Oatmeal bread

Since I was up at 4 am, I decided it was a good morning to get another loaf of oatmeal bread made. This loaf is a bit better looking than the one a few days ago; but I'm still getting uneven raising in that bread machine, on some loaves. 

We decided to drive to Asheville Friday, which is always an all  day trip. Our aim was to buy some fresh seafood, have lunch at the Mexican restaurant and pick up clay at Highwater, which was out of Phoenix. Last time I was in there they were out of clay as well. Why don't they just buy another used mixer, I wonder. If I were younger I'd be mixing my own again; but at 70, I've become wise enough to resist that temptation, so  I wound up getting couple of boxes of a white stoneware which I also use.

We've been eating blue shell crabs, steamed clams and fried shrimp the past 3 days. We have definitely saturated our seafood itch! It was so good to find a source for really fresh fish and seafood. They will be seeing us pretty regularly.

Besides husband and animal care, gardening, indoors and out, cooking, there has been no time for studio other than a stolen hour or so the other day to throw a couple of bowls and mugs. Seedlings are sprouting and need to get planted, others need watering, moving outdoors and back in on very cold nights, feeding and transplanting. I've lost quite a few from damping off which has never happened with this expensive seed starter; and I don't know what has caused it this year. Hopefully enough will make it through OK. All the kale, cabbage and broccoli are doing fine and need to get transplanted in the garden later in the week, along with onions and leeks.

It was a gorgeous day yesterday, and  I finally got some heavy duty outdoor gardening done after a couple of morning hours of indoor seedling care and planting. I dug in some metal supports, mixed up some planting medium and planted a couple of red raspberry bushes, a low, fragrant sumac bush, a couple of climbing roses, then pruned the rest of the other non climbers and did some weeding.  Now there are only 2 old climbers to prune. Saying I was totally wiped when I came in, is an understatement, but I still had to muster enough energy to make steamed clams in a wine, garlic, herb broth, for dinner.

The rain today made this another indoor gardening day again with more seedling care and planting. I also got three of the four varieties of potato seeds I'm planting this year, cut and curing.  That was followed by a short stint in the studio before dinner to trim the couple of pots I threw a few days ago. I should be able to get a bit more studio time in tomorrow. There was too much else to do today, including baking bread. I even found time after lunch to read a couple of pottery magazines that have been sitting here for weeks.