NOEL

 Wishing everyone a Merry, Joyful, and Peaceful Christmas

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

Dragons

The dragons arrived on St.  Nicholas Day.  After hanging around in various spots they decided they would oversee my winter clay table in the sun room.

 Little Green is in his customary spot at the top of the tree.  Dragonwick is on another shelf, watching.  

The Santas are hanging out in front f the Met this year.

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

 

Nanu

Doris Wright Caswell

1909-1975

 Mom to me, Nanu to all her grandchildren. How odd to think that she would be well over a century in age.

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

December

 HARES AND RABBITS!

May this season be one of peace and joy.

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

The Holly and the Ivy

We discovered that our holly which we had assumed for many years was male, turned out to be female.  There aren’t many berries but enough to tell us that there must be a male bush nearby.

We are at the northernmost limit for American Holly to survive so this is kind of a treasure. We will clear out the weeds and briars, but leave it in its natural state.

I did find a small branch nearby which had been torn off by a large branch that came down in one of our windstorms.  We don’t have ivy as such, but do have a lot of creeping Jenny and prince’s pine so I will make a small decoration with our found greens.

And we are having half hearted snow. Toes crossed it stays that way.  We’ll see, grasshopper……we’ll see………..

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

 

Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

 

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

Aloe #4

The aloe stump is putting out a fourth sprout. I thought at first it was a rootlet, but after a week it has begun to look like a sprout. 

Even though I may be living in a jungle of aloes, palms et al by spring, I get a lot of pleasure out of the way plants survive and flourish. There should be many plants to go out by the pond come warm weather.

After a few days of sun and warmth it looks like we are in for a week end of wind and chilly rain. 

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

 

Samhain

May the coming season endow you with strength, peace and joy.

Enjoy a blessed Samhain

 

 

Something Neat

I am becoming an aloe hoarder!  The aloe in the first picture is the top of my big aloe which was looking very sorry indeed.  I find that if I stick a few inches of stem into a pot, it will grow a new plant.

I left the old cut off plant in a corner of my deck. Last week when I was bringing plants in I found this, so of course it has to come in too.  In addition I have five that grew from babies off this plant. They are big enough to be putting out babies of their own.

 It always amazes me how plants will survive under the most adverse circumstances. 

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

Majolica Monday #13

Triangle bowl. Thrown floorless cylinder with thrown slab bottom. Fired ^05-04.

I remember making a bunch of these, but I have no idea when or where.  Quite a while ago as it’s another cleaning find.

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

 

Monday Majolica #12

Look what I found!  I don’t know how this got into a box of stuff completely unrelated to pottery, but I was very glad to find it.

 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I originally made six of these. I thought the missing goblets were all broken and long gone. I was so happy to find this one.

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

 

Endless Fall

Started this post and never finished or posted.  This is another shot of my deck rail with the petunias I grew from saved seed. That’s a double hibiscus on the end. There are two more that aren’t in the picture.

I am going to bring a bunch of them in to winter over in my sunroom.  The blooms peter out in December so I cut them back. If all goes according to plan they will start flowering March.

 As I have mentioned before, I move upstairs and do pottery glazing and painting when my studio gets too chilly to heat.  This year I am trying to put some thought into it rather a spur of the moment harem-scarum  move.

I’ve been using my SAD lamp.  Turns out the kitties love the warmth from it. I was going to buy one more to keep in the sunroom.  I may have to buy two.

We are still enjoying one of our long warm falls. The leaves on the swamp maples are barely beginning to turn. We will be covering the pool this week, before the leaves really start coming down.  I hate to do it as I love to be out there even though it’s no longer swimming weather. (And I wonder every year how I swam in the ocean with delight as a youngster, when we thought 70º was warm.) Closing the pool signifies the real end of summer.

Toes crossed everyone enjoys the long week end. There willprobably be all sorts of goings on on Federal Hill in Providence and probably Westerly, big Italian heritage in both places.

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

Majolica Monday #11 (BLTN Edition)

These are some of the first goblets I ever made way back in 1985-'86 when I first became entranced with majolica.  I originally worked with a white clay body called Newton White.  It came from Cutter Ceramics after they bought out Newton Pottery which was before my time.  This was a high talc, low fire white.  I loved working with it as it was easy to throw and hand build with.  Ultimately I changed to a terra cotta body because I liked the way my glazes looked over the darker body.  The glaze was an old Val Cushing low fire. I loved the way it felt but it was so soft that it chipped easily.

 This was originally a set of six with stars, heart, and rings being the other three. 

The cuttings are from a sweet potato.  The provide a touch of greenery all winter. I am also going to bring in petunias to winter over.

All this started because I have been getting my sunroom ready to bring in plants. In the process I have cleaned up a storage area on the deck.  As I have said before, It's amazing the forgotten stuff you find when you clean up forgotten areas. 

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

 

Majolica Monday #10

Here’s another experiment with paper clay.  It’s a wall planter, that will be once fired.

 

I’m not sure if I would truly call it majolica as it will have a clear coat over the glaze.  This is Spectrum #200 Satin series.  The clear gives a nice depth to the colors.

As for being majolica, perhaps not in the true sense, but close enough….I guess….maybe…..we’ll see, grasshopper……we’ll see……. 

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

Majolica Monday #9

I’ve missed several Mondays, due to storms and life in general so here are two for this week.

The mermaid is a homemade paper clay experiment.  I used some fine dryer lint mixed with my clay. It was pleasant to work with and very responsive, but it tends to dry out quickly. I am going to continue with this, particularly thinking of some hanging planters for next summer.

Below is the final third of the mermaid planter. This one includes all the baby mermaids.

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

WELL! THAT WAS FUN!

Never rains but it pours.....and pours.....and pours......

Just before we prepped for Henri we discovered a rear strut on the Subaru had broken and was gouging a canyon in the tire.  Needless to say we stopped driving.  Fortunately we were well prepared for Henri.  We lost power for about thirty-six hours. The gas tank was full so we ran the power inverter to cool the small fridge, radio, lights, and DVD. (Started rewatching Treme, which only seemed appropriate.)

Here is KikiLaSois playing with a pencil, just because she is still so cute at about fifteen years.

The internet, cable, etc. were another story. Lines were on the ground. Power was restored to the top of the hill Wednesday afternoon.  Once it was established that the problem was indeed between the house and the street they had a service truck out here Friday morning.  Power was restored and we were happy.

Wednesday night the rain began again!  And rained........hard all night and most of Thursday.  I stopped measuring at six inches.

It has been lovely having a green summer, knowing that water will not be a problem this year.

Meanwhile, I had the car towed. Had to get it reregistered as due to Covid and arcane ways of the DMV the registration lapsed.  As it was more than ninety days I had to go in person which required a reserved time.  This is not as bad as it sounds. There was a wait past my arrival time, but with check in that was fine.  Once inside it went very quickly. There were no melt downs or people going ballistic and having to be escorted from the building. Toes crossed they keep something of the sort after this is over!

So my anxiety and ability to make mountains out of molehills was for naught! The hardest part will be remembering my new plate number. I had the old one for thirty-five years.

May you always live in interesting times.  I can do with a little less interest for a while, thank-you!

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

Majolica Monday #8

More Merry Mermaids

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

 

Summertime......

......and the living is oh so nice with warm weather here.

Spending time in my cool studio, thanks to it being on the ground floor built on a slab with plenty of windows and a fan.

Later in the heat of the day I will retreat to the pool to relax and swim.

 Please don't tell me how much you hate summer.  I survive winter by looking forward to this.

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

What is it?

 This showed up at the edge of the woods this spring. The closest I have been able to come is Cow Parsnip.

Any thoughts on identification will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your help.

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

Majolica Monday #7

This is a very old vase I found at the back of a shelf I was cleaning out.

It was part of a workshop on making large vessels from thrown and assembled parts.

 I am fairly certain the glaze is Linda Arbuckle's Majolica white. 

The design is taken from a tile I saw at the RISD Museum show Gifts of the Nile back in the 1990's.  The original is Calf in the Bullrushes. I subbed in the spotted cat and kept my version of the papyrus. The other designs are meant to reference Egypt without wholesale copying.

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

 

(Missed It!) Majolica Monday 6

Monday went out the window; not sure why.

Here are a bunch of fail pots that I have repurposed to hold petunia seedlings.  The pots are okay, mostly glaze flaws.

I save petunia seed from year to year and also spread seed in outdoor planters to over winter outdoors.  I stick the saved seed in the refrigerator for a while.  The freezer would probably work well too.  There are a lot of pinks but other variants too.  I do it strictly for my own pleasure. It's a spring-summer thing.

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

 

August 1, 2021

Hares and Rabbits

 Wishing all a bountiful Lugnasadh/ Lammas.

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

Majolica Monday 5

Five Merry Mermaids

 I am having a lot of fun with these pots.

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

More Day Lilies

More day lilies are blooming every day.  I may actually divide some of these clumps this year.

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

Majolica Monday 4

Here's another purchased pot ready for the kiln.

 I just have to wax the designs. I wax when I might be moving the pot around because the stain smears so easily.

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

Hydrangas

Mariette's posting of her lush hydrangeas inspired me to post mine. Proge gave me this for my birthday several years ago. It limped along, always blooming but never like the bushes my sister grew.  This year with out very wet late winter and spring it took off.  I do fertilize it with a good fert for acid loving plants. Didn't the first year after planting and the few blooms were a very muddy pinkish-lavender.

The day lily is one of my favorites. I bought it as a small plant, kept it in a pot for too many years.  It's now doing very nicely indeed.

And finally the flamingos the pushy flock they are had to get into the act!

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

Majolica Monday 3

This came to light when I removed the pots of bamboo I over wintered.  A very old decorative tile I did many, many years ago.  It's one of the first story tiles I made.  It's about 13x13 inches.

 I think it's probably Linda Arbuckle's majolica white with Mason stains. Fired around ^05-^04.  These are guesses as I think I made it back in the 1990's.

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

Majolica Monday 2

Two more little sippers fired to a hot ^05.

Left is Spectrum #799 Majolica White with mixed Mason stains. Interior is glazed with Spectrum #700 Clear. I add a tiny amount of RIO to cover any clouding.

Right is glazed in Spectrum #251 satin white. The clay body is a white earth so I added a little yellow to the glaze to get rid of the dead white look.  I've been practicing bees.

 Toes crossed all celebrated a fine Independence Day.

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

Majolica Monday

Time fugits.  Two little sippers. They hold a little over four ounces, enough for a shot of whisky and an ice cube, if you are so inclined.  Spectrum Satin White #251with mason stains.

  

I like the way this glaze looks and feels, but it's very slick to paint on.

Here is another purchased terra cotta pot almost ready for the kiln. Spectrum Majolica White #799 with Mason stains.  The pinkish color is from my wax resist.

 Going out to sit by the pool, enjoying summer!

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

At Last!

 It’s taken a while because I have been filling the pool from the well rather than ordering water.  Slow and steady does the trick.

Not ready for photos, so here is my first blooming lily.

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

Majolica Monday.......06/21

This is a small, about three inches high, test Gooney Bird that I made to see if I still remember how to make them. I do, but the new-to-me green that I used as my base color is awful.  This is why it's so important to test. He will live on my shelf of 'What-Not-To-Do' examples.

Not really Majolica, but what the hey!

Two shots of a whisky sipper.  Again I was testing. This is painted on a white earth with a studio clear over. The colors stayed true, and I came up with some new ideas. 

The black smudges are why it is so important to work very clean. Once black gets onto the scene it's impossible to get rid of. It may look clean, but guess again when it's fired.

I like using these little sippers for tests. They are quick and easy to make, are a change from the little bowls I use, and give me a vertical surface. 

 One test good; two test better!

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

Litha

Happy Litha

 And to all the Daddys, a Happy Fathers' Day.

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

More Bread

 Pain de Compagne from 100 GREAT BREADS by Paul Hollywood.  

This recipe has enough rye flour and fresh oregano to give it a nice, herbal flavor without being overpowering.  I made a few buns which were wonderful with hamburgers. 

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

June

This is a challah I baked yesterday.  I got bored with my basic bread and decided to delve into my collection of bread recipes.  This is a combo of various recipes. I switched out the sugar for brown rice syrup.  It's not a huge amount but it does give the bread a very nice flavor note.  I only used one egg; I think I should have used two or three.

I had so much dough that I made some burger buns and a tasty dried fruit twist.

One of the fun things about  bread is the way it can be twisted and braided.  This is a four strand plait.

I am thrilled to see my white (iris) flag blooming.  I planted it many years ago around the time of the caterpillar invasion.  Between bugs, drought, and a leaking pond I assumed it was dead and gone.

It's amazing what rain and the pond at its correct depth can do for a plant.

We have been enjoying a heat spell. Temps are supposed to drop a bit today, but it is still spring...soon to be officially summer!

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