Life struggles

It's been a rough few weeks for us. Since my last post was about preparations for hurricane Florence, it's only fitting that this post start with hurricane Michael. Here in Seagrove, NC we were fortunate that both storms were downgraded by the time they reached us. Florence brought a lot of flooding to nearby roads, but we were safe. The power was out for about twelve hours. We had rain for days.

Michael arrived yesterday morning. It was fast moving, with the worst of the storm hitting us around 3 pm. The power was out for just under 7 hours. The rain ended in the evening and we were able to cook dinner on the gas grill, by the light of a solar lamp. We grilled some shrimp and made a spicy red sauce on the side burner. We dined by candlelight in the living room. It was actually an enjoyable meal.

Over the years I have shared photos, and stories, of our beautiful cat Sophie. Shortly before we were headed to New Hampshire this summer, Sophie decided to become a picky eater. She was losing weight and strength. It was really hard to leave her. If not for our good friend Bonnie, who I knew would give her excellent care, I would have cancelled our plans.

When we returned home we went back to the vet again. An appetite stimulant helped a little but it was a struggle to buy, or cook food that she would eat. She was losing ground every week. On October 2nd we knew it was time to say good bye to our sweet girl. She was 17 years old and lived a good long life. I miss her so much.

Needless to say between hurricane Florence and Sophie's decline, our work schedule suffered. We had to scramble to recover and I will admit that there were some overwhelming days. Our largest order was out of the kiln in the nick of time. We were unloading and sanding pots on Saturday morning right up until the scheduled pick up.

The dinnerware set came out great. Both buyers and potters were very happy! This is Jeff's pattern so he threw all the pieces. My contribution was bisque kiln prep, a little glazing, and sanding bottoms. He actually trimmed the plates during hurricane Florence, when we had no electricity. He moved his Japanese kick wheel to the full length glass door in the studio/gallery for more light. Sometimes you have to improvise!
With the passing of this latest storm, I am hoping to be out of my funk and do a little more than just the necessities. Check back in a few days to see how that's going.