I was at an Asparagus Valley Potter’s Guild meeting last week, I asked the others how they felt.  My friend Steve said he can throw pots for about 5-6 hours one day, then the next day, about 4-5 hours, then the next, 3-4 hours, by the fourth day can’t really throw anymore!  Similar stories from the others.  I need to say here, that the youngest potter there was 38. 

I remember when I discovered pottery my senior year in high school I was a real jock,  and was so happy finding an art form that was like an athletic event!  Now I’m thinking about professional athletes and how they are all retired by 35 or 40… hmm, potters can’t do that… and really I don’t want to… what I really want is the stamina of an 18-year-old again!

So does anyone else out there have anything to say about this? What are your limits?

 I couldn’t figure out what got in, because our coop is like a fortress.  I observed the chickens, and noticed they would not go near one spot in the coop, and they kept staring at it.  It was a hole between the wood floor and the bricks.   Ah… I thought… must have been a fisher cat!   I know that fisher cats and raccoons take the insides of chickens and leave them to die, but the hole seemed too small for either of those.  Terri later did some research online which gave us our answer… a weasel!!!  Yup that would be about right, we thought we saw a ferret like animal in the yard this summer!

So we are down to nine chickens, losing a beautiful Buff Orpington, one of our favorites!  We plugged up the hole, with hopes it doesn’t get in again somewhere else.

Here is a photo of one of our Buffs from the summer, and a photo of the gifts our chickens give us daily!

I posted the new classes barely two weeks ago… a little late, but I’ve been a little pre-occupied with holiday sales.  There are three openings left for Wednesday nights…  Tuesday and Thursdays are filled.

Happy Pottery shopping this weekend at my Open Studio, Holiday Sale!

Click to view slideshow.

… and glazing… glazing, endless glazing.

Here is the postcard!

Earlier this year I wanted to get rid of a bunch of my bad pots that I had smashed for the shard pile.  I boxed them up in small boxes and put them up for free on Craig’s List.  (I had five calls the first day.)  I gave the boxes to three different people.  Well, one of those people was one of the owner’s of  ”The Bakers Oven”, a mobile Wood Fired Pizza & Catering company of Colrain, MA.  Co-owner, Daniel built this whole thing himself.  I think he would make a good kiln builder!

What a cool concept… a mobile wood fired pizza oven!  So if you’re local, and you want to have them cater an event for you, here is the contact info. thebakersoven1@gmail.com