The Holiday Season Begins

We usually host Jeff's family for Thanksgiving. We've had as few as eight and as many as seventeen.

This year, it was just the two of us. We felt it wasn't safe for a family gathering. Especially when you consider the ages of the majority.

Still made two pies. A pecan, with nuts from our own trees, and a pumpkin pie. 

Since it was just the two of us we opted for an evening meal, which meant we could have an appetizer lunch! Brie en croute and grilled figs from our trees. Jeff popped a bottle of champagne and we made mimosas.

We have a friend that lives alone so we packed up his turkey dinner and he picked it up curbside. While we enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving for two, I know that isolating is harder for people who live alone. It hurt my heart that my father spent the day quarantined in his room at the nursing home. He has always gone to my sister's house and enjoyed the day with them. They have a covid outbreak at his facility which means he can't leave his room for anything. I hope he doesn't have to spend the whole winter that way.

Orders have been steadily coming in. I had to cut off Christmas orders on November 16th. New orders will ship mid-January. I am hoping to make something other than pigs after that!

I hope everyone who celebrates, enjoyed their Thanksgiving day.

 

A Week of Celebrations

The Celebration of Seagrove Potters show is behind us and I am happy to say was a very successful weekend. It was our best show to date with good sales in our gallery, and online as well. The pot in the photograph is a collaboration piece that Jeff and I donated to the live auction that takes place during the gala preview party. We were happy that the winning bid was a little more than what we valued the piece at. It's always disappointing if donations are under bid. For that reason, we are selective as to who we donate to.

When the show was over we had just a few days to unpack, clean the house, and grocery shop for the next celebration...

Thanksgiving! We were the hosts this year and we had quite a gang. There were eighteen of us at the dinner table... which had to stretch from the dining room, into the living room!

We even had a few kids to enjoy for the day. They had to humor me with the obligatory tire swing photos. Jeff and I are thankful to have found a home that is a central meeting point for the family as well as being large enough to handle a crowd. It was lots of fun and by 6:00 pm we were exhausted. 

I hope that all of my readers enjoyed the day as much as we did.

The Second Thanksgiving

Call me crazy, but I love to roast a turkey and cook all the sides that go with it. Thanksgiving day was spent with Jeff's family, so on Saturday we had our second Thanksgiving feast at home. We invited a friend to join us. My grandmother's platter, which must be over 100 years old, fits in nicely with our handmade dishes. I think the best part of the meal was enjoying it in our dining room, this is the first house that I have owned with a formal dining room!
In between the cooking I was waiting on customers in the gallery, and responding to questions from Etsy buyers. I am almost out of "in stock" piggy banks and it's getting close to the time that I won't be able to fill new orders for Christmas. I listed this little peach blossom piggy bank in the Etsy shop this morning. I have a feeling he won't last too long...

Turkey and Pork

Jeff and I continued our double Thanksgiving dinner tradition this year. On the big day we had dinner with Jeff's family in Rockingham, NC and on Saturday we cooked a turkey here in Seagrove. I grew up with stuffing inside the turkey, I don't quite get this dressing in a pan cut into squares. It's just not as flavorful (or as moist) as stuffing cooked in the bird. Once a year I get out this rather ugly platter that belonged to my great-grandmother. The platter sounds really punky, I don't know if it will survive to be handed down to Danielle.

I have been photographing work to add lots of new pots and piggy banks to the Etsy shop.

 I listed this wood fired pig last night and he has already booked a flight to London and is leaving tomorrow. The pigs are world travelers!

 Jeff did these blue and white pigs, the ears are modeled after the piggy banks he made earlier in his career.

I love how this one came out, check out his cool looking pork butt...

Happy Sunday everybody!

traditions

Jeff and I had a really nice Thanksgiving Day spent with his family. There was a large crowd and with the nice weather we spilled out into the yard and soaked in the sun. Quite a different scenario than my family had in NH... they had 9" of snow and lost power Thanksgiving eve until 6:30 am! Tomorrow Jeff and I will cook a turkey and have a new england style Thanksgiving dinner. I never realized that traditions for T-day were regional... here in the south it seems birds don't get stuffed, you have "dressing" on the side, baked in a pan, then cut into squares. Also, deviled eggs and mac & cheese are common sides. Tomorrow the stuffing will be in the bird and we will have lots of mashed potatoes and gravy, butternut squash, peas, cranberry sauce and maybe a little green bean casserole. If I was at my Mom's we would probably have creamed pearl onions too. I will make a sweet potato pie for dessert. my Mom always had pumpkin & apple pie but I have become fond of sweet potato (and it's Jeff's fave). We don't really need to make all this food but the holidays are making me miss home a little (just a little and NOT the snow) and this is the ultimate comfort food

...and we won't have to cook again for at least a week.

We were ready for shoppers on Friday morning... we had an "as clean as it can get" log cabin gallery. It was a great start to the weekend with good sales. I hope it continues through the weekend!

making pies

i am sure lots of people are making pies today

post thanksgiving post

jeff's potter friend rob is visiting from virginia...thursday night we went to the dolphin striker in portsmouth for music and drinks... of course the place was packed. we had a fun evening and there was even a bar brawl! this is really unusual for the striker...it's a rather tame sorta upscale place. luckily no one was hurt and it was over quickly...the only casualty was robs drink...one the brawlers landed on OUR table.

we didn't get back to northwood until 1:30 then stayed up until 3:45 (yikes) enjoying good sake and talking about pots (of course).

jeff, rob and i went to my sisters in wolfeboro, nh for turkey day dinner. it was a nice gathering of family and friends...with waaaay too much delicious food. that's jeff and rob in the pic above. rob's a fun, friendly talented potter and i am happy to be getting to know him.

tomorrow the three of us will work in my studio together...i think rob is going to throw us some minis!!! i will have my camera close by.