Pots, pots and more pots

Here are a few pics of some of our work over the last year:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing Hooky?

I have, unintentionally, taken a short hiatus. Time just slipped passively by while I was focused on other things:

along with keeping up my monthly column, I have been working on two sci-fi short stories; I’m compiling notes and writing out lengthy overviews for a novel and a memoir (which is very much a long-term project); and I finally finished the essay I was writing about trying to take care of dad and mom during the summer of ‘09 and submitted it to The Sun Magazine;

we found a new series of glazes we’re very excited about and are experimenting with; we’ve had a few orders from Joyce and Delia in our old patterns;

and we’ve worked a few days for Ursula.

We’ve also been finalizing plans for fencing the creekside meadow so we can raise a small flock of sheep and goats later this summer or next spring; we’ll have to tear out the old chicken coop to move the fenceline.

Ben is working on expanding and closing in the lean-to beside the chicken coops where we used to house our rabbits to create a garden shed.

And Ben has been planting seeds and transplanting the seedlings for our garden crops. The sun room/greenhouse is still too cold at night, though, so we have to bring the little seedlings in every night after the sun goes down.

But the most exciting part is that Ben has been mapping out an early Autumn camping vacation in Canada. We just got our tax refunds (since we’re working for Ursula during the summers we’re actually getting money back from the government instead of always paying it out at tax time) so we’ll save that for our vacation. This will be the second actual vacation we’ve taken since we moved to Montana in ‘92, so we’re pretty psyched.

 

Seed-starters with seedlings ready to transplant

 

Transplants out in the greenhouse

 

Initial glaze experiments

 

Stacks of glaze samples in handy containers

 

Freshly painted ware waiting to be glaze fired

 

Plates from the set of dishes we’re finally making for ourselves

Return to Winter–Again

 

We woke this morning to four or five inches of snow. It was a beautiful morning, looking foggy with the heavily falling snow. We had to scrape snow from the cat feeding perch and out of the chicken yard so there wouldn’t be so much mud while the snow melts over the next couple of days or so. We hauled in extra firewood, too, though it’s still warm enough that it wasn’t necessary. Ben drove the car out to the end of our driveway before the snow begins to melt, so we won’t have to drive in the worst of the sticky mud and mess up our newly graveled road.

If it sounds like I’m complaining, I’m not; I love the snow and I really appreciate all the extra moisture. We should have a good spring and summer for wildflowers, pasture grass and good tree growth. With more snow in the mountains we’ll have fewer wildfires, too. Life is very different here than in the city, but considering all the problems going on in the rest of the world and the benefits of this minor bit of extra work, Ben and I are pretty happy men and we feel very lucky. And the change of scenery when the weather changes is always a nice, extra benefit. Variety, as my grandmother used to say, is the spice of life.

 

Last weekend we went to Porcupine Cabin in the upper Shields  Valley. It was a beautiful spot way up on the mountain. During the winter the only way up there is on snowshoes or skis and supplies have to be backpacked or sledded in. But it was such a wonderful spot I felt like I could live there year round. When I’m really old I might have different thoughts about it, but it wouldn’t be that much different than our situation now and the spectacular view would make up for the little bit of harder lifestyle it would be.

We were joined by Rob and Tom, Jacki and Don,  and Lori and her WOOFer volunteer, Caitlin. It was a real party. We had loads of fun skiing, snowshoeing, sledding and cooking on the wood stove.

 

The morning sun on the Bridger Mountains, our view across the valley from the yard of the cabin.

 

 

Ben riding the sled on our way out.