family

My trip to New Hampshire is coming to an end. We are hitting the road today. This has been the most fun trip home for me, since the move to North Carolina. It's probably the most time I have spent with my sister since we were kids. As I have mentioned before we share a birthday. This year we celebrated two weekends in a row. This past Saturday, my parents, along with my brother and sister-in-law came to Wolfeboro for a family dinner.
We are a loud, noisy, French Canadian, family that is always talking over each others conversations... I think Jeff may be ready for some peace and quiet in Seagrove...

My great niece putting pony tails in my mother's hair... I don't think she would have let me do that when I was a kid. As you can see, Memere wasn't happy about me taking a photo and she would be mortified if she knew it was posted on my blog!

We actually were a small crowd this year, none of our kids could make it for dinner, although some of Anita's came later when they got out of work. The only missing sibling was my brother who lives in Alaska.

quick... blow out the candles before the house burns down

 

 

... and I opted to dye the dog black instead orange :-o

Raku with the Kids!

Our raku workshop with the kids at Hillsboro-Deering High School finally happened today after a delay due to the hurricane. It was a great group of kids that was really excited about the day...

 This is a pot created by a student who participated last year, but wasn't in the advanced ceramics class this year. He asked the teacher if he could make some pots and fire with us. We were happy to have him come back and take what he learned last year, one step further.

 fire & flames!

and look, even Santa came to the firing!!

post Sandy update in the 603

I am happy to report that here in Wolfeboro, NH, we weathered the storm quite well. The power only flickered a few times, and there was a minor roof leak near the chimney. I was quite worried about my daughter in CT. since she lives on the Quinnipiac river, near the mouth of Long Island Sound. Her neighborhood had an evacuation notice but she and her neighbors opted to stay put. Thankfully at high tide the water didn't cross the road as predicted but it did flood the entire park across the street. I grabbed this photo from her facebook page...

When I talked to her this morning the water had already receded and the next tide was not expected to be as high.

It's another no school day, which means our raku workshop is postponed until Thursday. It also means that my sister (a middle school French and Spanish teacher) is home again and we get to spend more time together! We were just saying that it feels like Christmas vacation with all of us hanging out together in our p.j.'s until noon time!

Unfortunately, as you all know, other parts of the northeast have not been as fortunate. The devastation we have watched on the news is horrible. I hope those less fortunate than me have a safe, warm place to go to, and that their lives will return to normal soon.

Waiting on Sandy...

Jeff and I have perfect timing when it comes to fall travel. Last Friday we hit the road for New Hampshire to do three raku workshops. Last year we were here in October to experience 2' of snow and massive power outages. This year it's a hurricane!

Jeff was able to do yesterday's workshop, in Wolfeboro, NH, without a hitch. Tomorrow's workshop is kind of iffy... it's at a high school... school is cancelled today and maybe tomorrow as well. We decided to stay put at my sister's home in Wolfeboro for another night, rather than head to our friend Roni's home in Strafford (which is closer to our workshop location). Strafford always seems to lose power and Wolfeboro rarely does.
I have no complaints about spending an extra day with my sister. If you are going to ride out a hurricane, why not do it in a comfortable New England farmhouse, in a picturesque little town!

We have plenty of hurricane supplies... batteries, flashlights, candles, cheese and crackers, and plenty of WINE!

we are back in the '603!

We always get on the road later than planned, so why would this trip be any different? We left Seagrove around 5:30 on Wednesday, drove to as far as somewhere in PA and slept for a few hours. Around 5:30 pm we arrived at Mt. Sunapee Resort in NH. The great thing about this show is that they give you quite a bit of time to set up. We unloaded the trailer and got the walls of the booth up by 8:30 pm. We could have stayed all night to set up if we wanted to, but we were exhausted, and needed to check in with the folks we are staying with (more on that in another post).

This is about as far as we got on Thursday night...

We worked from 9:30 until 4:00 today, leveling the walls (the joys of an outdoor show), and touching up paint that got nicked up during the trip. At 4:00 we needed to quit and get ready for the annual Living with Craft Exhibition Awards. I somehow was asked to present the NH Potters Guild best in Ceramics Awards... which meant having to clean up and look presentable for a swanky wine and cheese affair.
The gates open at 10:00 in the morning... the first of NINE days, smiling and selling pots... we plan to be there at 8:00 am to finish getting those pots on the shelf... and right now, I am enjoying a glass of wine, and the fact that the room is cool with only a fan running. I wish we could spend the month of August in NH, and the rest of the year in beautiful North Carolina.

visitors from the 603

we had a fabulous weekend with our friends Paul and Jennifer Haig.  Paul is a potter and you may have read the post i did about him last month.  they visited lots of potteries in two days and i think they were on pottery overload by saturday night!

Paul checking out the kiln at the NC Pottery Center

Jen making her selections at Dean and Martin

Paul exploring the kiln at Johnston & Gentithes

friday evening we had bbq with all the fixin's.  Jeff Dean and Stephanie Martin joined us.  it was pouring rain outside so we had to eat indoors.  we were so busy cooking and chatting up a storm that i never thought to get my camera out until everyone had left and the dishes were washed...

anyone want to guess the makers?

we had such a great time and look forward to more visits from Jen and Paul and the rest of our NH family and friends.