Pre-Glazing

Here's the fruit of my summer labor. I just finished glazing them all today and actually had enough to fill up two kilns so I guess that isn't bad.


Compared to what I produced last summer for the festival:

I made my focus on functional wares (neti pots, mugs, plates) this year because most of the folks weren't interested in art pieces so much as stuff that they could use. I struggled with the issue of whether or not to use blue glazes this time around. I know that people are really drawn to blue and would probably be more likely to buy something blue, but I just don't like using it. I felt that I would compromise too much of my art by just making what sells easier. I'd almost rather not sell a nice piece that isn't blue than sell a blue piece that I'm not really wild about. I'll know how everything turned out on Thursday, so be watching for updates.

Pots pots and more pots

I've ended production on the work I'm taking for the Raspberry Festival and I'm just finishing up some of the last carvings. My hope is to drag all this work in to school to fire this weekend, a task I've been worried about all summer. With all the trouble I've had with my handles it would just be my luck that they would all get bumped and break off somewhere in transport (they are so fragile). All told, I have 12 mugs, 12 neti pots, 10 plates (7 with leaves), a smattering of tree pots, and about 20 or 25 minis. I don't know how it matches up to last year's product. It's scattered all over my studio at the moment, so I'll have a better idea when I get it all out on the table for photos. I'll hopefully be bisque firing this weekend and glazing the first part of next week. We're off to the festival next Saturday.

On another note, my new website should be up and running next week. It will be a more professional display of my work, primarily to get it out there and hopefully make more sales. I will still be blogging here about all matter of life, never you worry. I'll let you know what it is when it is. But it's definitely exciting.

With all this pottering, I haven't done anything else for weeks. My house is in a state, my yard is overgrown with weeds (although thanks to a little unexpected help from my mother-in-law while we were camping this last weekend, it's a little bit less-- Thanks Maria!!) I have closet doors that I've been wanting to finish painting this summer, a couple of paintings for our hallway to finish, curriculum to plan and Master's homework to start. It's piling up and my summer is dwindling away! It's enough to bring on full-fledged panic. I'll post about our latest camping trip a little later.

Clematis

This clematis astounds me every day. We planted the three plants in late April 2008, when we bought our house. This summer you could literally watch it grow inches a day. Last year all we saw were the red blooms on the middle plant. This summer, finally, I've got one of the white ones blooming. It brings me a lot of joy so I thought I would share.

Then:
Now:

Coast Trip

Adrian and I returned from our coast trip on Tuesday evening. We had a great time and I was relieved that it went as smoothly as it did. Nacho was a little bit of a pill in the car, a lot of whining, but there were actually periods where he would sleep quietly. By the time we were nearly home he was a champ at it, which I appreciated. This was Nacho's first trip to the coast and he really loved it.
On Friday we set out early and drove through Bend to our campground (Beachside) just south of Newport. We made it there in about 10 and a half hours, which I thought was pretty decent with stops. The campsite we had this year was a lot bigger and much more secluded than last year. It had plenty of sun, plenty of shade and plenty of wind cover, all good things. The weather was beautiful and stayed that way all weekend (aside from the wind, of course).

Nacho had his first taste of the ocean Friday night and surprised us both by running right out in it. This dog will do anything to avoid a sprinkler and he's tromping right out into the frigid north Pacific! While he's not to be trusted off of his leash, I firmly believe he'd have kept going and probably have gotten himself into trouble. The beach was really windy that night, blowing drifts of sand all the way down the coast. We visited the tree on which we carved our names on last year only to find it almost entirely buried by sand. Disappointing as we weren't able to see the spot where our initials were. (Below is how we saw it last year)

It was pretty cold so we kept it short with a shivering little dog who decided he'd had enough.

On Saturday we woke up plenty early (thanks Nacho) and walked on the beach. We found a seal pup basking in the sun. There are signs all over saying to leave these guys alone as they come to the beach to rest so I didn't want to get too close. But it was pretty cool to see him. Nacho did not get the opportunity. :)

We spent some time in the sun, reading and napping before heading in to Lincoln City to hit the outlet mall. Didn't get much, just a long sleeve shirt for Mr. I-forgot-my-coat-for-the-second-year-in-a-row. We could practically hear Nacho yowling in the car from the parking garage so we did not stay long.

Then a little more time playing in the water.And after all that, a dog with practically no hair gets chilly, so Nacho spent most of the rest of the afternoon/evening curled up in his blanket.

Every time we camp we like to do the old stand-by foil pack meal over the fire. It's always the same. Potatoes, carrots, onions and chicken plus a little magic and voila! Gourmet.
Someone managed to put up these logs on the beach near our campsite. Not sure how it was done but it was interesting all the same.
We saved the Newport Bayfront trip for Monday hoping the crowds would be minimal, and they were, but apparently the harbor sea lions were on vacation as well. Their normal hangout was completely deserted and a huge disappointment. But again, beautiful weather.
When we got back we did some kite flying. The wind was perfect and the kites were fast. Nacho goes nuts for kites and spent his time barking and running back and forth after them.
We finished off our trip with a very cold but beautiful sunset on the beach.
With weather as nice as we had, we stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way home. I've never been there when the sun was shining and it was downright warm out. It was very cool and I was wishing we could have taken the rare opportunity to hike the mile up to the very top but decided that was best saved for a trip without the dog. I can't imagine we'll ever see weather like that there again though.
Nacho did much better on the way home and was happy enough to stay put in the back with his head between the seats, in case anything interesting happened.

Another great trip. No mishaps or accidents, so that was a huge relief. It is good to be home though now the pressure is really on for the pottery production. Only a couple of weeks left! I'll post my progress, such as it is, soon.

Updates

You may safely assume that my lack of posting this month is entirely due to how busy I've been enjoying my summer. This is the first time I've had a summer off with Adrian and while that makes money tight we sure have enjoyed every minute of it. I have been happier in the last 3 weeks than I've felt in the last 8 months.

As I've said, Adrian and I have spent mass quantities of time together. In fact the other night he went to play basketball at our church and I had a rare 2 hours or so all alone at the house. Outside of my Master's weekends, we never spend large amounts of time away from one another. Some of you may shudder at the thought of that much quality time with your spouse, but that's always been something that Adrian and I could do with no problem. We're best friends.

We had our two year anniversary on the 8th, which we spent in McCall. No pictures this time. I guess I've got so many of the same basic pictures of us up there that I just didn't even bother to take any. But we watched the sun go down while sitting on the dock, similar to how we spent it last year on the coast. Some nice symmetry there. Even though we can't really afford it, Adrian bought me a beautiful diamond pendant necklace. It was really the first jewelry he's gotten me since our wedding so it was pretty special.

Adrian decided about two months ago that we should try to go a bit low carb around our house, something I was definitely not excited about. But the more we talked about it and looked at what our diet currently consisted of (essentially all carbs and a little protein for good measure) it started to make sense. So we began what has become a bit of a summer project. We've cut out a ton of the carbs we used to enjoy and have replaced them with healthier meals, more veggies and smaller portions. On top of that, since we're off every day, we've been going to the gym 5-6 (sometimes 7) days a week. I've amped up my workouts to include running and some pretty intense machine sessions and I'll admit, I've become somewhat hooked on the exercise. So far I've lost 10 pounds (though I seem to be holding there) and have seen a huge change in my metabolism. Since we started watching our portions (super difficult at first) I realize earlier when I'm satisfied before I'm overstuffed. It's been great. And really, after the first week when there was much wailing and writhing on the floor, it hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. More to come on this, hopefully, later.

On the pottery front I'm plugging away, however slowly, on items for the Raspberry Festival. I've had a few big screw-ups which are pretty frustrating, not to mention time-consuming. I'm taking a different focus this time around, making more plates, neti pots and mugs rather than the tree pots. That crowd wasn't looking so much for art as they were practical home items. We'll see how I do this year.

We're heading off to the coast again Friday for our annual camping trip. Same campground we went to last year. This year we're going to attempt to take Nacho, our Jack Russell, (Adrian's idea, NOT mine). I guess we'll see how that goes. Hey worst case it'll only be 12 hours of him whining all the way over there, 4 days of whining there and, well, 12 hours back. No problem right? As my bargaining chip, Adrian will be required to scoop all poop. Have fun there buddy. I'll update again when we get back next week.

Last Day of School

Tomorrow is the day that we, as teachers, value beyond all other days... except perhaps the day after tomorrow. My fifth year is ending on a bitter-sweet note. This has been, by far, the hardest year I have faced. When it started I had nothing but grand visions in mind for the fifth year of my career. I was pumped and inspired. I was going to out-do my previous years of teaching by being even more innovative and dedicated. But life has a way of setting fire to your plans. I found, instead, that I was more self-absorbed, grumpy, introverted and distracted than ever before. I won't go into the details but suffice it to say, I struggled, and struggle still. So tomorrow comes as a much needed break during which, I hope, I can refocus. Though honestly I wonder if 10 weeks will be enough. I feel as though I have let my students down, though it's likely you could not tell by them. I know my teaching was not what it should have been and I am sorry for it. I'm sure all teachers have their up and down years. I only hope that this summer gives me the opportunity to do what I need to do, whatever that might be.

My summer actually looks to be fairly bright to the outside eye. I have plans to spend large amounts of time on my ceramics, with possible production "dates" with a fellow artist and friend, a stack of books knee deep that I'd like to read, a Master's degree to work on, a yard in desperate need of some weeding, a house still in need of chinking and oiling, a front yard to landscape, traveling and camping to do, a new patio to enjoy my coffee on every morning and a husband to spend it all with. I'm trying to be positive when so much of the past seven months has been so negative. So goodbye to the worst year of my teaching career. Goodbye and good riddance.

A card

I got this card from my favorite gentleman at work that read:

"A birthday is like a vacuum cleaner. It's just there and then it sucks. And when it's not sucking, it's there waiting to suck."

Thanks Howard!