November?

I am not sure how it got to be November but here it is.

It’s been over two months since I posted anything.  I have been doing stuff;  it’s just so boring that I have not felt a need to post.  How many pictures of recycling clay or dead branches does anyone need to see?

It’s been the usual odd temps for fall in this area with periods of nights cold enough to light the wood stove and then a week of weather in the high sixties and seventies.  Go figure; it’s New England!

We have had the stove going pretty much twenty-four/seven for the last week.  (No Thanksgiving morning glories this year!). I fired my first whistle of the season in the top of the Jotul a few days ago.  From the feel of the clay I think it got up to ^06-^05.  Someday I will remember to stick a few cones in with the whistles.  Next I want to experiment with some glazes.  We’ll see, grasshopper........

My hibiscus have been blooming all summer and are still going strong since I brought them inside.  I am also having another go at wintering over petunias.  They will die down a bit and show lots of blooms around February.

We found this praying mantis on the ground near the plants.  We moved her into the plants because we did not want her to get stepped on or become a toy for Winter.  She looks ready to lay   eggs.  Toes crossed she finds a safe place so we have lots of babies next year.

It looks like we will be having a cool, probably cloudy, Thanksgiving.  There is no wind prediction so Proge should be able to grill the turkey easily.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

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

Sun! At Last!

Spring, or perhaps I should say early summer, has arrived.  At last we are having warm, sunny days.

Yellow flags, white flags, and poppies are in full bloom.  At last we are having a good year of poppies.  I covered them during the last week of rain because they are so fragile that one good shower reduces to soggy masses of tissue paper.

Due to the continued rain, chill, and most particularly the various caterpillars the gardens, pond and pool are in a sorry state.  Now to play catch up!

We had many praying mantis egg sacs last fall.  Two days ago we found babies had hatched from one of them.  I managed to get a shot of this little guy before it took off.  This is a much enlarged photo.  It was about one quarter the size shown and almost transparent.

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

Spoons

I had originally planned to post these yesterday, but just couldn't stay indoors.  It was too nice out.

I've been making spoons using plastic soup spoons from Chinese take-out as my molds.  (Those were the days when spoons came with the soup!) 

These are made with my white earthenware, glazed mostly with Spectrum #799 majolica white, although I did do some with Linda Arbuckle's majolica white.  It's more a matter of convenience than anything as Linda's is a dipping glaze.  As usual they are painted with my own mixed Mason Stains and fired to ^05.

The are mostly decorative.  I could see using them for a very elegant bouillon. The one below would make a good tasting spoon.

After a summer of nary a praying mantis in sight we now have three perhaps four in the garden.  Proge spotted one last evening, then this morning we found three more.  The one below had just molted.  I wanted to get the empty skin but it blew away in a little breeze.

In addition to the dahlias and passion flower they appear to be liking the sassafras weeds that are always in abundance.  I guess I will wait to clip them.

Yesterday afternoon while I was sitting on the deck two female hummingbirds came to the petunias which are favorites of theirs.  Perhaps they will lay more eggs although it's getting a bit late in the year.

It's hard to believe we are at the end of August.  I feel like summer just began, but then, I always feel that way.  We need rain; how about you?

Enjoy these days of summer and as always, thanks for stopping by.............*s*

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