Snowblower - R.I.P.

We got a real blizzard today. Not just the typical over-reported panic inducing few flurries that we usually get, but a cold, blustery snow storm that hit fast and hard. At 6:30am it was calm. There had been a light snowfall overnight and the trees looked pretty. By 7:15 the wind had picked up to 60km/h, snow was falling and being driven into drifts a foot deep. We couldn't see to the end of the drive. But we are hardy Canadian folk, and the other one went off to work, crossing three exposed dykes in white out conditions while I took the truck to get the MVI as planned.
It is a strange human phenomenon that if you are faced with treacherous driving, you automatically turn on the radio to listen to the road report/school closure announcements just to make sure it really is as bad as it seems. It was.
It pretty much kept up all day, and when the other one got home from work, he couldn't get the car up the drive because there was a 3 foot high snowdrift running down the middle of it. Dutifully he started up the snowblower. The snowblower is old, and cranky. It stalls repeatedly and needs gentle coaxing with the throttle to keep it running. Anytime I have tried to use it I make it half way down the drive, it stalls and I end up lugging it back uphill to the garage, or just leaving it there to rot until the other one gets home.
There is a division of labour in this house that is drawn along gender lines and snowblowing is definitely on his side of that line.
He did manage to remove most of the drift impeding the car before the machine conked out. At first he thought it was gunk in the fuel line. Once that was removed he discovered a different problem; the drive wasn't driving. The wheels would go round, but they didn't have enough umph to propel the machine forward. He took it all apart and found that squirrels had made a nest inside it. He also found that the bits that drive it* were so worn they were unrepairable. We knew this day would come, but like the grasshoppers we are, we hoped it wouldn't be during the one true blizzard of winter. Tomorrow we need to call the snowplow guy and hope he can fit us into his schedule before Monday.

*I don't pretend to know what they all are, I just nodded and smiled while he talked: it's better that way.

I've Got the Power

Well, actually I don't.
For the second time, our electrician cancelled our power upgrade, and for the second time the power company came anyway. Instead of new power, they straightened the pole at the end of the drive. I'm a little concerned that it was only the leaning pole protecting my mailbox from the snowplow. I'll have to wait and see on that.
We are in a thaw right now, it was +12 here yesterday, which is ideal for digging a trench to the garage for the new cable to power a bigger kiln. By the time we actually get the power upgrade (rescheduled again for next Wednesday, 3 times the charm do you think?) I'm sure it will be -10 again and several feet of snow.
We better get it soon, the pots are piling up.

Nature Girl Takes a Walk

We got a bit of new fallen snow on Wednesday, so I took the camera when Willow and I went for our afternoon walk on Thursday to document what fresh tracks we could see. We saw mouse tracks.
And more mouse tracks.
And Willow tracks.
Not to be confused with coyote tracks. We saw lots of those. These side by side tracks were the first sign that we had more than one though. There have been a couple media reports about coyote attacks recently, so we carry a large stick on our walks and I never let Willow get too far away. I'm not sure if this is for my protection or hers.
We also saw pheasant tracks.
And a pretty nice view.

More Birthday Loot

I was so excited about the Muppets and the gingerbread that I forgot I bought myself a present last November. Today at lunch I poured my first cup of tea into this mug by Ghita Levin. It looks like a soft slab constructed pot, but it has no seam. She told me she used dowels of increasing diameters to roll a donut of clay from the inside. The glaze and clay texture makes me think of fish scale leather. Which is nicer than it sounds. The mug has finger and thumb divots that make it very comfortable to hold.

Happy Birthday to Me

My sweetie is making me a cake as I type. Gingerbread. MMMMMM
With whipped cream. MMMMMMM

When anyone asks I tell them I'm 39, the same age as my mother. I've been using that line for a few years now.

I saw a T-shirt last weekend that said:

Looks 30
Acts 20
Feels Like 60
I must be 40

For my younger friends who reach that milestone this year, I'll be sending that along presently.

And, I got this. Anyone of a certain age in Canada should recognize the Muppet Frog Prince, which Jim Henson produced for the CBC in the early 70's (or maybe late 60's). It is tough to find because they haven't re-issued it since the early 90's. This pre-loved copy came from my friend Susann, who always knows what I really want.

Finding my Voice

I've been working on finding my style, my voice, a 'look' to my pots that could be considered a line maybe, perhaps. Sort of. The idea is that I should try to do something similar in shape and decoration style, over and over, to get good at it. My problem is that I see so much that I want to try, that I try everything so I get no practice at anything.


These are some recent attempt at a style. I think I like them, but I need to continue with different sizes, these are all candy bowl sized. I should try mugs like this and larger bowls too. And figure out a way to make a plate or platter with the same feel. Just typing this helps me think these things through better, and also helps me feel less in a rut. The one above has a ladybug on the sprig. The one below is a local geographic landmark, Cape Blomidon.


This is my favourite mug, which gave me the idea to try the sprigging. I don't know who the potter is, I bought it in the Whithorn Dig gift shop in Scotland. I used to have 4, now sadly I'm down to two.


These are some candlesticks I tried. The big idea was that they would be Christmas presents, that was until I realized I was unable to make two the same shape and size. Definitely need to practice that one more.

New Year's House Reno

Today we were scheduled to get the power upgrade from 100 to 200 amp service. But yesterday we got a message from our electrician's wife saying it had been postponed for two weeks. Professor Boy went to work at the University as usual this morning, and I was beginning to think about what I should be doing in the studio. I looked out the front window and there were two cars in the drive of our front neighbour, which for a Wednesday is not unusual as the land lord of that rental house usually comes by on Wednesdays to make a nuisance of himself. I continued to putter around when the dog started to bark. So I looked out the window again and there was a NS Power boom truck in the drive and a man climbing up a ladder outside my living room window. "Oh," I thought, "I'll go put some clothes on then."


Once I was dressed I wandered out to find out how this mix up happened. The foreman said he had a work order to do this, and I explained that my electrician wouldn't be coming. He called the electrician while I called Professor Boy. We all decided they would do what they could, and then come back in two weeks to finish off the job of switching the power to the new service. So, in -7 degree weather, three linesmen changed out the old power cable for a newer, bigger one, while two safety flagmen sat in their cars sipping coffee. I guess it is standard procedure to have flagmen with this sort of call, but as our drive is 100 feet long, they weren't needed to direct traffic until the very end of a two hour job when the linesmen were restringing the cable and connecting it to the main line along the road. Please forgive my gender biased language. If there had been any women on the crew I might have used linesperson or flagperson, but all these guys were guys. My power was off for about an hour and a half, but I didn't miss it, it was sunny today I didn't need lights and I have a battery powered radio for just such emergencies. I divided my time between making sprigs for some bowls and taking pictures of the Men Working. When the power was reconnected, I trimmed the bowls on the wheel, which is electric, and put the sprigs on. Sprigs are decorative medalions or other shapes that get added to pots, I like the style and thought it would be an easy way to tart up some bowls, but they are harder to make than they look, and I suck at this.
While the power was off I found myself thinking two things. First I wondered how all the potters whose blogs I follow are doing with the cold weather. Many are in England and Scotland and others are in the southern U.S., and they are not used to the winter weather and snow that has been happening in those places lately. Some blogs have posted about freezing their clay and breaking their pug mill, others simply haven't been able to get to their studios at all. I am rather lucky that we are prepared for cold ice and snow and my biggest problem with this weather is that the wood stove dries my pots faster that I can get back to trim them. My other thoughts were what it must have been like to work in a pottery before electricity was used. Not all the that long ago really, I have an old kick wheel in the barn, and many potters fire clay with wood and gas.

New Year's Lists

New Year is an artificial time when everyone tried to renew themselves with resolutions. I don't make resolutions but I find I make lists of things I should be doing, in hopes I will be better at getting those things done. I have a tendency to let things slide. I also seem to think better at night than in the morning, because it is usually just before bedtime that I remember what I had decided to accomplish that day, only to realize I had only 30 minutes left to do it all before bed. But the next morning, those items go right out of my head and I continue to accomplish nothing. So night time is for lists, and then my memory is there on paper in front of me, spurring me on to get those things done.
January 4 was New Year this year. It was the first Monday after the New Year, and so became the back to school, back to work norm for all. This is the list I made on Monday, only 4 days ago. In only 24 hours this was the long list of TO DO's for me to try and accomplish soon. Some are small, like water proof my new winter boots. But if I didn't write it down, it wouldn't get done, and then my new winter boots would look like hell by February. Most items should be done by the end of the first week or two, certainly they should be done before the end of the month. Two of these things, the sewing machine and the fix jewelry items, have been on the list for years. The problem with lists is that they get longer and can go on for ever so there is a finite amount of time that the momentum can be maintained before the system fall apart and I go back to accomplishing nothing. As you can see from the crossed off items, I have made a start. (yay me) But since taking this picture, I have added two more items to the list. (Woe is me)

It is important to note that this list does not include any of the regular To Do items that I have to accomplish all the time. There is no laundry, groceries, meal prep, dishes, house work, renovation work, school work, work work or pottery on this list. This is the list of stuff that needs doing outside all the normal daily stuff. It is no wonder the system falls apart by the third week of January.

On another topic, it occurs to me that New New Cat has aquired apermanent name, Fleur, which was not on the previous list of possible monikers. For those of you wondering how she and Willow are getting along I submit this:
Willow and Fleur in their favourite spots by the fire. Willow in the prime spot that Atticus vacated, and Fleur on the dog blanket. To prove that I didn't just snap the photo while she was stretching, I submit the others from various angles. I doesn't look comfortable, but it must have been because she stayed that way for a long time.

Such a Great Christmas I Forgot to Blog

Merry Little Christmas. Tonight, on 12th Night, we will take down the tree. This seems a little late to people who decorate in November, but we put the tree up on the 24th, so it is not all that long.
This is the tree before the carnage of opening gifts. I like the picture because it shows off the corner of silver vapour barrier and strapping so well. Notice the paintings hanging on the strapping. When we finally get dry wall I will miss this look. I may have to paint the walls silver with brown horizontal stripes.
We survived the holidays. In fact we had a rather good one this year. The other one's parents visited from Victoria, and I took to heart what my M-I-L said on the phone before they arrived "Don't do anything special..." So I did the bare minimum, ie. cleaned the toilet, vacuumed the pet hair and thought about meals in advance. That is stellar housekeeping for me. Normally we would have travelled to my parents for a few days over the holiday, but we decided beforehand that an extra four plus dog and cat would be a strain on my mother's house so we only went for one day, sans cat. This was the first meeting of the four parents. Some people have expressed surprise that in 15 years of co-habitation our parents have never met. I guess this is unusual. But not really because his parents live 6000 km away and my parents don't travel any farther than a day trip.
One of the things that made this a good holiday was that I got a big surprise! Think about it, when was the last time you were truly surprised at Christmas? I cannot remember the last time. I'm sure I was under 10. Often I already know what I'm getting. Often I've picked it out to ensure that I like it. Little surprises are common. The type that makes you pleased someone thought about a gift that was perfect for you. A big surprise means that there is planning and subterfuge and it leaves you speechless for several minutes. Which is what happened to me on Christmas morning.
I got this.
Which was a complete surprise. It's a new-to-me pottery wheel. It was a complete surprise because I already had a wheel, which worked OK, but was a little slow, and a little small and it shuddered a little making it hard to throw tall things. In our over zealous kijiji adventures last spring we acquired 4 wheels in various states of repair. I really didn't need a wheel, which is what made the new fast, quiet, big, smooth running one so great. It's like having a Pinto and getting Porche.
The hardest thing was that I had to leave it for a whole day and go visit my parents before I got to try it out. But I did try it out on Boxing Day.
This is me and the First Pot with my F-I-L looking on. I offered to teach him to throw, but he declined getting dirty. (That's my favourite part) We reorganized the studio space so I had more shelf space for storing works in progress, and I have been working at finding my style ever since. More on that in another post.