I hardly ever get out of Seagrove. Once a week or so I head to nearby Asheboro for groceries or Lowe’s, but that doesn’t really count as “getting out”. Yesterday I drove a friend to a doctors appointment in Greensboro. Greensboro is the big city, when you live in Seagrove! When his appointment was over, he was feeling well enough for lunch. We went to an Egyptian restaurant on W. Wendover Ave., “Chef Samir”. It’s a tiny place in a strip mall, and when you walk in it’s like stepping into another world. I knew from the scent of spices in the air, that the food was going to be wonderful. I had the chicken shawarma on pita bread, and it was excellent. I plan to go back soon so that Jeff can experience the flavors.

While I was out and about in the big city, Jeff was at home framing the last wall that needs to be replaced in the new gallery. The sun was finally shining and it was a good day for working outside. Another milestone we reached was setting up our photo shoot area in the office. I hadn’t taken any new photos in months and my Etsy shop was hurting for it. It’s great to have a room to take photos that isn’t in the middle of our living space. Let’s face it, it isn’t a pretty set up. The room still has a lot of boxes piled up, once everything is settled I’ll get some photos of the set up.

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If you have the power, please do it!

The rain has put us behind in construction. Yesterday, despite the drizzle, Jeff went out and worked on the drainage system that he is installing in front of the new gallery space. We were getting water in one corner. To divert it, Jeff cut the asphalt out, dug a trench, and installed a drainage pipe with a grate at the door. Yesterday I helped him install the flashing before he set the drain. This week we hope to have our lawn guy deliver crushed stone to fill in the pipe.
This morning we have a steady rain. I went out to check the gallery and it seems the pipe is doing it’s job. It was good to have a test before it gets filled in, but the test is complete and the rain can stop!

We have to get this space completely closed in and insulated before it gets too cold. The temperatures have been with us these past few weeks, but now it’s November and things can change quickly.

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I have travelled another year around the sun, and what a year it has been! Lots of excitement, plenty of stress, but I have survived and looking forward to this next trip. I had planned to get a lot done yesterday. The birthday girl was not getting a day off. But alas, the electrician came to wire our new studio gallery space and it seemed everything I had planned to do would put me in his way. I finally decided to settle on the sofa for awhile and catch up on some reading. It was a rainy day and I enjoyed it immensely! Once the electrician was gone I decided to head to the grocery store. As I was leaving, Jeff handed me 50 bucks and said, “Get yourself a birthday cake, on me”. I laughed and quickly pocketed the cash. I not only came home with the cake, but a bottle of champagne that I had to buy… because it had my name on it. Well, not quite my name, but a Sharpie marker quickly corrected that.

Today I was back to work. Even though our space is not finished, we have got to make pots. It’s what makes us complete and we have a show coming up next month. We cleared a space amidst the construction and set up our wheels. Today we made the first pots at 505 E Main.
I felt like I was in heaven.

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 It was a huge relief to get it done. All that’s left to move is the kiln. We will fire it once more before the Celebration of Seagrove Potters show and then start deconstruction. It’s a small kiln so it should go quickly.

It’s exciting to see our new space come together. Progress this week should be very big…
stay tuned for updates!

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Our houseplants have also been flourishing in the light as well. The other day Meredith, over at Whynot Pottery, posted on facebook that she had spider plant babies to give away. Of course I immediately said, “me, me, I will take some”. Monday afternoon she delivered my new babies. I can’t wait to watch them grow and have babies of their own. I haven’t had a spider plant in forever… as Meredith said on fb, spider plants are so 1982. I think it was the 80’s the last time I had one! I think they are coming back into fashion. I noticed that my sister has one at her house, and she is always very fashionable.

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 We even have a “Pottery Highway” sign in our front yard. Check out the crazy pruning job the utility company did to our tree. I call it the big “Y”.

We celebrated on Friday night with the first lighting of our “new to us” fire pit. We brought it back from NH this summer, and it was finally cool enough to fire it up. Nothing tastes better than hotdogs cooked on an open fire. The downside…
They are salty and I was up drinking water half the night. It reminded me of why I don’t usually eat hotdogs.

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Sometimes when you move, you unearth some cool stuff that you forgot about. I just happened to have this wacky ear of corn in the fridge, to go along with the dish. This piece is from the 2006 Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, Salad Days event. The artist that year was Patrick Coughlin.
Jeff did a residency at Watershed, some years back, and went to the salad days event a number of times. He has a cool collection of plates from the fundraiser. Here is a link to 20 years of Salad Days Plates – Watershed Center For Ceramic Arts – Newcastle Maine.
Happy Friday, and don’t forget to eat your vegetables.

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Today is the final push of the studio move. Aside from the gas kiln we should have everything packed and moved by tonight. Yesterday we moved the large raku kiln, with the help of a neighbor, and our landscape guy. It’s a giant, one piece, electric kiln that Jeff converted to gas. It’s a bear to move because it doesn’t come apart in rings, like most electric kilns. We finally feel like we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
The town of Seagrove approved our sign at 505 and tomorrow it’s going up. Our gallery isn’t finished but we will be open for business this weekend. Since we had to dry our tent out from the rainy show last weekend, I decided to set up the booth and use it as our sales venue for the next two weekends. We can’t afford to not be open for another couple of weeks… I can’t survive on Etsy alone. At least not yet.

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This morning I was reading Ben Putnam’s blog post about “sketchbook practice”. At the end of the post is a link to a sketchbook practice project that he did some time ago. Ben had approached me about participating and sadly I had to decline. I have been terrible about keeping a sketchbook. I realized when he asked me, that the only time I have regularly kept up with one, was when I have been part of an art journal group. I have a collection of sketchbooks of varying types. Most have lots of blank pages with postcards, letters, and newspaper clippings tucked in between. Right now I can’t even find my favorite one, the one that probably has more sketches in it than any other. I am sure it is tucked in a box in the office, which is a horrid mess right now. Someday it will get unpacked and organized. Someday I will get in the habit of keeping a sketchbook.
But not until this studio move is complete. Until then, there is no creativity happening here.
Just manual labor.

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This news makes us very happy. The bus is loaded with all of our glaze buckets, chemicals, and assorted pieces of equipment. It can now make the one mile trip up the road. Once it’s unloaded we will put it for sale on Craigslist. In the past we contemplated a mobil studio/gallery, but with the maintenance, fuel costs, insurance, it just doesn’t seem like a wise financial endeavor. I would rather sell it and see the money in my bank account!
Today we will unload the trailer from our very wet, outdoor show, and pack it back up with more studio stuff. The rain has stopped, the weather is cooler. A good day for working.

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