Monday, March 11, 2024

Butter Dish

 I've been seeing various butter dishes here there and everywhere.  Charlie Cummings Gallery even had a show all about butter dishes.  Who  knew?

This is inspired by various ideas. I like to keep butter out.  My kitchen is fairly cool so it's no problem..... until summer arrives.  So I thought, little dishes to hold what will be used in one day.  This one will probably hold about a third of a stick.  It's a single fire so I will have to wait and see, grasshopper, until after single firing. 

It's all pinched, with a slab plate. I love the notion of decorating inside and out.  Any surface is fair game!  The glaze is my favorite Spectrum #799 Majolica White.  Mason stains are mixed with frit #3124, most fifty/fifty.  I have been using a black underglaze with a black Mason stain #6650 added.  I also experimented with added some wax to the stain. Makes for a nicely brushable medium, and. it doesn't smear.  The colors are a bit strange due to wax resist.

I haven't tried anything new (to me) since Covid started so this feels like a new leaf, or fish as the case may be.






I watched the final of The Great Pottery Throwdown after the Oscars.  Delighted by Donna's win.  But all three chandeliers were pretty amazing. I loved seeing the different ways each approached the problem and the way personal stories came through.  I have always had a soft spot for Donna, but this one was really close.  Well done all!

Here in the USA it watch for free on <HDClump.com>

My soft spot for Donna is because I did sort of the same thing.  I did pottery for about six months, loved it but stopped due my personal life. (funny thing, through all my wanderings I always kept that first pot.)  Twenty years later I went back because the prof. I wanted to study with to finish my BFA was on sabbatical.  Sat down at the wheel and muscle memory took over as I centered and threw a pot.  And proceeded to question why I stopped. Almost forty years ago now and I haven't stopped yet! 

BRAVO DONNA!!!

BTW four years ago today Covid was declared a pandemic.  I was in the hospital when the whole masking thing began.  I still have not had Covid.......toes and fingers crossed.  I keep up with boosters and still mask when I go into stores.  The one time I didn't was at a Christmas party where I promptly caught a massive cold which I promptly passed on to Proge.  Sometimes you're the bug; sometimes the windshield!

Did anyone watch the Oscars?  I recorded it and started watching so I could fast forward through the ads.  I watch so little commercial tv these days that the ad are a surprise.  Cillian Murphy totally deserved his win but sentimentally I would have loved Paul Giametti to win.  (Just rewatched John Adams on HBO.)  I was pleased that Mr. Miazaki won for the Boy and the Heron.  I found myself in tears when War Is Over won for best animated short.  So much history and love there.  I was massively disappointed in the In Memorium section.  

Enough of the rant, grasshopper........

As always, stay safe, and thanks for stopping by.................*s*

Friday, March 1, 2024

March Hares

Hares and Rabbits

Well!  March is here, the days are longer, daffodils are poking their leaves up.

That doesn't mean we couldn't have a raging blizzard next week.....this is New England after all!

As always, stay healthy, and thanks for stopping by................*s*

 

 

Monday, February 19, 2024

Baking Bread


Well! My sourdough starter bit the dust which means starting over.  Before anyone offers advice on reconstituting, it was moldy as a result of a refrigerator melt down.  (Yes at some point we will need a new one.  Meanwhile the old one is limping along.)

I have been doing yeasted bread which is different but equally delicious.  This is an oatmeal loaf.  I used a cup of Bob' Red Mill thick cut oats which sat in two cups of boiling water until cool.  I added a bit more water when I started the actual loaf.
 It is delicious.  As a Type 2 diabetic I don't eat a lot of bread so when I do I want it to be tasty.  

I rarely use a written recipe these days.  I do write down what I am doing if I am experimenting.

And happier days have the sun shining through my bedroom windows when it rises.  It's a small joy, which I have been thinking about a lot.  Yes, there is always gratitude to practice.  But there is a great deal to be said for finding small joys in our daily live.  Perhaps I will do a longer post on this.

As always, stay safe, and thanks for stopping by.............*S*

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Interesting Times

This is something I thought only occurred when aloes lived in sunny, warm climes.  Yes, that is a bud stalk.  I just noticed it his morning since it grew tall enough to reach above the plant itself.  This may be the original plant that my sister gave me when she moved to Florida.  Or it may be one that I rooted from the original plant.  Either way I find it fascinating that there might actually be flowers.  Wish I knew what I did to achieve it.  Possibly the warm wet summer followed by El NiƱo winter.  We have had cold weather but not a deep freeze winter.  I still have green petunias.

Our Christmas was quiet but well celebrated.  We had our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve.  On Christmas Day we went to a gathering of friends and Proge’s relations.  Since it was fairly small and I knew everyone I decided to forego a mask.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  I caught a killer cold which I passed on to Proge within a few days.  Better now.  But I am such a baby!  I haven’t had a cold or any sickness in six or seven years..

I had to relight the tree.  I used old lights, which went out a few days ago.  Sometimes my hoarding pays off.  I just opened new boxes I bought last year on sale.

Rain…..lots of rain, with flooding in low lying areas.  Our dug well has been flooding, which usually happens with late spring rains.  We are madly doing catching up on laundry and washing whatever needs washing.  Too bad it is much too early to top off the pool for spring opening.

We started out with a lovely sunny day.  Wind is picking up and clouds moving in.  Who knows what will come?  This is New England.....weather changes!

As always, stay safe, and thanks for stopping by.................*s*

 

Monday, December 11, 2023

WELL! That Was Fun!


The Christmas Dragon arrived soon after we bought in the tree.


Hibiscus happily did not have any bud drop when I brought it in.  Blooming like crazy.  Flowers are actually much pinker than in the photo.

I will probably replace the tree photos.  Too much reflected light.

 Due to health problems and general obliviousness we forgot, put aside getting the car inspected.  Until we got a notice from the DMV that we had a week to pass the emissions test or else the car would have its license revoked....whatever that means.  DMV does enjoy making threats it does not carry through on.

Whatever!  Auto definitely needed to get inspected etc.  Put in a call to the shop I have dealt with for the last fifteen years.  Brought it down the next day.  Happily it passed the emissions test, so that dealt with the DMV.  Unhappily it needed much work for safety, new front tires,  brakes, fortunately calipers were okay, muffler, tail pipe and other things.....Cost was over $2000.00 which is heart stopping!  On the other hand this is the first work it has needed in three years, so it averages out to not so bad. 

 I always say when it costs more to repair in a year than car payments then it's time to start looking for a new vehicle.  Der Blau Reiter (The Blue Rider) still runs like a champ, gets good milage, and the body is in excellent condition.

Meanwhile life goes on.  We repotted a white pine that had outgrown its too small bucket for at least a year.  It's kind of funky and cute.  Toes crossed it will be our tree for years to come.  The Christmas Dragon has already arrived so we do have dragon approval.

As always, stay safe, and thanks for stopping by……………*s*



Sunday, November 26, 2023

Nemises!

 What’s happening?  Two posts in the same month?  WOW!

Some not great photos of a teapot I have had hanging around for far too many years.  Made it over a form and as soon as I bisqued it I asked myself why I did not send it too the recycle bucket.  Instead I have let it haunt me over time.  A few days ago I bit the bullet and painted it with a design I have used many times.  The colors look odd because they are waxed with Mr. Mark’s Wax On which has a bright pink coloring in it.

Not sure what I will do with it once it’s fired.  It might look nice with a ferny type of plant in it.  It also might look nice as driveway fill.



We’ll see, grasshopper………….we’ll see.

As always, stay safe, and thanks for stopping by…………..*s*

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

It’s Been A While!

It’s been so long since I posted that I am not sure anyone is even bothering to check in!  TWO MONTHS!  Really, Suzi!!!
The hibiscus I brought in when frost threatened a few weeks back, has begun to bloom.  Fortunately there was no bud drop, which can be huge problem when bringing tropicals in.  The flowers are not as big or as bright as whn they bloom outside, but still pretty and much appreciated.


 I am not going into my list of woes.  Suffice it to say I am trying to prep for the winter doldrums that come mid-January.
We are doing a little Thanksgiving here at home with just Proge and me,  We even split the turkey in half.  It will be done on the grill, weather permitting.
Wishing all a peaceful and joyful Thanksgiving.
As always, stay safe, and thanks for stopping by……………..*s*