Spring!

Yay for Spring! It's my favorite! And here, it's actually a Season and not just a passing dream. The pollen has turned everything yellow, so those with allergies are suffering, but I'm very fortunate not to have them so I can just enjoy the colors and the flowers, the froggies singing and the warm breezes.

Here are some pictures from a recent jaunt around town. This is looking from my porch toward the driveway.



The azalas (complete with oak pollen string things) that surround my porch...



These are the weeds that live in my shrubbery around my porch.



I have two very large dogwood trees overhanging my driveway.



The wisteria around here is incredible - it's actually a weed, which is a bit discouraging when I think about how we struggle and pamper and beg the wisteria in Ohio to please just don't die! There are a couple of areas of wild brush that I pass on my way to work every day - this is from one of them.





A random garden... pansies are such cheerful little flowers, and it's mild enough here that they can occasionally survive winter.



Don't forget to stop to enjoy the flowers!

Wordless Wednesday - Spring Toes!

Playin' in the Mud...

Last November, I took a "Clay Date" with a friend. For $35.00 total, the two of us took a two hour class on the basics of working with a pottery wheel. We made a number of bowl-like things that Shelley, the instructor and owner of the store, then trimmed and fired. We came back in and glazed them and then the store fired them again.

These are the two bowls from the clay date. When I started, they were little balls of grey clay.




My friend and I both enjoyed the clay date well enough to sign up for the beginner wheel class. It was six weeks long, and extra time in the studio was covered by the class fee. I spent several Saturday mornings in the studio in addition to the class time. The last class was a week ago last Thursday, when we glazed our work.

Today, on an absolutely beautiful day, I spent my morning in the studio - my first as a member. And, I picked up the first 6 of the bowls I made during class. There are a few more, but they're still waiting for the next firing.


The flash on the camera made a substantial difference in the appearance. The clay we used for class was different than the clay date. It's called speckled brown, and it's A LOT darker.


There was a teapot class at 1:00, so we cleaned up the mess we'd made. My friend brought her lunch - the last of the chicken and dumplings from last Saturday. Our plan was for me to grab takeout from somewhere and eat together at a park... and then one of the other ladies brought in french fries and a burger from next door. OMG it smelled divine! So we hatched a new plan. I bought french fries for both of us and she shared her leftovers - we ended up wolfing it down on a bench in front of the restaurant. So yummy!

As we discussed food options, she kept saying that we had bowls. (She was much more prolific than I was and brought home 12 bowls of assorted sizes today.) I kept looking at her, and saying "I know that!" and then going back to trying to figure out how to split the container of chicken and dumplings. Eventually, the light dawned, and I washed this bowl and used it for my potion of her lunch. It worked quite well.


The rim of the bowl is a raku blue and it bubbled a bit, but I think it'll be okay.


This one started quite a bit taller and then I tried to trim the rim to make it even and ended up with... almost a plate. I need to work on my trimming. (The inside of this bowl is the same glaze as the inside of my clay date bowls - what a difference the clay makes!)


Once, I managed to make the clay go in the direction that I wanted. That would be this bowl. I'm quite happy with it, but I'm not hugely fond of the color. *sigh* Glazing takes practice too. The colors are nothing like what they'll be after firing so it's a gamble.


These next two are quite small. I painted them with a brush, as opposed to the dipping method used on the others. For this one, I was trying for the same shape as the one above... and missed.


Another dinky little bowl...


I'm actually happiest with the glazing on this one. It turned out very even and the colors are good too.


And with the flash on the camera. The color isn't as orange as it looks here.



So, I'll go in on Friday before I head to Ohio for Easter to trim the ones I made today. Hopefully they'll fire the other ones soon and I can bring them home as well. We'll see how well the membership goes. The class was good 'cause it got me out of the office at a reasonable hour at least once a week.

Stream of Something, Probably Not Conscious

What a craptastic day!

First, it's Monday, so of course it sucks. And, I slept ALL weekend long, so of course I was up until oh-dawn-thirty this morning, so I got about two hours of sleep and my hair was still dripping wet when I rolled out of bed this morning, completely late. I got ready to leave while on a conference call, which I totally thought I had muted myself, right up until I started swearing at the damn cat, at which point the very polite German gentlemen pointed out that they'd been listening to me mutter to myself for 15 minutes and what exactly did $%)(#%)@#(*T)$^)#(*)@#$)($#*T mean anyway. Then I fell down my steps, tripping over the same damn cat.

Made it into work to find my little German shadow in the office - I'd COMPLETELY forgotten that he'd be here ALL this week. I was talking to him while I made the coffee and apparently I can't talk and scoop 'cause the coffee turned out so awful that the shadow gagged and spit it on himself when he tried to drink it, which I found so entertaining that I snorted coffee out my nose, which REALLY burns.

My shadow not only made it impossible for me to get any freakin' thing done today, he made me late to every meeting. My computer choked and ate a spreadsheet that I'd been working on for 2 days - 10 minutes before I was due to present it.

Then I went to lunch with the shadow and a friend, and the cute little server "forgot her paper but she could totally remember the order" which strangely enough didn't print in the kitchen meaning it was almost a 2 hour lunch.

Got back to the office and stood up someone important 'cause my boss' boss came in and made himself cozy with my shadow and I and I couldn't escape from either one of them. Then I ended up staying at work until 11:30 pm, trying to make up for all of the stuff I didn't get done today 'cause of the shadow. Then I tried to leave and couldn't find my car keys ANYWHERE because I'm fairly sure that they're in the back of the shadow's rental car, so I ended up taking a cab home 'cause everyone I know here is in bed by 10.

Finally managed to make it inside my house only to burn dinner AND have to murder a roach, which means that first thing on the agenda tomorrow is a call to the bug people to come kill everything under 10 pounds in my house. And, the blogger thing ATE all of my links and is now saying that I'm not following anyone and I know that if I have to recreate it, I won't remember half of them 'cause I'm totally cool like that.

So, I'm going to drag off to bed quickly before this day attacks any more - but I have to get up super early tomorrow to try to cage a ride into work from someone. *sigh* It's going to be a GREAT week, I can just sense it.

Strangeness on a Walk...

I got home early enough from work the other day that I was able to take a walk while it was still light outside. Just a couple of blocks from my house is a tiny little park that provides public access to the river.



Next to the pocket park is a large industrial area that has been abandoned long enough to be largely reclaimed by nature - which doesn't take long in this climate. The property had a large fence all around it during my last visit, but this walk showed that someone had removed the water front fencing and brush-hogged the whole thing - probably sprucing it up for the new for sale sign.

Taking the opportunity presented, I explored a bit, and discovered something odd. First, a single shoe.


And then another.

A sweater...

And pants...

Even shorts

and briefs.


I looked around a bit for the person, but found (thankfully) only spring flowers.

Still, it seems strange to me to find an entire outfit scattered through the grass.

Shackleford Banks

A friend came to visit last weekend, and on Saturday we ventured into the breezy bracing day to explore Shackleford Banks. We drove to Beaufort and took a water taxi over to the island. She's horse crazy, so a significant reason to go was the herd of wild horses that live on the island.

We didn't have to wander far to find them - there were several right over the dunes from where we unloaded.







Eventually we decided that we'd tried their patience enough so we cut across the middle of the island to reach the Atlantic side of the island. I love the ocean. I can spend happy hours just staring at the waves.


But there were dunes to explore and shells to collect and mysteries to contemplate...

What do you suppose happened to him?


Is there a lost and found for mermaid purses?


I thought that boat was pointed the other way when we were on the way here?


Pardon me, sir, but which way to the boat home? As the gull flies is fine - there really isn't a trail anyway.


A different group of horses was kind enough to lead us in the right direction back to the pick up point. (Hint: Don't head for the Fort. That would be the wrong way. Point yourself roughly between the hotel and the water tower.)


And see that we continued on our way.


We returned to the mainland tired, hungry and sunburned but well content with our respective treasure troves of shells - which took both of us to haul back across the island. They don't seem heavy when you find them, but it adds up fast!

These are mine. (I collected enough last time that I felt I could afford to be choosy this time. Also, I gave my friend her choice of our finds.) The one I am happiest about is the Scotch Bonnet (top row, fourth from your left) - it's the North Carolina state shell, the critter involved lives in deep water and I'm told it's rare to find an intact one of any size.



These are hers. She was very happy about the whelk shells. We found a good selection.



All in all, a lovely day!

A Hard Battle, Lost.

She beat the odds for longer than anyone expected, and fought harder than anyone I've known. I'm not sure she did herself any favors, because it hurt. It hurt her, and her husband and all who knew her and watched the struggle and the pain, the small victories and the gradual defeats.

Today, though the spirit was still willing, the flesh had finally had enough. My friend's wife died today. You first heard of her last fall, when the doctors said that she wouldn't see Christmas. She did, and she was still fighting when we went back on a rainy January day and took the outside lights back down again.

This morning, she told her husband that she loved him and she'd like some juice. She was gone when he came back to the room. I hope she's finally stopped hurting.

Belated Pi Day Salutations...

It's weird how some people don't celebrate Pi Day. What's wrong with them?? Cool numbers and PIE - what's not to love??

Since 3.14 fell on a Saturday this year, my coworkers and I combined St. Paddy's Day and Pi Day into one really yummy lunch. Corned beef, cabbage, mashed potatoes, and pie. Yummy!

I've been hungry for derby pie. (It's like pecan pie, but with chocolate chips and walnuts instead of pecans.) So that's the pie I made, in my special pi plate... I'm such an uber-dork sometimes.

The only problem? I had meetings all freakin' day and I got one tiny little sliver of pie. After my meetings, I came back to collect leftovers and found this:


Bastards ate the whole thing. I'm thinking about making one just for me. What's slowing me down is dread of dealing with the crust. I do NOT use store bought crust, but heavens I struggle. My mom has the touch with crusts - they come out perfect every time, blast her. Me? I struggle and curse and mutter. Ugh. Wretched things.

Anyway, happy pi day!!! (If you missed this one, the European Pi Day is July 22 so you have another shot at it this year.)

Shallow As A Dry Creek Bed...

You know what's pissing me off about this recession? Well, lots of things but the one right now is that my job is brain-numbingly awful. I literally come home and curl up in a ball in the corner. And I have no one to whine to because everyone here is insane and everyone else is unemployed, so anything I say about my job gets "at least you have one" in response.

This crap needs to end. One, so I can whine again. And two, so someone is hiring and I can get the hell outta here.

Lessons Learned While Traveling, Part 1

No matter how tired and medicated you are, DO NOT write "chicken" on the documents they give you on the plane when you're returning to the States from Mexico... even if what you are talking about is a small clay statue of a chicken. Those border people have NO sense of humor about livestock.

An Easy Mystery

What am I?


Perhaps a clue?


Or two?





The jig is undoubtedly up by now.





I am... affection. Very determined affection.

A Lovely Day

I was up at 8:00 this morning. Yeah, I'm having a hard time believing it too. By 9:00, I had stopped at the gas station for two of their largest coffees (yes, both for me) and was making my way to my friend's house. By 10:00, the coffee was gone, which made me sad, but the auction was underway!

I made it home without a table, but only 'cause I lost that bid. Darnit. But the one that got away were 6 of some of the most beautiful dining room chairs I'd ever seen. Those are bugging me. *sigh*

I'll post pictures soon, but I didn't leave empty handed. I got the cool antique desk chair I wanted. Also, I wanted a milk crate full of beautiful little chunks of oak and I ended up getting the whole blasted shelf o'crap. Some stuff was trashed (several feet of cracked hose), some was claimed by my friend (like the weather stripping that is the perfect size for her garage door) and some was set aside for goodwill (an assortment of pet food bowl, lots of stainless steel boat bits, some phallic looking THING that was called a 3" long test ball, etc). I got the whole shelf for $20, and one of the router bits in the new toolbox is worth about double that, so that works out but I actually managed to only pay $13 for everything 'cause a couple of guys came over and offered a couple of bucks for the whatsits that they were hoping to get off the shelf. One guy gave me $2 for a huge pulley, and another guy gave me $5 for a couple of covered plastic buckets. I love auctions, I really do.

I wanted another crate of wood, but it was on a rack and they sold ALL of the stuff on the rack as one lot. Of course the wood was all I wanted so I let it go. Bonus: the person who won left the crate of wood when he hauled off everything else! Yes! So my friend and I nonchalantly picked that crate up on our way out. (Realistically, "nonchalant" means you should be hearing the spy hunter theme as we skulk nearby, scurry over - looking very guilty - to our target, grab the crate (and nearly jerk our arms off picking it up - wood is HEAVY) and scurry away again. Master spies? Not so much.)

One other thing I got for free? A slight sunburn. The day was perfect - sunny and clear, right around 70 degrees - a beautiful, beautiful day. It was a bit chilly in the shade, with the breeze, but I wore layers and was fine. I spent the day with a good friend, kicked back enjoying the day and the really fine people watching opportunity. You know, until I moved here, I didn't really understand why they'd call a color "Carolina blue." There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day.

Then we went back to her house to feast on cresent rolls, New York State wine and really yummy homemade soup. Dessert was some pastry thing that J. makes that is SO good, and the cap to the evening was playing their PS3 - the Star Wars Lego game, which I love.

So, it was a very very good day. Hope yours was wonderful too!

The Centipede

This guy was lonely and so he decided life would be more fun if he had a pet.

So he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet.

After some discussion he finally bought a centipede, (100 leg bug), which came in a little white box to use for his house.

He took the box home, found a good location for the box, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to the bar for a drink.

So he asked the centipede in the box, 'Would you like to go to Frank's place with me and have a beer?

But there was no answer from his new Pet. This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked him again, 'How about going to the bar and having a drink with me?'

But again there was no answer from his new friend and pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. He decided to ask him one more time. This time putting his face up against the centipede's house and shouting, 'Hey, in there! Would you like to go to Frank's place and have a drink with me?'

WAIT FOR IT......

A little voice came out of the box: 'I heard you the first time! I'm putting my fucking shoes on!'