Therapy!

The house listing went live Saturday morning (6/10/23). I had some free time on Sunday and I gave myself a small dose of clay therapy.

I only ended up making 6 gnomes, but it was so restorative to my peace of mind. I was house & dog-sitting over the weekend so I couldn't spend the whole day creating, but those few gnomes made a LOT of difference! Here is the listing for the house, in case you want to see it. (Hover over "house" and click there for the link.)

Out with the old and in with the new

It has been a busy year.  I have been working at our store, which consumes 6 days a week, and I have been busy with house/pet-sitting as well.  My one regret is that I have not had as much time to put into my clay creating as I had wanted to, for a number of reasons, including not being home in the evenings while house sitting.  I also was just not in that frame of mind for a bit and it took a lot to get myself back into the groove.  I hope to not have that happen this coming year.  (I think I say that EVERY year!)

One thing I did do was make a family favorite treat at Christmas time: Strufoli.  It is an Italian treat, from what we can tell, it probably is Sicilian.  I had not made it since the 1980's!  My intention was to make it last year, but the very night I was planning to make it was when I got so sick.

It started with Mom's recipe:

This is not the copy we used to use in her cookbook, but it is in her handwriting.  The "original" was long ago stained with oils and probably honey as well.

Then, after mixing the dough, I rolled it into small balls:

Once I was about 2/3 of the way through rolling them, I started heating the oil in a shallow pan on the stove.  I also started to heat the honey mixed with the orange rind.  I added the surplus lemon rind I had grated for the dough.:

Once the dough had been fried to a light golden brown, I drained it on paper towels, along with some slivered almonds I also had lightly toasted in the oil:

Into the infused honey they went, and then they drained a bit before placing them in the serving dish:

Once in the dish, they were joined by the almonds (which had also gone into the honey bath) and sprinkled with colorful non-pariels:

It was sooooo good!  Memories of Mom & Nana came flooding into my head as I taste tested the first piece.  Brother Rick and his wife Alice were visiting over Christmas and he approved of the taste.  We also brought it down to our niece Karen's house the day after Christmas and our Sister Sue approved.  Karen and her brother Bobby and his wife Shelly also approved, although they don't recall ever having it before.  I was sure to leave some with all of them.  I then brought a bit into the store yesterday to share with our friend Marissa (who had made it before) and she liked it.  (Her 2 year old son loved it so much he stole all of the leftovers from her!)   I just wish I had known her mom Rose was going to be in the store on Christmas Eve, I would have brought some for her to try, it is one of her favorites.

If you have never had it before, it is not an overly sweet treat, the sweetness comes from the honey, but it is delectable!

My next project is to get a sample puffed heart wall hanging done out of porcelain for a class I am teaching in January.  And also pull out the Teapot mold so I can make an Ebonyware teapot for a customer who received one in the 1990's and had broken it.  It was such a surprise to open that email and read that she had looked to see if I was still out here and still making pottery.

May 2017 be a year of healing and of joys.  I was horrified at how nasty all sides got during the US presidential election.  I can only say I did not like any of the candidates from the time the first one threw their hat into the ring.  But we must persevere and try again next time to find a cast of candidates better suited to the job at hand.  I know some of you may disagree with me, that is fine.  If we all had the same tastes and same opinions, the world would be a very boring place.  It takes all to make things work.  And a lot of the politicians on both sides need to learn how to work together and compromise.  This all or nothing attitude has made the work of our presidents difficult for many years, through several presidencies.

Ok, my semi-rant is over.

Peace to you and yours.

Progress!

I have been busy with a lot of house & pet-sitting jobs lately, but I am trying to squeeze in some creative time in between to build stock for the Mistletoe Market.

I have a kiln load of angels bisque firing at the moment, and included in that firing are some pumpkins!

The pumpkins second from the left in both rows are mine, the others were made by 3 of my students.  I have since made more and will have some available at Mistletoe Market.

A customer came in The Mercantile yesterday and asked if I had a new design for ornaments this year (in addition to the angels), so I am working on a couple of ideas there.  I am also working on some leaf ornament samples for a class I will be offering in a couple of weeks.

I had a scare today while Dad was out, I looked out the front window as a Pendleton Police car pulled into our driveway.  P A N I C!!  It turns out that some kids called 9-1-1 and would not let the operator speak to an adult.  And it was from a cell phone that showed it was about where our house is.  I sent him to a house a couple of doors down where I know they have children.  There aren't many on our street.

So, that is about all I can report on today.

The latest to be completed...

I have been working on creating for stock and for Mistletoe Market again.  Most of what I have at the moment are my angels.

First, what they look like after the first firing but before glazing and assembly (no, the pumpkin and the bowl will not change into angels...):

Once they are glazed and fired again, I add gold highlights and the heads and halos.  There is a hook at the top to hang on a tree if desired, but I have a lot of people say they leave theirs out on a shelf all year round.

9/29/16 update - B3, R1 and P2 have sold.

I do have more I am creating, after-all, I did sell over 200 of them last year (YAY!).

The angels are one-of-a-kind, no two exactly alike.  I create whatever the clay tells me to when I pick it up.  If anyone requests anything the guidelines are: size (larger/smaller - none are over 3" to the top of the ceramic robes), arms or not, and color (from the four colors I routinely offer - Blue, Purple, Red or Green - as shown in photo).  I can also personalize with a name in gold at no extra cost.  Other than that, it is whatever my hands create, I cannot even have people choose wing style, because they are what they are at that moment.

The cost is $20/angel with shipping additional, if needed.

I wanted to update everyone and let you see some of the results.

Off to a new pet-sitting job this evening... an adorable Westie!

Me again :~)

Checking in, I have nothing new to really share, but I wanted to make an effort to post.

I start a house & cat-sitting job after work today... and when I finish next Tuesday morning, I go to another one Tuesday evening for 3 days, home for a day after that and then 5 days at another.  I leave that one on one day, and go to the next one the next day!  Busy time of year!  But I love it!

The only drawback to the pet-sitting is that I am afraid to bring my clay.  First of all, I don't want my clay mess in their homes and secondly, yet just as critical, cats and wet clay items do not always mix well... I remember that well from Max.

Well, I need to get back to some things I am working on.  I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore.  But I felt I needed to try to make a habit of posting again.

A few photos to share...

I was driving home from my dog-sitting and it was a dreary morning.  The fog was laying low and everything had an eerie cast upon it.

This was the look in their back yard as I took the dogs out one last time before heading home... the crows in the tree just add to the eerie feeling...

I took a little detour to where I go walking, just to see what the trees there looked like...

 

 

 

Then I went to the SC Botanical Garden in Clemson

Not far from home...

These were all taken around 10 - 11 AM on 1/1/11

Gertie & Hops

And these two sweet pups were my New Years Eve companions...

I will try to get some things posted soon about what I have made lately, I have posted them on facebook, but I will go more in-depth here.

Another Adventure in Pet Sitting

Sandie & Cleo

I spent the last 3 nights pet & house-sitting... the pets are 2 Labs (Yellow & Black) and a bob-tailed indoor cat.

Sandie is the younger of the two Labs, and if you can believe it... she doesn't bark!  She has this muffled woof-ish sounding thing, but no real bark.  And she whines to get your attention.  But that being said, she is a sweetie.  She loves to be around you and has a soft silky coat, even at 2 years old.  But she definitely likes her beauty rest!

Cleo is 6, I think, and she is the Black beauty of a Lab.  Her attention-getting maneuver is to put her paw on your leg or to nuzzle her nose under your arm until you have to pet her.  She is the definite watch-dog of the family with her resounding bark.  But a real softie to those who know her.  

Eliza

Eliza is the cat of the house... and she can head-butt you until you pet her too... great disposition.

There were also all of the birds out at the feeders...

The Mourning Dove perched atop the feeder roof...

This doesn't look like a Hummingbird...

Not to mention the deer... I didn't get a photo, but there's a doe and her two fawns and a buck as well that frequent the back yard.

I had a great time!

The sky on my way into work on Thursday... had to stop & take a pic!