Presence of Mind

OR.........

Remember to cover the clay at night that you have been drying outside all day......or it may rain and you will have mud again.

Can you see the puddles in the clay?

I was asked for some mugs that are smaller than what I generally make.  They hold ten ounces.  These are the first ones I made when I was considering handles.....and believe me, I spend a lot of time thinking about handles.  The originals were too sharp on the edges.  They wouldn't actually cut the hand but the possibility was there.  Satanic mugs for Halloween! 

Due to our continuing warm weather we are finally getting morning glories and moon flowers beyond the one or two blooms we've had.  I love it when it stays warm enough for them to completely bloom out!

This was a particularly nice moon flower, starting to sag in the rain.  For some reason wilting moon flowers always make me thing of drooping ballerinas......Swan Lake perhaps?

Autumn is showing up even with the warm weather.  There has been enough rain for the swamp maples to show some wonderful color.  I love the way they look like watercolor washes.

Mist and rain today, gentle but definitely putting a damper on doing much outside today.  The colors really pop in the soft gray.

We have been watching The Hollow Crown on PBS, Great Performances. It's Richard II, Henry IV Parts One and Two, and HenryV, by the Bard of Avon himself.  Beautifully acted and filmed, it's well worth watching.

Have an enjoyable Sunday.  This post will also be over on Mud Colony.  Take a look at clay around the world.

As always, thanks for stopping by..............*s*

Frogs or......OOOPS!

I thought I still had 100 lbs of clay ready to use.  Alas, I have about twenty-five pounds of the clay I use for making hand building forms and test stuff.  I also have 25 lbs. of my white clay that I use when I make when I want to underglaze.  I now have 200 lbs. both slaking and drying.  I could buy some more that is ready to go I suppose. But by the time it got here my own will be ready to go. I really like this clay I use (Laguna Miller 20) and I am too much of a nudge to spend money when with a little work, I have the body I like.

Ah well, I have plenty of work to do in glazing and decorating.

Here are frogs of various kinds......one I glazed....the others are all guys who have been around the pond this spring and summer. 

This little tree frog was perched on a yellow flag.  They blend in with rocks and other flora.  They are probably the noisiest little critters around.  They puff up and sound like New Year's Eve rattles and horns.  They are recognizable by the difference in their color patterns.

And finally the day lilies have started blooming.  I've been sprinkling them with chili powder in an effort to keep the deer from having them for dessert.

It was 65F when I took Winter out at 5:30 AM....I put on a sweatshirt!  It's about 82F now with low humidity.....a good afternoon for sitting by the pool under the umbrella with a chai latte.

 I have bread rising which I will bake in my counter top convection oven.  This is probably the best kitchen appliance I have ever purchased.  With cooking for just the two of us, turning on the big oven always feels so wasteful.  And in summer it makes for more heat in the house.  It's big enough to roast a good sized chicken, cookies, bread etc. And it draws a lot less power than the stove oven.

Enjoy the day.  Thanks for stopping by..............*s*