Capitol A'Fair

Got to go to an art fair while I was in North Dakota. It was luckily an overcast morning...Saw some neat pottery including some from students from my previous college where I took ceramics about 17 years ago. My favorite was here (you can click on "here" to visit his site). This lady does a little of everything. Also learned about this guy who was born in Casselton, N.D.

My mom was in the hospital, but was discharged last night. This was due to gallbladder disease and not her cancer. Needless to say, I was busy updating her medical blog so may now pay more attention to mine now. Stay tuned for more pictures from my out-of-state adventure.

p.s. Cindy, I thought you might like the fused glass charm picture.

Last Sunday

Last Sunday all of my mom's children and their respective spouses and offspring were together except for two sons-in-law. After having a post-birthday party for her or unbirthday party, she told us she had two things she wanted us to do---take a family picture and decide which things we wanted of her belongings including the belongings of her ancestors that she has accumulated. She stressed that we didn't have to take the things home now, just label them.

After taking the family pictures, we all went down to the basement and she started the "show and tell"...This was the Bible Commentary that migrated from Germany to Russia and then to America, etc. Some of the females started getting teary-eyed including my mom. I was already exposed to this..my mom already made a brother and I sort through things almost a week prior. My brother kept reminding me that this is what we would've done had she been moving to a condo. That made me feel a lot better about it.

My mom has the deep desire to not leave a mess for her children...She is not giving up hope. She says that if she lives 10 more years, then we will have this done already. If she wants to see her ancestors' things, she will come visit us.

This last picture is of my mom and her granddaughter-by-marriage wearing my mom's wedding dress. My oldest sister is the honorable owner of it now. My mom was so proud that we didn't fight about her belongings, but tried to convince each other to take things.

p.s. Can you guess which family member we dub as our "family clown"?

Hot Rod Mom

Here's my mom borrowing the motorized scooter at the zoo...Like I said in the other post, it was hard keeping up with her...zoom, zoom. Maybe my mom and Chill24 could race someday.

I'm back!

He's back!!! and I'm back from vacation! Here's the Terminator parody my nephews showed me. Check it out if you've seen any Terminator movies.

Update

Thought I'd give a little update...Having some fun in North Dakota. My mom is feeling well, but we are trying to make her rest more than she wants to. She had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and received her chemotherapy, so after she had a lazy day on Thursday (she's usually worn out two days after the treatment) we went to the zoo on Friday and she learned how to drive a motorized scooter. Then it was hard keeping up with her. My brother from Illinois arrived last night with his girlfriend, and today most of the family will be coming to visit. Yay!!! I will get to see my great-nephew again!

As my mom always says, "Have a blessed day!"

Inspired

I started this post last Sunday, and after reading Darla's blog, I have to finish it.

I first met Tom and Gina while going Christmas caroling and thought they were fun people. Tom had this sarcastic-type sense of humor that I could appreciate. He also thought it was funny that the sign in the trailer park said "Happy children playing". We were wondering where the sad and depressed children were. Maybe they were too sad to play.

Last week at church I got to know their history a little more. They have worked in Central Asia and both of them are moving back again. Basically, Tom told us this (paraphrased because this was a week ago)..."We need to be reminded that the Christian life is this big adventure and there are a lot of cool things to do. I know that God will 'take care of me' whatever 'take care of me' means." They described how each piece of their past was used to hone them for God to use them for the present, even the hard times.

Hope this post isn't too choppy...I need to get in the shower...

Will be hitching a ride with my bro' and his fam' to visit my mum up in NoDak for awhile. So, needless to say, my house will be occupied in case you're planning on breaking in. I have a ferocious dog and mean husband that are staying behind, just kidding about the ferocious and mean part. I might blog, I might not. I'm planning on learning what's cool to my teenage nephews and maybe will blog about that.

May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back.....la,la,la, la, laaaa (I don't know how to make a musical note symbol, please imagine one here and please ignore if you don't know this song).

Keeping eyes open for inspiration

The design on the last bowl was copied from a symbol on my new Columbia brand shorts. I would like the bowls better if they weren't so shiny maybe.

What is ugly?

When I found my finished pot on the shelf, I was talking to my mom on the phone. I all of a sudden yelled out "Oh, how ugly!!!" My mom proceeded to remind me that someone might not find this pot ugly after I told her what I found. I was happy with the form when I threw it...even wall thickness, the bottom not being too thick, mostly centered, good shape. I had visions of this being a bowl good enough to give away as a Christmas present. I tried out some glaze that I never tried before called Molasses on the inside and Harvest Plains on the outside.

Sometimes we can be pleasantly surprised with the results or disappointed (in life, also?). I could reglaze this pot and try again, but I'm deciding to keep it this way and maybe I'll grow to like it.

Patience

I first slab-built this pot about two months ago at home just for the purpose of carving, finally got to carving it about a month ago, and now it is glazed and done. Pottery, just like gardening, is reminding me to be patient and not get too attached to pieces...Thinks might not come out as I expected, even crack...but actually this piece is surprisingly similar to what I imagined!

How does your garden grow

This year I'm only growing yard long beans in my half-moon bed and cucumbers in a container on the deck. I miss the tomatoes and peppers, but don't miss watering them. One of these years I'm going to get a drip irrigation system set up on my deck.

I'm going out of town for two weeks...so it's up to my husband to keep them alive.

Little chocolate donuts

Hey Thanks, GoteeMan! I don't remember seeing this skit of Belushi, but sure enjoyed his Samurai skits.

p.s. This is in regards to GoteeMan's comments on le Tour de France.

Missing summer camp?

On Saturday, I just couldn't make anything I was happy with on the potter's wheel, so I made a slab wall pocket that looked like the work of an average 8-year-old. So then yesterday I bought some hemp cord for a clay project and had the hankering to make an anklet or bracelet. I got some pony beads out from my stash of craft supplies and made the anklet above.

Guess I kind of miss not going to summer camp, or at least the arts and crafts part of it.

le Tour de France

These posters are my favorites of the TDF, when they used to take wine and smoke breaks,er, I guess they didn't even take a break to smoke. There was no GU or Powerade back then.

Why I like watching the TDF:

--Getting to hear the European pronunciations of words like tee-moe-BILE (T-Mobile), kilo-MEE-ter (kilometer), and lick-kwee-GAS (LIQUIGAS).

--Riders named Levi, Linus, and Thor.

--The local spectators are spread out and there usually isn't that annoying "roar of the crowd".

--No loud engines as in car races.

--Men not afraid to wear pink.

--It goes on for like a month.

--I dream about how much those guys can eat and not gain an ounce (or milligram) of fat.

Word definitions

Superfluous: Pronunciation: su-'p&r-flü-&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin superfluus, literally, running over, from superfluere to overflow, from super- + fluere to flow
1 a : exceeding what is sufficient or necessary : EXTRA b : not needed : UNNECESSARY
2 obsolete : marked by wastefulness : EXTRAVAGANT

Superflivolous: The word I use when I can't remember the word above.

Last books I read

What do the last two books I've read have in common? They make me thankful that I have enough money to buy soap. Yes, I said soap.

"Lucky Child" is a sequel to "First They Killed My Father" which I read a couple years ago. I didn't know she wrote a sequel until about a month ago. Here is the author's website. I could write all about it, but as you have guessed I don't like writing much and you can just go to her website and read it first hand.

Here's the website for "Under the Overpass".

I highly recommend both books! Thanks,MDWINN, for recommending the second one!

Louie the Pug video

Did you see this yet?

Cucumber blossoms, ants, and a spider

Does anyone know what kind of spider this is?

Pottery

These last little pots were slab-built and are only a few inches tall. I used an unmounted rubber stamp (the same one in my header) for the texture.

Shower for Jenny and Samuel

The ladies at Wheatland Mission held a shower for Jenny and Samuel last Sunday. Even though I'm not to excited about how the pictures turned out, here they are. My pic of Melanie didn't turn out, but she was there and brought her homemade quiches--nummy! Isn't Samuel precious?

Shades of grey

and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.
2 Cor 12:9 MSG

More pots

Post-holiday thoughts

I missed posting for Independence Day, so this is a post-holiday post. Was a little busy working my normal hours and then trying to cram in some celebrating along with it. I am grateful for our country, especially after visiting a third-world country in 2001. I know we have some problems, but basically I think we should count our blessings.

On July 3rd, I watched Standing Silent Nation regarding Native Americans who are now forbidden to grow industrial hemp because of a policy that doesn't differentiate industrial hemp from marijuana. This is a very profitable crop that one cannot get high from. Meanwhile, several other countries such as Canada and Great Britain can distinguish this difference. This also made me think about the Native American population and their sovereignty.

Fireworks were once a big deal for me as part of celebrating Independence Day...not so much anymore since I now own a dog and a house and get to type reports for the burn unit at our hospital. Maybe I should start a campaign to celebrate with stuff "Made in America"...think that would be more patriotic. Oh, but those other countries need to eat, too.

My struggle lately is to remember that most of the news out there is somehow slightly biased. So please take all this with a grain of salt.

I'm thankful that "In God We Trust" is still on our money, even though you don't have to believe in any god to be a citizen.

Words I learned or relearned while reading the book Alive:

- lugubrious
- oligarchs
- imbued
- anthropophagia

p.s. I kept humming that Pearl Jam song.

Cottonwood borer

Figured out this was a
cottonwood borer. My mother-in-law said I needed to put the pictures on my blog, so here they are, Mom! Be sure to click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Picture post