OUR LADY OF THE POPPIES

Ahhh, she truly is a beauty, no?

OUR GARDEN

spring green

2nd fire

we unpacked the 2nd firing the other day and wow! quite the drama during the firing though; i almost ran out of wood while the kiln was stalling, but i was able to reach temp. ( barely .) During the first night of freezing temps i ran to the house to get more clothes 3 times and brought back the dvd tv to the kiln, now i know all of you purists are shaking your head right now but what a way to pass the early hours of firing, as i have a tendency to push the fire in the night, this was an awesome way to go: put a log on and back to my movie; and what a movie it is. Frank Hebert's Dune, no not the crappy one with Sting in it; the good one that the sci- fi channel made with William Hurt as the somewhat absent star of the 3 disc movie. if you've never seen it, you should,for once they've turned a great book into a great movie.

Is that a mouse in your pants or.......

Yesterday morning while sleeping our cat eggplant brought a mouse into the bedroom, after quite a commotion kim got up to capture the mouse; to no avail. Well being as it was 5:30, i was awake, so i grabbed my pants and went to the kitchen to start the espresso, leaving kim and some cats to fend for themselves. Now normally i pass by the dining room to drape my pants over the chair so as to not have to exit my pajamas too soon; this was after all just an ordinary day.

8:30 and it was time to get ready to go to the county"s annual native plant sale to fetch our pre- ordered booty
Soil and Water Conservation District
so it's off with the pajamas and on with the aforementioned pants. As i buttoned my pants i realized i had a crumpled sock in the leg of the pants, so i shook my leg and ........WITH A FULL HEAD OF STEAM A MOUSE COMES DARTING OUT OF MY PANTS! The pants come off , i jump up on the bed in only a shirt, and kim can barely stand up as laughter consumes her.

Ah yes...there's really nothing quite like starting the day with a mouse in your pants.

ahhh, winter

as the storms keep coming this year, at least they offer up some visual treats.

Tea Bowl Heaven

The 1st firing of the eunoiagama ( an anagama style wood fire kiln ) was a total success; 55 hrs of firing, 55 hrs of cooling, 2.5 cords of wood and 98% of the pieces are fantastic; who says you can't fire a wet kiln???

eunoia: the shortest word in the english language containing all the vowels; definition: beautiful thinking.

A bit of info for those who don't know wood fire ceramics.....the only glazed surface is inside the tea bowls and just around the upper lip; everything else was left raw clay and are the effects of the flame and fire interacting with minerals in the clay. Temperatuers hot enough to melt all the ash from the fire are achieved in the later part of the fire.

1st firing of the eunoiagama

A 5 week journey from excavation to 2435 farenheit. Along the way encountering yellow jacket swarms, torential rain and flooding, sleet rain, freezing temps, fantasticly beautiful days and nights, frogs, good food, bad food, good friends, cats, dogs, and a serious lack of sleep. We'll find out in a couple of days what it all looks like when we unpack the kiln.

The Coastal Hills Art Tour

come check out kim hamblin's art at the coastal hills art tour this friday and saturday november 9 and 10 in downtown willimina, oregon