Still Kind of Retired

 I'm still both painting and working with clay.    Definitely choosing to play more and work less than in the past.  As my clay/painting pendulum continues to swing, I'm at this moment leaning more toward painting than clay.  As I often do, I have begun to burn out on clay for now.  I still have my commissioned work and am using my pottery wheel more all the time in my sculptures.  I have reached a point with my large dog, cat, and rooster sculptures that I can throw almost all the body parts (entire core of the animal, legs, and head) on the wheel and, with a lot of "finessing" assemble them all into a pretty good dog sculpture.  I still build the tail, ears, face parts, etc., but all the rest is thrown and assembled.  I won't say it's much easier, but at least it's different and thus more enjoyable.

I've (kind of) retired

 As I stated in my last entry, I have finally turned my wholesale business over to my daughter, Lara Mogensen.  I will still be selling a few ceramic pieces on Etsy,  (https://www.etsy.com/shop/DottieDracos) but am now doing "whatever I want to do!"  

In addition to making one-of-a-kind ceramic pieces, I'm also still painting, including doing custom paintings.  I have one going now, in fact, an absolutely gorgeous English springer spaniel, liver, who should be finished in the next week or so.  And I am painting a pretty little black-and-grey tabby cat next for another customer.  I'm not going to take more than a few custom paintings a year, though, because again, I want to do whatever I feel like doing on any given day.

Gardening has become a renewed passion for me now, too, and I've created a small but beautiful and tranquil front-yard garden.  I would do more in the rest of my yard, but the wind here in Ellensburg, WA, has other ideas.  Every time I've tried planting anything outside my small protected front yard, the wind literally blows the plants to pieces.  I just this summer bought a lot of tree starts that I hope will eventually give me a bit more calm in my yard.  Barriers such as fences provide almost no protection because the wind just blows over the top.  If I stand within around 5 feet of the fence, the air is calm.  Beyond that, it's ferocious still.

Also on the gardening subject, except for the very wet, very cool summer up to now, my vegetable garden looks better than ever -- except that my poor tomatoes and peppers are all huddled up together to try to stay warm.  I have a few little knobs here and there that under a normal summer would be nearly ripe fruits by now.  Oh, well, I have already gotten enough other goodies to call my garden this year a success.  All my "greens" and herbs have been thriving in this unusual weather this year (thanks to La Nina, I hear).  

Things are about to change, though:  The forecast for the next week is over 100 every day.  If my fruiting veggies aren't too shocked by the sudden heat, perhaps many of them will actually grow and ripen.

I also have some goodies going in my little front yard, finally.  My white seedless grape vine is overloaded with grapes this year, the raspberries I planted early this spring are finally fruiting, I have had a smattering of strawberries, and for the first time this year, my black currant bush is loaded with very yummy tiny fruits -- perfect for picking off the bush on an early evening browsing tour of my year.

All in all, (semi)retirement is a good thing.  I do get a bit lonely, but that's because of my tendencies toward being a loner.  My only friend outside my family has moved away, so I really don't socialize outside my family at all anymore, although I am considering doing some volunteer work at the local Habitat store, not only to help them out but also just for getting out among people more.  

I continue to immerse myself in the study of the French language, as I have for many years.  I don't know a single person who also speaks French, so it's a rather lonely endeavor, but I guess you could call it one of my "hobbies."  I have finally graduated to watching pretty much any streaming movie or show I can find dubbed in French with no subtitles of any sort.  I can't say I understand every single word, but I certainly follow the story perfectly well.  Plus I continue to read books written in French by French authors every single day.  It's a very rewarding pursuit. I should add that there are no French language groups or organizations such as l'Alliance Francaise, anywhere near Ellensburg, by the way, so I'm totally on my own.  That's okay, though.  I can handle it.

I had planned way, way back in 2019 to go to France again in 2020, but we all got sidelined with all our plans back then.  This year, I just still don't feel comfortable going yet.  Maybe 2023 will work for me.  We'll see.  

Not that anyone's interested, but more to come, anyway.  Just my musings.

 Again, to my wholesale customers:  

I have finally decided to retire (it's that time!) and have the business taken over by my daughter and business partner, Lara Mogensen.  Many of you may know her if you attended the Philadelphia show in 2018, I think it was (maybe 2019).  She and her husband attended the show and really enjoyed meeting all of you who stopped by.