Lost... Lost... Lost

I heard this morning that my beloved grandfather in Bolivia, is missing. Although never diagnosed (Bolivia is a Third World country; health care is not good), I believe he has some form of dementia. He went to the downtown market yesterday and never returned.
Felipe (abuelo to me) is one of my favorite people in the whole world. I have no digital pictures of him yet I have vivid memories of time with him. It has been three years since I have seen him.
Please pray for him and especially for his wife, Tomasa and my father, Nicolas, his son. I'll keep you posted once he's found. At least God is with him; at least it is summertime in Bolivia these days.

Waiting and Dinner...

Somedays, waiting seems like my middle name. Today was just a day... I did make it to the studio today and although I wasn't into doing alot, I did trim a couple of the earthenware pieces that I posted in the last blog. Trimming takes so much time; I like how they look, for the most part. Forgot to take pics until the end as I wrapped all of the pieces up to wait for me when I return on Monday. Not the best pic; sorry! These are all ready for slip so I'll spend part of this weekend sketching some designs.

I have a big weekend ahead; that is probably why I just wanted to take it easy at my home. Not really interested in traveling these days, as I just returned from another trip. It will be good to land in D.C. though and check out some of the inauguration festivities. Both of my flight times are way early in the morning. Ugh! Even so.... I go.

Too cold to run. :( So, I came home and read a few pottery blogs. Decided to use Ron's idea and show what I'm eating for dinner.

Soon, oh soon all of my eating ware will be handmade pottery. I can hardly wait! The plate isn't though; but the handmade eggplant parmigiana from Mike and Christine (two incredible cooks in my world) makes up for it. My goal next week si to make a set of small plate... then bowls. :) This is attainable. Red wine in one of my favorite cups; a yunomi one from John. This is a delicious meal! Thanks Mike and Christine!
How I'll miss being in the studio this weekend. Hard to go for more than a few days without playing with clay.

Bowls and Dishes

After a trip to the dentist where I was given expensive news, plus paying quarterly taxes today (which is always sad; not to forget that I'm out of work) I've been reminded that pottery is the best part of my life these days. My slipware class started Tuesday. Ron is an incredible teacher; I am learning volumes.

On Tuesday I also made a great pottery discovery. Earthenware clay! At first, I didn't like the color, but the malleability and softness of it quickly won me over. Made my FIRST plate and an incredible bowl in just a short amount of time. I'm so pleased and a bit proud. Once again, I'm amazed that I made these (pictured above; all are patiently drying a bit before they can be trimmed. :)

I'm so thankful to be a potter. I definitely need to work on creating designs. This is a whole new chapter and dimension in pottery for me. First about the class. Earthenware clay fires at cone 5, I think. Only clear or amber glaze. Black or white slip.

Ron brought in some of his pots to show us different techniques.... the sgraffitto, dipping, and the tool are all different for me. He makes it look so easy. Some slip trailing (I think that's what it's called). Still learning the vocabulary.

A different technique for applying slip. First make rings of the slip close to each other and then drag your tool down them towards the center. (Hard to describe). Neat effect.
This shows just how to dip the pots into the bucket filled with slip. Twisting your hand helps. Once again, Ron makes it look so easy.

Using your finger to etch designs also helps too to create texture.

Or a fork. :)

A blurry picture, but this is all done with finger etching or a fork.

After Ron's demo, I decided to try the new clay. THIS, this is a soup-bowl. I'm so amazed.
And my first plate, ever! :) Now, my goal of making a whole set of plates and bowls seems more achievable.
A bigger bowl. :) I think this clay likes me. I certainly like it.

All in all, I'm still hoping for a wonderful 2009.

First Days of 2009

This was the view from the boat dock just outside the place where I vacationed over Christmas and New Year's. Yes, I did take this picture! More below...

Here are some pics from New Year's Day.

Lots of snow on New Year's Eve. We had about 12 inches or so and this was my view when I woke up on January 1. :)
I helped decorate gingerbread cookies.

I made another trip to the labyrinth to bring in the New Year.

I went snowshoeing during a blizzard, which was great except very cold. I quickly found out that my hair was turning white/grey, from the condensation and the cold air, I guess. I thought it might break off; thankfully, it didn't. Here's me in the village when I returned.
On the same day, I went on another snowshoeing route with my new friend Laura. It was snowing hard; we went out in the middle of a blizzard; we got about 15 inches that night. :) We took a picture of ourselves. A great workout!

Here are the tumblers I made while at Holden Village. 16 in all. Didn't have time to bisque fire or glaze them. Above is the first signed '2009'. They're all made from a clay called 'Bob's Clay' purchased from Seattle. It has a bit more grog than the zella stone Highwater Clay that I'm used to and some porcelain too. Tough on your hands when you center it because of the grog. The village has low electricity (electricity comes from the hydroelectric plant), so I think these will have to wait awhile before their time in the kiln. They'll sell these in the bookstore. In the summer, 300 plus people come to visit each week at Holden. Tumblers are quite popular and go fast then. The air was so dry; the pots dried fast! When I left the village, there were avalanche warnings all around it due to the foot plus of snow the night before. Holden has a bunch of trails that became snowshoe routes. The green 'HV' in the center is the village, which is hard to see, but right above the green and the arrow.

Oh, I almost forgot; The Christmas tree for the 70 plus so people in the village, and additional guests, held warm things that will be donated to a shelter soon. It's beautiful!
The people there are filled with fun. There was a group coming from st. olaf college for a J-term class and they wanted to pull a fun prank on them. So, they pretended that the youngest one in the village was being adopted by the village, needing a home, so they created this, which gave the impression that the baby needed families to take care of her: They made this sign. It does take a village!
Two people that I reconnected with while on vacation were Anne and Stephan. Anne is a writer and poet; Stephan is a traveler (amidst other things) and slept outside in the snow four nights while there. Yes, it's true.. and the weather was 20 degrees outside. He wanted to connect with nature. :)

You can see the view down at the boat dock in the first pic of this post. Holden Village can only be accessed by boat. This is a National Geographic kinda pic.
I decided to get on the boat for the short roundtrip to Stehekin rather than wait in the cold for it to return. Here's a pic of the dock from the boat, as we approach the dock again.
After a two plus hour boat ride, it is another 4 hour drive by car to Seattle. I was riding with someone who wanted to stop at Leavenworth, so we did. It's a Bavarian style town that is very popular in the winter, (ski season).

Even a Kris Kringle store.

It must have been under 20 degrees, but in the freezing cold it was even beautiful. Thankfully, I had snowpants and snowboots on. Some of these pics are blurry, because it was so cold! Leavenworth was still celebrating Christmas on January 5. :) The whole town was lit. It was icy even walking around!

The next day, I had almost a whole day that was free before flying the red eye flight back to Charlotte. I went to Bainbridge Island, one of my favorite places. It's small and walker friendly. You get there via ferry and then you can walk around the enitre island!
When I visit Seattle, I try to go to Elliott Bay Book Co. which has both new and used books. This visit, I managed to leave without a purchase. (Almost a miracle!).

It's packed with books. A booklover's heaven!
When I was in Seattle, I also stopped by Pike's Place Market and bought smoked salmon for friends (and me too!).

The first pic is where they usually throw fish and attract a crowd, however across the street there is Jack's Fish which has just as good (or better) smoked salmon which is cheaper!

And finally, one of the things I like about Seattle is this; Nancy's Yogurt. This was my breakfast. It's from Eugene, Oregon and is yummy! A great trip; I was exhausted when I got back home, though. Lots of pictures.... . I recommend that everyone travel to Seattle at least once... Gosh this was a long post! A belated Happy New Year!