Hot, Hot, Hot!

This heat has been killing me. I feel like work is done at a snail's pace. The window AC in our pottery studio hasn't been able to keep the room cool by late afternoon. I try to get what I need done by 4:00 pm. At that time of day the temperature has reached 85 degrees and it's time to quit. I really don't know how we managed to work without AC when we were in the log cabin. I guess we didn't know any better... and were four years younger.

Some of our flowers and vegetables are struggling with the heat. We have also had very little rain, which means we have had to water. Since we are on town water, that gets expensive. The old well and pump are still here on the property. A few months back we had our electrician update some of the wiring and hopefully we will get it running soon. It would be great to not pay for studio water and watering gardens.

The tomatoes are plentiful and should be ripening soon. Jeff isn't sure what's up with the beans. There is great foliage but not a lot of flowers, and very few beans. The Japanese beetle battle has been a painful one this year.

Last night we had enough okra to fry. It was a delicious treat. Along with a tomato pie and salad, it was the perfect southern summer meal. It seems we have to check the okra twice a day or you end up with a few giants! The big one in the photo will get dried and used for seeds next Spring.

Our resident black snake has been circling the perimeter of the house on a regular basis. It's hard to tell from the glare in this photo, but it is nearly six feet long now. We assume this is the same one that Jeff removed from inside the studio while we were under construction four years ago. It was a small snake then. Last year it managed to find it's way into the basement. Black snakes are good snakes. Hopefully it's keeping our rodent population down. I enjoy watching it through the sliding glass door and definitely prefer snakes to not come in the house.

I hope my readers are able to keep cool during this heat wave. I feel bad for people in the northeast, where air conditioning isn't the norm for many homes. I am so looking forward to Tuesday, when cooler temperatures are predicted.

Saying Good Bye To June

I have been a terrible blogger this year. Jeff and I continue to make pots, cook great meals, and work on our gardens, but blogging seems to have been put on the back burner. I keep waiting for that spark that will ignite the flame for me to get back to writing.

Escargot Begonia

Hibiscus - I bought this in the Spring. It was my mother's favorite flower. Lately I have been dreaming about Mum three or four nights a week.

We finally had some tractor work done in the back lot and burned a lot of brush. Our garden looks a little scrappy, but we will work it some each year to make it more attractive. In the end it's the veggies we produce that really matter.

Arroz Borracho con Pollo (drunken chicken with rice) and chile rellenos with salsa rojas

Sorry for the out of focus photo!

I recently spent a Sunday afternoon icing a very swollen, bee stung hand. Since I was incapacitated I watched a couple of cooking shows on PBS. I really enjoyed Pati's Mexican Table and decided that as soon as my hand was working again I would make the dishes she demonstrated on the episode I watched. I knew the arroz borracho con pollo would be easy... I wasn't sure about the chile rellenos. In the end the chiles and the salsa rojas were time consuming but not difficult... and worth the effort! I can't wait to make the salsa rojas with our own garden tomatoes. Here is a link to the website with recipes from the show: Pati's Mexican Table

So I have finally put some words out here on the internet and the only connection to pottery is the plate in the last photo! The plate has a little history. It's the first plate that Jeff made that he was really happy with and kept for himself. He made it when he was living in Wilmington, NC. That makes the plate about 34 years old. I imagine that means it is either vintage or an antique.

Warm Weather... Finally!

While my family and friends in New Hampshire are anticipating yet another snow storm, I have been busy planting tomatos and herbs, in 80 degree weather...


The garlic is coming up and I planted a couple of tomatos next to them. Our swiss chard survived the winter and is doing quite well now.

We do a lot of garden pots because the soil here has lots of roots and is hard to dig up. When Jeff comes back from S. Korea he may dig up a new area, on the side of the studio, to replant some of the basil, oregano, and rosemary that I put in pots.

While I have been busy in the garden, Jeff has been making teapots and tea bowls...

Tomorrow is a glazing day. We need to fire the gas kiln at the beginning of next week.

Jeff... could you go outside and put stakes in the tomato plants?

so he did...

we now have "artfully" staked tomatoes

birds, plants & pottery

we have hummingbird feeders in various locations around the house and studio... the birds are so entertaining.  here in seagrove we have a different species than the ones commonly found in NH... they aren't quite as colorful but still beautiful...

...and very difficult to photograph! (the bird is on the left if you look very closely).

the garden surrounding the entrance to our gallery... some larger birds have been enjoying jeff's birdbaths

porchulaca growing in the garden... this is the first time i have grown this.  i love not only the flowers but the beautiful leaves as well. 

and i really did get some work done in the studio...

i think we will have another bisque kiln to fire this week!

studio farmers

in the spring we decided to try our hand at growing tomatos...we waited too long to purchase our plants and all that was left at the garden center was one lone tomato plant...



we nurtured it as well as we do our pots and look at our luscious bounty!

we grew our tomato plant outside the studio next to our water supply... we collect rain water into a barrel for all of our studio needs...check out john's creative plumbing for our faucet...

...next year we will expand our farming efforts to at least one more tomato plant!!!