Autumn plans

Today, I demonstrated my pottery making techniques for 3 groups of middle schoolers. They are having a bowl fundraiser for the Yancey County Humane Society and the United Fund of Yancey County. The groups rotated between making bowls at Arts Centered, my demonstration in the Bakersville Library and some other speakers. My last demo was down on the Creek Walk. I can't say that the kids were overly enthusiastic watching me. However, when I sneaked up to Arts Centered, they were definitely engaged handbuilding bowls.

During a break, I had a delicious coffee at Dot's, served in what I'm 99% sure was a Shane Mickey mug. I think I'm going to have to buy one of his mugs. It had a nice feel in my hands. I also went to the Crimson Laurel Gallery and checked out the "Sharing" show as well as the "Connecting" exhibit featuring photographs from the book "Lost Crossings" about Western North Carolina's Historic Footbridges.

On the home front, Jay attempted to top the white pines in front of the house. I admit that it does not appear very environmentally friendly to remove trees for the sole purpose of gaining a gorgeous view. Anyone who knows me knows how many trees I have planted in my lifetime. Many more than the 3 or 4 we're cutting down. It works for me. Doesn't eveyone need a good rationalization every now and again?

Anyway, Jay quickly realized the job was a bit too big for him, but he managed to cut through the 3 large upward-growing branches, only to have them get caught on other branches rather than falling to the ground. At this point, he conceded that it would be much easier to cut the whole tree down rather than topping it.

Then today, we had wind gusts of 30 mph or so and down they came...only to reveal a small scrubby hardwood tree right behind it. I guess we'll have to cut that one down, too. The pile of branches is ugly and going to be a mess to clean up, but I can't see it from the house. And it doesn't cost any money unlike our neverending list of home improvements.

I'm back in the studio tomorrow. I've finished most of the cone 6 work and finally decided to fire a bisque. I hope to glaze fire in a couple of weeks. I'm still working wet in cone 10. I really like the direction my new work is going and have found myself incapable of stopping. I have literally run out of ware boards and shelf space. Sometimes the shift from creating to glazing is tough. Stay tuned for some pictures of new work, at least in greenware.