This is my favorite shot from the move from North Carolina to New York.

The girls actually handled the move way better than I had expected and they had a great time. They would sleep through much of the driving and then be up and ready to play when we stopped. They even did pretty well in the motel rooms and relaxed without much issue.

Zoe on the other hand was a druggy moron, which isn't too far from her usual state as stupid neurotic cat. Her antics almost got her left behind twice because she disappeared and we couldn't find her.

When we left Cary, it was around 80 degrees and the girls were well overdue to be shaved. However, when we got to New York it was in the 30's and 40's most days with some really cold winds. By the time it warmed up enough to get them shaved, overdue was an understatement.

This is Skye the day before she got shaved:

...and this is her right after:

The groomer couldn't believe she found a little puppy under all that hair. Shelby & Skye both feel great now and love going on walks. As this is a nice small town, there are lots of places to walk safely. There are also paths along the Salmon River.

The girls love to stomp around in the water before continuing on in our walk through town.

Pulaski is a small, quiet town at least most of the year until fishing season starts (but that will be a post for the fall). There is pretty much no crime and everyone has been great. We even have a town pet, her name is Bella.

No, this picture wasn't taken at the zoo, it was about 20 feet from where I park. Bella is the un-official town pet of the town of Pulaski. Some people love her, some hate her (usually because she has eaten something they planted). But Bella is so used to people its quite hard to spook her, even if you are trying to. She seems to think she's a dog and will often times wander down the street following someone who is walking a dog. I have come home numerous times to see her laying down across the street or eating grass in my neighbors yard. When I took this picture I was talking to her and she walked right up to the fence to check me out.

We are in a real house now, with a basement and multiple bedrooms and a fenced-in back yard. The landlord is great and has let us do alot of small things to improve the house. I repainted the dining room, I like the color much better than the washed out yellow it used to be.

Dad built a railing and gate on the back porch so the girls can run straight out to the back yard. I hit it with a couple coats of white and you would never think it was added later.. it completely looks like it belongs as part of the house.

My landlord also had the contractor install an outlet in the basement for my kiln, so I actually have a full studio down there that won't impede on any other rooms like in the old house.

All in all I'm very happy to be back up north. I will miss my friends in NC but this is where I am supposed to be right now and I'm happy everything has worked out so well thus far. I can't wait to see what's next.

We've come a long way...

So, its a new year, new job, new home, new life. On March 20th Mom & Dad and the girls and I left Cary, NC headed for upstate New York. On April 2nd I found a house to rent in Pulaski, NY. I'm now a Technical Service Manager so instead of working in a management center supporting hundreds of customers, I'm working from home supporting 1 very large customer. I have adopted a new soldier through Soldier's Angels... its a girl! The girls have gotten bathed and shaved so they are no longer hairy beasts. I've already had a number of opportunities to do things with my family and its great. The weather is warming up slowly and hopefully the rain will stop soon.

Mom & I have pieces on display at the Salmon River Fine Arts Center in their spring community show and we are looking at many opportunities in the coming months. My clay studio in the basement is about finished so I can finally start working on that stuff again.

Quite a few boxes remain in the house but I'm working through them as I can. Here's to lots of new beginnings...

Wow...

So its 2011, and yea I'm a slacker. I never posted once in 2010 and *poof* its gone.

Alot happened in 2010... I didn't enter the state fair like I had intended because I had foot surgery and was out of commission for a while... that sucked but it was for the best.

I got to be home with my family for Easter & Thanksgiving and went to my brothers for his end of season breakfast for the 1st time ever. His syrup is the absolute best.. if you've never had the real thing.. you are so missing out.

I adopted a number of soldiers who I am proud to say are all now safely home. Once my life calms down, I will pick that up again.

Christmas in July at the VFW was a great experience and for a 1st time event, it went very well.

I'm no longer the MWAN guru now... that torch has been passed on.

Now I'm looking to the future and for a change... decisions have been made, plans have been put into motion. I know what I will do, its just a matter of figuring out the how. I already know the why.

Soon... I will be home.

State fair...

The state fair comes to a close tonight and I'm a bit happy for that. The nightly 10pm fireworks haven't gone over too well with Skye. We can't see them from here but we can definitely hear them. Tomorrow I head in to pick up my piece... and my ribbon!

I won two 3rd place ribbons this year!

One was for this pottery piece (thanks to Susanne's hubby for the pic)


Susanne also took home a 2nd for her Iggy hedgehog and a 3rd for her figurine set.. woohoo!


My other 3rd place ribbon was for these chocolate crinkle cookies.


Everything in those cases looks so appetizing but I don't envy the ladies who run those areas... tomorrow they get to unload cases of cakes, cookies, bread and candy that have been sitting in there under the lights for a week and a half.. ick! Its too bad they don't have a climate controlled kind of display set up... that's a lot of food that could go to people who need it.

Its that time of year again...

Well, the summer is over and its starting to cool off.. time to think about getting started on Christmas stuff and finishing entries for the state fair. I've been trying out some new pieces and finally have my fair entry finished. This year I will be entering 1 piece in the handmade pottery/ceramics category and my grandmother's cookies in the baking category.


This is my handmade piece, the plate measures about 10 inches across, the outside of the plate is hand carved as well as the underside and the middle is full of melted glass.



You can see from the close-up, the glass has a solid surface but underneath there are lots of hairline cracks, making for a very cool effect.



I don't have a picture of the cookies because I gave them away right after they were finished but I will get a picture of them next time I make a batch.


This is another recent piece, it started off as a long triangular shaped tube and I manipulated it, cut holes out and then raku fired it.



It needed something more so I used some reclaimed jewelry from Dorcas to decorate it.



This piece now belongs to Kim who runs the Curl Up & Dye Salon in Cary. She runs an awesome Aveda salon and has a great collection of unusual art all over. If you need a new stylist or are just looking a change you should check her out. Here is the link to her website.


This dish was done as a free form piece with random textures from all kinds of things.




These pillow dishes came from using up some leftover extruded cylinders. A clay extruder in its simplest form is basically like a large metal wall mounted play dough machine. You insert the shaped die that you want in the base of it, cram a bunch of clay in the chute and turn the wheel to push out your shapes. To make these dishes I smooshed the cylinders, sealed the ends with some stamps and cut holes in the top of them.




I took another fused glass class recently and I'm trying to get a head start on Christmas this year since I failed miserably last year. One of Mom's presents was cooling off in the kiln when they arrived last year so instead of opening her present, she opened the kiln for it... so... this year I'm looking to do better than that. :)

Spring Daze 2009

This yea Susanne and I were in the 2009 Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival at Bond Park in Cary, NC. It was my 1st really big show and really went well.


The full spread of pics are on my flickr account (see upper right corner) but I figured I'd explain it a little here.




The Friday night before the Festival we packed everything up in the truck, my stuff, her stuff, tables, shelves and tent and went to set up in our designated spot.



We really lucked out and got a spot with lots of grass area backed up to the woods.




We met our neighbors Friday night.. on one side people selling funky belts and other fun stuff and on the other a lady doing henna tattoos.




Saturday morning we arrived early, checked in and started setting up.




This pieces actually sold to the kettle corn lady while we were still setting up. It's a 1 foot square platter and was something new I'd tried. That made a great start to the day.




Jess came out to spend the day with us, she was a huge help with organizing things aesthetically and packing things people bought.



Here's some pics of my pieces....









At the end of the day, we packed it all back up, and headed out.