summer porch suppers

 Made what I'm calling 'kaleslaw' with the abundance of kale that's growing in the garden.  It was a hit, so I'll probably be making it again.  

And I don't take that many photos these days... Dean likes to tease me about blogging every time I set the table nicely for friends to come over.  Phoey on him, I say. 

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I moved into the new studio this week and am starting to get settled! Feels like a luxury with 40 extra sq. feet AND a space for storage!!  And the light from the window has been glorious.  Lots of studio friends from upstairs just pop their head in the window now to say hello- been thinking I should have  get the boys to run a popsicle or lemonade stand out there.  Anyways, thank you to those who have patiently been waiting on orders- I should be settled in and glazing work by next week. 

Have a great weekend!

Inspiration was needed

It's soggy outside.  Cold, wet, gray and dark.  It's no wonder I need a little colour and pattern injection in my life!  I've been a little slow on the blog front, partly because this light is so horrible to take photos in, and partly because life is just humming along with nothing too new to report (lots in the works though!) Nonetheless here's the latest:

+On a recent excursion on Commercial I popped by the vintage shop to admire all the ceramics.

+At home the boys are knee deep in class projects, math tests and snowboarding.  Naturally all of this takes some effort so we've been busy.  Who knew kids could be this much work?!?

+Our 'new' to us arborite table and chairs passed on from Dean's brother and wife this past weekend.  Dean helped them move and we got first dibs- not too shabby!  It looks rediculously cute in our yellow vintage kitchen.  Now if I could only move that light switch so I could hang artwork properly...

+At the studio I started on my first glaze firing for the new year!  I'd love to be filling it with new designs and all sorts of fun, but I'm going to have to settle on a finishing up a bunch of orders to start off with. 

That's pretty much it.  All the really exciting stuff is still in the works and can't quite be let out of the bag yet.  

First signs...

I know that signs of Spring in January can be misleading.  But it does warm my heart to see the first blooms this past weekend around the neighbourhood as I was taking the boys for a walk on Sunday.  A little sun, some signs of buds and shoots coming out of the ground was oh so good for the soul.  And then the rain and dark came back with a bang, reminding me that, no, winter is not quite finished here yet. 
The next couple of weeks are a little busy in the 'life' department.  Dean is away for about 4-5 days, the boys have a day off school, I'm having lunch with a new friend, hoping to catch up with an 'old' friend (you know, the kind you've known for 20 years +), and having a 'good-bye' coffee with a crafter/ blogger who is moving to the other side of the world! I may even be able to squeeze in a visit with my sister and parents while I'm at it.  Mixed in with my glaze firing this week, things might be a little slim pickin's around here.   I will be up-dating my online shops by the end of the week, though, in case you might be interested in purchasing something for that special someone in your life in time for Valentines Day. 

Mid Thirties.

Well, my 35th birthday has come and gone and I'm slowly absorbing the thought that I'm officially in my mid- thirties.  I realize it's not so bad, but I keep asking myself 'where did the last 5 years go?'.  And if this is an indicator of how fast the time flies, in 5 years I'll be turning 40 and my older son will be entering his teens, turning 13.  CRAZY!  Let's slow down here... time doesn't have to move that fast, my kids don't have to grow up that quickly and can't we add an extra hour or two on a day so I can finally get it all done so I can really enjoy my summer???
So there you have it, photos of me, innocently at age 4 and last year at age 34, somehow wanting to hold all those years in between in my memory long enough to slow the world down, if even for just a second.   

(If I'm a little slow on the blogging front this week, please bear with me... I have 3 kiln-loads of work going in and out of the studio this week so that I can take some holidays with my kids in the month of August.  The boys are being lovingly cared for at Grandma/Grandpa 'camp' so I can plow through the work...it's amazing how much I end up missing them when they are gone despite all the extra studio time I get in...)

Drawing on foggy windows

...when things don't go as planned.

That was last week.  There have been some strange things going on with our kilns/breaker system and it's been causing some stress at the studio.  The new kiln was supposed to help out with the demand for kiln time, unfortunately, the coils weren't the right ones for the wiring in our building.  On Saturday we had a meeting about the kiln room- moving the breaker so the switch doesn't turn off mid-firing/getting the coils fixed, etc, and hopefully it will be resolved this week.  In the meantime, I won't be able to ship out a large wholesale order that I had planned on this past week.  Bummer...

Today it was a home day with sniffly boys and me feeling tired after a weekend show.  I've been at the studio really late some nights trying to get it all done.  I'll put our boys to bed then head out for a late shift at the studio (1-2am) and still get up at 8 am to get them ready for school, then head back to the studio while Sasha is at Kindergarten, then back home to pick up/play with/make supper/tend to family.  There's been a lot of juggling going on just to get the work done, so it was disappointing to try to fire on 3 separate occasions with 2 different kilns and still not have the work finished.

With all the crazy time I've been putting in lately I decided I might need some studio help sooner than later, especially over the summer as the kids are out of school.  I put the word out there hoping that an  Emily Carr student might want a bit of a mentorship/studio job 1-2 days a week. And it has been great to have a response from a couple of people. I have a really great feeling about one person in particular and am kind of excited about having 2 extra hands around the studio, along with passing along some of my own knowledge, experience and skills to someone I have a good feeling about.  Hopefully it's the start of something really good for me and for her too.

Slow and Steady

You know the old story of the Turtle and the Hare with the line 'Slow and steady wins the race'?  I've often identified with the Turtle for most of my life.  I always felt like kind of a late bloomer in some respects.  Like I was on a path to somewhere, and slowly and steadily plodding my way there with intent and purpose.  Much of my work has been along this path- no real quick short-cuts to making it or selling it, just slowly plodding it's course, waiting for the ideas to finally bloom.  Nothing happens suddenly or overnight, and not everything I make turns out right the first time, but it is on a course and a path that is hopeful of that end.  I'm trying to be content in that place, that slow and steady place.  Sometimes I want it to all happen faster and I look for ways to short-cut my way there.  This week I was reminded that slow and steady is really better here (under the question about what advice you would give).  Wise words and good reminders... 
I've got a busy week ahead with Dean out of town for 4 days and spring break coming up soon.  Next week we are heading off to Vancouver Island to visit friends and hopefully my new baby niece or nephew.  I'm so looking forward to posting the big news soon!

Close up frost

A couple of close-up photos of frosty leaves and winter stems make for lovely abstract photos. 
I'm fighting a bit of a cold while trying not to stress about the impending Olympics and orders that need to be in the shops before February 1st and the city shuts down to any traffic. Somehow the Olympics have crept up on me rather quick even though we've known about it for a number of years.

Vespa Transformation!

If you ask both Dean and I about the Vespa, it will soon become apparent that it is a hot topic, a point of contention. You see, the scooter is supposed to be our 2nd vehicle for 6 months of the year. But sadly, it sits by the side of the house, looking pretty, not working. Because scooters, you see, need a whole lot of tinkering with. They need a keen mechanical person to constantly be fixing it up. And that, my friends, is why this chair is a brilliant idea!