more wintry weather here in seagrove, nc... since i knew that black bean soup was on the menu for dinner, i decided it would also be a good day to bake some oatmeal bread to go with it.
this recipe makes two loaves so our wonderful neighbor and cat sitter, Wil Mahan, will be the recipient of loaf number two.
Anne at STARworks garden had an interesting blog post on food vs calories this week. she talks about how we focus so much on calorie content that we forget about the other aspects of nourishment. what she says in her post is how i feel about home baked bread... my bread is probably higher in calories than store bought... but we know what goes in it and enjoy the ritual of having a slice hot from the oven with a pat of real butter... not to mention how good the house smells during the whole process... from the yeast when it is rising to baking in the oven.
bon appetit!
prior to the holidays i made a list in my head (i really should put it on paper) of things that i needed get done in the studio. along with the piggy banks and berry bowls were beads and pendants. i have a good start on the pigs and berry bowls so this week it is on to the beads...
i am always short on small round beads (they are so boring to make)... i forced myself to make a bunch. the pierced hearts are something new as well as the fish. the fish are a little weird, i used a press mold that john made some years back. i don't really know if there is a market for fish pendants but i guess i will find out! although they might make cool zipper pulls. some of these are porcelain, many are stoneware and most of them will get raku fired.
as i was cleaning them up today to get ready to bisque fire, i thought about how long it was going to take to glaze all these damn thing... ugh.
and here is a picture i took this evening of the view outside the studio today...
yep... i think i have brought the new hampshire winter to seagrove, nc!
even though i have been anxious to get back to work after the trip to new hampshire, it seems to have been a struggle to get into the studio. the mundane stuff like unpacking and laundry seemed to take up an inordinate amount of time. i did manage to get a few mugs finished. i am working out a new way of using my swirly stamp... sort of the same style as the last oval bakers that i made.
unfortunately i had three crack during the stamping process... my own fault for leaving them uncovered overnight.
jeff is still working in the studio tonight, washing ash to make ash glaze... i don't think i have the patience for the work (or the mess) involved in that, but i do like the results!
last week jeff and i spent new year's day visiting my brother and his girlfriend at their new home in New Ipswich, NH. it is a very quaint antique cape with a workshop, horse barn and green house... it is absolutely perfect for them.
shortly after we arrived my brother said to me... "did you hear that Diane Nilsson was the owner of this house before us?" my reaction was "oh my god... did you know she ran over my dog when i was living in Wilton?".
Diane was once married to singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson who is best known for that song in the 70's "coconut". during the 90's when i was living in Wilton, NH she lived down the road from us... i was running with my dog Misty who got away from me, crossed the road and ran directly in front of Diane's car. the dog survived with some minor leg injuries and it was always a good story that Misty had been run over by Harry Nilsson's ex-wife. i knew that she put her house in Wilton on the market in the late 90's but i didn't know where she went... i guess i assumed back to california where she had come from. she had moved to Wilton so that her children could attend High Mowing, a private Waldorf school in town. she must have liked NH and decided to move to neighboring New Ipswich.
unfortunately Diane died a little over a year ago and my brother purchased the home from her estate. back in november jeff and i watched a netflix documentary about Nilsson and Diane was in it... of course that is when jeff heard about the whole dog incident.
sort of a strange story to start the new year... and it has absolutely nothing to do with making pots.
i took a blogging break this past week, as jeff and i headed to NH to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. we have had a great time and today we hit the road for home. we are very excited about 2011 and are anxious to get back to work... there are lots of clay ideas dancing in our heads.
happy new year to all!
