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Out of clay!
Oh no! I’m out of clay. I used up my bag at Pullen, and the last of my bag at home. While cleaning out the garage this weekend, I found several bags of moldy and rock hard clay. It’s a sign of having taken some time off. I need to drive out to Durham for more clay, but I’m not about to make that drive in rush hour traffic. Besides, with as low as the temperature will be dropping tomorrow,…
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Working from Home with Kids Part 2
In the last post, I described my journey to being a work-from-home mom. In this post I’ll share some of the struggles. To give reference, I have two boys – one is now in preschool four mornings a week, and one is in first grade. I’m a part-time temporary hire, which in fancy terms is adjunct professor. I’ve been doing this work since I was first pregnant and have taught every spring and fall semester the past seven years. I currently teach…
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Working from Home with Kids Part 1
In the final stretch of my PhD program, I traveled to Portland for an annual conference. I’d been married just under three years, and earlier in the week, Joe and I rafted down the White Salmon River, during which I had a near death experience. It was an anxiety ridden week, because on top of almost dying, I had applied for tenure-track positions in my department and at another university, and everyone who had anything to do with my potentially being hired…
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Feeder
Just before Christmas, I put out birdseed. When we returned home from Tennessee, the birds had discovered it, and they are now hanging out on the deck taking turns at the feeders. “Taking turns” may be a generous phrase for what really goes down. It’s more of a crowd of feathers hopping back and forth from deck railing to feeder to chair to nearby tree. Some seem to wait off to the side for an opening, some make an opening.…
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Happy New Year!
At one point during our Tennessee visit last week, Dad grabbed my arms and said “Those are digging arms!” It’s true, I do have digging arms. I’ve dug so many holes around the yard that not only could I not recall them all, I’ve also become a very efficient digger. I know the spots in my yard that can be worked, and those that can’t. To Joe’s chagrin, the first few years in our house I managed to find every…
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Handbuilding in the Kitchen
With only two or so weeks until Christmas, I wanted to get in one more batch of pottery for the year. Since the pottery wheel is currently covered in Speckled Brownstone clay, and all I have left to use is Little Loafers, which is a white clay, I’ve moved back to handbuilding inside. I know I could just clean the studio, but baby, it’s cold outside! After glazing 75 ornaments in the last batch, I wanted quick, less tedious work…
