Name That Plant

 Name that plant, this is called.  As I recently moved into my home, I acquired several plants- some of which I have yet to name.  So, if you know any of these, I'd love to hear your wisdom.
Top pic:  Left-  A?    Right- B? (Think it's hosta).

 Pic above:  C---- (are these lilies?)

 Pic above:  Left- D ???    Right- E:  dianthus???

 Pic above:  F What is this?

Ended up getting these three at Lowe's today.  Lantana is on the left.  On the right is some blue perennial----  I got those two because Kentucky, my alma mater plays tomorrow in the final four.  Always good to have blue near.  I'm doing an experiment to see if I have enough light at the front of my house for full sun plants- like lantana.  Time will tell!  Yard work kept me busy.  (I definitely will be at the wheel tomorrow).
Thanks ahead of time for your plant wisdom.  :)

In the Meantime

I'm planning to spend LOTS of time at the pottery wheel this weekend.  In the meantime, my hyacinth beans are growing- and quite fast!  I'm watching them closely.  :)

When my sisters visited we went to Linda and Jim Dalton's gas kiln opening.  Lots of beautiful pots!  For some reason, I didn't take many pics, but here are Maria and Marcella admiring some big bowls.  I loved hearing the 'ping ping' of the new pots.  That was my favorite part.  Linda and Jim were gracious as always.

Saw this in Linda and Jim's studio and it's just so creative!  Made with bungee cord....  Am hoping to make one of these in time for my studio.  What a lineup of brushes!
More later.  Thanks for reading.

Little by Little

So excited to get this at Sam's Club this weekend.  An industrial shelf.  Built it today--- which took awhile, and it will be a HUGE help and gift in this pottery-making world.  It will soon be full.  Will probably buy another one in time.

My sisters visited this weekend and even looked through some of my older pottery and adopted it!  I'm thrilled.  Am not selling this stuff, yet it's still useable.  They went home happy and I loved that they loved the pieces they took and better yet, that they came to visit.  They live in PA and DE so it's a long trek here.  I'm so thankful for them.
Hoping to be at the wheel tomorrow, trimming yunomis and maybe even throwing bowls!   :)  Little by little, this studio is coming together.

Teabowl Writing

Decided to go back to the writing thing on tea bowls and bowls-- at least for a bit.  This is the first tea bowl with writing on it.  I love these words from the Book of Common Prayer-- the Episcopal prayer book, as it's called.

"O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength:  By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord."  (pg. 832).

In a busy, sometimes chaotic world, it is easy to forget to stop.  Saying this to myself helps me, even when the expectations are different out there.  After all, there's only one me (and there's only one you, who is reading this).  Gotta be who you are.  Anyways, in time after this dries and is bisque fired, I'll put some black mason stain on it-- and do some experimenting with glazes to find one that is transparent and blue-ish, maybe?

It's so good to be 'in' the clay a bit.  And, turns out that the scale I got is missing two small pieces, so I'll go exchange it for another one next time I'm in Raleigh. I had opened it to assemble it today and discovered all that.  At another point in time, this would've bothered me.  Perspective is important; patience too.  All will be well, I tell myself.

Put this on the bottom of the tea bowl.  Think I may add the page number where it's found.  Hmmm

Meanwhile, I planted these seeds below in this dirt and set them out on the screened porch.  My mom says they are hyacinth bean seeds, and she's one to know this kind of thing.  Time will see how they do.  I got these seeds from a plant in Old Salem (Tracey!) last October.  Loved the purple in it and saw these in pods and so they've found a new home.  Hopefully, they'll sprout and grow well!  :) 

 I'll try to remember to keep you posted.  Thanks for the encouragement, words of wisdom, and all.  It's so good to be back in the pottery blogging world.

Scale!

Have been looking online for weeks for a kitchen scale.  Just happened to find one at target today while in Raleigh.  Am so excited about this!  Here's hoping it's a good match for a clay studio.  And, it was only $20!  

Slowly, and ever so slowly, my studio is being created.  

Good things take time, I tell myself. 

Peace-filled

I love peaceful weekends!  Especially those filled with pottery.  While it continues to be a long road back to the wheel, it's encouraging.  (it's been 6 mos. away)  I've found that things take longer- throwing-- trimming, etc. yet I know that in time, I'll get back in the rhythm.  It helped to spend time with two new pottery friends this afternoon and just be in that world.  :)  Talking pottery, sharing about things we've discovered, etc...  Am ending the day with a meal of grilled salmon, rice, and corn from my parents' garden.  See the steam in the pic?  It was simply delicious.  Oh, and this plate is one of the first I made.  Shino glaze on craggy crunch clay with alfred blue accents, fired at cone 10, reduction.  I love eating off of pottery.  Doesn't get much better than this!

Bought a few pottery tool things at Lowe's.  Still need a kitchen scale.  Got a triple beam one that arrived this week- only $110.  :)

Here are my first trimmed yunomi of 2012.  It helped to have a Jennifer Mecca mug and a Kyle Carpenter mug in the background, both cheering me on.  And now one of my alma maters- Kentucky is playing.  I'm wearing KY blue now, of course.  Gosh, how I miss being at those games in person.  Those were the days.
Still, I love this!   I so needed this weekend to be peaceful.
Thankful for the gift it is to make pottery.  May the peaceful days continue...

Shelves

Okay, so I'm trying to decide about shelving.  This particular kind has been suggested.  Potter friends, which of these Alera shelves from Sam's Club with wheels at the bottom do you recommend?  The first one with the wheels is on sale.

Dreams

It's been a long week and well, it's been a long month.  And I haven't been at the wheel.  Spent a week in Costa Rica and have been working more than ever as long as I can remember.  This priest work is so exhausting sometimes.
Life is too short for such.  Yet I'm thankful for work.
One of the losses is not taking the time to be at the wheel.  It's good that I'm still dreaming about a lot of things.
Too many to write here.
I can say that I will be at the wheel tomorrow.  :)
And these pieces and reading your blog posts invite me to keep at this pottery thing (which I love), and find a way somehow to make time for it.
And, as I said, life is too short not to.
Lately, I've been thinking about dreams.  On the jar above (cone 10, phoenix clay, reduction) is the quote by Langston Hughes:  "Hold fast to dreams for life without dreams is like a bird with a broken wing that cannot fly."  It's one of my favorite pieces.  It's never going anywhere and neither are the other two pictured in this post.

 Here's another dream piece.  It has words from a song written and recorded by Peter Mayer (lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffett).  It's cone 6, and some Highwater earthen red clay.  I love its words.  His music is the best.

I plan to spend a good amount of time this weekend reading "Mastering Cone 6 Glazes" by Hesselberth and Roy (in dark in the back of the pic).  It is awaiting attention from me.  Just finished a delicious mushroom tofu soup--- with some noodles, soy sauce, and onions in of course, a Ron Philbeck bowl.  How I love eating out of handmade pottery!  I can't ever go back.
Hopeful about so much!  Still dreaming....
And thanks for reading, by the way...