Monday, August 27, 2018

Birthday Weekend

Grant samples a ceramic ice cream cone...
Saw a chalk art area on the street...
And, saw some interesting facades...
Fantastic chalk art donuts...
Seeing Mark Ryden art with Mark Ryden's friends...
Amazing...
Our traditional birthday dinner location...
Evvia has the yummiest crispy calamari...
We had our usual dessert...
My dad left this out on the coffee table...
Can't wait to fire Andy and Gabe's creations...

Glaze Marathon

These headed into the kiln for the last time...
These are finally ready for their second firing...
Small bottles need sanding, then firing...
Love this new slip trailer...
Trying to hurry along some flower heads...
Made some dotted plates...
These went into the kiln...

Saturday, August 25, 2018

First Clay Project

Using our bargain basement slab rollers...
Students worked from their rough sketches...
These will hopefully dry quickly...
And, we'll glaze them next week...
All of the faces fit easily into Neville the Mini...
And, they made it safely into my garage...
The lovely librarians surprised me mightily...

Thursday, August 23, 2018

"If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity." Albert Einstein



During the summer, I spent a bit of time reading about the lives of the many women who worked as British SOE agents during WWII.  The research was heartbreaking. These women were carefully trained to be able to be parachuted into France, or other Nazi occupied countries. Their job was to blend in, to look, and to act normal. But, they were anything but normal. They operated radios, helped resistance organizations to destroy Nazi controlled plants, roads, and bridges. They sent messages, and linked up networks. They took terrible, life threatening risks. Many were tortured. Many ended up dying in concentration camps, being shot as spies.

I walked away from this research a different person. It's important to stand up and speak out in our world today. Currently, we live in a free country. We have been granted the right to express our opinions. For twenty years, I have worked with children, many of them immigrants from other countries. It bothers me that we are going to forget the kids that have been separated from their parents. The news cycle will move on to other train wrecks, because that is the formula of this administration. "Look over here!" We all look. Well, the kids are still waiting. The parents are still waiting. I decided to start posting comments on our vice president's Instagram page. This morning, a young man, who appears to be about age 20 or so, sent me a rude reply. He told me that I didn't care about the kids being separated during the previous administration, implying that I'm a hypocrite. He didn't know about my years as a teacher. My years of meeting with Spanish speaking parents. Had he read about the kids being molested in these centers, or drugged to stop them from crying? It's the usual blame game. Obama started it. And, because that is the rationale, it means that it's okay? 

Here's the point that I want to make, and I think that the SOE agents have given me courage. When we are silent, we imply consent. If I don't say anything, this administration thinks that they have the green light. Our president's campaign manager was interviewed on the news this morning, and he actually said that the American people don't really care about Trump paying off women with campaign funds. We are just "happy that the economy is going well". We recently heard the president's attorney declare that "Truth isn't truth." Well, I do care that we're using campaign funds unethically. And, truth is not relative. It is as constant as the North Star. Lying is lying. And, bigotry is bigotry. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. is famously quoted for saying, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." I think it matters that our country is being taken for a ride by a lying con man. I have been writing to my representatives. But, now I'm going to write to our president and our vice president daily. I realize that it will be a shout in the darkness, but, it's a shout nonetheless. And, if everyone who believes in ethical government, regardless of party affiliation, joined with me in writing them daily, then maybe things would change. Maybe kids would be freed.








Sunday, August 19, 2018

The Day-Before-School-Starts Hustle

Skipped a flea market run to stay home and glaze...
Thankfully, these are done...
The small televisions need one more kiln blast...
Going to test out a few plates in the next kiln...
The smaller yard sign is finished...
The color starts with the flowers...

Nine Decades of Larry

A giant family potluck for Larry's birthday...
Darryl and Kristina talked on the patio...
Brad and Jana also chatted...
Mary and Ethan had birthday cake...
Erin and Andy sat in the family room...
Ben and Tyler traveled across the backyard...
Finally, we shared some birthday cake...
Returned home to start adding color to these pieces...

Friday, August 10, 2018

Goofing Off / Birthday Present Hunting

Started the day with some dog grooming...
Took the shortcut to avoid traffic...
Saw this gentleman transferring a mural in Salinas...
He was working from a gridded drawing...
I headed next door for a tuna melt...
Then I scrounged around an antique store...
I'm looking for the perfect gift for a friend...
But, I couldn't see anything for him...
So, I'll be shopping online tonight...
Headed home through artichoke country...
He still seems bitter about the close ear crop...

Surgery Week Two

I was lucky that the doctor didn't saw off my bakelite bracelets that I've worn for over 20 years. Some of them are really old. Inst...