Snow Days

I vividly remember, as a kid the gleeful feeling of a snow day. However, I do not remember having the slightest idea how my mother felt about them. Either we were old enough to take care of ourselves, ie. getting our own plastic baggies to wear inside our shoes, or I have blocked out the frustration she must have felt. This is our first winter here in the mountains and even though there really has not been much snow to speak of, the kids have had 5 snow days. I have found myself woefully unprepared.

Don't get me wrong. I have plenty of hot cocoa and extra mittens. It's the studio work that suffers. I can do most of my work with my family around except for throwing. Not only do I need all of my concentration, throwing is very in the moment for me. It's almost like a form of meditation. So the bowls I threw on Monday were ready to start their transformation into heart bowls on Tuesday. I "lost" 6 bowls out of 24 last week. Once I start cutting and seaming my bowls they need a fair amount of attention. If they start drying too fast, the seams crack and into the slurry bucket they go.

With that in mind, the weather forecast is calling for snow tomorrow. I wedged a bunch of clay today, but rather than set myself up for trouble tomorrow, I declined to throw anything. Now I can plan on playing in the snow with the kids. Either that or through Murphy's Law, I have guaranteed that no snow will fall.