i cannot get over this cold weather wer'e having,, it just won't stop!
clint came by the studio this morning and as we wer'e huddled around the heater he proclaimed this the worst cold spell that he has been thru in his 82 years,,

if it wasnt for me being so busy making the potteries  i would have have spent the last week curled up in front of my new fireplace sleeping,,
every morning ive been up at the crack of dawn and working in an icy studio finishing up christmas commision pots and trying to make new exciting pieces for the January Extravaganza [that is next friday, staurday and sunday]
i do have 2 heaters in the studio, one is  small sitting on the work table to warm my hands and face and the other sits on the floor and by using an old dog blanket and covering the heater and myself it creates a tent of [dogstinkin] of warmth around me

such is the glamourus life of a potter

the high point of my frustration came on sunday morning when i went to unload the wet pots i had left in my car overnight, that i had thrown on saturday at the market,, i opened up the back of the honda-car and there they sat all frozen solid and all cracked to smithereens!!!! never in my 12years of pottering have i ever made that mistake,,
today i just gave up,, i loaded up the kiln and came back home,, ive barely spent anytime here since we moved in,, im always at the studio,

heres the FUN part,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

last wednesdy Bob and i went down to the backus museum to take down more pots and pick up the unloved pieces and get paid,, the author Sally Putnam Chapman  had bought several of my pieces and was nicest enough to invite us to her home to meet me,, the visit was one of the best experiences of my life,, shes a fascinating person, and has the same love of florida and art that i have,,
the highlight of the visit is when we were walking past her china cupboard i recognised  that her dishes were designed by my favorite poet/artist Don Blanding,, Sally was surprized that i knew of his work and then she surprized me back by announcing that Don Blanding was her grandfather and he wrote my favorite book ''Floridays'' in her home,, i thought i was gonna faint,, and when i started looking out the windows i could see his inspiration of the book everwhere i looked!!
i have goosebumps still thinking about it,,
Sally is just the BEST! and she autographed my copy of her book for me,,i will treasure it always [to say the least]
by the way her book is "whistled like a bird'' about the grand exciting life of her grandmother Dorthy,,amongst all her adventures was being pals w/ ameila Earhart, and flying aorund w/ her,,, life in florida  was much more exciting in those days,, even clint says so,, and more beautiful and warmer too

wait a second i just saw clint outside the window holding a shotgun!!! i will be right back,,

ok im back,, clint came over to adjust and try out the new scope on his rifle and needed our woods to shoot the gun, bob and peanut and yogi are at a safe distance behind him,,,,, i guess you cant shoot off guns in eustis,,i know its ok in orlando [according to the nightly news]

what was i writing? 

anyways i could go on and on about meeting Sally and our visit, but i dont want to invade her privacay,,

BUT you must buy her book ''Whistled like a Bird'' and if you dont already own a copy of "floridays'' get a copy of that as well no florida library is complete w/out them!

the backus museum is having a great show of women florida artists,,, i have to confess that they look no different that men paintings,, heres a fun thing to do if you visit,, one of the exhibiting paintings is a very close copy of one of Backus's paintings and they both are hanging on walls almost directly across the museum from each other,, look around, and you will see its obvious,,  i love the backus
thats all for today,, im trying to post a picture of all the pots and confusion of my studio/refridgerater, but the computer isnt cooperating