Alchemy of clay

NEW BLOG ADDRESS

2011-11-24T13:46:00.001-08:00

Please go to my new address to continue tuning into my postings...

http://blackmtnbarb.blogspot.com/

Thanks, hope to see you there.
Barb

Family focus

2011-11-24T05:29:00.000-08:00

Is it the children?

You'd think so; they are bright, introspective, vigorous, lazy, cheerful, energetic, smart, giggly, tender, surprising, hungry, exasperating, expressive, loving, and a few other adjectives that don't come to mind right this minute.

Now as to their parents, my own children...the same goes but add in the responsibilities of adulthood and the more mature entertainment choices.

I love them all.

My being a branch on the family tree becomes so obvious when I see one of them smile with the same smile my father had (who they never met), or the same way of moving that their mother may have. I called them the family nuts on the tree...though of course they are much more than that.

And I'm probably nuttier than any of the children of this or the next generation.

The position of being matriarch is interesting. Nobody really looks to me for leadership or wisdom. I read other's blogs which encourage the youngsters to pay some attention to their elders. I know my grands do love me, and they give immediate response to my requests from them. But their attention span is flitting sometimes. Probably as a result from the flickering screens they are looking at constantly. But more likely from their brains moving at astronomical speeds which I just observe with my mouth agape. Once I could do that, I think.

Once I could roller skate too.

I shared a movie about an archeologist with my grand-teens yesterday, with the goal of giving them information that they wouldn't receive (in all probability) in their schooling. Marija Gimbutus' life in "Signs out of Time" was a bit dry, but as an archeologist she identified the culture which included female inventors of agriculture, weaving and pottery. This goddess-oriented and totally peaceful culture was identified prior to those invaders who wielded weapons and war, and probably existed a lot longer. We are but a blink in time when measured in humankind's evolution, us warmongers.

So this old nut is having a great time learning what makes young people move at astonishing speed now. It has to do with text messaging, I think. I'll let you know as I grok what they know.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours...

Cornucopia & tile

2011-11-23T18:40:00.000-08:00

I've made a cornucopia again this year...as you see in the following three views.

This little tile has a shadow box type frame, just for the accent it provides. There are 4 in this series.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving, with your loved ones. I'm so grateful to be able to spend my Thanksgiving with my oldest son and his family.

New pictures

2011-11-21T04:56:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our studio manager, Charles Freeland, for sharing his photo set up the other night with us, I've got some new pictures to pass along.

Marsha keeps coming up with new and more artistic forms, as here she glazes one of them.

Sarah has been glazing like crazy, and I caught her with the waxing brush.

Jonathan had made the most funny face, but the camera caught the regular smile. Too bad. Notice the tree in the background on the top shelf? It will be bedecked with ornaments at Holly Jolly next week.

My candle stands really pop with the gradated background. Whoo!

Sold

2011-11-20T05:17:00.000-08:00

New pottery

2011-11-19T04:49:00.000-08:00

These will be at the market at White Horse this morning till 1 pm.

I'm personally waiting till it gets above 30 degrees to go outside.

I'll be surprised if I have to bring this pitcher home.

Every one of these green mossy pitchers has sold the day I put them out.

It's a stupendous glaze. And this one has a spout that doesn't drip a bit. It is really hard to give it up, but what do I need with a pitcher anyway? Maybe someone else will enjoy it more than I do.

Detail of the glaze...smooth surface with a few little textural smooth details, kind of like leather.

Cold and warm

2011-11-18T06:04:00.000-08:00

I look out the window at frost over everything. Shiny crystals that are only here for a few hours. One of those things that aren't examined very closely.

28 degrees outside when I got up this morning. The floor was cold so I got out my fluffy slippers. Cats even had cold feet...guess they don't care as much as me.

Holding a cat is warming. Putting on a woolly sweater rather than the good old housecoat, and then spreading a big blanket across my lap and around my legs. Having a warm laptop on my lap. So thankful my fingers can move, and don't feel all that cold. I don't feel well enough to go do my volunteer job this morning.

My thoughts are on seeing my grandchildren next week, and hoping we can share some time enjoying each other. I know they are "techno junkies" and would be happy to play their electronic games most of my visit, which I of course want to avoid. They would barely notice I'm there if they continue glued to various screens.

So what kind of things can I ask them to enjoy with me? Maybe a day trip to a wintry beach is possible, to explore the flora and fauna that are on the cold sand. Well, I'd enjoy that. I dare say they would not have it at the top of their list of entertainments. But there have to be things that a grandmother can offer them outside their normal everyday existence. Their parents and other grandparents take them frequently to the various Florida entertainment parks. Oh my, I guess I could go, and would be flat broke in the process, and it wouldn't be my favorite activity, and it would just be one more trip to a theme park for them. Perhaps we can do a little of each of our kinds of entertainment. I'll see when it happens.

Enough of my musings. Sometimes this blog is just an opportunity for me to think on a screen!

One last shot!

2011-11-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

Yep, the Tailgate Market of Black Mountain, NC will be held one more time for this season!

I am not sure if this pot will be ...

there...nor these lovely ladies. I'll probably see Rayanne at the BMCA studio on Sun. however.

We won't be in the field behind the First Baptist church this time however.

So look for us at the White Horse, where we hope to be outside and lots of our favorite produce, chocolate, and honey and meats and eggs and whatever will be available inside!

And then in 2 weeks, there will be the big Holly Jolly evening event on Fri. Dec 2. Lots of great pottery on display in the BMCA gallery as well as BIG STUDENT SALE!

So I'll be dragging out some last bargains of the season. I know you all who do retail at big pottery shows (like Dillsboro, Seagrove, etc) don't know how exciting these are for me. But maybe you do.
Time is somewhat later, from 10-1 Sat. morning.

The White Horse is immediately to the left on Montreat Rd as you cross over State Street...or just on Hwy 9 past Hwy 70 in the center of Black Mountain.

I hope you can drop by, as well as enjoy the rest of the shops in downtown Black Mountain. It's going to be fun.

Tues musings

2011-11-15T05:46:00.000-08:00

Is this a day when I should take to heart..."if you don't have anything good to say, say nothing at all?"
Nah, 'cause I'm sure I'll say something good or another. But I am starting out with tabula rasa...is that the one that's blank? My mind.

Blank mind. An invitation to inspiration.

Pictures to share? Sorry, here's something for my friends who like to see what's happening.

Painter has little taste for the treats I give her, but enjoys her morning walks around the house.

Muffin has been enjoying growing fur, grooming, barfing hair balls, being brushed, more hair balls.

The revised studio/porch, to incorporate the atrium of plants that will live inside for the winter. This is fine with me, because I prefer to work in the light and heat of the living/dining area better anyway. The floor on the porch is always cold.

And then there's the one of several bookcases full of pottery...ah, to have it all sold would be so wonderful. Until then it's pottery storage everywhere I look, and some of it isn't even in view.

More of the atrium...showing the interesting piling of boxes and old refrigerator shelves to get the little plants up to window light. Yes, you will never guess what kinds of boxes they are because I've camouflaged them under lengths of bright cloth.

But back to memory and mental capabilities. Ugh is my best comment for the grindings of my mental problems. It's tiresome at best, and worrying at worst. Almost daily I forget something, either what I'm doing, or a word for something. Today I woke up and remembered I had a sister, and she had children, and one of them had 3 little children I've never even met. Oh my.

I have been estranged from my sister for years (that's how it's said I believe). I miss that this whole lifetime I've not been close to her but for a few years. But we have not been close either geographically or philosophically for most of our lives. It is strange to think that we grew up in the same environment, then diverged so much. But part of that is due to having both dismissed the heirarchical radical religious upbringing we had and chosing to set our own standards, beliefs, traditions. As we did that, we gradually went our own ways. At least that's the best answer I have today.

The main thing I comment about today is that I'm like those plants I brought inside to keep alive over the cold times. They will survive, but not thrive through these dark days. I've kept myself going, have new friends and great pursuits that I love, but have lost some things in the process. My memory seems to be one of them.

The holidays are upon us!

2011-11-14T05:56:00.000-08:00

The week of Halloween it starts. Holy days and nights. People thinking about what to give each other for Christmas. Shopping gallore.

The trees are on their last hurrah (at least 2 weeks ago when this was taken). Downtown Black Mountain is busier on weekends than it's been since the big summer retreat weekends.

Something is happening at a local restaurant, which we think will eventually be a new pub. The mountains dwarf the workers as they put this porch roof together.

Sunshines through the oaks which were stupendous in their colors this year. Not the staid browns but variegated with all kinds of colors.

Well, drab will be with us for the next few months. No wonder we want to dress up our homes with lights, put reds and greens around us and embrace the darker times of the year by stretching hands and toes to the warmth of a fire (if we have one). I have only candles, and they don't exactly warm my toes.

The thing that warms me most this time of year is friendship. Gathering for whatever reason and talking, eating a little or nothing, singing if it pleases us, drinking little or nothing, it's all making for holidays. Holy days...and nights.

Hallelujah Chorus -Quinhagak, Alaska

2011-11-13T04:10:00.000-08:00

Done like you've never seen before. This video from the small Yupiq Eskimo Village of Quinhagak, Alaska, was a school computer project intended for the other Yupiq villages in the area. Much to the villagers' shock, over a half million people have viewed it.

Click on Chorus here

Thanks to Mary for forwarding this precious video which started my day with singing and "dancing". It reminds me of the preciousness of all children, and how communities can come together if there's something worth doing.

Sort of like the Occupy movement. Only very different of course.

Dilly Dillsboro eighth and last

2011-11-13T01:45:00.000-08:00

Kathy Veverka has very fluid lines...loved her things!

I think Ellise Delfield is this potter's name. I enjoyed talking with her about shrines, and her garden art.

I did purchase a stamp from these great cherry wood laser cut stamp vendors...mine's a celtic cross design.

John Fulwood's Kissimmee River Pottery is in New Jersey, rather than in FL right next to Disney World. I felt that geography had shifted learning a Kissimmee River is also in NJ.

A lovely pitcher with mugs. In case you didn't notice yet, I focused on pitchers in my observations.

Elmer Taylor was the featured artist doing demonstrations, and I talked with him a while, but missed seeing his throwing.

The Mud Puppies caught our eye, being the Mud Buddies ourselves. (or maybe the Mud Sisters)

Have you noticed yet that I was looking at the pitchers? I wanted to see how the pros were pricing theirs. I found all the art (almost) was priced very reasonably at this show. The students were the only ones that seemed to overprice their works. Isn't that strange? I think mine may also be higher than they need to be in this competitive market.

Courtney Tomchik, from Clemmons, NC showed me how she puts a hanger behind her wall hangings...and what kind of backing and glue she uses. Very helpful.

Notice Larry Spears is from Nashville, Indiana!

Marion Schlauch, Walland, TN

Dilly Dillsboro version seven

2011-11-12T01:15:00.000-08:00

I saw Marti Mocahbee at the Southern Highlands Guild Festival a couple of weeks ago in Asheville. Wonderful work!

The Baums were doing a booming business. And they had lots of functional pottery at great prices...which equals booming business!

Tom's Seelos' carved works were awesome, and again so reasonably priced it was astonishing.

We fell in love with the humorous relief found in this booth.

Read the top plaque, that's the one Cathy thinks should be in her studio!

Michael Terra did a great job and I missed getting any pictures of the great "reading glasses" which were glasses with imprints of funny words on them.

Joe Frank McKee demonstrates and talks the crowd through his horsehair and feather raku technniques. The 2 blue/purple/black pots on the table above have been vapor reduced (I think using alcohol, but we missed that demo).

One pot is finished with it's horsehair.

Another pot was removed hot from the kiln...

After sugar, feathers and horsehair have been flung against the hot pot, it's returned to the kiln to get the finishing touch.

Another of Joe Frank's techniques. He's partner owner of Tree House gallery.

Gordon Batten of Two Rivers Studio right in Dillsboro. I met him also at the Southern Highlands show in Asheville. (and hope to visit his studio sometime, since he invited me!)

Tom Homann from Midlebury, Vermont

Then some organic fun shapes by John Bauman from Warsaw, Indiana

I was especially thrilled to see the handles on hanging platters...which have a ribbon going behind them in order to hang them easily. What a great idea!

Horse motiffs on pottery from Peoria, IL. Who would have thought of it?

I'm always partial to dragon flies. They just look like they settle on things but do remind us of the fragility of life.

Whimsical forms can come in all sizes.

Gorgeous raku glazes. I don't know why I didn't explore these more...they were beautiful.

Turning POint Studios

Dilly Dillsboro version six (I think)

2011-11-11T01:30:00.000-08:00

That's my smile before I smeared barbecue sauce all over myself!

Terrance Painter's Different Drummer Pottery speaks for itself. He's from Maggie Valley, NC, pretty close to where we were, actually.

Clay Club adventure!

2011-11-09T23:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry I don't have pictures...and I was in the ones John took, but not my face. Just look for my hair, which is obvious enough.

We had such fun...Erin and I drove up to Spruce Pine to pick up some of her works at the Toe River Gallery, and then to Bakersville to the Crimson Laurel Gallery to see the Cups exhibit.

I think this was the most fun collection of cups I've ever seen. There are just so many things that could be boring about a cup show. Not this one. It was full of exciting and beautiful works. Each artist had about 4-7 pieces, depending upon the size perhaps. But they were the entire gamut of what clay can become when a vessel to drink out of.

And the gallery also had their other artists who are permanent exhibitors, and they also had cups as well.

Then to the chili cook off at John Britt's for Clay Club. I brought banana bread because my corn bread went silly on me. Erin knew how to be welcome with store bought stuff...cheese cake samples. There were just 8 different chilies to taste, and I only had 3, since I knew one of those would win, and turns out I was right.

I enjoyed spending time in the car with Erin, who shared a wealth of information about various shows she's exhibited in, mostly jurried shows. I have always enjoyed her delicate and well formed sculptural wall hangings, and was glad to hear her talk about many aspects of not only creating them, but how she has concerns about their well being when they are exhibited.

Erin Essen Campbell gave a demonstration to the BMCA clay studio last March I think. It was great to see how she puts together her well designed wall frame boxes.

At the Clay Club, our feature entertainment was a slide show of Emily Reason's recent trip to China and various pottery encounters...a well spent evening of seeing how a very different culture looks at hand made pottery.

Now I will return to the series of Dilly Dillsboro photos...just had to share this lovely time with you.

Dilly Dillsboro version four

2011-11-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

Tom Hubbell, Stone THrown Studio, Omaha, NE

You can't see how beautiful these are until you hold them and look into the crystalization of the glazes.

Phil Morgan, Seagrove, NC

Dilly Dillsboro version three, Doug Dacey

2011-11-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

Doug Dacey from Columbus NC
Porcelain work.

I really loved these thrown and folded and cut handles...applied after the top had been leather hard.

These fluted works had dimention to the petals, there's the structure holding it together in each petal.

Had to get my mug shot in as well. Also got a sunburn that Saturday!

Dilly Dillsboro version 2

2011-11-07T04:17:00.000-08:00

Here are some pots that made me smile...

Travis Berning

Looking through the window at Tree House Pottery at the fesitval outside...

Description of Berning's work.

Another potter from Kansas in Tree House store.

Somehow I missed getting this potter's name...fabulous detail work!

And I did get to pose with this young lady potter...you can tell which one is me. I only remember her name starts with "A". Sorry. But she's also at Tree House.

It may have been booth number one, but the last one I visited cause I started at the other end of the street!

Dilly Dillsboro

2011-11-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

I've got pictures! Oh yes!

Here are the fun ones, and there will be some more for a while...I delighted in meeting potters, asking questions as to how they did that or that or another thing wonderful. And many agreed (actually nobody said no) to having their pictures taken. I admit some were engaged in sales and I didn't exactly ask them.

This group of student's work was a good display, and since Cathy (my travelling companion for the day) is a student at another craft program (Heywood Community College) she was interested.

Then we finally had some lunch, only to find the people already sitting right behind Cathy were none other than our friends from MudBuddies in Black Mountain. Small world!

Energy balance

2011-11-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

Just came back from my volunteer time at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Folk Art Center. What a lovely place to work...though I can't really consider what I do work.

It's an energy balancing place apparently. I have things that I can donate, a little time, a few old CD's to one of the people who also works at an assisted living facility (ALF). I used to work at an ALF, and then an independent elder housing apartment building. She is about to move into an apartment like that as well. And she will soon be quitting her ALF job so I offered her some old CD's that I had originally purchased for the elders (a generation older than mine at least). She may give some to the ALF, or she may keep a few. I was glad that they will be listened to by someone. My next choice was to take them to a thrift store.

Then I read that there were some duplicate magazines available for a good home, from a donation to the FAC's library which already had a copy of these issues and didn't have space for them. I asked for those having to do with clay, and may send them to the Clay Studio of Black Mountain Center for the Arts. Or I may keep them if they don't want them. They also have space limitations, as do I myself. But now I can browse through them at times other than when I'm volunteering at the FAC.

I also took home a lot of inspiration today. I was thinking of so many projects I want to do, which weren't really a result of seeing similar things, but just an extension of what I've already been working on, and I was sitting quietly and let these ideas percolate up. So I asked for some paper to sketch them. And that was all the time I had. Another visitor who viewed the beautiful quilt display said she had gotten inspired by the time she left. I think everyone's awe at seeing hand-crafted beauty can easily turn into the desire to create themselves.

Meditation vid

2011-11-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

I'm borrowing a grounding meditation from Starhawk, how the Wiccan people have offered it. (and it was posted on another blog the other day!) I'm shameless when it comes to sharing ideas that I think are worth looking at. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and Muslims aren't safe from my sharing their good ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ilOZweCMk&feature=player_embedded

"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive."

Eleanora Duse

We had a fabulous time conjuring, trancing, and dancing last night at Baba Yaga's fete. Thanks to Byron Ballard and the Mother Grove group which sponsored this enjoyable evening. Linda Metzner's choir (Sahara Peace Choir) of which I'm a sometime member, sang the Baba Yaga song written by Linda. Nothing like celebrating the old crone (think wise woman) from Eastern Europe and Russia, the wild woman of the woods, and re-claiming her spirit with and without the scarey aspects that have attached themselves to the folklore.

As Byron Ballard says this morning in the Citizen Times, happy new year to all Celtic peoples. The sense of starting anew is wonderful this morning...and I'll continue with my intentions for the rest of this moon cycle. Today marks the first week of seeing how I'm progressing. I have verification from professionals that this life change is necessary, so am rejuvinated in my pursuit. Onward with resolutions!

Happy Samhain (say sow-wain)

2011-10-31T05:11:00.000-07:00

It's the oldest holiday that I can relate to...much more than Christmas. The roots seem closer to what it's meaning is...the celebration of/the learning about and accepting death.

I don't know who painted this, but I love it!

So kids get to be scarey, and scared. So pranks have become very popular. Entertainment is a laugh...because Charley Brown and the Great Pumpkin was never really believable, as Santa come to a nature theme. Really now. Nature started the whole theme.

This is getting outside and running through your own neighborhood door to door, seeing what kinds of goodies your neighbors can dole out to the kids. Seeing the loveable attempts at scareyness by the older ones, or the tougherr ones. And the darlings who only want to be cute are so adorable.

OK, I do remember more my children's trick or treating than my own. I don't remember ever going door to door myself, maybe because we didn't live in sububurbia until I was a teen, and much too old to do this childish thing. I think my kids enjoyed making their own costumes, but we sure did purchase a few also. Parties were so much fun, and there were great scarey ideas to help everyone have a chance to scream...how many activities promoted screaming your head off! Not to mention the treats! They often lasted till Christmas, well Thanksgiving anyway!

Back to Samhain's meanings. The "dead" are closer to us "living" at this time, cause the saying is "the veil between the worlds is thinner." Why would people through centuries want to have that connection to those who have "gone before" or "passed over" or "entered the other country"? Well, honoring their lives makes sense...to think in our busy-ness about another person who is no longer busily going about life...to ponder their passions that led to our own existence, to forgive their mistakes that bent and changed their own lives. To consider our own mortality.

So I hope you have a Happy Samhain today! Boo!

Tailgate markets of Black Mountain

2011-10-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

The Mudbuddies closed down our booth yesterday after a wonderful last market. The rain was gone by the morning, so we had bright blue skies. And a little wind. The only real hardship was the fact that it was really cold. So we know it's time to close up shop and head indoors.

I think there will be one more "Tailgate Craft Market" to be held Nov.19, not sure where yet. So we will have one more opportunity to show Black Mountain our wares.

Barbara Rogers by Barbara Rogers :>+)

Our group of 6 potters has had fun and challenges this summer. We mostly did well...though there were a few Saturdays that we grudgingly packed all the same pottery back into our boxes without a single sale. If we knew how to avoid those days, we would all be much happier potters.

Then there were days like yesterday, and for the first time all 6 of us had sales.

Many days we would say, we're really just doing this for the fun we have sitting outside and talking to people. NAH! Most of us need to sell something as well as have a happy time. This isn't like a "hobby" for us. We are seriously trying to do the best we can, in the directions each of us wishes to grow as craftswomen. (Our subtitle name would be MudSisters if we needed one.)

Alchemy of clay - huge format

2011-10-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

photo: Carter Smith

http://alexirvineceramics.blogspot.com/

I took a figure sculpting class from Alex Irvine last year at this time. This year, just look what he's done! (with others)

Thanks to Clay Club for sharing this...another great blog for pottery info.

Latest pottery

2011-10-28T05:35:00.000-07:00

Post Script: Yesterday I posted 2 pictures of many labyrinths I've constructed. I forgot to say, what's the difference between a labyrinth and a maze?

A maze has the intention of getting you lost, with lots of deadends.

A labyrinth has the intention of taking you directly (turning directions of course) to the center, then back out again on the same path.

So when I recently read about the Labyrinth and the Minotaur, I realized the story was written wrong, because that was a maze, not a labyrinth, which would get someone lost unless they knew about the golden thread. In a true labyrinth, you need no thread to find your way out. That's why it's an ideal journey for meditation.

A couple of my raku sillies...just for the fun of it!

This kind of like a pumpkin/squash bowl...who knows?

Set of 4 mugs in matt bronze green, with some amber glaze sponged on for a rough/shiney effect.

I added a bit of clear glaze around the lips so there was a smooth touch for your lips as you drink out of them.

Labyrinths

2011-10-27T05:59:00.000-07:00

The labyrinth from Chartres Cathedral...well, a copy of course.

A finger labyrinth of the Newgrange, Ireland (or Malta) triple spiral.

I wonder if this is where I could say the Matlese Triple Spiral?

Coffee or chocolate?

2011-10-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

The fun sculptures that line the streets of Asheville. All tourists have to take a picture or two.

Even though I'm not a tourist, I enjoyed a few camera shots.

I've made coffee in both these pitchers...and now will try some chocolate....

I may have them around for a while, as they don't pour that great.

Something you don't find out till the end of the process.

I'll sell them as decorative art though!

Raku and rain

2011-10-25T05:31:00.000-07:00

Raku ...fun until it started to rain. It started out as a very hot day. But the kiln just wouldn't get up to the right temperature...so we waited and waited!

If my friends don't want their pictures here, just let me know, and I'll pull them off. They can be anonymous anyway.

Beverages and snacks help make the waiting more enjoyable...plus just chatting with other potters.

Yes, that's a temperature gun, which said the outside of the kiln was pretty hot.

The dog hair experiment about to be tried...you've probably heard of horse hair.

Tailgate Market party coming this week!

2011-10-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

Don't miss the funTailgate Market fund raising "Pig and Pint" on Thurs at Pisgah Brewery. $20 and samples of lots of beer and foods. Silent auction, including one of my plates (value $30).

You can buy tickets for the party at:

Pig and a Pint: A Tasting Benefit Event for the Black Mountain Tailgate Market

www.brownpapertickets.com

Just saying you should definitely be there from 4-7 this Thursday. You know I will be!

10 inch diameter. white clay body.

Varigated glaze with stamped design.

Fair pictures

2011-10-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

Peg Morar's scraffito work...

Rodney Lefwich

Somehow I didn't write down the name of these artists...great turtle and owl objects...and I really enjoyed them.

Nancy Kubale

Gordon Batten

Nancy Jacobsohn

I really enjoyed a lot of other potters, glass, fabric, wood and mixed media artists. But these were the ones I took the time to honor with their works.

The Southern Highlands Craft Fair

2011-10-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

I have a few pics that I'll add here this afternoon...but wanted to give anyone in the Asheville area the news...this is a great venue!

I know the musically inclined will be off in Black Mountain at Camp Rockmont for LEAF. So I hope you got a chance to see the crafts before today...I think SHCF closes around 4 today.

I bought a few raffle tickets, so I know the drawing is at 4:30-ish at the Civic Center. I really hope to win the doll! She makes me smile every time I look at her. I enjoyed volunteering yesterday by letting a couple of potters take lunch breaks, then sitting at the raffle/information table for a while.

Also there are bunches of events coming up in honor of Samhain next week. Our choir is practicing early today, then Wed. night, then just before church next week (I know, you could care less, but I'm just trying to get a handle on this calendar of events for myself. OK, I won't go into each day's appointments.) But I know Byron Ballard will be leading the congregation on next Sunday, which is always a high point for many of her friends. (She's the Village Witch who blogs for the Asheville Citizen Times)

Public things to know about are the BIG fundraiser and taste of foods/drinks at Pisgah Brewery on Thurs. Oct 27 from 4-7. The event will support the Tail Gate Market of Black Mountain. I donated a plate for the silent auction. I know I'll be there, and the $20 tickets are a deal for all the food. It's being called A Pig and a Pint...something to do with barbeque.

Friday hosts a "Boo at the UU" family party. And then Saturday from 9-1 is the last Tail Gate Market of the year. It's sure to be lots of fun, with special kids events, as well as a gala last sale for all the vendors. We've had a pretty good season this year...though pottery didn't do all that great at times.

Halloween itself is another event that we all will enjoy, and for me by attending a Baba Yaga fete in Asheville...and for me joining singing with the Sahara Peace choir.

A brief mention from the pagans and wiccans out there...the veil between the worlds becomes thinner for Samhain, and there is definitely communication with those who have died. Our ancestors need to be honored, not denigrated in funny ghost stories. We owe our existance to their strength and the decisions they made...their loves and passions, their fears and faults, and the joys and efforts of their lives. So I daily ask for those who have gone before, mostly my ancestors, but some my friends, to give me their wisdom.

Computer down and back

2011-10-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

So Steve checked out the computer, and turned off some of the "background programs" that were running that he didn't think I was using. That did it. Now things load, play and are responsive while I want to do them. No longer wait and see if it will do what I asked...while I pray, or pause, or get up and fix lunch.

Yay! I'm so grateful that it didn't have a virus. A friend did have one, so I was worried that I might have one too.

I'll be able to check up on the blogs I follow tomorrow, maybe. I didn't know what to do with myself for the last 24 hours...without checking all the news from all those great sites. I'll be back soon!

a Buddhist quote...

2011-10-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Prayer

May I be a guard for those who are protectorless,

A guide for those who journey on the road;

For those who wish to go across the water

May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.

May I be an isle for those who yearn for landfall,

And a lamp for those who long for light;

For those who need a resting place, a bed;

For all who need a servant, may I be of service.

May I be the wishing jewel, the vase of plenty,

A word of power, and the supreme remedy.

May I be the trees of miracles,

And for every being, the abundant cow.

Like the great earth and the other elements,

Enduring as the sky itself endures,

For the boundless multitude of living beings,

May I be the ground and vessel of their life.

Thus, for every single thing that lives,

In number like the boundless reaches of the sky,

May I be their sustenance and nourishment

Until they pass beyond the bounds of suffering.

--from A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life

by Shantideva, Indian Buddhist Teacher, 8th Century AD

Yep, I'm driving (slowly) up Montreat Rd.

Uphill...

Or downhill...

The Season, The Studio

2011-10-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

With autumn, there's an abrupt change from summer...things just don't look the same and there's an earth shaking realization that life is going through the same kind of thing.

So, I jump around, looking hard, taking lots of pictures. I also enjoy the feeling of the air, cool on my skin on one side, and hot in the sun on the other. The breeze is not just blowing, it gusts in cold chatters through the trees, and seeps into my bedroom chilling me each night. Then while the house is still full of the chill, suddenly by noon outside the heat from the sun makes it warmer by 10 degrees than it is inside.

Ah, the clay studio at Black Mountain Center for the Arts!

Afternoon light beams in the studio. It's much more fun to work then, than at night. At least I think so.

There's more light from the sun reflecting off the floor than will be available in the glaze area at night. So this is my best time to glaze.

TODAY!

2011-10-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

It's the most wonderful day of the year.
Got up with that song chanting in my heart. Seems appropriate, don't you think? What,, you think only Christmas day is the most wonderful day of the year? Well, you'd better start thinking about that!

A new film "Connected" by Tiffany Shlain opened in New York to a sold out crowd and is touring the country. - a personal tribute to the filmmaker's father, celebrated author and neuroscientist, Leonard Shlain, who passed away in 2009. (author of The Alphabet Versus the Goddess) http://connectedthefilm.com/

check that clip out, it sounds interesting...though Leonard Shlain's work on the goddess seems somewhat strange...though again interesting. http://www.alphabetvsgoddess.com/goddesses.html

Haven't downloaded the last pictures of fall trees and pots. Yesterday was such a beautiful day in the great windy outdoors here, and it did warm up eventually, but still shady places were cold. My friends froze their noses...and other parts, at the TailGate market early in the morning. It wasn't my shift this week...of the MudBuddies.

Oh, I want to include (in case I haven't) the link to the Black Mountain webcam. It's somewhat jerky, and has no reflection on the people who live here. It unfortunately only looks at the street that one of the sponsors is located upon...and it isn't the main street of the town anyway. But it's interesting enough to at least see the Seven Sisters mountains in the background. http://blackmountainwebcam.com/ Actually it's better than when it was first started, somehow the scene is now zoomed in so you don't have the great view of the public bathrooms that is the next area to the right of these buildings. I bet someone complained about that!

93 YEAR OLD

2011-10-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

I ran into an "old friend" last night at an art gallery opening...Vesta Stern has her 93 birthday TODAY. She has been a UU for 69 years...and used to own a craft store. I can't wait to hear more about her life. Who do you know who has stories that you'd love to hear? I'm hoping Vesta will tell me some. Call her to wish her a happy birthday, she doesn't do computers.

Sorry about posting this also on FaceBook, where some of my friend might read it again, as well as some of hers. I hope this helps her have a sense that we still care about her. She's living in an Assisted Living Facility here in Black Mountain, and no longer drives very much...not at night or as far as Asheville any more. There is another reason she doesn't make it to church much...the Sun. meal is served just at noon, and there's no supper served on Sun. night, so she would miss eating lunch and dinner if she came to church! There's an obvious answer to that. I hope someone will offer rides to church and lunch with her sometime.

We are all getting older, and those who are the most senior of us should have the most respect. Don't you think? I think we're also afraid that when we get to our oldest years, nobody will be around to help us out.

That is serious business for us individualistic independent people, who never felt we should need others, nor wanted to be dependent upon them.

Last night I dreamed the feeling of rejection from my first love. That utter dispair that somehow I wasn't right, I wasn't "the one" for him, that I was inherently not good enough, is a dispair that I know others feel also...though of course not for being rejected in love. The commonality is the feeling...no matter what the cause.

We can all feel dispair and depression. We can all feel alone.

We can all feel love. We can all be compassionate. We can ask for our circle.

That's how my dream ended. I asked for a circle of friends to care for me. I am so glad that I've become part of a circle of friends, which is my "virtual family" for when my real family is not available, nor able to give their love. And if I should outlive all those I now care about, I hope there will be a new circle of friends that can give and receive love to/from each other.

Tiny pots and "Occupy" demonstrations

2011-10-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the tiny pots that will join either my friends in CA or WA, or go to the Tailgate this weekend.

View of first four...

View one of second 4

View two of second four, the one on the left has three colors, thus a different looking pot each way.

View of third five...

Do you think much about how the "Occupy" demonstrations are doing? What challenges they face in looking within themselves as individuals, as well as trying to become a cohesive group? This is worth thinking about here Again I borrowed from another blog. Hey, it's worth passing along.

I am part of the 99%...as are most of the people I know. Funny about that. If I looked for the 100th person that I knew today, then I'd figure that must be the rich 1% who holds the majority of the money of our country. Just thinking. But when I look inside myself, I wonder what's keeping me from doing a demonstration. I think it's my physical limitations at my age. SO if I were in my vigorous 30s or even 40s, I'd certainly be out there. Being closer to 70, I can vigorously post blogs!

Moon phase work

2011-10-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

Do you know the phase the moon is in right now?
Earth oriented people probably do. If you're outside in the evening or early morning, or even late at night, you probably do.

I just started using the phases of the moon to have intentional work accomplished.

I'll let you know how it goes...using each quarter as a marking point on an intention.

In case you're curious, here's a good site to figure out what the phase of the moon is at any date in 2011 or 2012... Moon phases

Some friends of mine (in the Women of Wisdom class) are going to try this also, and we'll give each other feedback how it goes. If you do this, please give me a comment as to how you feel it succeeds, or not.

Incidentally, Daylight Savings Time is over on the night of Sat. Nov.5 this year. This is hard to find sometimes.

East Of Asheville Studio Tour

2011-10-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

It's the peak of the leaf season...and this weekend will be crisp and sunny. That's right kids, pack your snacks and hop in the car for a tour of this county's beautiful back roads and the warm and rustic studios that inhabit them! Here's the link for the website complete with maps...just go to

	www.EastStudioTour.com (828)686-1011 East of Asheville Studio Tour, a free, self-guided tour of artist studios in East Asheville, Swannanoa, Black Mountain, Fairview and Old Fort, takes place twice a year - Sprig and Fall. Everyone is welcome to visit any or all of the studios during the tour, whether they are serious art patrons or just browsers of beautiful and interesting works. An article about it can be found here.

www.EastStudioTour.com
(828)686-1011
East of Asheville Studio Tour, a free, self-guided tour of artist studios in East Asheville, Swannanoa, Black Mountain, Fairview and Old Fort, takes place twice a year - Sprig and Fall. Everyone is welcome to visit any or all of the studios during the tour, whether they are serious art patrons or just browsers of beautiful and interesting works.

An article about it can be found here.

Latest pottery...again

2011-10-13T00:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been a busy potter...churning out interesting shapes, being satisfied (on the whole) with the glazes these days.

This little vase has eggshell glaze, inside and out, wiped on the highlight places with a sponge while still wet...to give the blush from the thin glaze over speckled brownstone clay. I do like that!

Here are two blues... floating above, and Black Mountain Blue below.

A coffee filter cone...which I've started using rather than all the trouble with espresso machine. Just wait till the tea kettle says I've got hot water, and pour it through the grounds. And I found out how the extra heat from pouring boiling water stays in the ceramic cone and I get really well brewed coffee, and enjoy the flavor more. So at this point, it's staying in my kitchen. I may make another one...maybe.

When I tried brushing off some of the blue glaze, it gave some interesting colorations from the thin glaze and the bare clay. I happen to like this effect.

From New Grange, Ireland, or perhaps Malta's goddess temples, the triple spiral is a design which has meditative possibilities. Our Women of Wisdom class participants painted their Triple Spirial Finger Labyrinths with glaze, and now will be able to use them for meditation. I made a few extras that I'm willing to sell.

I sold both of these pitchers the day I put them out at the Tail Gate market. It's too late to make any more before the market closes for the season. But I'll try to have a couple by the time I next sell things at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts...that will be the first Fri. in December. Until then, I'll just be enjoying exploring what can be done in clay.

Rooster time

2011-10-12T05:17:00.000-07:00

I am not a morning person. That's why, when I get up before sunrise, I feel like it's a new and different world. So what do you look at? I kept the blinds closed, and felt cozy against the night for a while. But the minute the light from outside became grey, I wanted to SEE. There are things that demand looking at. (I know, dangling preposition, you grammarians out there noticed, didn't you!)

Can you guess where this is?

Hint, if you live in the Asheville area,* you have a better chance.

* Or have visited there!

Here's another view.

And of course, one of our favorite precious trees shows off it's lovely colors. It's extra precious as the species is dying off from some incurable disease. Dogwoods in southern woods are beloved anyway.

I'm off to figure out what to do with these glorious extra hours I've now got in my day. What would happen if I got up at 5:00 am every day? Shudder at the thought! (Incidentally, this was just an insomnia cause, no alarms, no sickness, just couldn't sleep any more...)

Rain and computers

2011-10-11T13:39:00.000-07:00

So rain meant it got cold last night, and the new cat didn't come home till this morning. I worried about her, but figured someone else must have given her shelter, cause she was warm and dry when she arrived for breakfast. I wonder who my backup caregiver might be.

Then the rain somehow did something to my internet connection this morning. I couldn't get to the net. I didn't have time to do more than reset my modem and routers...a few times...and reboot the computer. No luck. So off I went to my meeting. After shopping, fixing a curly-que handle on a vase, and then getting on the phone, finally the cable people were able to reset their end of the modem, and ah ha, all is well again.

I hate having lost communication. I should have back up phone numbers for all the important people I'm wanting to talk with.

I also hate that I now have 3 organizations wanting to have me send them money, supposedly for past due accounts, but I have only received a letter from one of them. And I don't owe them anywhere near what they are asking for. So I've got to put on my negotiating hat to work things out with these people. They may be getting paid to chase money down, which I don't owe, and don't have in the first place. But they definitely bite into my time and my well being when they insist that I pay them immediately if not sooner. By the time I organize all the pertinent papers, assuming I still have them, and make the calls and mailings necessary, I've given them quite a chunk of my life. I do resent that.

Ahhhh, time to chill out.

About our 20s

2011-10-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

In the Women of Wisdom class last night, we shared our journal writings about our 20s. The decade that meant a lot of growth for me, and changes. Incidentally, we offer confidentiality to each other, so I will only be speaking about my 20s...so I should change the title I guess. But the "plurality" does refer to including you in thinking about OUR 20s.

I wasn't fully mature in any way at 20. By 30 maybe so. I'd had 2 children, a marriage and divorce, and owned 3 homes, and lived and travelled many places. I went from a conservative very religious young person who'd attended a religious school most of my life, to a pretty liberal woman who tried lots of new ideas in the early 1970s.

The time was so very different for a person in her 20s. I find it hard to believe any history books will cover adequately what love-ins were all about, or how a culture with the majority of people under 21 might have behaved. Between the Viet Nam horrors, and the many attempts by young people to assert their rights in various demonstrations, I floated along learning that what I thought and valued could change drastically from what I was raised believing.

The most important thing I carry forward into my elder years, my cronehood...that I can celebrate that youthful vigor and innocence, and be glad that I experienced every little bit...but am so glad to have arrived at today. If I should live another decade or two will be fine. But I am pretty sure there won't be anywhere near the amount of change that I experienced during that decade of my 20s. I am supremely grateful for having lived my youth during a time when youth became so important in our culture.

Now us "baby boomers" (or at least those of us on the cusp of that generation) are arriving at the gates of Assisted Livings and Nursing Homes. We shall change the look of that elder care just as we changed the way a "sit in" is accomplished.

Last week a man heard me sallute the Occupy Wall Street movement as it spread across the country, and he said that he was impressed about how well demonstrations had evolved from the ones in the 60's. Of course there had been strikes and demonstrations for centuries by then. And they will continue. But there is a sense of respect for the individual which is now evident. I am so glad.

Nothing much new

2011-10-09T04:42:00.000-07:00

Isn't it nice that I'm not going to ramble on and on when I have little to say?
I hope so.
Good weather, good TailGate sales, good comradarie at demonstration at Black Mountain Studio yesterday. I'm grateful!
Hope to enjoy Sunday...after a very full Saturday. I could have done more, but I'm pleased to have done as much as I did, and felt comfortable with.
Oops, I'm beginning to ramble. See ya in the funny papers.

Notes and more pictures

2011-10-08T04:37:00.000-07:00

Note to Chad: Thanks for comment!
Yes, Painter is going outside, and asks to come in sometimes...today she came home early and very dirty. She's covered with dust. Kind of grey instead of white. She needs to do the bath thing to herself...so she's working slowly around herself. I keep Muffin in another room some of the time so she doesn't scare Painter. They both are queens, so there's some territorial conflict sometimes. Both calicoes too. But very different in size, and interests. Painter does love being outside, and we've had lovely warm dry weather lately.

Note to Vicki:
thanks for your support of my first editorial posting...I've heard others say they liked it. I felt like I was sticking my neck out, but it's the inequity that so many of us live with, and whenever it can be verbalized, I think someone should. It's the elephant in the country (used to be living room)...and the "Occupy Wall Street" actions are a great way to bring attention to it.

I copied this link from Being Blog...it's so sweet "one year in 40 seconds."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmIFXIXQQ_E&feature=player_embedded

OK, all you folks further north...this is the week it starts here! Whoohoo! Autumn!

Craggy Gardens picnic area

2011-10-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Love these bushy tree berries...what are they?

Yep, the Mountains to the Sea trail goes east (maybe south) from here...

probably towards Mt. Mitchell next. I didn't see where it came into the picnic area...maybe on the other side of the parking lot.

Looking west (other side of parking lot, towards the Smokies)

I didn't see the pretty purple orb while taking the pictures. My friend would say I just didn't focus.

That's I-40 going towards Knoxville to the west...

Coming down from the Gardens on a nice windy road with those red berry bushes overhead.

Two adventuresome lives

2011-10-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

Crystal Lee Sutton, aka Norma Rae

I really don't know much about Steve Jobs who ran Apple, iPhone, Mac etc for so long. But not long enough. I salute the adventures of his life and ideas.

All his wealth didn't do enough to keep him from a death as a fairly young man. His corporation continues to amass millions.

Does this sound like the ongoing demonstrations on Wall Street? Money goes to millionaires, and corporations, but doesn't come to the workers, the poor, the underemployed, the unemployed, the home evicted, those carrying cardboard signs and camping out in the cold and rain. http://starhawksblog.org/ will have some comments about the DC demonstrations. We also are having some here in Asheville, NC, see http://www.blogasheville.com/weekend-protests-on-wall-st-and-downtown-what-is-occupy-asheville-5896

There is a great inequity in our culture. It needs to be addressed and will probably have major changes in our lifestyles soon. I hope so anyway.

Another recent death you may have heard about, but wasn't quite as widely covered in national news, Crystal Lee Sutton. She was a simple woman of strength, but an American icon, a working-class woman who stood up for her rights and unionized her workplace, whose story became the film

Norma Rae.

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/norma-rae-dead-68-after-two-year-stru

She died from cancer after her insurance company delayed giving her treatment.

Somehow I don't think that would have happened to Steve Jobs. Crystal Lee Sutton was 68.

Crystal Lee Sutton was the real name of Norma Rae.

Sumac tells that fall is finally coming to the Blue Ridge...no matter what people may be doing in their lives. Weather changes slowly with the cycles of seasons, the turning of the planets. So do civilizations. The value of each individual life is rich and important to the total universe.

The Blue Ridge Parkway pavement is relatively new, astride the oldest mountains in the US. Yes, the Black Mountains once were the height of the Rockies, and now snuggle into each other, survivors.

We little short-lived people, with our cars, a technological civilization that sent men to the moon, we are but a blink of an eyelash in the eons of time that these mountains are sitting here, seeing the seasons change annually also like a blink.

Up on Craggy Flats

2011-10-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I drove up to check what the leaves looked like on the Blue Ridge Parkway. So far just tinges starting.

But I became intrigued by the ice below the rhododendron fields on Craggy Flats...the ice had fallen off the bushes by noon, having been hoar frost that coated each branch and leaf. I missed seeing it on the bushes, so am going back earlier in the day when I get another chance.

I am so glad to live so close to the sky! What a beautiful bunch of mountains that tumble around me. This is actually looking down towards my home town of Black Mountain, which isn't very visible.

Just one more Pitcher, please!

2011-10-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

This is the Matt Bronze Green glaze outside with Amber sponged over the top. Eggshell on the inside.

I sold this pitcher the first day it was at the Tail Gate market...Yeah me!

Two pitchers with same glaze, the matt finish on the right, with a bit more shine on the left.

Platter or not to platter

2011-10-03T02:00:00.000-07:00

Just a quick shot of a combination of thin eggshell glaze and Mexico. The sponged glaze on top of both is Amber...also thin coat, but it gives a difference in texture.

The closeup shows the pimples that Mexico glaze has most times I use it...so I may try putting another coat of something over it...or jsut leave it like it is. I'm not happy about it though.

Kohl Eyes

2011-10-02T04:30:00.000-07:00

I've never seen such perfect eye-liner!

Praying Mantis, or preying?

2011-10-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

What's going on in the studio?

2011-09-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...I've been all introspective lately.

So here I am, sipping an Americano (single decaf espresso with hot water to make a full size cup of coffee)...and wishing I'd taken some new pictures of the new pitchers and platters. Well, sorry about that. My hands and life have been too full to take care of lots of little details lately. And you don't want to know the condition of my laundry.

I've kind of spent the week working on a coffee pot. Seriously. I threw the body, and then just before trimming it, I set the bat it was on sort of leaning on the wheel head, while trying to make some space for my body and legs and all around the wheel. And pushed against the pedal to move it into position, only to have it flash "ON" and the wheel head spun rapidly...not just a little, I mean FAST.

I grabbed the flying coffee pot, said a word that was repeatable but not exactly legal according to the commandments...and looked to see the damage.

The rim had been altered with several nice deep dents. And the sides were just a bit off round. I decided it was fixable...which meant really cutting off the top and re-throwing the rim. Fortunately I was able to wet it down enough again to do some more work on it. It continued to have a bit of a limp as it turned on the wheel, even when I tried to round it up again. Finally I put it aside, and was glad at least I'd cut it off the bat...though if I hadn't then all the drama wouldn't have happened probably.

I'd already made the lid, so I just remade the rim to fit it, I hoped. Then in the next few days in the studio, I made a high spout, which was to be cut into pieces to make a curved spout that starts at the bottom of the tallish pot. I also made a slab for the handle to be cut from...since I've enjoyed making loop-di-loop handles this way rather than true potter's handles which are "pulled."

Trimmed the original pot by throwing a big chuck of clay which could nest the narrow top of the pot...and I discoverd a thin bottom on it...and still pretty thick walls. Oh well, this was going to be my first coffee pot, and I was determined it would be finished, even if it failed sometime (again). Then a day later cut that spout to pieces and reassembled it, fastening the handle on it, and left it covered to simmer, er, to all become the same level of humidity. Today perhaps I can finish the spout's joints so they are pretty.

Did I mention I made 2 coffee cones? One for a single cup, to be placed right on the rim of a mug. One for the big pot, which is also usable for single cups...but will be part of the big pot system. Yep, this isn't just a serving pot, it's designed to make paper filter drip coffee.

Why did I spend a week doing mainly one pot? Because I never had before, and I wanted to see if it was something I could do. I would be thinking about the next steps when I fell asleep. That was a good thing.

Oh, I did throw several platters too. Just to use some of the time I couldn't work on the coffee pot! And I glazed a couple of things as well. I may focus on one pot for a whole week, but I am aware that there has to be more than one pot in my life! So dear friends who are production potters, sorry about that. I like using the scientific method to discover what is possible...and to take me where I've never been before. Also, and this is very important, I needed one of these.

All hail spirits of...

2011-09-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Calling the spirits of the directions has become a ritual that helps me very much.

What do you do to become centered in your life?

I'm amazed how many times I just dash around without any thought to feeling grounded and centered.

I'm also amazed that this ritual can intimidate anyone else. After all, the indigenous peoples of North America are the source of it...though I admit I do it somewhat differently. I don't usually offer a gift or "sacrifice" of tobacco or grain to the four cardinal directions and the two center ones, earth and sky.

So this is how I make myself stop my mad dash around my life. I usually do it before meditating. I don't do it every day...either center or meditate.

For Rosh Hashana - "Leshana tova tekatev v'techatem" - May you be inscribed for a good year.

I have family and friends who celebrate the old religion of Abraham, the Jewish tradition. I smile and join them in good wishes for their new year...and for having rituals that have been handed down for generations which give them a sense of center/belonging. Being inscribed in the book of life is reported to be an important thing to them...to give their daily lives meaning.

I dearly loved sharing high holy days with Jewish Center residents when I was their activity director for a few years. These were the wise women and men who had been raised in the old ways, the senior citizens who came from Germany, New York, Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary, and many other places around the world. Many of them had suffered persecution for their religious beliefs. Yes, these were survivors. Their stories were not shared easily with "outsiders" even today. I only heard a few of them.

So I may borrow ritual from one culture or another. But I don't have the traditions of generations that I carry forward, for I've decided to let go of the old ways of my upbringing. I am creating new traditions, hopefully. At any rate, the rituals I do practice, give meaning for myself.

Thoughts on care teams

2011-09-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

There was an excellent training program given here in Black Mountain last night, with people coming from Haw Creek as well. Lynn Pace led the program, modelling of how to listen well, give comments which validated everyone, and forming a cohesive group with interest in this way to approach sharing the tasks of caring for each other in times of illness, accident or other needs. Including helping those who are dying.

Apparently a lot of attention was focused upon the needs of the dying, or maybe just answering our own questions about our own experiences with others who were dying. We kept going down the path of discussion about how dying folks present ethical dilemmas, or how caregivers have dealt with some. Then Lynn would bring us back to thinking about how to form teams to give care to anyone who had a need for care from friends/neighbors/acquaintences.

We first listed everything we loved to do for others, from laundry to just listening. It was extensive and lots of talents for sharing were listed.

Then there was an activity of dealing with loss.

I lost it. Well, it was well enough done that each person had a sense of how loss affects them. I was somehow given (by chance or otherwise) the opportunity to see what loosing everything would feel like. And for me it meant losing my life. I don't know any other way to not have health, any roles I'd played, any relationships. So suddenly I was in a room and the only one in the exercise who had died...but something else happened, besides my crying while everyone else was discussing how their losses had felt. I hurt. I didn't want to have lost my life and all the things that I still held dear, or not being able to do the things that I wanted to do.

So it's two weeks after Ramya's death, and I just piggybacked my feelings about her death into this exercise.

This last year was the first time in many years that I let myself get really close to someone I knew was dying...though I'd been friendly with another woman who died last year, I had kept my distance somewhat. I was aware of how much I would benefit from being around Ramya while she went through quite probably her last year of life. It was a beautiful death, and one that really emphasized the connections we have between each other while alive. I didn't meet her until she was facing her second surgery, and having lots of confrontations with the medical community, and not feeling she had much of a support group. So she put energy into making her own support team, and it was a reciprocal process.

My feeling in that room full of friends was, how alone I was. So I spoke up, and asked to have someone notice that I was feeling really hurt and lost. Fortunately I was sitting next to a couple of really compassionate people, who just hugged me all over. And a couple of other friends got up and came across the circle to give me hugs also. Suddenly I wasn't alone anymore. Tears continued, and I recognized this is my grief process for Ramya, not just for me in my "pretend death."

I also noticed several others having difficulty with discussion of dying, but it kept coming back to our attention. Afterwards, some of us decided to have a seminar series to answer some of the nuts and bolts questions, like living wills, powers of attorney, caregiving, dying at home, dealing with remains etc. I will let someone else put together a seminar series (which has been considered for at least a year, but not implemented yet.)

For now, I think I'm supposed to schedule a meeting for our Care Team...to start putting it together in reality. We have enough people who are chronically ill, not to mention some having major treatments. We need to know how to offer them what is needed, and do it with joy and love.

The good news from the training is that I don't feel so overwhelmed any more. I still feel a little burned out about organizing things in care giving, because it means contacting folks so often. I've seen myself as limited in that I don't talk on the phone to everyone daily, like I think some people enjoy doing. I'm ok here on emails, mainly. I don't "text" or "twitter" either. Well, that's what's comfortable for me now...who knows what may happen in the future.

In case you were fortunately at last night's training...thank you so much! It was very good to see so many of our community step forward and say what you want to give to others. I am thrilled by this.

beauty and function

2011-09-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

That's the potter's dilemma...to be able to supply our homes with functional wares which are beautiful. Lately I'm only supplying my own home.

So if nothing is sellling for me, I have to think why. I won't lay all the cause upon economic marketplace reasons. After all, other potters are making sales.

So I go back to my inner cause...that which is the only thing I really have any control over. My own creative process.

Am I creating to sell? Perhaps not. I keep moving away from marketing mentality into "artistic" endeavors.

I could make more of the triple spiral labyrinths, as well as the Chartres Cathedral labyrinths. I could start carving and painting the mountain scenery again on the sides of vases, or on tile forms. I know these are things I can do.

But they aren't necessarily moving me forward into being a better artist.

So the question becomes, do I spend my time, my precious time that is limited in working in clay to only a certain number of hours, in making marketable items, or to stretching myself to do something that makes me feel wonderful, because I am trying to make something wonderful?

Yep, that's where I'm sitting right now.

What do you think?

Pain

2011-09-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

How do people manage it? I know there are drugs...thankfully. That's my early non-medical upbringing talking, having been raised in Christian Science.

But even drugs don't always completely work.

I have envied people who can tolerate pain. I'm a wimp. I hated labor pains for childbirth. Breathe through your own damn pains I'd say!

So when I wake up in pain sometimes, I do various tricks. I try everything I've ever heard of, after taking the drugs as well. Waiting for relief.

What on earth do folks do who have this on a regular basis? May they have peace and relief! I know prayer is good, meditating, mantras, imagining all kind of things, and different exercises, moving into positions that offer some relief, and of course trials of long term changes in lifestyle. When in pain, I would agree to almost anything. Whether I would be able to carry it out, I'm not so sure.

But the only thing I can do now is just go about my life, waiting for it to subside. What do you do to deal with insistent pain, that doesn't really change as I change position?

Mine is currently in my hip. The doctor said it may be sciatic. Sounds scarey, just the word. I do wake up with it in the morning, and it's worse on damp nights. If I keep all the windows closed when it's foggy out, I don't know that it's happened, like this morning. But it generally will eventually subside. That's what I'm grateful for. That I don't have to deal with it constantly. I would really be a ...well, you know. And I think of all the people who have constant pain. Oh dear, how can I possibly complain! Well, I do, cause that's my way of dealing with it. Talk about it.

Thanks for listening!

Equinox

2011-09-24T05:13:00.000-07:00

In a few minutes other women will arrive to work out the final details of our Sun. service to be given tomorrow.

I am feeling ok about it, but don't think I've worked very much on it because of my friend's situations this last week. Memorial Service on Mon, then another person who disappeared with all the concerns over that, and yesterday getting my new kitty. It has not been a normal week. I have one friend who also had to deal with a cold as well...so I'm not complaining, just stating this has not been my normal week!

I was glad to be able to thank one person for "pushing my buttons". It is an opportunity which I generally avoid. But sometimes it's better to absorb that it's happening, and find the gratitude place in it. I think I probably took some pride away, which next time I'll try to avoid. After all, the point is to grow, not to find fault either in myself or the other. Or maybe the point is to build relationships, which I admit to not being particularly good at.

So this is an Equinox with lots of feelings for me. Coming to balance. Day and night have equality of splitting time. They don't exactly have equality of other things. Weather is completely independent...at least this year autumn came whooshing down the mountains a full week before the Equinox. And there's the silliness of the calendar saying the 23rd is Equinox, when it's always been the 21st or 20th, or maybe 22nd. What's going on? I don't have time to look up the scientific explanation. But it sure is screwey.

I'm getting back into my life, making pottery/sculptures, being a cat mother, being a grandmother, and still and always a mother. Now my prayers (yes I do pray) are for my youngest son and his partner to obtain jobs that are fullfilling to their needs.

So glad he's ok

2011-09-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

This is all for my friend's husband. He's had a tough time of it lately and did some things that weren't thought out, but as a response to the things he had no control over. So he is only human.

I have been praying that everything would come out ok. I've been worried about his health, as well as his emotional well-being.

And I'm just his wife's friend. She has been doing everything possible to find him after he walked out...to try to escape the problems, the pain. I know he wouldn't have put her through this if he'd been able to think, but he wasn't.

He wasn't able to say he needed help, but he did. He was desperate. I'm so glad that he finally did get help...medical and pharmaceutical help, and someone professional to talk to. The dispair can be managed...the emotions taken to levels that can be dampened, and then clear thinking can help him make decisions for his life that can bring comfort, and even happiness eventually.

But there will be many small steps for him to take, to move from the place of dispair to a new view of his life. It won't be an overnight "all is well" like fixing a broken bone. Well, the setting of the bone is kind of what's happening first, the stabilization. Then the healing will be gradual, with continual, day-by-day attention on psychological issues. He will need to have the support of that "splint" or "cast" which can keep his emotions stable while the healing takes place. This is as much a medical condition as diabetes...and monitoring is necessary, a check-in with the counselor to assess healing. If there are disturbing thoughts and feelings, they need to be addressed...not hidden or ignored. Not any more. Depression is not something to hide.

I'm so glad G. is alright now. But this kind of alright is just the first of many baby steps. Life has handed him lemons. Not everyone has sugar in their pockets to make lemonade.

The value of this person is as great as any other person, and for this reason alone, he needs support for his healing. Feelings and emotions are so hard (and our culture even promotes this image) for men to express, and to ask for assistance.

I think of all the men (and women) I know who have had to deal with hardships in the last few years. It is causing a lot of the ones I love to have to look at the roles that they think they have, and to re-assess what they are really responsible for. Not the jobs that have become so fickle. Not the mortgages which have been poorly executed. Not the relationships with another person who no longer wants to be in that relationship. Not the diseases that their loved ones may have. And no matter how long these issues confront them, they need to know that they are of value, they are capable, they are loveable.

They are (hopefully) doing the best they can. No, I take that hopefully back. I know they are doing the best they can. But "DOING" is not what gives them value to me, or to themselves even. We are all human beings. BEING. Each of us has incredible high value, is talented, and deserves to receive love.

When I am depressed, I ask for help. We have to. All of us depend upon another at some point, and it's no shame to do that any more than it is to have a broken bone that needs the attention that it deserves, indeed demands. Some people have depression that comes suddenly as a result of circumstances. Some people have recurring depression that comes and goes in their lives, which can creep up on them when they least expect it. Some people have a low level of depression most of the time, but cope with either drugs or support systems that help them live productive lives. The people who have chronic depression know that they need ongoing help, just as a diabetic does.

I'm not talking about being in a blue mood because you didn't get something you wanted. That's disappointment. Depression is serious business. Look in the phone book for a crisis line and talk to the counselors that are trained to deal with this stuff. If you feel there's no help for your feelings, you're wrong, there is.

The verb has it

2011-09-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

My friend went by a Sanscrit name...Ramya. Her friend Jay, has changed that name from a noun into a verb. So we are exploring how "Ramya-ing" is done.

Here is a wonderful poem he shared with us at the memorial celebration Mon. evening. I am not sure the greatl format will come through when I paste it here. The visual effect is part of the beauty of it. I'm so glad he gave me permission to share it here.

"Preface:

Before Ramya died, I was with a dear friend as she passed in a very clinical, medical environment where the beeping of machines showed no mercy. Her passing was just one great domino of several others to fall, in succession, the wrenching apart of an unprepared family. Because of this, Ramya, my “Cosmic Mama” asked for me to come and be with her in the last weeks because she emphatically wanted me to see a different side of transition, something not to fear, but to embrace.

We reveled in conversation about mysticism, just as much as we savored tasty things… ordinary tastes made amazing by the context of her transition.

The teaching she is imparting is that every moment- even the dying moments- are singular, not ordinary, and amazing.

On the night she passed, a thought came to me- she has transitioned from a proper noun to an action word, a verb. Now, having that sense of amazement in ordinary things could be called “Ramya-ing.” Or maybe “Ramya-ing” is about opening your home and heart as a sanctuary for those who don’t otherwise fit in somewhere. Each of us could have a different definition, and will, but more important that defining it, we’ve got to do it. We now walk forward in this world for her, and for her children, also because of her.

This poem was certainly “Ramya-ed” to me today, and as I am unsure of whatever source that possessed my fingers and the keyboard, I can’t take credit for it. But I can say that it’s here because of her.

Blessings, Namaste, Barakah!

jay ل ___ joslin

Poem for Ramya

“OM Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.”

Life

is vast,

shimmering,

as the early morning

ocean, and we toe the foamy

margin, being both here and there,

taking fleeting steps between the worlds.

Humans do not tend towards easy transitions-

In our scurry, we grasp at shreds of time to forestall change

or yearn mournfully for an anticipated moment of sudden renewallittle

else is savored, or becomes amazing, and life in a Universe of eternal flux

is missed, as miles of passing time in well-worn pavement pass beneath our weary feet,

in the struggle of deadlines and lifelines - what delivers us to transition is the sudden realization of it,

(the crashing wave).

It is at the peak moments of our rare and ephemeral dance on Earth that the wisdom of transformation rains down love.

It’s the communion of wizened eyes glancing the edges of life, handing out peace as its fearsome edge is dared.

There is great teaching in teetering upon that edge, peering down the chasm of mystery which begat

our names and comes to claim them- we call this death- yet it is little more than a consequence

of the cosmos embodied as you, Ramya, a singular wave upon an infinite ocean, you, passing

through us as a radiant meteoric messenger of something beyond language, saying

“It’s all transition- it’s all transformation- it’s all flux- that’s all there is.”

The wisdom of transience need not be reserved for the province

of deep, abstract human talk. The wisdom of transience

comes in peach yogurt, an amazing, singular taste

that your tongue may have touched a thousand

times before, but this time, it’s truly amazing.

The wisdom of transience comes in sudden

bursts of laughter and the play of cats

when we are expected to mourn.

It is in the whoosh of bright

colors, when all around

we walk lightly

on sorrowful

ashes.

In these

few moments

so much has already

changed among and around us.

In scales impossible to conceive,

the personal and the planetary move

in metamorphic rhythms, a clockwork drama

that will manifest in joy, in pain, in speechless awe

and in the deep great unknowing that we carry in our bundle

of expectations. There is a voice now distant yet distinct imploring

that we be unburdened by this bundle, spilling the contents and to move

unhindered down the spiraling criss-crossing paths of we temporal sojourners.

This voice is now clear in the sparrow’s song, the canticles of wind through pine forests,

the chorus of autumnal crickets intoning the mantras of emerging stars, she is altogether beyond.

A body moves into time and out of it, and humans gather at appointed places on the hour to bear witness

to yet another waving of the eternal- yet we all wade in the same sea, playing in the shallows, fearful of the depths.

We are of the deep while we make our stand on the shoreline, and from there, the ocean beckons us again.

All of these words, these elegies, and this person, this man, held the hands of two dying women,

these mothers, this daughter, son, these waves crashing twenty three days apart, stunned

and breathless on the shore this man was bent over in questioning the movement of

time, and waves unabated by human grief continued, his own wave out there too.

Sand passing through fingers, names passing through the pages, this is how

we mark the tides of our lives. One of these countless names offered

another way, “Come,” Ramya said, “let me show you something else,

something different from what you carry in your bundle of

expectations, something amazing.” Now, we see the

joy of mangoes, steaming tea, the table of friends,

and know, that even as time transforms,

these are the means by which we

measure awe, wonder, and

the call of life. Every seed

sheds its husk, one day

returning to the soil

which yielded to

roots. We love,

this is how we

return. We

dive in,

and is

this

how

we live.

“OM Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.”

Mugs and bowls

2011-09-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

In the midst of everything else, here are some new pics of my work. If I didn't have some pottery to work on, I'd probably be vege-ing out somehow.
Of course today is turning into a wonderful outdoor day. So there's that too.

The clay makes all the variations in color so much fun.
And putting glazes on then wiping them thinner in spots, so the great clay shows better.
This has become my favorite glaze combo. I've now made demitasse cups in small and large, and there are now 4 mugs that are grande...probably 14 oz. (Well, maybe 12. I can't check because they are all wrapped in the crate in the car, waiting for next week's tailgate market)

I'm asking the universe of all possibilities to help our little group of potters make some sales this weekend. There are some of us using pictures of various saints to help. Whatever can help is more than welcome. Some of our group are students that need help paying bills...well, we all need help paying bills, I'd guess. So while people get their great produce and honey and organic this and that this weekend, I hope they think of how a piece (or more) of pottery would just be the thing to get as well!

I'm going to go work on the triple spiral labyrinth that my friend made 2 days before she died. We worked together to make the path clear. I am just going to infuse the path with some purple paint, which should contrast nicely with the orange tones of bisque clay. That will be placed somewhere among the "remembrances" at the memorial service tonight.

I've decided to skip the pot luck dinner, and just hope I can remember how to sing the 2 songs the Sahara Peace Choir will be singing.

Our community of loving friends and family will be sharing what a blessing this woman has been. It is indeed going to be a celebration of her life.

Celebrations

2011-09-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

OK, here's the deal. It's all just a party.

Last night I worried with my sick cat...who has decided to stop eating after a bout of diarrhea and throwing up more than I thought she could possibly contain. Well, she ate a little around 11 pm, but this morning had no appetite for her favorite food. Didn't even taste it. Hasn't used the litter box all night either.

Somehow tomorrow I will try to get her to the vet.

The somehow has to do with time crunch. Memorial service is at 7, and before that a pot-luck at 5:30 at Linda's to warm up choir to sing the 2 songs...and I have to get things for refreshments for the
"non-reception" after the service. I really plan to be in the memorial service, so somehow have to make the coffee before it starts. A friend is baking some special ginger snaps and I want to meet her to collect them at 4.

Tonight is a class I'm co-facilitating, and I have to get materials together ...and this morning is church and probably choir practice afterward. Before that I need to wash my hairs, do dishes, and usual stuff.

Somehow I want to work on my current clay pieces too. The pitcher which I repaired with vinegar slip yesterday needs to be checked or chucked.

I read my friend's obit...I don't think I've had a close friend who had one before. It's hard to read.

I wonder what's wrong with me that I have not cried very much. Sometimes my emotions get clogged up like this. I'm able to cry for a cat, but not a person. Mainly my mental capacity is really wonked out.

I dearly loved my friend. I miss her terribly. I have her in my dreams, whenever I wake up, and her words pop into my head at the darndest times...waiting in lines is her favorite pop-up time apparently. I feel very much that her spirit is still around us. I remember reading somewhere (Pagan Book of Living and Dying?) that spirits sometimes hang around waiting before they move on. There are a lot of people feeling her hanging around still, laughing, playing and joking with us.

Maybe that's why I don't cry. The tears will come, I know.

My main concern is that I'm not paying much attention to taking care of myself. PAY ATTENTION, Barb! Get off that computer and meditate (that's one I've really found beneficial for me.)

Relaxing in the crush

2011-09-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

So there's some kind of crush happening on time these days...it is utterly impossible that September is already half over. Somehow I'm stuck in a time warp that's streaming ahead of me, and I can't seem to catch up.

So, I'm just going to relax, and take my time doing whatever I comfortably can. This may just be a function of the grief process. Dreams are certainly doing that also.

Today I really didn't think I'd make it to the pot luck at church (with movie to follow). For one thing, there wasn't a thing that I could bring without the time it takes to go shopping and then fix something, unless I brought a bag of chips, which I've learned is kind of a slap in the face to the good cooks I know. So when I thought about feeding myself something out of the freezer, I saw a whole bag of fish. Why not just chop it all up, season it a bit, and throw it into some rice as a casserole of some kind.

So I thawed it, nuked it with lots of interesting flavors...well, they tasted good in my mind, garlic, mustard, soy sauce, paprika, nutmeg. And then I took it over to the church for the dinner. It was fun, lots of new things to eat, a few new people, and we ended up sitting in a circle rather than a long line so everyone could share if they felt like it. I did enjoy that part. I brought home the uneaten fish (just a little bit). I had already seen the good movie, so skipped trying to watch it. I hope the rest of the folks enjoyed it.

And now I plod along, waiting for the laughter to return to my life. I have been watching old TV comedians for just that reason.

Orishas

2011-09-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Being.blog for posting some wonderful Santeria footage from Cuba about Oshun...and a great little synopsis of the dancing gestures.

Oshun's dance

Dancing the Stories of the Orishas

by Nancy Rosenbaum, producer

In Cuban Santeria (also known as La Regla Ocha and La Regla Lucumi), orishas are revered deities who rule over different earthly elements. They are called through dance and drum rituals to interact with humans.

Oshun, for example, is an orisha associated with fresh water. She represents female sensuality and beauty. Oshun’s movement is fluid and coquettish, which is what you’d expect from a goddess of beauty. Her signature color is yellow and she typically carries a fan with her, which she sometimes wields as a weapon. When Oshun laughs, she’s preparing to punish someone. It’s only when she cries that she’s truly happy.

see the rest of this interesting article at:
On Being

Sept. plates

2011-09-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

A casserole dish...much needed in my household for taking to pot-lucks.

But I'll gladly sell it to provide the stuff to put in the next one!

Most potters make test tiles. I hate to waste the time and energy, and never find that the actual glazes come out looking like the test tiles anyway...so I make

Test plates. Here several glazes are applied, to see how things happen when they come together and when they stay separate. This is the one with a chocolate brown center motif.

Raspberry center...

A golden center motif...

And here's the turquoise center playfulness..

Detail of why I call this playfulness..

These plates all stack together wonderfully. I'm such a happy potter! Sometimes the surprises that glazes give me are all it takes.

Ramya pictures part two

2011-09-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

Ramya is checking her "Andy Goldsworthy creation" in Flat Creek, July 29.

What fun she had that afternoon, though we had to go back home for cameras after making our creations in the water...and someone had completely distroyed one of our sculptures. It didn't really dampen our spirits though.

Ramya and Judy having tea ceremony under the trees. (not an original picture, so I don't know the date)

Judy, myself, Josh, enjoying the ceremony created by Chad.

Chad performing the tea ceremony for us. What a wonderful experience!

This small picture is one I saved to remember the fun Ramya had with friends and Mango Broule. I don't know who took pictures this evening that I missed.

Linda prepared this feast for Ramya, Chad, Dhyani, Robin Josephs, and herself, and maybe Sraddha with the camera?

Ramya and Sraddha full of love!

A treasure of a picture to me...Ramya and Rebecca at church.

I don't say goodbye to Ramya, for her energy continues to bless all she touched.

Pictures with Ramya

2011-09-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

I admit, I kept some pictures that came through FaceBook. Hope that is ok, cause I really wanted to have them to remember my friend, Ramya Ruth Gleeson. Feel free to save any of these pictures for your own memories...

Flat Creek, Montreat, NC

We actually had an earlier outing to Hooker Falls, where Ramya was the only one of the three of us to go to the falls, (on ice along the trail) and Linda and I waited for AAA to come help us get the keys out of the locked car, which had been in my back pocket all along. Good thing, cause AAA couldn't open the doors after all. The locksmith was only able to open the trunk, which was where I had locked my purse, only to find out it didn't have the keys in it. We were certainly glad to have our warm coats on.

Another three-some of us drove to Myrtle Beach in Feb, and enjoyed the hospitality and spiritual retreat of The Meher Baba Center (here with a friend we met from NY).

We surely felt blessed.

A meditative walk on the beach with the birds...

...a clip of the ocean with Ramya at the very beginning.

Such a beautiful person, place and time!

Ramya's three feline friends...as she took their pictures. (But the brown shy boy didn't get his picture taken this time.)

The Friend's Meeting House near Celo had a perfect Rhododendron which Ramya visited.

A hot summer day on the river, waiting to hear Sahara Peace Choir concert.

If there's a rock to climb, there goes Ramya to the top!

Cairns built by Ramya in the river (not the entire dam, just the lovely stack in the middle)

We discovered someone else had built cairns at our next stop, in a more rapid current!

Downstream from the rapids, many liked to wade and swim.

Ramya joined Robin and myself wading in lovely cold water!

Loving having her feet wet!

The next set of pictures will be posted tomorrow, a tea party and another stream visit.

Joys and sorrows

2011-09-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

Immersed have I been in the process of one of my friends leaving this life.

So I completely missed that a wonderful young girl was becoming a teenager this morning...her 13th birthday.
Joy for my granddaughter.

Sorrow for the daughter/son/cousins/sister/brother/friends of Ramya as we all adjust our lives to having memories of her wonderful joyful life, and go through the process of rituals to honor her.

Tomorrow I will gather all the photos I have of this dear friend and post them here in one blog in her honor. Today I've got too many details to flow through...as people come to visit her one last time in her home. She is now everywhere, everywhen, a higher vibration (as she chose to depict her passing.)

I'm enjoying a Kirtan in her honor on streaming radio here...
http://birdonthemoon.com/livestream.htm

Jai Ramya!

missing pictures

2011-09-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

When my parents were young (and before I was born!!) Probably from San Antonio, where they met and married. (I just thought, how on earth did Mother get up on that tree limb? In that skirt and heels? Must have been proof that Dad was a man!)

Me, taken when I saw some of my relations in Houston, on my way from St. Louis to Miami...wish now that I'd had some of the cousins and their children too. Yes, women wore hats when we dressed up in the 60s, not just for church. The trip to Houston was so I could catch a Pan Am flight that would end up in Miami. Pan Am was only allowed to fly international flights, so there wasn't any way from St. Louis, or Houston...but from Houston I went to Guatamala, then could get to Miami. In Guatamala I met a girl from Dallas who was also signing up to be a stewardess, and we were roommates during the training program.

Some of the friends in Miami that I haven't stayed in contact with (I'm on the left).

The only picture I could find of me in uniform. That's my sister Mary Beth, on the far left. July 1963.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my two oldest sons...a quiet reflective moment. I need to get it framed, as it's an 8x10. Taken probably in 1969.

If you happen to read this, and are one of my sons who have the color pictures of me in Pan Am uniform, please send me digital copy so I have it in my "collection" for my rogues gallery.
I was so dismayed that all my color pictures of me as a stewardess have disappeared from the album they formerly were kept in. I've gone through pictures and sent each of my 3 sons a smattering, mainly of their own lives. Why would I have given them all my stewardess pictures, I wonder. But they are gone now.

That's why I've included some that are of the other people in my family here...just so they exist where I can see them again if I chose to. Hope you do the same.

10 Rules for everyone!

2011-09-11T08:06:00.000-07:00

Another great site, for anyone to consider, no matter their size!

http://diannesylvan.com/?p=1358

So she starts with saying "10 rules for fat girls." The main point is emphasized in each rule...it doesn't matter what your size may be.

Where did all the judgemental people come from? I remember the Myers-Briggs test had either judgemental or something else, was it perceiving? Anyway, I wasn't that judgemental when I took it, but I think I've become a judge lately.

That's a real confession for me!

And of course it starts with myself. Oh boy.

Acceptance used to be my watchword. Now I have to watch that I say someone else is bigoted. I have always had trouble accepting the intolerance of others. No kidding. I wouldn't watch Archy Bunker on (what was the title of the show?) because he was such a bigot. Of course a decade later on re-runs I finally found the humor in it.

It's 9.11.11 today, ten years later. We all (adults at least) remember that day and how we were glued to TV and radios for the horrible news...for weeks even. I also remember the day Kennedy was shot. That lets you know which generation I belong to. I dare say my parents remembered the end of the war. I just saw pictures later, since I was still a child.

Speaking of pictures. I'm going to set up a camera and try to take digital shots of some old snapshots. It's a bright day, so maybe I can do it without glare. If it doesn't work, I can go use a friend's scanner probably.

It is in honor of the new TV show in a couple of weeks, Pan Am. Yep, I was one. And another friend/relative was as well. What a great setting for another "soap opera" evening show. But with lots of backgrounds around the world, it should be good. Well, for us nostalgia freaks anyway.

Zing

2011-09-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

Thoughts of the day...
Zing, like the bee that came over to the chocolateer from the booth next door. I had to decide whether to get dark chocolate with or without sea salt. I finally decided for purist taste.

Zip for the sunshine and cool breezes...I'm in love with early fall weather...warm and cool and energizing for me when humidity is also low. I want to dance.

Zoop up lots of goodies, tomatoes, a bagel heated and smeared with cream cheese for lunch, some apple butter...and

Zowzer for the maple syrup that was harvested with horses by Amish in Wisconsin, and then canned by a local woman.

Zowie for the figs. Freshly picked, ripe, and such a gift of the goddess!

The tailgate market was so full of joy today. Except for my friends who wanted to sell their pottery. Mmmm, that was a sadness. There was no reason, except maybe there weren't any tourists today, just folks who were buying their own foods for the week.

So next week we will have something different for our display. Don't know what yet, but it's going to have some changes...thanks to my friend and myself who will be the vendors of the day for our little co-op. I actually dreamed that the display setup would have something new and zingy to it.

Zoom, that was me speeding over to the studio to finish trimming my pitcher. I also brought home some of the labyrinth discs that I've been making for the class...to impress the design a bit more, clean the edges up, basically trimming detail work. No, I didn't actually speed, but needed to use that adverb, zoom!

Zzzz, that will be me going to bed tonight and not having the hours of waiting for sleep to come like I did last night, so I slept in till quite late today.

I've got lots of clay work to do...both some wall hangings, and some autumn leaf pendants and buttons...as well as more pitchers that I've enjoyed starting in my specific style. But this season has snuck up on me, and I've got a lot to do.

Wheeee.!!!
PS, I removed the blog that I posted yesterday. If you want to know about my secret illness, I've decided not to post it as a public announcement after all. I live in a conservative community, and somehow I don't think it is ready to discuss these more private aspects of my life. At least I'm not, except with close friends.

links for potter info...

2011-09-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

Community studio in Missoula ...check it out if you haven't yet.

http://www.theclaystudioofmissoula.org/pages/schedule.html

This is one page of the clay studio...where my son is listed as one of the teachers.

I liked hearing about another community studio, similar to the one in which I am active. Not to mention me being proud of my son, Tai Rogers, becoming a Resident in the community studio in Missoula, Montana.

Our BMCA clay studio here in Black Mountain doesn't have "residents" or studio assistants. Just a couple of us who volunteer to monitor the studio during several of the Open Studio times. The time our students can work outside of their class time is just 19 hours a week. Missoula's community studio is open 24/7 for it's students.

But it's pretty clear that the Missoula studio is much bigger than ours...though I am happy to to learn some of the ideas that are on their site.

The other site I'm going to give you a link to is Charles Freeland's, who is our new studio manager. This is his product page, but there's more information on his home page.
http://charlesfreelandpottery.com/ProductPage.aspx

I'm enjoying getting to know Charles gradually, as he fixes things and makes the studio more comfy for use. He also spends a lot of time with his students during open studios. It's like having a private tutor, and they are loving it!

Today I was busy in the studio, and have a pitcher to finish tomorrow. I've started impressions for 8 Triple Spiral Labyrinths. I've also got 3 impressions of the Labyrinth from the Chartres Cathedral. I put handles on 4 mugs, and trimmed 4 cereal bowls. So whenever they are bone dry, they'll go into the kiln room.

The Labyrinths are pressed into clay from a mold I made. The Triple Spirals are for a class that starts this Sun, and they obviously won't be ready in time...but I'm wanting each student to be able to paint their own glaze on theirs. So when they are bisqued, then they will have that opportunity.

I'm happy that tomorrow there will be a couple of hours to be in the studio...since I've volunteered to "monitor" the time. That way I'll be able to continue working on the things I couldn't finish tonight.

Relationships

2011-09-07T00:30:00.000-07:00

First I have steady ones with animals.
With people, not so much (you already knew, don't tell!)

There is only one animal now...and I tend to forget how important her life is. It really is to her, of course. I sometimes don't want to wake up to feed her. I'll fight it. The sleep that results from that fight is going to leave my muscles all stiff, and often I dream during it. But the fight is there.

Today before dawn we got up to pee. Well, I did. I don't usually see when she does, though she is an indoor cat. I just am not following her around like she follows me. She really has taken to being within a few feet of me since I returned from vacation.

Anyway, I tried another 30 minutes of sleep, and she continued to mwww (that's without opening her mouth, so there are no vowel sounds). She hasn't been clawing me to wake me up any more, thank heavens. I tried about half an hour, and gave up. I thought of people who have farms, who are dedicated to their animals' needs, and who diligently (?) but perhaps grumblingly get out of bed in the wee hours to feed them and care for their needs.

After feeding both of us, (I'm not drinking caffiene in my Americano any more) and I did some emailing, then I was still sleepy and decided the grey cool day was ok for a nap. So I finally got the rest of my night's rest. She sat by my head as I woke up an hour later, with another vowelless mwwww, and I said it's bathroom time again.

Boy is my life simple, if you see how my body is the animal, as well as the cat.

A recent facebook posting of my youngest son and his girlfriend playing with butterflies at a wedding (not theirs). I love them!

So I also have been thinking of relationships I have had (the personal up-close kind) and how I'm not in one now. I have stayed clear of deep personal relationship lately...and there must be a reason. Personal, probably.

So while I do some introverted thinking I'll let you do the same. That's some kind of relationship-ing.

Give away

2011-09-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

This birthday I gave away pottery.

I was very fortunate to have lots of family members around to distribute it to.

The main trick was, how to make sure that certain pieces went to certain people.

I did give some choices to them...as well as directly hand some to them.

This one came in handy when a pot of pasta was about to be served, and there wasn't a bowl the right size, so voila, I pulled it out of the crate where it was waiting, and it became the serving bowl it was meant to be.

The pretty platter/plate became a nice serving dish also.

This one was special to me, and I gave it to a special relative...thinking how she is so feminine and this pitcher is dainty as well. The raspberry glaze is really beautiful on it, which only another potter might appreciate.

So I liked giving away some of my better pieces. I probably had a few other ones that I can't find the photos of...

and now I don't have them on shelves or crates in my house anymore. They may remain in the homes of those I gave them to, or they may become many pieces in trash somewhere.

But I've completely let go of them.

You are so welcome!

pitcher and little jars

2011-09-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

Refire glaze of celadon over Mexico

As I posted before, Mexico left a metalic shine sometimes, which wasn't permanent. I even could taste it sometimes, so put another glaze over it and refired a few things. Some worked, some didn't.

There used to be 4 cups to this set, but I'll trade a couple with clay that bubbled and cracked for no longer having a "taste" in my mouth from drinking the Mexico flavor glaze.

Pottery...

2011-09-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

I bet you thought I stopped making any by now!

Reglazed plate looks better!

detail of plate...the white bands are in the raspberry glaze, not reflections

When I got back from rolling along the highways, there were bunches of glazed pots to take pictures of. So here they are! Some are reglazes, and some of those didn't work so well.

A deep dish plate, with about 1" rim depth

Oops, the kitty bowl got a boil. Right under her leg, it's all bubbled up. There were no bubbles evident following either bisque or first glaze firing.

I loved the Mexico glaze on this bowl, with underglaze decorations. But when kitty drank out of it, her tongue started licking off the surface of the Mexico (a kind of metalic shine disappeared). So I decided to put a coat of celadon over the whole thing.

Only trouble was the clay couldn't take it...the bubble goes all the way to the bottom, and the glaze has this awful crack along the bottom as well. Guess I'll be limiting my "reglazing" in the future.

But I do like the combo of Mexico with the celadon...so will probably be doing it some more, on a first glaze firing.

Last of the trip home

2011-09-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Looking up the Hudson as I crossed...

And another view...couldn't get one of the NY skyline looking downstream, not without stopping and there were many incentives not to do that. Mostly 18 wheelers.

I did enjoy the sky, and wanted to keep these post Irene cloud pictures.

I was only able to catch one of these Pennsylvanian abuttments, along the Shenandoa valley. So beautiful.

Another river, and I'm sorry, I don't remember which one. Virginia probably.

This little food and rest stop had the nicest bathroom on my whole trip. I told the lady too!

Herself took over the computer. She is so furry!

Unpacking can be fun

2011-08-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

Right. And I've only one suitcase full of dirty clothes...and one computer case full of different wires to recharge all my toys. But of course they didn't recharge on Sun. when there was no electricity! Fortunately I've lived a week during hurricane aftermaths in Florida without electricity, so was very frugal about use of the battery powered stuff. Unfortunately the computer battery is already kaput so that didn't work at all.

Add one cooler with left over food and drinks. Plus one car floor with all the trash and containers as I ate and drank on the road. That will wait for a few more hours, since the noonday sun is beating down on the car, cooking it all for now.

The overnight bag with the things I carried into the motel is almost all emptied out.

I'm definitely aware how it must have been for my daughter-in-law to unpack the laundry for 5 people, though they may have worn swim wear most of their week at the beach, the week before I visited them.

But today I'm trying to catch up on lots of emails that I've ignored for a week, because I chose to only answer the most critical ones while having intermittent service. That took 2 hours already, and I've got a few left.

I've successfully returned several phone messages, 'cause I don't talk while trying to drive 70-75 mph in with the trucks. Please. I was dodging a few people who were doing just that, their heads leaning into their shoulders obviously for those phones. They didn't stay in their lanes, nor drive the speed of the traffic. It was definitely hazardous.

So I'm thinking of coming back into my own life again. The goal I set for myself is to start finishing the things that are undone.

That's quite a list. I do tend to think of things to do, and even start some of them. And then go on to something that I decide is more important at the time, so the list of unfinished projects is pretty long. Is this a sign of dementia or immaturity? Probably just my personality.

Anyway, I think I'll be pretty busy soon with a life that should have more "leisure" in it than it seems to.

First is grocery shopping. My oh my, the cupboard is bare!

Roughing It

2011-08-29T05:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a full day in a housefull of children without electricity.

My son and his wife have three beautiful girls who are addicted to electronic media...and there was lots of expectation for entertainment. But the screens were all blank!

We sat around, talked, read (I did anyway by sitting close to a window that had good light) worked puzzles, and played at least one game of backgammon. But it was a challenge.

Fortunately there were only a few hours like this, then we were able to get outside and walk around the neighborhood. The storm had obviously passed over. We had other neighbors out cleaning up downed limbs, but not many really big ones.

By dinner time (eating cold snacks for lunch had been like a picnic) we were really wanting something cooked, but had no resources to do so. So after a few calls (ah, cells phones were so precious by then) we found a Dunkin Donuts was open just a few miles away. We all piled in the car and went to see what flooding in the community was like. Roads were all open, and the Farmington River gushed right under the bridge we went across...a surface that was dry, but looked as if a few inches might have made the difference.

We watched to see where people had electricity. Ah, many didn't, and some had generators. Fortunately only one of the signal lights we passed was not working, so the towns seemed pretty orderly. But no food establishments were open. However, a couple of towns away and we were provided with bagel sandwiches (toasted) and hot coffee. Our needs were met!

I have to get on the road today, so now it's time to sign off. I'll be returning home soon. I've missed my friends, and kitty, but have been immersed in the warmth of my son's loving family.

Tonglen and poetry

2011-08-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks for posting this, HecateDemeter, and I'm reposting it because it reminds me how we each help each other through the rough spots.

John O’Donohue’s Blessing For Love in a Time of Conflict:

When the gentleness between you hardens
And you fall out of your belonging with each other,
May the depths you have reached hold you still.
When no true word can be said, or heard,
And you mirror each other in the script of hurt,
When even the silence becomes raw and torn,
May you hear again an echo of your first music.
When the weave of affection starts to unravel
And anger begins to sear the ground between you,
Before this weather of grief invites
The black seed of bitterness to find root,
May your souls come to kiss.
Now is the time for one of you to be gracious,
To allow a kindness beyond thought and hurt,
Reach out with sure hands
To take the chalice of your love,
And carry it carefully through this echoless waste
Until this winter pilgrimage leads you
Towards the gateway of Spring

Anoher thing I want to save here is from Pema Chodron, and it is to remind me not to shield myself from the pain others are experiencing, but to open myself up to heal both them and myself. This is the second thing I needed to learn (relearn?) today.

The Practice of Tonglen

On becoming 69

2011-08-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well, it's time to air the laundry...no secretive trying to look or act someone else's idea of my age.
I'm proud to have made it to 69.

There sure were times I doubted it would happen...and I'll avoid the morose memories.

When others say "happy" birthday, I'm assuming they wish me happiness. And I think of how these wishes would be welcome whenever I'm less than happy...maybe I can bottle them somewhere and have them available on those times when I'm blue. OK, that's one of my own wishes.

Remembering that there's an opportunity sometime tonight to make a wish and blow out candles, I'm thinking of what I'd really like to wish for.

I'm so happy today to feel healthy. Another tenuous state of being...but I'm so grateful when it happens!

I've been close to someone lately who's approaching her death with acceptance and joy. It's been wonderful to be around an enlightened being. Of course she isn't glad to be dying, but has such expectation that everything is part of the joy of experience, that it keeps me centered. We don't talk about death. We talk about the changes in vibrations, the experiencing of every minute, the fun of simple things. I am sorry to not be with her while she needs others to step up and give care. But when I get back from visiting my family, I hope I can do some of the "giving to another" that this means.

And family visit! What an unexpected space of relaxation. Children are old enough now that they don't need "tending to" all the time. And of course now grandmama doesn't want to push them into the unpleasant tasks that parents must do. It is truly a role I love.

These children are going to be 69 some day, I think. And what will their lives have gone through by then? Ah, that's something worth pondering.

Friendships are coming out and wishing me on-line-card happiness. I am surprised somewhat, but enjoying it.

I have a journey still ahead of me, in this lifetime, to be philosophical, and just down the road to return to my home. I'm not really thinking about either of them much yet. Maybe later today! Certainly when I again drive the 800 plus miles home.

Marking the 69th year may not be quite as big as 70 is considered, and as I embark upon that year of my life, I wonder what it will hold for me, and for my loved ones, and a little bit for my friends and acquaintances, and a very little bit for the country and world. I'm feeling rather self centered today.

From others, oh well

2011-08-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed this woman's ceramic sculptures, posted yesterday on Musings in Mud (one of my favorite blogs) Just wish I didn't live so far from Canada...but it is great to see that the net provides a highway to another world for me.

http://www.kathyruttenberg.com/Page2.html

My very favorite poet Mary Oliver has this lovely clipping

http://www.panhala.net/Archive/How_Would_You_Live_Then.html

Thanks Rebecca!

Tea Ceremony

2011-08-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Chad for being the Tea Mistress last weekend at our lovely Tea Ceremony.

I met some new friends, and was honored to be part of a ritual that is centuries old.

Here I am in my tea party best hat...being given Macha tea in a beautiful tea bowl...

Hostess Ramya and new friend Judy...as Ramya enjoys the taste of her tea.

I also took this off Face Book, as well as the other pictures above. Just a few things to remind me...keep doing this!