While the rest of the family was out shopping I actually got enough studio time to make cone packs and  draw rings and wad the soda pots for firing in the tiny soda test kiln. These few pots will be more than enough for that 4 cubic foot kiln and still have room for the cone packs and draw rings.

Now that all the repairs, additions and fixes are done with the house, I'm so looking forward to real studio time; and that will increase once I shut the garden down after the first frost. Meantime, we're still getting a lot of food from our son and daughter-in-laws garden, and the two new raised beds that have only been planted a couple of weeks are doing unbelievably well. Some of the lettuce transplants are already ready for harvesting side leaves, the carrot seeds have sprouted and cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprout starters have already doubled in size. Even the lettuce seeds came up quickly and are already a few inches high. I think I'm going to love this square foot gardening method!

I have to stop by Lowes on Monday  and see if they have appropriate metal sheeting, in pre cut sizes that would work as a wind shield around the kiln. The gas company says I have 7" WCP, which is the minimum Olympic says is need to fire to cone 10. So it looks like I'll be ready to go soon!

We got our first rain since spring last night, so I only have to water a couple of pots that are under the eaves. After breakfast we have to drive to our sons place so I can harvest veggies and plant the rest of the garlic.

I took pierogis out of the freezer for lunch and we're going out for dinner and other than that I think we'll just vegg out with our company for the day.

Good news on the gas pressure

I had a lot of phone work to do yesterday while the rest of the family were out and about to Crater Lake. I found out that our  house gas has 7" of WCP, which is the minimum I need to fire the little gas kiln, so that was good news. Next week, when company's gone,  I need to find a place to buy some scrap metal to create a wind barrier around the kiln for firing, so I need to do some web and yellow pages searching for that in the next day or two.

There was finally a call from the manufactures of my range top to tell me they have a call in to a local appliance store about fixing this new range top. They're waiting to hear back from them and said they would call me. It's been about ten days or so and many phone calls before the company actually returned my call. The stove is great, but they do have to do a little fix and some burner adjustments. The burners are so powerful that a small pot of Jim's coffee water boils almost instantly, it seems.

Everyone has gone off to have a heart attack breakfast and I'm opting for a bowl of gluten free cereal with rice dream and banana. Then I'll do the other half of my watering and head to the studio to make draw rings, cone packs and finish the wadding I didn't get to yesterday when everyone got home earlier than expected.

Erin and Jim and going off to shop for several hours.Germany isn't big on discount stores, so Erin is off to Ross for Less, TJ Max, and a few other stores.  Sven, our son-n-law will come back after breakfast and just relax. Like many men, he's not big on shopping, so I think he plans to spend time around the spa and pool with his kindle when he gets back.

Tonight is lobster night, so I just have to bake potatoes and our daughter will make the salad. Our local butcher/gourmet store ordered some  Maine lobsters for us; and he steams them. So we just have to pick them up - a very nice service!

Our daughter and son in law live in Germany, and the seafood is very expensive, so we always try to have  some as a special treat for them when they visit.

That's it for this morning. Time to get on with the next things on my list.

Lisa Hammond video

Here's some eye candy thanks to Lisa Hammond and her sumptuous wood/soda fired work.

Jim and our daughter and son in law are heading to Crater Lake this morning; and I'm opting to stay home. The hip and knees are a mess, so I'm going to get myhand watering done, do some treatment on the knee and then head to the studio to separate the bisqued soda pots that will all take the same colored liner, and make a small batch of liner and get them glazed.

Company is here till Sunday, so we're taking them to a couple of neighboring, charming towns,  like Jacksonville and Ashland, and getting some good and new dining experiences. Since we had such a big, rich dinner last night, and Jim and the kids will be eating lunch out, tonight we're opting for a light dinner of cheese, fruit and other nibblies, and of course, some lovely wines.

Yesterday I solved one of my computer problems. I got a stand alone, plug and play, cd Multi dirve, and I was able to reinstall Paint Shop pro, which is now working again. While at Best Buy I also pre-ordered the new Ipod Touch, to replace the one that went walkies, during our move. I still can't solve the printer problem on the old desktop but it works fine with this laptop. These days I don't use the printer much, but I had $125 worth of reward coupons from Best Buy, thanks to all the new appliances we had to buy for this new house,  that I had to print out to go toward the new Ipod Touch.

Company preparations

Never got to Costco yesterday. We were too tired from our Ashland farmers market, grocery store and Best Buy shopping. So we went after breakfast this morning. I decided to go through the whole store, stocking up on a variety of food staples and nibblies to have on hand for our daughter and son in laws visit.. Jim picked out his wines and headed back to the car, leaving me to do the rest of the shopping.

It took me a while to get to the unpacking and put things in the freezer, because when I opened the back of the car, one of the bottles of wine rolled out on the driveway and made a huge mess as the red wine  shared it bouquet on the pavers and the bottle exploded in a million pieces, landing far and wide. So I headed to the  studio to retrieve my vacuum and spent about a half house vacuuming, sweeping and washing down the driveway, and then sweeping it because the washing down removed a lot of the filling between the pavers - not how I expected to spend that  part of my day!

After that cleanup I got the lobster bisque I treated us to at Costco, heated for what was now a late lunch. Then I got the rest of the things put away and started on my garden chores. My other stop before Costco was the local garden center where I picked up some garlic bulbs and an artichoke plant. Getting those planted here and at our sons place will be on tomorrows "to do" list.

Since I'm still dealing with this flu bug, I'm giving myself a lot of rest periods. I actually got to read the Sunday paper on the day it came, ordered myself a pasta drying rack and spent a lot of computer time using Dell's free diagnostics on my ailing, Dell laptop. Seems my cd/dvd, etc. drive is dead, and a wi fi internal piece of hardware is also not working properly. It would be around $100, plus paying for someone to fix it; and I'm just wondering at this point, with a 3 year old well used laptop, that suddenly had two hardware items going belly up, and no guarantee that the motherboard itself isn't ready to expire. So I think my next step is to look at the cost of new laptops; and just hold out as long as I can till Windows 8 is installed on the newest ones.

Meantime I'll make sure all my documents are backed up daily, on to my stand alone hard drive and get them backed up to this second laptop and on to my ten year old desktop which also has to have a network card replaced, but otherwise seems to be still going strong.

Our daughter and son in law arrive Tuesday and maybe our son in law who has amazing computer knowledge can give me some advice with all these computer woes. Tomorrow will be spent getting the house tidied and doing my least favorite household chore - cleaning the refrigerator, a job I should have done before I filled it to the brim the past two days!. I'll tackle that chore right after breakfast so I don't have to spend the whole day dreading the prospect.

Our daughter requested lobster dip, but I couldn't find any at 3 different stores, so I bought a lobster tail at Costco and now I'm going to use Google, the repository of all wisdom, to find a recipe, so I can make that tomorrow.

My first effort at making a classic apple tartin looked pretty dismal. It looked a lot better when plated with the ice cream and fortunately, it tasted great. The problem was that when I inverted it, the crust broke and the apples had stuck to the bottom of the pan. I might have cooked it a big long. Since Jim loved this classic French dessert, I need to get myself one of those tartin pans instead of using a deep frying pan which was what I used.

My new range top burners are very powerful and it took less time to get the sugar/butter mix darkened.
I still haven't heard back from the company about sending a service person out to deal with a couple of issues with this unit, so I will have to call again today! So far I've made at least 5 calls to the dealer and company and a few emails and have yet to hear back about the status of their last promise to find a service person in our area. Needless to say, my patience is starting to wear a bit thin!

Yesterday I made banana bread which we'll have with boiled eggs for breakfast this morning. I'm still dealing with the flu bug/cold hanging on so cooking, necessary garden work, computer work and paperwork has been it the past few days. And of course, I have all these garden fruits and  veggies which keep coming and coming, so every day I'm spending time looking up new recipes for zucchini, apples, tomatoes,eggplant and now snow peas. The local news suggested that gardeners pick their tomatoes yesterday, so at some point today, I will be making tomato soup - probably a simple, spicy easy and quick recipe if I can find one.

The painters were here yesterday and did all the touch up work - interior and exterior, so that's the last big,  job. The only thing I have left to do is deal with closing down the garden after the first big freeze, and re-arranging the potted plants that had to be moved away from the new raised beds. The gardener will re-do the drip systems once I decide where to put all those planters. After that we can settle in and enjoy our new home and I can get to work.

Today is going to be one of those running around days - first to our sons to harvest veggies, then off to Costco and then Ashland for some gourmet cheeses and other groceries. Our daughter and son-in-law arrive Tuesday so I need to stock their favorite goodies. Our son-in-law is a huge fan of American junk food. We're talking the likes of Twinkies, root beer floats (which I introduced to him), etc. He also loves good bread and good cheeses. Don't we all!

The range top and hood are installed and at the moment, the drywall person is sanding the repaired areas of the ceiling. That's the good news! The bad is that one of the burners is not lighting and none of the burners are working on simmer; but it sure looks pretty!

I called Euro stove, the range top manufacturer again this morning because they didn't get back to me yesterday about sending out a service person to replace the part that's keeping one of the burners from igniting. So there are still kinks to straighten out on this unit. But it looks good and my plumber said it's the best looking range top he's ever installed. The burners are very impressive and powerful, so they need to make some minor adjustments and that one replacement. I went to one of their forums, and I see that other people are having a problem with the simmer as well; and read that they are working on a fix for it and will retrofit the units once they resolve the problem.

This morning my glands have gone from golf ball size to jawbreaker size, so the intense vitamin therapy and oscillococcinum seems to be working. Other than have to chores, like a bit of gardening and cooking, I'm going to spend the rest of my time watching TV while I deal with tons of email and see what I can do about some of these computer issues on two computers. I think I'll be off to Best Buy as soon as the workers are done here to buy and have them install a new network card on my ancient desktop. The other "must do"today,  is to get to the Dell website and see if they have any solution to my weak wi-fi signal on this laptop.
           
The painter comes tomorrow or Monday at the latest.to touch up those dry wall repairs. Our daughter and son-in-law arrive the following day, so if I get any studio time it will have to be what I can steal on this weekend. We still have all the pots and pans to put back in the cupboards and on the counters once the workers are done; and then there's shopping to do to re-stock the fridge and larder and getting the house ready before our daughter and son-in-law arrive.

 

This is the wrapped up kitchen as of yesterday. The contractor, very considerately, put up a thin plastic enclosure in the area of the kitchen where they had to cut the granite after removing the old cooktop. It did work to keep the dust down which this flu ridden body appreciated!

This morning he and the plumber inserted the new range top. That was the good news, as well as the fact that the plumber looked at the new range top and said it was the nicest one he's ever seen. He was very impressed at how it was put together and the burners. The slightly bad news was that one of the switches that powers the igniter on one the burners  is not working. So about 4 or 5 phone calls to Massachusetts didn't quite resolve the issue. Hopefully I'll hear back tomorrow. Either they have to send a replacement switch for our contractor to install, or they will have to send a repair person from another state.

On a day when I really wanted to rest, I got everything but. The gardener arrived with the new Japanese maple tree, so I had to deal with getting that placed and watered in as well as the other gardening chores. Computer problems are dominating my time even more. Found out that I need a new network card on the old (actually ancient) desktop, need a new dvd/cd drive on this 3 year old Dell laptop and probably a major fix with a wi fi part because the wi fi connection is lost after only a minute or two on line, or if I switch pages; and that wi fi problem is not the case on my other laptop or Ipad, so it's an internal issue. :-(

There were several meetings more with the contractor about the range top and hood and I had to made some modifications on the installation and so did he. Seems whoever designed this house for an island cook top, put the support beam almost directly above where the hole would need to go for the range hood. 

Then there was more time with the gardener while he put in the drip system for the new beds. The handyman had to be called since he was a no show, no call yesterday. He admitted that he forgot but promised to be here today to continue making an adjustment to the raised beds. It's almost 7pm and he still hasn't arrived. By 7:30 I'm going to be in my pj's an in bed watching some mindless TV while doing email.

Before he left, I had another meeting with the contractor about his getting me some kind of metal enclosure made for my tiny, gas, soda kiln. I told him that ideally, it it had to be in pieces that were hinged so I could fold them flat for storage when not in use. He came up with the idea of making something using magnetic strips to hold the parts together. He measured the area and said he'd give it more thought. When  he left, we removed all the sheets that we had put down to protect the furniture from the construction dust, then drove to our sons place so I could do some hand watering and harvest some veggies. Then it was back home, get the mail, put away the veggies, and reheat the sloppy Joe filling in the microwave  for our leftovers dinner. It's been that kind of a day - busy, frustrating, tiring but somewhat satisfying in that some things actually got done and others somewhat resolved or at least close to being resolved.

I'm heading to the bedroom to take my last dose of flu medicine and a fistful of vitamins, getting into bed and check out what's on Netflix. And if the phone rings, I'm not answering!
                                                                                  

This is a truly wonderful talk about the importance of creativity in schools. Watch until the end because it will blow you away. It did me!

Garden work and meeting with handyman, then cooking half the day, since tomorrow I lose my cooking facilities for a week while they tear apart the range top, cut the granite counter top and make holes in the ceiling for the new range hook, took up the greater part of the day along with garden work.

I had all these veggies from our sons and my own garden and a 1/2 gallon of milk for pudding which I had to make today. So we have three days of dessert, and I used the abundance of eggplant, zucchini and bell peppers to make ratatouille which will be lunch for a few days.  For dinner, I made lamb chops and used the fresh beans I picked yesterday and sauteed them with the mushrooms I had and some onion.
II
A quick trip to our sons place to harvest apples and more zucchini, a Walmart stop on the way home for a birthday card for our daughter--in-law topped off the day, pretty much other than some time I had tp spend downloading a Norton update and installing it since it seems every time Windows does an update, it screw up Norton.

I thought I'd have time and energy to do something with all these apples, but hopefully they'll be fine in the fridge for five days.

Tomorrow I have 5 different work people coming to work - one to work on the kitchen to remove the cooktop and maybe cut the granite, another to  remove the stump from the crab apple tree, another to plant the Japanese maple, and George the handyman to do some follow up work on my raised beds which had to be braced and re-glued today, and last the pool man who still can't seem to find a fix for the pool controls.

It's another one of those, needless to say, no time or energy for the studio days, and tomorrow will probably be more of the same.

Last night's dinner was Yaki soba noodles with snow peas and zucchini from our son and daughter-in-laws garden, in addition to some onions, garlic and mushroom. It's a great, quick, one pot meal.

Since I was a bit under the weather yesterday, other than morning "have to" chores and making dinner, I took it very easy the rest of the day; but I did get a lot sit down work done - noting ideas for earthenware pots, making out shopping lists and computer work.

I'm still unclear as to what direction I want to go with the future earthenware pots, so I spent a lot of time on the Internet looking at some of the more contemporary earthenware. I know what direction I don't want to take - trying to duplicate old slip ware; but not yet sure if I want to go to a more contemporary with designs, or choose another direction.

I think many of the forms I made for my soda/salt firings will work with the earthenware, so that will be a starting point, and it will inevitable evolve from there.

As for today, it will be another take it fairly easy day, since I'm still dealing with swollen glands, chills, etc. and just feeling very tired. After garden chores and breakfast, I will get a bit of studio time that was planned for yesterday, and after lunch I need to get to our sons place and harvest veggies and do a bit of maintenance on their raised beds. Then it will be a quick stop at the hardware store and grocery store and home to make our Saturday supper of Sloppy Joe's.

Looks like we will be going out to eat most of next week. Our contractor came back from vacation, and came over to go over the new range top and vent,  measure, tell the sub what he needs to do etc; and they are coming in Monday to start cutting holes in granite, cabinetry, and the ceiling to install the range top and range hood.  We're told it's going to be a week, so we will get to try a few new restaurants - not a bad outcome!

My other big chores of the day were finishing planting the raised beds and making a nice dinner. We're in zone 7b (at  least what one web site said), so I'm right at the edge of being OK to plant beets and carrots, which I planted today, as well as popping in more lettuce and a lot of onions..

It's another "needless to say, no studio time day"; but hey, this is what retirement looks like. You can sleep in if you wish, and let the day unfold without the have tos. The big thing is to not to try to do all you ddid wenty years before or work the same, very long hours of your youth. If you do, you retirement or part retirement is going to be an unhappy time in your life.

Since we will be eating out most of next week, I've planned some meals for the next three days, trying to use up some of this abundance of veggies that I'm getting from my sons and my garden. Before I planned the meals for the next 3 days, I was thinking that I was planning easy meals for studio days. So tomorrow is stir fry yaki soba noodles with garden veggies and mushrooms and Saturday is another easy recipe - Sloppy Joe's and Sunday will be a lamb chop dinner. I still haven't used all these apples, so there will probably be soem kind of apple dessert one or more evenings.

Fortunately, I have no meetings tomorrow, no outside appointments, no shopping to do and no intensive gardening to do, so it will give me studio time. I only have a couple of glazes to sieve and get on bisqued tiles and get the underglazes on the rest of the tiles with clear glazes over. If I can get out there early enough, I might even be able to get all of that done tomorrow (she says while keeping her fingers crossed).

Trying to manage time and energies in ones 70's is a whole other life changing adjustment for people like myself who have always been able to work hard, long hours, when needed, and still maintain a home and garden and keep a family happy. Boy does age take a chink out of each of those areas. At some point, comes the realization that you can no longer do it all; and you either grow old gracefully, or you become frustrated and unahppy. I think it's best to go with the flow of that life offers. As the old saying goes "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!. What I'm basically saying is that although I wish I had more energy and more time at the moment, the reality, is that I don't; but I love our life and I live with the Polly Anna philosophy that all will get done, in good time.

Frog catching some shade on a tomato

Check out this little frog resting on a San Marzano tomato. I forgot my camera yesterday or I would have had a great shot of 2 little frogs sitting inside the leaves of one of the artichokes - too precious!

The gardener didn't come to take out the tree, so that is another job postponed. Seems he can't find his chain, couldn't find his friends chain, etc. etc. Good thing I called to check what time he was coming, otherwise I would have been sitting around all day waiting for him.

The fan issue got resolved two ways. I found a used one on ebay and won the bid; and after I paid for it, Jim found a backup that works, sitting on the living room mantle. So now, we possibly have two that work.                  

Most of my day was house and garden chores again. I had to top off the new raised beds with another three bags of potting soil, and thin and transplant some of the seedlings. And since the gardener wasn't coming to pull out that tree, I suggested we pick up a subway sandwich, head to our sons place on the river so I could work in his garden for a bit, and then sit by the river and watch the salmon jump as we ate our lunch.

Then I had to get to the local Co-op nursery to pick up some more veggie starters to plant today. They didn't have any spinach left, so I got lettuce and onions to add to the second raised bed.

When we got home and I put everything away and then took a break with email and ordered a book on square foot gardening and did more research on the method and made some charts for myself.  There's a lot of information on line and I even found a place that has free software so you can create planting plans based on the size of your beds. I also ordered four grids that can sit in the beds to make planting easier. There was a problem when I planted the first bed, because the handyman did not make the width of the bed 4 feet as I specified, and made it two inches too short. So I'll have to cut those grids and adjust my planting. Time to buy a new circular saw!

Before I knew it, it was time to clean the beans I picked earlier and get dinner started. Needless to say, there wasn't any time for the studio.

Made a good breakfast (bacon, onion, serrano chile scramble), now I'll start on a breakfast , nutty fruity bread, do my watering and plant all the starters I bought yesterday; and other than watching the bread on and off, the rest of the day is for the studio till 4:30 and then it will be time to make some salad and cook the linguini and clam sauce. The days sure fill up and pass so quickly lately!

Got a little bit of studio time yesterday to weigh out a couple more test glazes and will try to do more of the same after breakfast and garden watering this morning.


The rest of the yesterday was dealing with household and other garden chores like filling the second, new raised bed with potting soil. This morning I have to move potted plants around which is going to be a bit of a challenge since the new beds took up more room than I thought they would, after leaving some walking/access space in between. Moving them means I need to get the garden helper to re-do all the drip system emitters at some point.


A good block of time was spent trying to figure out, make calls and then finally search out a replacement for the living room fan remote which is not working. And after frustrating calls to Hunter fan, the result was them saying there are no replacement remotes available and the only alternative is to buy and install a new fan, I searched google  and found a used remote on Ebay. I won the bid and hopefully that problem will be solved!

After a shower, we headed out to try a new restaurant in Asheville - - Amuse. It was truly wonderful. The chef is the owner and his wife is the pastry chef who had been the pastry chef at the French Laundry, probably the best restaurant in the country. After all the donkey work of the afternoon and skipping lunch, we opted for a 3 course meal. I brought half my cornish hen entree home so I could make room the the best beignets I have ever had. They were huge, light as a feather and served with sabayon and raspberry sauces.We will definitely be going back!

Hunter Fan remote problem and suggestion

Just got off the phone with Hunter fans, trying to get a fix for the remote  for the living room fan. Bottom line is - no replacement remotes available and their only suggestion is to buy another four hundred and something fan and pay an electrician to hang it. Well, I'll give you one guess as to what company's fans we won't be buying! The fan works just fine, but the remote isn't working on the light part. So be warned about this company and maybe other fan companies which may operate the same way. My suggestion if you have a ceiling fan/light that uses a remote, is order a replacement if and while they're still available.

The handyman delivered the second raised bed this morning but his helper couldn't get his car started, so now they're scheduled to be here at one and I'll be helping fill it with all those remaining bags of potting soil; and then I'll be off to the store for some spinach starts to plant.

Looks like another day of meager studio time; but I do have time to weigh out another glaze test or two before the handyman arrives, so off I go.

Where's the mouse

Bonnie has taken to sitting on my laptop at every opportunity. Maybe she's heard me talking about my mouse and figures it's nearby. That's as good a guess as any as to why she is suddenly enamored of this computer!

Today was a bit of this and that.  I got my regular morning garden chores done after breakfast and transplanted two roses. Our new range top was delivered so now we just need the contractor to get back from his vacation and get it and the range hood installed. Then I got to the studio to mark a bunch of test tiles and then came up and updated my test notes. That was interrupted with the handyman showing up with the second raised bed. He left it on a trailer in front of the house and will be back with someone in the morning to help him get it to the back yard.

Since I'm still dealing with an abundance of eggplant and zucchini, I made a ratatouille type pasta sauce with them and some peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes. Jim has picked out one of our favorite Zins to go with it.

The computer connectivity problem is still ongoing - over 5 days of basically no service, with only  few moments of each day to check email. We're talking of only about an hour altogether each day, and that is if I get lucky and check constantly. Phone calls just result in receiving taped messages and when I finally talked to a real person, he had no idea what is causing the problem - just that he knows there is the problem from Washington and all of Oregon and maybe parts of Northern California. Since Century Link hasn't bothered to share with him what the problem actually is, the poor guy said he's gone from having calls from frustrated users, quickly deteriorating to angry and then abusive callers. Century link needs to at least tell customers what the problem is - you would think!

Nachos and margarita night

 Yesterday I got the organic fertilizer worked into my new raised bed and planted it with cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, broccoli, brussel sprouts,lettuce and arugula. Today I did garden duty at our sons place - spraying, weeding, harvesting and planting some carrots and radishes. The arugula I planted at our sons place a couple of days ago has already sprouted.

I got the organic fertilizer worked into my new raised bed and planted it with cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, broccoli, brussel sprouts,lettuce and arugula. Yesterday I did garden duty at our sons place - spraying, weeding, harvesting and planting some carrots and radishes. The argula I planted at his place just a couple of days ago is already up, and the  snow peas I planted a while back are just starting to come in, so I'll be making some yaki soba noodles in a few days and will use those and the zucchinis in the dish.
When I got home I prepped the tomatoes that I harvested earlier, along with the serrano chiles for the nachos and margaritas dinner.

Century Link my Internet provider has been in and out for five days now (more out than in - like about 90% of the day out!).  The problem stretches from Washington and all through Oregon, and maybe even parts of S. California. I hope they get this fixed, because we're missing our lovely evening routine of watching Netflix English mysteries.

But I have to say that the paid for TV movie we watched  "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel",  was a fabulous substitute - great acting, great story.

Brrrrrr

It's really chilly this morning. Good thing I harvested some basil yesterday and got some pesto made and in the freezer. My basil plants are looking pretty skimpy at the moment, so I'll  harvest some more  at our sons garden before these overnight temperatures drop even lower.

It is definitely a sweatshirt morning. By noon I'll be back in a T-shirt.

The days plan is to head off to a local, pony club, group garage sale nearby, in hopes of finding an old electric fry pan for the studio, then back home for a big breakfast, followed by some garden work and then studio for the rest of the day.

Raised bed number one done and filled

Yesterday I got involved in the studio and never did get any of the planting done; but what I did do was get all the new engobe tests glazed with four different clear glazes, as well as a few colored one, and weighed out another one or two glazes.  Now that that's done,  I need to apply the under glazes on the rest of the tiles and get those glazed.. I should be able to start on that tomorrow after I do some fall veggie planting.

This morning  was spent on outside chores - harvesting more veggies at our sons house, getting to a couple of stores in search for a new garden  sprayer,  a quick stop for some pick up groceries, a stop at Good Will in search of an old electric frying pan to use in the studio to melt wax (no luck). I threw out the one I had when we moved thinking it would be easy to find another one; but I have not found one in 3 months of looking. Then it was time to head back, drop off  some of the veggies for friends,  head for home to put away groceries, make quesadilas for lunch, and pesto for the freezer.

Soon after that, George, the handyman arrived with the 70 bags of potting soil and we used over half of them to fill the first raised bed after lining it with landscaping fabric.  He's going to try to finish the second bed over the weekend and deliver it on Monday; and by Tuesday I will have all my fall veggie planting done.

Tomorrow morning I'll plant this bed with the veggie starters I bought the other day. Right now we're heading out to the local Mexican restaurant. I'm definitely ready for an  extra large margarita after all that donkey work.

Where the day went

This is where I spent part of my day yesterday. It's our son and daughter-in-laws lovely raised bed veggie garden. There are nine of these beds as well as a flat area where I planted zucchini, crookneck squash and watermelons. And my daughter-in-law, put in some asparagus this spring.  It's all deer proofed as is their main  fruit orchard.

It always amazes me how a day can just get away from you - computer problems, dealing with deliveries etc on top of the other things like cleaning the fridge, cooking, eating,  email, garden care and all the other little things that eat up more time and energy.

Yesterday our new exhaust hood arrived so I had to move things in the garage to make way for it. Since all the container plants had to be moved because of the delivery of the first raised bed, I now have to hand water them every day because all the emitters don't fit anymore in their new position.

A week or two ago I found that a lot of my soda/salt recipes that some one had posted on Wikiclay a while back were incomplete- missing oxide additions, etc. So the only clay related work I did yesterday was to retrieve all my glaze notebooks and correct those recipes.

It was also a day to drive to our sons place and tend his raised bed garden, harvest the veggies, plant more lettuce and arugula seeds, pull a few weeds, check the orchard, then stop for some groceries and a birthday card for one of our grandsons, followed by a stop at  friends to drop off some veggies, then home to put away groceries and start on dinner. At my age, once dinner and dishes are done, I'm ready to call it a day other than dealing with paperwork, email, sketching and just leaning back and watching something on Netflix.

Since we had to dig up a bunch of perennials in the area where we're placing the two new, big raised beds, I need to spend some time right after breakfast to find  some places to plant some of them before it gets too hot.

Then I need to get in some kitchen time and make something with these apples I harvested yesterday. The trees weren't sprayed, so the apples are not in shape to store, so I'm thinking that apple tartin would be a good  choice. Dinner is going to be simple and quick - broiled chicken breasts, corn on the cob and potato salad which is already made.

It's 6:30am,  I've had my first cup of tea  and it's too cool and dark outside for garden work, so I'm heading to the studio to continue mixing and sieving those C 04-03 glaze tests  and dipping the test tiles before I have to think about breakfast.

My new raised bed

I was up early and turned on the the little test kiln with the second batch of cone 04-02 engobe tests. The handyman and helper were here at 7:30 this morning with the first of my two new raised beds. We had to move all the container veggies and do a cleanup before heading out to order potting soils for these beds and buys some fall veggies to plant. These are big - 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep. Now I have to do a bit more research on square foot and raised bed gardening.

I ordered 70 bags of organic potting soil and bought some cauliflower, cabbage, garlic and broccoli starts. The rest I'll start from seed. Hopefully, this first bed, which needs to have some added feet on the bottom to preserve it and protect it from sitting in water,  landscaping liner attached and filled with soil, will be ready this weekend. 

We're in zone 8 here so I can grow a lot of things throughout the fall and even winter. At our sons house I planted a lot of the same fall veggies as well as spinach, lettuce, peas and swiss chard. It will be lovely to have these for a couple of more months. The kale I planted here a few weeks ago seems to be really happy in it's east facing location. I think I'm turning this suburban lot into a mini vegetable farm.

Time now to turn the kiln up again, have some lunch, make some potato salad to go with tonight's steak and corn on the cob dinner. Hopefully I can find a block of time to get some of those glazes that I weighted out the other day, mixed, sieved and on to some of the bisqued test tiles. It's another busy and good day in our new life in the beautiful Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon.

Blue screen of death morning

Woke up to a blue screen of death on this laptop. When I went to bed, the computer was doing a bunch of updates. I guess they didn't work! Fortunately, I got that problem solved fairly quickly; but I hope that isn't a portent of how the rest of the day will be going!

I checked the little test kiln first thing this morning but it still needs more time to cool. My hope was that I could load it early and do another firing today; but since that won't happen, I'll just load it and fire again tomorrow.

This morning is Bodhi's day to go to the doggie groomer. Jim and I will  have breakfast out and then go back to the groomer to pick up a well groomed, sweet smelling Bodhi. I probably won't be getting to the studio till the afternoon. By then I should be able to unload those engobe tests, re-load the kiln with the rest of the tiles, then  start applying the under glazes. I'd also like to weigh out another couple of glaze tests before I have to start on our  eggplant parmigiano dinner.

Those eggplants keep coming and coming! And with these 90 degree and higher days, the eggplant and zucchini invasion will continue a while longer.

Engobe tests

Got these dried yesterday, loaded in the small test kiln early this morning, weighed out and got a revised slip on a few tiles and weighed out a few more cone 04-03 glazes. 

We had a great time partying on the river last night. It was a family, friends and celebrity filled night with good food, good wine, and some lovely music and stories.

Now it's time to think about getting started on our dinner - pork chops au poivre with a sherry cream sauce, salad and corn on the cob with mango sorbet and macerated fruit for dessert.We are so lucky to have a great butcher shop only a few minutes from our house. I'm going to really enjoy cooking this winter on my new range top with such a great selection of fresh fish and local meats. It's been years since we lived anywhere where there was a good, local butcher.

Interesting throwing video for teachers and new throwers

This might be a helpful video for your students or new throwers.  In between each centering and throwing move there's video of his hand positions for each move, but without the clay on the wheel, so the student gets to actually see what both hands are doing in relation to each other and the clay.

Right after breakfast we're heading out to the local Rock and Gem museum. I'm an old rock hound, and the rock club members are having their annual parking lot sale and I'm curious to see what materials they are finding locally. Now that I have a place in the garage for my rock saws, Genie cabbing machine and jewelry table, I may be able to find time this winter to cut and cab some of that material I've been carting around for years.

I should be back here in my studio before 11a.m to  get started on weighing out some clear and other cone 04-03 glazes for testing next week.  The plan is to fire to 03 and then make whatever adjustments may be needed. Initially I thought about firing to cone 1, but I'm not sure that I want to go that high with the earthenware. Going high enough to make the body a bit tighter, but not lose the soft quality that I like in the lower firing is what I'm aiming for.

It's a whole new area for me that is worthy of exploration. It will be interesting journey, departing from everything I've done for almost 40 years. It's never too late to push yourself past your comfort zone - good for the ego and for keeping the mind alert for sure.

Engobe batching

Finally got an afternoon in the studio and  got 8 more engobes made and on to test tiles. If it weren't for a computer problem that needed to be dealt with this morning, I would have been able to get in a full day of studio time. A Java update screwed up my operating system and my Norton anti virus software, so I had to spend a couple of hours uninstalling and re-installing software, which involved more times than I can count of having to re-boot the computer. All seems to be fine now, so I can concentrate on clay and glazes until the next computer glitch.

Tomorrow I'll set these tiles out to dry and in this  90 degree plus, sunny weather, they should be fully dry in a short while and ready to be bisque fired Sunday. 

Now that the engobes are done I can start weighing out some clear and other glaze tests. It looks like I should be able to get some good studio time after morning gardening chores and breakfast. Lately, studio time has been a rare luxury, while I get this house up to par, but there's finally light at the end of that tunnel.

Party night

Yesterday wasanother  one of those running around town kind of days - breakfast out, doctors appointment (toe has healed well, so no more soaking, medicating, re-wrapping), then off to the pottery supply store to pick up some pre-ordered items, followed by Home Depot to return something, and lastly some wine and grocery shopping.  That took us to the afternoon.

After lunch, we drove to our sons place where I checked the garden and orchard, weeded and planted more the lettuce and garlic I picked the day before.. Then it was back home to start on dinner, do the rest of the email and off to bed and asleep by 9. I think I made about the first ten minutes of a Miss Marple on Netflix before I was off to dream land.

This morning I'm trying to get everytrhing done for tonight's dinner with friends, who are on a no fat, vegan diet. The house is tidied, the garden work is done,  table is set for tonight, cornbread (for Jim and I is done), the main course of spicy beans is made and most importantly, the big batch of margaritas is made. I got some corn tortillas for our friends and since I have some salsa made and tortillas are not an option for our friends diet, I figured out that t if you slice jicama thin, it makes a nice scoop for the salsa .  Now, I just have to clean and macerate the fruit that's going over the mango sorbet for dessert, and I'll be done.

That will take me to noon, and after lunch I'm heading to the studio to put away those raw materials and get a few hours of other studio time.

Good day to buy a range hood

We had a good meeting with the contractor about the installation of the new range top and vent, which we have to order today. Most of those cost more than our first car! So, after breakfast and garden work, we have to head out to the two appliance stores  he recommended to price and hopefully order the vent/hood for the new range top. Some of those take 4-6 weeks to arrive, so this is not going to be a project that gets done quickly unless we get lucky and find someone who has this one in stock.  I am soooo looking forward to having decent burners and a good vent!

There are a couple of other stops to make to pick up some landscaping cloth to have on hand to line the new raised beds that should be here soon; and Jim wants to replenish his wine stock, and I need to pick up a couple of grocery items. This range and hood installation and the raised beds are the two last big projects for this house that will need my input and work. There's just some interior paint trim touch up and outdoor stucco paint trim to do but that won't interfere with my schedule since I'll have Jim search out the painter for the outdoor trim and our handyman can do the indoor trim touch up since we have that paint on hand and it doesn't need an expert to match it.

So the good news for me is that after tomorrow (my doctors appointment for my post toe surgery checkup),
 I should be able to get  a lot more studio time. As a gardener, and someone who doesn't necessarily like the cold, I usually don't look forward to that first frost which portends the cold, damp winter to come; but this year I won't mind it, because it means that I will have a lot more time to make pots and cook those long simmering stews and soups on my new range top while enjoying the warmth of the fireplace.

new signature stamps

After searching out the possibility of having a professional signature stamp made, I decided to just go ahead and make my own again. That took up half the day yesterday,  first with sketching then drawing the design on plaster which I had made earlier.  I had the plaster already made. Basically, just mix up a bit of plaster and use a small, paper cup as a mold. That way you have both the top and the bottom to carve. Those become your masters and if you damage your stamp, it's easy to just impress and bisque fire another one. The last thing was to weigh out a bit of porcelain with a bit of ball clay added and use that for the stamps.

Sorry for the blurry photos, but my little digital camera doesn't like closeups. Hopefully my next camera  will work better for these close ups.

Since I'm still dealing with an abundance of zucchini, I made zucchini fritters for lunch, then took time to read the Sunday papers and go through some paperwork. The rest of Sunday was for watching the women's US Open tennis final (congratulation to Serena Williams - very impressive at 30 to win another major title). Then it was time to think about dinner - marinated, grilled lamb chops, baked potato and home grown green beans Caesar style. While prepping dinner I was watching "Julie and Julia", easy to do both with our new open kitchen/living room.  As someone who loves to cook,this great room concept.is wonderful. It removes that isolation that often is felt when working in a small, closed kitchen.

Not sure yet what today's schedule is going to be. We have a meeting with the contractor scheduled for today or tomorrow, which ever works best for him,  about the new range top and hood/vent  installation. I need his input before I order the vent. At some point we have to drive to our sons place so I can check the garden and harvest whatever is ready. Somewhere in between garden and kitchen chores, there should be a little bit of time to get into the studio.

Meantime, I need to get started on my garden chores before thinking about breakfast. Love these cooler mornings!

Where a day goes

Yesterday went pretty well as planned -breakfast, early morning gardening, meeting with the air conditioner repairman (all is working fine now), nice Thai lunch, Costco to pick up my new glasses and some wine and groceries, home to put it all away, then off  again to our sons house to check out their vegetable garden and orchard, harvest the veggies and fruit, then drive back home to put it away, and then start on dinner.

Costco had some nice little baby clams so I steamed them in white wine with lots of garlic, herbs and spices. That and some crunchy bread and a nice cold Chardonnay was dinner. Oh and, some chocolate biscotti for dessert. The rest of the night was for just vegging out watching the US Open Tennis that I had taped. 

This morning started with  finishing cleaning those clam (cockerel) shells, which I had sitting in soapy water overnight. I use these in my soda firings. There's separated, scrubbed and drying outside. Cleaning those is the only studio related thing I've been able to do the past couple of days.

The tile guys are arriving  any minute, and have said we should probably be out of the house while they seal the new grout; but instead, we're going to hole up in our carpeted bedroom with the dog and cat. I'll do my email and computer cleanup while we watch the US Open tennis. It was 97 degrees at 4:30 yesterday and today is going to be another over 90 degree day, so we're opting to stay in the  house now that we have the air conditioner working again.

Time for me to soak and re-wrap it this toe (only 5 more days of this chore!), and make breakfast. The butcher gave us some Kobe beef bacon to try. We had some a few days ago and it was tasty but also pretty fatty, cooking it the way he suggested. This morning I'm going to cook it a bit longer and hopefully render more of that fat. Needless to say, there probably won't be any time for the studio today.

Last night Jim said that he was longing for just one day where he could just sit and read, and knows that I would love just one full day in the studio. Oh yeah!

Wilting in paradise

We are sitting here in 90 degree weather, wilting and drinking some good wine. It's been another day in the dust bowl but not as bad yesterday, thank God! But the oppressive  heat is another issue. All the dust from grinding out the grout someone got up into the vents and we've been without air conditioning since yesterday afternoon.

Jim and I spent 1 1/2hrs. last night, non stop, working in the heat, at a rapid base, dusting, vacuuming and washing everything in the house, until we literally cold not lift one more finger to wipe one more thing. We left the last of the floor cleanup, for once their done and out of here.

An air conditioner serviceman showed up at 7pm tonight, took one look at the air conditioner and declared "It's frozen". So he shut it off to allow the ice to melt and told us to leave the thermostat on, so after the ice melts, in a few hours, we can turn the unit back on and we might get some cooling. Meantime we are wilted and that's an understatement. He'll be back late tomorrow morning to install a new, less complicated thermostat, for $80. I think I should rename the pottery "The Money Pit". Shambhala pottery, meansa place where  all are welcome to come and  live in peace and safety. Maybe we're inviting too many "need to pay" visitors with that spiritual name. Something to think about! :-)

Tomorrow we get a respite and have outdoor chores to  do, like pick up my new glasses and do some grocery shopping, and maybe make a quick stop at the pottery supply store for a few things.. The tile guys will be back Saturday to seal the new grout and then I'll have to do the last big cleanup. The post grouting sponging they did left the same smears that you get when you mop your clay covered studio floor, so that's going to be another major mopping job for me Sunday.

I'm getting too old for so much donkey work and Jim is older and his state of health won't allow him to do any heavy work or lifting. Getting old is definitely not for sissies, as a dear, old friend has wisely stated.

Meantime, I'm going to finish this second glass of 2007 Villa Antori and a chocolate covered biscotti and be very grateful for the good parts of the day! And a salute to my dear friend Lis Wedge, who's another grey panther warrior, fighting the battle of aging with grace and humor!

Living in a dust bowl for another day

 Since I've been complaining non stop about how much I hate the cook top that came with the house (most of the burners are under powered and the design is horrible), Jim finally told me to get whatever I want. Love that man! He said "what are we saving it for, the worms?"  Good point! So yesterday I spent hours comparing and reading reviews about the latest available range tops. I found this  new Capital Culinarian model with four burners and a grill that I'm excited about. It has very powerful burners (23,000 BTU's each) and each burner has a true simmer setting. I'll have to do some research and order a vent and then call the contractor who'll have to co-ordinate all the things needing to be done to get this installed.

Silly me thought I'd get studio time yesterday - no way! I had two workmen here all day chipping and grinding the old grout from our tile floors. I'll be vacuuming  and dusting for days! This morning we put sheets all over the living room and kitchen furniture, something we would have done yesterday had we known how much dust would be kicked up. It was so bad that we thought the air conditioner had broken, but it turned out the filters were so clogged that none of the cool air was coming through. So, first thing this morning new filters went in, and we turned off the air when they started working.

Every time we plug one hole in the dyke, another one pops up. The pool heater isn't working again and they still can't get the expensive, computer controls to work. Every time they replace a part, 3 other parts blow! Getting this house up to par has certainly been an interesting and costly journey!

Needless to say, it's another non-studio day. :-(

Party time is over

Our son and his  family left for L.A. this afternoon, so that's the end of the daily partying and dining until they come back up for Thanksgiving. We're going to miss them terribly! In fact, we already do!

A few hours ago  I spent a bit of time digging up my Cone 10 glaze notes and  glazing notebook and writing down some of the liner glazes that I need to batch so I can take the next step in finishing  these soda pots. These cooler mornings and evenings will soon bring on some cooler days which is when I can get that little soda gas kiln fired. In the meantime I need to spend this week finishing these earthenware tests. Now that all but one slip is made (I decided today to test a light blue slip tomorrow), there are a few clear and white glazes to batch while these tiles finish drying.

I have a lot of small jars of under glazes to test; but in trying to keep it simple, once they're tested, I'll pick maybe 5 or 6 colors that I think would work well together and use those as a starting point.

It feels strange to be simultaneously juggling this new direction of earthenware and the old soda work. Fortunately it's only temporary.

The challenge of earthenware will probably be frustrating at times (I've been reading Tony Clennell's journey into the world of earthenware and the challenges he's been dealing with); but at the same time, I figure that in the end, the ease of loading and firing an electric kiln will  be more than worth whatever setbacks or frustrations I'll have to face journeying this unknown territory.

Catch of the day

It's a gorgeous day here in Southern Oregon. The rest of the family went fishing this morning and our eight year old grand daughter McKenna, hooked this 24" steelhead. Way to go McKenna!

I've been housebound other than early garden chores, dealing with a bunch of eggplants which are now cooked and marinating. Having an open kitchen/living room is such a treat. For one thing, I don't feel isolated and today, I've been able to work in the kitchen while still keeping up with the US Open tennis. The open floor plan concept works great for me!

But now it's time to head into the studio for a couple of hours. I finished the white slips yesterday and today I want to do a couple of colored  versions. It's party time again  at our sons tonight, so I'll only get a couple of  ours studio time so I need to get moving! Hope everyone is enjoying a great labor day weekend!

Zucchini bread and slip tests

Had my zucchini bread for breakfast and used great restraint in not buttering it! This morning is for making a batch of 20 double margaritas for tonight's barbecue at our sons place.  Right now I'm waiting for the lemons to come to room temperature since I read that they release more juice that way. 

As soon as I get those squeezed, I'll head to the studio for the day. Yesterday I got about 5 hours of studio time weighing, mixing and applying a couple of white slips to over 40 test tiles. Today I need to weigh out the Linda Arbuckle slip. That will take care of the white slip tests; and then I'll use the rest of the tile for a couple of the colored slip tests. Both slips made and applied (Ayumi's and Pete's forgiving), seemed to dip nicely. The Pete's forgiving slip didn't have an opacifier and it's grey, so it will be interesting to see what it looks like under some clear glazes. If I get time, I may weigh out another version of Pete's with some zircopax.

This batching and testing is going to go on for a while, in between all the household and garden chores that I have to deal with until after the first frost and all the contractors are finished with all the fixes in the house.

Now that I took care of some of the over abundance of zucchini, I have to deal with the over abundance of eggplant. I see more roasted eggplant appetizers as well as eggplant parmesan in our near future.

Chris Staley video on creativity

Here's a short, very nice video with Chris Staley doing a bit of demoing and sharing his insights on "can you teach creativity".

It's been another busy, at home morning. Last night, after dinner we drove to our sons place and I harvested some zucchini and since I was running out of fridge space for all this abundance, I figured that this had to be the morning for making zucchini bread.

I just took two loaves out of the oven and as soon as they cool a bit, one will go in the freezer and one will stay out for this week. We love it with boiled eggs. The whole house smells cinnamon delicious at the moment!

A couple of Facebook friends gave me some other easy and good ideas for cooking zucchini. I used to make a veggie casserole with zucchini slices, sliced onion, chopped tomato, oregano, basil, salt and pepper, a little sprinkling of olive oil between the layers and topped with a parmesan bread crumb mixture (about 2/3d bread crumbs, 1/3 grated parmesan) that I lightly drizzle with olive oil. It's a nice side dish. It could easily be a main course if you added some sauteed ground beef or chicken. I'll have to try that some time.

There will be a few hours of studio time as soon as I get the bread put away. Since I have leftovers from last nights Thai veggie, soba noodle dish and only have to cook a bit more soda noodles to stretch it a bit, I'll be able to work until 5. These last two Thai dishes, the pork omelette and the veggie soba noodle salad about both keepers.  I also like them because I can do most of the prep in the morning when my energy is high and the actually cooking or putting the salad together at  the end of the day is quick and super easy.

An afternoons work

Here are the two clay bodies that I'll be testing. The really red one is the new Vortex red from Georgie's and the other is R2 from Laguna.  The Vortex doesn't contain red art, but it's so red that it's like throwing with Red iron oxide. I prefer the R2 so far. It seems to feel better throwing and I certainly like the color better. That bright red iron was a mess to clean up. The firing color, how each work on the flat slab pieces, and how each respond to the glazes will determine which one I decide to use; but I'm definitely leaning to the R2.

Yesterday was a good day - morning chores included getting most of the night's dinner prep started, then I had afternoon studio time throwing some tests tiles and rolling out some slabs for more earthenware tests. My slab roller lost some parts and screws during the move so I had to spend time trying to get the rollers up and down and finally gave up and just used pliers to adjust them. I have to pick up some small screws today and hopefully that will do the trick.

I got these containers marked and ready for the slip and glazes tests I still have to weigh out.

Studio work stopped around 4:30 right before when electrician came. He got the last of the lighting fixtures installed. Big yeah! Since I did most of the dinner prep early, I just had to get some rice started a bit before making the omelets. I find that I'm pretty tired by the time I have to come in from the studio to start dinner, so either making a very simple, quick dinner, or getting a lot of the pre-dinner prep done in the morning works best at my age. I won't be able to do that today, so I'll have to stop work at 4 since the soba noodle, tofu salad I'm making tonight takes an hour from start to finish.

Last night's Thai pork omelet was a huge hit with Jim, so I'll be making that again.

 I got the slabs and tiles uncovered this morning and I'll finish them this afternoon and get a couple of white slips batched and applied. This morning was for house and garden chores, and now I'm heading out for a few grocery items and lots of ingredients for margaritas.

Our son has another barbecue party Friday night and I've been asked to make my margaritas. Figuring that half  the people might have 2, I need to get a great deal more lemons and liquor than I keep on hand.

Busy morning and now off to the studio

We had a great drive up to Fish lake yesterday - lovely lunch among the pines and then back home. Some packages of buckets for the studio and the last of our light fixtures (two wall scones for the dining room) had arrived and had to be unpacked. We were so relaxed from the drive and time at the lake, that I never made it to the studio other than to put the buckets away! By that time it was time to feed the animals and think about dinner; but this morning is another matter.

I was up early got all the regular morning chores done, harvested the days gifts from the garden,  and got tonight's Thai cucumber salad pretty well finished. Just have to wait another twenty minutes while the salt works it magic on the sliced cucumbers and  then they get rinsed and put in with the dressing. I'll be making egg and ground pork Thai Omelettes (Kai Tord Gup Moo)for dinner - something I' ve never made before; but Jim loves eggs, and I think I'll be OK with the recipe since it has fish sauce, garlic and cilantro in the mix (things to mask the taste of eggs which I barely tolerate).

My goal today was to be in the studio by 10am or close to it and I'm on schedule - just have to take those after breakfast vitamins, grab my Ipod and head out.

After an early dinner we'll go down to the river and I'll harvest whatever is ready at our sons place, let Bodhi have a big run (one of his newest  favorite things) and if I'm not too tired from this busy day I may just bring my fishing pole and cast a few!

Interesting tests with zircopax versus tin on stoneware body

Tony Hansen posted this on Facebook and it's a valuable comparison test between tin and zircopax. The zircopax wins in this case and the 10% zircopax works fine. Putting in 50% more with the 15% addition doesn't make it 50% brighter, so it could be a big saving with these expensive zircon based opacifiers.

Time to set the TV to tape the US open tennis in case the weather clears while we're off to the lake for lunch. There should be time for the studio this afternoon.

I had an early meeting with the handyman about building me two large raised beds - 8 ' long X 4' wide and 2' deep. That along with 3 earth boxes should give me plenty of space for growing veggies next year along with a little space I have on the east side of the house which provides enough sun for kale, beans and chard. 

Tim our tile guy  called and asked it we put put off re-grouting the tile floors till next week, which is fine with us since we're not expecting more company for another six weeks. He gave me the name of the builder of our house, so hopefully I can track down the paint colors used on the house, since a sample of the stucco can't do a proper reading using the computers and if we can find the right color it will save us a lot of time and money having to paint all the trim. Sometimes I think we could have built a new house in as much time as it's taking us to make everything right in this one!

An at home day

It's been an "at home" day - morning chores in the garden, email, snail mail and cooking.
There's some fresh baked nutty fruity bread for tomorrows breakfast, and a ratatouille type sauce with veggies and herbs from the garden, which is going over linguini for tonight's dinner. A friend is coming who is on a no fat, vegan diet, so I managed to make a rather tasty salad dressing using orange juice, apple cider vinegar, garlic, ginger, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.

There's been no time for the studio the past several days due to family time at our sons place, grand child baby sitting and other chores around here. Half of one day was spent in search of the right Japanese maple tree!

For some reason the previous owners planted a crab apple right next to the driveway and after cleaning those apples off the driveway for the past week, Jim emphatically stated "that tree has to go"! So we found a decent sized, Japanese maple replacement which will hopefully be happy in that sunny spot after it settles in a year or two. There were a couple of the same species at one of the nurseries that looked great even though four of the five nurseries didn't recommend it for a sunny area. We were cautioned though, to keep it well watered if it's going to be in a southern exposure, which seems to be the secret, so we will definitely make sure it's never thirsty!

The tile people have now promised to be here Tuesday or Wednesday (they were supposed to be here last week), so we're going to make tomorrow a half a play day and drive up to the lake district with our friend Sybil, for lunch. Sybil is home alone this week due a  family health issue which has taken her husband out of town, and due to a recent health issue herself, she can no longer drive. So we're all going to play hooky for half a day.

I should have plenty of studio time the rest of the week now that the family has gone back to LA for a few days. They'll be back for labor day weekend, so I'll have to make it a point to get a lot of studio time before then. 

Ah comfort

  

Finally got the heat and air conditioning unit installed yesterday afternoon!

After spending 3 months (and continuing), of getting settled in, finding worker to fix everything indoors and out, and still not finished, we're close enough to the end of getting these things done that I'm actually making time to do things for myself - like getting my eyes checked this morning. It's been 4 years since I got new glasses and it's long overdue. There's also been time to do some studio supply ordering - like some helmer kaolin which isn't available here. I only ordered 10 lbs along with about 6 pint plastic jars for some oxides and stains and the shipping costs almost as much as the order!

The tile people have not called (they were supposed to be here this week), about removing and replacing all the old grouting, so when we get back home. That job and finding a painter who can match some of our exterior stucco trim are the only two big, "have to" jobs that need to be done. George the handyman is eager to build me two big raised beds, so I'll measure the ones at our sons place later today and get that project started.

And, thanks to my new air/heat unit, I'll actually be able to get in the studio for a few hours this afternoon after I tend to my toe, and put the cleared slab roller table to work rolling out some of the earthenware clay for slip, glaze and under glaze tests. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!

A day of rest

My jolly green toe at rest! First thing this morning I had minor surgery on my toe. I had  3 color choices for the wrapping and chose green - supposed to be a healing color. The other two choices were bubble gum pink and bright blue!

Since I've been ordered off my feet for the day, there won't be any studio news to report other than that the heating/cooling people will be here this afternoon to install the dual heat/air conditioning unit in the studio/garage. The electrician was here last night to do the preliminary electrical wiring for it, so I will soon be enjoying a much more comfortable working environment as soon as it's hooked up.

This is a good time for me to catch up on the pile of unread newspapers, magazines and other snail mail, as well as the ever mounting email.

I've got some nice spinach and cheese ravioli in the fridge, so I'll just open a jar of marinara sauce and it will be a super easy, quick dinner. Jim will open a lovely bottle of Villa Antonori and we can have some chocolate for dessert. By then the anesthetic will be starting to wear off, so the wine with the extra strength Tylenol, as prescribed, should make me pretty comfortable. :-)

Grandparents day

It's harvest time so yesterday was a day to do something with a couple of the eggplants. I roasted them and they've been marinating overnight in a garlic vinaigrette with lots of fresh basil and oregano, for an appetizer on warm, crunchy baguette tonight. Later today I have to figure out what to do with some of these tomatoes. I have more than I need for fresh eating and not quite enough to make a tomato bisque which we both like.

Today we're baby sitting one of our grand children. Aidan is eight years old and recently he's taken an interest in rocks and fossils, so we're surprising him with a visit to a local rock museum, then taking him up to lake country for his favorite lunch - a cheeseburger!

Yesterday I got some more studio time just putting things away and going through my notebook of earthenware slip and glaze recipes and getting them on work sheets so I'll be ready to start on them as soon as they install the air/heat in there, which they've promised to do tomorrow. This morning I was in there unpacking the Skutt kiln and spent a little bit more time on the endless job of putting things away. I cleared the slab roller and it's  now ready to roll our some slabs for those earthenware slip, glaze and under glaze tests. I just have to find time between dealing with all these workers, doctors appointments, cooking and garden work.

The gardener is coming again today and he still has to do work on getting this watering right, both in the lawn and bedding area and in all my containers. He's had at least 4 visits and still not finished. In the meantime, I'm still spending a great deal of time hand watering twice a day - time I'd prefer to be spending in the studio.

My other time consuming job yesterday was more cooking and planting. There are only a couple of more small pots of herbs and flowers to plant and I'll be done for the season. Hopefully I can get to those when I get back from my early podiatrist appointment  tomorrow depending on what he does with my unhappy big toe toe. I'm not looking forward to that visit at all!

Big week ahead

Finally got the studio/garage attic insulated a couple of days ago. It hasn't made much difference as far as the coolness goes but mid week they'll be installing a dual heat/air conditioning unit and I'll finally be able to spend a lot more time in there.

It was cool enough to get about an hour and half in there this morning, before it started to feel like a sauna. I got all of the recently purchased raw materials, other than some soda ash in buckets and bins; and of course, as things would have it, one of those unscientific laws of the universe bit me: the one bag that would create the worst mess when emptying it, was the Redart and of course that was the one that spilled over as I tried to empty it into a bucket.  I must have spent about 20 minutes sweeping up, cleaning my shoes, and then wet sponging that part of the floor! I also got a bunch more pottery and other tools hung up, put more things away, and  setup a couple more flexible lights in my jewelry area.

This infected big toe is being handed over to the podiatrist Wednesday, since my self treatment as well as one prescription of antibiotics has not stopped the problem of the nail cutting into me and causing pain and bleeding. I'm not looking forward to the visit, because I think they may have to pull off that nail, which means a few more days lost in the studio and garden time not even considering whatever discomfort that is going to entail. Knowing that I might be out of commission for a few days after Wednesday, I've been trying to get some of these studio and garden things finished in the next two days.

Now that I got all the raised beds planted at our son and daughter in laws house, I'm focusing on getting the last of my own things planted. Today I got about a bunch of parsley plants and a mum planted and plan to get out tomorrow after some pre-breakfast studio time, to plant a six pack of kale, bunching onions and the rest of the herbs . At the rate this planting has been going,  I may just get it all planted before the first frost!

This past week has been for family, parties, and cooking, now that all these great veggies are coming in, as well as dealing with house and garden repairs and installations that are still not quite done . After 3 gardener visits this week alone, the lawn and planters watering system is still not working 100 %; but hopefully by the end of the week that job will be done, as well as the re-grouting all the tile throughout the house which is scheduled for mid-week.

If those jobs and the studio heating/air gets installed, that will finally be the end of all the construction and repair jobs we've been doing the past 3 months, and we can sit back and enjoy the rest of the summer and just enjoy having our house and time for our selves; and I will finally get some longer days in the studio.