Enough naval gazing. On with the list.
Just before my first craft show I attended an awesome workshop put on by the Nova Scotia Potter's Guild. They had Joan Bruneau of Nova Terra Cotta Pottery in Lunenburg do a 1 day workshop on how she alters and decorates her pots. I love the idea of altering thrown pots, but when ever I try it my pots just look lumpy and sad. Now I understand that when she alters her pots, she has a plan before she starts. Go figure. Lots of other potters were there including some potters that I didn't think needed to see any workshop, namely Ray Mackie from Lucky Rabbit Pottery, and Jim Smith from Chester. Yes, I'm name dropping. Going to a workshop like this is like watching the Brier on TV. You can see how it is done, you understand the process and you get really jazzed up to try it; and then you plunge into the depths of dispair when you realize that knowing and doing are different. I just don't have those skills yet.
Speaking of the Brier, October came and that means curling season again. You would think that after 7 months of professional gardening (not to mention the unprofessional hours put in at home); months spent bending and stretching and lifting and shovelling and pushing and carrying and raking, that the little matter of sliding around on ice and doing a bit of sweeping would be no problem. It is not like I spent the summer drinking beer (well yes OK I did that too.) I am a pretty active person. But apparently for all the muscle groups I use in the summer, gardening and swimming and well, drinking beer, I did not use the muscle groups required to slide out of the hack 16 times and sweep 48 rocks in two hours. My work colleagues got some amusement watching me groan about the first week. For some reason, climbing in and out of a truck seem to be the worst, and I only do that about 50 thousand time a day. Life was complete madness on those overlapping weeks when I was starting to curl twice a week, preparing for and going to craft shows and still working. Happily I stopped work and now all is fine.
The parks department finished work last Friday, one day before my second craft fair. I sold the same number of pots as the first show: three, but as Peter wasn't with me to buy things and lunch was catered, I came out $19 ahead. Whoo Hoo! I am, however still learning who buys pottery. I can tell you that women with small children DO NOT buy pottery, because they cannot justify spending money on a beautiful object that will get broken when Walmart sell those object in plastic or metal for less. This is as good a reason for not having children as I have ever heard.
That show was also in the middle of a terrible rain storm that went on for 5 days, flooding south west Nova Scotia and washing out roads and bridges in many communities. It was not a hurricane although the winds on Friday were higher than during those so called hurricanes we had this year. We were untouched, but I was constantly amazed at how full the rivers were last weekend. Our Habitant River, normally a ditch with barely a trickle of water, was 25 feet wide and probably as deep. Even in the spring melt I have never seen it so high.
This was also the weekend my dear parent- in-laws came for a visit. They had been attending a reunion in Fredericton at the University of New Brunswick and popped over here before heading back to British Columbia. At this time of year, we could have easily been under snow or at least experiencing freezing weather, so 5 days of rain is not so bad. Except the wind and rain cancelled all flights into the airport and they were delayed 24 hours before they arrived. Had they known, they could have driven the distance in a mere 6 hours. It was dismal and gloomy for their visit throughout, I don't think they miss this coast at all.
My next hurtle is the 3 day craft fair at the end of this week. Since the parent-in-laws left I am potting full time, in a crazy push to get things through the entire process so I have some fresh new things for the show.
Typically perhaps, the full time push has meant that my pots are drying much more quickly as I am leaving them uncovered to hurry them along. Consequently my pots are developing stress cracks in the bottoms. I had to recycle two vases yesterday and one chip and dip plate today. I suspect a large bowl and a small casserole will be next. At this rate I may have nothing at all to fire which will certainly free up some time. It's frustrating because stress cracks are not usually a problem for me, but I've been going through a phase and some of my bowls came out of the last glaze kiln with cracks too. I have had to bag up the remaining pots to prevent them drying too fast and therefore I have nothing to do, so today, instead of pottery I mowed up the leaves on the driveway and watched a movie. It was like a forced day off. The forced slow down may mean nothing gets finished before the weekend.
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