Labor Day

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day.  We spent ours in Montreat.  If you have read my blogs during the summer you know how HOT it was in Montreat.  It was a very unusual summer in that way.  Well, this weekend was a typical pre-fall weekend.  The weather was great.  The air was clear, the sun shone and best of all the temperatures were perfect.  It actually got down in the 50's and maybe even lower at night.  

Of course we ate at my favorite mexican restaurant - Ole's Guacamoles.  As usual the food and service were excellent.  

We did a lot of walking which helped with the eating!!  It was so good to be back in Montreat.  After one of the long walks we all took a siesta (aka a nap).  It was hard to come back to what I call "reality".  We now really have to get back to restocking the pottery shop as our shows are looming on the horizon.  The first one is the Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk, NC, Oct. 16 and 17.  We would love to see everyone.  If you are there, please come by and speak to us.  

Tomorrow, I will have a post on my work in the shop with the pigs.  

Until then...

The Potter's Wife :)

Palm Tree Pottery

Another Weekend in Montreat

We just got back from another weekend in Montreat.  It was still unbearably hot, but we did at least have some rain.  We had to deliver an order to the bookstore and it gave us  a reason to go.

We spent time with Mac's Dad, which is always fun.  He lives at Givens Estate, which is a very nice retirement community in Asheville.  We had dinner with him on Saturday night and he came over and went to church with us on Sunday morning, had lunch with us at the Inn and then went back.  We surprised him by going over on Sunday night to visit him.  Mac, Tyler, and Marsh played pool while Elliott, Izzy and I watched. 

We enjoyed spending time with Tyler since he had Sunday and Monday off.  He is in his last week of work at the Inn.  He will work next Sunday and then head back home. 

While we were in Montreat, I did something that I do not usually do and that was to take two classes on Monday at the Pottery.  I took the tiled mirror class on Monday morning with Mary Moore.  We had a great time.  Of course, I left my camera at the house!!!  We made clay tiles that will be bisque fired this week.  The rest of the class will hand paint glaze on their tiles on Thursday.  After being fired Thursday night, they will meet on Friday to put the mirror together with the tiles.  Tyler is going to pick my tiles up along with the board and mirror that I will need to complete my project.  I will glaze my tiles here in our studio and fire them in our kiln since I am not there.

The other class I took was hand building an owl out of raku clay with Mary Kathryn. I made two and hopefully they will raku fire them this Thursday so Tyler can bring them home to me on Sunday.  Anne Stone is going to glaze them for me.  I really appreciate it.  When I get everything back, I will take pictures and post on a future blog.

Today has been very cloudy and off and on raining.  We have really been busy and the heat had drained us.  We have just been taking it easy today, but tomorrow it is back to the real world - paying bills, washing clothes, - you get the picture.  

Take care, until the next post.

The Potter's Wife :)

www.palmtreepottery.com

The Dog Days of Summer

Thanks to Pam (who cut my hair today - she is the best) for the headliner of today's post!  

It has really been hot and as you can see, Izzy has been enjoying the pool along with all of us.  We have been working in the mornings because the studio/garage is just too hot in the afternoon.  I mixed the chemicals for two glazes this morning and thought I was going to melt.  I have to wear a mask because of the dust from the chemicals, latex gloves to keep it off my hands, and then I had on my apron (you have not seen this one - I made it last year just for the pottery), so I was (as us Southerners would say) glistening - basically just plain ole sweating!!  I then had to put all the parts on four pigs and do a special vase (I cannot tell anymore than that, because it is a surprise that someone ordered!!) which I carved on.  By the time I was finished, I could have jumped in the pool straight from the shop.  I did wait until I had eaten and had given my stomach time to digest before getting in.

I really cannot believe how hot it has been this summer.  Our oldest, Tyler, is still in Montreat working and he told me this afternoon that it is still very hot up there. I am very thankful for air-conditioning.  

Tonight we went to church for the first time in a few weeks.  It was good to see our friends, Wayne and Nancy, and Tim and Elisa.  I also got to have a few minutes to chat with my friend, Barbara.  I usually work in the youth on Wednesday nights, but we are not having small groups this summer, so I will not be doing that until the fall.  

Not really much to talk about.  The kiln is running a bisque load right now, so Mac will be glazing in the next couple of days.  Tomorrow night I am having two dinner guests joining us.  They are two of my good friends, Susan and Sheila - that is right, there will be two Sheila's at our dinner table.  I cannot wait. It will be a Girl's Night, although Mac and Marsh will be here.  I am sure they will make themselves scarce, because there will be a lot of girl talk going on!

Until next time -

The Potter's Wife:)

www.palmtreepottery.com

  

Back in the Real World

We are back home.  What more can I say.  We have just gotten an order off of the website and the Montreat Bookstore has given us another order.  We are very happy to have these orders, but that means back to the potter's wheel and I am back to my slab roller!!!  Our studio is our garage and no it is not air-conditioned.  So, we try and do as much as we can in the mornings because of the heat.  The first thing we had to do was to glaze a load. That will be coming out soon and I have a piece I have to deliver.  Remember the chimineas???  Well they are in the kiln waiting to come out.  Hopefully, the next post will show pictures of how they turned out.  It is like waiting to open your Christmas present!!!

Just because I am married to a potter does not mean I do nothing else.  Right now I am getting ready to do everyone's favorite activity - grocery shop!!  Right.  Anyway, that is part of my day today and we are having a dinner guest tonight, so I need to get in gear and get out of the house.  

My brother-in-law and his family should be moving into the cottage in Montreat and we left them a note about the "bat siting".  Just thought they would need a little excitement.

Hope everyone is still staying cool.  Maybe we will get some rain today.  

Until the next post  - hopefully with pottery pictures,

The Potter's Wife

www.palmtreepottery.com

There is a Heat Wave in Montreat

We are melting here in Montreat!!!  I know it is like that every where else too.  

We do not remember it being this hot here in a very long time.  Thankfully, it cooled off last night, but today is another hot one.

We had a little excitement this morning at our cottage.  I was up and getting ready (at 5 am- it is a habit) and I start to open the bathroom door when Mac yells "Don't open that door!!"  Long story short, a bat had gotten into the house and he was trying to get it out.  See the cottage is a summer cottage and not winterized, so sometimes these things happen.  We have not had a bat in a long time.  I am just grateful that it did not decide to take flight when I got up and headed to the bathroom or that it did not fly into the bathroom when I went in and shut the door.  Needless to say,  I would have woken up everyone on that end of North Carolina Terrace!!!

Tuesday night we went out to eat mexican in Black Mountain.  We went to Ole's Guacamoles, our very favorite place.  If you like mexican food, this is the place.  It is AUTHENTIC!!!!!   They have just moved into their new location on 70, (actually I think they call it State Street).  Anyway, it is the old Olympic Flame building.  They have a lot more seating than before and they still have their outdoor seating.  You really need to go and eat there when you are in this area because you will not be let down.  Not only is their food excellent, but their staff is the best!!  

I have been sewing an apron with pink pigs on a black background - very cute - with pink gingham accent straps and pocket.  My friends Nancy and Alice have been helping me.  Once it is finished I will post a picture. 

We are winding down our stay here.  Mac has 2 days left as potter in residence and we go tomorrow to set up our Lees-McRae show.  It always gets a little sad to have to say good-bye to our friends we see each summer, but it will not be long and we will all go back to our respective homes.  Thank goodness for computers, email, and Facebook - what did we do without them.  I know we did not have to walk to Assembly Inn with our computers and log onto the internet. 

The picture above is Mac working on the wheel on the porch of the Potter's Wheel.  This picture was taken by my friend Nancy.  Thanks Nancy, I will miss you when you go home.

Until tomorrow - hopefully,

The Potter's Wife

www.palmtreepottery.com