Today I am feeling a huge disconnect. Last night, my very best friend's wife let me know that he was on in-home hospice care. She assured me that it was not that his life expectancy was very short, but rather that he no longer wishes to be treated for anything new. OR something along those lines. He has Type 2 Diabetes, Parkinson's, and has always had respiratory issues. This news hit me like a freight train.I knew it was coming, just not prepared for it to be so soon. This friend was my cheerleader, my encourager. He is the reason I got back into creating with clay, he could tell that it was something I needed. We have similar senses of humor. We both care deeply about others. We have been friends for over 20 years. I'm not sure how to handle the idea of life without him in it. We spoke almost every day for all of those years. How do I begin to put into words what our friendship has meant to me?

Out with the old...In with the new

 

My old vehicle (blue) needed a new head gasket. It is 15 years old (I owned it for 10 1/2) and has 122,000+ miles. A new head gasket would start at about $3,000. It was time to take the money and invest it in something that will hopefully last me another 10+ years. 

So here is the new-to-me, 3 year old (red) vehicle to get me around as needed. A pretty little Buick Encore. It is a little bit smaller, but still big enough for me to fit show supplies in (should I be accepted), as well as being able to transport more than one passenger at times.

It is a bit daunting having car payments again  after a few years without them, but, it is worth the investment.

These little owls are the only 6 remaining after an initial batch of 15. The rest have flown off to their new homes. I am making more!

This little turtle was a headache to make, I love it, but need to find a way to make it less fiddley. For now, it is a one-of-a-kind. I have at least 5 or 6 people interested in it... 

I hope you all are having a good Spring, Summer is just around the corner. Time has been flying by so fast! I have cats and snails and gnomes and this turtle to start glazing tonight... It keeps me out of too much trouble! Behave yourselves 'til next time... - C.

Preparing for Clayton

Life has been hectic lately.  I was off cat-sitting & house sitting for 2 weeks at the beginning of this month, back home for about a week, and then another week dog & house sitting.  Add to the mix that I work full time in our family business, and I have been preparing to go to my Spring show, and trying to get the special orders completed.  When I am not home, it is hard to do.

I have my final glaze firing for the week going in today... photos tomorrow, leave Friday.

With the power cord to my laptop dead, I cannot get it to re-charge, so I was without for the last month.

A little rambling goes a long way...

Mom is home now, and she is gaining strength.  Today is a little slower, because of the chemo side-affects kicking in.  But there is definite progress.

I have been exhausted these past couple of weeks.  I wasn't always able to go to visit in the hospital, because of either preparing for the show I went to last weekend, or teaching a class.

I am extremely grateful for my 2 older sisters helping to keep Mom company, as well as taking care of Dad.  I usually ended up being the one holding down the fort at the store.  

A Wire-wrapped Pendant I made - inspired by my late friend Lucia...

My niece and her husband came up for the weekend to visit as well, at one time we had 9 people in the hospital room visiting!  I am very lucky that the large family I am a member of is very close-knit.  We come together whenever we are needed.  Not always physically together, but definitely we are there for one another.  

While I was at the show, I met some new people and had a great time with some of my show friends.  I get so much satisfaction out of doing shows.  Making the pottery is my go-to activity when I need to creatively re-charge.  

Part of my booth on Saturday morning...

The stoneware display

Tomorrow I get to spend the day teaching a Calligraphy workshop.  I am trying to instill in the students the need to practice their pen-strokes, drawing the letters and not being worried about whether theirs looks like mine or the one in the book or not... consistency is the ultimate goal.  And we even get to have lunch from The Village Baker!  MMMMMMMM - MMMMMMM - GOOD!

I tried to call my FIL yesterday to wish him a Happy Birthday, but the line was busy... I tried several times... and again today... busy signal.  I hope he knows that I love him and wish him many more birthdays to come (he just turned 85!)  My great-nephew also had his birthday yesterday... I can hardly believe he is 2 years old already!  And he is as adorable as his parents!

In a little over 2 weeks, I turn 50.  I am more than OK with that... age has never bothered me.  But, I was wondering if I should celebrate this mile-stone in some special way (other than having family here for Thanksgiving).  And if so - how?  Any ideas out there?  I can't promise you I'll be able to celebrate in the suggested way, but I am curious to hear what you think.  And please... keep it clean!

OK - enough rambling... off to take care of some pottery and other things that need attending to.

Brrrrrr! (And a link to a give-away)

We had some icy/snowy weather here this weekend. I was doing a small show for the Electric City Shag Club in Clemson.
Though it is only 4 miles down the road, I ended up staying there, not knowing what the road conditions would be like. Thanks to friends for making sure I was safe.
The show went OK, about the same as I did last year, and, considering the economy, that is a good thing. I really enjoy this show, there are so many wonderful members of the Electric City Shag Club and other Shag Clubs in the Southeast. It is so nice to see the familiar faces each year and I have made some good friends.
Now it is time to get some much needed rest... just waiting for my laundry to finish drying...

About that give-away...
February is my younger sister's family's 'Birth Month' celebration. She, her hubby and their Munchkin all have their birthdays in February. They celebrate every day with a small gift in the pockets of a wonderful quilt. She is doing a Birth Month Give-away on her blog, just stop by there to see how to enter. She has a photo of the quilt on there, it is so bright and colorful!

I hope to have some photos of some fun things coming up later this week.

A Juried Gallery Show...

My friend Jo insisted that I enter my porcelain in a juried gallery show. "I won't take no for an answer!" were her orders.

The show is at the Anderson Arts Center and starts next Friday evening. The pieces had to be in with a non-refundable entry fee about 2 weeks ago. I entered an Ebony Coffee Set (Coffee pot, 4 Mugs and a Sugar/Creamer set). The notices for the results were to be mailed today... but, they actually arrived yesterday.

Jo and our friend Mike also entered pieces.

WE GOT IN! I am sooo excited!

phew!

What a busy few days it has been...

Sunday, I was working on my porcelain production area and we had the monthly meeting of the Hole in the Bead Gang Bead Club.

Monday I had a big bead order to process.

All day Tuesday we prepared for a short show at the Anderson YMCA for National Women's Health Day. I was folding brochures and pulling together all of the display paraphanalia. Terri made several sets of greeting cards and Mom helped gather assorted other merchandise for the show.

We hurridly set up for the show yesterday morning and had a wonderful time there. We met a lot of fantastic people and had a delicious lunch donated by Chick-fil-A. Then it was back to the store to unpack.

We also had the Crafty Crew Rubber Stamp Club monthly gathering at the store last night. Our customer/friend BP had a wonderful project (photo to come...) for us all to make and M & CD brought delicious goodies for us to munch on afterward. Those brownies were so delectable! We had the company of a group of fun and creative people. This month we had 4 guests joining us and we hope they will come back again.

This morning we have a class for 12 through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through Clemson University.

I have had so much going on, I have not had the energy at the end of the day to finish pulling together a disc of photos for sister Regina (for the store's web page) or the cards won by Ruth.

I WILL get both of those things out in the mail the first part of next week! And I WILL get some new photos for here and a new post for the store's blog.

Keep those creative juices flowing!

thoughts

I don't have any photos to share at the moment, they are all on the other computer. And that computer has a fried modem from a t-storm about a month ago. (I am still on dial-up here at home and I had a surge protector for the power cord, but not for the phone line... I do now!)

This past Friday my sister Sue and two of her friends came up from Aiken, SC to visit and to view the quilt show in Seneca, SC. (I'll find the link later...) We went to the Arts Company and viewed a show there, one at The Artist's Loft and the main show at the Shaver Center.

I love quilts and truely admire the work that goes into them. I have difficulties with sewing, so quilting is not my thing. But with the other creative outlets I have, I don't know where quilting would fit into my routines. So to all of you quilters, thank you. Thank you for creating such wonderful pieces. Some day I hope to finish, or should I say, start the small quilted Heron wall hanging I have the pattern and fabric for (I bought it 8 or 9 years ago at this same guild's show...)

Thanks to the Lake and Mountain Quilter's Guild and the other groups who displayed elsewhere, the Fringe Sisters, Thread Heads and others I cannot recall at the moment.

The Best Totem Pole in Clemson

I mentioned that I had taught a clay class at the Clemson Arts Center a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday was the culmination show with selections of the artwork by the students. One of the projects my kids did was to make a totem pole. I encouraged them by telling them it would be the best totem pole Clemson has ever seen. To my knowledge, Clemson doesn't have any totem poles.

I needed to make it an easily disassembled totem pole so the kids could take their creations home at the end of the show. So each piece is sitting on a bamboo skewer peg and the upright is a 7 foot bamboo pole stabilized by a weighted tree stand in a planter.

There were 8 kids in my class ranging in age from 6 - 9 years old. Starting at the top we have a cat (opposite side is a dog), an alligator, a gorilla (opposite side is a fly), a puppy, a monkey (opposite side is a deer), a kitten, a dog, and a turtle.

It was a joy seeing the kids come in with their families and show off their work.

I'm still here

I have been pretty busy lately with teaching classes at our store, teaching a clay class at the Clemson Arts Center for their summer Kids Camp and just trying to get my things organized. That, along with working full time and pulling a few of my things together for inclusion in a members show at the Blue Ridge Arts Center. I have missed posting, but I have no photos to add, and I know you all like photos to look at. Next time.
And I will show a photo of the completed re-arranging/organizing of my work space... I promise. I figure if I promise, it will give me more incentive.
I hope everyone is having a great July.

Tomorrow is the day...

Tomorrow I leave for Clayton. I have as much done as I can. The last glaze firing is in the kiln and I can unload it in the morning.
I tried to upload some photos, but I'm having problems tonight. If I have the chance, I'll try again in the morning. If not, it won't be until I return Sunday night or when I'm rested Monday morning.
The visit with family has been great. Bill's two boys have been learing to do bead weaving (off-loom) and making earrings too. They have spent 2 1/2 days of their Spring Break vacation at our store beading! I have photos, but I have been experiencing connection problems and cannot upload the photos at the moment.
I need this show. I love doing shows almost as much as I love creating my porcelain. I'd really like to do a few more shows in a year. We'll see... with a family owned and operated business, it is sometimes difficult to get away. I have those obligations, and yet I also have the need to do shows to help spark my creativity and keep me going.