fall work

Good grief! I just spent the past 10 minutes trying to log in to Google and access this blog. I even reset my password and I still couldn't get in. I'm sure there was something wrong with the system. No way could I have consistently put the wrong password in. Anyway, the stupid thing finally worked, so here I am. I could not live without my computer, but I sure do hate it when things go weird. I am in the process of buying a new computer (i.e., I am thinking about it and looking at machines) and in preparation for that, I have been copying various documents and addresses onto a flash drive in order to have them to put on my new computer. Last night, Kate helped me copy the urls that I have bookmarked and put them in a document on my hard drive. I then emailed this document to myself and also to Kate, so that it would be available to load onto the new machine. I think that was the last stuff that I needed to copy. Now all I have to to do is decided what to buy, take a deep breath and buy it! Not this week, however, as I'll be out of town for a few days. Maybe next week.......

This week got a bit busy toward the end of the week. It was fun stuff, but I find that when I add too much to my regular routine I begin to feel pressured and a bit off-kilter. I guess I'm a creature of habit these days. Friday night, I went to an art exhibit at Montpelier. This was a juried exhibit of 'paper' art. Obviously, that allows a variety of pieces to be hung. My friend, Lynne had entered a piece, so several of us went to see it. There was a very interesting variety of items, from a paper lamp which actually lit up, to long narrow streamers of paper with words on them. My favorite was a framed piece made up of paper tiles, each a different color with a simple line drawing done in some kind of thick paint (or glue). This piece was very straight forward, but each tile was unique. I think I particularly liked it because it looked like ceramics. I can imagine doing something like that, using clay tiles.

Saturday, I explored a different medium. I went to a class in 'collage'. It turned out to be not too different from what I did when I made the art quilts for the swap this past summer. Basically, I glued fabric and paper to a board (no stitching involved). I used acrylics to paint a background, although I could have used paper for that, as well. Then I glued on some little buttons shaped like leaves and one that is a dragon fly. (If I had been making a quilt, of course, I would have sewn those on.) The picture is of a bare tree branch with a few leaves falling, many leaves on the ground and a cat looking at the dragonfly. I plan to add a squirrel on the branch. The piece needs a bit of tweaking and matting and framing, so I won't show a photo of it yet. I'm thinking of making a fabric mat and frame, rather than paying someone to frame it. It was fun to make this piece of art, but I probably won't go to another class. I understand the process better now and can play around on my own.


When I thought of doing more collages, I realized that I didn't have a good place to work at home (the dining table has been my only working surface). So, yesterday afternoon, I decided to rearrange the spare bedroom. It has always been my sewing room, but now I wanted to make it a craft room as well. First, I moved the dresser out into the hall (I have a large square hall at the top of the stairs). This will actually be more convenient for me, as the dresser is full of my clothes! (Yeah I know, I have too many clothes). Then I rearranged the desk and table in the room so that there is more space for projects. Now, I can use the table for either cutting fabric or working on paper projects. Of course, when I moved furniture around, I then had to move the many pictures (mostly family) and mirrors that were on the furniture or on the walls. I'm still tinkering with picture arrangements.

The other thing I accomplished over the weekend was to do some more trimming and bagging stuff in the back yard. I have another bag filled and a good start on a third. We've now had a killing frost, so I have even more things to cut off. There is a lot of work involved in getting flower beds ready for winter. I probably should mulch, but the plants grow so close together that it's hard to fit any mulch in. The hardest part physically will be when I move the pots off the deck. I put the potted perennials that I hope to 'winter over' down under the deck, up against the house. This protects them somewhat from the cold. Seems to work pretty well. The ones that are too heavy for me to carry down the stairs, I leave on the deck, but put up against the house, so they will be sheltered. All the empty pots that held annuals also go down below, because I like to clear the deck off for the winter. All that is a lot of work and will leave me with a sore back. Maybe I'll get to it next weekend......or maybe the week after that. Luckily, fall lasts a long time, so perhaps I will actually get all this done before winter sets in.

taming the jungle

This year will be known as "The Summer the Vines Grew". Yesterday, I finally got the vines off the tree and bushes in my back yard. Here's how it came about.

At noon, after ceramics, I walked around Lake Elkhorn before I went home. It was sunny and cool. A lovely day for a walk. I saw 13 turtles, one heron and a cormorant! I thought they only lived in the tropics, but there he was, standing on the end of a log. Made my day. I felt very energetic when I got home so I
decided to tackle the back yard.

I have already blogged about the gourd vine that grew and grew and came up my steps and also went over the fence. Also in the back yard, there was a bit of Virginia Creeper (5-leafed ivy) wandering around on the tree top. The morning glories that did so poorly a year ago, took off this year. They sprouted and grew everywhere! They joined the gourd vine in climbing up the steps, but not content with that, they also climbed to the top of the fence and attached themselves to any plant or bush they could reach. I do not have all of them pulled down, but have made a start. They are fairly easy to pull off, although they do twist around everything.

The worst vine when it comes to getting it down, is the wild grapevine. It is rooted between my fence and the neighbors', so it is impossible to dig it up. This spring, I neglected to cut it off at the base, as I have done previously. Big mistake! That darn vine went up and throughout the forsythia, the beauty bush, and up to the top of the evergreen (about 15 feet tall)! I now understand how Tarzan could use grape vines to swing from tree to tree. It easily held my weight. That darn vine was almost impossible to get off the tree. The lower parts of the vine are as big around as my little finger. I basically, grabbed a piece of vine and pulled and pulled and pulled until it came down! Then chose another piece and repeated the pulling. I actually could let the vine lift me off my feat. On the forsythia and beauty bush I had to cut most of it off, but on the evergreen, I just yanked on it until it came down. (Yesterday evening, my shoulders were really sore - still are today.)

I filled one yard bag with the vines and some forsythia branches, but have enough clippings to fill another. I also pulled up some wild flowers that are too aggressive for my small space - mostly golden rod. Once I get the clippings bagged, the back yard will look much better. I need to trim the beauty bush and the forsythia, but that will have to wait. The beauty bush has lovely purple berries on it now, so I will wait until winter to cut it back. I will cut the forsythia down to the ground in the spring, after it blooms. I've done this before and it comes back to full size within one season. I think it is impossible to kill forsythia. It should never be planted in a small yard!

I am changing my schedule starting mid-month. I have decided not to continue yoga, but instead to sign up for an aerobics class that meets AMs Mon, Wed, and Fri. This will require me to get out of the house around 8:30, rather than sitting at home, leisurely reading the paper and sipping my tea. I'll miss those slow mornings, but I think it will be good for me to get out and exercise. The class is geared for seniors, and is subsidized, so it's affordable. Also, I think it may be easier than the aerobics I used to do when I was much younger. I'm looking forward to this class.

ceramics

Photos of my pieces from the Raku firing. I particularly like the mask with the horns. He's a really cool beast. The vase came out looking good too. It's a piece that where I carved the design after it was 'leather hard'. I was working on that piece when the photographer for the local paper took my picture a few weeks ago. I wanted it to look primitive and old. I think it was successful. The green mask is a Green Man - one of those mythical forest creatures. If you click on the photos to enlarge it, you can perhaps see that his hair and beard are made of leaves.

Halloween

Lots of trick or treaters came by last night, despite a soft drizzlying rain. The adults had umbrellas, I noticed. Many costumes, especially those of the little kids, were the homemade kind. I love it when kids and parents get creative. I ran out of candy around 8 PM. There are many, many kids in our town house development, so Halloween is a big deal here. This year, I noticed more older kids than usual. I think it's just a natural progression. Many have lived here for years and despite now being in high school, will dress up and come out. This year, I didn't see any who weren't in costume.

I spent most of the day at the craft center, doing Raku firing and eating! Whenever we do a firing, we have an all-day pot luck. I ate lunch and dinner there. One of the gals cooked spare ribs and steak - yum! I took deviled eggs that everybody seemed to like. None left to bring back home. I have four masks and a pot/vase that fired successfully. No photos to post yet. Next blog will have them.

fall is leaf color and Halloween

Here are some photos of the view from my deck. The trees around here are just past their peak and are losing their leaves. Still nice to look at.

Patty opened her house for a pumpkin carving party last night. Brave soul that she is! I would hesitate to have 8 kids come into my house and mess around with pumpkins and knives. Actually the kids didn't use the sharp knives. They used plastic carvers, mostly. We grownups did a lot of the cutting for them. I'd forgotten how thick pumpkins are and how messy! The designs the kids made were very clever and original. Somewhat hard to cut out, however.

Patty had made a lot of finger food with silly Halloween labels - eyeballs (mozzarella cheese), fried eyeballs (chicken nuggets), etc. Kids and adults snacked all evening. The daddies popped in and left, but the moms and grandma stayed to help. It was quite fun. I understand she has bobbing for apples planned for sometime today. I supplied the apples, but don't expect to be around for the bobbing, as I will be all day at Montpelier participating in a Raku firing. I should have some photos of my stuff to show in a future blog. I expect to be home in time for the trick and treaters.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

wood firing results

Last night, I drove back over to Gary's for the unloading of the wood-fired kiln. It was very exciting to see each piece as it was unloaded. There were some lovely pieces - nicer that just what c0mes out of a regular gas kiln firing. We had added little dishes of salt, which produces interesting effects. And the smoke from the wood also reacts with the glazes. I put in a mask, which came out a nice brown. Next time, I will use more than one color of glaze. I had put in two other pieces, but I made a mistake there. They were made from low-fire clay and this was a very high firing. The clay melted! It was weird. Luckily, they did not damage anyone else's pieces. I did know better than to do that, but forgot that those were low-fire pieces. You can bet I won't forget that again. The pieces weren't anything I cared about, but I would have like to see what the glazes looked like.

Parking at Gary's is rather difficult. I ended up trying to back out along the road, which has a creek on one side and a hill on the other. No fences or guard rails, of course. And no lights either. I could hardly see the driveway and was trying very hard not to end up in the creek!! One of the guys finally came out and guided me, so that I could turn the car around. I really wasn't eager to back all the way out.

a VERY busy week!

I finally figured out how to restore the font size back to normal. Hurrah! Hopefully, this will allow others to read the blogs easily again and make my version look fairly normal.

If I remember to do all the things I have to do this week and get to all the places I'm supposed to be going to, it will be a miracle. I have evening activities Mon - Thur. Most of these are related to ceramics. I have my usual daytime activities, which keep me on the go every day. I am also trying to be available in case my neighbor (home from the hospital) needs me to drive her kids somewhere or help in some other way. So far, my help hasn't been needed.

Saturday is the Raku firing at the arts center, as well as being Halloween. The word is that we should wear costumes on Saturday, but I cannot imagine trying to handle VERY HOT pottery while wearing a costume. (For Raku, you remove the piece from the kiln, using asbestos gloves and tongs, and place it in a barrel filled with flammable material.) I'm sure I have explained this process before. It's a good idea to have long sleeves and old clothes for this. I don't know of anyone who has gotten burned doing this, but still, one must be careful. So, my costume, if I wear one will consist of jeans and long sleeves. Maybe I will be a hobo? I expect to be home in time for the monster and goblins who will come knocking on my door.

Today we have had some morning rain. My newspaper, which is delivered rather early (before 6) was soaking wet. This happens almost every time we have rain. The delivery person throws the paper from a vehicle and aims at my sidewalk. Unfortunately, the sidewalk has a low spot right where the paper usually lands. If it's raining, there is a shallow puddle there. I am usually not up before 6, so the paper has plenty of time to get wet. Today it was in a single plastic bag so of course every page was wet. When they remember to use two bags, only the edges get wet and I can salvage the paper by spreading out the wet pages all over my kitchen floor. Today I called the Post. I cannot use the automatic system because their records show that there are two people with my name, at my address, who have subscriptions. Of course, only one subscription is being paid for and delivered, but the computer insists that there are two and therefore I have to talk to a customer service person. Normally, this would be a good thing because, strangely enough, I prefer to talk to a person rather than a computer. However, in this case the person had an accent (perhaps English is not her native language?) and a soft voice. This meant that I could not understand her and had to ask her to repeat herself. I know that my hearing loss is part of the problem, but still it would be nice if the people handling the phones were easier to understand. I did not even try to explain to her about the two subscriptions supposedly coming to my house, but just dealt with the wet paper issue. She said I would get a replacement copy in 90 minutes. If that actually happens, it should arrive at 9 AM. This would be good. If it comes much later, I won't be home and the paper will sit out in the rain all day. Then I will have two wet papers! I probably should just have bought today's paper and forgone the replacement. But, I shouldn't think negatively. Perhaps the paper has already arrived - NOPE. Half an hour to go.