Shaun Ireland at Spruce Pine Potters Market

Here are a couple of photos of Shaun Ireland and his wonderful folk inspired, wood fired pottery. Check out his web site for more photos of his work and kiln. :

http://www.theartistsshowcase.com/

We had a lovely dinner at the seafood buffet at the Eseeola Lodge. I  pigged out on the lobster and stone crabs; but saved room for some of the other goodies. Jim had several trips back to the buffet for extra smoked salmon which he said was the best he's ever had. It was their last night of the buffet for the season; but we'll definitely be back next season.

Woke up with a cold and slightly swollen glands, so I'm playing on the computer, taking lots of vitamins to nip this in the bud, and looking for brussel sprout recipes that Jim might eat.  I found one with orange juice and browned butter and I'll add some pignoli nuts which he likes. Hopefully, I might just get him to at least taste them. The brussel sprouts are ready for  harvest  so I'll probably make them next week with a ham dinner..

After lunch I'll take my stand alone hard drive and head up to my office and transfer files and do some print outs of recipes and other info I want to save in hard copy.

Tonight we're having the leftover potato leek soup, which will be perfect for this rainy, windy day. We have a Netflix comedy "The Proposal"  to watch after dinner. It will be a good night to snuggle in.

Mark Peters at Spruce Pine Potters Market

Here's Mark Peters and his wonderful wood fired pots. If you haven't seen them already, check out some of his throwing videos on you tube.

This past week has just flown by with no time for the studio; but the garden and other things are getting a lot of much needed attention.

As soon as I take my morning vitamins, Jim and I will be heading for the studio to get those plants moved and under grow lights. In the afternoon I'll be taking advantage of this beautiful day and be back in the garden, planting some tulip bulbs and other things and doing a bit more fall clean up.

I didn't want to waste a beautiful fall day working indoors, and I was too sore and tired from all the garden work, so driving over the mountain to Tennessee yesterday and enjoying the gorgeous fall colors, getting some shopping in, followed by an early dinner at Carrabas, turned out to be a great choice.

The days outing was a nice respite from the garden work. I got some more saucers for the plants, two more grow lights as back ups and avoided the temptation to buy more things to plant. I stopped in Pet Smart and got Bonnie kitty a new toy that I'm saving to lure her in next time I let her outside, without a chain, if ever. I also bought a longer than normal lead for her and we'll see how that works. After that experience with her the other day when she refused to come in, I'm reluctant to give her that amount of freedom any time soon.

A nice meditation, followed by "Top Chef", put the finishing touches on a lovely "play day".

Rain is expected tomorrow, and the next day so I'll finally get some real studio time till the next sunny day when the,  still somewhat messy, garden will beckon once more.

Jane Peiser's booth at Spruce Pine Potters Market

Here's the only shot I got of Jane Peiser's booth at the Spruce Pine Market. If you click on the picture you can get a better look at her wonderful work.

It was exhausting, but I made a lot of headway with garden cleanup yesterday. Bonnie kitty had a grand time - too grand. If I wasn't tired enough from the garden work, I increased my exhaustion level by spending hours trying to coax her back into the house. Finally about an hour or so after dark, I was able to coax her in with a can of her favorite cat food.

The good thing about her tiring herself and us, was that we all slept in till 7:45 this morning - at least two to two and a half  hours more than my usual wake up time and hers as well.

This afternoon we've got some shopping chores to do. I need to get some back up grow light bulbs and more plant trays at Home Depot, some kitty thing at Pet Smart;  and Jim needs to get a couple of things at Office Mart.  Then we'll have an early dinner at Carrabas. We love their mussels in garlic, white wine, lemon and pernod appetizer and often have that with their Caesar salad and skip entrees.

Since we're leaving here in 2 hours and have just finished  breakfast, it doesn't look like there's going to be any time for the studio other than maybe a bit of paper work. 

Will Baker's booth at Spruce Pine Potters Market

Here's a shot of Will Baker's elegant wood and soda fired stoneware, taken at the Spruce Pine Potters Market.

This morning I re-adjusted the basement grow lights and re-arranged the plants. There's a bit of room left under the lights for me to grow one or two small window boxes with lettuce this winter.

Looks like it's going to be a great afternoon for me to get out and dead head the flowers that past two nights of freezing temperatures have claimed. Bonnie kitty has gotten a taste of the outdoors and is going to be a very happy kitty to be out there while I'm doing some of this garden clean up. Since she's gotten a taste of the freedom of the outdoors, she's been moaning and groaning because of her being relegatted to the confines of our bathroom and laundry room areas.

I'll should get some studio time today to re-arrange the plants Jim brought in the other day. Once I move them out of my heavy traffic pattern, I'll set up the grow lights and timers for them.

Since dinner is going to be a simple cheese tortellini pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs (already made and frozen), I should be able to get all the things on today's agenda completed.

The face of frost (winter arrived overnight!)

Here are a couple of pictures taken from my front porch this morning.  28degrees F has taken it's toll on the peach tree and everything else. I'm not even sure the remay covered beans, tomatoes and peppers have survived this freeze. It's going down to 30 tonight; but tomorrow and for the next ten days we're supposed to be frost free. In fact, the daytime temperature tomorrow is going to be 70F, so we'll probably be out doing more garden cleanup.

Yesterday I harvested the tender veggies,covered some with remay, cut more herbs for drying, mulched a lot of plants and dug up some Thai basil and a tender fern and brought them down to the basement  for the winter. After breakfast I'll  re-pot them and put them under the grow lights. I also got the 4 sets of lights set up yesterday, cleaned the potting tables and tidied all the indoor potting supplies. 

In the morning, I tried the new, faster "no knead" bread recipe. It came out alright; but only because I waited 9 1/2 hours instead of the 3-4 suggested before baking it. I'll have to watch the you tube video again on this new method, because I think that I'll have to add more yeast along with the hot water and red wine vinegar suggestions to make this shorter version work. I'm going to pull some leeks from the garden after breakfast to  make a warm vichyssoise for dinner. It's definitely good weather for soup.

Since I harvested more swiss chard, I decided to add it to last nights dinner. I finally found a healthy, chard recipe that Jim would eat and even like! It's made with onion sauteed in olive oil, chopped chard leaves, raisins, salt a tiny bit of water and chopped, sauteed almonds.

 If I have the time, after lunch I'll try to get in some studio time.

Terri Gess's booth at Spruce Pine Potters market

Here's are a couple of shots of Terri Gess's booth at the Spruce Pine Potters Market with  his wonderful slip decorated, salt fired work.

We got a light sprinkling of snow earlier; but not even enough to provide a light coating.   I had planned to dig up and pot a tender fern but if it stay like this,  I'll cover it with an old blanket and wait for a warmer day.. It's going down to 28F tonight, but then it's expected to be above freezing for the next ten days or more with the day time temperatures in the low 60's which will give us more time to continue putting the garden to bed.

In the mean time, this is definitely a good day to bake some bread! I'm going to try the short cut version of the "no knead" bread recipe which I didn't get to make yesterday and I'll have it to go with the potato leek soup I'm planning for tomorrow.  Tonight's freeze will sweeten the leeks which I'll harvest tomorrow for the soup.

After breakfast I'll start on the bread and do the  plant organizing in the basement which I didn't get to yesterday, read the Sunday papers and then do some early dinner prep. I'm using some of our garden veggies (butternut squash and yellow wax beans) to go with the frozen Chicken Cordon Bleu from Sams Club. I always keep a package of that around for those busy days, or when I'm just not very inspired to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Gay Smith at Spruce Pine Potters Market

Here's Gay Smith's booth at the Spruce Pine Potters market. I soooo want a pair of those amazing candlesticks. Gay's work is  soda and single fired porcelain - unique, strong forms decorated with some brilliant glazes and warm flashing slips.


Yesterday was a heavy duty gardening day. I harvested beans, peppers, winter squash, cherry tomatoes and swiss chard and got the bush beans and peppers covered with remay in expectation of some snow tonight and freezing temperatures in the next couple of days. The beans are still producing, so it was worth taking the time to cover them. I also did a lot of weeding, some dead heading and planted a few perennials.

Jim took most of the tropical plants indoors and carted off my piles of picked weeds and trimmings.  There are still bulbs to plant and more garden cleanup to do, but that will have to wait till next week when the temperatures will be back up to the 60's.

We had another lovely dinner with friends at the new "Knife and Fork" restaurant in Spruce Pine. It's so nice to have a decent restaurant, serving wine, only 20 minutes away!

This morning we're having breakfast out and then heading to Walmart for a replacement iron pot that I need for making my "no knead" bread. The first one cracked the second time I used it. When we get home I have to prep some of the beans for the freezer and feed my sourdough starter. I might even try the new, faster version of "no knead bread" if I have the time.At some point I have to get down to the basement, reset the timers, turn on the grow lights and set the plants on the tables.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some studio time tomorrow, since there's no way I'll be able to find any time for the studio today.

Ken Sedberry at Spruce Pine Potters Market

 Here's a blinking Ken Sedberry tending his booth at the Spruce Pine Potters market. Don't you just love his  colorful, wood fired pots!

With frost expected in a couple of days, we're going to be taken some preventative measures today. I have this wonderful fabric like material called Remay that I'll use to cover some of my crops like beans and peppers that are still bearing. The Remay comes in a couple of weights that will raise the temperature at least 2 degrees which can be critical with these early frosts. My beans are still producing well, so the first thing I'll do today is harvest the beans and peppers that are ready, then cover with the remay. 

We'll also bring all the tropical and semi tropical plants indoors - either down to the basement under grow lights or in my studio.

If I have any time or energy left, I might just do a short walk around to see if all this rain has brought forth any new, or interesting mushrooms.

I'll be ready for a nice dinner out with friends tonight after a full day in the garden.

Suze Lindsay Kent McLaughlin

Here's a shot of Suze Lindsay's and Kent McLaughlin's booth at the Spruce Pine Potters Market - beautiful work, as always!

It's a rainy foggy morning - good time to do paper and computer work. Hosting Clay Club was a lot of fun but I'm wiped this morning. I'll get in the studio at some point to put away some of the remnants of last night's get together; but the rest of the day is going to be spent on the computer and paper work.

I haven't backed up my documents in a long time and it's time to get them on the stand alone hard drive and then transfer them to the old desktop.

Since we didn't get the usual Clay Club turnout due to people having to set up in Asheville for the Southern Highland show, I actually have leftover ribs and barbecue beans for tonight. Jim will be happy for the leftovers since he opted to get out of our way and have dinner out at the Inn at Little Switzerland. He said he practically had to crawl coming home because of the heavy fog on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Michael Hunt and Naomi Daiglish

Here's some photos from the Spruce Pine Pottery Market - these are of Michael Hunt and Naomi Dailgish's wonderful wood fired work.

It's raining again - what else is new! LOL

I spent 2 hours chatting with my friend McKenzie who called from Florida and now I'm making a check list of what I still have to do to be ready for Clay Club at 6:30. Things are pretty well ready to go other than cooking my ribs and reheating the barbecue beans and getting the wine opened and the sodas in the cooler.

Since Jim doesn't want to hang around during the meeting, so he's opting for dinner at the Inn at Little Switzerland; but he is hoping there will be some leftover ribs for him to have tomorrow.

Time to get to the studio and make sure I'm set up for tonight.

Spruce Pine Potters Market - Ron and Maria Slagle's booth

Here's a shot of Ron and Maria Slagle's booth at the Spruce Pine Potters market. Ron is an amazing, all round artist; and a great guy and fabulous cook as well. His functional wood fired work is accompanied by his equally wonderful, and often whimsical sculptures. Ron makes the kind of pots you can have and use forever and never tire of them. Ron gifted me with one of his chicken sculptures recently. How did he know that I've been wanting one of those! If you're ever in the area, stop by his barn gallery and view all this work for yourself. Bet you can't buy just one!

Today is going to be a play day since it's the only non rainy day till Sunday and we want to drive North and see if we can see some of the lovely fall colors. I also have to do a food shopping stop to buy some ribs for tomorrow night's Clay Club meeting at my studio.

When I get home I need to harvest more beans and get them and peppers covered with Remay in preparation for those 30 degree temperature arriving Friday night. If I waited, I'd be doing it in the rain - not fun. Then I have to clean and prep the yesterday and today's harvested beans for the freezer, feed my sour dough starter, make dinner, and if I have any energy and time left, I need to tidy my gallery.

Spruce Pine Potters Market - Linda McFarling

Here's that last shot of Linda McFarling's display at the Spruce Pine Potters Market. I don't know why Blogger had such problems yesterday; but trying to upload those 2 photos yesterday took me about 2 hours.

Today is a full studio day. I got in there for a while yesterday to pull a couple of handles and finish a couple of mugs and move all the raw pots off one of the ware carts and slab roller which is going to be used as the food table for Wednesday's Clay Club's meeting and pot luck. Today I'll be sweeping, mopping the floor and do more tidying.

My studio is pretty crammed full of equipment and tools but I think I'll have enough floor space for all of us to move around freely. After we eat and mull around a bit, we'll go into the house to see some of the pots in our private collection.

Since I'll be in the studio most of the day I'm just going to make a quick, easy, pot sticker dinner. It will be a nice light, comfort food meal on this rainy day. Tomorrow is the only non rainy day this week, so Jim and I are going to drive north of Banner Elk to enjoy the fall color, have lunch and pick up some things at the Mast General store.

Spruce Pine Potters Market

I decided to give blogger one last try to upload these photos before heading for the studio. Seems it only want to let me upload one photo per message, so the other one will have to wait to after dinner. Linda's lowered the copper content of the Shaner Oribe and I love the color better than the original which has between 5 and 6% copper.

Spruce Pine Potters Market - Linda McFarlings booth

Here are some photos of Linda McFarling's booth at the Spruce Pine Potters Market. I had to drag myself away from here booth to avoid temptation. I already have half a dozen of her wonderful pots!

Blogger.com is having problems this morning. It took forever to get one picture uploaded. I have two other shots of Linda's booth, which I'll try to get up after dinner.

We saw some incredible work at the market. It took a lot of restraint to not deplete the family coffers; but I did buy a Nick Joerling plate to add to our collection. I took pictures of many of the booths which I'll post this week.

Mark Peters wife Erin, who is a fabulous cook, had a lovely lunch menu, so we had a light lunch there before heading home to get my bush beans processed and in the freezer. After that I had to do some computer work and before I knew it, it was dinner time. After dinner I watched the Brit coms followed by Poirot and Jim opted for the football game.

Sunday mornings are for lazing around and reading the papers and watching the gardening shows; but I'm going to get in the studio after breakfast and finish my organizing and tidying. I'll probably work till around 3 and then come in to start dinner prep - small pork roast, roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes and yellow wax beans. If I have time I might make some stewed apples to go with it..

Some of my little nature's treasures

I was inspired by Joy Tanner's picture of her studio collection of shells, etc, to take a picture of my little treasures - sea shells, bits and pieces of driftwood, eucalyptus pods, and stones. We potters, I think, tend to be scroungers of natures bounty. My husband gets a kick of my posture when walking in the woods or on the beach, because my head is always down looking for those little treasures.

Yesterday I got in a bit of studio and garden time before heading out to dinner. I finally got the rest of the garlic dug up and replanted and planted the crape myrtle which took forever since I was digging through 8" or more or gravel from the old driveway. From one hole, large enough for 3 gallon plant, I wound up with 3, 3 gallon buckets of gravel to dispose of from the hole! My late bush beans are coming in with great abundance, so I'll have to prep some of them for the freezer this afternoon. The only studio time I got yesterday was cleaning a wheel and washing a bunch of bats, so I'll try to get in there this afternoon.

After a nice lunch Thursday at the new "Knife and Fork" restaurant in Spruce Pine, we went back there for again last night for dinner, which was lovely. We will definitely make it part of our regular dining out experience.

This morning we're going to the Spruce Pine Potters market. Their menu is enticing, so we'll definitely have an early lunch there before heading home.

Karatsu Japan Plate

Here's one more of the Karatsu pots. The picture is terrible, but I liked the form and decoration enough, that I thought readers might enjoy it. The feeling of this pot reminds me of Michael Kline's beautiful work.

It's the coolest morning so far this month; but the sun is shining and it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day to be out and about.

The doctor said Jim tore some ligaments in his lower back. That was the good news; but the bad is that this sort of thing takes 7 weeks to heal, so he has 5 more weeks to go. She gave us both an anti inflammatory cream prescription which we'll get filled today. Fortunately, I'm a bit further along in my healing; but at our ages, the last thing you want is to have both partners hobbling around with injuries! It's not conducive to getting anything done requiring a lot of strength or mobility, as in Jim's case.

We're off to the groomers later this morning, then need to do some shopping, pick up our prescriptions, have lunch, pick up our clean dog, and head home.

Don't see how I'm going to squeeze in any studio time today, unless we get home before 3. Then I might be able to get an hour or two of studio time before dinner, which is leftover almond chicken.

After breakfast I need to get some potted plants indoors and under the grow lights in the basement. Jim can't carry anything right now and I can only manage 3 gallon or smaller pots at this point. This chore is going to have to be spread out over a few days. My potted avocado tree is at least 8' tall now. Fortunately the studio is over 11 feet if I have to keep it till I can find another home for it. ! I need to find someone with a greenhouse who wants a free avocado tree. Any takers?

It's going down to the low thirties early next week, so I am going to have to get all these tropical plants and fruit trees indoors, and tender veggies like the bush beans that are still producing, covered with remay, in the next 3 days.

Japan - some pots from Karatsu

Here are a couple of pictures of pottery from Karatusu. The fish bottles were freshly decorated, unfired.

Yesterday I got the rest of the kiln shelves cleaned and stored, took down the bag wall, cleaned out the kiln, set up the new "T" brick formation in front of each burner, which will be in lieu of a normal bag wall, got the rest of the kiln furniture cleaned and stored, re-swept the kiln room, cleaned one wheel, drilled a bunch of bats and swept part of the studio.

Jim is taking my osteo appointment this afternoon, since his pulled back seems to have gotten worse in two weeks. While we're out I need to stop and get a bunch of paper napkins, plates, etc. for the Clay Club meeting at my studio next week. Hopefully we'll get back in time for me to get an hour or so in the studio before dinner. I still have a wheel to clean and some clay scraps and reclaim to deal with and lots of little things to tidy up.

It's leftover beans and cornbread tonight, which will be a perfect light supper after a big lunch at the Japanese restaurant.

My ebay stamp purchase

I won the bid on this antique, wooden stamp on ebay yesterday. Anyone know if that's Tibetan or Chinese, or???? writing in the center. I thought it would be nice on some slab pieces with a transparent glaze like Amber celadon, etc.

We're getting a bit of sun peeking through after a rainy night. Yesterday we had a lovely drive over the mountain to Tennessee to do some shopping. There are hints of the great fall color to come and I think in a week to ten days we should be close to peak color.

Jim and I had a large lunch at the Indian buffet and then make several shopping stops at Home Depot, Sam's Club, Ross for Less etc. He got the squeegie he wanted and I got the replacement disk for my angle grinder so I can finish cleaning my kiln shelves today and a few other items for the studio. I was hoping to work right after breakfast, but the morning has slipped by with letter writing to family and catching up on emails. Since I'm still sore from hand scraping those shelves two days ago, I'm not feeling terribly motivated at the moment; but I will head out there as soon as I post this and take my morning vitamins.

Today's studio time will be finishing scraping kiln shelves and moving them into the studio and taking down the bag wall and cleaning out the fire box. Dinner is going to be easy - roast chicken dinner leftovers. After a big lunch yesterday I opted for buttered, salted popcorn with parmesan and cayenne for dinner, so we have two leftover meals for tonight and tomorrow night.

Japan potter using coil throw method

Here's a potter from Southern Japan(may be Kyushu). Many of the potters here were of Korean descent. Their ancestors, I was told, wound up being the spoils of war, kidnapped and brought to Japan for their skills. I put the photo of one this potters finished pots first, followed by a series of shots showing the process.

This is one of those strange starts to the day! A headache woke me around 3:45am, and while reaching for the bottle of Tylenol, I knocked over a glass of water, waking up Jim and our critters. The water landed on the side of the bed and into my slippers, which are now a soggy, cold mess. Is this sounding like a Rube Goldberg cartoon, or what! LOL The good news is the Jim and critters went back to sleep. The bad is that I'm still awake. It's going to be a long day unless I can manage to sneak in a nap at some point.

Yesterday I got the kiln room swept and got half my kiln shelves cleaned; but ran out of energy since my grinding disk was too worn to do the job and I wound up hand grinding them which didn't make my back or shoulders happy. Tylenol and I are becoming good buddies lately! I did manage enough energy to make a nice roast chicken, mashed potato, green beans and corn on the cob dinner. Everything but the chicken was from my garden. I won't have to cook tonight or tomorrow since I have plenty of beans and cornbread leftover and enough leftovers from last night chicken dinner.

After dinner Jim and I took turns with our latest toy - a Max Pro massage. That is one powerful, deep massaging tool! John from Crimson Laurel Gallery recommended it highly and I was able to find one on Ebay at a great price. Between that and Tylenol, I think Ill be able to keep this worn body fairly comfortable with all I ask it to do.

I need to get a replacement disk for my angle grinder so I can finish cleaning those kiln shelves. So a trip to Johnson City is on the agenda this morning.

Some October blooming flowers

Here are some of the flowers still blooming - clematis, calendula, dahlias(a bit chewed up by the slugs and snails) and coreopsis.

Had a good day yesterday - did a bunch of weeding, planted a few more cloves of garlic, and pulled all but one of the tomato cages up which Jim stored neatly in the wood shed. It was a great day for garden work. There are still quite a few flowers still blooming in the garden. As you can see, we still have a lot of flowers still blooming, and the colder weather has a lot of the roses blooming as well. The garden as a whole looks pretty scruffy this time of year which makes these few holdouts even more welcome.

Yesterday morning I got the unfired test tiles and stamps out of the tiny test kiln that died a few days ago and into my other test kiln. It was still on at 11pm, after firing for about 12-13 hours!. Both kilns are rated for cone 10, but the newer one has never gotten up to that temperature. Both are going to need looking at. The old one, which is around 30 years old, has had the sensor replaced several times and the coils only once. This little kiln is beaten up but has certainly given me my money's worth over the years. I even had Nils Lou make me a tiny propane burner so I could do some reduction in it.

I'm planning on a lazy Sunday - reading the Sunday papers after a pancake breakfast and then making a roast chicken, mashed potato dinner this afternoon. After breakfast I'll unload those few bisqued tiles and stamps and maybe do a bit of kiln room clean up, and get the kiln shelves scraped and moved into the studio.

Japan potter's gallery

This was an exquisite gallery. As mentioned earlier, the potters name and location info has long been lost.

Slept in a bit after a great porch sitting with friends last night; but I got the test tiles and new stamps out of the one tiny test kiln into the other and am firing it now. Seems the sensor inside the kiln sitter died. This has happened before, so I'll have to take it apart and order another one. That's what probably kicked off the plug a couple of days ago, which also affected our auxilary fridge, so I'm going to keep a watchful eye on it today to make sure it's not an electrical problem in the plug or line.

Since we were off partying last night, we taped the final show of the PBS National parks series, which we're watching now.

My beans are soaking for tonight's bean and corn bread supper. I'll get the veggies that go in the beans prepped while watching this video, so I can get some studio or garden time this afternoon.

Wood fired pots from Japan trip

Here's another Japan photo - a large group of wood fired pots that had just been unloaded.

Had a lovely drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, to the opening exhibit of Cynthia Bringle and Norm Schulmans work and their induction as North Carolina living treasures. The exhibit was wonderful - a vast amount of work - a lifetimes really - one piece lovelier than the next. I would have taken pictures but there were large signs requesting "no photos". :-(

There were hints of fall color in the distant higher elevations along the drive. I expect that in another week or two we'll have peak color.

It was a long drive, so I suggested we take the shorter route home. Jim was tired and didn't even want to stop and have dinner out, so we just picked up some KFC and headed home, watched the next to last of the National Parks series on PBS and went to bed.

Today I'm taking care of some computer work, pulled a few weeds and harvested some bush beans before the forecasted rain arrives. After a light lunch, I'll be starting on food prep for tonight's porch sitting with good friends.

It doesn't look like I'll get any studio time in today; but I may get down to the basement and get my grow lights and timers set up in advance of bringing in some of my house plants in the next week. My gray card arrived, so I'll also have to think about finding time this coming week to hang my lightbox and get that setup up and tested.

Last night's pizza

Last night was pizza night. Fortunately I had some dough in the freezer, which was a good thing because I was sore and tired after a long session in the garden planting, weeding and then digging up and transplanting a large amount of this years garlic bulbs which had split and started sprouting. There will be a lot of garlic next summer! I couldn't transplant all of it, but should be able to get it finished over the weekend, along with more garden cleanup. I'm so glad that I opted out of the December TRAC tour! There's way too much to do around here and I didn't want to rush a firing just to fill my gallery shelves. I haven't even cleaned my kiln shelves from the last firing! :-(

I took Bonnie kitty out with me to the garden yesterday and had a hard time coaxing her back in. She definitely wants to be an outdoor kitty; but she's too young and there are way too many predators around. After losing two cats this year, I'm being super careful with her.

All the gardening didn't give leave much energy for the studio, although I did manage to get in and trim and wax two more platters. This afternoon we're taking a leisurely drive on the Blue Ridge parkway to the Folk Art Center in Asheville to attend the reception to Cynthia Bringle and Norm Schulman, honoring them as North Carolina living treasures. Hopefully this morning fog will lift and we'll have a lovely, scenic drive.

My tiny test kiln didn't fire yesterday - something tripped the switch in the box and we didn't find out till this morning that our auxiliary fridge in the kiln room had also been turned off. I'll have to wait a few days, when I can be around all day to keep an eye on it, to fire it again.

Well time to make a few batches of pesto for the freezer. With temperatures going down to the low 40's last night, it was time to harvest the basil which doesn't do well with cold nights. If I have time after that, I'll get to the studio for an hour or so.