Lake Cabin and Poblano Salsa

Perhaps I'm dreaming of a vacation in the mountains because here's a lake cabin platter I worked on today. I put muted colors of pale pink and tan in the sky but it doesn't show in the photo. Hope it gives a nice glow like a morning sky after firing.

I have the edges of the platter propped up with my trusty toilet paper roll sections. After one day I remove the paper and save it for the next platter.

For poblano salsa, place two fresh poblano peppers under the broiler to blister the skin, remove from broiler, let cool and peel the skin. Then chop the peppers medium sized and put in bowl. I keep the seeds because I like my salsa fairly hot, but if you want it more mild discard seeds and/or use only one pepper. Chop three large Roma tomatoes medium and add those. Chop one shallot fine and add that. Sprinkle with dried cumin. Add the juice of one orange, then stir in one bunch of cilantro chopped medium. Stir and let sit for an hour at room temperature for flavors to meld together. (if you can wait that long, I couldn't). Serve with your favorite chips or use as a topping for fish, chicken or what have you. I found gluten free lentil chips at the grocery and those were good with this tasty salsa. Happy New Year's Eve to you. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Log Cabin & Italian Style Green Beans

Here's another sgraffito platter of a log cabin. I think I'll make a few more buildings, these bring back memories of the India ink drawings I did in my teens. Speaking of memories, I'm still sorting the slides so stay tuned for more blasts from the past.

These Italian style green beans are real tasty and quick and easy to make. Cut the ends off and then par boil a pound of fresh green beans for five minutes. Drain, then rinse beans with cold water. Oil a baking dish and pour in the green beans, top with a can of diced tomatoes, (drain the canned diced tomatoes, but not completely). Sprinkle the tomatoes generously with dried or fresh chopped oregano, then top with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes till cheese is melted. This would be a good dish to take to a pot luck dinner. Gary asked if there were any more beans after he had one serving, so that means they were really good. Ha. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Roasted Fennel and a Running Hare

This time I decided to paint with the underglaze colors rather than use sgraffito. I wanted to emphasize the fur of a running hare. We'll see how these colors fire in the kiln. Right now the hare has an antique look about him to my eye. The edges will be curved up to form a serving platter.

I was reading about the hare on the link which led me to read about the moon rabbit. Learning about folklore of other cultures is very interesting to me. Above is a white rabbit making an elixir of immortality from a weaving in a Chinese robe. I may have to explore more pieces with hares and rabbits.

I've always wanted to try fennel or sweet anise and the other day I saw some at the grocery store. The bulb is full of vitamins and minerals. Check the link I was amazed at how much nutrition this bulb has.

I cut the fennel up in 1/2 inch slices, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar. Don't remove the feathery leaves, they are quite good roasted too. If I had had more of them I would have sprinkled them over the top.

I roasted the fennel at 400 F for 40 minutes. For the last ten minutes I sprinkled some grated cheese over the top. To my surprise, it has a mild taste, quite delicious and easy to make. This post is part of Artists in Blogland what's happening in the studio. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Sgraffito Jaunt

Here are a couple more platters I made, an owl and a sunflower. I guess I'm on a sgraffito jaunt right now. I think the branch structure is a little busy so I'll black out one of the branches below the owl's body. I may add some brown or gray to the tree branches.and revise the moon.

I never know if I should make the rim the same color as the background or leave it white. What do you think? Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

An Armadillo Ambled By

This morning I was sitting at the kitchen table and I saw something moving in the back yard. It was much larger than a squirrel and I wondered what it was. I went in the other room to get a closer look. I saw it was an armadillo. I was so surprised to see an armadillo right in our back yard. The armadillo was ambling by intent on foraging. He was nosing along at the ground looking for grubs and insects I suppose.

Of course I was inspired to make an armadillo platter today. I've taken the photo of the platter before I curled up the edges. I hope it turns out after firing. I added a little pink to his nose and toes because I noticed they had a pink tone on the armadillo I saw in the back yard. I could almost see some black and white handles on either end of this platter. Too late now but maybe for the next one. I'm rather taken with the black and white; I think I'll make a few more pieces in black and white with a touch of another color as an accent. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Floating Like Pelicans

Gary has been dreaming of owning a boat. Just before Christmas I saw one for sale down the street at a yard sale; so I got this aluminum boat for him. Merry Christmas Gary.

With manatee's swimming and low water levels with limestone obstacles a boat with a deep V isn't a good choice for Citrus County waterways. Our boat will only drop a few inches below the water line so it's perfect for the rivers and bay waters here on the Nature Coast.

The boat needs clean up but that's what Gary likes doing. He already pressure washed the boat and trailer and he's been sanding the boat getting it ready for paint. He also took off the outboard motor and is rebuilding it. We hope to build a canopy for the boat with some aluminum pipe and canvas.

We spent a quiet Christmas visiting with neighbors and talking to relatives and friends on the phone and looking at lots of old slides. Soon we hope to be on the water floating like pelicans. Hope you're having a relaxing holiday.

Merry Christmas from Florida 2012

Merry Christmas from Florida 2012

Mama Don't Take My Kodachrome Away or Travel Back In Time With Me

Linda Starr on San Francisco Ferry 1975

We got ourselves an early Christmas present. We found a used slide projector and we got it. We both have hundreds of kodachrome slides to go through. I hope you won't mind traveling back in time with us each Sunday. Today we're in San Francisco and it's 1975; I'm on the ferry cross the bay.

The slides are projected on the wall and I'm taking a photo of them with my digital camera so they are blurry  I hope to find a way to make them clearer because on the wall they are wonderful. I can either use a tripod or take some of them and have them converted to digital photos. I'll be working on that. In the meantime today is just a teaser traveling back in time. Gary found his Vietnam and Taiwan slides and films too.

 Golden Gate Bridge

 Coit Tower

Freighter taken through telescope lens

 Swans in Golden Gate Park

Berkeley Marina

 Spinach Souffle

Mama Don't Take My Kodachrome Away

As you can see we have hundreds of slides to go through. Next time I hope to have the photos in focus for you to travel back in time with us.

Seagull on Treasure Island

I saw slide boxes labeled with Hawaii, Mexico, Lake Tahoe, Lake Laginatas, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Starship, Renaisance Fair, and so much more. So stay tuned for more to come. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Cold Snap and Repeat Customers

All of a sudden the weather made a right turn into a cold snap. It's supposed to get below freezing tonight. So we made up some faucet covers with supplies we had on hand. I took some batting (as in quilt batting) and inserted it inside a plastic bag. Gary put the bags over all our outside faucets and taped them on. Hope these work. We also covered some tender plants with sheets and towels. 

During the day I noticed this cardinal sitting under the eaves on a shrub. I thought he was trying to keep warm in a sheltered area out of the wind. I felt sorry for the birds so when I went to the grocery store I bought some bird seed and put it out for the birds. But they had all gone to roost early. I hope to see them at the feeder tomorrow.

One of my customers who I met at the Christmas Art Fair phoned this week to purchase more of my  pottery. She came by and bought quite a few pieces. Be sure to put your business card in every package for future sales, you just never know. If you're local just give me a call to arrange a time to stop by and shop. If you're out of town, please check out my Etsy shop or Big Cartel shop. If you see a piece of pottery on my blog you'd like to purchase please let me know via phone or email. Thanks to all my customers and to all those reading and commenting

Wild Aster and Gold Squash

Remember the climbing wild aster I showed you the other day? Well I was inspired to make a set of wild aster plates, or perhaps they are bowls. Anyway I hope these turn out a little more vibrant than in the photo. I never know with these stains and colored slips. We shall see, but that's part of the fun and mystery.

I've also been thinking I'd like to develop a line of plates and bowls where part of the clay is left natural, without glaze, on the reverse. I decided to texture the reverse of these wild aster plates with a pattern and see how that works out. Perhaps having a textured bottom will aid in the firing process too. Let's see now, where will I sign my name?

The other day at the produce market I saw one lone gold squash. It was similar in size to a green acorn squash but a beautiful gold color. Sorry I should have photographed the skin for you to see. The outside is a beautiful matt gold color and scalloped in a perfectly symmetrical pattern. I happened to look at the label for this squash and it was distributed by Superior Sales in Hudsonville, Michigan. I don't see the gold squash on their recipe page. Perhaps I'll email them with this quick and easy recipe.

I decided to cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and bake it like my mother used to do. I add a pat of butter and brown sugar, place in a baking dish, fill baking dish with a cup of water and bake at 350 F for half an hour. This squash took much less time to bake than a green acorn squash would take.

I started to mix it all up and dig in, then I remembered I needed to take a photo for you to see the cooked squash. It's just like a dessert cooked and eaten this way. Every once in a while a little sugar can't hurt, can it? Perhaps this is the way my mother got us to like eating vegetables when we were kids. Please give it a try. That cold front and storm moved through very quickly last night and I don't think we got a stitch of rain. I may have to get my rain stick out. This post is part of the Mud Colony what's happening in the studio, check out the link for other potters around the globe. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

A Crow Gathering

Every Fall crows gather by the hundreds in our neighborhood.

This morning hundreds of crows were flying over our home way up high.

Round and round they flew in the clear blue sky soaring higher and higher, crowing their song.

They seemed to be calling out their love of flying, their love of living, their love for their crow family.

An ordinary day was transformed by a crow gathering, with their flying and crowing. The photos don't capture the event as I felt it, you'd have to be there to see them, to hear and feel their song.

Footnote: the larger bird is a vulture flying much lower than the crows. Apparently there are certain other places where crows gather each Fall and Winter. Once in Oklahoma there were over 2 million crows gathered in one place. Follow the link for some facts about crows. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Christmas Fern Plates

This week I'm working with leaves and stains. I start with a slab of clay and some leaves.

 I impress the clay with a fern leaf. I think these are Christmas ferns.

I brush the leaf impression with stain. How do you apply stain? Do you brush it on, use a foam brush or do you sponge it on?

Then I decided to spritz lightly with more underglazes and stains. These and others are in the drying cabinet. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Little Things Like No-See-Ums

The other day when we went to the fish market, Gary went inside to get the fish and I walked around to harvest some leaves. While I was walking around I saw these wonderful climbing wild aster blooming.

The large heart shaped leaves are kudzu, the aster has the smaller darker green leaves.

Later I noticed some bamboo bark lying on the ground. I collected these three pieces to bring home with me. As I was getting in the car Gary said he had been bitten on his legs by no-see-ums. They itched him for over a week. I was spared as they were near the water and I didn't go over there. When we got home, I had Gary rub baking soda water on his legs which helped with the itching, and he used some lavender spritzer which also helped. Gary counted 92 bites on his legs; only Gary would count them. Ha.

At home out by our pool we noticed this strange spider and found out it's a spiny backed orb weaver.  Sometimes the little things in life are just what's needed like flowers, other times not, like no-see-ums. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.