching up on snail and email, watch movies and dose myself with assorted vitamins, elderberry syrup and over the counter medications and a lot of liquids until it goes away. Time for some herb tea.

Bisque on

Got the bisque kiln turned on around 6:30 this morning. The last plate never made it into the bisque, because I trashed it while slipping it; but I batched a couple of flashing slip tests and got them on tiles and dried outside, and they went in instead.

By afternoon, the flu symptoms hit me again, so I dropped the plan to clean kiln shelves and went to bed for an hour and a half nap. I perked up after the nap and Jim suggested we go out for dinner; so we wound up having another nice meal at the Tin Lizard with plenty of leftovers for Jim tonight. As for me, I'm opting for some of my home made, potato and cheese pierogis.

Time now for a rainy day, oatmeal breakfast and then to the studio to make some followup notes on some of the test tiles I have sitting out, and get them back in the boxes. After that I may be able to batch some glaze tests before the kiln makes it too warm to work in there.

Taco recipe

Managed to get a little studio time doing piddly things like going through 4 boxes of soda/salt test tiles without finding the one tile I was looking for, so I'll continue that search this morning. The last plate was trimmed and waxed and is waiting to get slipped. Other than going through one of my glaze recipe books and making notes, those were my only studio chores yesterday. Other than cooking, the rest of the day was spent on computer cleanup. I put my Etsy shop in vacation mode until spring freeing up time for other things until I can redo the site with better quality photos and new pots.

This morning I need to make up a batch of Helmer flashing slip, and get that last plate dipped and dried so I can fire the bisque kiln tomorrow. If it warms up enough, and I feel up to it, I'd like to get my kiln shelves sanded outside. This flu bug is hanging on a bit, so I'm trying not to overdo it till it's out of my system. This is a busy time of year with gardening chores and getting ready for a firing so I'm being careful about pacing myself.

The basil seeds and poppy seeds have sprouted and I need to separate some of those poppy seeds into smaller, individual pots this morning. Poppy plants don't like transplanting so I need to get to them early.

Last night we planned on having the tacos and margaritas but the taco shells were a bit stale, so I wound up serving deconstructed tacos on taco chips, which were a little messier to eat but just as delicious. Jim was in taco heaven and wiped the pot clean! Last night tacos were made with vegetarian ground round. Here's my recipe:

Line about a 10-12" saute pan with some extra virgin olive oil. Heat to medium high and add either a package of vegetarian ground round, or a pound of ground chuck. Break up the meat into very small, crumbly pieces and when it starts to brown a bit, add 1/2 of a medium to large, diced onion, cook about 5 minutes, stirring often, then add 1 large clove of minced garlic. Lower heat to medium, toss and cook another minute and then add some Open Pit Barbecue sauce (enough to coat the ground ground or meat well)(this is the best flavor. I've tried others, but none work as well as this one). Add salt to taste and let this simmer for several minutes and it's done.
To assemble tacos, put some of the mixture in the taco; but don't overfill. Then add some diced fresh tomato, about a teaspoon or more of taco sauce, some grated cheddar, and top with shredded lettuce. PS: If you don't have taco sauce, you can use some salsa instead.

Enjoy tacos with a margarita or what I call a slurpie. A slurpie is just some juice like mango, or a tropical juice mix (You can buy this in the cold juice section of your grocery store), thrown in the blender with crushed ice. It's like a non alcoholic frozen margarita. It doesn't work with all juices.

The bisque is almost full and I have new shades in the studio - finally! I like having one of my wheels near the window but certain times of day the glare makes it impossible to see what I'm doing.

Yesterdays plan of finishing up and bisquing today hit a glitch when I was hit with sudden onset of a really bad headache and flu like symptoms of chills and exhaustion. So I moved the last drying plate indoors and got it covered and gave up for the day, came in and headed for bed for a couple of hours. I wasn't in any shape to cook, so Jim went to a local restaurant and got us some takeout.

I did manage to finish the other pots and get them in the kiln before I got hit with that bug, and if I don't feel any worse than I do this morning, I'll try to get that last plate trimmed and slipped and stick with paper work for the rest of the day.