Goodbye April, Hello May

April sure did fly by. It was a busy month for us with orders, Empty Bowls, and the Celebration of Spring Potter Tour. In between making pots we needed to clean up the studio, gallery, and yard.

I had it in my head for some time now, that I wanted a picnic table in the front yard. A place for pottery guests to rest or even have a picnic. As many know, dining in Seagrove is rather limited, but when the weather is good it's a beautiful area to picnic. We bought a picnic table kit from Lowe's. The price was right but it needed some elbow grease. Lots of sanding and then a coat of weather seal before assembling. When we were finished, we realized the seats are too low. The pre-drilled holes were an inch lower than they were supposed to be. Even with the extra inch the height would not have been great. Jeff is going to take it apart and drill new holes.

Next on my wish list is to hang a swing from this giant tree! They now sell a swing that comes with tree-friendly straps. Finding someone with a tall ladder (or a boom truck!) to hang it, is a whole other conundrum.

The Spring tour was successful. Our sales weren't any better than the previous year, but we sure had a lot of people through the gallery. At the end of the weekend we were happy and I got some work completed by giving carving demonstrations.

Today we are glazing and loading the kiln. If at all possible we will fire tomorrow.

Thank You Everybody!

A big thank you to all who came out to our anniversary event yesterday. We enjoyed seeing our collectors as well as meeting new people. Traffic was slower than our summer event last year and who knows why! Last year it was 100+ degrees out and we had steady traffic all day. Yesterday's temps were much more tolerable, yet there were fewer people out and about.
Even thought it wasn't 100 degrees, keeping food out in the summer is always tricky. Jeff and I hit upon the idea of using one of his big cache pots as a pasta salad chiller.

We filled the cache pot with ice and then set a smaller bowl inside of it... worked like a charm! I was also glad that I was able to find a new "screen tent" to keep the flies out of it.

Now that this weekend is out of the way, our main focus will be finishing Jeff's pots so we will be ready for the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair. We will be leaving in 10 days. YIKES!

An evening at the vineyard

Saturday evening we went out to Zimmerman Vineyards, in Trinity, NC, for their monthly Saturday Music Series. The weather was spectacular. We enjoyed a picnic and music on the patio that overlooks the vineyard.

 The vineyard dogs are always a hoot. This little guy thought the mounds of monkey grass made a perfect bed for lounging.

 These grapevines were in bloom and the owner took a group on a vineyard walk so we could smell the blossoms and have the opportunity to ask questions.

It was such a great weekend and  I was very sad to bring Danielle to the airport in Sunday. I don't want to rush away the summer, but I can't wait until we are in New England in August so we can be together again!
Now it's back to reality and work. Jeff and I are getting ready to wood fire with our friend Ouida in Carthage. Unfortunately over the weekend we had to deal with some electrical problems, one of which included our electric kiln. Jeff took it apart and cleaned some contacts and it still wouldn't turn on. After messing with it for two days we made the decision to unload it and bisque fire in the gas kiln. The electrician is coming out today and we are hoping that the household problem has something to do with the kiln not coming on... but something tells me it's sheer coincidence that both happened at the same time. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this won't be an expensive fix.