Throwing Again

Tonight was my last night in an eight week pottery class I've been taking. And since after about six weeks I couldn't imagine not going to pottery class on Monday nights, I already signed up for the next session. Its been four years since I've been at a wheel, and I didn't realize how much I missed it. I really enjoy it. Really really enjoy it, more than any other thing I've studied or learned or tried. The whole process just makes me happy.

This past session, the focus was on Raku firing. Raku is a form of Japanese pottery in which you fire a glazed piece and then remove it from the kiln while its still glowing hot. Using the original Japanese technique, you'd take the piece out of the kiln and put it directly into water. We used the 'Western Technique', the main difference being that you put the glowing hot piece of pottery into some kind of combustible material to create a 'reduction chamber' around it. Its a lot to explain with words so I'll just show pictures.

First. Put your glazed stuff in the kiln and fire it up. Raku firings are usually around 1450 to 1800 degrees Farenheit.















After about an hour (by comparison, stoneware firings usually last about 16 hours), open up the kiln, but don't look at it! The first picture was taken only a few seconds before the second.












Take stuff out, put it in a pile of sawdust. Wait a few seconds for the sawdust to ignite, and then sprinkle more sawdust on top.










































Then cover it all up with the 'Reduction Chamber' (trash can) and wait for about 10 minutes. Then put all the pottery into buckets of water. After a few minutes, you can pick them up and see what you have.

The glazes themselves are special Raku glazes. Originally, lead-based glazes were used. Today thats not the case, but because of other reasons, Raku fired pieces are not food safe. A good thing to know when choosing which pieces to fire. The glazes are a lot of fun, and usually (but not always) do one of two things: be metallic or be crackly. They are always (not usually) a surprise.

Some crackly (surprise! pink!):











Some metallic (surprise! blue!):













The surprise:













I don't know what happened on the left side of that bowl. Its a surprise. Maybe there was too much oxygen, I don't know. One of the Rules of Raku is to never fire something you love because if it survives the thermal shock and isn't dropped, who knows what the glaze will end up looking like.

Oh, I also made a little votive holder. Its a metallic surprise glaze, but when in use, you can't see it anyway.












And in addition to all this fun Raku stuff, I also brought home a big batch of regular stoneware tonight. But I'm pretty sure I'm over my length and picture limit, so I'll save it for another time.

Claire's Doll House

Another project I'm marking down as finished. The inside has yet to be decorated or painted, but for all intents and purposes, this doll house is finished. It was quite a project, so it feels good to say that. I really wish I had a picture of the 'before' because it came completely unassembled in hundreds and hundreds of pieces down to the individual shingles for the roof and unassembled windows and porch railings.











Jim and Teresa bought it for Claire, and assembled the body of the house when they were visiting earlier this summer. After they left, I finished up the gluing (not a nail was used in the whole construction), stained the roof, and last night I finished painting the exterior. Even on a doll house a fresh coat of paint makes all the difference.


























I enjoyed picking out possible color combinations with Colorsmart at Behr.com. I think I had about five possibilities that I showed Claire, but once she saw there was a purple option she didn't consider anything else. And then last night as I did the final touch-ups, she sat back and said, "This is exactly what I wanted!"

another storage makeover

Up until last night, Claire's dresser was a $10 garage sale find that I let her paint when we moved in last year to keep her busy. It wasn't a very attractive to look at, and I finally got sick of it. Last night we painted it white and purple, naturally, (Claire helped again, she's improved her technique since the last attempt) and added some new drawer pulls that I found while browsing around Company C with Teresa last summer. I wasn't sure what I would ever use them for, but at $.25 a piece, they were the only thing I could afford in the entire store, and they were cool. Just like the paintings in the kitchen, these 'big blue diamond jewels' have finally found their place.

Storage Solution

I was standing in the kitchen the other day, and I realized that when we moved in, we just put stuff where ever it fit, intending to move it to a better place when we had the time. So its a year later, and stuff is right were we originally put it. It works, of course. The things that need outlets are by outlets and so on, but its just not as efficient as it could be. One of the problems is that there isn't a ton of counter space, and thats what I chose to focus on when I started my Super Sweet Kitchen Storage Solution. I've finished Stage One: Above the Stove. Before, it was a blank wall above an ugly stove:














And right in the center was this little door that opens to reveal an exhaust fan since there is no hood overhead. We've used it exactly once when I opened the door saying "Huh. I wonder if this thing works. Oh look, it does". So I didn't hesitate to put stuff in front of it. Stuff like three stainless steel utensil canisters, to hold utensils, of course. I rigged them up on an aluminum pole I found at Home Depot (Claire and I were at Home Depot a few days ago when it started down pouring. We wandered around while I considered different, less ideal options for this part of the plan, and stumbled on this pole, which was exactly what I wanted, and for just $3. I had no idea such a thing was even made). Then I added a narrow silver shelf above it to hold the stuff I use most often when cooking, stuff that was taking up counter space. And finally, I hung paintings of sage, bay leaves, and basil. I painted these months ago and they have been sitting in a box in the closet. I think this is the spot they were waiting for.

So, Stage One is finished. Everything is perfectly on-hand.

































The second part of my plan will have to wait until my dad comes to visit in a few weeks since it involves wiring new outlets. I can't wait.

Rhode Island

This past weekend we went to Rhode Island so Mike could participate in a tennis tournament. We had a really good time. Mike played well, and it was fun to watch him in an organized sport again. Maine's most popular sports seem to be alternative sports. Its not so easy to go watch Mike ride his road bike, so tennis was nice. We were also able to check out the Providence Children's Museum and the EcoTarium. They both were lots of fun for all three of us (the EcoTarium had a fantastic planetarium show), and it was a great way to break up the weekend, especially for Claire. I think it was much easier for her to sit through a tennis match when she knew we were going to a children's museum afterwards.











































Gotta love "The Big Lady". Sometimes, children's museums a strange item or two hidden in a corner.

Bread. Bread bread bread.

Yesterday Claire and I made four loaves of zucchini bread. I was really glad to be able to use up some of the zucchinis, but in the end, I still have a long way to go if I want to keep up with how many I'm getting out of the garden. I also need to check a little more thoroughly when I'm out picking them. I've been trying to not let them get over a foot long, but obviously those two huge ones snuck by me, probably more than once. Thats a whole lotta zucchini.










I'll probably plant fewer zucchini plants next year, and more beans and peas in their place. I could crunch on fresh beans all day. And yesterday I picked the first handful of sugar snap peas, and they were fantastic. Better than fantastic, really. I definitely wish I had more of those in the garden. I have really enjoyed the whole garden experience this summer (obviously).

But anyway. Today I found out what happens if you leave post-its out on the table....





































...an hour (maybe more) of quiet entertainment. Which is definitely worth the $.72 they cost.

Sunset

I've been meaning to post a picture of an amazing sunset Claire and I were lucky enough to see on Ferry Beach a few nights ago. I can't remember ever seeing a sunset as beautiful as this one was. The actual setting of the sun was not much, but after it sunk below the horizon, the sky completely filled with color, and was reflected in the water around all the sandbars and boats. It started out just slightly orange, but as we watched, it became darker and more intense until it was unbelievably red, and then finally purple before all the color and light faded completely. The colors were so saturated our skin, clothes, even the sand looked red in the light. I took pictures, of course, but not many. It was definitely something to sit and enjoy fully rather than through a camera's viewfinder.
































I also used this sunset as an opportunity to try out my camera's 'photo stitch' capabilities to produce a panoramic photo. It worked great, but now that I have it I have no idea where to print it. My usuals (snapfish and shutterfly) don't offer panoramic prints. Any ideas how I can print it?

'Frankly Scallop, I don't give a clam'.

This past weekend we went to the Yarmouth Clam Festival. It was just about exactly what Milwaukee's IrishFest would be if it were held in Maine. Where IrishFest would have music stages, ClamFest had art tents as far as you could see. Where IrishFest would have beer and brats, ClamFest had lobster and, of course, clams. Simple enough. We enjoyed a bag of steamers and wandered around a bit before we moved on to the next activity,








Which was spending the evening with some friends who happen to have a neighbor that begs people to come and use their (really nice) in-ground pool.




























And after swimming, we grilled our dinner and settled in for a nice game of Euchre. I've learned how to play so many times now, I really should be catching on. But so much time passes in between one time and the next, that I basically start over every time I sit down to play. Honestly, I was surprised to find people who know how to play the game here in Maine. I had never heard of it until I met Mike, and figured it was something unique to the UP. Needless to say Mike and I lost, and I think he is pretty serious about giving me Euchre lessons so it doesn't happen again.

And, our garden continues to grow veggies. This is four zucchinis, a cucumber and one of about three handfuls of beans I picked yesterday. The plants seem to have veggies in all different stages, so it looks like we'll have a pretty continuous supply. Its really amazing.















Anybody have a great zucchini recipe for something other than bread? If not, who wants a loaf?

Ceiling Fan Issues

Back when Jim and Teresa were visiting, we tried to put a new ceiling fan in the kitchen. What we thought would be a quick job turned into a half-day project which was ultimately abandoned. Until yesterday, we had just a few wires sticking out of the ceiling. But Mike and I were able to finally get the fan installed (and working!) with very little problem. I think the first time around we were in too much of a hurry to get on to other projects to really take the time to figure it out.














We have also continued to stuff ourselves with fresh veggies out of the garden. I don't have any pictures, so you'll just have to believe me when I say the tomato and zucchini plants have really taken over and are not even close to being contained by their planting boxes anymore. The watermelon plant heard me talking about its lack of growth, and has since spread out over the lawn just like the tomatoes. The bean plants have been producing enough that we have fresh beans with just about every meal, even breakfast. We got our first broccoli and cauliflower snacks as well. When I planted everything this spring, I figured we'd get a few beans, maybe a zucchini. I didn't expect it to be incredibly successful, just because I don't really know what I'm doing. I never imagined we'd have this much success.

With Pictures!

Another project crossed off the list: the basement stairs. We proved once a gain that a coat of paint makes all the difference. The white walls were all scuffed up from hauling stuff up and down, and the stairs really needed a fresh coat. Really the pictures don't even do it justice. In short, it looks great (before and after, if it wasn't obvious):
















Tuesday, we decided to take a quick camping trip with Claire, just to test her out and see how much work we have to do if we wanted to go camping with her regularly. Turns out not much. She did great sleeping in the tent, even when it was bedtime for her, but Mike and I sat out by the fire for a while longer. A fire that was fantastic. Its been really wet lately, and though it didn't rain Tuesday, the woods was still damp. We couldn't even find leaves that were dry enough to catch fire. But Mike was patient enough to start a fire that was hot enough that the coals were still smoking in the morning.












And then, when we got home we realized we had a cucumber ready for picking. Definitely the best cucumber I've ever tasted!

Green Thumb?

This year was the first time we've planted a garden. We've never really had the space, and though I wanted to plant something last year, I didn't have the time since we moved in during the prime planting days. The previous owners of our house, however, had built great planting boxes which were filled with strawberries. We were excited when they started ripening. We picked one barely red and bitter strawberry, and then over night they all disappeared, enjoyed I'm sure by the beetles.

I'm doing everything I can to prevent that this year. We have zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, watermelon, and various herbs, all doing very well. The zucchini and tomatoes have kind of taken over. They are high enough you can't even see the rest of the stuff behind them. I have a feeling that if anything, we'll be eating lots of zucchini bread this fall. And so will everyone we know.


















Its going much better than I expected, actually. I was excited when they started flowering, and even more excited when I started seeing tiny little veggies. I'll really be happy the day I need a cucumber and can go out in the backyard and pick one. The watermelon is the only one that hasn't flowered. It sprouted quickly, but seems to have slowed way down. Mike's money is on us NOT getting a melon from the plant, but I think we might. I'm not really sure what to expect yet.










And I love this little tiny broccoli. Its taken a lot of willpower since I discovered it to not eat it. Its perfectly bite-sized right now. Claire's pansies are doing great as well.

What a break (term used loosly)!

Well then. I believe that this might be the first time I've sat down for more than 10 minutes in a week. I went to Wisconsin and spent some time with the Halbergs and some time camping with my family. We had a great time, especially Claire. She loved the camping. My parents have a camper permanently set up at a campground in Door County. Our days were full of catching butterflies, sitting in the hammock and feeding the fish. There was even another cousin named Clare there, who (my) Claire called 'Other Claire', as in "Excuse me, Other Claire, will you play with me..." Very cute. So here are some pictures of that:


























And before I got back to Maine, Jim and Teresa had already arrived for a week of working. Much like last year, I believe Jim had a hammer and screw driver in his carry on and started fixing things before he even set foot inside the house. I thought they had the house looking fantastic when I got home, all power washed and sparkling with new doors, but that was nothing compared to how it looked when they left. Fantastic. Everyone worked very hard, and it shows. I only have one set of before and after pictures right now, but I'm sure there will be more to come. I think the kitchen is my favorite part. I really wish I had a before picture of the light fixture. It was just about the ugliest florescent fixture you can imagine...that didn't work.

Before, with Confused Mike and a stove older than me:













After, with the trimmed doors, new knobs and new stove:













Lights! And the wonderful new storm door in the background.










Now that everyone is gone, and Mike is back to work, the productivity will slow way down. But it has been a really great week, and it feels good to have made some huge improvements. Thanks Jim and Teresa!

Fathers Day Ideas. Feel free to borrow any of them.

I asked Claire what should we do for dad for Father's Day today. Here are some of her answers:

I know! We could finish my doll house!
Wait wait wait. I remember. We can buy him a hiking pack! (Well, now that sound like a planted idea, doesn't it, Mike?)
We could get him a donut! And one for me too!
We could hide from him when he comes home and then jump out and say 'suprise!!'
We could wash all the dishes for him.
We could give him a new eraser and pencil.
We could get him a new computer!
We could make him a picture!

I think we'll do that last one. And probably do the dishes for him as well. I'm going to be doing them anyway, I might as well claim it as a gift, right?

The Golden Key...and More

by: Claire Halberg, who has been talking since she woke up this morning.

A long long time a go, a big blowing storm blew the Golden Key all the way to the Golden Hotel. And a big basket caught it. And then the key and basket blew into the Golden Hotel, and sailed into 1-1-10. Thats the door that we were in. All the owners said "Where is the Golden Key?" They lost it in the Golden Hotel. And then an owner with yellow shoes came to get the key from room 1110. Do you know who it was? It was Claire. I'm the owner of this key. Its for the Golden Hotel. Not the Red Hotel. Not the Blue Hotel. Not the Green Hotel. Not the Yellow Hotel and not the Gray Hotel. Only the Golden Hotel. The owner has all different kinds of keys. They keep all the keys that they have found. And the Golden Key is special because it opens any door in the whole Golden Hotel...

So then I make sure I have room in my suitcase for the Golden Key. I'm taking a vacation to Milwaukee to see all different kinds of things. I'm coming back in eight days. I'm going on a blue plane, and you are going on a red plane. I tied a rope to your plane so you can follow my direction. Everyone has to buckle their seat belts. I have a special button that buckles our seat belts. Now our belts are buckled, and every one else is buckled too. Now we are there! Now we are ready for the bus. We have to go on one plane and two buses to get to Milwaukee, and now we are going on the bus. Its tricky, so follow my bus. Its going to go East, West, and then North. Here. I'm going to show you a map. It shows everywhere we will go, and a big line for the bus. The big brown dot is the bus station. The blue dot is Milwaukee. We have to go through the big dark cave. But there is a big short cut. We'll take the big short cut...

Now we are on the black dot. Thats the subway train. The subway train will take us to the big Children's Museum that has the Big Mouth. Do you know what that is? I'll tell you. The Betty Brinn Children's Museum! It has a Big Mouth!











It has drums and a big TV you can watch different things on. And a big sand table. Oh boy! I'm hungry! We did lots of things at this children's museum, and now its lunch time. Lets go to Subway! I get a sandwich with olives and lettuce and tomato sauce and cheese and tomatoes. And juice. You get a salad with tomato sauce mixed in. And lettuce and cheese and some olives and some strawberries mixed in. You can have some water. There you go, there is your salad. Wait!! First you have to pay for it.....

Two Weeks of Jack

I was really surprised when I looked at the calendar and saw that we've only had him for two weeks. It seems like much longer. He's no longer the timid pup that I first described. He doesn't spend time voluntarily in his kennel anymore, and he is really making progress with learning commands. So far he does really well with 'sit' and we've moved onto 'stay' which is coming along nicely. Next is 'come'. Right now he only does that when he feels like it. Usually what he feels like doing is playing, and Claire is always ready for some tug-of-war.

Happy Birthday (yesterday) Mike!

Since Mike was camping this past weekend, Claire and I took the opportunity to finish up the office as much as we could to surprise him for his birthday. He came home a day early due to the rain, but we rushed and in the end, we were successful. I still have to move two lamps into the office, but they are currently being used. They will have to wait until we can find some replacements. The whole process of finishing the office had kind of a domino effect. A table that I was using in our bedroom was moved to the office, but it had to have a replacement in the bedroom. So I spray painted some shelves that Mike's dad and I built and used them as a replacement, but then the items that used to be on those shelves needed a place. You get the idea. Doing one room spread into three others. Anyway, here are some pictures of what we did. Nothing very drastic, just moving the components around a bit, and also adding things to the walls. Its pretty surprising that we have lived here for a year and there are still walls that are entirely empty. But that is no longer the case in the office!




























As far as room decor goes, Mike is all about theme. So the theme I picked was 'Places We've Been'. It was really fun to choose the pictures. We've really been to some cool places and have some pretty amazing pictures that have done nothing but sit on my hard drive. It was really satisfying to get them up in a place where we can look at and enjoy them every day.

Then we had macaroni and cheese (the request was that I find a copycat recipe for Boston Market's cheesy macaroni, so I did. Its very cheesy, to say the least) with cornbread and angel food cake with fresh fruit for dessert. I think Claire enjoyed Mike's birthday as much or more than he did. Every day she pretends it is someone's birthday. Usually its Uncle Jim or Uncle Dave, but yesterday was the real thing and since she's had so much practice, she definitely knew what to do. I think Mike was served pretend birthday cake (complete with singing of Happy Birthday) 6 or 7 different times. It was definitely a fun day for all of us.

New York City

We just got back from an unexpected trip to New York. Actually, Mike knew he was going, he was attending a conference. But the people he planned to go with canceled at the last minute, so Claire and I went along instead. It was a great opportunity and really it couldn't have worked out better. We ended up having a fantastic time. We stayed at the Sofitel right off 5th Avenue. It was about 1.5 blocks from Times Square, where Claire and I spent most of our time while Mike was at his conference.















The one night we had there, we used very well. After Mike was finished for the day, we walked to Central Park and FAO Schwartz. Along the way we saw Rockefeller Center, Saint Patricks Cathedral, Trump Tower and the NBA store.


































Then we walked to the Empire State Building. We obviously went during a non-peak time, because we didn't have to wait. But it was obvious from the large areas with the mazes of ropes that we were lucky. We bought the audio tour, and it was well worth it. It was fun to be there and look out at all the buildings, but knowing what you were looking at really turned it from 'pretty neat' to 'favorite part of the trip'. On the way back to the hotel we picked up some Subway sandwiches and ate them in Bryant Park while the Yankees game was shown on a huge screen (Mike quickly removed his Sox hat and hid it in a bag). It was just like a drive in movie. Then we went to Times Square to see the lights at night, went back to our room, and crashed.















































The next day Claire and I spent most of our time in Bryant Park waiting for Mike, and then we started driving home. I've only driven through Connecticut four times, but three of those times the entire state was one big traffic jam. The only time we went through without a problem was on the way to New York this trip, and that was because it was the middle of the night. It took us 10 hours to get home last night. Twice what it took us to get there because we spent five hours in traffic in Connecticut. Its a pretty state from what I've seen, and we sure did get to spend some time looking at it while we were parked on the freeway.

Its good to be home. Mike left today for a camping trip at Baxter State Park. I'm sure he will have a great time hiking. Hopefully the weather holds out for him. Its suppose to be rainy. And hopefully, Claire and I can get some stuff done thats been on our To Do List for far too long.