8-31-19

Greenhouse reunion! We made Chicken Florence for everyone.

Teensie in the sunlight.

8-30-19

These are Sakura's glasses. I found them at Mom's house by the bed. They are cute and I wish I'd found a pair like this! Unfortunately, i have to mail them to her! 

8-29-19

I went to the eye doctor today and got a new prescription. These are the glasses I picked out. But the technician repaired my old glasses for free! I just don't know how I feel about these big things. But they may make driving easier.

8-28-19

More school visits. I got to see lots of my former students now teaching in area schools, which is always really fun!

8-25-19

We went for a long walk today around the pond behind the medical school, and to see the new performing arts center.

I worked on a new style of sugar dish.

8-24-19

Saturday. I finished these socks! And M is coming to pick up his order of dishes today!

8-23-19

Program coordinators meeting and then school visit out in O, so I got to visit the studio and pick up these gems.

8-22-19

Walked the stairs today. Very hard. I'm out of shape in a serious way!

8-21-19

Visited schools today...

Got these amazing mugs back and put them on Instagram and they sold right away!

8-20-19

I taught again today. But you can tell where my mind is.

8-19-19

At work, I snapped this photo. You know those captcha images? I wonder if they look at pictures like this to determine my name on a diploma.

8-18-19

What do you notice about this Miro print and the chicken I made for my mom? They really compliment each other!

8-17-19

I made these today. Also went to work and made myself stay and work. This year I'd like to work at work and play at home.

8-15-19

Big college meeting today. Lunch, lots of introductions by the dean. A presentation of our new building progress. I gave this mug to a staff member in the department who really liked it. She's such a good and kind person. I love using pottery to make people happy.

8-14-19

My last day of summer. I spent it at the pottery studio, where else. I'm worried about the school year and wish I had my summer lasting forever. Dreading tomorrow!

8-13-19

I dreamed these two designs up. A mug with the breast cancer ribbon as a handle, and a folded up soap holder!

8-12-19

Yesterday I was just plain exhausted. Today I went to the university studio to pick up some pottery and then went to the Opelika studio. I got these adorable finger puppets back that Fossie made!

8-10-19

We flew home today.

But first, we visited a National Historical Park, Fort Vancouver, in Washington state.

There we saw a couple of anvils in a blacksmith's shop, so I took photos for Squirt, who likes anvils! 

8-9-19

Today we left our cabin and took a ferry to Bainbridge Island from Seattle. There, we had lunch (crepes) and I visited a yarn shop. The drive off the island down to Portland was very long because of traffic. We spent the night in a nice hotel (it was great!) and prepared to fly out the next day.

8-8-19

We were determined to see the Cascades National Park since we were so close, so we drove as close as we could and hiked in, dropped a geo marker, then checked the map when we got back to the car. Yep! we made it into the park.

8-7-19

We drove up to Bellingham, WA with Jes and rented this cabin for a couple of nights. We took Jes to see her friend from high school and we had dinner with her and her husband and their two adorable daughters. We ate at a Beer Garden in Bellingham.

I had a hard time sleeping because the hot water heater made a noise- a very high pitched noise. You would think that in a cabin in the woods I wouldn't have trouble sleeping... but then there are these electronic things!

8-6-19

The crew came back from backpacking today and i was so glad to have them back. We went out to dinner.  The first restaurant we went to had a great garden (see picture above of me and Jes) but it didn't have a table for us, so we went to a different restaurant which was pretty good. Jes was giving dating advice to Willy and Squirt, and the waitress enjoyed the conversation.

Afterwards we drove out to the spit and took some pictures looking back towards the town of Port Angeles.

This one below is looking away from the town towards Canada.

8-4-19

I finished these today after the crew left again for another backpacking trip. After they left, and after I took pictures of these socks I got sad. I ate a bunch of doughnuts and watched two episodes of The Handmaid's Tale and looked at Instagram and Pinterest a lot... pining for clay, thinking of all the things I want to make and the studio I want to have one day.

I used to dream of the luxury of being alone in a cabin. Now I have that luxury and I want to be home. I have books to read, the Internet, yarn, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and a creek and a swing outside.... and a car and places to go if I want.... but being alone gets old. Being alone gets old. It's nice in small chunks but not bigger ones. Especially when there is no clay. It's amazing how much I do NOT want to work, to do anything related to my JOB, the one I get paid to do. I'm possessed by clay and being away from it is hard. I bet my mom feels this way about cooking.

8-3-19

Today I finished a business card design for my pottery business and ordered 100 of them from the company, Canva.

I also reviewed an article and finished my syllabus and Canvas course assignments.

Then I went berry picking and then went to the store and made a blackberry/thimbleberry crumble for the returning backpackers, and also made them dinner.

It was SO nice to have them back in the house.

8-2-19

I didn't leave the cabin today. I designed a business card for my pottery business using Canva (I think it looks great!), I worked on my Canvas course module and syllabus for Methods class, and designed and ordered a book for my mom. What else..... Hmmm..... I knit and listened to podcasts!!!

8-1-19

Malabrigo yarn... my favorite.

Making socks... my jam.

Today the crew left on their backpacking trip. I was determined to overcome my fears and get out of the house. So, I drove Squirt's car into town and parked and went to the yarn shop and bought some yarn... and had a nice conversation with a couple of women there. Then went to an art gallery where I met a potter that I'd been conversing with. Next week she's going to show me her studio. We talked for a long time and I bought one of her mugs.

Feeling victorious over my anxieties, I came back to the cabin in the woods and made a big tall glass of iced decaf, listened to The Potter's Cast, and knit. 

Things I want to do while I'm alone in the woods...

1. Get my class ready for fall

2. Write my sabbatical proposal

3. Review that article

4. Design a pottery business card

5. Pick blackberries and make a cobbler for when the crew comes back

6. Design Mom's book

7. Drink decaf lattes, listen to podcasts, and knit

8. Not be scared

7-31-19

 Today we left Olympia, Washington and drove to Port Angeles where we found our new home for the week. On the way we picked up DaveBon and Tonester and Willy, and after we arrived, Jes and Squirt showed up! On the peninsula where Olympic National Park is, we are where the orange dot is below. The house is in a town, but it's as if I'm in the middle of nowhere because it's a house in the woods with a creek on a dead-end road. Really off the beaten path. I burned pizzas for dinner for the crew as they packed up their gear for their hiking trip with begins tomorrow.

7-30-19

Today we left Astoria and visited the Lewis and Clark National Park. Big trees! It's where a reconstruction of the camp they built to get through the last winter of the expedition.

Then we headed for the state capital of Washington, Olympia. We visited the capitol building then went to dinner at a brewery.

Tomorrow we meet up with the family— my brothers in law, and nephew, and Jes and Squirt.