Staying Strong in Old Age, both physically and mentally

I think part of being old, and getting older every minute, is taking care of myself.  When we're younger, we don't necessarily think about it -- it's something we'll think about later.  I will admit, though, that since I was a young teenager, I've been a bit obsessed about staying physically fit, and it hasn't changed into my old age.  I don't think there are any secrets to maintaining our bodies as we age.  I think if we exercise, with and without weights, walk/run, and maintain flexibility, keep our minds and bodies active and challenged, we're very likely to have a better life than if we don't.  Whether we live longer, I have no idea.  But I certainly want to enjoy the time I have left, and I think the best way for me to do that is to keep physically fit, stay interested in, well, everything, visit with our family and/or friends, etc., etc.  

Every day:

I do everything I can think of to do just that.  For example, twice a day my granddaughter comes over to my house.  In the morning, we have breakfast together and play our daily Wordle challenge.  (We're good!!!)

Then every afternoon she comes to my house again, and we do exercises together for between 15 and 30 minutes.  It's one of the ways I take care of myself physically and socially at the same time.  And amazingly, my granddaughter enjoys it, too!

Every morning, I take a quite brisk, around 3.5-4.5 mph, 1.5 mile walk with my sweet dog Ruby.  Around two days a week, the walks are longer, between 2 and 3-plus miles. And every early evening, I do some additional strength exercises to hit as many muscle groups as I can.  I do it all because I know from what most all scientific research says, that it is going to help me live better, and possibly longer -- and even possibly reduce my chances of dementia as I age.  As we all know, each year increases our likelihood of getting dementia, or having some kind of cognitive decline; so it's something I want to avoid as much as I possibly can.

Again, I do all of these things not in an attempt to be or appear younger but to be the fittest mentally and physically that I can for my age. And they're actually really fun activities, too.  When I'm alone walking, I often listen usually to France Inter radio or sometimes music on YouTube.  Other times, I just enjoy the beauty of the land and the quietness of the countryside.

Outdoor Fun:

In fact, just a few days ago, I went with my family (daughter, son-in-law, and 16 year old grandchild) for our mostly-annual kayaking adventure in north-central Washington State.  It's still as fun now as it was nearly 10 years ago when we started.  The only problem I have is dragging my kayak up a muddy steep slope at the end of the day.  The river, I must admit, most of the time is rather slow and easy, with a rare bit of rapids here and there -- but it is a lot of work all the same.  I have to brag and say that I was the only one of us who had no upper-body pain the next day, and we all worked equally hard the entire 3-plus hours we spent on the water.  Maybe it's the clay work, but I also like to think it's the workouts I do daily to keep myself strong.  (I must admit I did have some "motion sickness" that night, though, which I attribute to having been on the water for a rather lengthy period of time.)

A rather lazy day but lots of fun, too.

The peaks of the Cascades in the distance are obviously bare of snow but still beautiful.

Body Weight:

Another thing I do is try to keep my weight at a reasonable level.  For me, that's a bit of a problem because I've always been underweight, and it tends to get more and more difficult with age to keep pounds on.  Also, unfortunately, being naturally thin, there's one thing I can't control without extreme measures which I'm unwilling even to consider, I tend to have more facial wrinkles!!  Oh, well, I can't have it all!

Vegetarian Diet Stuff Again:

Getting enough calories, and protein for a vegetarian, which I am, tends to be a bit more difficult, so I have to work at it deliberately every day.  I eat a lot of nuts of every kind every day, including peanut butter that I get from a grinder at the grocery, so it's pure peanut butter.  I love tofu and tempeh, and I use them in a lot of different ways, including in olive and/or sesame oil, with some sesame seeds thrown in, too, and I put them into as many dishes as I can -- and often just eat tofu well-cooked and crispy as a snack -- or even raw as a quick snack.  I eat a lot of rice because it's calorie-dense.  I think I've mentioned a lot of this already.  Sorry if I have.  

Of course, as is recommended, I do as much as possible every day to exercise my brain as well -- not in a weird way but just by staying very engaged in running my business, trying not hard enough to keep my house clean, playing other games such as FreeCell (yes, I like it still, and I have never lost a single game).  And as I've mentioned many times, I read, read, read, and I keep my French language knowledge intact and even growing by listening to French radio as I work, watching French movies (there are sooooo many great choices these days!), talking to my dog and cat in French, etc.  And working in my gardens is a challenge in every way, and I enjoy it immensely, too.

One thing I don't do, and I'm okay with it is socialize with other than family members.  The closest I come to socialization is going through the grocery checkout where there's a clerk.  Most of them seem to want to chat, it seems.  I just don't know anyone except family members that interest me enough to spend time with them.  I never, ever get bored, though.  I enjoy my work and family time, and I think that can replace outside socializing.  And, again, my family live just next door to me, and we are back and forth all day, every day.

 

Another Mixed-Kiln Opening - I've got to stop doing this! Makes me anxious!

This is the kiln after I loaded it.  As you can see, this time I not only mixed bisque and glaze, which generally when I dare do it, I leave all the bisque at the bottom.  This time, I wanted to maximize the density of the load, so I mixed the two.  And fortunately, all came out perfectly! 

                                           Loaded, ready to fire

                                                       Fired!

One of these days I'll get ahead enough that I can properly fire bisque and glaze loads separately.  I just can't work any faster, though -- or won't, I should say!

It was a really dense kilnload this time, where I even stacked the bottom shelf three-high with bone-dry pieces; I did allow for the weight and shape of each piece, of course, and I fire only to cone 05, so I have no problem if the pieces are generally rather lightweight.  

Lately, just for fun again, I've been doing more and more thrown and altered pieces, and it's working out well.  For instance, in this load, I threw several fish-shaped closed cylinders, tail bottom, head top.  Then I hand-shaped the thrown pieces further, elongating here, thinning there, etc., until I got what I was heading for.  Then I drew a like from the top (mouth) down either side to the bottom, then split the piece into two pieces -- two fish for the effort of one!  The rest was easy!  Just add parts, details, hangers, signature, then dry to fire.  I haven't painted the ones I've bisqued yet, but I will in the next few days and will try to remember to show a few of them.  

(By the way, please never, never, ever directly copy my work!  First, it's just wrong, wrong to do so; and second, my style is copyrighted, and I even have strangers who let me know if they see a copied piece somewhere.  Usually, they're so awfully done that I ignore it, but sometimes I go after the malfaiteur ("evildoer") and have them cease and desist -- and tell them to do their own creating and not steal the work and talent of the creator!  

Packing and Shipping Pointers for Ceramics - Part 2, Packing

Last time, I covered the materials/supplies needed to pack and ship items.  Now, I'll cover how I pack my items.  This page is only covering my smallish pieces that I usually sell.  I'll cover large pieces at another time if anyone is interested - it's much more difficult!

Packing Medium to Small Boxes Only:

As mentioned before, I have numerous box sizes that I use most of the time.  I try to buy the fewest box sizes possible, and when I work, I try to keep my sizes within these box sizes.  The boxes I keep on hand are a few 16x12x12 for somewhat larger items.  I keep lots of 14x10x8, 10x8x6, and 8x7x6.  I also have much larger boxes that I use for my gallery accounts, but the one I use most is 20x16x14.  Very rarely, I have to use 20x20x20, but I prefer using more 20x16x14 if I can do it.  Again, I'll only cover packing the larger boxes if requested.  

Single items only  (or 2 small, uncomplicated pieces sometimes):  I decide the box size I need (I actually have box sizes drawn onto a flat piece of wood that I pack on so I can test the piece for fit, allowing for extra space all around, of course.)  

I've put a couple of inches of peanuts in the bottom of the appropriately-sized box and have wrapped the piece in 3 layers of medium weight peanuts (because my pieces are fragile and rather heavy), then have laid the piece in place, being sure no parts of the piece touch the box walls.

Then, especially for a largish, more fragile piece like this one, I add styrofoam sheets and even pieces of sheets around really fragile areas.  Then I fill the rest of the way with peanuts just to the top, not over the top.  I want the piece to be snugly packed not overpacked where there could be unnecessary pressure on the piece.  I want snugness, not too loose, not too tight.

This is the box filled to the top, before I close it.  I add my card with a handwritten message on the card.

I've sealed the box now and am weighing it.  (I bought this scale at Goodwill many years ago, and it still works great.  I calibrate it from time to time with UPS's scale.)

Taping the Box (don't scrimp on tape!! )

I tape across the bottom of the box first, perpendicular to the length of the box, to hold the sides in place so I then can snugly tape the long sides in the center of the box.  Then I add at each end a strip of tape across the short sides.  I do this same process on both top and bottom.  I always finish off taping by scraping, either with a flat edge of some kind, such as a ruler or even my fingernails to be sure the tape is secure everywhere.

Then I weigh the box, purchase a shipping label, and get it out the door!  If you don't have a good scale, by the way, you can often find really nice ones someplace like Goodwill.  I have multiples, a 25 lb, a 5 lb, and a 2 lb, (the 2-lb is at my work table so I can loosely measure the size of the piece of clay I need.) 

This packing system works well for me, and I even get compliments from my customers in my feedback about my packing style.  And fair warning, if you're anxious about having something get there in one piece, over-pack!  Then you can sleep well.

Packing and Shipping Pointers for Ceramics - Part 1, supplies

When I sell one of my ceramic pieces, it's usually on my Etsy site, so it's most often just one item at a time.  I also sell and ship to galleries, but I won't cover that topic unless requested.

Shipping Supplies:

Padding Materials:

In my packing/shipping room, I have all my products listed on Etsy on shelves.  And I keep a reasonable number of various boxes in the room, along with padding (mostly bubble wrap) and packing peanuts.   Living in Washington State, I am required to use only cornstarch "peanuts," which I really don't like for many reasons, but I do understand that they're very low impact on the environment.  But when I can get them, I take the regular styro peanuts given to me from stores in my vicinity and mix with the cornstarch ones.

Boxes, bubble wrap, and peanuts orders:

A huge expense!! Unfortunately, I almost never use used boxes, but I know many people do.  Sometimes, when it's possible, I use unmarked boxes that I receive purchases in, including the boxes my raw clay is packaged in (I actually think customers like these boxes. Maybe a part of the mystique of being a clay artist?

Box Sizes:

It's really, really important to have an adequate supply of all packing materials at all times, depending on your sales volume.  And you never want to have too many boxes, too; I can tell you that!  Just the right amount.

 Almost all my pieces are different in size, but I have figured out the minimum number of box sizes that I have to keep on hand.  If you're lucky enough to live near a shipping supply business, it's worth it to drive to their warehouse to pick up your order.  I'm not so lucky, and sometimes my shipping prices are higher than the boxes I buy. (I use ULine, whether I like it or not)  But for some of my smaller boxes (10x8x6, 8x7x6), I even buy them on Amazon, which saves me a ton in shipping costs.  These can be used only for my smallest pieces, though, and they definitely aren't as strong as the ones I get from the commercial shipping supplier.

The bubblewrap I use is around 1" in diameter and 1/2" high, mostly medium weight, but I usually buy one roll of heavier weight as well.  Never buy the light weight for ceramics, in my opinion.

I covered the peanuts I use up above already.

Packing Tape:

I do buy this on Amazon usually in 12-roll packages.  I have multiple tape dispensers, all from ULine, I think, that I've had for many years, so they're worth the cost, I guess.

Also, when I can get my hands on it, I like to use styro sheets of various sizes and thicknesses.  I have often gotten these from galleries or shops who give me their packing materials from stock that they receive. And I use that stiff, kind of crumpled-up brown paper that often comes in Amazon packages.  It's sometimes a good filler so that I can save a bit on the peanuts.  But I never, ever use it alone.

Business Cards:  I think they're necessary, and I put one into each package, with a short personalized thank-you note on the back.  I just make my own on Corel and my printer, using a good quality photo paper.  

I think that's about it on actual shipping supplies.

In the next post I'll talk about how I actually package my pieces (and I almost never, ever have a broken piece, by the way, "knock on wood!")

How I Make Some of my Smaller Sculptures (Warning: It's long!)

 The small sitting animal sculptures I make sell well, but they are extremely labor-intensive.  So over time, I have come up with a few little shortcuts to speed things up just a tiny bit.  By far, I' m not a good potter, but I have a wheel that I use for other purposes than proper pots.  I throw "body parts" that I combine to create many of my pieces, including the small sculptures mentioned above.  

Building:

I start by throwing a cylinder which I alter afterward and is made to be around the height of the intended body of the piece.  If you know throwing at all, I throw "off the hump," which speeds up how many bodies I can make in a relatively short period of time.  Each cylinder, before it is removed from the wheel, is altered to somewhat resemble the shape of, say, the body of a sitting dog.  I use tools inside the cylinder to shape the back, others to indent the opposite side to create the stomach and part of the bent legs.  Then I throw some size-appropriate smaller pieces for shaping into the head of the animal.  Then I let everything set up for a day or so so the pieces are not too pliable and slippery.

After the pieces have set up, I grab a lump of clay and shape other body parts, such as the front legs, the feet, the tail, ears, facial parts, etc.,  Then it's a matter of putting everything together, which is the longest and most difficult by far part of the process because I want each and every piece to be an individual, different from all the others.  I especially give the animal a personality, including how it holds its head, tail, whether it leans or not, etc. 

After the pieces are built, they have to set another day or so to "set up."  Then I can go back in with smaller tools to refine shapes.  And finally, I go over tight spots with a wet paintbrush to make sure they are exactly what I want.

The Slab Roller

I should mention the use of a slab roller, too.  Many of my pieces I make are made not from throwing and building exactly but from "slabs," perfectly flat sheets of clay that I either roll out by hand with a rolling pin, as one would roll out a piecrust, or on a large device called obviously enough a slab-roller.  It's also in my kiln room.  I cut a rather large section off a bag of raw clay, flatten it down with a rubber mallet and my fists to around a couple of inches thick, then run it through the rollers (imagine a very old-fashioned washing machine with rollers on it), to gradually get it to the thickness I need.  It doesn't work at all to try to get to the lower thickness too quickly. The slab roller is a convenience, though, not a necessity.  I used it more when I was doing large "production work."

The Bisque Fire:

After around usually a week, the completed built pieces are then ready to bisque-fire.  Bisque-firing is easier than glaze-firing because the only thing I have to be absolutely sure about is that all the pieces are "bone-dry," that is, that there is absolutely no moisture in each and every piece, and that my shelves are exactly the right height.  Most times, to be safe or when I have any doubt at all, I "candle" the pieces in the kiln.  That is, I set my kiln's computer to a timed low-temperature fire at a temperature around 200F, or if I feel they're most likely dry, 210 or even 225F.  I come back often to check for moisture by putting a piece of glass at the top hole in the side of the kiln to look for moisture.  These holes have plugs that fit into them during a full firing. In fact, I even test for moisture during the bisque fire up to around 400 or so degrees.  Each time, if there's moisture, I have to make a decision about how much there is and whether I can continue or stop the fire and wait another day.

To load the bisque kiln, I must always consider the height and diameter of my kiln, how and where each piece can fit most effectively into that space, and keep track of keeping the thermocouple (see below in glaze firing) clear.   Most top-loading kilns are narrow and tall, as are mine.  As I mention below (yes, out of order), there are many aspects that must constantly be considered when loading either a bisque or a glaze kiln (see below).  I know I should rearrange this description, but I'm tired and all the info is here, albeit a little out of order.

Painting:

Preliminary Painting, Blocking Out:

Of course, after the bisque-fire is completed, I have to paint every piece, and it's really, really difficult, especially on these smaller pieces.  This is where my turning table comes into great use by maximizing my time to painting and not moving around too much to do so.  An aside:  I set a timer at around 15 or 30 minutes to, one, keep me motivated, and two, to get up and move around for a minute or two. 

First, I have to block out areas where I don't want any paint, such as the eyes and sometimes the tails, etc.  I do that with white underglaze.  

Base Coats:

After the block-out phase, I add base underglaze colors to all the pieces on my table; then I do a second coat (sometimes, depending on the color, a third coat).  

Keeping Track:

On each piece as I paint, I write in pencil copious notes about what I've already done (pencil burns out clear).  With so many pieces being done at once, it's very easy to forget which level I am, especially if I get distracted for some reason.  For example, I do a sequential hashtag:  a horizontal line for each base coat, so at least two, then 2-3 vertical marks for each layer of detail colors.  And I do a separate mark for dogs' tongues because they can make or break a piece if I make a mistake.  I write T1 and 2 for each layer I put on the tongue.  All of this I do in a visible spot that won't get painted over until the end -- or never because, again, pencil marks burn out completely.

Secondary Accent Colors:

After the two or three base coats, I add white onto the areas where I want to add another small area of color.  After the white dries thoroughly, I add the accent colors over the white, two to three coats again, depending on the color.  (Over the years, I have learned which colors need two and which need more.)  Many people use a "mask" on the bisqued piece which prevents the paint (underglaze) from adhering in masked places.  I have found that for me, an additive approach works more efficiently rather than dealing with masking processes.

Details, Final Steps:

Next comes the detail work, the most difficult part because I'm working in tight spaces with tiny paintbrushes.  As I work on each piece, I'm constantly checking to see if I've made a mistake somewhere that needs correcting, such as a stray brush mark onto the wrong space, an accidental mark on an eye, etc. This process is one in which my age interferes with the fine lines; not all the time, but often, my hands and fingers shake when I'm doing this process.  It bothers me, but I am a human, not a machine, and I think that's a positive aspect of my work, shaky lines and all.

Finally, I add the black spots on the eyes, which in this case I use two hands to avoid the shakiness I mentioned just above.  That's the most important part because it sets the animal's personality.  If I don't like how I added the spots, I have to wait until they're set up, then remove them, then again add white paint where they were before, wait for that to dry, and then try again with the spots.  And don't laugh at me; it's really important, and I think it's one of the reasons they're still selling after all these years -- because each one really is its own little personality. Many say, in my mind, "Hi, let's be friends; I like you."  Others are a bit more aloof, but I don't think I've ever done an angry one -- I take that back:  Some of my deep-sea fish definitely hate you or want to eat you!

Finish Painting and Prep for Glaze Firing:

When enough pieces are done to be able to do a glaze fire, I take them to my glaze studio, to my large glaze bucket, and add the clear glaze, either by dipping into (or brushing on, depending on the piece) the glaze, set or hang each piece to wait for each piece to dry enough to handle them, then thoroughly, thoroughly clean the parts of them that will touch the kiln shelves.  Then they need to rest again unti the glaze has dried.  

Loading and Firing the Glaze Kiln:

Finally, I load them into the kiln. If I make a mistake by not cleaning their contact surfaces well enough, the piece is very most likely a failure and must be most times forcibly removed from the shelf, and the shelf usually has to be ground or sanded smooth again.  

As I load the pieces, I have to make maximum use of the limited space I have in the kiln, which means I have to group like heights together for one layer, put flat but large pieces in a way that I can maybe add some small pieces around them, etc., etc., all the time ensuring that NO pieces ever, ever touch each other. I have to be sure that each and every piece fits into its kiln space both horizontally and vertically.  Sometimes loading a kiln can take an hour or more, sometimes even requiring that I remove a shelf or two and start over.  

The Thermocouple And also, there's this little very important device called a thermocouple that has to be considered as well.  It's the device that measures the temperature inside the kiln and directs the program to raise or maintain the proper temperature at all times.  If a piece is too close to the thermocouple, it can throw off the firing schedule enough to create a problem.  Plus, if the thermocouple is bumped (it sticks out into the kiln between 2 and 3 inches), it can be damaged and really mess the firing schedule up -- or fail completely, halting the fire, and requiring a replacement, which is a real pain to do.  Not only do I have to wait to have one shipped to me; I have to meticulously remove the failed one and replace it with the new one -- all in tight spaces.

I should mention that when loading a kiln, I have to constantly assess  not only toe separation of pieces on a shelf, avoiding the thermocouple, but also the height of the posts separating the layers of pieces in the kiln.  I have learned over the years that one needs a bit of "wiggle room" in the height, too, because sometimes a too-close to the upper shelf piece can have its glaze expand and touch the bottom of the upper shelf and ruin the piece. I have various things to help me with just the right amount of post height besides posts, such as broken shelf pieces, little flat clay pieces I've made over the years. 

Okay, I think I've covered most of the steps I go through to create several (a kilnload) pieces to fire a full load of pieces.  If you have any questions, please contact me, and I'll do my best to answer them.

Oh, one more thing I'll cover later:  What goes into listing each piece in my online shop on Etsy, which for my ceramics is the only place I sell them -- except, of course, the around four large orders per year I sell to my two galleries.

Kiln Results - Good

Ok, I forgot to take pics while the pieces were still in the kiln, so I have some piled-up pieces here:  First, all the "newbies' stuff was in the bottom of the kiln, and theirs came out fine and they'll be by soon to paint and glaze them, even the piece that had an almost 3/4"-deep base (I dried it for weeks!)

The next-bottom bisqued pieces are already piled on my paint table, but they're a bit visible in the photo below.  I'll start painting them this weekend.  

And the top couple of layers had glazed-fired pieces, which all came out well, too.  So my mixed load, bisque and glaze pieces, once again worked well, again at a slow glaze schedule.  I am NOT recommending this process; but in a pinch, which I felt this was, it worked out well.  Again, I've been doing this stuff for a long, long time, so I have more of a feeling for what will work, and I'm sometimes willing to take the chance.  There was one piece in there that was a customer request, and it was already late with it.  So she'll get her piece listed Monday, and all is well :)

Sorry, my paint table is always, always a mess, but it serves me well.  I think I've mentioned:  I sit in one place, and the table turns, and each round platform on the table turns as well.  Very convenient.

I'll be listing these pieces on Etsy over the next couple of weeks.  During the summer when business is slow, I only list a few pieces a week -- and I don't make as many pieces, either, although I try to make myself work more because, as with every year, the holiday season is just around the corner.  September-February are my best months of the year.  (I guess January-February are people who received gift certificates.)

Firing the Kiln Today, and Summer Doldrums

 Summer doldrums have already set in for me, and it's not even officially summer yet.  But I did finally get a mixed kiln-load of pieces finished.  (The following info might be too much for an experienced clay artist but possibly informative for a beginner.) What I mean by a mixed load is that part of the kiln (the bottom) is packed really tightly with pieces that are raw clay that has been completely dried; and since they aren't glazed, can be touching each other, even lying on top of each other in some instances.  The upper part of the kiln has been carefully loaded with bisqued (prefired) pieces, painted, and glazed.  I put the glazed pieces in the top of the kiln so that  in the unlikely chance that a raw piece would blow, my glazed pieces wouldn't be damaged.  (That has only happened once or maybe twice early in my over 30-year career as a clay artist.  Has it really been that long??) 

For firing, I set the firing schedule for a slow glaze fire, which causes less of a temperature shock to the bisque pieces.  Tomorrow, I'll report on the outcome.  A mixed load is not something I normally do, but I have been working slowly lately (retail sales are slow in the summer, and I've already finished my gallery orders for the summer, and I'm spending as much time outdoors as I possibly can because working in my gardens is fun).  I'll show a shot of the finished kiln either tomorrow or the next day, depending on how cool it is.

Another thing lately that is a little disappointing is that some of my new works aren't receiving as much interest as my standard pieces that I've worked on and perfected sometimes for decades, such as my dog, cat, and fish wall pieces.  I still love them all and make them regularly, but I also want to try new pieces that haven't been perfected.  Unfortunately, those new pieces just aren't as well received.  Plus, because each one is very unique, they take a lot, lot longer to make, and hence I have to charge more for them.  I'll continue to make them, though, because I enjoy doing it, it stretches my creative parts of my brain, and somewhere, somewhere out there is someone who is going to fall in love with at least a few of them from time to time.  It's something I've wanted to do for many years, but for the most part, I was doing only what the public wanted, and they wanted a lot of my standard pieces.  

I absolutely love these two cuties! Their names are Simon Slick and Samantha Louann, by the way.

I think I've mentioned that I used to have a quite large wholesale business, including employees, a huge studio to die for, lots of kilns, etc., etc.  It probably sounds great, but it was a miserable existence, I must say.  "All work and no play ....."  And for reasons that I have probably already mentioned, it all came crashing down (coincidentally, it coincided with the 9/11 attack, which just added salt to the wound)  After my business crash happened and I got over the shock, which took a while, I slowly and carefully, on a much smaller scale, started selling to some of my galleries again.  Only in the last few years have I mostly stopped selling to any galleries (I have only two now, one of which has come on very recently, and there won't ever be more).  

This is a rambling post, mostly because it's the "summer doldrums" and because I tend to wander.  It's so odd to know what I can safely say and what I cannot say, so I just wander instead.  Anyway, I'll report my firing results when I can.  In the meantime, check out some of my less standard pieces on Etsy sometime if you like (https://www.etsy.com/shop/DottieDracos).  If no one buys them, it's okay; I'll continue to make them anyway and display them in my own house because I think they're adorable.  Nothing too edgy or political; I don't go there at least publicly, sad to say.  

Yesterday, I orchestrated a 16-and-a-half birthday dinner for my granddaughter!

 My granddaughter's birthday is very close to Christmas, and all of us, her close family members, are usually really busy that time of year.  We've always talked about giving her a half-birthday, but it's never happened (except when she was six months old).

Our way of celebrating a birthday is to have a private dinner at home, with the birthday person choosing every part of the dinner.  She has chosen, no surprise to us, a sushi feast.  And for dessert, she's chosen her dad's family-famous cinnamon cake, created originally by her late paternal grandmother.

Making sushi might seem like a rather simple task, but not at our houses.  We go all out and add just as many goodies as a nori sheet can hold without exploding, or being too large to get into our mouths.  So we had to start at least an hour and a half ahead of time because veggies had to be cut just so and asparagus had to be panko-breaded, tempura shrimp cooked (yes, they're insects of the sea, so I have no problem eating them.  I make my own vegetarian rules!  And I'm comfortable with insects, not that I've eaten any intentionally, except for these specific shrimp).

For decorations, we had a "Happy ... " banner, and balloons, some full, some half-full.  The cake had 16 tall candles and 1 "half-candle."  Oh, and I stumbled through "Happy Birthday," skipping every other syllable."   

It was silly, I know, but everyone had a very nice time, and the dinner and dessert were excellent.

Oh, one roll was so filled that after it was cut, a few of the pieces did "explode."

Sorry, I didn't know how to blur her face, so I scribbled on it in edit.  Here's her simple-looking but delicious cake with the candles.

And here's one way-overloaded sushi in progress: (there's not quite enough rice in the photo.  I added more before I rolled it.)  No shrimp in this one, just carrot, cream cheese, avocado, asparagus, cucumber, and I can't tell what else.  We had run out of daikon, and it can't be bought locally, so that was disappointing.

Enough of this Morbid Stuff!!

 There was a popular song long, long ago called, "I'm gonna live 'til I die."   I should have plastered its lyrics all over my fridge!  Here are the most important lyrics from it:

I'm gonna live till I die
I'm gonna laugh 'stead of cry
I'm gonna take the town and
Turn it upside down
I'm gonna live, live, live till I die

They're gonna say "What a guy!"
I'm gonna play for the sky
Ain't gonna miss a thing I'm
Gonna have my fling
I'm gonna live, live, live till I die

The blues 'll lay low I'll make 'em stay low
They'll never trail over my head
I'll be a devil till I'm an angel
But until then, Halelujah! Gonna dance
Gonna fly i'll take a chance ridin' high
Before my number's up I'm gonna fill my cup
I'm gonna live, live, live, live
Live until I die

That's all for today.  It's a much better message than the previous post.

Lifespans

That's an awful thing to think about, I guess, but it is constantly in the back of my mind, occasionally in the front.  I've lived longer than the ages of my parents and all my grandparents, with most of them dying of cancer of one sort or another.  Fortunately, I have never had even a scare and am monitored rather closely due to the amount of cancer that seems to run in my family lines.  Positively, though, both my maternal great grandparents lived into their mid-to-late 90's.  My great grandfather died at 98 from heart problems but lived most of his life quite healthily.  I lived near them and knew them both very well, up into my mid 40's.  I adored my great grandfather because he was a kind, quiet person.  And one of the things I enjoyed most was for hours at a time, he would tell me about his life and what went on in the rural Southern farm country where he grew up.  

My great grandmother was not so friendly, but she loved me and I learned a lot from her anyway, especially about cooking.  Until their retirement, they owned and ran a large boarding house, and Grandmother was the boss of the entire enterprise, telling Granddaddy and others what to do.  She did all the cooking for the tenants, and she was an excellent and efficient cook and housekeeper.  I learned so much about cooking techniques just by hanging out in her kitchen and watching her cook.  Being a Southerner, she baked biscuits, lots of chicken and dumplings (which the dumplings always seemed to me to have almost no weight and might float right out of the huge pot she cooked them in, and she made incredible desserts, especially during holidays.

But she was an all-business person, whereas Granddaddy was always a very meek, quiet sweetheart.  Up until his death, his favorite "job" was tending a fairly small household vegetable garden, and he definitely had a green thumb.  Maybe that's why I always love to garden, just watching him at work in his garden.  

Regarding Granddaddy's garden, I did do one thing that was absolutely awful when I was a young pre-teenager.  Among other veggies, he grew huge, tasty, and beautiful turnips, and I always loved the turnip roots.  So I would sneak a plant out of the ground from time to time, pull off the turnip, and stick the plant back into the ground.  I often wonder if he ever knew I did that,; but knowing him, if he did know, he would only  have chuckled about it.

So back to my lifespan title:  How long will I live?  Obviously, any of us could get hit by a meteorite at any moment, fall off a ladder, have a car accident, etc., etc.  But, putting aside all those possibilities, I think we (I) most often wonder, and fear in my case, that we'll come down with some slow-moving illness or condition which inevitably will lead to our demise.  That's my greatest fear, especially with so many cancers in my family.

But there is also one condition I fear even more than cancer, and that's cognitive decline.  I think, like many people my age, I have situations of forgetfulness every day, oftentimes several times a day.  Those worry and frighten me!  I simply couldn't bear becoming dependent on others for my "care."  

I do everything in my power to avoid that most-fearful of maladies.  I exercise physically every day, always challenge my mind, I eat extremely nutritional foods, drink no alcohol (except for a sip of my daughter's wine from time to time). I get frequent medical checkups (there's never anything wrong except for a very small blood pressure issue that's been the same for well over a decade.; and I have dealt with hypothyroidism, perfectly corrected with medication, for over two decades.)

And I have a great purpose in life, too:  I absolutely love my work, if it can be called work since I enjoy it so much.  I don't make much doing it, but I look forward to getting started in my studio every morning, and I very often think about new ideas that I want to try -- almost daily, in fact.

Socially, I have my family just next door.  I don't have a social life outside my family, which I suppose is considered a negative, but except for my bouts of depression, which have existed my entire life, I have a happy, contented, full life.

So maybe all those factors will give me the opportunity to have many more healthy, happy, productive years of life.  My goal isn't to live past a time when I'm not able to live independently or with purpose; it's to be able to extend an independent purposeful life.  

Oh, and one final goal:  As I've mentioned before, I think, I'm reading Marcel Proust's "A la Recherche du Temps Perdu," (In search of -- or studying -- lost times), and I absolutely must get to the end of it!!  (It's the longest novel ever written, and I'm only 17+ percent through it.)

What My Blog is to Me -- and Why do I Write It

 First of all, I don't know how to write a blog.  I know I need to do some studying on it, but as with my artwork, I fear it might make me seem and feel fake, not genuine, not sincere.  And I think I'm lazy sometimes. 

Also, I don't even know why I'm writing a blog.  I think they're probably very outdated, actually.  

And how do I perceive my blog?  I don't know.  Maybe it's for my family, or just a journal/record, for myself, for "posterity," maybe it's a self-centeredness on my part.  Am I special enough to have a blog?  I don't know; I doubt it.  But I guess one could get all philosophical and say that, actually, we all are special in some way.  But I'm not that kind of person.  So I guess I'm writing  it for  -- who knows why.  I do get some pleasure from it, pouring out my often-jumbled thoughts rather randomly.  

I'm writing it because I want to.  Even if no one else ever reads it, I'm going to write it.  And I'll talk about whatever comes to mind on each day I write.  Some days I'll brag- or moan - about my artwork, talk about the process of creating a piece from raw clay, maybe about how I can make bread better -- and faster -- than anyone else I know, how I enjoy making "hot oil" for my granddaughter who spreads it on her toast made, of course, from the endless supply of bread I make for her and the rest of my family,  how I love my gardens, how I'm really fit for a 79-year-old, how I used to love to travel and did it a LOT - but am now too afraid to do it.  How a year ago I found out that I have a much younger sister (16 years younger) that I've never met and is the sister I always dreamed of having -- if I had known I had one, that is.  How much I love feeding the wild birds who gather in front of my house twice every day -- and the hummingbirds who come and go all day long and don't even mind if I'm around when they come to feed, summer and winter.  And how being old definitely has its drawbacks, but there are so so many positives as well. 

In Support of Doodles, Doodling, and Creativity

Doodle, what a funny-sounding word.  In my previous post, I mentioned that I made a couple of pieces inspired by doodles,  one by my daughter and one by my granddaughter.  I failed to mention that also the two birds I made based on a cone shape were inspired by a doodle I did some time ago and just ran across.  

I have a small kitchen table where I and usually, either or both, my daughter and granddaughter have coffee and chat with me for a while most mornings.  I have purposely set up the table to encourage doodling.  I have a tin of pencils, markers, colored pencils, etc., and always a sheet of paper.  I leave the same sheet of paper until I feel it's sufficiently filled; then I tape it to the wall for study - or enjoyment, or both.  It's just amazing what comes out of our heads sometimes when we're relaxed and "no one is watching."

Speaking of watching, now that my granddaughter knows that I'm "watching," she has become more reluctant to doodle, or more aware of her doodling.  I think it might be a matter of self-consciousness on her part, and I hope she becomes like a goldfish in a tank, unaware of my curious, eager eye.

This thought brings up another one:  Have you ever noticed (well, of course you have!) that you behave differently w!hen you are alone versus when others are around you?  I think I'm more creative when I'm alone and have no defined direction when I'm working with clay.  Quite like doing a doodle, in fact.

Which brings me to another though:  When I see the works of other artists, completely without my consciousness, I absorb what they have done in their works.  When I then go into my studio and begin one of my "freewheeling" days of "work," their works influence what I do -- negatively.  I think that's because it's not my style, whatever that is, but I have ruined many a potentially good piece because of having seen how someone else did something.  For that reason, I'm rather careful about avoiding others' artwork.  Obviously, it's nearly impossible to glimpse others' works from time to time just in going about one's day, but at least for me, it's best to avoid it as much as possible.  Many times, I just let the clay and my hands drive what I do.

I think I mentioned that I recently read a book that dealt somewhat with creativity, where it was mentioned that sometimes putting constraints on a project can even enhance creativity.  In fact, that's one of the reasons I tried the two cone-shaped birds I made.   I constrained my free-flying mind to think "inside the box" and rely on making something new out of a simple shape.

I want to end with saying that I don't think I'm some great artist; I'm not.  But I love what I do, and so do a lot of other people apparently.  It's not fine art by any stretch, but it's good, honest, diligent, decent, etc., work that I'm proud of.  And if one of my pieces makes someone's life even a tiny bit better, I'm happy to have had a part in that improvement.  I see my little pieces as having personalities:  kind, interested, non-judgmental, friendly, a little off-kilter, maybe; and I hope that's what others see in them, too.  They make me smile, too, even smile back at them.

New Glaze Firing Thursday Night -- and the Grand Opening this morning, Saturday!

 This past week has been a slow one.  Sometimes I just don't seem to have the energy to put in a good work-week, and this was one of the worst.  And it doesn't help that I had to paint an entire bisqued kilnload, either, because I have a gallery order in there, and it's due very soon.  It's funny; I really like building pieces most of the time, painting much less because painting is so nitpicky.  But this past week, I didn't feel like doing either.  I think I know why:  I really don't like custom work, and I have one custom piece in this kiln -- and I'm still supposed to be making several pieces for a custom request that I haven't even finished building yet.  Any time there's any sort of pressure on me to perform, my perfectionism, hence my procrastination, kicks in, I lock up, and can't complete anything.  It also usually accompanies or contributes to my depression, too -- so I really, really have to stop doing custom work!

I'll see how the kiln came out this, morning.  Unfortunately, I've had to learn over and over the hard truth that if I open the glaze kiln too soon, I absolutely will have some damaged pieces caused by temperature shock.  It's not as big a problem with the bisqued pieces, but still, I need to exercise more self-control!

Okay, I just emptied the kiln, and amazingly, no failures this time.  Yay for my waiting for the kiln to cool!!  It was 71F inside it this morning when I finally, finally got to open it.  I've been doing this for over 30 years, and yet   every     single   time   I have a terrible time waiting.  I'm like one of those little four-year-old kids in the lab experiments where they're left alone in a room with a marshmallow, after having been told they can get two if they can wait 5 minutes before eating it, and most can't wait!

The "realistic dog" on the left was an experiment.  I'm not happy with it (it's actually not as awful as it looks in the photo), but one needs to try new things from time to time.  I love the little guy on the right, though.  He was inspired by a doodle made by my granddaughter.

This bird couple and their cat was something where I played with a simple shape, this time the cone.  Both birds are mostly cones I threw and assembled into what you see.  The tiny cat was just something I pinched together one day.  These two birds actually have names:  The one on the left is Simon Slick, and the one on the right is Samantha Louann.  Sorry, the cat doesn't have a name -- yet.  (The names are in memory of two miniature Mediterranean donkeys we used to have long ago.  We called them Slick and Samantha for short.)

I absolutely love this bird!  Again, it was from a doodle done by my daughter.  It and the little green guy are going to have quite high prices on them because someone interested is going to have to pay more just to get me to give them up.  I often do that with some of my favorite pieces.  If you'll remember in my pricing post, the perceived value of a piece (how much I love it) definitely goes into my pricing of said piece.  And I have lost a few to good homes because of this.

My Small Gardens

 As I  may have mentioned already (my memory is definitely less than perfect these days), I have a small vegetable garden, four 4x12' raised beds, with some space on the sides where I have a mixture of plants, often experimental.  I have  large hollyhocks this year, lots of cosmos that kindly reseed themselves every year, whether in the right place or not, some struggling raspberries, and some daylilies that I've been trying to eliminate for years.  And finally, I'm trying something new:  I used to live in Oregon where delicious blackberries grew wild and often out of control, so finally, this year I have bought two thornless blackberry bushes that are resistant to the extreme cold winters here where I've lived for the past 10 years.   So far, so good.  They even have a couple of flowers on them, so that's encouraging.

My flower gardens are a grab bag:  I have some plants that thrive and some that I never see again.  I've learned to embrace and support the plants that get along with me -- within the constraints, of course, of their tiny plot of land that they inhabit.  I've learned that columbines, Icelandic poppies, sweet William (dianthus barbatus), coral bells, pinks (dianthus fuchsia), red peonies, rose campion, a lychnis chalcedonica (sorry, I don't know its common name, a tall spiky plant

one of my roses after a light rain

a mixture of flowers

dianthus fuchsia (bad pic)

with small red flowers on top), my beloved rose bushes, and, of course, the cosmos, which grows everywhere.  I'm sure I've missed mentioning many more, but these are the ones that stand out and that are most likely easier to grow than other flowers.  

Then my trees and bushes.  I have my hydrangea is barely hanging in there after two full years, two hawthorn trees that grow like weeds, a beloved redbud that has trouble with the awful spring winds here but otherwise grows well.  I have cottonwood, lots of willows, even a couple of small apple trees that I am growing from seeds I gathered from a "feral" apple tree in the woods about a mile away (its fruit is huge and so so sweet, but the deer usually get to most of the fruit before I get there.)  I have one group of three aspen that has made it, sometimes barely, through two winters so far.  I have a beautiful maple that I started from a tiny sapling many years ago, and one pine that I don't even remember where I got it -- a plant sale a few years ago, I think.  I have 15-foot tall lilacs and a large "snowball" bush.  Oh, and way too many currant bushes.  And two grapevines, only one of which produces small but delicious grapes.  And as with my flowers, I'm sure that there are many more that I'm failing to mention.

Oh, my, I must sound so boring!!  But I love all my plants, and we take care of each other.  I tend toward depression, and I can go out and spend some time with my plants, veggies and flowers, and start to feel better right away.

A group of Clay Newbies over the weekend came by my daughter's house

 Some friends of my daughter's came a couple of days ago to learn a bit about working with earthenware clay.  I set up a few simple projects for them, and I think they had a lot of fun.  Just little dishes with plant matter pressed into them kind of stuff.  One person made a small vase that was rather nice but quite thick.  I forget how much some things become naturally acquired over time until I see someone make this mistake.  The walls at the bottom sides are probably 3/4" thick, but the clay I work with is very, very forgiving, so I'll keep it in the sun for a week, and it should fire ok.  It certainly will be stable when in use.  I also made a really cute sitting bird from a single flat circle of clay, but I guess it was too intimidating, so no one tried to make it.  I didn't hang around after I brought all the materials and tools over, so I wasn't there to guide them.  They all were impressed with the kiln room, its two kilns, and the slab roller, though  :)  I let them roll their own slabs.

What surprised me the most, though, is that although I made the wheel available to them, no one wanted to try to throw something.  Maybe I'll post some of their little dishes after they're glazed and fired.  

I've always enjoyed teaching one thing or another throughout my "careers," so I enjoy just getting to do this little bit even now.  I taught undergraduate students while I was in graduate school, I did public school substitute teaching for a while, I taught some people the basics of writing on a stenographic machine (in one of my careers, I was a court reporter), and finally, I've casually taught some English to French-speaking people and French to English-speaking people, both enjoyable as well.