• On the floor of Umstead

    Today I let whimsy take over my steering wheel as I was headed out to Gather to drop off my pottery students’ finished pieces. I usually take the direct route down Western Blvd past NCSU, but today I hopped on I-40. I’ve been admiring the fall colors from downtown, and being on the open road with an expanded horizon and rainclouds forming, the sign for William B. Umstead State Park was all I needed to be taken off-track. I don’t…

  • Gardens and Friendships and Really Long Metaphors

    I used to really have fun with analogies and expounding on a metaphor. Due to my high level of enjoyment of nature, and using nature for examples, and due to the fact that nature can be icky, for awhile some friends called me “slightly gross analogy girl.” I was okay with it. So I’m going to metaphorize here in this little web space that rarely gets tended to anymore. Lately I’ve been thinking on friendship. It seems that even when…

  • This Friday’s Open Studio Event and October Updates

    This Friday, October 2 from 7:30 to 9:30 pm, I’m hosting a little event at my house (see the FB event listing here). You are welcome to come shop for pottery and/or prints and place an order for personalized Christmas ornaments. I’ll be sure to have a bottle of red and something to munch on. October 10 and 24, I’m hosting a two part class at Gather. There is still time to register! Go here to register. I’m also running…

  • Sweet Potatoes

    Last year I planted sweet potatoes and got one measly little spud. I suppose I planted too late. This year, I got them in the ground early, and they completely took over the garden. They grew up and over the trellises, across the paths and into the okra and pepper patches. They made the most beautiful purple blossoms. Just this week, the leaves have started to turn, and as I pulled out weeds from the ground around the vines, I…

  • August Garden in Pictures

    This summer I’ve been terrible at posting the garden progress, and honestly, I’ve been terrible at harvesting the garden. Last summer I ate enough tomatoes for a lifetime, so this year I really just needed a taste. My husband has been juicing the other tomatoes I occasionally bring in, and the birds and bugs have been left with the rest. The lettuce and arugula just keeps planting itself, so I don’t feel as terrible about letting it go. We have…

  • My Kid Broke My Face

    I think my kid broke my face. Maybe. On Wednesday, we were goofing off, and my kindergartner flung his hard-as-a-bowling-ball head into my nose. I heard a pop or a crack and immediately started bawling – big, ugly cry with tears pouring down. Until they saw the tears, the boys thought I was laughing hysterically and were laughing themselves. Then they saw my tears and were very concerned. I wept, “You aren’t careful with me!” I sent them to their…