2016-01-12 - Tuesday - Binkley and bowls

On Tuesday when I let Binkley out the neighbor's cat was in the backyard again but Binkley never saw it. It's comical. At his age he couldn't chase it if his life depended on it, so it's just as well that he didn't see it.

Tuesday night I went to Clayworks to continue work on Empty Bowls. I had already put everything away when I remembered to take a photo so I took one of the empty table and post it to Facebook and told people to use their imagination.

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2016-01-11 - Monday - Delhom Collection and David Bowie

Monday I went to the Mint Museum at lunch with quite a few of the Delhom members to see the Delhom Collection. Brian Gallagher gave a great tour with lots of background information on many of the pieces. It was pretty amazing.

On Sunday night I found out that David Bowie had died. Apparently he had been quietly battling cancer for eighteen months. He lived his life as an artist and died the same way --his way, with dignity and grace.

With everything that's been written about him the last few days there is nothing I can add here that needs to be said.

I was moved by his passing and I pulled out a pencil sketch I drew in 1977 of his portrait from the Changesonebowie album and posted it on Facebook as my small tribute to the man who was a major part of my life's soundtrack.

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2016-01-10 - Sunday - Mossy sunlight

Sunday I noticed the afternoon sunlight on the moss in our driveway and stopped to take a photo. I really like the moss that grows on the driveway and the angle of the sun made me think of an old growth forest or the Shire from middle earth.

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2016-01-09 - Saturday - Empty Bowls

On Saturday I went to Clayworks to work on Empty Bowls for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina's Empty Bowls event. I'll be making them for at least a week and then I will be glazing them next week.

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2016-01-08 - Friday - Also...

With the unusually warm December we had, some of the plants are very confused. The daffodils are coming up about a month early and the holly ferns are fiddle-heading two or three months ahead of schedule. I hope we don't get a heavy snow that damages them.

I noticed this blanket thrown on the bed looked like a hooded robe which made me think of jawas from Star Wars. It's the little things, and the nerdy things... ok, it's the little nerdy things that make the day.

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2016-01-08 - More things that happened

Final catch-up.

01/01/2016:

Happy New Year! We had lots of great meals at Karen's brother Scott's house. He and Rich really lay out wonderful table.

Family around the table on New Year's Day.

01/02/2016:

Back in Charlotte and tired from the drive, we got some Chinese takeout. I felt a bit cheated by this fortune.

01/06/2016:

I've started doing my part of the annual Empty Bowls for Second Harvest Food Bank. We always make 300 bowls at Clayworks for the event so everyone is hard at work.

01/07/2016:

Our canker worm moth traps are doing their job. Last spring/summer the leaves on our maple trees looked like doilies because the canker worms had ravaged them. The flightless female moths climb the trees to lay their eggs at the top. The banding breaks the cycle by not letting them get to the top. As they only live a day or two in their adult form this is very effective.

Those wingless insects on the plastic are the moths.

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2016-01-07 Where have I been?

It's been a while and life has been very busy. Here we go with some updates.

When last we left off, I was getting ready for the holiday sale.

On Friday 12/11/15:

Getting set up for the sale.

I finally figured out where to put the hydra light --in the ceiling.

I went to Sears to get some staples for hanging the drop cloths in the garage and found a bunch of bag worm cocoons in the junipers outside the store. Quite a few of them.

Bag worm cocoons.

A huge hillside of them.

On Saturday 12/12/2015:

The sale was good, especially for a holiday sale in 75 degree weather.

Kim's banner.

Our snacks for the sale (and sunscreen).

 Saturday night:

Karen's company Christmas party.

Me and Karen.

Sunday 12/13/2015:

Taking down the sale.

Saturday 12/19/2015:

Monday 12/21/2015:

I found some TINY mushrooms growing out of the maple tree out back. I also found some brown lacewing larvae that cover their backs with moss and lichen. Cool stuff.

I used my clip-on macro lens for my phone which has a really short focus length so bear with me on this.

These are really tiny.

I like the barnacle-yness of the lichen.

Zooming out to show the scale.

REALLY tiny.

12/25/2015:

Our Christmas was pretty quiet. Meredith came home for more than a week and it was nice having a full house again for a while.

Meredith with Binkley and his Christmas bone.

Stephanie throwing wrapping paper at me.

Overnight cinnamon rolls.

12/31/2015:

The day after Christmas we went to Pennsylvania to visit family for the holidays. We had a great time for the week.

On New Year's Eve, my brother Dave took me to his favorite Thai restaurant where they decorate the plates with various sauces. The woman there really does beautiful work.

Tofu in mango sauce with a beautiful design.

A closer look.
I love the addition of the swirl with all those geometrics.

For dessert we had the dream bomba which is
chocolate covered peanut butter ice cream with a caramel center
--and an umbrella.

Dave's dessert plate artwork.

Mine.

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